Routed Beyond Recovery

They made fish even more afraid than the demons of myth.

These evil spirits possessed immortal bodies and indestructible steel skin.

Their weapons could easily kill every fish!

With their indestructible bodies, immense strength, and inability to feel pain, the puppet legion had utterly terrified the murloc army.

These little murlocs who lived in the shallow seas had never imagined they would encounter monsters whose attacks could not break their defenses, whose casual strikes could smash them to pieces, and who felt no pain.

The Magic Mechs charged at the forefront, violent lightning winding around their hands. Every attack turned the weapons of murloc warriors and murloc hunters into charcoal. Even the owners of those weapons—the pitiful murlocs—were transformed into fragrant grilled fish.

Whenever a large group of murloc warriors tried to surround them, the Magic Mechs' feet whipped up fierce winds, allowing them to retreat from the battlefield at unbelievable speed before finding another gap to charge into and slaughter.

Granite Golems and Iron Golems were the kind of tanky warriors with thick hides, immense strength, and slow speed. If they paid a sufficient price, the murlocs could even dismantle the Granite Golems, though doing so would greatly drain the elemental power within them, while encirclement tactics would also cause heavy casualties among their own ranks.

The Granite Golems were simply too slow. No matter how tough they were, relentless attacks of water elemental power would gradually expose flaws in them and even destroy them.

As for the Iron Golems, the murlocs had already chosen to give up. They now fought around the Iron Golems, because they simply could not damage the organized ranks of Iron Golems wielding steel shields and steel greatswords.

But what truly drove the murloc army to despair were the Magic Mechs, which were even tougher than Iron Golems, moved incredibly fast, and could command lightning.

As simplified construct puppets superior to both Iron Golems and Granite Golems, they hurled lightning while chasing behind the murloc army at high speed and slaughtering them. The water-element-infused double tridents of the murloc warriors could not even leave a mark on the Magic Mechs, much less the short spears and coral longblades of the murloc hunters.

Often, just after a group of murlocs had painstakingly destroyed a Granite Golem, they would be thoroughly chopped into meat paste by the organized ranks of Iron Golems that followed. Even their bones were crushed beneath cold steel.

If the murlocs chose to flee, the lightning-wielding Magic Mechs would follow behind them, using their superb mobility to reap murloc lives.

The moment the murloc army chose to fight Krite's puppet legion, their destruction had already been decided.

Not a single fish continued shouting their impassioned ancient slogans. Every fish fled in panic, abandoning the coral longblades and double tridents they had once been so proud of. Like homeless dogs, they struggled on under the pursuit of the Magic Mechs. Their extinction was only a matter of time.

The fish that had already died had turned into charcoal, meat paste, or unrecognizable mush. Those still alive could only watch as their companions were chopped apart one by one or struck by lightning and reduced to lumps of charred black flesh.

Now, even the seawater they loved and their moist scales had become their enemies. When lightning came into contact with the seawater and scales, the damage conducted through the medium made the murlocs suffer even more unbearably.

While the murloc army brought by the Raging Tide Tribe was being completely suppressed and slaughtered by the puppet legion, the Raging Tide Tribe's high-end combat forces had also fallen completely into a disadvantage.

A Merfolk Great Warrior's head was cut off by a construct puppet wielding a greatsword, and his corpse was brought before Krite's feet.

Of the other two murloc great warriors, one had his heart torn out, while the other had all four limbs ripped off. Two construct puppets roughly dragged the remains of the murloc great warriors and respectfully placed them at Krite's feet.

The Fang-toothed Sea Beast, which had relied on its elemental traits and the endless seawater to keep tangling with the Battleblade Construct, was becoming increasingly indistinct. It had turned into something like clear water, its features already blurred beyond recognition.

"Awooo~~~"

After being split in half for the last time by the Battleblade Construct's blade, the Fang-toothed Sea Beast let out one final mournful cry and became a string of beast-fang necklace. The necklace fell into the seawater and was picked up by the Battleblade Construct.

The battered Raging Tide Chieftain struggled bitterly under the frequent attacks of the Flail Construct. Right now, he felt like a piece of pig iron in a blacksmith's shop, being hammered mercilessly by a giant hammer. The blows coming from every direction left him hard-pressed to defend himself.

The Azure Trident that had once fit so perfectly in his hands now felt somewhat heavy. The power that had once overcome every obstacle now seemed so feeble. He could no longer open his mouth to roar and howl with fighting spirit.

The little icy blades circling him had already dispersed, and even the ice armor clinging to his scales was tattered. He no longer had the strength to maintain it.

Yet his opponent, the construct puppet wielding the flail, remained completely unscathed. The long gash the Raging Tide Chieftain had left with all his strength had already been repaired by its terrifying regenerative ability.

Without making a single sound, the construct puppet raised its thick flail coldly and mercilessly, like a robot following a preset program, then smashed it down toward the despairing eyes of the Raging Tide Chieftain.

The Raging Tide Chieftain's fish head burst like a smashed watermelon. Blue blood mixed with brain matter exploded like fireworks, and part of his skull was even driven into his chest by the flail, leaving a huge bloody blue hole there.

This was the crushing blow of a creation born from a higher system of power against one who merely explored primitive strength.

The Flail Construct Puppet extended a large hand, grabbed one of the Raging Tide Chieftain's legs, and forcibly dragged his corpse to Krite's feet.

Krite collected the corpses of these first-rank fish lifeforms in order to study their muscle structure, the partial evolution brought about by the elemental currents within them, and, more importantly, the symbols and runes lingering deep within their bones, scales, and blood.

Once a being became a first-rank lifeform and fully entered the ranks of extraordinary creatures, regardless of that first-rank lifeform's race, runes would inevitably manifest upon its body. These runes enhanced and manifested their own power, and were also one of the important sources of knowledge for wizards' research.

The butler beside Krite took a precision magic-alloy table and several magic instruments for research assistance from his treasure chest. Krite extended a finger and made a casual gesture, and gusts of breeze lifted the corpses of the first-rank murlocs onto the table.

Taking the bag of dissection tools handed over by the butler and putting on laboratory gloves made from the leather of a first-rank bovine magical beast, Krite prepared to begin a dissection experiment on the first-rank murlocs with a rigorous and serious attitude.

However, before the dissection experiment began, Krite suddenly remembered that he still had something to do.