Lord: Sequence Master

"Gentlemen, let's gather," Benny announced, pulling out a cheap signal lantern that resembled a Kongming lantern. He lit the black smoke-emitting lantern, and it ascended into the air. Soon after, a flare shot up from a distance, signaling other teams' gathering points.

Benny equipped his steam-powered jetpack and soared into the air. Rosen followed suit, taking out his own steam-powered jetpack, which was powered by Scarlet Ash ore, a common and cost-effective flying device in the surrounding nations. Though it had limitations, such as slow speed, difficult maneuverability, and vulnerability to damage, its affordability made it the go-to choice for short-range terrain navigation and rapid mobility.

The team quickly arrived at the location where the flare was fired. Upon reaching it, they found a giant floating platform assembled from modular plastic boards. Benny, after landing at the platform's edge, took out more modular plastic boards from his storage ring, expanding the platform further.

Currently, several squads had already gathered, resting on the now-expanded floating platform.

Rosen glanced at the growing plastic platform and felt a bit guilty—he had prepared a small boat and left it in his divine domain as a backup. While the floating platform seemed like a makeshift solution, Rosen knew that these elite Sequence 8 adventurers, including over a dozen nobles, could easily afford boats.

But they chose the modular platform due to its high cost-effectiveness. Even in life-threatening situations like the Mermen's Tragedy, these supernatural adventurers aimed to save every penny, especially when such platforms were more practical and affordable for the task at hand.

Within half a day, all the human supernatural elites had gathered.

Once everyone was present, the sorcerers from each squad emerged. They began taking out dead mermen from their previous hunts, piling them up in the center of the platform. Using their blood magic abilities, the sorcerers stitched the mermen bodies together to form a tower of corpses. The blood of the mermen flowed into the surrounding waters, dyeing the ocean red.

This macabre display wasn't just an act of provocation against the merman tribe; it also helped set the stage for the battle to come.

By now, the sun was setting, casting a layer of golden light across the ocean. This softened the grim scene of the corpse tower floating atop the blood-stained sea. However, beneath the water, shadows were slowly creeping up from the depths, gathering ominously.

Rosen enhanced his vision fivefold, focusing his spiritual energy into his eyes using the psychic technique "Concentration". His eyesight sharpened to its limits, piercing the darkness of the sea below.

He saw millions of mermen gathering beneath the corpse tower, their numbers casting a dense shadow over the ocean floor.

By morning, the various human squads had already slain two to three million mermen. Adding the current gathering, it was clear the mermen tribe was committing everything to this battle.

The ordinary mermen, however, were nothing more than fodder—their sole purpose was to deplete the spiritual energy of the human forces.

This brutal yet calculated strategy was, in fact, the correct choice.

If the supernatural mermen were defeated, the ordinary mermen would be slaughtered anyway. By sacrificing their ordinary ranks now, the tribe hoped to drain the humans' resources, knowing that they could rebuild their population in just a few decades.

In contrast, the loss of their elite forces would mean total annihilation for the mermen.

As the final wave of mermen approached, ten human sorcerers scattered around the platform's perimeter. They took out previously prepared magic arrays and alchemical artifacts.

Suddenly, with a crackling explosion, blue arcs of lightning surged across the sea for thousands of meters.

For the supernatural warriors, these electric arcs were nothing more than a mild shock—perhaps even a bit stimulating. But for the ordinary mermen, the electrical shock was devastating. Their delicate eyes were fried, and continuous exposure stopped their hearts.

Countless mermen corpses floated to the surface, their lifeless eyes staring blankly at the sky.

At this point, the doctors from each human squad started sprinkling specialized decomposition agents into the water. These agents, designed specifically to dissolve merman bodies, quickly broke down the dead fishmen, further polluting the water.

For the surviving mermen, there was no escape.

This demonstrated the reason why humanity held such an overwhelming advantage in the spiritual realms. Unless a spiritual realm possessed overwhelmingly powerful enemies, humanity's supernatural adventurers would eventually find ways to exploit and overcome their foes.

If the mermen's bodies had been left unattended, the merman priests could have used them as sacrificial offerings, summoning forth the awakened Frost Nagas in a vastly empowered state.

But now, with millions of ordinary mermen dead, they had neither drained the humans' spiritual energy nor provided worthy sacrifices.

The mermen's desperate gamble had turned into a tragic farce.

Driven into a corner, the merman tribe had no choice but to launch an all-out attack.

Exhausted from the earlier battle, the sorcerers returned to the top of the corpse tower to recover, while the knights of each squad stepped forward, preparing for the next clash.

All of these knights were Magic Armor Knights, a particularly unique subclass of the Knight Sequence.

Typically, knights have mounts—whether ships or supernatural creatures—anything that can be ridden is considered a mount. However, for Magic Armor Knights, mounts were a luxury only available at Sequence 6 and beyond.

This was because magic armor mounts were incredibly expensive, and even Sequence 6 Magic Armor Knights could rarely afford proper mounts. Thus, these Sequence 8 elite Magic Armor Knights donned full-body magic armor instead.

Unlike magic-enhanced armor, Magic Armor Knights used their bodies to fuse with an exoskeleton—essentially converting their flesh into living machines controlled by their souls.

The destructive power of Magic Armor Knights was formidable, but their defense ranked among the top three.

One by one, these hulking figures ripped off their outer garments, revealing metallicized skin and muscles that transformed into mechanical armor. Their hair, eyes, and even mouths and chests were converted into weapons.

With shields in their left hands and axes or hammers in their right, they stood at the foot of the corpse tower, preparing for the incoming tide of mermen.

It was clear that ten Magic Armor Knights wouldn't be enough to hold off thousands of supernatural mermen.

At this moment, two nobles stepped forward. Each took out a set of alchemical automata and various musical instruments.

With a microphone in one hand and a conductor's baton in the other, the two musicians began to perform a majestic war symphony at the top of the tower. Their operatic voices, clear and powerful like dolphins, reverberated through the air, turning their performance into a grand war anthem.

This was not just ordinary music. These two musicians were performing a legendary battle song, a supernatural composition.

Under the influence of their spiritual powers, the ethereal music manifested into tangible images of war.

A grand ancient city materialized around the corpse tower. Along the city walls stood ancient warriors with shields and spears, their weapons striking their shields in rhythm with the musicians' epic war song.

(End of Chapter)