Chapter 155

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Taking a brief rest to replenish the magical power depleted by tracking magic, Turan mounted Bije and immediately pursued those who had attacked Ofen.

He had no intention of engaging in combat the moment he found his targets. After all, it was just the two of them against an unknown number of enemies. Simply approaching stealthily to obtain a few tracking mediums and then retreating would suffice.

However, upon arrival, he discovered that the enemy’s forces were far weaker than anticipated. Three merman royals, a couple of mediocre nobles, and a few hundred ordinary humans… It seemed the signal fires reporting an attack by mages alongside large creatures had merely been triggered by the presence of the warship. To anyone observing, such a force hardly seemed significant.

Turan had assumed a human faction collaborating with the Giant Sea Serpents had occupied Ofen, which is why he had instructed others to bring additional nobles. Now, he briefly regretted not bringing Meisa along instead.

Shaking off this fleeting regret, Turan left Armani at a safe distance, cloaked himself and Bije in invisibility, and approached to launch an attack. Using his newly acquired weapon, the railgun, at a slight angle should allow him to eliminate the merfolk without harming the civilians on the warship.

What he hadn’t anticipated, however, was that the merfolk could somehow sense the precursor to the railgun’s activation-its magnetic force. Due to their sudden transformation into Giant Sea Serpents, the warship was instantly crushed, and although they sustained injuries, they managed to escape into the sea.

Clicking his tongue in frustration, Turan decided to continue pursuing them. Three of them seemed manageable, and more importantly, the sight of Ofen he had witnessed earlier filled his mind.

Though it didn’t hold the same personal attachment as Kalamaf, Ofen was still a city under the Parsha name, one he was duty-bound to protect. The image of its ruins, with thousands of dead, remained vivid in his memory.

[Let’s go.]

Carrying his voice on the wind several kilometers away, Armani, who had been far off, transformed into a Giant Sea Serpent and advanced toward his kin.

Drawn by the presence of the traitor they had desperately sought, the three Giant Sea Serpents charged toward him instead of retreating, and soon all four were entangled in a fierce struggle deep beneath the sea.

Meanwhile, Turan, having activated the Carmine bloodline, rode the currents to approach, drawing a long sword from his pouch. Targeting the head of the most injured Giant Sea Serpent, he thrust the blade directly into it.

[Aaaaaaah-!]

In the dim underwater darkness, caught completely off guard, the Giant Sea Serpent screamed as its weak point was struck.

Only then did the other Giant Sea Serpents notice Turan’s presence, twisting their bodies and illuminating the dark night sea.

“Ugh.”

Such an ability shouldn’t come from merely transforming into a Giant Sea Serpent. How could they do this?

Puzzled, Turan quickly dispelled his invisibility and controlled the surrounding water to pull himself away. The gaping maw of a Giant Sea Serpent passed through the spot where he had just been.

Having narrowly missed its attack, the creature glared at Turan and shouted.

[You swore not to fight us!]

[That was under the condition that you wouldn’t harm humans, especially those under my protection.]

Just as he would send his voice through the wind on land, Turan wrapped his words in bubbles of water and sent them toward his opponent.

Hearing this, the Giant Sea Serpent spoke in a bewildered tone, as if unable to comprehend.

[The humans in the west had no connection to you, and in this warning attack on the port, only a few thousand died. So why…]

Before it could finish asking if Turan could handle making enemies of them, Armani bit down hard on its neck.

The other two Giant Sea Serpents attempted to tear into Armani to stop him, but already in poor condition, their attacks lacked force.

As the four became entangled, Turan approached the Giant Sea Serpent clinging to Armani and extended his hand.

In an instant, a mass of ice grew, enveloping the creature’s long body.

[Aaah!]

The Carmine bloodline’s abilities were water and ice. Normally, seawater is harder to freeze than freshwater, but for a powerful mage like Turan, this was hardly a limitation.

What he created wasn’t merely a block of ice to slow it down. The exterior was a cylinder encasing the body, but inside were hundreds of sharp blades-a torture device.

This was a feat of shaping water into ice that only a select few among Carmine nobles could achieve, requiring mastery of the craft to an extreme degree.

[Get it off!]

The ice blades, imbued with powerful magical energy, sliced through the Giant Sea Serpent’s tough scales, tearing into its tender flesh.

Though not life-threatening to such a resilient creature, pain often feels more intense than it actually is.

Having half-incapacitated one, Turan, much like Oneil had done in the past, shaped a massive ice whip and struck the relatively unscathed Giant Sea Serpent.

Like a master punishing a disobedient beast.

At that point, the Giant Sea Serpents realized they were at a disadvantage and that continuing the fight could mean death for all of them. They decided to flee, splitting into three directions: northwest, north, and northeast.

In a brief moment, Turan and Armani exchanged a glance and each pursued one of the fleeing creatures.

* * *

“Where is the Family Head?”

“Could it be that we arrived too late…?”

In front of the ruined port of Ofen, the Parsha army, led by Meisa, looked around anxiously.

They had rushed here upon hearing news of a major attack, only to find the city in ruins. The Family Head, who had set out alone and should have arrived a day earlier, was nowhere to be seen. Their anxiety was understandable.

However, unlike them, Meisa stood calmly, gazing at the sky.

“Does anyone know what kind of enemy attacked?”

“I don’t know, I just heard it was an enemy.”

“Shouldn’t we have asked for Solif’s help as well?”

“Meisa said it was fine, so what can we do?”

The truth about the Jade Mirror connecting Parsha and Baraha, as well as its location, was known only to a select few at the highest echelons of both families. The dozen or so mid-to-upper-tier nobles gathered here only knew that there was a method to travel through space to Baraha.

But soon, they understood why Meisa remained unperturbed.

“Huh.”

“Could that be…?”

With a rushing sound of water, something began to rise from the sea to the surface.

Seeing the massive body of a Giant Sea Serpent, the Parsha nobles instinctively prepared attack spells in alarm. However, they soon realized it was already a lifeless corpse.

The sight of seawater itself rising to carry the bodies of two enormous Giant Sea Serpents to the shore was almost epic in its grandeur.

Standing atop them were two figures: their revered Family Head, Turan, and the mysterious guest, Aren.

“They’re here.”

“There are two? Didn’t they say there were three?”

“One got away. It was fast.”

Turan conversed casually with Meisa as he lowered the Giant Sea Serpent corpses onto the shore.

Her calmness stemmed from having already received some information from Turan via the hand mirror. Though she hadn’t heard the full details due to the urgency of the pursuit and the need to conserve magical power.

As the two dismounted, Meisa approached, ruffling Armani’s hair and asking:

“Are you hurt?”

“I got a little hurt, but the kind… Turan healed me.”

At Armani’s words, the Parsha mages behind them widened their eyes in surprise.

Didn’t that imply this boy had fought alongside Turan against the Giant Sea Serpents?

Though it was hard to gauge the strength of these creatures now that they were dead, their sheer size suggested they were monsters on par with mythical magical beasts. Even the mages gathered here, all of whom were reasonably powerful within Parsha, knew that taking on such a creature single-handedly would be no easy task.

“Could he be a Carmine heir? If they fought in water, it makes sense he’d be prioritized over Meisa.”

“He looks so young, but it might be true.”

“At this rate, are all the heirs of the great families going to gather in Parsha?”

Ignoring the murmurs behind him, Turan relayed the events to Meisa. His voice carried a deep fatigue, having spent nearly an entire day pursuing the creatures.

It was one thing to fight an opponent head-on, but chasing down a Giant Sea Serpent intent on fleeing was no easy feat.

“They’re not on the level of the one we fought before, and they’re a bit weaker than Armani, but they’re still troublesome. In the sea, they could probably match an average family-head-level mage.”

“That strong, huh…”

“Especially for you, since the sea isn’t your forte.”

In their previous battle with the Giant Sea Serpent commander, they had managed to fight on the shore because the creature was half-mad and acting like a natural disaster. But against a Giant Sea Serpent determined to hide underwater, there was little Meisa could do. Electricity disperses ineffectively in water, and wind has no presence in such an environment.

Having shared this information, Turan turned his gaze to the nobles Meisa had brought with her.

“Everyone, thank you for coming so quickly in this urgent situation.”

“Of course!”

“Glory to Parsha!”

Though they always showed sufficient respect to their Family Head, the sight of the two Giant Sea Serpent corpses lying nearby elevated that respect to new heights.

Pointing to the creatures, Turan explained the situation to them.

“These were originally merfolk who recently gained the ability to transform into giant sea serpents and harm humans. You’ve probably all heard the stories of Carmine suffering greatly because of them.”

“Ah, so that’s…”

“I just heard it was due to marine magical beasts.”

The revelation that these enormous sea serpents were originally merfolk surprised everyone, but they paid close attention to Turan’s following words. Their Family Head wouldn’t disclose such secrets without reason.

“This time, I pursued and killed a few of them, but there are likely still several with such power remaining in the Northern Sea. Therefore, I am issuing a maritime ban around Ofen for the time being.”

A maritime ban.

Though Kalamaf was a significant trade hub via land routes, blocking sea routes would likely deal a considerable economic blow. Yet none of the nobles present dared to object.

With such monstrous creatures potentially swarming at any moment, who would be bold enough to request the port’s reconstruction?

Having confirmed their compliance, Turan nodded and said:

“Then let’s start by cleaning up here. Clear the collapsed buildings and begin recovering the bodies.”

“Um, Family Head. I have a question.”

“Yes?”

A noble from the northern Pallen family raised his hand timidly to request permission to speak.

“Those magical beasts… sea serpent bodies, what should we do with them? Should we process them into magical devices for harvesting…?”

“Just leave them be. They’re difficult to harvest with ordinary methods, and they’re useless anyway.”

At Turan’s words, the Parsha nobles all wore expressions of confusion.

It was well-known that the corpses of powerful magical beasts retained some degree of power. Though not as potent as when alive, they still far surpassed ordinary materials.

Instead of explaining with words, Turan decided to demonstrate. He drew his long sword and sliced off one of the Giant Sea Serpent’s teeth nearby.

“Here, take it.”

“Wha-? Uh…”

The noble, surprised, caught the thrown tooth, only to let out a groan as it melted and disappeared in his hand moments later.

“As you can see, their bodies aren’t real. Once separated from the main body, they dissipate. I brought them here only to show what attacked this city.”

He refrained from adding that even killing them yielded no magical power to absorb. Much like killing a powerful dark elf necromancer wouldn’t yield any usable power from their corpse, most non-human races were similarly useless in death.

“Now, let’s move quickly.”

Soon after, the Parsha nobles, who had come expecting a major battle, found themselves doing the cleanup work typically reserved for knights or commoners.

They demolished half-collapsed buildings and recovered bodies crushed or strewn about.

“This isn’t what we came here for…”

“Shh, the Family Head is working too. Be quiet.”

As they said, despite his exhaustion from chasing and killing Giant Sea Serpents all day, Turan didn’t stand on ceremony here.

Using telekinetic magic, he extracted dozens of bodies from the rubble in an instant, laying them out in a row on an open space. Several nobles let out exclamations at the sight.

Such a feat wasn’t merely a matter of strong magical power; it required exceptional skill in handling magic itself.

Meisa focused on demolishing and clearing the buildings from which Turan had extracted the bodies. With a few passes of wind blades through structures with twisted pillars and half-collapsed walls, they crumbled instantly. Thanks to her perfect control over the surrounding air, not a speck of dust rose despite the collapse.

Inspired by this, the other nobles, though less skilled, exerted their magical abilities to the fullest. As a result, within half a day, the devastated Ofen was somewhat tidied up.

“This city was governed by the Zaroyen family, correct?”

“Yes, Family Head.”

“Identify any close relatives with inheritance rights and inquire if they are willing to take over the city. It can’t happen now, but once we’ve eradicated all the Giant Sea Serpents, someone will need to rebuild and govern it.”

No one objected to his decision. The position of lord over a city that might not be rebuilt for who knows how long, and which would need to be started from scratch, was too distant a prospect.

Once the cleanup was somewhat complete, Turan addressed his subordinates solemnly before departing.

“Everyone, remember this place. This is where the enemies of the sea massacred our families.”

Using earth manipulation magic to create a mass grave, Turan determined that the exact number of bodies buried in the ground was 6,217.

Considering the size of this city, the number crushed completely or dragged into the sea to become fish food would likely be several times that.

This was the blood debt Parsha must remember from this battle.

* * *

The sudden attack by the Giant Sea Serpents and the story of the Family Head who repelled them evoked two emotions among Parsha’s vassals: anxiety that a colossal enemy could devastate their cities at any moment, and reassurance that they had a powerful protector.

As a result, some families who had previously sent only relatively weak nobles or distant relatives to Parsha began sending stronger individuals closer to heir status-a curious turn of events. They judged that staying in Kalamaf under Turan’s command offered a higher chance of survival than remaining within their own families.

Travelers passing near Ofen, now a massive graveyard, would gawk at the Giant Sea Serpent corpses encircling the city walls outside, spreading tales of their terrifying might far and wide.

Some unscrupulous mages, ignoring rumors that the corpses were useless, came seeking something to salvage. However, their feeble strength couldn’t even pry off a single scale, leaving them with nothing but the bitter realization of their inadequacy.

As Parsha solidified its sense of community through this harsh blow, an unexpected visitor arrived from the north.

It was the Carmine family, who had recently been defeated by the Giant Sea Serpents and forced to retreat inland.

“I greet the Family Head of Parsha.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

Turan felt a complex mix of emotions as he looked at the envoy representing Carmine.

Jemel Carmine.

The father of Oneil, whom Turan had once killed and impersonated, and one of the vessels of the god ruling Carmine, smiled gently as he spoke.

“I am aware that your valor has spread far and wide across the world. Especially those mighty and wicked Giant Sea Serpents-shamefully, they forced us to temporarily abandon Avaccha and retreat.”

The image of him sternly reprimanding Oneil was still vivid in Turan’s mind, yet now he bowed obsequiously, fawning like a sycophant. Was this really the same person? Did he feel no shame in lowering his head to someone far younger, and a mere human at that, not even a god?

Perhaps, like Lenod before him, he had temporarily relinquished control of his body to its shell.

Unaware of Turan’s thoughts, Jemel, eagerly rubbing his hands together, got to the point.

“The master of Carmine wishes to propose a joint battle with the Family Head of Parsha against those wicked sea serpents.”