Luca did not rush to make a move. He looked at the leader of the mermen and asked, “There’s something I’ve always been curious about. Is the grudge from tens of thousands of years ago really worth all the sacrifices you’re making?”
“Farlenben has disappeared for so many years. What are you all holding on to?”
The fact that an ancient grudge from tens of thousands of years ago could still affect the present was, in itself, strange.
“You don’t understand!” The merman leader’s eyes flashed with hatred. “Barnes was a traitor to all of Farlenben, the one who made us like this. They all deserve to die!”
Isaac and the others looked at Ellie, only to find that she, too, wore a confused expression.
It seemed she didn’t know anything about that history either.
Jell, however, seemed to recall something. He frowned and said, “I heard Levin mention it before. The king of Farlenben back then had obtained some kind of powerful force, trying to overthrow the Eternal Continent. Barnes’s ancestors, along with some others, disagreed with this decision. They attempted a rebellion to kill the king, but accidentally caused the king’s power to go out of control, which resulted in the entire Farlenben sinking into the sea.”
Upon hearing Jell’s words, the mermen of the Fish Human Race revealed angry expressions.
The leader sneered and retorted, “Absurd! It was clearly Barnes who tried to seize the throne, and it was the Sea Lord who stopped him. In the end, to escape punishment, he sacrificed the entire Farlenben, leading to its sinking and turning us into these abominations! Those with Barnes’s bloodline are just as despicable as he was!”
The two of them had different versions of history, and Luca couldn’t tell which one was true. However, what mattered to him wasn’t their internal squabble. What caught his attention was the mention of a force powerful enough to topple the entire Eternal Continent.
If that force was the Celestial Pearl, then wasn’t it possible that the Pearl was currently located in the Fish Human Race’s stronghold?
“Delaying won’t help you,” the leader said, his voice cold. “I’ll give you one last chance. Hand over the descendant of Barnes, or else you will be staying here!” While Luca was deep in thought, the leader clearly had no intention of continuing the conversation. A powerful aura suddenly erupted around him, pressing down like a Star-level threat.
Luca snapped back to reality, narrowing his eyes. He raised his spear and pointed it toward the Mutated Mermen, saying, “You can try.”
The Celestial Pearl—whether it was truly in the Fish Human Race’s stronghold or not, they would find out by charging in. There was no need to waste any more time on these creatures.
“You foolish humans!” The merman leader’s eyes burned with intense killing intent. He swung his trident and commanded, “Kill them all!”
As his voice fell, the Dead Sea Lord beneath him let out a low, rumbling roar, its voice echoing from the abyss—deep and ominous.
At the same time, a powerful sonic wave surged toward Luca and the others!
Superclass Skill—Wail of Agony!
Even just the shockwave made Isaac and the others feel as though their heads were being pierced by needles. Those with weaker strength stumbled, clutching their heads as blood flowed from their seven orifices.
“You seek death!” Luca’s eyes flashed coldly. Runes began to emerge around his body, and his aura surged upward at a frightening speed, breaking through the heavens until it reached the pinnacle of the stars.
Solar Awakening!
“Boom!!!”
The sky instantly turned into a sea of golden flames. The intense heat caused the temperature around them to rise sharply, enveloping everyone aboard both the Windrunner Ship and the Black Thorn.
As the mist steamed, the two immense forces clashed, causing violent turbulence that churned the sea’s surface, creating waves capable of instantly obliterating high-level beings.
Luca and the leader of the Fish Human Race engaged in fierce combat, while the remaining thousand-strong Fish Human warriors and monsters quickly closed in on the two ships.
Sophia and the others didn’t dare relax. They immediately grabbed their weapons and prepared for battle.
But before their fight even began, the sky suddenly rained down countless golden meteors, dense and overwhelming, covering all the monsters in a shower of destruction.
“You dare!” The merman leader’s expression changed in disbelief. He never expected Luca to be so shameless, to strike down his own soldiers. By the time he realized what was happening, it was already too late to stop it.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!!!” The dense explosions erupted within the Fish Human Race ranks, instantly vaporizing hundreds of merman warriors and deep-sea monsters. In just a single strike, they had lost a third of their forces.
[Ding! You killed “Lv56 Merman Archer (Common)”, gained 300,000 experience!]
[Ding! You killed “Lv62 Deep-sea Octopus (Rare)”, gained 820,000 experience!]
[Ding! You killed “Lv68 Merman Witches (Rare)”, gained 1,280,000 experience!]
…
The kill notifications flooded the screen, and an immense amount of experience surged into Luca’s body. He was bathed in a brilliant golden light.
[Ding! Your level has increased to Lv67, you have gained 300 free attribute points!]
Seeing his subordinates wiped out in an instant, the merman leader’s eyes turned bloodshot with rage.
“Die!!!” His aura suddenly erupted, and a massive black sea serpent, hundreds of meters long, materialized out of thin air. Its blood-red maw opened wide and lunged at Luca.
Experience more tales on empire
“No need to rush, I’ll send you down to join them.” Luca sneered coldly and swung his Solar Divine Spear to meet the serpent’s attack.
The seemingly invincible sea serpent shattered into countless black droplets the moment it collided with the Solar Divine Spear. Before they could even touch the ground, they were burned into mist by the Solarium Divine Flame.
“This… is… Divine Flame?!” The merman leader’s eyes widened in realization.
“The gods were all destroyed ten thousand years ago, how could you possess Divine Flame?!” His face contorted in disbelief. Even though Luca’s power was at the Star level, the leader had never been this shocked.
Previously, the merman leader had only thought that the flame Luca wielded looked somewhat familiar, but hadn’t paid it much attention. Now, he realized that this human, who came from the Western Sea, was wielding the Divine Flame—a force that had long since disappeared countless millennia ago.
Farlenben had existed since the Divine Court era, and the Lord of Storms, one of their gods, was a part of their history. They had extensive records of the Gods’ War. While they didn’t know every god in detail, they had clear records of top-tier deities like the Lord of the Sun.
If the Lord of Storms had been an ordinary god in the Divine Court, then the Lord of the Sun, who mastered the laws of solar fire, was an unmatched prodigy in the age of gods.
Logically, after the Lord of the Sun’s death, the Solarium Divine Flame should never have appeared again. And yet, here it was, in the hands of a mere human. The merman leader could only imagine the shock he felt in that moment.
“I didn’t expect the Fish Human Race to still preserve some history.” Luca’s figure suddenly appeared in front of the merman leader. Calmly, he said, “After I kill you, I’ll go take a look.”
A strong sense of danger suddenly surged, and the merman leader’s expression changed drastically. Before he could make a move, a golden light rapidly expanded in his vision, soon blinding him completely.
As the Solar Divine Spear made contact with the merman leader, violent fire serpents erupted from it, roaring outward and engulfing him entirely!
Boom!! A thunderous explosion, mixed with horrifying screams of pain, echoed through the sky.
Almost every merman warrior from the Fish Human Race halted their movements and looked up.
What they saw in the sky would forever be etched into their memories.
Their mighty leader, ranked among the top three in their tribe, undefeated in battle, had his flesh and scales turn to ash. His entire body burned with golden flames, descending like a meteor from the heavens. Before even reaching the sea, his body disintegrated into ash and was scattered by the wind.
[Ding! You have killed “Lv93 Merman-Black King (Lord)”, gained 22,530,000 experience!]
The kill notification appeared in front of Luca, and his level reached 68.
At the same time, Luca noticed a crystal-clear, azure pearl drop from the Black King’s corpse.
Silver magical runes flickered as Luca reached out, and the pearl instantly appeared in his hand.
[Merman Pearl: Star level, use increases player’s mental attributes by 100,000 points, usable by Superclass.]
The description was brief but made Luca’s heart race.
100,000 mental attributes! That was almost one-fifth of his current stats! If converted into high-tier Merman Pearls, this one alone would be worth at least a thousand of them.
A sense of joy rose in Luca’s heart. With this, he was one step closer to the Divine Realm.
He stored the Superclass Merman Pearl in his storage ring.
Then looked down at the merman warriors below. A murderous intent gleamed in his eyes. Once he took care of these Fish Human Race warriors, his strength would surely reach Earth-level, possibly even faster than he had originally expected.
Without wasting any time, Luca gripped the Solar Divine Spear and plummeted from the sky like a shooting star.
In an instant, a golden sea of flames surged, a black vortex howled, and the turquoise sea roiled!
Merman warriors were slain effortlessly, not even putting up a fight. These high-level monsters were no different from lambs to the slaughter in his hands.
Soon, the mist reappeared, enveloping the area. The black sea surface returned to its calm, and the hundreds of Mutated Mermen vanished without a trace. Even the decaying giant whale was slain by Luca.
Meanwhile, Luca’s level had risen as expected to level 70.
[Ding! Your level has increased to Lv70, and you have gained 1,000 free attribute points!]
[Congratulations! You have reached level 70. The second awakening trial is now open!]
[Note: You will not gain any more experience until the awakening is complete!]
[You can start the trial at any time!]
A series of notifications flashed before him.
Luca let out a long sigh of relief.
After all the effort, he had finally taken that crucial step.
Once he completed the second awakening trial, he would officially step into the ranks of Superclass.
However, before he could celebrate for too long, Luca suddenly furrowed his brow.
Why did he feel like something was wrong?
It seemed as if… something was missing.