Chapter 305

The flow of water was slow but heavy, making one unable to resist its power. Night fell, plunging Gurzes into darkness. The luminescent coral reefs throughout the streets emitted the light they had absorbed during the day like lightbulbs.

The streets of the East Merfolk Town, the main residential area of the cycloid scales, known for being the weakest and most gentle of the four main tribes, were quiet and empty. The merfolk were reluctant to leave their homes at night because of the pisciceps incidents that had been going on for months.

Two silhouettes loomed over the slums of the East Merfolk Town, which the average merfolk did not approach. The two individuals in black robes stared at each other in silence.

“What is it?” the large, robed individual asked.

“What is it? Are you seriously asking me that?” the short, robed individual asked irritably. “The envoy of the Sēmen named Cheon Seong-Hwi is in the Ocean King’s Castle! You assured me that he would never arrive in Gurzes!”

“I miscalculated.”

“What?!”

“The human named Cheon Seong-Hwi is powerful.”

“That’s all you have to say? It’s quite poor, as excuses go,” the short, robed individual said dumbfoundedly.

“I am not making excuses. I only said the truth. I closed the water gate, so he split the ocean in two. What do you want from me?”

The short, robed individual remained silent. As the large, robed man mentioned, there would have been no way to stop someone from splitting the ocean.

“Tsk, who the hell is he?” they asked in annoyance.

“From what I have gathered, the human is number one in the human ranking, succeeding the Tortoise Emperor, Lee Kang-San.”

“The Tortoise Emperor, huh?”

“Although the Tortoise Emperor was low in rank, he never compromised. Considering this man’s achievements, I believe they have similar personalities.”

“So, you’re saying he can’t be bought off or threatened?”

The large, robed man nodded. “But the biggest problem is his position. An inspector could become a serious issue for our plan.”

“The right to investigate, and the right to expel...”

“His right to expel is the problem. Its power aside, it could completely flip public opinion.”

“Should we... kill him?” the short, robed individual asked, the ocean current flowing ferociously around them.

However, the large, robed individual shook their head. “It’s impossible. To kill him, we would have to reveal our hidden forces or ask that person for help. Neither will be easy.”

“And where is that person?”

“They are on their way. Slowly, to not draw attention.”

“Dammit! The New Wave is almost upon us, but a goddamn loach is muddying the water!” the short, robed individual shouted irritably.

The large, robed individual stared at them in silence and said, “Anyway, we proceed as planned. You’re not planning to back out now, are you?”

“Hah! Me? That’s my line. You had better steel yourself. I could stab them in the back at any time,” the short, robed individual said as they leapt from the ground and swam away rapidly.

The large, robed individual stared at them in silence and mumbled, “Fool. Die as the pawn of external forces that you are.”

They looked up. The moonlight looked as if it were knocking on the water’s surface, wanting to enter the abyss. Their heart filled with the new hope that the moonlight brought them.

“You may be dreaming of a new king, but the true king will return soon!”

***

Seong-Hwi groaned on the balcony in his room in the Ocean King’s Castle. The beautiful scenery of the Central Merfolk Town was mesmerizing, but the frown on his face did not seem to want to disappear.

“Huuu, what the hell am I supposed to do?” he mumbled as he sighed.

The conflict between the ganoid scales and placoid scales had already surpassed the critical point. Having them reconcile was like making the USA and Iraq reconcile. Too many merfolk had already died, and the rage had already rooted deep inside their hearts.

“To have them reconcile, it would need a powerful third party to invade Gurzes and create a situation where they would be annihilated if they don’t work together,” Seong-Hwi mumbled, his expression becoming serious.

It’s not completely unrealistic, he thought, recalling rumors he had heard in his past life.

He had only spent two months in the sixth zone in his past life and couldn’t get the details, but he knew the broad overview.

Patala invaded Gurzes.

In truth, it was closer to a punishment than an invasion. The Eighth Lord, Vipera Anguis, had killed Natantes, labeling him as an enemy of the Sēmen by claiming something absurd.

“Natantes became a Chaos monster...” Seong-Hwi mumbled, his black eyes sinking.

Just in case, he had heightened his senses to the maximum to examine Natantes during their meeting, but he couldn’t even feel a minute trace of Chaos Mana from him.

But I can’t completely rule it out yet. Not even I can sense if a Bachtasha-rank Chaos is involved.

Although he had felt a strange sense of familiarity from Chaos Humans, he had not been able to sense anything from Lee Bong-Seong. If excluding this variable, there was no reason for him to doubt Natantes.

First, let’s assume that Natantes didn’t become a Chaos monster. That would mean Vipera Anguis framed him. But why?

Seong-Hwi immediately realized the answer.

“A Race Stone must be involved,” he mumbled.

It was closer to intuition than certainty, but circumstances also backed it. It was also why Clan Calasanz had only spent two months exploring the sixth zone and immediately returned to the Capital in his past life.

“The Fourth Fiend died, and rumors spread that the Destiny Stone they possessed was in the hands of humans.”

The Third Lord, Regnator, then began his invasion of the Capital soon after those rumors started spreading. The cogwheels began to match in Seong-Hwi’s head.

The ninth zone reclamation. The Master Stone. The movements of the factions in the inner zones. Vipera Anguis’s murder of Natantes. Regnator’s invasion of the Capital. Patala and Echion are allies.

The cogwheels in his head all came together and turned in overdrive.

“No way!” he shouted, his eyes slowly getting wider.

Even during his past life, the superpowers had made their moves, knowing they were close to the Master Stone, after reclaiming the ninth zone. They were impatient and needed the power to defeat their competitors.

Hence, Seong-Hwi was sure that Vipera Anguis had framed Natantes with an absurd claim and killed him to steal his Race Stone. As for Regnator, he desired the Destiny Stone to the point that he razed the Capital down to the pits of Hell. Not only had they occurred around the same period, but the culprits of those two incidents happened to be allies.

A chilling assumption flashed in Seong-Hwi’s head after gathering information on all the events that had occurred in his past life and combining them with his current information.

“Vipera Anguis and Regnator schemed this to have a better chance at reaching the Master Stone!”

The reclamation of the ninth zone had been much faster than in the past. In other words, Vipera Anguis’s plan to kill Natantes had also been moved up. Seong-Hwi could hear a snake flicking its tongue as they stared at its prey with its sharp, vertical pupils.

It might have already begun! Seong-Hwi thought, imagining Vipera Anguis slowly coiling her glossy body around Gurzes.

After much thought, he shook his head and mumbled, “Even if this assumption is true, the situation is different from back then. It’s still not the worst-case scenario.”

In his past life, Grandis had concealed himself from the Mirror World’s history after being greatly disappointed at how corrupt the Sēmen had become. Hence, the Sēmen back then was merely a device built to justify the superpowers’ invasions. However, not only was Grandis now present, but he was doing his best to restore the corrupt Sēmen to what it used ot be.

The proof is in this newly-made inspector position. As long as Grandis stands, they can’t do as they want, as they had in my past life!

He looked up at his air bubbles rising toward the surface.

“I see so much more now that I’m in a different position,” he remarked.

Instead of separate incidents, Seong-Hwi saw the giant flow that connected them. He was different from his past self. He had become a World Ranker, was one of Underground’s supporting pillars, and was certain about what would happen and what he needed to do.

Huge wars will occur throughout the Mirror World soon. Perhaps also in Gurzes, very soon.

His eyes flashed. He could no longer think of this incident as merely a civil war. He also needed to consider Vipera Anguis’s scheme and the rapidly changing flow of the world.

“First, what I need to do is—”

As he was constructing the details of his plan, he sensed bitter bloodlust and saw red smoke rising from the outskirts of the Central Merfolk Town. No, it wasn’t red smoke; it was a large amount of blood being diluted by the water. The Wings of Evolution sprouted like blades from his back.

***

A slender but toned placoid scale tribesman, covered in blue scales, rapidly swam forward as he split through the water, his red eyes filled with chilling bloodlust. He was a hammerhead shark merfolk whose eyes were far apart because his head resembled a hammer.

“Motherfucking ganoid scale worms! Die! Die and beg for forgiveness from my brothers whom you’ve killed!” he shouted.

A symbol of a sharp tooth was engraved on the fin on his back. Every resident of Gurzes knew that it symbolized the Front Tooth, Carcharocles’s elite force. He was targeting a grocery store in the Central Merfolk Town with a sign in front of it labeled Placoid Scales Not Allowed.

The sign had been placed because of the recent pisciceps incidents, but it only showed that placoid scales were not inside. In other words, the hammerhead shark merfolk had interpreted it as a green light that he could slaughter every merfolk in the store.

The ganoid, ctenoid, and cycloid scales panicked once the hammerhead shark merfolk broke down the store’s door.

“Kyaaahh!”

“W-what the hell?!”

“A placoid scale!”

“Gahahaha! I’ll kill you all!” the hammerhead shark merfolk shouted, activating a skill.

[Activating Race Skill: Shark Skin Teeth.]

Skin Teeth was the placoid scale tribe’s exclusive skill, and Shark Skin Teeth were especially known for their sharpness and hardness. The tooth-shaped placoid scales rose, making the hammerhead shark merfolk look as if he were covered in spikes. The scales did not just look like teeth; they were nearly identical to them.

The hammerhead shark merfolk swung his fist at the male ganoid scale tribesman nearest to him, carving out his abdomen.

“Gurghhh!”

The ganoid scale tribesman’s abdomen was torn apart once it touched the sharp Shark Skin Teeth, his intestines oozing out. The hammerhead shark merfolk devoured the intestines and looked around for his next target.

“Kyaaahh! Call the guards!”

“R-run!”

“He’s a pisciceps!”

The grocery store customers fled as fast as they could, but they were as slow as swaying seagrass in the hammerhead shark merfolk’s eyes. He leapt from the ground and split through the water at incredible speeds. His entire body was a weapon with the Shark Skin Teeth activated, so fountains of blood spewed every time he even touched his targets.

“Gahaha! Weaklings!” he shouted.

The inside of the grocery store was as red as Hell after only a few minutes. The blood made it look like a red tide, and corpses with their flanks, heads, necks, and other areas torn apart by the Shark Skin Teeth floated around the store. The hammerhead shark merfolk had killed over a dozen merfolk in an instant.

“More! I must kill more! I’ll tear you all apart!” the merfolk shouted, intoxicated by bloodlust, as he brought his hands closer to each other as if grabbing the water and making a sphere.

This was the merfolk’s secondary force, Stream Force, the ability to control the flow of water. It was the main reason why one should never go against a merfolk in the water. They used this power to move rapidly through the water and could even use it offensively, as the hammerhead shark merfolk was about to do.

“HAAAAAHHH!” the merfolk roared, drawing out his Stream Force and mana to its limit.

[Activating Race Skill: Pressurized Water Bomb.]

The pressurized water screamed as it whirled inside a blue orb. If this were unleashed, the immense pressure would cause a huge explosion. Just then, various voices shouted from outside the store.

“You’re surrounded!”

“Come out with your hands up!”

“You’re under arrest for pisciceps charges!”

“Right on time!” the hammerhead shark merfolk said with a smile, looking as if even his teeth were smiling. “CHAAAAAHHH!”

The merfolk threw the Pressurized Water Bomb toward the source of the voices. It flew out through the broken entrance like a paper airplane. Panicked voices sounded from outside.

“Hm?”

“Gasp! It’s a Pressurized Water Bomb!”

“Get away!”

An explosion echoed, and the impact wave also destroyed the grocery store.

“Keke, kahahaha!” the hammerhead shark merfolk laughed crazily, staring ecstatically at the blood rising toward the surface like a smoke of blood. “IT’S TIME FOR REVENGE!”

This was the pisciceps, the fratricidal tragedy occurring inside Gurzes.