Chapter 246 : Infiltrating the Mind Realm

Infiltrating the Mind Realm

"Ugh... Ah..."

The Sea Palace Guard groaned in pain, looking down at the wound on his chest as blood flowed out. He struggled to lift his head.

"Who are you?"

"That's exactly what I want to ask. Who are you, and why did you attack us?"

"I... I don't know..."

The naga couldn't understand what Serea was saying at all. His own feeling was as if he had slept for a very long time, and upon waking up, he found himself gravely wounded, and then was rescued by this woman.

"You don't remember? Then what do you remember?"

"I... my name is Teusha Whirlpool Tide."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"..."

Seeing the confusion in the naga's eyes, Serea realized that she wouldn't get anything more out of him for now.

But since his surname was "Whirlpool Tide," everything was simple...

"Drink this first to recover a bit."

She handed over a life potion, and Teusha, knowing his rescuer meant to help him, drank it without hesitation.

Although the potion couldn't bring the dead back to life, it did stabilize his injuries. Afterwards, Serea also poured the potion down the throats of the other naga.

Teusha's eyes stayed on Serea's legs as she turned away. If he hadn't been mistaken, those were fish tails—meaning the girl before his eyes was a mermaid.

Once the naga's injuries were stabilized, Serea turned back, and by then Teusha was already bowing deeply to her.

"Though I have lost my memory, I know you are my benefactor. Until I recover my memory, please allow me to stay by your side and serve you."

"Such a simple-minded idea."

Serea said as she whistled, and a Carrion Beast dashed over from afar. She leaped on and mounted it.

"You and your companions should stay here for now. Someone will come to treat you soon."

With that, Serea was about to ride the Carrion Beast over to Little Black and the others, but Teusha called out.

"Beautiful mermaid lady, will we meet again?"

"Hmm... If you really can't remember, just follow whoever comes to treat you back to my camp. I have pressing matters now, so I'll excuse myself."

After saying this, Serea left a Raven to scout and then made straight for the woods.

As he watched Serea leave, for a brief moment, teusha felt an emptiness inside. That fleeting glimpse of beauty was deeply carved into his blank memory, sweeping away all confusion after his amnesia. Now, teusha had a new sense of purpose.

......

In the jungle, the main force had already engaged the mutated ogres. Judging by their advance, their obvious goal was Lake Nos.

In truth, since Serea had successfully rescued Tethys, this battle didn't need to take place. However...

Serea's main forces were the undead, who could endlessly regenerate. In such a situation, as long as a battle broke out, Serea would always come out on top.

Since the opponent wanted a battle, let them have it!

"Shield soldiers, intercept the enemy!"

Guided by the Raven, everyone successfully ambushed the mutated ogres. After a round of magic bombardment and a volley of arrows, the enemy forces had all been injured to some extent, exposing the weakness of relying on a single unit against mixed units.

Previously the Skeleton Cavalry had been countered and suffered losses, but this time was different.

"Awooo!"

Masses of tentacles swung down on the Skeleton Shield Warriors' shield wall, but even at full force, the blows only made the Skeleton Shield Warriors stagger back a step.

"Fight for the Queen!"

With Little Black's shout, the Terror Roar BUFF stacked, Serea's outfit BUFF stacked, the Assault Battle Armor group BUFF stacked, and the Bloodfiend Treant Senluoluo appeared, becoming a fixed BUFF banner.

In an instant, the Skeleton Warriors, with an average level of just 17, had their combat strength forcibly raised to around 20. Their soul flames burned fiercely in their eye sockets—this time they would show the enemy who the future rulers of this jungle were!

Shield Bash!

The shield wall surged forward, sending the mutated ogres stumbling backwards. The defensive line of Skeleton Shield Warriors was like an impenetrable barrier; no matter how the mutated ogres charged, the shield wall did not budge.

Seizing the moment, the elven archers, using the high mobility of the Carrion Beasts, flanked to the sides, accompanied by the Skeleton Cavalry now acting temporarily as mounted archers.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Arrows were aimed at the chests of the mutated ogres—the very spot where the Erosion Demons were parasitizing.

Blood blossomed as one ogre after another fell.

Realizing that their hosts were perishing, the Erosion Demons parasitizing the ogres sensed the crisis. At this rate, they all knew they would be finished, so...

Rage!

They forced the mutated ogres' bodies into a frenzy, unleashing primal savagery even the Erosion Demons couldn't fully control. The mutated ogres became mindless monsters, relying solely on raw strength to fight.

But...

Seeing the enemy's attempt to break through with Rage, leklis knew it was his time to act.

"Decay Curse!"

He used the tried-and-true trick from before to deal with enraged ogres. Instantly, the freshly-empowered ogres were weakened, and, now utterly irrational and without technique, they were ripe for defeat.

At this point, the rest was simple...

"Charge!"

Maro led a team from the flank; the blood slave units and Skeleton Heavy Warriors began the slaughter, shining in battle for the first time!

Blood Burn!

They sacrificed blood to amplify strength; while not as insane as Rage, they kept their wits, able to coordinate attacks. Cooperating with the flanking Skeleton Heavy Warriors and the luring Skeleton Shield Warriors, swathes of mutated ogres were cut down.

At the same time, Aruka arrived in a rush. Seeing Little Black and the others battling ogres, he shouted:

"Support them! Wolf Riders, charge!"

"Ura!"

Phantom Veils streaked through the woods, direwolves using magic bombardments to identify heavily wounded targets, then dashing in for the kill.

Splurt!

Blood was splattered over the ground. Upon seeing Aruka, Lola's eyes lit up.

"Chieftain Aruka has returned!"

"Coordinate with Chieftain Aruka for the slaughter!"

With the order given, everyone surged forward. With absolute numbers and overwhelming advantage, there was no need for tactics—just a brute-force assault to end the fight.

A brutal slaughter began. The crazed, powerless mutated ogres were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter. Witnessing this, the distant Black Hat was nearly scared out of stealth.

"My god, just what kind of enemies are those?!"

Watching the massacre of those mighty monsters, black Hat gained a new understanding of Serea. No wonder she'd managed to defeat the White Blade Mercenary Group's assault and force them to surrender—turns out this woman actually wielded such terrifying power!

No way, I must inform Maregof at once—such an enemy cannot be confronted at all!

With that, black Hat slunk away in stealth, while Little Black and company began cleaning up the battlefield.

Splurt!

After finishing off the not-yet-dead Erosion Demons, the sound of rumbling came from afar.

"Hmm?"

Everyone looked up to see a towering giant of flowing water parting the jungle, heading their way. They were about to brace for battle, when a familiar figure caught their eye.

"It's already over, huh?"

At this moment, Serea, in her mermaid form, was sitting on the shoulder of the Deep Sea Water Elemental Nevies.

"Queen, per your orders, all enemies have been eliminated."

"Good work, everyone."

With that, Serea jumped off the giant's shoulder and stood on the ground, immediately spotting Aruka.

"Huh? Aruka, what are you doing back here instead of being with your wife?"

Caught so off guard, Aruka scratched his head and answered a bit awkwardly,

"With Auna there, I'm at ease, and given how crucial things are at camp, I hurried back."

"Good, I was worried that your unborn baby girl would keep you away for good."

"No, no, that won't happen."

After teasing Aruka, Serea turned to the anxious Tifia.

"Queen Serea, what about Lady Lake God...?"

"She's fine. We'll talk at camp."

Since many lizardmen were still unaware of Tethys's true identity, Serea said no more. Tifia, hearing this, relaxed.

"The battle's over. Everyone, clean up the battlefield and return to camp as soon as you're done."

"Yes, queen." xN

"Lola, come with me for a moment."

Pulling Lola aside, Serea gave her instructions.

"Take some people back to the shores of Lake Nos. There are some wounded naga there—help them recover and bring them back to camp."

"Yes, queen."

Lola went off to follow orders, and after a quick sweep to gather materials, everyone returned to camp.

......

An hour and a half later.

Lola had already picked up the naga and was bringing them back. Serea, however, couldn't rest upon returning to camp. Instead, she took Tifia to the Spring of Life beneath the Elf Tree.

It had originally been used for healing Lilith; but now, two other girls were inside instead.

"Lady Lake God!"

Upon seeing the unconscious Tethys, tifia rushed over, but halfway there, a mini-octopus suddenly jumped out of the spring, blocking her.

"???"

Sizing up the little octopus, tifia found it oddly familiar, but couldn't place it.

"Serea!"

When she saw Serea, nora called out excitedly, and Little Mo's eyes curved into crescents of joy.

"Oo~!"

"I came to check on Tethys. How is she?"

"My lady has been asleep the whole time, showing no signs of waking. Serea, do you think she'll ever snap out of it?"

Tears welled in Nora's eyes.

"Don't worry—she'll be fine."

Serea declared with great conviction.

"Serea has a way!"

"I can give it a try."

As she said this, Serea slowly stepped into the spring, her legs merging into black fishtails.

Swimming over to Tethys's side, under the Spring of Life, the girl's face bore no expression.

"Dogsius, are you sure this will work?"

"Yes, because Lady Tethys is trapped by her own fears. Forcibly stimulating her spirit would be risky, so the only way is to enter her mind realm to awaken her."

Dogsius explained that someone would need to enter the girl's mind realm to wake her. Originally, nora would have been the best choice, but for some reason, Serea had a strong premonition that she herself had to do it.

"Let me try first. If not, we'll let Nora go."

With that, Serea left only Celia and Nora by her side; everyone else withdrew from the tree hollow.

"Nora, please look after my body."

"Eh?"

"Get ready to start."

Saying this, Serea lay down beside Tethys.

Truthfully, Serea had another small motive—by entering the mind realm, she might glimpse into someone's memories and possibly find clues about the Deep Sea Relic's seal.

All was ready. Serea closed her eyes. As darkness fell, she felt a bout of dizziness—and then she arrived in an underwater world.

Corals, sandy floor, waves—clearly an undersea setting. Serea found herself transformed into a black mermaid floating at the bottom of the sea. In front of her was an underwater city.

A city, indeed!

Though architectural styles were a bit strange, these were clearly manmade. Only a very special ruler could have built such a grand city beneath the ocean.

But before Serea could admire the beauty of this undersea metropolis, the scene flickered and shifted.

It was a cozy and elegant lady's boudoir. In the room were a black-haired mermaid girl and a blue-haired mermaid girl—Serea recognized the blue-haired one as her target this trip.

Tethys!

From the bystander's perspective, the two seemed unaware of Serea, chatting away as usual.

"Princess, you look so worried—has the Blackwater Tribe come to propose again?"

"Mm, it's super annoying."

"That just proves your charm reigns supreme at the sea bottom."

"Hehe, hearing you say that, I do feel a bit happy."

The black-haired mermaid girl laughed, and through their conversation, Serea gleaned some information.

Tethys hailed from the deep-sea world, serving a mermaid princess.

But nothing here seemed fearsome. So what was the horror that had trapped Tethys?

As Serea wondered this, she noticed a staff stored in an ornate display case. There was nothing special about the staff itself, but what caught her notice was the gemstone embedded in it.

Deep Sea Relic!

Seeing the gem, Serea instinctively swam over to touch it—but before her fingers could make contact, the vision shattered. When the scene reformed, she was back in the serene underwater world from before, only this time the vision was different.

Blood, corpses...

Black-scaled naga hunted down the merfolk of the undersea city—a terrifying, brutal massacre!

(To be continued...)