Lord: Sequence Master

"These two musicians are no ordinary folks..." Rosen felt the surge of excitement brought on by the war anthem, but his mind remained calm.

A typical Sequence 8 musician shouldn't have been capable of performing at this level. The musical instruments and alchemical dolls they were using had to be custom-made extraordinary artifacts, likely exceeding normal specifications. This clearly indicated that the Blue Whale Kingdom placed far more importance on this spiritual realm than Rosen had initially thought. There must have been hidden value in the Mermen's Tragedy that had yet to be fully revealed.

However, Rosen couldn't dwell on this for long, as the supernatural mermen had already charged up the corpse mountain, attacking with fervor.

Ordinarily, the mermen would have worked together to manipulate the sea and drag the corpse mountain into the ocean. However, the epic war song played by the two musicians had transformed the mountain into an impenetrable fortress, calming the surrounding seas and preventing large waves from forming. Moreover, the war song possessed an immensely powerful supernatural taunt, driving all mermen who heard it into a frenzy, overriding their reason with sheer rage and bloodlust.

Without the influence of the song, if a battle had unfolded underwater, even with a decisive human victory, some casualties would have been inevitable. But now, the humans were cutting through the mermen like a knife through butter, annihilating their foes without difficulty.

From his position atop the mountain, Rosen wielded his Godslayer Crossbow, repeatedly firing arrows into the crowd of attacking mermen. His arrows were condensed from psychic energy, and with his mastery of this technique, he was able to split a single arrow into a barrage of smaller projectiles mid-flight.

Each arrow Rosen fired was enhanced by the Death Strike (LV3) ability from his Source Belt, delivering lethal damage. This, combined with the effects of his Gale Pursuit Boots, added a bonus of rapid successive strikes, further amplifying the impact. Additionally, the arrows carried quadruple elemental attributes—Darkness, Nightmare, Water, and Fire.

The dark energy helped break through defenses, the Nightmare attribute inflicted mental harm, and the clash between Water and Fire elements generated explosions and burning damage. Against Sequence 9 mermen, a single shot was enough to kill.

Rosen became a merciless killing machine, and soon, his Scavenger Space began filling with glowing orbs—indicating loot generated from his kills. Though the drop rate for loot spheres from Sequence 9 mermen was slim when hunted by a Sequence 8, Rosen had slain so many that his hunting ability was activated continuously.

When the last supernatural merman was slain by a nearby hunter, Rosen estimated he had taken down at least 500 supernatural mermen.

As the fighting subsided, various assassins descended to collect the spoils, gathering everything valuable from the battlefield before distributing the loot equally among the teams. Each human supernatural had contributed to their hard-fought victory, and everyone received a fair share.

After the spoils were divided, over a dozen ghostly assassins dove into the sea. Their unique abilities allowed them to operate underwater without being hindered by the harsh environment, unlike other human supernaturals. While their earlier task of leading the mermen to the slaughter was incidental, their primary mission was now at hand: infiltrating the depths to assassinate the remaining merman priests.

Within half an hour, the assassins returned—many of them wounded, with two of them barely clinging to life.

Thanks to the efforts of the doctors on-site, those critically injured were stabilized.

The captains of the various noble squads approached the assassins, asking about the mission's outcome. Upon learning that fewer than half of the merman priests had been successfully eliminated, their expressions grew grim.

The low success rate wasn't due to a lack of effort on the assassins' part but rather because of an unforeseen complication from a previous raid.

After years of study, humans had largely understood the mechanics of the Mermen's Tragedy spiritual realm, and fatalities among Sequence 8 adventurers were now rare—aside from the last time the realm was explored when three people had died. The hunter from Benny's Spirit Fox Guild had perished during that very incident.

Though Rosen hadn't inquired deeply into the specifics of that prior raid, he knew the aftermath: one of the merman priests had survived until the realm reset, even growing stronger in the process. This surviving priest retained both memory and power from the previous cycle, meaning that it would not reset along with the rest of the realm.

A priest retaining its prior knowledge and power posed a significant threat, as it now knew how to counter human strategies.

In past explorations, humans hadn't even needed the assistance of musicians. The presence of these two musicians this time was specifically intended to deal with the surviving merman priest.

However, the results were disappointing. Despite the priest's awareness of its likely fate, it had still sent ordinary mermen to die in droves.

Each of the assassins had carried specialized artifacts designed to combat mermen, yet they had still failed to eliminate the priest. This failure meant that the next time the realm reset, the surviving priest would likely become even harder to deal with.

For the noble captains, this was a major blunder. They would now face stronger Frost Nagas than usual and would need to kill them faster to leave enough time to hunt down the remaining merman priests.

This meant that everyone would need to fight at full strength.

The spoils from the next battle wouldn't be shared equally—each would keep what they killed. Additionally, everyone was encouraged to use every trick and hidden card at their disposal to ensure success. Any consumables used would be reimbursed double once they left the realm.

The costs were staggering. Rosen wondered if this expedition would even break even at this point.

The burden clearly wasn't on the dozen or so Sequence 8 nobles present. Instead, the Blue Whale Kingdom itself stood behind them, shouldering the brunt of these expenses.

Still, this wasn't Rosen's problem. His primary goal in this realm was to test the combination of his Sequence 8 pet skills and see if everything was functioning as expected. Making money was a secondary concern.

Half an hour passed, and by then, the sky had completely darkened, with only the moonlight reflecting off the ocean's surface.

Rosen could feel the temperature of the sea plummeting, and his Nightmare Slime sensed the presence of a kindred power in the water.

Clearly, the hundred Frost Nagas were being awakened by the surviving merman priest.

Peeking out from Rosen's pocket, Grey Mouse—in its mouse form—looked out at the sea with a thoughtful expression.

Though Grey Mouse's external behavior didn't give anything away, Rosen could sense something was off.

Despite being reduced to Sequence 8, Grey Mouse was still capable of recognizing the treasure hidden within this realm. The spiritual realm had an unspoken secret, but revealing it could bring great danger. Although Grey Mouse had considered sharing this discovery with Rosen, it ultimately decided against it, fearing the risks involved in retrieving the treasure.

Yet, Rosen had already noticed Grey Mouse's unease. Thanks to their Nightmare Chains, which enhanced their bond and abilities, Rosen could also sense Grey Mouse's mental state.

He immediately realized that Grey Mouse was concealing something—though it wasn't out of malice.

(End of Chapter)