Chapter 442: Tsunami |
"Master Mentor, here's what you asked for..."
At the temporary hideout by the seaside, the Church people delivered Loren the best harpoon gun and an enchanted book.
"Good, you can leave now. I'll come find you once I'm ready."
"Yes, Master Mentor..."
After the Church people left, Loren placed the harpoon gun on the enchanted ritual he had already prepared, opened the enchanted book, and runes began to fly out of it.
"Loren, are you going to shoot, or am I?"
Laila asked. Her meaning was obvious—if she did it, she could guarantee a hit, but it would risk exposure.
"I'll do it."
Loren was confident in his marksmanship. If it were purely about shooting skills, no one in this world could match Loren—all his techniques were maxed out.
Loren had considered many scenarios, even preparing a countermeasure specifically for merfolk.
"Alright."
Laila trusted Loren unconditionally. Since Loren said so, she simply let go of her worries.
"I feel like merfolk shouldn't be that bad, right? We've seen merfolk before..."
Loren knew Laila was talking about Korali. Her personality was genuinely good—even after Mara had directly shot through her, she didn't talk about revenge or hold a grudge against Loren, who had traveled with Mara.
"A race is a broad category. Every race has good people and bad people—it's just a matter of proportion. Among vampires, there's a naive sweetheart like Lilith, and among merfolk, there's a violent one like Mara. There might even be an innocent succubus out there.
"So you can't generalize. Of course, witches are an exception. Witches are truly pure and kind, every single one. Even if they turn dark over certain things, they won't become truly evil."
When discussing racial issues, Loren slipped in a compliment for witches. Laila's face immediately flushed red.
Soon, Loren finished the enchantment. He picked up the harpoon gun:
"So, whether those merfolk are deceived or beguiled, whether they're good or evil people, if they do evil, they must pay the price.
"Let's go. When we see them, mark them, so we can hunt them down later."
"Alright."
Laila followed behind Loren as they walked to the seaside. The Bishop-led group had already been waiting there for a while.
"Do they launch attacks every day?"
"Yes. Even when it's completely useless, it's like they're just venting their anger."
"Good."
If that was the case, Loren didn't need to worry about them not showing up.
Movila landed on Loren's shoulder. Her other clones had already begun searching the sea for merfolk figures. Orianna was also watching everything from high above—even magic concealment couldn't escape Orianna's eyes.
"Now we just wait."
Loren wasn't worried about them attacking from other directions. The God of Bountiful Harvest's territory had only this one harbor. The rest of the coastline was wasteland, not a soul in sight—there was simply no point in attacking there.
The blood moon hung high in the sky. Loren glanced at his watch—it was eleven o'clock, the time of day when yin energy was strongest.
Most necromancers would choose this time to act or perform rituals, so Loren naturally associated this with necromancers.
But Loren couldn't think of a reason why necromancers would attack here. If he had to guess, it would be because of Gwen.
The necromancer persona Gwen had used before was that of a survivor from Wheat Ear Country. She had killed quite a few necromancers back then, and since Wheat Ear Country was a nation that worshiped the God of Bountiful Harvest, the remaining necromancers might be here to retaliate.
Still, that was unlikely. First, when Loren controlled Gwen, he had also maintained his own philosophy of handling things—cutting off the roots of disaster, either ensuring no one knew who acted, or killing off everyone who might retaliate.
"They're coming..."
There was no use thinking about that now. Loren's Intuition had already sent a warning—the attack was coming.
Hearing Loren's reminder, everyone immediately snapped to attention.
Then, they saw a tsunami rise from the distant ocean.
"This tsunami is much bigger than before. Protect the Master Mentor!"
The Bishop immediately led people to shield Loren. They activated their magic simultaneously, and a tall forest instantly grew on the sandy beach. They wanted to use this method to block the tsunami.
"But..."
They were also blocking Loren's line of sight. Without hesitation, Loren held the harpoon gun in one hand and grabbed Laila with the other. He stomped the ground and activated Abundant Magic.
Where Loren had stepped, green light radiated. The next moment, a straight tree trunk grew from that spot, lifting Loren high into the air. Now Loren could finally see the tsunami's true form.
The tsunami was over thirty meters tall—it had reached the category of a natural disaster. Loren wasn't even sure if Abundant Magic could stop this tsunami. Even the pillar he was standing on might be shattered directly.
Loren saw three figures standing atop the tsunami. As the wave approached, he could make out their forms—they were all merfolk, each holding a staff.
These were Merfolk Staves, capable of greatly enhancing water magic and controlling parts of the ocean. Their effects were powerful. Loren had used one before.
"That's quite an investment..."
Merfolk Staves were rare even among merfolk. Being able to pull out three at once meant they had really spared no expense.
The closer the tsunami got, the stronger the sense of oppression. This was already a massive tsunami. In the world Loren had transmigrated from, not even such large tsunamis had occurred many times.
Facing the tsunami, Loren suddenly felt incredibly small. Even the forest beneath him seemed insignificant.
From what the Church people had said, Loren knew the previous attacks hadn't been this large—this was a sudden escalation today.
Loren suspected they might know he was here, but there was no time to dwell on that:
"Laila, mark the one on the left. I'll take the middle one."
The merfolk were getting closer. Loren didn't raise his gun yet—first, he threw a magic spell to test the waters.
He cut his palm, and his blood condensed into an arrow. It shot out, aimed at the merfolk on the right.
Just before the arrow struck her face, she dove into the tsunami.
Then Loren raised the harpoon gun, aiming at the middle one.
This time, he angled the muzzle downward slightly before firing.
That merfolk did the same as the previous one—dove into the sea when faced with danger. But this time, the harpoon suddenly accelerated upon hitting the water, piercing straight through her chest. Dark red blood spread through the seawater.