Ch.1168There Are Too Many Heads.

The merfolk’s stronghold, Emerald Lake, was vast enough to barely accommodate nearly ten thousand merfolk.

It was so wide and deep that at first glance, one might mistake it for a sea rather than a lake.

In the middle of the expansive lake stood a pillar-like wall rising like an island, and within it was built a city that encompassed both above and below the water.

A complex and bizarre metropolis using the city’s outer wall as support, with countless buildings attached and interwoven like an ant colony.

The sacred ground and capital of the underground merfolk, the Lake Temple Lairiga.

—-

“There are quite a few of them. I thought at least half wouldn’t have arrived yet, given the urgency of the summons.”

“Indeed, it’s absolutely teeming. That looks like about five thousand, wouldn’t you say?”

Merfolk swam busily across the water’s surface and through the deep waters.

The number outside the city alone appeared to be nearly five thousand, so including those inside the city, the total would exceed eight thousand at minimum.

Wasn’t the total population of underground merfolk around ten thousand? It seems most of them have already gathered in the capital.

“A frontal assault would be difficult. If they were all at the level of the merfolk we’ve encountered so far, it wouldn’t be a major problem… but I don’t think it will be that simple.”

“Indeed. If they gathered their entire military force and had only a few Hero-class fighters, wouldn’t they have been extinct long ago?”

As one might expect, among them were several… no, quite many formidable enemies with combat prowess equal to human Heroes.

The ratio of powerful fighters to total forces seemed several times higher than among humans.

Well, that makes sense. These creatures have spent their days fighting in this underground world, so they naturally became elite fighters.

If humans also gathered all their fighters and held death matches until only ten thousand remained, wouldn’t there be many more Hero-class fighters than now?

Setting aside the fact that it would be an ethically unacceptable madness, considering the number of sacrifices, it would be a loss rather than a gain.

The situation is different from the merfolk who had to control their population due to environmental constraints.

Anyway, for that reason, there were quite a few Hero-class fighters mixed among the merfolk, so charging at them head-on would not be considered a wise decision.

“Can’t you handle it with your power, miss?”

“Well, I probably could, but…”

Of course, as Leonore suggested, if I went all out, I could easily annihilate thousands of merfolk, even with some Heroes among them.

“…It would be difficult right now. It seems my opponent is elsewhere.”

That’s the problem—I can’t do that.

“You mean the ‘Great One’ they mentioned?”

“Yes. I don’t know who—no, what it is yet, but it’s definitely down there. Something quite powerful.”

I can sense it. I could vaguely tell.

The being the merfolk worship and call the Great One. It’s coiled up beneath that city, even deeper than the bottom of the lake.

The power I intuitively felt from it was, as expected, at least Demigod-class. If I wasted my strength massacring merfolk before fighting it, I would inevitably struggle against such an opponent.

“If you can sense its presence from this distance… would it be right to assume it has noticed us as well?”

“I’m not sure about that. If it had noticed us, I think there would have been some reaction… is it sleeping or something?”

The one fortunate thing, if anything, might be that it doesn’t seem to have noticed us yet.

Whether its senses are dull or there’s some other circumstance, I’m not sure… well, it will eventually notice and respond when we get closer.

It might order the merfolk to attack us, or come out itself. That’s probably what will happen, right?

Even if we don’t get closer, it will certainly notice us once the battle begins.

“So what should we do? Any good ideas, miss?”

“Well… what about pouring poison into the river flowing into the lake? Since they can’t leave the water, it would certainly be effective.”

“And what about the water we drink? That lake seems to be the water source for this entire region.”

Ophelia, who had been listening, interjected with disbelief.

Contaminating the entire lake with deadly poison would certainly wipe out most of the merfolk without lifting a finger, but then what would we drink?

“Ah, that is a problem.”

Judging by the size of the lake and the flow of tributaries around it, it was clear that all rivers in the area passed through this lake before spreading to various regions.

Poisoning it would contaminate the water source for the entire area, making it impossible to find drinking water anywhere.

Lena couldn’t use the miracle of purification, so she couldn’t purify the poisoned water, and using a weak poison wouldn’t kill the merfolk either.

Of course, we do have antidotes, but not in large quantities, so they would run out after a few uses. So poison isn’t an option.

What a shame, I thought it was a good strategy.

—-

Anyway, after that, we observed the lake from a distance for a while, discussing plans to wipe them all out.

“If we lure some of them out and repeatedly chip away at their forces…”

“Unless they’re fools, they won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

“What about sniping the commander-class merfolk to cause confusion…”

“That would help. We can’t avoid a full-scale battle, but it would help.”

“How about using translation magic to disrupt their command system?”

“I’ll try if you ask, but don’t expect too much. They’ll easily see through that kind of trick.”

“If we wait and strike right after they clash with another race…”

“That’s fine, but who knows when that will be?”

Of course, no particularly innovative strategy emerged from our discussion.

Jahan’s suggestion of guerrilla warfare would be meaningless if the enemy didn’t respond accordingly, and sniping commanders or issuing false orders could only be expected to have supplementary effects.

Nigel’s suggestion to take advantage of their conflict with another race had the problem of requiring us to wait indefinitely.

Fire attacks would be useless against creatures living in a vast lake, and electrocution would have its limitations.

Killing eight thousand merfolk with lightning alone would require at least a thunder dragon, not just a grand mage.

To begin with, these creatures could freely control water like magic, so we might end up getting electrocuted ourselves.

After about thirty minutes of discussion…

“Further discussion would be a waste of time. Unless we decide not to fight at all, we can’t avoid a full-scale battle in the end.”

Ophelia clicked her tongue, declaring that continuing this inconclusive discussion was becoming tedious.

To annihilate them, there was ultimately no other way than a full-scale battle, so rather than wasting time looking for non-existent methods, it would be better to use the ideas we already had to make the inevitable confrontation as advantageous as possible.

The others seemed to agree, having no better alternatives, so our chosen tactic was confirmed to be the full-scale battle we had tried to avoid.

Of course, we wouldn’t just charge in recklessly; various strategies would be incorporated.

“No choice then… I wanted to conserve my strength if possible.”

I rose from the grass where I had been lying and drew Durandal, gripping the hilt with both hands and summoning my power.

– Wooooong!

The power of the commandment star, transformed from Karma to divine power, awakened in response to my will, concentrating in the stellar relic in my hands.

– Guooooo…!

The blue-silver blade pulsated violently, tearing through space.

Perhaps sensing my presence at last due to the massive wave of power, the unknown presence sleeping at the bottom of the lake suddenly swelled up.

But it was too late.

【 Defying Fate 】

Time and space froze before my eyes in extreme compression, then shattered as my sword slashed through.

【 Sky Slash 】

The suppressed power burst forth toward the mortal world—

– Kwaoooooooooo!

Before the merfolk could even realize they were under attack, the consequences had already swept over them.

– Kurrrrrrrr…!

The lake, split in half, created a vortex that scattered violent waves.

Pieces of merfolk torn apart through space and fragments of the bisected city were swept up in those waves, splashing up like fountains before sinking again.

And then, from the middle of the devastated lake,

【 KYAOOOOOOOOOOOO-! 】

A massive monster emerged with a roar of rage.

A body rivaling mountain ranges.

Navy blue scales like the deep sea.

A long snout like a viper.

Beneath its impossibly huge head, eight elongated necks and heads writhed like tentacles or whiskers.

Three of those heads had been severed, twitching and spraying blood, and of the two pairs of wings protruding from its back, one pair had been torn off, leaving only three wings.

This was the being the merfolk had worshipped as a god and called the “Great One.”

“What is that? A Dragonborn…? No, it’s something different…”

“…An ancient dragon.”

Unlike the mediocre dragons we had hunted until now, this was an ancient dragon that had accumulated such immense power that it could not yet return to the surface.

The nine-headed sea dragon roared, enveloping tidal waves around itself.