Chapter 123: CH 123

“Loser.”

“Outcast.”

The atmosphere was getting uglier. Merlin grew more worried for Miho’s safety. He could see that Miho was weaker than the blue-haired mermaid, or [Hader the Mermaid Prince]. Moreover, the simple image of a large being with a weapon facing off against a small girl was jarring.

‘Miho should know that she’s at a disadvantage… is she trusting me to intervene?’

It was a dangerous situation. Though Merlin felt that he could stand up to Hader if push came to shove, he knew that he wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful compared to Hader, either. Of course, Merlin’s martial arts was based on the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, which was a powerful technique that could launch an instant, powerful attack. Merlin was confident that he could kill Hader with one powerful blow, but he didn’t feel that taking such an extreme measure would be beneficial to him or Miho.

“Hey Miho. Shouldn’t you avoid conflict with other representatives going to the Holy Shrine with you?” Merlin asked, in an effort to calm Miho down.

“As long as nobody dies before receiving the prophecy, it’s okay.” Miho replied.

Hader scoffed.“Such courageous words. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at controlling my strength.”

Soon, a strong aura of power rose from Hader’s body. Miho also exuded her own aura of power, but it didn’t stand a chance against Hader’s. The difference between Level 7 and Level 9 was immense.

“Ugh…”

As expected, Miho started to tremble under the pressure. Though she had gone through extensive training and received support from Heavenly Flower, Miho had yet to reach Level 8, and she was facing up against a being similar in strength to the Human-faced Centipede, Inyup.

“Wait. Please stop pressuring Miho.” Merlin pleaded.

“Don’t butt in, lowly human!”

Bam!

Hader thrusted his jewel-encrusted trident at Miho. An average user wouldn’t have been able to even register that level of attack due to its quickness, but Merlin, who had been prepared, extended his left hand in response.

Woong!

Merlin’s five years of internal energy soon expanded to become ten years after going through Mercury, twenty years after going through Venus, and forty years after going through Earth. Of course, the forty years of internal energy didn’t carry the same power as a normal forty-year attack, as the internal energy wasn’t properly solidified. However, the power of the attack was still unexpectedly significant. The force of Merlin’s attack went against the general logic of martial arts.

Boom!

“Ugh?!”

Great Strength Vajra Hand, the hand skill known to pulverize even the largest of boulders, hit Hader’s trident, causing it to fly backwards. Hader held the trident with a strong grip in an attempt to contain the rebounding force, but soon, a dull cracking noise permeated the air as both his shoulders dislocated.

Clank!

The trident floated through the air momentarily before clattering to the ground, but Hader and Miho paid no attention to it. Merlin, who was now wearing a red robe and wide-brimmed hat, shook his left hand and laughed. "Oh my. Why did you take me for just a lowly bystander?”

Merlin walked over to Hader, whose arms were lifelessly hanging by his side, and whispered into his ear.

“Do you want to die?”

“…!!”

In truth, there wasn’t any killing intent in Merlin’s voice. Most users weren’t proficient in controlling their killing intent. Revealing killing intent in the real world was considered a negative behavior, so most people didn’t have experience controlling this emotion. However, in this case, there was no reason for Merlin to exude killing intent. He had neutralized a mermaid, and a royal mermaid at that, with one move.

Whoosh!

A strong aura exuded outward. Even without killing intent, users could kill monsters. This was because they didn’t consider killing monsters as murder. When users defeated monsters, they didn’t state that they were [Killing] or [Murdering] monsters. They were [Hunting] monsters.

“P-prince! Are you okay…!”

“Hmpf!”

Hader, who was momentarily stunned, brushed off the blue-haired girl, [Reina, the Mermaid Singer], and quickly got up. Though sweat was beading from his forehead, Hader manipulated his arms to pop them back into their sockets.

“Wow, tough guy. Using just your muscles to pop your arms back into their sockets. Impressive…”

“First, let me apologize.”

Hader cut Merlin’s words off and looked at him. Hader’s eyes shone brightly.

“I was shortsighted. I didn’t think you were this strong.”

Though Hader must have been quite affected by Merlin’s attack, he behaved very respectfully. It was as if his previous belittling behavior had never occurred.

“Prince, don’t overdo your movements…”

“Step aside.”

“Ah…”

Reina took a step back after receiving Hader’s cold gaze. Since Hader was a royal Mermaid Prince, she didn’t have the authority to control him. Her only responsibility was to make sure that Hader made it to the Holy Shrine with minimal discomfort.

“What’s with this sudden change? Are you planning on re-engaging?”

“I apologize for my behavior before. I’ll compensate you handsomely. However, as a member of mermaid royalty, I can’t take a step back.”

Whoosh!

[Keke!]

Hader conjured large droplets of water around him that morphed into a group of small girls. Once they morphed fully, they started covering him with a large amount of water.

“Elemental Arts?” Merlin asked Miho.

“Among mermaids, the members of mermaid royalty receive a blessing from the king of water elementals. Hader is more skilled with his trident than with elementals, but he’s still capable of using basic Elemental Arts.” Miho answered.

Miho took out a few paper charms. Though she was on edge due to the fighting spirit wafting through the air, Quiet Heaven, who had traveled with Merlin for a long time, calmly spoke.

“So, what are you planning to do?”

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“Hmm, I’m not sure yet.”

Bringing out water elementals in front of Merlin was a death sentence. It was like a suicidal person holding a knife to his throat and asking to be killed. Of course, Merlin couldn’t manipulate the water elementals, but the water itself [Phenomenon] he could control at will. If necessary, he could freeze the water with a flick of his finger and cause it to turn into a block of ice.

‘It’s better if I hide my ability, right? I shouldn’t reveal too many of my cards at once.’

Merlin could easily kill off Hader with his water affinity ability because Hader had no idea Merlin possessed such a skill. If Hader figured out, and imbued the water surrounding him with his own spiritual power, Merlin wouldn’t be able to control the water. If Merlin was able to control fluid regardless of anyone’s resistance, then Merlin could defeat any opponent by freezing their brain fluid, but this wasn’t the case.

“It’ll probably just be best to scare him off a bit.”

“What are you talking about…”

“Ready? Here I go.”

Saying this, Merlin took a step forward. Hader narrowed his eyes.

“Like I’ll let you!”

Whoosh!

Exuding a substantial aura of power, Hader thrust his five-colored jewel-encrusted trident at Merlin. On each of the tridents three prongs, water whirlpools whipped around before shooting towards Merlin. Each of the whirlpool attacks were strong enough to instantly go through a thick hunk of steel. However, at that moment…

Ting!

Merlin had circulated his internal energy. He had operated his planets while Hader was talking, so by the time Hader launched his attack, Merlin’s planets were fully operational. Unlike his first planet, Mercury, which could operate instantly, his second and third planets, Venus and Earth, needed about one or two seconds to expand the inputted internal energy. Venus had a cooldown time of half a second, while Earth needed thirty seconds. Merlin’s No Living World, his planetary internal energy expansion system, had gone through some downtime after his previous use, so it needed time to recover its cooldown times.

Woong!

Merlin’s internal energy expanded. Ten years of internal energy soon became twenty after going through Mercury, forty years after going through Venus, and finally, eighty years after going through Earth.

Rumble!

“W-what the hell…!!”

As soon as Merlin extended his hand forward, a wave of aura washed over Hader like a tsunami. The effect of the attack could surprise the heavens and shake the earth. Considering that Merlin’s internal energy capacity was only sixty years, or one cycle, the force of a strike that contained eighty years of internal energy was immense. In the opponent’s eyes, it was unimaginable for such force to be outputted by someone like Merlin. Moreover, normally, an internal energy user could only output about ten percent of their total capacity at any point, so Merlin’s attack was entirely unexpected.

Crack! Snap! Pop!

Hader’s body was slammed backward against the ground, leaving two grooves on the ground in his wake. He was pushed back a little over ten meters before his back slammed against the wall. Since Hader’s body was firm and the attack was so forceful, the wall was partially destroyed, leaving a massive crater at the point of impact.

“…”

“…”

“… Wow.”

Only Quiet Heaven, who had previously seen Merlin’s hand skill in the past, was able to say anything; everyone else was at a loss for words. Hader, who was lifelessly sprawled on the ground, had a large handprint embedded into his chest.

“You there, miss.” Merlin gestured towards Reina.

“Huh… y-yes!”

“Take him away. And make sure to tell him that I won’t hold back if he tries his hand again.”

“Y-you were holding back?”

Though she mumbled in disbelief, she couldn’t deny what she saw. Unlike Hader, who had caused a ruckus and telegraphed his intentions by summoning his elementals and thrusting forward with an attack, Merlin had moved his hands without taking any formal fighting stance.

‘This can’t be. He’s a warrior who’s equal in strength to the great general?’

Of course, there was no way that this was possible. The great general of the mermaids was one of the great monsters of the Phantom Monster Magic Islands. In other words, he was a monster equal in level to Heavenly Flower, a being that Merlin could not contend with. Merlin was only as strong as his initial burst, so if he fought against the general, he would probably only get off two or three attacks before reaching the limits of his internal energy capacity.

“Hmm? Are you planning to attack me, too? I guess if you want revenge, I understand…”

“N-no. Thank you for your consideration.”

Reina bowed to Merlin before summoning her own water elementals to carry away Hader’s lifeless body. They soon disappeared into a dark alleyway between some buildings. Reina had moved hastily, possibly fearing that Merlin was going to give chase.

“Wow! What was that just now? How were you able to produce so much force…”

“Ugh…”

“Merlin?”

With a feeble whimper, Merlin teetered and had to lean on a wall for support. Surprised, Miho rushed over to him.

“W-what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I’ve used up too much energy. I guess I can’t keep expanding my energy without any repercussions.”

“Expand? What are you talking about?”

“I went a little overboard with that last attack.”

Merlin sensed heat radiating from the pit of his stomach and realized that his body condition had changed to [Serious Injury].

“Dummy. Your gold core sustained some damage.”

“You knew?”

Before launching his attack, Merlin had expected that this may be the case, so he felt embarrassed that his expectation had become a reality. Seeing this, Quiet Heaven spoke mockingly.

“Of course I knew. That last attack was too much for you. I know that you’re No Living World or whatever is a cheat ability, but everyone has their limits.”

Merlin’s cultivation technique, the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, was the most stable cultivation technique. For example, if a normal internal energy user practicing a different technique had a hundred years of internal energy, that user would only be able to output ten years of internal energy at any one time, but a Golden Pill Immortal Technique practitioner could output the entire hundred years of internal energy due to the stable nature of the technique. However, Merlin had outputted eighty years of internal energy while his maximum capacity was only at sixty, meaning he had outputted a hundred-and-thirty percent of his internal energy. It was no surprise then that he had overextended himself.

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