Chapter 79: Showing true color

Arthur stood silently beneath the dark, shifting waves, staring directly at the towering figure hovering over the deep ocean floor. The man before him moved upon the current with absolute grace, standing upright on the water as if the abyssal depths were nothing more than solid ground.

To the rest of the world, this face was a nightmare carved into human history in his previous life. He was an absolute terror for humanity, a legendary scourge who had personally leveled countless heavily fortified human research facilities, slaughtered millions, and triggered multiple catastrophic beast tides and global wars.

His name was inked in blood at the absolute top of the Human Alliance assassination target list. Countless top-tier operatives and guild leaders had attempted to claim his head over the years, yet not a single soul had ever succeeded or even managed to draw his blood.

He was never alone. He was always surrounded by his elite guards, an impenetrable wall of veteran champions who would gladly throw themselves into any lethal strike meant for their ruler.

Rumors had circulated across the human territories for years that the supreme monster bosses had formed their own hidden shadow organization, a secret council created solely to coordinate mass assaults and orchestrate beast tides across continents. However, no human scout or spy had ever survived long enough to bring back definitive evidence of such an alliance.

Arthur looked at the legendary tyrant, and his face almost cracked with a twisted, manic smile. He quickly raised his hand and covered his mouth, concealing the nasty grin that threatened to break across his lips.

The sheer thrill of the moment made his blood boil. This Atlantian monarch possessed an absurdly powerful supreme skill known far and wide as the Wrath of the Sea God. Whenever Atlas activated this ability, the surrounding seawater would churn violent currents, condensing into a massive spectral sea god wielding a gargantuan trident.

That summoned sea god was always far stronger than its caster, possessing power at least three times greater than Atlas himself.

Arthur remembered that skill all too well. He had actually fought that spectral entity once in his past, only to be beaten up violently and left on the brink of death. He had only survived that fateful encounter because a powerful foreign player intervened at the final second.

That had been the very same day when the proud demigods of the Arvian country launched a massive military campaign to eradicate the Atlantians once and for all. Their army had marched into the deep waters with grand promises of victory, only to be utterly crushed and defeated without Atlas showing even a hint of struggle.

The Atlantian King, Atlas, looked down at Arthur and his subordinates as if he were gazing upon insignificant insects crawling in the mud. Behind him, seven supremely powerful, suffocating aura gushes erupted into the water.

Seven majestic merfolk figures stepped forward, positioning themselves a few meters behind their king. Each of these formidable beings possessed strength comparable to a level thirty legendary boss. As for Atlas himself, his monstrous aura proved he was equivalent to a level fifty legendary boss at his current peak condition.

The battered, dying merfolk warriors who had been trapped by the human forces just moments prior suddenly grew wildly excited upon seeing this sight. Their despair instantly vanished, replaced by fanatical fervor.

"We greet his majesty and the seven arch dukes," the merfolk warriors chanted in unison, bowing deeply toward the majestic arrival.

They genuinely believed that their survival was now absolute. With their supreme ruler and his seven most powerful subordinates appearing in person, no human alive could possibly touch them.

"Everyone return," one of the arch dukes commanded in a calm, authoritative voice.

"Yes, yes," Valzer nodded rapidly, his face flushed with relief as he turned his back on the humans and began moving toward the safety of the dukes.

"Did I give you permission to leave?"

Arthur’s cold, flat voice echoed strangely through the heavy aquatic environment. The sound seemed to originate from everywhere at once, bypassing the normal acoustic limits of water.

Up until this moment, Arthur had been entirely unremarkable throughout the battle. He had spent the majority of the encounter standing far in the rear, barely raising his weapon, leading the merfolk to assume he was merely a fragile summoner possessing negligible personal combat ability.

"Huh? Do you have a death wish? Why aren’t you kneeling now that you are standing in front of his majesty?" Valzer snorted coldly, whirling around with a sneer. The terror that had tightly gripped his heart just moments ago had completely dissipated under the protection of his king.

Arthur moved. It was not a sprint or a swim; it resembled instantaneous teleportation beneath the dark water. In a fraction of a second, he vanished from his spot and reappeared directly in front of Valzer, a calm smile gracing his features.

A violent,sudden instinctual sense of dread gripped Valzer’s heart. His veins iced over as he stared into Arthur’s quiet eyes.

"Your majesty, save m..."

Before the plea could fully escape his throat, two slender daggers flashed in Arthur’s hands. With lightning speed, the blades sliced through the water in a flawless arc, severing Valzer’s head cleanly from his shoulders.

Valzer died with thousands of unanswered questions racing through his mind, wondering how this insignificant human had suddenly become infinitely more terrifying than their monarch. He never received his answers as his head drifted into the dark abyss.

Now that his true prey had finally arrived on the battlefield, Arthur no longer had any reason to hide his monstrous strength. His cousins and teammates would never be able to handle eight legendary entities of this caliber on their own, so he decided to personally handle the situation from here on out.

The entire battlefield fell into a dead, suffocating silence. Every remaining Atlantian warrior stood frozen in absolute horror. Only moments prior, their brave commander had successfully held his ground against the human forces, yet now he had been slaughtered like a common bug before anyone could even process Arthur’s movement.

"How dare you, ant," an arch duke named Denver roared furiously, the seawater surrounding his body churning into violent, razor-sharp currents.

Arthur merely offered a sharp smirk in response. In the next instant, he vanished into thin air once more. Instead of engaging the arch dukes immediately, he began systematically massacring the surrounding Atlantian soldiers.

He did not require any protective underwater barriers or magic spells to maneuver. He moved through the crushing water currents with even greater agility and speed than the native merfolk. At the same time, his ten general began moving like liquid shadows, gliding through the ranks and harvesting lives within mere moments.

The sea exploded with a heavy shockwave as Denver propelled himself toward Arthur like a streak of lightning. His face was twisted with blinding rage, intent on tearing the arrogant human into bloody pieces.

Arthur stopped his movement entirely, turning his body to face the incoming arch duke. He stood perfectly still in the current, appearing as though he intended to take the legendary boss’s full strike head-on.

Denver pulled a massive, jagged weapon forged from ancient leviathan bone out from his combat outfit and swung it down toward Arthur’s head with apocalyptic force.

Arthur did not flinch, dodge, or raise a weapon to block. Denver grinned sinisterly, assuming this puny human was simply too slow to process his divine speed. The remaining six arch dukes watching from behind shared the exact same thought, waiting to see the human burst into a cloud of red mist.

Only Atlas narrowed his glowing eyes, his gaze locking tightly onto Arthur’s motionless stance. Atlas could clearly discern that the human possessed plenty of time to react to the incoming blow. So why was he refusing to dodge? Was he truly foolish enough to attempt absorbing a direct strike from an arch duke, or was his confidence rooted in absolute power?

"How foolish. Even I would not take his attack carelessly without defensive preparation," Atlas snorted softly under his breath.

A millisecond later, the colossal fish bone sword crashed directly down upon Arthur’s head. Denver expected to feel the satisfying sensation of flesh tearing and bones crushing under his weapon, but his blow was abruptly brought to a complete standstill by something entirely unyielding. The shockwave radiated outward, flattening the seafloor, yet the blade remained firmly suspended in midair.

Denver looked down, his eyes widening in pure horror as he realized what had stopped his full-power strike. Arthur was holding the edge of the massive leviathan bone sword with his bare, unarmored hand. A casual, effortless smile remained on the human’s face, his grip completely locking the legendary weapon in place.

An overwhelming, suffocating instinct of extreme danger flared violently inside Denver’s mind. Every nerve in his body screamed at him to drop his weapon and retreat at maximum speed, but his body failed to respond fast enough.

Arthur casually flicked his wrist, swinging his dagger through the water with incomprehensible swiftness. The mighty Duke Denver, recognized across the ocean floor as one of the most terrifying entities in the Atlantian Empire, was decapitated before he could even register the swing. His massive body went limp, drifting silently through the blood-stained water.

"No... Denver..." the remaining six arch dukes roared in utter disbelief and anguish. They were veterans of a hundred wars, yet they could not even react before their powerful companion was executed right in front of their eyes.

Even Atlas expressed a flash of genuine surprise. It was not the loss of his subordinate that shook him, but rather the unbelievable speed and physical strength Arthur had just displayed without relying on a single defensive buff or skill.

"Die, you bastard," the six remaining arch dukes screamed in unison, their powerful aura exploding as they prepared to rush forward together and shred the human into pieces.

"Stop."

The grand, majestic voice of Atlas echoed across the ocean bed like thunder. It was the very first word the monarch had uttered aloud since arriving on the battlefield, packed with an invisible authority that instantly froze the ocean currents.

The six enraged arch dukes immediately halted their charge, trembling as they pulled back into formation, though their eyes remained locked on Arthur with venomous hatred.

Atlas slowly drifted forward, his deep, glowing eyes staring intently at the human standing amidst the floating debris and fallen warriors.

"Human, tell me your name," Atlas said calmly, his tone carrying the weight of a king addressing an equal for the very first time.

"It does not matter who I am, Atlas," Arthur replied, shaking the blood off his daggers with a slow, deliberate flick of his wrists. "But if you really want to know who I am, let me tell you. I am Arthur Miller, the one who is going to kill you."