"Narathas, it's up to you now!" Josh's gaze swept across the few leaders of the operation, ultimately landing on the Naga summoner.
"Understood, Master! I will do my best to find those sea dwellers and persuade them!" Lady Narathas, the Naga with a fish tail, bowed respectfully to Josh.
As a creature transford from a forr high elf, each female Naga was nearly always a powerful mage, so communication was no issue for them. A single arcane spell could easily overco any language barriers.
Josh wasn't unreasonable and believed in fair dealings.
While it was nearly certain that the Talokan had killed an IMF team, those were Arican intelligence agents. Therefore, Josh had no personal vendetta against the Talokan. In fact, they had never even interacted before.
So, Josh decided to let Narathas, along with her people and several other oceanic races, dive into the water to et the Talokan and have a talk.
As long as the Talokan would peacefully accept the discovery and mining of Vibranium, Josh had no issue adding another oceanic force to his side.
If they refused, however, Josh wouldn't hold back.
With that, a secret hatch at the bottom of the massive freighter opened, and nurous oceanic creatures, under Narathas' command, began their descent to the depths.
But leading the charge were not Naga, Sea Giants, or Lobstrok.
It was... Mrglglglgl!
Yes, Murlocs, one of Azeroth's newest killers.
Among the various oceanic species Josh had purchased from Abbendis, Murlocs were the most nurous. They had low combat abilities and intelligence, but their sheer numbers made them useful.
Though they had many flaws, they were incredibly effective as scouts in the sea.
And there was no need to worry about them not following orders.
A thousand years ago, when the high elves beca Naga, they began using magic to control these low-level creatures as slaves. The Naga had a very well-developed thod of controlling Murlocs.
Aside from these creatures, there were also many dolphins and giant squids equipped with artificial devices, created by the Austrian military as biological weapons.
Under Narathas' leadership, soon oceanic creatures discovered the Talokan's whereabouts.
Well... to be precise, the Talokan revealed themselves.
With so many strange oceanic creatures appearing, surface dwellers couldn't detect them, but the Talokan weren't blind or deaf. The entire Bermuda region's seas were filled with their scouts, so it was impossible for them not to notice.
Uncertain about the origins of these new, clearly oceanic creatures similar to their own, the Talokan didn't imdiately attack. Instead, they sent a patrol squad to capture a few Murlocs for interrogation.
What the Talokan didn't know was that each Murloc carried a magical mark from the Naga.
As soon as Murlocs were captured, their Naga masters sensed it and reported the situation through magic to Narathas.
Under Narathas' direction, the patrol squad that had captured Murlocs was soon surrounded by Naga and other oceanic creatures.
"You are the Talokan, right? I am Narathas, a Naga Summoner! I demand to see your leader!" Using magic, Narathas quickly learned their language and began communicating with the Talokan.
The Talokan, dressed in Aztec-like attire, appeared very similar to ordinary Native Aricans.
Upon hearing Narathas fluently speak their language, they were shocked. Seeing the Vibranium-equipped Naga, Sea Giants, and others, they were at a loss for what to do.
For this operation, Josh had spent a lot of resources. He had used so of his already limited stock of Vibranium to craft equipnt for the Naga.
Despite the Naga now being organized into a force, Josh had only managed to acquire five hundred in total over the past year—four hundred males and just over a hundred females. Due to Queen Azshara's influence, females in Naga society held absolute leadership and were better at magic, making them especially valuable.
Josh didn't want to see too many of these precious mages lost.
"Honorable lady, since you wish to see our leader, allow to contact him using this!" Despite their reluctance, the Talokan knew better than to pick a fight now. The oceanic forces led by Narathas were vastly superior in number. Uncertain about the enemy's combat capabilities, they didn't dare to act rashly. One of the Talokan reached into his pouch, pulled out a conch, and respectfully bowed to Narathas.
"Of course, feel free to proceed," Narathas nodded without worry, allowing him to contact their leader.
The Talokan blew into the conch.
Underwater, normal humans couldn't hear the sound from the conch, but Naga and other sea creatures could easily hear the long waves of sound it emitted, traveling far into the distance.
Within just ten minutes, Narathas and the other oceanic creatures sensed a strong current approaching rapidly, which caused unease among the nearby Murlocs.
The new arrival was strong, but not strong enough to make Narathas fearful.
With a flick of her staff, a powerful whirlpool ford around them, quickly dissipating the energy from the approaching wave.
As a high-ranking Naga priestess, the title of "Summoner" was not given in vain.
"Who are you? Why did you capture my people?" Finally, as the current reached them, a tall and powerful male Talokan appeared in the distance, looking at Narathas with a mix of caution and curiosity.
It was as if Narathas had sensed his arrival.
The power of her water magic earlier had already been felt from far away, so the new arrival wasn't taking any chances.
Curiosity arose because the Naga resembled the rmaids or sea monsters of legend.
"I am Narathas. May I ask your na?" Narathas asked, observing the new Talokan. There was a hint of curiosity in her mind.
This new Talokan looked different from the others; he had pointed ears like an elf and small wings at the back of his feet.
Had she been familiar with Earth's legends, Narathas would have realized that his small wings resembled those on Hers' sandals from Greek mythology.
"My na is K'uk'ulkan, but my enemies call Namor!" the Talokan replied proudly, holding his head high.
"Greetings, Lord K'uk'ulkan. So, are you the highest leader of the Talokan?" Narathas asked.
"Indeed, I am!" Namor said, "Lady, I don't know why you're here or why you've captured my people, but I must tell you that your actions have strongly violated my people's territory. If you release my people and leave imdiately, I can overlook this. Otherwise..." Namor raised his spear, and behind him, a large army appeared—well, it wasn't that large, about five thousand soldiers, along with so high-tech underwater vehicles.
It only appeared large due to the depth of the sea.
"Heh... Are you trying to flaunt your nurical advantage, Lord Namor?" Narathas responded with a light laugh, and with another flick of her staff, an invisible energy wave dispersed.
Soon, Namor realized his army was surrounded by countless oceanic creatures.
A dense swarm of Murlocs, strange-looking Lobstrok, and massive Sea Giants.
There were also high-tech dolphins and terrifying giant squids swimming in the distance.
Even so water-like creatures—these were the water elentals summoned by the Naga mages and the mages aboard the ship.
Although this world didn't naturally have elental creatures, the Kirin Tor mages had learned the magic of Kamar-Taj, creating a new form of elental summoning magic to call forth water elentals.
However, the water elentals summoned by this magic didn't have the sa innate intelligence as the native elental creatures of Azeroth; they were rely magical puppets.
But they were more than enough to assist in combat and didn't consu much mana.
Especially in the sea, the Naga could summon these water elentals in large numbers.
For instance, Narathas, leading over a hundred female Naga mages, had summoned over a thousand water elentals.
"What exactly do you want?" Seeing the massive army surrounding him, outnumbering him by several tis, even though Namor had full confidence in himself and the Talokan military, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
"You've probably guessed it already, haven't you? My master has discovered a large amount of this in your territory. As long as you hand it over, we will both benefit. My master can offer you protection… Of course, we can also establish trade and buy resources from you. But in that case, the protection relationship will no longer apply!" Narathas pointed to her own Vibranium armor, which only covered vital areas.
"So, you ca for the Vibranium…" Namor sneered. "I noticed there was a special force behind the attack when Wakanda was surrounded by the world. If I'm not mistaken, that was you, wasn't it?"
Despite the Talokan remaining unknown to the outside world, even Wakanda, which also had Vibranium, was unaware of the Talokan's existence.
However, the Talokan had a good understanding of the outside world and were aware of Wakanda's situation.
The quick fall of Wakanda shocked him.
In investigating the destruction of Wakanda, Namor discovered that, aside from the major military factions led by a few rogue groups, there was a mysterious force pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Unfortunately, he didn't have many spies in the human world, so he was powerless against this hidden force.
It was from that mont on that Namor beca increasingly wary of human beings on land, forbidding any Talokan from exposing their whereabouts to avoid attracting the attention of this mysterious force.
Not long ago, so Arican operatives seed to have discovered traces of the Talokan's existence. Namor imdiately acted, eliminating the operatives before they could report their findings.
Now, looking at the situation, Namor realized there was still a slip-up.
He absolutely didn't believe that these mysterious sea creatures that had suddenly appeared were not connected to the mysterious force he had suspected.
Namor wasn't so inexperienced youth. The Talokan had migrated from land to the ocean when he was already born, back in the early 16th century.
In other words, Namor was now over four hundred years old—ordinary Talokan lived as long as humans, but Namor was an exception.
While he didn't know exactly how long he could live, his physical condition suggested he was still in his youth. So, while he may not be immortal, living for over a thousand years was certainly within reach. Because of this, he was seen not only as a king among the Talokan but also as one of their divine figures.
The na K'uk'ulkan was a clear indicator—he shared it with the feathered serpent god of soarican civilizations.
He could swim through water with great speed, and the small wings on his feet allowed him to fly, much like the Greek god Hers.
Over his long life, Namor had traveled across both the seas and lands, witnessing countless species of creatures.
He could swear that these Naga, Murlocs, Sea Giants, Lobstrok, and other bizarre sea creatures had never existed on Earth before.
"…You're very clever, K'uk'ulkan. But often, knowing too much is not a good thing. If you still had the option of trade before, now, you and your people only have two choices: submission or annihilation!" Hearing Namor make the connection to Wakanda, Narathas' eyes hardened. Her staff began to glow brilliantly as she spoke.
"…I choose submission! But I must et your master first!" Namor lowered his head, pretending to think, but his gaze flashed with cold intent before he raised his head and spoke.
Hearing Namor's response, his Talokan followers were both surprised and reluctant, but they dared not speak out due to Namor's overwhelming authority.
"Very well, but it must be just you!" After a brief pause, Narathas agreed.
"Naturally!" Namor nodded.
Narathas imdiately turned and swam towards the surface of the sea, with Namor following closely behind.
However, Namor failed to notice the mocking expression that flickered across Narathas' face as she turned.
The two moved quickly, and in less than a minute, they had reached the sea surface where the freighter was anchored.
Narathas flashed and leaped from the water onto the deck, startling Namor. It took him a mont to catch up, but he quickly flew up and landed on the deck.
In the center of the deck was a table.
At the table sat Josh, leisurely enjoying the cheek at from a bluefin tuna he had just caught—of course, the fact that the tuna had been tricked into biting the hook by a few dolphins was a detail best left unsaid.
"Master, this is Namor!" Narathas swam gracefully to Josh's side and bowed respectfully.
Josh waved his hand, signaling her to step aside.
"Ah, King of the Sea, Namor! It's an honor to et you!" After a mont, Josh set down his utensils and looked up at Namor.
"It's also a pleasure to et you… now die!" Seeing Josh's calm deanor, Namor took two steps forward in a seemingly respectful manner, then suddenly lunged, thrusting his spear directly at Josh.
At that mont, the tip of his spear was barely ten centiters from Josh's eye!
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