The four sea wraiths, ethereal and menacing, closed in on the erratic mercenary. Their sudden appearance had shocked the mercenaries, leaving them bewildered by the spectral entities now attacking them.
"Help! What are these things?!"
"By the gods this boy communes with sea demons!"
"I-Impossible!"
The erratic attacker, caught off guard, tried to fend off the wraiths, but their intangible forms made them nearly impossible to hit.
Nereus watched as the wraiths swarmed the mercenary, their ghostly forms swirling around him like a malevolent mist. The mercenary's eyes had widened in abject terror, his movements becoming more frantic.
Finally one of the sea wraiths, appearing slightly denser and more solid than the others, took the initiative.
It darted forward, passing through the mercenary's chest with a chilling, ethereal wail. The other three wraiths quickly followed, penetrating his body with a horrifying ease.
Inside the mercenary, the wraiths began their assault on his mental psyche.
Their presence was a relentless barrage on his mind, exploiting every fear and doubt he harbored inflicting excruciating phantom pains in the process.
"Ahhh it hurts please!"
The mercenary's screams echoed through the water, a testament to the torment he was experiencing. The wraiths' psychic attacks were overwhelming, breaking down the mercenary's very consciousness piece by piece.
These psychic attacks were a unique ability of the sea wraiths, effective against Mer who had not learned to guard their minds from such assaults.
Although the mercenary had a higher cultivation level than Nereus, he was particularly susceptible because he lacked the necessary mental defenses and was unprepared for a four-pronged attack.
If it had been just one wraith, the mercenary might have stood a chance, but with all four attacking simultaneously, his fate was sealed.
*gurgle* *gurgle* *gurgle*
The mercenary's body convulsed as the wraiths began to consume him from the inside out. His eyes rolled back, and his screams became gurgles as his life force was drained away.
The other mercenary, the one wielding the bident, watched in horror as his comrade died a gruesome and visible death.
The first wraith, having initiated the attack, absorbed the majority of essence of the mercenary, growing slightly denser and more powerful.
The bident-wielding mercenary's fear was evident, but it only fueled his resolve. "You freak!" he shouted, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and anger.
He realized that he needed to eliminate Nereus before the wraiths turned their attention to him. Summoning his sea essence, the mercenary began to quickly channel a Class III Aqua Art: Hydro Beam.
Nereus, breathing heavily from the exertion, met the mercenary's gaze with cold determination. "You haven't seen anything yet!"
The Hydro Beam was a devastating technique, a jet of pressurized water enhanced with volatile sea essence. It was often used as a final, overkill attack due to its immense power.
Nereus, recognizing the danger, prepared himself.
He had little time to react as the mercenary unleashed the Hydro Beam, the water blasting towards him with deadly force.
'Fuck here goes everything!'
Nereus drew upon every ounce of his sea essence, circulating his Leviathanic cultivation method to its maximum.
BANG
He countered with his own albeit much smaller jet of pressurized water, shortly after the two streams collided in a violent explosion of force and will. The water around them churned and bubbled, the pressure creating shockwaves that reverberated through the coral field.
WHOOSH
The battle of force was intense.
Nereus could feel the overwhelming power of the Hydro Beam pushing back against his own attack.
'Damn it I had a feeling this would happen' Nereus could only admit to himself as a cold realization began to settle in his bones, 'considering the disparity in our cultivations, as well as the fact that my attack is not an Aqua Art, I guess its amazing it lasted this long... alas...'
His muscles strained, his mind racing as he realized that the Hydro Beam was too strong. Inch by inch, his blast was being pushed back, the mercenary's attack gaining ground.
'Come on Nereus think, think!'
Desperation set in, but Nereus's pride as a member of the Leviathan race refused to let him back down. He would rather die than retreat.
With a fierce resolve, he pushed his cultivation method to the brink, the sea essence within him churning like a storm.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed aloud to himself while gritting his teeth from the exertion, ' I can feel his Hydro Beam inching closer and closer...the resulting pressure is becoming unbearable...'
But then at the last possible second, Nereus felt something within him snap, like a rubber band breaking under tension.
In an instant, he broke through to the Reef Master level.
WHOOSH
The surge of power was immediate and overwhelming as the scant traces of Leviathan blood rushing in his veins wildly flared to life multiplying, and with it came the manifestation of the first Leviathanic Aqua Art: The King Coralstacean Living Armor.
All around him, the sea reacted to his breakthrough.
Coral, polyps, sea shells, rocks, barnacles, and various other sedimentary denizens began to quiver as if acknowledging a higher call.
The coral field itself seemed to come alive, resonating with Nereus's newfound power.
The transformation was rapid but incredibly thorough, each sedimentary element moving with a purpose, guided by an unseen force.
First, the smaller pieces of coral and shells lifted from the seabed, drifting towards Nereus. They adhered to his skin, forming the initial layer of the armor.
The process was seamless, the materials fitting together like the pieces of a complex puzzle.
Next the polyps and barnacles, both living and dead, followed suit, merging into the structure with a natural elegance.
Larger rocks and more substantial pieces of coral soon joined in, adding both mass and resilience to the growing armor.
The shells positioned themselves strategically, offering protection at critical points such as his chest, shoulders, and limbs.
The barnacles and polyps filled the gaps, creating a dense, interwoven mesh that was both flexible and robust.
As the transformation continued, intricate runic patterns began to emerge on the armor's surface. Seaweed tendrils and kelp strands wrapped around his form, their organic shapes blending with the rocky and shelly components.
The living organisms embedded in the armor began to pulse with a faint blue bioluminescence, giving the entire construct an ethereal glow.
The final touch came as the armor fully settled, taking on a form that was both hulking and sleek, almost as if it were custom-designed.
It was a perfect blend of protection and mobility, allowing Nereus to move with ease despite the added weight. The armor seemed to breathe with him, responding to his every movement and thought.
At that moment the Hydro Beam had struck Nereus.
KRA-KOOM!
The instant the deadly stream collided with his chestplate, the ocean itself seemed to hold its breath before a deafening thunderclap erupted through the sea like the sky itself had cracked, sending shockwaves far and wide.
The sound was unlike anything the coral field had ever borne witness to—it echoed through the rock walls, bouncing and vibrating in their hollows, scattering fish in a frightened flurry and shaking mollusks loose from their moorings.
A fraction of a second later—
BA-DOOOM!
A second sonic boom followed as Nereus's armored body was hurled backward through the water.
The impact had thrown him a good ten meters, and he crashed through an outcropping of coral like a living projectile.
Shells cracked.
Barnacles exploded in a debris cloud.
The sea around him roiled violently, and a massive plume of sediment rose from the seabed, swallowing the battlefield in a thick, murky fog of swirling grit and darkness.
There was no movement.
No sound.
Even the mercenary who had fired the Hydro Beam squinted nervously into the cloud, trying to pierce its veil.
His heartbeat thudded in his ears as dread coiled tight in his gut.
He had seen the blast land. Had felt the essence pour from him like a flood. There should have been nothing left.
"Did I... get him?"
He dared not hope too loudly. The silence after such force felt wrong—too long, too still.
The cloud of dust and sea detritus loomed large, a shroud that refused to settle. Tiny flecks of glowing plankton twirled through the suspended particles, casting dim flickers of light like stars through fog.
Bubbles drifted upward lazily, the only sound now the low hum of the ocean's confusion.
Seconds stretched.
Was he dead?
And then...
THRUM THRUM
A pulse.
A soft, cerulean glow emerged from the thick underwater haze. And then Nereus swam forward evidently unscathed minus a few bumps and bruises.
His armor of living coral and bioluminescent barnacles gleamed with an otherworldly light, its runes glowing with restrained fury while the water hissed around him, roiling and shifting as if by excited by the touch of his awakened form.
"W-What?! But how?!"
The bident-wielding mercenary stared in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief at the sight before him.
At that moment Nereus then zeroed his gaze and killing intent towards the remaining mercenary, his eyes cold and determined as he replied haughtily.
"Hmph a mere clam in a shell should know its place and not to question me."
The fear in the mercenary's eyes was palpable. He had clearly never seen anything like this before.
The battle had clearly now taken a dramatic turn and Nereus, now protected by the King Coralstacean Living Armor, was ready to continue the fight.