The Duke's Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (101)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

34 The Sea’s Desperate Cries! (1)

Iron’s expression was a mix of complicated emotions as he stared at the God that asked him for death. However, despite the bitterness in his face, his mana still moved continuously. His hard and tough steel mana covered and strengthened his body from his arms, to his legs, to his body, to his head and to every organ inside his body.

“Hoo…”

Iron slowly opened his eyes after his entire body was covered with his black steel mana. Then, he released his divine power that was absorbed and amplified by the Sea Orb. Iron’s divine power flowed inside the Sea Orb, just like a river flowing into the sea, and met with the divine power that was blocked deep inside the orb. The Sea Orb started to strengthen and amplify the divine power that flowed in it by 10, 100 and 1000 times.

At first, the force that his divine power emitted was weak. It was weak enough to be eaten quickly by the contaminated mana front he colossal dimensional gate. However, once his divine power met with the Sea Orb and got amplified countless of times, it was given a power strong enough to eat away at the contaminated mana in the area. It was as if the divine power was saying ‘I’m above you!’ as it showed a level that was far higher than the contaminated mana as it purified the surrounding area.

Divine power.

Purification magic.

And Phoenix’s purification magic. 

Thanks to Iron’s amplified divine power, the wizards’ purification magic and the priests’ divine power, fought against one common enemy, the contaminated mana and purified it explosively.

The Sea Orb also acted as a transmitter as it spread the red sacred light from Iron’s divine power over Atlantis. And as this light spread, the monsters and bizarre creatures that came out of the dimensional gate began to suffer.

―Uwoooooo!

―Kuwooooooh!

―Kieeeeck!

As the amplified purification power continuously expanded, the contaminated mana turned into purified mana which was then absorbed back into the Sea Orb and used as the driving force that fueled the purification power.

The creatures from the dimensional gate felt a great sense of crisis when the Sea Orb became the central axis that drove the infinite cycle of purification. If this state continued, it would affect the dimensional gate. So, the contaminated beings began to act boldly and fearlessly.

The string that connected the dimensional gate to the Sea Orb was cut off, effectively abandoning Atlantis. Since the dimensional gate was already completed, they did not need any help from Atlantis and the Sea Orb anymore helping them make this ruthless decision.

Creak!

The floating Atlantis began to creak in protest as the tens of thousands of strings that connected it to the dimensional gate began to get cut off one by one.

Originally, the power that maintained Atlantis was the Sea Orb. However, the power in the Sea Orb had been sucked into the dimensional gate so it was now being maintained with contaminated mana. Because of this, the island began to collapse as soon as the ties to the dimensional gate had been cut off. This situation led to problems arising with the mermaids, who had been using the contaminated mana to their heart’s content.

The mermaids were originally blessed with the mana of the sea. However, after being corrupted, they did not have the sea’s vitality and life. Which meant that they couldn’t harness the mana of the sea. Eventually, the source of their power changed and had turned into contaminated mana. 

So, they immediately felt when the source of the contaminated mana got cut off from Atlantis. After all, they had been using it endlessly.

“Thi… This…!” 

“What the hell is going on?!” 

While the mermaids were flustered by the sudden decrease in contaminated mana, the human army began their full-fledged counterattack. 

The first to come out were the troops that were fighting fiercely in the fortress. 

When the mermaids fell into confusion, the crabmen and sharkmen that had been brainwashed with contaminated mana also began to fall into confusion. They couldn’t help but stop and stare blankly when they felt the weak but clear purification power that was spreading from the Sea Orb far away from them.

Just like that, the entire Sea Army fell into chaos. However, the humans only went after the mermaids. Rather than aiming for the enemies that were standing blankly in confusion, it was better for them to target the mermaids, the main culprit of this war, and break their command system. 

“Everyone, get it together!” 

One of the mermaids cried loudly which quickly brought calmness among the mermaids. Then, the Sea Army also began to bare their ferocious fangs at the humans again. They began to retaliate by utilizing their contaminated mana to the limit and using the sea itself. 

It was obviously a big deal for their contaminated mana supply to be cut off after being connected to Atlantis for so long. However, that did not mean that the Sea Army would end just because of this. After all, the mermaids could still cover what they lack with their individual abilities. 

The dimensional gate was solid and complete and they couldn’t do anything about it. But even though they couldn’t utilize the contaminated mana through Atlantis they could still accept and use contaminated mana in their bodies just like when humans used their mana. 

However, they still had no choice but to be pushed back by the Empire’s relentless assault. In addition, the adventurers and other-worlders were also starting to enter Atlantis one by one after the monsters visibly weakened. 

This was now the worst situation for the mermaids. 

The monsters from the dimensional gate had no choice but to deal with the adventurers, other-worlders and mercenaries first. Even if they wanted to deal with the Sea Orb, they needed to finish off these pests that blocked their way first.

Iron felt relaxed as he stood on the Orb and stared at the small child beside him.

“What do you think? Satisfied?” 

The young mermaid God nodded lightly at Iron’s question. 

He was once the king and god that led the mermaids to prosperity. However, he only held hatred for them now. 

The child quietly held Iron’s hand as he transmitted the feelings that he was currently feeling to Iron. 

He was once angry at the Empire who brought the mermaids to the brink of extinction. But he also shed tears for them as he blamed himself for failing to protect them. However, they were also the very same mermaids who used his heart and love for them to betray him. They ruthlessly locked his consciousness inside the Sea Orb and used his body to make items and spread them all over Atlantis. And that wasn’t all, they even sold him to the Sea God beyond the dimension and contaminated him. 

After experiencing this painful betrayal, only hatred and revenge for these traitors remained in his consciousness. He did not want to call them one of his kind anymore. He was thankful that his wish for death and the destruction of these traitors were being granted and seen with his own eyes.

Despite the mermaids falling under the blades of the Imperials that he once hated the most, his eyes remained calm. After all, they were the very same mermaids that took everything away from him. They were the ones who let his body get corroded and contaminated mana while using his soul for their own greed and anger. He no longer held compassion and understanding for this race that threw their own God to the terrible demons beyond that gate just to quench their thirst for revenge.

He even felt refreshed as he watched them fall one by one. He eagerly awaited the complete destruction of these traitors who betrayed and threw their own God away to worship a God beyond their dimension.

He even tried to hold out as much as he could even though he could disappear any moment just to see their downfall by himself.

Crack!

“……” 

Iron looked bitterly at the small crack on the child’s now blurry and faint body. 

Even though he could finally achieve his death, something that he desperately wished for, he still held out to watch the battle that would bring the mermaids’ downfall. He even sacrificed the last bits of his strength to boost the power of the orb and make them fall faster.

“You can stop now.”

Iron looked at him with pity but the child just shook his head.

The child’s will was firm. He wanted to see the mermaids’ downfall no matter what.

However, this ‘old God’ had already reached his limit a long time ago.

Iron couldn’t help but speak quietly as he watched him.

“It’s hard. So… you can stop and rest now.”

The child turned to look at Iron when he heard his words. His eyes looked like they were asking him if he could promise the downfall of the mermaids if he stopped now. 

“I’ll watch their destruction with my own two eyes.”

Iron’s words filled the child’s eyes with tears.

Perhaps it was because it was what he wanted to hear the most? The poor God, who returned to the form of a pure child, finally began to cry. 

Iron smiled bitterly when he saw the child crying sadly. It was as if his words had resolved the grievances that had accumulated in his body and mind for all those years of betrayal.

He stroked the child’s head as he watched his tears dripping from his eyes. 

“You’ve worked hard.”

Hearing those words made the dam in his heart break. The child cried even more sadly as he fell in Iron’s arms.

The child continued to regress in age as his tears continued to fall. He had already turned into a four or five-year old child but he still continued to cry and regress until he turned into a baby. And finally, his body turned into powder that scattered in the sky leaving only a small ball of light in Iron’s arms.

Almost all of his power had been taken by the dimensional gate while he gave the rest of his power to the Sea Orb. So, the remaining power that the mermaid’s God had was this small ball of light.

The small ball of light used its remaining power to increase Iron’s divine power once more.

―Thank you.

Words of gratitude towards Iron were his last words before his remaining consciousness and will disappeared.

Iron choked up as he stared dully at the small ball of holy light falling into the sea.

It seems like he still loves the sea until the very end.

Perhaps the sea became sad when one of its rulers disappeared? Or was it because it was delighted that this God was not suffering anymore? The sea began to fluctuate after the disappearance of one of its Gods. 

Creak!

A tsunami suddenly appeared in the sea as it slammed into Atlantis and made it collapse even further. It was as if the sea was expressing its anger towards this city of traitors. A huge tornado soared in the sea as the clouds rained heavily down on the city. The skies and the seas showed its wrath as it hit the Puerh Islands on all sides after knowing the pain and suffering that the mermaids’ God had suffered from.

For the people watching this scene, they felt like they were watching the disaster that ended a century. Only Iron, the wizards and the priests were the ones who were able to watch it peacefully while being covered in a gentle breeze. 

“Is this the sea’s desperate cries?” 

Iron’s murmurs made the expressions of the wizards and the priests darken.

This was the sea’s desperate cries. Cries that were filled with sorrow for losing one of their Gods. It was also the cries that expressed their anger towards the traitors that harassed and betrayed their God. 

They felt like they could feel them all.

“Aaaah… aaaah…” 

One of the mermaids stared blankly at the sea. Tears formed in the mermaid’s wide eyes as a sudden despair and sadness filled their chest. They felt as if something important had been cut off from them. And the same was true for the other mermaids.

“Kyaaaaaaa!” 

“Aaaaaah!” 

The entirety of the mermaid race shed tears when they felt something important disappearing in them. 

“What the hell is this…”

The blue-haired man muttered to himself while he fought against the Eastern Commander.

“Keuk!”

Even the head of the mermaid race who fought with the Northeastern Commander couldn’t help but groan in sadness. All of them felt flustered by the sudden emotion that rose in their chests. Perhaps it was because of this emotion that the entire Sea Army lost their will to fight as they retreated back to Atlantis.

Although the human army tried to chase the retreating mermaids, they knew that they could no longer continue this battle. This was because natural disasters like tsunamis, whirlpools and tornadoes blocked their path as if they had their own will. At this moment, they could feel the sea’s will to stop the war.

Eventually, the mermaids and the humans were forced into a ceasefire after the sudden appearance of these natural disasters. 

This battle, which would be known as the Great Naval War in the future, would be recorded as the mermaids’ defeat. This was the day when they lost the Sea Orb while Atlantis collapsed and would be recorded as their disgraceful defeat in their war against humans.

However, for the mermaids, they have lost something far more important than what was recorded in those papers. 

Iron watched the mermaids calmly. He was keeping his promise to the God that has now disappeared…

***

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