“Come now, lady Hinotori.”He directed me towards a crystal-clear orb that sat on a pedestal in the centre of the room.[Item name: Mana Appraisal Orb][Item Rank: High Rare][Item Description: An orb made out of appraisal crystal. With it, one’s magic power can be measured into numerical values]Effect #1 – Changes colour based on mana densityEffect #2 – Records magic power as a number][Value: 20 gold coins | 5 store points]‘A mana appraisal orb?’‘That’s what he meant by testing our magical output?’‘T-this should be a breeze then.’‘I thought he was going to make me fight some monster or something. Phew.’“Please put your hand on the orb.”He gently requested of me.‘Hmm, if she’s the same as Vermillion, then this should shatter.’I honestly had no idea who this Vermillion person was and I had the urge to ask, but I would push that to later. I put my hand on the orb, but nothing happened.‘Am… I supposed to do something?’>‘Oh, I see.’‘Dumbass.’‘Sh
In a dark alleyway on the streets of Yorul, a person wrapped in a cloak moved silently.It was very hard to find a place as dark and filthy as this in Yorul, which was the capital city of Atlantis, named after its founder. Since it is the chosen ground of the highly exalted founder, the residents try their best to ensure that it was safely and cleanly kept. It was seen as a sort of Holy Land that the purest and wisest of the 3 original merfolk, Yorul had decided to set up his kingdom to ensure his people flourished.Eventually his followers became so numerous, they had to create additional cities chosen by Yorul himself, which began the five nations of Atlantis. Since his death, the residents refused to create an additional city since they assumed it would be an offense the first king.So, they ensured that their cities were clean to the best of their abilities. They monitored the increase in size population and came up with magic for that problem. The monitored the increase in crime
After delivering a lengthy speech at the beginning point of the city, the princess made us go to several different locations across the city, just to do the same thing. It really must have been a pain in the ass being unable to simply project herself through some sort of crystal or screen.Couldn’t she do that though? This was the city of magic and so a simple projection spell should have been easy enough for them. Well, I understood the reasons she gave me, but to be frank, it was completely redundant. The same results would be ensured through a projection spell and ending out people to do surveys.In the end, I still couldn’t understand her true thought process. This princess couldn’t just be the genuinely kind-type all of a sudden, right?Fortunately, there was an incident during one of her speeches that gave me time to stop thinking about it.>Quickly, I identified a needle shooting through the water like a bullet. Even with my [Super Tho
I returned to the others after finishing off the assailant. They had surrounded the princess and put up a magic barrier to prevent any further attacks. Maybe they should have done that while she was giving her speech.“When did you-”Sunalla approached me to ask some questions, but now wasn’t the time in my opinion.‘I know who did this. Is it alright if I go handle them?’I looked at the princess for confirmation and she mauled over it for a while.“Who did this?”‘The Sikari Guild from what I gathered.’“Huh? If it’s someone from there, I doubt you would have gotten any answers.”‘I can read minds.’I gave her that simple excuse. It would probably be a bad idea to tell them I eat souls to acquire information I’m seeking. Just imagine you had been insulting someone who could kill you at a moment’s notice without blinking. You’d put your guard up around that person, no?“Even if you know who did it, what good does it do us when we don’t know where the Sikari guild is? For all you know
“Gate keeper.”A robed assassin appeared before the seemingly drunk old merman. The Gate Keeper, as he was called, looked up with a ditzy expression.“Varim der har iz groys.”“Did the Needle Master pass by?”The assassin impatiently asked; however, the Gate Keeper was not going to entertain this sort of attitude from the assassin.“Varim der har iz groys.”“I apologise. Varim der har iz groys.”He quickly realised his mistake and tried to clear it up. The Gate Keeper looked at him with a stern warning, before drinking from his bottle.“Did the Needle Master pass by? I don’t think it was him.”“A false needle master, you say? Interesting.”“You haven’t seen him then? We may still have time then. I have reason to believe he was eliminated. They will be coming here, so we need to change the portal’s location- wait... you’ve never referred to him as Needle Master.”The assassin was immediately on guard. His mind went back to how quickly the person who took down Needle Master moved. It wa
“[Corrosion Arrows]!”“[Body down]!”“[Wall of Magic]!”“[Cyclone cut]!”I heard different magic skills being shouted out with magic circles popping up around me. They were using Rune magic so they didn’t need to chant the spell, yet here they were shouting it’s name.[You have been afflicted with [Weakness]][Your physical stats will go down by 10%]‘What?!’One of the spells had weakened my body. I looked up, searching for the one who cast the spell, but all I got was green slimy arrows heading for my neck and a dark blue slash.Using [Shadow Travel], I reappeared behind one random member and tried to cut his neck, but once again, my sword simply passed through him. Rather, he grabbed my wrist and flipped him over, slamming me into one of the pillars.[You have lost 20 health points]Barely an amount for me to even be bothered about. With [Auto Regeneration], that recovered in an instant. Since at its current level, I’d recover 500 health points in a near instant.While I was thinki
‘[Devil Light Manipulation]?’‘Oooh, yeah. I forgot this skill could do that.’Akira knew something about this skill I presumed was useless and hadn’t told me? The nerve!‘Do what?’‘D-Devil light. It h-has something t-to do with the t-transformation of [Hell]’s physical environment.’‘Eh? Akkun too? But what’s that supposed to mean?’‘Basically, it changes anything it touches into something from hell.’‘… HUH?!’‘No time to explain any further! Just shoot a massive beam!’‘But! Gaah!’I gave up on those two ever explaining it to me properly now. I activated the skill, causing several black rays to shoot out of my finger-tips in all directions randomly.It hit one of the robed men’s arms, making him scream out in pain. His arm turned black and was grossly disfigured as well as surprisingly tinier.He grunted in pain and faded out of the room. It wou
After realising my [Devil Light Manipulation] at maximum power, I had noticed I was the only one present in the temple. Their astral forms had returned to the actual bodies, which I couldn’t sense anywhere near this place.Still, the fact that all that was here was their Astral forms suggested to me that they either knew something like this would happen or they were busy elsewhere and simply sent their forms here to pray. The most logical was the former, but the most likely was the latter.I couldn’t wrap my head around the reason they really weren’t here. Possibly assassination missions? Whatever.I left the temple to go see how my shadows had handled the entire situation. At the bottom of the temple, the generals were kneeling down, awaiting my return.‘Honestly, it would have been better if they came down there to help me.’I begrudgingly realised how easier that entire scenario would have been if they came down there to help me.“AS EXPECTED, THE PRINCESS HAS DELIVERED US WITH AN
‘It’s so booooorriiiiiiiiiingggg!’I was bored out of my mind surveying the edge of the dome for enemies. It was practically a ghost town at this point. And the only thing that used to be interesting was the notifications I kept receiving from my shadows about catching bombers. So far, we found three dozen pairs of people planting the bombs.It was shocking how many people had been coerced into doing this. And I still hadn’t tracked down an actual member from the invaders. What if the invaders actually weren’t coming? What if the princess was lying about this entire thing for a completely different reason?‘This princess is giving me a headache.’‘I know right? It’s like talking to a brick wall.’‘A-An overly in-intelligent one.’‘Hey guys!’‘Ah!?’‘New guy?’‘I-I have a j-junior now?’‘What will we call him?’‘Call me Hyakkiyago.’He told us out of nowhere. We were all stunned, since everyone who came so far didn’t even know that they were now sharing a mind with someone. Yet, this g
NANEK POVThe prince looked at the meal set before him. Skewered tentacles, seaweed wraps, jagged oyster shells, lunaris and so on, all in bountiful amounts. He felt like gagging from the mere scent of the food. Nanek never liked such food, and as such this was strictly removed from the meals his siblings served him regularly.This event was different. It was before the entire city and it was a meal that the goddess had chosen for this year’s feast. Him not eating it was an insult to the goddess and would make the people think less of him.He looked at his mother, the priestess, sitting blindly next to the king and being fed her meal by some of her personal assistants. She had no concern whatsoever when it came to this and he found it terrifying, since he had been told by the older generation that she hated these kinds of meals.Several years in service to the goddess must have changed her. Maybe if he spent several years trying to overcome his distaste for the meal, he would overcome
SUNALLA POVThe storm spirit had left off towards a chamber in the palace to enact the final plans of the princess. To be honest, she wasn’t expecting the princess to tell her what her final plans were, but after hearing them, she was completely stunned. For the princess to have planned all of this for just that, it was beyond her imagination.However, for something like that, she knew her father would give up his life in a heartbeat. At least, she could rest easy knowing that he died for a cause he had been fighting for all his life. Still, it hurt that she couldn’t even see his corpse even though it was delivered to them. Did they think she was so weak that she’d break down from seeing the body?She had definitely seen worse, so why wouldn’t they let her? Was this the royalty’s way of showing consideration to the Captain of the Royal Guard’s kin? If so, the royals really had no idea what people actually wanted in such situation.While swimming, a stray guppy came in front of her. Sh
King Zigruk ElrIek Sox Anon Den Yorul II waved at the people who were gazing at him admirably from outside the hall. After a considerable amount of praise appreciation and greeting, he sat down on his seat and dropped his trident.The trident floated by itself at his side. Strange enough, this weird sight was ignored by most of the onlookers. All of them except the candidates for the throne that knew the true value of the trident, all of them shocked by how carelessly their father handled it. Then again, if you were built just like the Zigruk Elriek Sox Anon Den Yorull II, you wouldn’t think too much of the trident.Once again, trumpets sounded thunderously, drawing the attention of everyone to the overly massive ship that was approaching them. Dubbed the Neptune, the largest piece of magical machinery ever made in the history of all the three kingdoms.One mermaid, much bigger than the rest emerged from the Neptune. She was dressed in a simple peplos, wearing a golden crown of leaves
OSVETA POVThe feast hall, the biggest part of the royal palace that went unused for many years till there was an important ceremony taking place. It was so large it could take in half the number of royal family members that lived. And that was saying much given the fact that there were over a thousand of them with each being at least three times as big as the average merman.The hall was a space next to the palace grounds shrouded in hardened Atlantean styled glass to prevent any peaking or breaking. Due to the occasion, the styled glass had been removed, revealing a large beautiful platform with a marble table in a U-shape set down. The table was big enough to occupy at the very least 20 members of the Royal family.However, today, only four members sat on opposite ends, with two extra, grander seats, being reserved for the most important guests. The King of Atlantis and the Chief Priestess of the Sea Goddess Temple.The current members were Rondel, the eldest son of the King, repre
Inside of Hinotori’s mind, somewhere deep in her subconscious where she would never notice anything happening, there was an announcement.[The Exclusive Skill [Legend of Pandemonium] Chapter 1, Act 1, Part 1: Army Drafting has been completed]-Hidden Events> Fight Against the Apostles of the Sea Goddess Temple (Completed)> Kill over a dozen members of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)> Enslave the members of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)> Establish friendly ties with the members of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)> Become an official member of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)---- Insufficient events completed to receive any rewards+[The Exclusive Skill [Legend of Pandemonium] has unlocked a new section]Chapter 1 - #@$^&!Act 1 – Battle For AtlantisPart 2 – Preparations--- Preparations for the incoming invasion have been set up. Hopefully they will be enough for the coming storm. ---*Rewards for creating this scenario will be delivered at the end of this Chapt
On the day of the Royal Feast, in the princess’ quarters, several mermaids about her size were attending to her. Brushing her hair, applying make-up, and carefully fixing ornaments in her hair. She was dressed in the most elegant lilac-coloured chiton that had silver lacings on it and a triangular pattern over at the bottom over her tail. Over her left hand, her peplos that was a whitish-blue with a similar design, but more transparent. The peplos also managed to serve as a sort of hood for her head.As the princess observed her features in the mirror, she couldn’t help but think along the likes of,‘Would Hiro like this appearance?’‘Maybe it’s too much make up for his taste?’‘Is this even enough to cover my blemishes?’Of course, Hiro was not going to be partaking in this event. In fact, he wouldn’t even know that it was happening and neither would he know about it. Still, a maiden in love could only dream, right?“You are looking absolutely stunning, your highness.”The one attend
The hell did I just hear? Did she just confirm that she was the mastermind? No way, right? There was definitely no way that she did it, right? No.I couldn’t doubt the possibility of her having done that. Knowing her, it was highly likely. And from what Sunalla said, the princess didn’t like it when things happened out of her control. A surprise invasion from an enemy nation definitely doesn’t sound like having everything under her control.Still, for her to go this far just for the throne. She was the worst kind of person. They’d do anything to achieve their goal, even if it negatively affected those looking up to her for support. She was worse than scum.I had several things to tell the princess, but no one else in the room heard our conversation. The princess simply said vague things in their eyes and ears. Maybe Sunalla and Osveta would believe that princess did something like that.The problem was if they gave a shit. They’d known her for sometime now so it was possible that they
That was completely sudden and out of nowhere for me. I never imagined to hear such a thing, least of all from an old man in a city that was thousands of feet underwater. Of course, after hearing such a thing I was intrigued in finding out more, but he kicked me out with the promise of trying to find a way to Minerva for me. He stole more strands of my hair though. Turns out he didn’t need the first strand for anything. He simply wanted it for his private reasons… creepy pervert.On the way back, I could tell that the princess was beaming with excitement. I asked why, but she told me not to think too much about it. In times like this, it was really annoying not being able to read her mind. The only solution was to keep pressuring her till she spoke, but she was tight lipped. In the end, I decided to ask if she knew about Vermillion.According to her, there wasn’t any concrete text about Vermillion, but her father had once told her that there was an individual named Vermillion who came