Some Kingdom soldiers were knocked into the sea by the enemy during the battle.

The moment they hit the water, they saw a huge school of shark-men packed tightly together beneath the surface not far away. They stared at the soldiers with deep, sunken eyes, like ghosts haunting the sea.

In the next instant, the attackers rushed toward their targets as one.

They darted through the water, their tails swishing like those of real fish. The blades and spears in their hands were like the sharp teeth of beasts as they savagely attacked the soldiers.

Before one Kingdom soldier could even react, dozens of figures roared past him, like cavalry charging into battle.

As they swept by, those figures left dozens of wounds across his body.

Blood burst from the wounds at once, staining a small patch of water red.

One soldier after another suffered the same fate as their comrade.

The Kingdom soldiers were excellent swimmers. But no matter how well they swam, they were still human—not fish.

And now they were facing one savage sea warrior after another.

With a powerful flick of their tails, the hundred and fifty shark-men shot forward beneath the water like arrows.

The spears and blades in their hands began to reap their enemies’ lives without restraint.

“Run...”

Someone shouted, but the water swallowed his words and forced every sound back down his throat.

He showed his companions what to do through his actions: he turned and swam frantically back the way he had come.

Get out of here! Get out of here, now!

That was the only thought in his mind. Luckily, one of their warships was not far away.

But before he could get close, a string of thunderous booms rang out.

The warship in his sights was suddenly engulfed in a sea of flames.

A rain of splintered wood flew into the sky, then fell back down ablaze, crashing onto the heads of the Kingdom soldiers in the water. Their wails of terror rang out, along with the cries of despair.

The man who’d tried to flee had no time to look for another ship. He had no time left to think.

The shark-men surged toward them at incredible speed, raising the gleaming knives and forks in their hands.

“Let’s fight them to the death!”

With no hope of survival left, the man was backed into a corner. At last, his own fierce courage flared to life.

“Then let’s fight!”

All the soldiers in the water shouted together.

No matter what, they still outnumbered the enemy.

“Kill!”

A Kingdom soldier rose halfway out of the water and threw both hands up, sending a vast wall of water surging toward the enemy.

But when the shark-men charging at the front saw it, they simply threw back their heads and shrieked as one.

They flicked their massive tails and leaped into the air together like flying fish, clearing the wall of water outright.

Still in midair and not yet back in the water, they saw several soldiers up ahead hurl the javelins in their hands.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Javelins rained down, and more than a dozen soldiers at the front were instantly skewered like pincushions.

The fish-men twisted in midair and plunged into the water. With a flick of their tails, they dived straight down, then swept around in a wide arc and launched an attack from below.

“Aah!”

A Kingdom soldier suddenly screamed.

A shark-man had appeared behind him at an impossibly fast speed.

The enemy grabbed him, then sank his teeth into the man’s throat.

What terrified him most was that, as the shark-man bit down, its teeth kept growing longer.

The fangs quickly pierced his neck. Then the shark-man yanked, tearing half his throat open.

Fighting with your teeth might be the least practical combat technique of them all.

After all, people aren’t beasts. No one goes around biting their enemies in a fight.

But underwater, where resistance was immense and combat took place at close quarters, biting was surprisingly effective.

The technique worked like this:

The shark-men used their ability to breathe underwater and the speed their tails gave them to close in quickly. Then they wrapped their bodies around an opponent to restrain them before biting down.

It didn’t matter if the bite wasn’t fatal. They could keep their opponent trapped with their twisting strength and make sure the fight stayed underwater, gradually wearing them down until they died.

They were like a horde of water demons. As they surged forward in a frenzy, they brought a terrifying slaughter with them.

With their fish tails, they darted back and forth underwater, barely ever breaking the surface.

And without warning, they would suddenly rush beneath a soldier and drag him down. Then, using their crushing strength and sharp fangs, they would kill him underwater.

Patches of blood rose throughout the water, staining the whole area red. The few soldiers still alive watched, their hearts sinking into despair.

One of the men leading the group shouted:

“Everyone, gather around me!”

At that moment, their numbers meant nothing. The only thing that might still turn the tide was for the soldiers to work together.

At his call, the remaining soldiers gathered around the man who’d shouted.

Then their leader yelled at the top of his lungs:

“Those of you skilled in wind magic, lift the others up! Everyone with ranged skills, attack from a distance! We’ll find a way back to the ships!”

Fighting underwater severely weakened them. Raw power was no use, and speed didn’t help either. Their only hope was ranged attacks.

At their leader’s shout, every soldier capable of fighting at range sprang into action.

Two of them took out their bows and arrows. With their companions’ help, they rose above the water and began shooting into the distance.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

There were only two of them, but they fired arrow after arrow, until it seemed like a swarm of locusts was flying through the air.

Blood burst into bloom. Several shark-men who leaped out of the water were struck by arrows and fell back in.

At last, the Kingdom soldiers had managed to inflict casualties on their enemies above the water.

Then several more soldiers joined in. Darts, wind blades, and sword energy all howled across the water.

The Kingdom soldiers were better at close combat than they were at magic.

When it came to hand-to-hand fighting, every one of them was skilled. They could make a dazzling display of all kinds of palm strikes, sword forms, and punches.

But their ranged attacks were sorely lacking.

That was why they couldn’t be considered a magic unit.

Dozens of soldiers launched ranged attacks, but their results were nothing impressive.

Even so, the attacks they managed to land were still more than the sea warriors could handle.

A shark-man had just leaped out of the water when a wind blade struck it head-on, splitting its whole face in two. It fell straight back into the sea.

“All right!”

The soldiers cried out in excitement.

But in the next instant, a giant fire hawk swooped down from the sky and roared across the water. It slammed into a soldier drawing his bow and blew him apart on the spot.

The Kingdom soldiers looked into the distance and saw a shark-man whose skin was a different color from that of the ordinary warriors. It stood on the water, watching them coldly.

Unlike the beastkin, most of whom had little talent for magic, more than half of the sea folk had some aptitude for it.

The shark-man who seemed to be their captain raised and extended his right hand. In the blink of an eye, another fire hawk took shape.

Its two enormous wings of flame set half the sky ablaze.

Seeing the enormous fire hawk, the man who’d been leading the Kingdom soldiers sensed danger. He let out a desperate scream:

“Run!”

Run?

Where to?

On the water, getting away just because you wanted to would be nothing short of a miracle.

The shark-man captain waved a hand. The fire hawk let out a long cry and streaked through the air, leaving a trail of flame behind it.

“Block it!”

The leader shouted.

The nearby soldiers acted at once, unleashing a surge of holy power to form a white wall of light in front of them.

It was true that the Kingdom soldiers were at a disadvantage in ranged combat. But if they joined forces to defend themselves, they might still have a chance.

Under normal circumstances, that would’ve worked.

But just as the white wall of light rose, the fire hawk suddenly changed direction, flying around it and toward the group behind them.

Behind them?

The leader turned in shock—and saw the fire hawk slam into the third ship with a thunderous crash.

After the first two ships had been blown up, the crews of the remaining ships had grown cautious. They kept a close watch for anyone trying to sneak near them, and sure enough, nothing else had happened.

But no one had expected a head-on strike from that mass of flames.

The giant fire hawk crashed into the warship’s defensive barrier, unleashing a dazzling burst of light.

The magical barrier protecting the ship dimmed ever so slightly.

That brief dimming gave the underwater attackers the opening they’d been waiting for.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Four more enormous explosions rang out in quick succession, one at each corner of the third ship.

Four gaping holes began flooding the ship with water, and the great vessel quickly started to sink.

Then the captain lowered his head and charged forward. He actually began sprinting across the surface of the water.

He raced across the water, pulled the blade from his back, and slashed hard in front of him.

Boom!

The seawater suddenly split apart, turning into towering waves that surged in opposite directions.

The warship was caught in the opposing current. The waves drove it backward instead of letting it advance.

On the other side, the Kingdom soldiers were pushed backward by the waves, suddenly left much farther from the ship.

That slash that parted the water and cleaved through the waves became a sheer cliff, completely cutting off the survivors’ escape route.

The next moment, a fierce radiance burst from the leader’s whole body, lifting him upright above the water.

“Kill!”

He screamed at the top of his lungs.

A tremendous killing intent spread from him.

Fueled by that killing intent, he suddenly drove a fist forward. His punch flashed like a streak of light and struck a sea warrior nearby, sending it flying with a single blow.

The attack was so powerful because the man was fighting with his life on the line.

At the same time, a high-ranking knight leaped up from the warship behind them and swung his battle blade.

In an instant, a blade of light flashed out like a shining ribbon, cutting through the waves. Its path crossed the captain’s slash, forming an X.

Unlike the captain’s slash, this one sent countless water droplets flying, each carrying tremendous force.

That was the result of the strongest warrior in the army, second only to Anliexi, giving it everything he had.

The two Army Breaker powerhouses attacked at the same time. It was a spectacular sight, and both of them were truly formidable.

If not for the difference in numbers, those two alone might have been enough to decide the victor of the entire battle.

But if is only if.