CHAPTER 82: | THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS | 3

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  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  Despair was all they could feel from fighting a monstrous being that defied all the common sense they had built since childhood.

  “I-impossible! This can’t be possible, dammit! Just what sorcery are you using, you damned bastard!”

  He was baffled in their clash with this monstrous entity that didn't have a single trait of any of the six prominent clans of the empire.

  What's more, this man blocked their artifacts, which were made from lord-class demonic beasts remains, with relatively little to no effort at all.

  He was shocked and baffled to his core.

  Since how could this be called common sense?

  How could weapons crafted from those beasts be trash?

  It was impossible, he couldn't accept that they were nothing but rubbish.

  Their pride as the elites of their group just couldn't allow them to stoop to the level of those from the slums.

  He, the leader of these two lord-class sharklings, just couldn't back down from this.

  He was Stir, the krakenling born from a whore, the one who killed others to rise, the one who was decisive and cold-blooded.

  So he couldn't believe that he couldn't kill this single man today.

  His voice grew cold as he regained his composure.

  He pointed his index finger at the man, then muttered coldly.

  "Use it, twin."

  The twins, Orga and Orgo, let out a toothy grin as they both shouted in unison.

  "Thanks, boss!"

  The twin's used their 'berserk skill,' as their bodies turned crimson as their soft skin grew rough, their muscles bulging uncontrollably.

  Their speed and strength increased by multifolds as their tridents struck their opponents with savage abandon.

  The water exploded with their thrusts, and their swings sent waves flying as bubbles rose.

  Swish! Swoosh! Stab!

  But to their dismay, all of their attacks were blocked in a single strike, and their opponent sent them flying with a single blow.

  Stir found this scene before him to be madness.

  He was in shock.

  He couldn't believe that the twins he had raised and nurtured could be pushed back, even when they were in a berserk state.

  It was out of this world, as even he couldn't block their attacks in that state, nor could any of the other captains of their group hope to.

  So how was this scene before him possible?

  Stir was now in a dangerous delusion since it was utter nonsense.

  He couldn't believe it.

  He chuckled, as if he was insane, comforting himself that all of this was fiction.

  "Y-yea... that's right... this is fiction!"

  His smile broke as he heard the sound of metal shattering.

  Crash!

  He glanced down, having regained his sanity, and muttered.

  "Impossible!"

  That was all he could mutter.

  The trident of his men, of his children, was breaking from a single punch from this being.

  He was being driven insane.

  He muttered.

  "What did we just provoke?!"

  He despaired but clenched his hands, unable to wallow in it.

  He sighed, then closed his eyes as he raced for an answer on how they could kill this man.

  He racked his brain for an answer but couldn't, and so he cursed.

  "Dammit! How would I be able to kill such a monster?!"

  He watched the fight as he couldn't help but smile with a twisted sense as he muttered with insanity.

  "Yes... t-that's it... that method would suffice!"

  He clutched his head as he pulled something from his inventory, while snickering and laughing from time to time as he muttered.

  "D-don't blame me for this... i-it's y-you who a-asked for t-this..."

  He grasped the item that looked like a hand cannon with both of his hands as he bit his lips and pulled hundreds of spiritual stones from his storage pouch hanging from his waist.

  He stuffed them into the hand cannon.

  As he shouted enraged.

  "D-dammit, such a waste!"

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  His outrage was understandable, after all, a hundred stams, whether spiritual stones or items of equivalent value, was the monthly due he earned through working like a mad dog in his group.

  I gazed at the krakenling above me, pulling out a hand cannon in his desperate attempt to kill me.

  I couldn't help but sigh, then muttered.

  "I guess it's time to finish this."

  Yes, it was now time to finish this since I, too, was getting bored with playing with these weaklings.

  That hand cannon spoke of danger to me, of how it would obliterate me to dust.

  I shook my head.

  "Then let us reach the crescendo of this battle!"

  The sharklings nodded as they threw their broken tridents away.

  Then they clenched their fists, took their stances, and said in unison.

  "Come!"

  I smiled, then took my stance as I clenched my fist and leaped towards them.

  I turned into a ghostly afterimages, then I muttered coldly.

  “Heaven and Earth Crushing Fist!”

  My strike landed, bones snapping with a sickening crack.

  Blood sprayed from their mouth as they hacked and coughed.

  “Impressive…”

  Those were their final words before my fist sank six inches deep into the sharkling’s chest.

  That one technique was enough to break their ribcages, immobilizing them.

  I smiled then dashed towards the krakenling and muttered.

  "Don't just cowardly stand there and come!"

  The two sharklings, barely clinging to life, clenched their teeth and forced their broken bodies past the pain in their chests, pushing themselves to the very limit.

  It wasn't out of sheer loyalty, but rather from their desire to protect their fatherly figure.

  The two of them vanished from their spots and reappeared inches away from me, their fists inches away from my face.

  But it was useless.

  As I turned into a ghastly mirage and, in the next second, appeared on the krakenling's back as I muttered coldly.

  "Blood Claw: Heart Grasp!"

  My claw pierced his back and grabbed his heart.

  But Stir, the krakenling, couldn't process it all as he muttered with his bloodied mouth.

  "What are you doing..."

  I crushed his heart before biting it.

  His voice soon died as blood gushed violently from his mouth.

  Then I waved my hand in a cutting motion as my form passed through all of them in a split second.

  "Heaven Sword: Concentrated Slash."

  My voice echoed coldly as blood exploded behind my back as their heads were severed in that instant.

  That was the end of Stir, the slaughtered one, an underdog of the syndicate group that he worked for, along with his men, the twin berserkers.

  I sighed, then opened my mouth, manipulating my form as I enlarged it.

  Then I clamped down.

  Crush!

  Blood exploded in the water as my mouth reverted back to normal.

  I couldn't help but sigh.

  "No notifications?"

  It was such a pity that I couldn't receive the notifications that I had successfully devoured any of them.

  It was such a pity that my ability to devour those in the same stage as mine had become worse and worse.

  Worst of all, being an Emperor meant that devouring anyone below the rank of Sovereign had become all but meaningless.

  But still, I'm pretty sure I would get a skill if I devoured a thousand lord-class demonic beasts, a hundred king-class demonic beasts, and ten overlord-class demonic beasts.

  Sincr I only needed one of each if it was sovereign and above.

  Such a pity that I will pretty much rely on luck, hoping that the goddess of luck would love me every time I devoured.

  I wonder how... but for now, let's go and scurry this city.

  Sighing at how desolate my luck had become, I took off from the sky and appeared in the crowd down the streets, unnoticed as I blended with the masses and walked like any other person, masking my handsome appearance.

  I walked around the streets, looking at the 'merchant's' wares to see if there was anything interesting, but I soon grew bored since I'd found nothing but fraud displaying trash.

  Their items were nothing but trash that could be seen on the roadside, so I walked away and looked for any rich person in the streets.

  I pondered as I could see three rich noble heirs wandering on the streets, carrying their usual storage pouches with their family insignia engraved on them.

  I chuckled.

  "It seems that the heavens have blessed me."

  Slowly, I gazed at the storage pouch, then stole fabrics of a similar texture and color to the velvet storage pouch of the heir of the Seashore Clan.

  I wove it into an identical storage pouch with perfection.

  I smiled as I gazed at the woman who was called Aubrey.

  I couldn't help but comment on her beautiful appearance, purple hair and blue eyes, with her voluptuous figure.

  "Such a pity that such a beaury will be my first victim."

  Closing my eyes for a moment, I composed myself, then walked with measured elegance toward the noblewoman, an apparent heir of one of the empire’s fifteen great clans.

  "Miss Aubrey, are you thinking of buying that book?"

  His butler asked her, but she only shook her head, picked up another trinket from the vendor’s clutter, examined it, and dismissed it with another shake.

  "These items have no value at all."

  She remarked plainly.

  The vendor sweated profusely.

  He couldn't believe that Miss Aubrey, the heir of the Seashore Clan, one of the six most powerful clans, was taking a look at his goods.

  He clasped his hands and spoke nervously.

  "T-then how about this gem, Heir?"

  Aubrey reached for the gem, its glow steeped in mystery, and inspected it meticulously before smiling in satisfaction at her find.

  A faint smile tugged at her lips as she mused.

  ‘A low-grade bloodstone, huh? Even so, a rare catch, normally, bloodstones of any rank would end up in the Seashore Auction House, so it's quite weird that one would end up in here.’

  She quickly smothered her amusement, her face settling into a perfect poker mask as she asked.

  "How much?"

  The vendor smiled brightly as if she had satisfied a god, then shouted.

  "Originally it was one thousand stams, Miss Aubrey... but for you, it's only nine hundred stams, Heir."

  Aubrey couldn’t believe the vendor’s ignorance, passing off the stone as mere ornamentation.

  Her thoughts turned sharp.

  ‘Weird… Could this be a scheme from my one of my siblings ? No matter. Even if it is, I lose nothing, since this stone’s worth would at least fetch me twenty to fifty thousand stams.’

  But before Aubrey could reach her storage pouch, I smirked.

  As I deliberately bumped into her, and grabbed her storage pouch, then replaced it with an identical one that I had made just a few seconds earlier.

  I scratched my head with embarrassment, as I bowed.

  "M-my apologies, Heir."

  Aubrey gazed at me, fascination flickering in her eyes, before offering a flat nod.

  ‘A bloodstone falling into my hands, and now a handsome man into my embrace? Truly, what a fortunate day.’

  She then reached for her storage pouch, then opened it, but to her dismay, there was nothing in there as she shouted.

  "Catch that insolent man, Vincent!"

  Vincent, her old butler, bowed with grace.

  "As you wish, Heir."

  Aubrey then gazed at the merchant as she spoke.

  "Put it in my tab and claim your payment in my suite at Clam Hotel."

  Then she dashed out of the streets and followed her butler, as she cursed under her breath.

  "Damned handsome man! How dare you steal my storage pouch!"

  She was flustered, her entire storage pouch, holding her wealth, clothing, and even her lingerie, had been stolen by a man she actually liked.

  Meanwhile, the vendor left adrift in his tiny store stood still, unable to process what had happened earlier.

  Meanwhile, I slipped from the crowd like a shadow, shaking off my pursuers with a single step.

  In the next moment, I emerged into an empty street, my features twisting back into the guise of the sea dragon who had robbed solia earlier.

  I chuckled.

  “Such a haul, don’t you think, Aubrey?”

  Even with my disguise, it seemed that I couldn’t quite shake Aubrey, the noble heir of the Seashore Clan.

  Still, I counted it as my victory, since I had slipped past her butler, a high Overlord, and lived to boast about it.

  Aubrey extended her hand as she muttered.

  "Hand me the pouch, and I will forget that this ever happened."

  I smiled as I flicked my hand.

  "How about giving me a hundred stams for my performance, and I will forget the content inside of your pouch?"

  Aubrey trembled as she gazed at me with the intent to kill as she shouted.

  "You dare!"

  I laughed, then raised my hand as I could feel the presence of her butler coming to this alley.

  I shook my head, then smiled.

  "Then forgive me, Heir."

  Like a ghost, I disappeared from the alleyways, leaving Aubrey with her storage pouch as Vincent appeared in the next second, shouting.

  "Heir, where is that insolent man?! Did you catch him?! Are you hurt?!"

  Aubrey’s blue eyes turned icy as she stared at the storage pouch in her hands, with all of her lingerie gone.

  She ground her teeth and spat coldly,

  “Find that son of a bitch. Now!”

  Vincent bowed and vanished without a word.

  Aubrey’s voice dropped to a whisper, trembling with restrained fury.

  “How dare you toy with me…”

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