They terrified the fishmen more than the demons of myth.
These fiends possessed immortal bodies and indestructible steel skin.
Their weapons could easily kill every last fishman!
With their indestructible bodies, immense strength, and lack of pain, the Puppet Legion utterly slaughtered the merfolk army until they were terrified out of their wits.
These little merfolk who lived in the shallow seas had never imagined they would encounter monsters whose attacks they could not penetrate, who could casually smash them to pieces, and who felt no pain.
The Magic Mechs charged at the very front, violent lightning coiling around their hands. Every attack could turn a Merfolk Warrior's or Merfolk Hunter's weapon into charcoal. Even the owners of those weapons—the pitiful merfolk—would be turned into fragrant grilled fish.
Whenever a large group of Merfolk Warriors tried to surround them, the Magic Mechs would whip up fierce winds beneath their feet and retreat from the battlefield at unbelievable speed, only to find another opening and charge in for another slaughter.
Granite Golems and Iron Golems were both the kind of heavy-duty warriors with tough hides, immense strength, and slow speed. If they paid a sufficient price, the merfolk could even dismantle a Granite Golem, though it would greatly drain the elemental power within them, and such encirclement tactics would inflict heavy casualties upon themselves as well.
Granite Golems were simply too slow. No matter how tough they were, under the relentless attacks of Water Elements, flaws would gradually appear, and they could even be destroyed.
As for the Iron Golems, the merfolk had already chosen to give up on them. They now fought around the Iron Golems, because they simply could not budge the organized ranks of Iron Golems wielding steel shields and steel greatswords.
But what truly drove the merfolk army to despair were the Magic Mechs, which were even tougher than the Iron Golems, moved at tremendous speed, and could command lightning.
As simplified Construct Puppets superior to both Iron Golems and Granite Golems, they hurled lightning while chasing after the merfolk army at high speed, slaughtering them from behind. The water-element-infused double tridents of the Merfolk Warriors could not even leave a mark on the Magic Mechs, much less the short spears and Coral longswords of the Merfolk Hunters.
Often, after a group of merfolk had finally managed to deal with a Granite Golem, the organized ranks of Iron Golems that followed would chop them into meat paste, crushing even their bones beneath cold steel.
If the merfolk chose to flee, the lightning-wielding Magic Mechs would pursue them from behind, using their superior mobility to reap their lives.
The moment the merfolk army chose to fight Krite's Puppet Legion, their destruction had already been destined.
No fishman continued shouting their impassioned ancient slogans. Every one of them fled in panic, casting aside the Coral longswords and double tridents they had once been so proud of. Like stray dogs, they struggled to survive under the pursuit of the Magic Mechs. Their extinction was only a matter of time.
The dead merfolk had become charcoal, meat paste, or an indistinguishable mess not even worthy of being called meat paste. The survivors could only watch as their companions were chopped apart one after another, or struck by lightning and turned into lumps of charred flesh.
Even the seawater they loved and their damp scales had become their enemies. When lightning touched that seawater and those scales, the damage conducted through them made the merfolk suffer all the more.
While the merfolk army brought by the Raging Tide Tribe was being completely suppressed and slaughtered by the Puppet Legion, the Raging Tide Tribe's elite forces had also fallen entirely into a disadvantage.
A Merfolk Great Warrior had his head cut off by a Construct Puppet wielding a greatsword, and his corpse was brought to Krite's feet.
Of the other two Merfolk Great Warriors, one had his heart ripped out, while the other had all four limbs torn off. Two Construct Puppets roughly dragged the mutilated remains of the Merfolk Great Warriors over 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 remain entangled with the Warblade Construct, now became increasingly blurred. It had turned into something like clear water, its features already completely indistinct.
"Awooo—"
After being split in half one final time by the Warblade Construct's warblade, the Fang-toothed Sea Beast let out its last mournful cry and transformed into a Beast Tooth Necklace. The necklace fell into the seawater and was picked up by the Warblade Construct.
The badly wounded Raging Tide Chieftain struggled under the frequent attacks of the Meteor Hammer Construct. He felt like a lump of pig iron in a blacksmith's shop, being hammered relentlessly by a great mallet. Blows from every direction left him hard-pressed to defend himself.
The Azure Trident that had once obeyed his every wish now felt somewhat heavy. The strength that had once swept aside all opposition now seemed so feeble. He could no longer open his mouth to release roars and bellows filled with fighting spirit.
The Ice Daggers circling around him had already dispersed. Even the ice armor covering his scales was in tatters, and he no longer had the strength to maintain it.
Yet his opponent, the Construct Puppet wielding the meteor hammer, still appeared completely unscathed. The long gash the Raging Tide Chieftain had left with all his strength had already been repaired by its terrifying regenerative ability.
The Construct Puppet did not make a sound. Like a robot following its preprogrammed instructions, it coldly and mercilessly raised its massive meteor hammer and smashed it down upon the Raging Tide Chieftain's despairing gaze.
The Raging Tide Chieftain's fish head burst like a smashed watermelon. Blue blood mixed with brain matter exploded like fireworks. Part of his skull was even hammered into his chest, blasting a massive bloody hole through it.
This was the crushing suppression of creations born from a higher power system over those who merely explored primitive power.
The Meteor Hammer Construct Puppet stretched out 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 Level 1 Lifeform merfolk to study their muscular structures, the partial evolution brought about by the surge of internal elements, and, more importantly, the symbols and runes remaining deep within their bones, scales, and blood.
Once one became a Level 1 Lifeform and completely entered the ranks of extraordinary creatures, no matter what race that Level 1 Lifeform belonged to, runes would inevitably manifest upon its body. These runes amplified and manifested their own power, and were also one of the important sources of knowledge for wizards to study.
Beside Krite, Butler took a precise magic-alloy table and several magic instruments for research assistance from his treasure chest. Krite extended a finger and casually gestured, and gusts of breeze lifted the corpses of those Level 1 merfolk onto the table.
Taking the bag of dissection tools handed over by Butler and putting on experimental gloves made from the hide of a Level 1 bovine magical beast, Krite prepared to begin a dissection experiment on the Level 1 merfolk with a rigorous and serious attitude.
However, before the dissection experiment began, Krite suddenly remembered that he still had something to do.