Alex leaned against the jagged rock, eyes half-closed as he scanned the horizon for movent.
For a while, he had been sitting in silence, the sound of waves crashing below him steadily.
The sun had begun its descent, draping the world in a warm glow.
It would've been peaceful if not for the crawling sensation of tension prickling in the air like static.
The sea was at the edge since the empress and the emperor went back, as if it knew sothing would happen.
Even the fish in the area were gone, their senses warning them about impending disaster.
'Hey Sophia, what do you think? How long will it take for them to co back?' Alex asked inwardly, but Sophia's reply ca a bit late.
[... I wonder.]
She sounded hesitant and nervous, and Alex could feel it. But he could also sense she wouldn't tell him what bothered her if he asked.
Before he could confront her about it, sothing changed.
The mana around him pulsed unnaturally as sothing stirred.
Then, he felt it, or them, to be precise.
His perception picked up several sharp and fast-moving life forces slicing through the ocean's depths like blades.
Each presence grew stronger as they neared.
Their movents weren't chaotic; they were coordinated, precise, and hunting. His eyes narrowed.
"Here cos the warm-up," he murmured, rolling his neck with a faint pop.
The water beneath his cliff exploded upward as a shadow pierced the surface.
She ca like a missile.
A woman with flowing aquamarine hair and fins along her arms, her trident poised to impale.
Her body twisted mid-air, the late sun glinting off her silver-scaled armor. Her eyes locked onto him—fierce and unyielding.
Alex, however, sighed.
'A woman... well, since she's beautiful, I'll spare her.'
He dodged to the side, not quickly but enough to avoid her attack.
The trident missed his chest by an inch as he sidestepped, letting her montum carry her past him. She landed in a crouch behind him on the cliff, spun around, and stared.
But he wasn't looking at her anymore.
He was staring at the sea again, where two more life forces burst free from the depths—one from the left, one from the right.
Both won were ard and equally determined.
'Again?' He frowned, and this ti, he ducked fluidly, letting them sail past him.
Then again, this ti four more ca, leaping from all four cardinal directions, a ring of aerial assault.
Alex's lips twitched.
"Guess it's always the hard way."
He jumped into the air casually, his cloak coiling like smoke.
Mid-flight, he grabbed one of the attackers—her weapon whirling toward his head—and with a twist, redirected her toward the cliff where he'd just been sitting.
Her body slamd into the rock with a crunch, dazing her but not seriously injuring her.
He landed beside her as she groaned, struggling to sit up.
"Alright," he said, exasperated. "Why is it only won attacking ? Is it so tactic of yours? Do you think I won't kill won?"
The woman blinked, dazed for a second before scoffing. "What kind of waste question is that?"
She couldn't believe he would ask a question with an obvious answer.
Alex raised a brow as he saw her sit up fully now, brushing hair from her face.
Her legs were humanoid, but her fingers and toes were wide and webbed like a duck's—perfect for propulsion through water.
Despite the strange features, she radiated strength.
"Why would we send weak males into battle against soone like you?" She asked flatly, as if stating the obvious.
But Alex blinked. "…What?"
Then she paused.
Her gaze fixed on him more intently now, suspicion building behind her eyes. "Wait… how did you, a male, overpower ?"
Her voice cracked slightly at the end.
A murmur began to spread—first behind them, then all around.
Dozens of won on the backs of armored sharks were surfacing slowly, their weapons raised but not striking.
The water shimred with their presence, fins circling below, faces set in grim curiosity.
"He's a male."
"A male... and strong?"
"That's impossible."
"I thought only the Matriarchs could hold their own against elites!"
Alex's expression slowly shifted from confusion to dawning comprehension.
"…Oh," he muttered. "So that's what this is."
The pieces clicked together like a lock falling open.
The so-called "Sea Emperor," Kaeryn—he hadn't been the leader.
His words had held weight, yes, but it had been the queen—no, the empress—who gave the final commands.
The one who spoke for their people. The one who controlled the conversation.
He thought back.
The layered armor.
The posturing.
Kaeryn had puffed up with pride but bowed the mont she raised her hand.
'A reverse society,' he concluded.
The sea empire followed matriarchal dominance.
Alex exhaled in realization. "So... in the Sea Empire, won rule. n stay back."
The woman before him glared. "Of course we do. Everyone knows that. We're stronger. Smarter. We fight, we lead. Males care for the young and maintain the houses."
Alex folded his arms. "And yet here you are—flat on your back, asking why I'm not weaker."
Her nostrils flared. "You cheated."
"I didn't even use magic."
That stung.
She looked away, lips curled with frustration.
The murmurs around them grew louder.
"Could he be... mutated?"
"No, he looks fully human. But how?"
"Does land make males stronger?"
Alex sighed. "Do you always assu males are weak?"
Soone from the gathered crowd shouted, "In the water? Always."
'Ah...'
Suddenly, Neris's words rang in his head.
"I had heard, on the land, males are treated with more regard..."
He understood why she said that.
Alex looked around at the warriors. "If this is what your empire believes… then what I did just now must be a little terrifying, huh?"
None answered.
The silence was thick.
But he saw it in their eyes—disbelief, pride cracking, and uncertainty creeping in like frost on a window.
A low chuckle escaped him. Not mocking. Just... amused.
"Well," he said, raising his arms slightly, "I guess I shouldn't treat you like won but as warriors."
The woman on the ground slowly got up, eyes stormy. "Have you been playing with us till now—?!"
Slash!
Before she could finish her words, a black light flashed as Alex's hand, now holding Verathian in its sword form, went past the woman's head.
"Yep," he replied, but the woman couldn't hear him anymore.
Thud!
With a thud, her body fell, followed by her head, which rolled down the cliff, falling into the sea.
A stunned silence covered the area as the plopping sound of her head splashing into the water echoed through the surroundings.
Then—
"AHHHHHH!!!"
"KILL HIM!!!!"
"HOW DARE HE?!"
—Yells were heard as the won rushed at him with rage flooding their eyes.
"What's with this intense atmosphere?" Alex, however, just raised a brow. "Didn't you co prepared to die? So, why are you getting so riled up?"
Then, the chaos broke loose.
For Alex, the Exp farming had begun.
...........................
A few minutes later, the once-clean cliffside was a crimson-stained battlefield.
Blood dripped steadily down the jagged rocks, mixing with the salty spray of the waves below.
The sea, once calm, swirled red as severed limbs and shattered weapons floated lifelessly atop its surface.
The armored sharks that hadn't fled circled with unease, their riders long silenced.
Dozens of bodies lay scattered—so in pieces, others twisted in unnatural angles, their eyes wide with disbelief.
The elite warriors of the sea, won trained in martial arts and ancient tactics, had been cut down like grass before a storm.
And at the center of it all stood Alex.
His black cloak was tattered at the edges, stained with streaks of drying blood.
Verathian pulsed faintly in his hand, its blade clean despite the massacre, devouring the blood before it could linger.
His breathing was calm, almost bored. Not a single scratch marked his body.
"Too reckless," he muttered, glancing around at the carnage. "All emotion. No strategy. You fought like children throwing tantrums."
He wiped a drop of blood from his cheek with the back of his hand.
The battlefield was silent now.
Not a scream left.
Not a breath.
Only the gulls in the distance and the gentle hiss of dying waves.
Then, his eyes flicked up.
From the horizon, several powerful presences surged toward him.
This ti, slower and heavier, like predators asuring their prey.
He could feel it—the intent was different.
These weren't frenzied elites; they were calculated monsters.
He rolled his shoulders with a small crack.
"Hmph… already?" He muttered.
A faint smile curved his lips as he lifted Verathian again, resting it lazily over one shoulder.
His body was relaxed, but his aura subtly changed, sharpening like a drawn blade.
"Ti for the second wave, then…"
He didn't care whether the ones he would face were won or n.
All he cared about now was Exps.
The stronger his enemies were, the more he would enjoy the battle, as he was learning new things and trying them out mid-battle.
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