Kingdom of High Tarxan, Near A Tarxan Port, Near Portville, On The Ocean Of The Country Of High Tarxan

First Year Of God, First Day, First Five Days, First Month

Waves were pounding against the hull, and the sails were whipping back and forth in the fierce wind. The magi-engines were struggling to propel the entire vessel as the magicians were all but exhausted in purifying the magi-crystals. With each magician that became exhausted, another magician took their place. The wind roars through the broadside of the ironclads as it nearly capsizes through the sheer strength of the wind. Flickers of light from the barrels of magical muskets light up the deck of the ship.

"Magicians! Wind Barrier!" commanded a man on the deck. A group of mages cast a spell, erecting a wall of wind that intercepted a barrage of fireballs from a horde of flying demons.

"Reserves! Assist the magicians below with purifying the magi-crystals!" shouted another man.

On the side was a line of Elven infantry facing towards the broadside of the ship with an Elven male at their head. Raising his enchanted sword, he called out.

"Fire the Anti-Air Flak Cannons!"

After a tense moment, the muzzles of the anti-air flak cannons flashed, followed by a thunderous blast that reverberated through the air. At the far side of the ocean, a loud whizzing sound ended with a flying creature being struck and exploding, its carcass scattering across the waves.

On the deck of the ship, a lone Elven man ran urgently through the wits towards another Elven male.

"Your Majesty Acheron, our fleet has suffered enormous casualties," he reported breathlessly.

Acheron, on the other hand, had an immense sour with some parts being distorted on his face.

"Tsk! That Melian brought us to this accursed place! She'd better be dead by now! After all, she was facing the entire force of demons and sea monsters! We've only encountered a fraction of their numbers, and look at the toll it's taken on us!" he retorted.

'If she survived that encounter, then I fortunately had a few magicians place a Sealing crystal with a magic circle underneath her ironclad. The magic circle would automatically gather a massive amount of mana, and once enough is collected, it would activate the sealing crystal and cast a Transcendent Tier spell. By the time she notices, it will be too late. I also had magicians on her ironclad suppress any leaking mana, thus it is immensely concentrated into one area. If ever the magicians that cast the spell died, a time limit would ensue before the mana leaks again,' Acheron thought to himself.

"Even if she notices it, she wouldn't have enough time and there would be no point in running away! As ironclads are terribly slow in maneuvering through the ocean, this means I shall rise as the new monarch! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Acheron exclaimed.

As Acheron laughed, the surrounding Elven men joined in.

"All hail the one true monarch of High Tarxa! Hail!" an aristocrat shouted.

"Hail!" echoed the surrounding Elven men.

After hearing the song of praise towards him, Acheron marched to the front to command the soldiers.

"All of you! Defend your new king to the best of your abilities, even if it means your death!" an Elven aristocrat ordered.

"Aye, aye, commander!" they all simultaneously replied.

Flickers of light surrounded the ship as cannonballs and magical bullets from dozens of muskets filled the sky. The deafening roar of cannons and flak cannons reverberated across the sea. As time passed, the water became littered with the carcasses of demons and sea monsters.

"HAHAHAHA! Is that all these beasts have? I expected a much harder challenge as I ascended the throne!" Acheron exclaimed.

'As should be, researching that ancient sealing crystal containing a transcendent tier spell for decades was an immensely tedious task,' Acheron thought to himself. 'Casting such a spell would typically require millions of lives to sacrifice, but through the sealing crystal, it can be done by simpletons. Heh! What a perfect way to get rid of my sister! Not only that, this tier of magic won't invoke the ire of the Elven goddess. Thus, I have resolved the ancient curse passed down our families to the successors who challenge the crown prince and princesses. However, this means they could use it against my future heir! That cannot happen. I must silently sweep this matter under the rug. When I return, I must dispose of those who know about it.'

Acheron was thinking all about the wealth he could get when he was interrupted by one of his men.

"Commander! An unknown creature has been ravaging through the fleets! It is reported that it surfaces underneath the ocean which forces the ship atop it to capsize," The soldier reported, "Not only that, it could even shoot water projectiles that could blow a hole in our ironclads."

Acheron's expression darkened, "What? Then it might be a sea dragon! I would personally solve the problem as only advanced magic would work against that blasted creature."

From what Acheron knew, the scariest thing on the sea was Sea Dragons, the kings of the sea. They were gigantic monsters classified as a higher level Transcendent Tier 1 Magic Beast, possessing an astonishing amount of magic power, with some records of having over 72,000.

The Endless Sea on the southwest side of High Tarxa is known to be a house of such terrifying sea monsters, especially during this period of the year where mana was abundant and was likely to cause a monster wave, and they are terrific as every sea monster would attack any nearby coastal city.

"Yes, commander!" the soldier replied.

Acheron climbed up the railing of the ironclad and used his magic to strengthen his vision. On the far side of the ocean, a lurking presence caught his attention.

"Hah! I've found you!" Acheron declared.

Acheron started the magic incantations, and upon the last sentence, his foot was enveloped with a faint light of magical energy. With a mighty leap, he traversed from one ironclad ship to another in mere seconds.

Upon landing on the sixth ironclad ship, Acheron found himself face to face with the sea dragon. It boasted a long body wrapped in beautiful blue scales that looked like they were formed with clear water. With a pair of wings and arms, it resembled a creature born of both land and sea. Its massive feet remained submerged underwater, a testament to its adaptation to the ocean depths. Just the part that emerges from the water is already over 30 meters long, the dragon's appearance sent shivers down the spines of all who beheld it as its size and ferocity far surpassing that of the average leviathan.



Surrounding the sea dragon lay a wreckage of ironclad ships it had effortlessly destroyed or overturned, with dozens of elven warriors and mages engaged in a fierce battle against the creature.

"My friend, retreat with your forces. I will handle this," Acheron ordered the captain of the combat units.

"As you wish, your majesty," the captain nodded respectfully before instructing the others to fall back, and they did without question.

Now facing the Sea Dragon alone with his hands clasped to his back, a confident smile playing on his lips as he met the creature's gaze as his body was enveloped in a powerful aura of magical energy.

Uninterested nor feeling threatened by what this little creature had, the sea dragon slowly opened its mouth and shoots out a giant water bullet. Though incomparable to what one can create using normal water magic, this projectile possessed a more devastating force, capable of obliterating a small building in an instant.

However-

Kaboom!

Extending his hands, Acheron unleashed a two-meter magical arrow at the incoming water bullet, creating a massive explosion that shook the surroundings.

"Try harder than that," Acheron taunted.

"Roaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!"

The sea dragon roared, it opened its mouth again to prepare another attack, and how is the true ruler of High Tarxan going to let him do that?

Without hesitation, he released all of his strength and appeared directly in front of the monster.

At first, the sea dragon was caught off-guard but quickly realized the elf just teleported and dared to stand against such a noble being, the sea dragon opened its maw to unleash another attack.

Boom! BANG!

Following the shot, Acheron immediately unleashed a magic arrow again, but a larger and more powerful one. With this, the sea dragon's eyes widened in surprise, and something unexpected happened, the monster retreated.

Kabooooom!

Just as the giant water ball and magic arrow collided, both the elf and the retreating monster were engulfed in a powerful explosion, sending them both flying backward.

The Sea Dragon roared once more, unleashing a barrage of giant water bullets at Acheron with machine gun-like speed.

Three of the water balls exploded just before reaching him, forming a water net around him, while water tentacles surged from behind, attempting to pierce his body. Meanwhile, the Sea Dragon unexpectedly appeared above him, aiming to swallow him whole.

With a vicious smile, Acheron remained still, seemingly accepting his fate as the sea dragon descended upon him.

But in that moment, as the sea dragon's jaws loomed overhead, Acheron's expression shifted as a glimmer of light emanated from his palm and began to agglomerate a massive amount of magical energy. As he gathered a certain amount, Acheron blasted a giant ball of blue fire.

But just before impact, a water bubble materialized inside the mouth of the sea dragon, swallowing the fireball to kill some of the impacts before it exploded.

Boom!

The sea dragon, although wounded, managed to survive the attack, but the force of the explosion lifted its enormous body into the sky before slamming back into the sea, creating a terrible storm.

Acheron was thrown back as well as he hastily crossed his arms.

"Roarrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

The sea dragon roared in pain before launching itself out of the water, its speed was so fast that one should be in awe compared to the size of its body. The bloody figure of the sea dragon with some of its scale falling off arrived before Acheron and opened its mouth to unleash a five meters long water spear.

Acheron narrowly dodged the attack, but his senses alarmed him, because the monster tail appeared behind him and was about to strike him.

Everything happened too fast, and Acheron didn't have the time to put forth a perfect defense. In a split-second decision, he pivoted and shot two magic arrows as they clashed against the sea dragon tail and pushed it back. Borrowing from this explosion, Acheron successfully escaped from the attack.

Just as he appeared in the sky, the atmosphere crackled with energy, and a gigantic water spear materialized above him. This attack seemed to manipulate space itself as Acheron found himself unable to maneuver his body as he wished perfectly.

"Fuck!" he cursed aloud.

The sea dragon's roar reverberated even louder as the colossal water spear descended from the sky with frightening speed, aimed directly at Acheron.

Acheron watched the thirty meters long water spear close in and it had already arrived before him, ready to pierce his body when he immediately casted a magic spell he had spent over decades of study and practice.

As the sea dragon was about to savor his victory, he unexpectedly found his body shifted through space and took Acheron's place, causing the dragon's eyes to almost fall out of their sockets in confusion.

In a breathtaking twist, as the sea dragon was abou to savor its victory, it unexpectedly found itself shifted through space and swapped positions with Acheron, causing the dragon's eyes to almost fall out of their sockets in confusion as it realized it had inadvertently sealed its own demise.

Kabooooom!

The thirty-meter-long water spear struck its unwitting owner with devastating force, impaling the sea dragon and driving it into the water's surface with tremendous impact.

The sea seemed to momentarily part in response to the colossal collision, even the elven sailors sensed the sea tremble before it regained its calm state.

"Woah," murmured many of the elven sailors as they watched in awe by the display of power.

"As expected from a Transcendent Tier 1, he is more powerful and a better ruler than that bitch," remarked another elven sailor.

As the sea dragon disappeared into the depths of the sea, a sense of calm returned to the waters.

Suddenly, Acheron reappeared a hundred meters away in the blink of an eye. The sea beneath him churned ominously, and with a mighty roar, the sea dragon shot out from the water, its once fearsome figure now marred by broken scales and oozing wounds.

"Roarrrrrrrrrrrr!" The sea dragon roared, surrounded by a blue aura as its body began to shrink. From its initial 50-meter form, it dwindled to a still-imposing 30 meters, all its injuries vanishing as if they were never there.

"Hmph," Acheron snorted as his vigilance heightened, somehow the monster grown stronger from 72,000 to 80,000 of magic power. Nevertheless, he wasted no time in launching his attack.

Countless magic arrows were shot from Acheron's hands, each aimed to exploit the sea dragon's weakest points between its scales. But as the arrows closed in, countless water bullets erupted from the sea dragon's body, intercepting the arrows in mid-air and creating a spectacular clash above the tumultuous sea.

Once the arrows were destroyed, Acheron suddenly materialized above the sea dragon with his right leg raised high, surrounded by swirling magical energy forming a small tornado. With lightning speed, he descended towards the monster's back like a rocket.

In a split-second response, the sea dragon's tail surged forward and intercept Acheron's tornado-splitting kick.

"Useless!" Acheron laughed viciously as he observed the slow-moving tail and analyzed his next move before unleashing his kick, striking the sea dragon squarely in the back.

Swoosh! Boom!

The force of the blow sent the sea dragon's body contorting into a V shape as it was propelled once again toward the sea. Acheron moved to deliver the finishing blow, but to his shock, his body suddenly froze in place, leaving him momentarily frozen.

Seeing he got caught in its trap, the Sea Dragon growled and opened its mouth wide.

The water bullets so far were only something created using its power, they are not the special attack of the dragons, but the [Hydro Breath] is. Finally decided to use its trump card.

"Damn it," Acheron thought frantically as he attempted to evade it. But before he could react, thin water threads coiled around his body, temporarily immobilizing him.

Desperately, Acheron scanned his surroundings with his magic perception while trying to discern a way out of this. To his dismay, he realized that the sea dragon had manipulated the water in the air to create the thin threads that now restrained him.

As more and more water gathered inside the sea dragon's mouth, compressing into a small, concentrated ball, Acheron braced himself for the impending attack. With a deafening roar, the water breath surged forth like a powerful beam, aimed directly at him.

But in a moment of desperation, Acheron activated his space magic once again, swapping positions with the sea dragon just as the water beam was about to strike.

Even so, the sea dragon had anticipated his move and immediately used [Absolute Control] to redirect its water breath towards Acheron, who had never expected this.

At the last moment, Acheron, whose instinct had been sharpened, reacted and fired a larger magic arrow to intercept the incoming beam.

Kabooooom!

This time it was Acheron's turn to be slapped against the water surface.

"Ah!"

He grunted as he felt like he was being slammed against a hard concrete, if not for channeling his mana to reinforce his body, his bones would be cracked. Immediately, he got swallowed down by the churning sea as his body fell deeper into its depths.

[Absolute Control]

The Sea Dragon roared proudly as it used its other trump card. It will continue to attack and will not let its opponent rest, so it immediately controls the sea.

With it, Acheron got thrown to the sky by a water tentacle.

"AHHHHH!"

As he flew, he managed to halt his momentum after traversing five hundred meters across the sea's surface.

"Damn, that thing got me good," Acheron muttered, rubbing his sore body as he surveyed the scene ahead.

To his astonishment, he beheld over a hundred water tentacles surrounding the sea dragon, creating an awe-inspiring spectacle reminiscent of a God of the sea. These tentacles converged to form a colossal trident towering over a hundred meters tall, instilling fear even in the hearts of the elven sailors aboard the ironclad ships.

Acheron could see that a water wall appeared behind him, including to the wide, to cut off any potential escape route.

The Sea Dragon roared and was about to send the massive trident upon him.

But Acheron was not yet defeated. Channeling his magic once more, he began a final incantation. As he spoke the last words, the sky above the ocean resonated, and sparks of lightning descended from above and enveloped Acheron as he raised his hand.

In his grasp, he shaped the crackling energy into a bow and arrow, aiming it directly at the sea dragon.

There, the sea dragon's eyes widened in disbelief until they fell off their sockets. Meanwhile, the elven sailors watched in stunned silence, their mouths agape in an O shape at the incredible sight.

Finally, the Sea Dragon regained his calm and roared.

"ROOOOAAARR!"

As the Sea Dragon lunged forward, Acheron smiled confidently as he unleashed the immense power of a lightning arrow.

As he pulled back the massive arrow that crackled with electricity, and released it, a deafening sound reverberated through the air. A streak of lightning surged forth, leaving a trail of electrifying energy in its wake as it tore through the atmosphere, broke space apart, and clashed against the sea dragon's colossal trident. The latter didn't even last a split second before the massive lightning arrow destroyed both of the weapon and the creature itself completely in an instant. The force of the impact was so tremendous that the sea parted in two, and the lightning arrow disappeared to God knows where.

Immediately following this, Acheron fell from the sky and gracefully landed back onto the safety of the ironclad where he was. In front of him, he was met with a chorus of cheers and celebration from those around him.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Acheron took out an expensive mana potion from his robes and quickly downed it, feeling the rush of energy as his depleted mana reserves were replenished.

Just as he was about to respond the praise and cheers of those around him, a flicker of light appeared on the far horizon, followed by an immense, blinding explosion that seemed to engulf the entire world in its brilliance.

Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, a powerful magical shockwave rippled through the air and nearly launched them backwards. Fortunately, they were positioned thirty kilometers away from the epicenter of the explosion, spared from its devastating effects.

As the sailors watched in awe at the overwhelming power of a Transcendent tier magic, Acheron couldn't help but laugh out loud triumphantly. One thing is for sure, his sister was undoubtedly dead.