569 Lake of Illusions [8]: Reversal

"Roar!"

Varian roared into the empty air.

Then, he took a deep breath and filled the air in his lungs.

"Roaaar!"

This roar was slightly different from the last. It stressed different parts of the sound and stretched the middle.

Varian held his throat and wondered if it was still working. If he was a normal human, it'd have broken by now.

That was how difficult the mermen sounds were.

His superhuman body took care of such issues and he focused solely on becoming a true merman.

After a lot of provocation, observation, and testing, Varian concluded the necessary 'roars' for a merman.

They were:

(A) Gather

(B) Attack

He initially thought there'd be a roar signaling retreat. That was common sense. But common sense didn't apply to mermen.

Even if they were on the verge of death, they'd fight.

It was an annoying trait for any human entering the lake.

Varian too didn't like the trait before.

But now.

"Roaar!"

He couldn't stop smiling.

*** *** ***

Mermen were simple creatures. A bit too simple, in fact.

They recognized their race through pheromones, followed an alpha, and attacked based on the alpha's roars.

Varian had the pheromones.

That's why, when he encountered three mermen, they didn't attack him. They merely looked at him for a moment before they started to search for prey.

He wasn't their alpha. So, they didn't listen to him.

He needed to prove himself to be an alpha.

How?

He picked the most straightforward way.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

He beat the shit out of the mermen.

"Kree~"

The three mid level 7 mermen bowed their heads in subservience. They had accepted his lead.

"Roar!" Varian gave a simple roar and moved forward.

The three mermen looked at each other and followed him.

Since he already surveyed the area surrounding them, Varian made sure they didn't run into any humans.

Instead, they ran into more and more mermen.

From his frequent moving around, Varian discovered that mermen had a strong sense of territorial ownership.

A territory's alpha never left their territory.

'Then what if another alpha steps in?' Varian did what he thought.

If the same thing happened to animals, then they'd fight it out.

"Roar!"

The native territory's alpha with his five subordinate mermen came to battle him.

Varian smiled. 'They aren't much different from animals.'

'Then.'

Zap! Kacha!

The sky-blue surface of the lake reflected a golden light followed by a grey crack.

The alpha of the group knelt on the ground and bowed his head.

"Kree~"

His subordinates naturally followed suit.

"Heh." Varian smiled and gave a victory roar.

His henchmen increase to nine.

Then twelve.

Fifteen.

Twenty.

…

Fifty.

Varian looked at the large group he made in a few hours and stroked his chin.

'They're pretty strong collectively.'

Even though he was careful, they ended up encountering humans.

But his group was able to defeat them with ease. Of course, Varian didn't let them kill the humans and only threw them out.

Still, this group filled Varian with confidence.

"Now then, it's finally time for the high level 7s." Varian turned his gaze to the thirty-sixth mile.

*** *** ***

The prince on the thirty-sixth mile sighed in exasperation.

The strange merman escaped. It was surely a rare boss that'd have given him way more points.

"Fuck!"

Even though he was a high level 7, albeit every new one, he lost against a low level 7 merman.

A fricking merman!

"In my defense, it has multiple paths. Five or six? What a monster!" The prince sighed again.

"If only that bastard thing appears in front of my eyes, I won't let it escape. Neve—" The prince froze.

"This…" His eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets as he saw the merman.

The strange merman.

Because it was so strange, his lightning sense memorized it. So, he recognized it instantly.

The prince's lips curled up into a smile that stretched from one ear to another.

"Hahaha! The heavens blessed me with a second chance!" With a burst of reverberating laughter, the prince turned into a streak of lightning and reached the strange merman.

"Roar!" The merman looked him in the eye and roared.

It was a bit different from a usual merman roar, but the prince didn't care much. He was too ecstatic to notice such trivial details.

"You are done. You can't escape this time!" The prince raised his hand and summoned a long lightning spear.

The fifty meters long spear soon condensed into just two meters. Its glow, however, intensified.

"Die!"

Shuaa!

Like a burning sun descending on earth, the spear reached Varian.

It seared the air and spiked the temperature. The lake's surface reflected a beautiful gold.

As the spear was about to touch the merman, the prince finally pumped his fist into the air.

"Ye—"

Boom! Bang!

His words stopped abruptly as more than a dozen attacks of various kinds drowned the lightning spear.

Water dragons. Gravity locks. Space breaks. Branch shields.

The lightning spear which seemed to be capable of burning down a hill dissipated like a weak candle in the storm.

"Wha—" The prince opened his mouth to question but shut it in utter horror.

There were fifty fricking mermen behind this special merman!

"Roar!"

With the signal of the strange merman, the fifty turned their gazes to him and channeled their powers.

Even though he wasn't attacked yet, the prince's body trembled.

'I knew it! I fucking knew it! This thing is a rare boss! More points! Or how could it have so many paths? Argh! Damn it! I should've killed this thing!'

His thoughts were futile.

The attacks materialized and were aimed at the prince.

"Fuck!"

The prince looked at the special merman and thought of kidnapping him. But—

Kaa!

The space that continuously solidified around him made it clear that it was impossible.

"Roar!" Varian ordered.

Whoosh! Shuaa!

"Fucking hell!" The prince cursed and channeled his lightning mana.

His body turned into lightning and he broke the space lock.

As the attacks reached him, he didn't even try to block them and ran away.

Varian looked at their reversed roles and covered his face.