As dozens of ice floes slowly drifted toward the 45 pirate ships, thousands of merfolk beneath the water were locked in a final struggle against the Sea Beastmen, their bodies stiff and sluggish.
"Kill these beasts! Shed the last drop of blood for His Majesty! For the future of the Merfolk!" Queen Tisli Bluefin swung her Magic Pattern Sword as she fought Harald, the High-Rank Walrus-folk, urging her people on all the while.
From the moment the first Wyvern plunged into the water and snatched away a High-Rank pirate, Tisli knew she was as good as dead. Victory underwater depended entirely on the battle of the gods in the sky. If the Flying Dragons could enter the water at will, that meant the outcome in the sky had already been decided.
Now all her people could do was spend their last ounce of strength to help the Sea God destroy the White Whale God—or, at the very least, kill more Sea Beastmen.
Yet as dozens of ice floes drew closer, even that final hope grew less and less likely. More and more Sea Beastmen were emerging from beneath the floes, and the moment the two sides met, Tisli realized something was wrong.
The Sea Beastmen who had come to meet them knew far too much about her people's strength and magic. They seemed prepared for every swing and technique, while the Sea Beastmen's tridents were perfect weapons for stunning fish.
In just a few minutes, a considerable number of merfolk had been paralyzed and left unable to move, allowing the Flying Dragons to snatch them away or the Sea Beastmen to "skewer" them into the newly arrived ice wall.
By the time the ice floes had reached the space between the merfolk and the pirate ships, things had grown even