Battle

Ding~

A new mission appeared on the mission interface of the Heroic Way System in Wuli's mind.

Mission: Save the people before you.

Objective: Saving a life is worth more than building a seven-story pagoda. Now is the time for you to uphold justice and help those facing the threat of death escape danger.

Mission Reward: 180 experience points

Mission Penalty: None.

Seeing that the mission penalty displayed by the system was actually none, Wuli was slightly stunned. Did this mission have no penalty now? Or would future missions no longer have penalties either?

However, the penalties for previous missions had been too harsh and had placed enormous pressure on him. Now, there was no mission penalty.

Without that overwhelming pressure from before, Wuli secretly breathed a sigh of relief. But that did not mean his resolve to save people would slacken. Of course, he would still do his utmost to rescue them. It was just that without a mission penalty, he truly had one less concern.

Roar!

The Sea Kings turned their heads toward the Navy warship that had attacked them. Fury appeared in their eyes as they let out enraged roars at the warship.

The piercing sound made everyone's eardrums ache. The Marines aboard the warship covered their ears. More frighteningly, that single roar had stirred up a violent gale and crashing waves.

The people aboard the slowly sinking ship also began to worry at the sight of the enormous Sea Kings.

Could the Marines before them really defeat it?

The shells fired by the Navy warship earlier had indeed stopped the Sea Kings from attacking them.

But upon closer inspection, the explosions from those shells had not left a single mark on the Sea Kings' bodies.

There was not even the slightest wound. They had merely created clouds of smoke—smoke without injury.

If those barrages had done anything to the Sea Kings, it was that one shell had happened to land near their enormous eyeball, as huge as the sun in the sky. Yet even that most vulnerable spot had only turned one of the Sea Kings' eyes slightly red.

Although they had never had a particularly good impression of the Navy, the Marines had saved them once before.

They had not yet completely escaped death's grasp, so they could only place their hopes on these Marines. The Marines were their lifeline, and so they prayed that the Navy could drive the Sea Kings back.

But when they looked again at that warship covered in patches, how could they not worry?

"Keep firing!"

"These Sea Kings' bodies have incredibly strong defenses. Aim for weak points like their eyes and necks!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The cannons aboard the warship continued to target the Sea Kings. Shell after shell flew toward them, exploding into clouds of smoke.

The Sea Kings moved. They could no longer tolerate these weak humans interrupting their meal with shells that felt like scratches.

It would eat these people before it as well, to vent its hatred.

The moment the Sea Kings moved, the windless, wave-free sea could no longer remain calm. The waters began to churn, and the warship swayed with the waves.

The Marines aboard the warship all revealed nervous expressions. Those Sea Kings had endured so many attacks without suffering the slightest injury.

This forced the Marines to confront a very real question: could they truly drive back these Sea Kings and save those people?

Or would they be eaten by the Sea Kings as well?

At that thought, the Marines all turned to look at Wuli. Their commanding officer, Colonel Wuli, had become the pillar of this warship.

As long as he was there, the problem should be solved, even against Sea Kings of such enormous size.

Wuli was not the only one who noticed the Marines' gazes. Shu noticed them too, but he looked at Wuli in exactly the same way, because he had to admit that these Sea Kings were beyond his ability to handle as well.

"Colonel Wuli, what should we do now?" Shu asked as he watched the Sea Kings draw closer and closer to the Navy warship.

Hearing Shu's question, the Marines also grew solemn as they waited for Wuli's orders.

Feeling the increasingly violent movement of the sea and the warship's growing swaying, Wuli looked at the Marines and said, "Shu, you're responsible for saving the people on that civilian ship. Leave these Sea Kings to me."

As if they sensed the disregard directed at them from the Navy warship, the Sea Kings let out another furious roar.

Then it violently swung its head toward the Navy warship.

Its head, as large as several Navy warships, and its body as tall as more than ten stories, came sweeping toward them.

The intense wind pressure shoved the Navy warship backward, and most of the Marines were blown onto the deck.

Fear filled their faces. That monster was actually attacking them. Could Colonel Wuli really stop it?

All the Marines looked toward Wuli. Neither Wuli nor Shu moved even half a step beneath that crushing wind pressure.

Wuli's cloak, emblazoned with the word "Justice," billowed in the wind, making him seem even more towering in the hearts of the Marines.

The other ship, which had already been sinking, was in far worse shape under that wind pressure. The enormous waves raised by the hurricane directly capsized it. Its passengers all fell into the sea, their eyes filled with terror and their hearts with despair.

They had originally thought that encountering the Navy by chance would save their lives, but after seeing these Sea Kings, that hope had become so faint that it was almost invisible.

From the corner of his eye, Wuli saw the ship capsize and its passengers fall into the water. His heart tightened.

Fortunately, some of them could swim and had grabbed onto floating debris, so they would not drown immediately.

But Wuli had no time to be distracted, because the Sea Kings' head, as large as several warships, had arrived!

The Marines aboard the warship and the people in the water instinctively believed that the warship would be smashed to pieces by the Sea Kings' head.

A highly humanlike smugness appeared in the Sea Kings' eyes as its head neared the Navy warship.

A massive wave suddenly surged skyward from all around them, forming a wall of water that enclosed the Navy warship.

Bang!

The Marines aboard the warship only felt the vessel shake violently, but it was not smashed to pieces by the Sea Kings' head as they had imagined, because the Sea Kings' head had been blocked by the wall of water.

The Sea Kings even slammed into the water wall several times. The wall enclosing the warship shook continuously, but the Sea Kings still could not break through it.

Bang!

Bang!

Seemingly enraged, the Sea Kings roared without pause. Its two enormous eyeballs, like the sun and moon, suddenly turned blood-red.

Its attacks became increasingly fierce, and the wall of water surrounding the warship shook even more violently, as though it could break at any moment.

"Colonel Shu, I'm about to remove this defensive water wall. Those people in the water are in your hands," Wuli said as he looked at the people floating like duckweed on the waves.

"Don't worry, Colonel Wuli! But these Sea Kings don't look easy to deal with. They're very strong, so be careful," Shu said after nodding.

"Good! Then let's begin!" Wuli swung the sword flashing with sword light in his hand.

The defensive wall enclosing the Navy warship seemed to lose its support, transforming into ordinary seawater and falling back into the ocean.

The Sea Kings, which had been preparing to attack, saw the protective water wall disappearing and were momentarily stunned.

Wuli took a deep breath. Flourishing Rain Blow had been defending the warship, and it had consumed a great deal of his strength. A trace of pallor appeared on his face.

But his eyes still shone brightly. He stomped down hard and leaped into the air, making even the warship lurch violently.

Wuli's figure soared through the air toward the Sea Kings.

Seeing Wuli go to confront the Sea Kings, Shu immediately turned and ordered the Marines, who had been staring blankly at Wuli's airborne figure, to use their manpower to move the warship toward the people in the water.

The Marines snapped out of their daze and began rowing the warship, gradually increasing the distance between themselves and the Sea Kings.

Seeing the Navy warship beginning to flee, the Sea Kings roared even more furiously and prepared to attack those weak humans.

Suddenly, its enormous eyeball shifted, and it spotted a figure flying toward it.

Unfortunately, before it could close its eye, a katana had already plunged viciously into its eyeball.

The Sea Kings roared in pain and became even more agitated. The sea churned, and fierce winds surged.

Taking advantage of the wind and currents, the Navy warship did not need to expend much effort and quickly sped toward the people in the water.

The people in the water were initially stunned to see Wuli fight the Sea Kings alone. What shocked them even more was—

Wuli's attack had actually injured the Sea Kings. Bright red blood gushed from its wounded eyeball like a waterfall.

So many artillery barrages had failed to injure the Sea Kings before, yet this Marine wearing a "Justice" cloak had wounded them with a single strike. There was still hope.

Hope reignited in their hearts. Then they saw, to their immense delight, the Navy warship heading toward them.

They were so excited that they continuously waved their arms and shouted, "We're here!"

Carried by the current, the Navy warship quickly reached their side. One by one, the people in the water were pulled aboard by Shu and the Marines. Once aboard, they were deeply grateful to the Marines before turning their gazes back toward Wuli, who was fighting the Sea Kings.

Wuli's sword left many wounds on the Sea Kings' body, but they were all shallow and not fatal. After being injured, the Sea Kings became even more frenzied, and Wuli found the battle increasingly difficult.

There was nowhere for him to stand, so he could only use the Sea Kings' enormous body as a foothold each time he launched himself through the air.

The Sea Kings' roars thundered endlessly through the Calm Belt. They glared furiously at Wuli, wishing they could smash this human into pieces or devour him, chewing his small body apart bit by bit.