First Battle

Upon hearing Krite's voice, Taylor's expression changed. He immediately turned to look behind him and discovered that his teacher was still studying the water sphere, ice block, and mist sphere in his hands.

Was that just my imagination?

Taylor thought about it for a long time without reaching any conclusion, so he could only shrug and continue adjusting the instrument, preparing to use it to investigate the proportion of elements in this plane and the reason water elements were so active.

With his back to Taylor, Krite continued his research, the corners of his lips curling upward slightly. He particularly enjoyed these little tricks of startling his apprentice. He liked acting all mysterious and making his apprentice jump in fright.

Master and apprentice each continued their own research. They felt that the mysteries of this plane's elements were slowly unfolding before them. To them, this was abundant knowledge and truth that could be applied to their own wizardry.

The Puppet Legion led by the Eight Great Construct Puppets silently guarded them from behind. Butler still wore his gentle smile, but tables, chairs, and all kinds of ingredients had already begun appearing in his hands. It seemed he was preparing dinner.

Just as the two were conducting their research, vast numbers of merfolk suddenly appeared not far away and charged toward them in groups. Surging waves continuously rose across the shallows before eventually gathering into a tsunami.

The Raging Tide Chieftain and the three Merfolk Great Warriors behind him discovered that the intruders were actually doing something inexplicable, while their subordinates merely stood to the side without even the desire to attack. This made his anger flare uncontrollably.

Had they become so arrogant that they could not even be bothered to fight personally?!

What outrageous arrogance and contempt!

The Raging Tide Chieftain roared. The Beast Tooth Necklace around his neck shone brilliantly and resonated with his own water-element power, sending a tsunami over ten meters high toward Krite and Taylor.

Surely you'll take this seriously now, you damned intruders!

The Raging Tide Chieftain watched the tsunami he had created pounce toward them and thought to himself.

Noticing the approaching tsunami, Taylor hurriedly put the Otherworld Element Analyzer back into his spatial ring. This was a precious item his teacher had secured for him, and it would definitely prove useful when exploring planes in the future.

Facing the tsunami rushing at him, Taylor stirred his magic power with both hands, and Crescent Wind Blades gathered in his palms.

"Go!"

He thrust both hands forward, and dozens of Crescent Wind Blades shot toward the tsunami, carving dozens of long, narrow cuts into it. Yet before long, the tsunami repaired itself.

Krite once again appeared behind Taylor without a sound. Smiling, he said to him,

"Gale Spell is quite good. Your wind blades are much more powerful than those of ordinary apprentices. Next, you should study the changes in the properties of wind elements, such as wind speed, wind's cutting power, and wind's destructive force."

As he spoke, a powerful aura began radiating from Krite's entire body. Thick Wind Tornadoes rose around him one after another. Against the seemingly overwhelming tsunami, the Wind Tornadoes around Krite crashed directly into it, shattering it in one stroke. They then mixed with the seawater, becoming heavier and more powerful Sea Tornadoes that launched an attack on the merfolk.

Though Krite was a wizard specializing in puppet construction, the direction he had chosen for his elemental wizardry was wind-element magic with exceptional versatility and cutting power.

"Gulu?! (What?!)"

The Raging Tide Chieftain was utterly shocked. He had never expected the tsunami he had just unleashed to be so easily defeated by the enemy. Even the magic-infused seawater within it had been forcibly controlled and swept into the tornadoes, becoming more powerful Sea Tornadoes.

He had thought that his tsunami could at least fight the enemy to a draw, but the moment they clashed, it lost control under the power of the gale.

"Bachachacha! (Push it back!)"

The Azure Trident in his hand shone with light, and an Ice Wall rose from the ground, grinding and colliding with the Sea Tornadoes. After the two sides remained locked in a stalemate for a while, the Ice Wall shattered, and the Sea Tornadoes became pools of seawater devoid of magic power, falling into the shallows and merging with the surrounding water.

The Merfolk Warriors and Merfolk Hunters behind the Raging Tide Chieftain, including the three Merfolk Great Warriors, were all stunned. The chieftain they had always viewed as invincible, capable even of killing powerful sea beasts, had actually fallen into a disadvantage in the very first exchange. They had never encountered anything like this before.

The drop in his subordinates' fighting spirit made the Raging Tide Chieftain extremely anxious. From the start, he had unleashed a "massive" tsunami in order to bolster morale and resist the invaders' assault, but he had not expected to fall into a disadvantage in their first clash. Instead, his side's morale had fallen.

"Pelala! (Long live the merfolk!)"

The Raging Tide Chieftain raised his Azure Trident, its tip pointed directly at the sky, and shouted the impassioned slogan that the merfolk had cried out since the birth of their race.

"Pelala!"

Behind him, merfolk of all sizes raised their weapons and shouted their proudest slogan in unison.

Small daggers formed from ice circled around the Raging Tide Chieftain, and a sturdy layer of ice covered his scales as well.

"Roar!!!"

The Raging Tide Chieftain took the lead, letting out an ear-splitting battle roar as he directly led his several thousand Merfolk Warriors in an assault against the Puppet Legion.

Facing the army formed by merfolk large and small, and then looking at the Raging Tide Chieftain at its forefront, clad in ice and surrounded by flying Ice Daggers, Krite felt no disturbance whatsoever. He even commented with interest,

"Ho, what an impressive display."

Taylor had never seen such a formation before. The strongest enemy he had faced was the Zombie Wave formed by a large group of ordinary people turned into zombies. It could not compare to this tide of merfolk at all.

The elemental fluctuations carried by the tsunami had blocked even his spiritual perception. He had thought there were only a few enemies, but now that he looked, good heavens, this was an entire legion.

Taylor even noticed that many merfolk wearing leather armor and wielding double-pronged tridents made from coral and some kind of iron ore possessed elemental fluctuations that, from his spiritual perception, were actually on par with his own.

I wonder what they'll be like in a fight.

Facing such an army, even though Taylor knew that the Puppet Legion behind him was far, far stronger than the disorganized force made up of those merfolk, how could he not feel nervous in the face of such a massive assault?

Krite patted Taylor on the back and reassured him.

"There's nothing to be nervous about. Number One to Number Seven, lead the puppets and deal with them."

"We obey your will, Master." ×7