Lantisde.In a giant hall full of pillars, a merfolk wearing armor respectfully addressed the high priest in black robes standing in front of the crystal ball. “High Priest, the migration of the people living at the borders has commenced. But the subterranean castle could only accommodate the people living in the capital. The subterranean castles of the normal little cities may not survive the upcoming Nether Whirlwinds. Should I proceed to report this?”


  “Have you confirmed the number of Nether Sharks for this upcoming attack?” the high priest asked, looking at the crystal ball.

  “According to the reports from the frontline, five giant Nether Whirlwinds have already been spotted. There are also about 100 big Nether Whirlwinds and about 800 medium Nether Whirlwinds. This is an unprecedented Nether Whirlwind frenzy.” Desperation could be sensed in that merfolk’s voice.

  Nether Whirlwind was the strongest opponent that Lantisde had to face after it sank. In the beginning, the merfolk were defenseless against the impenetrable whirlwinds. They became food for the Nether Sharks.

  Fortunately, under the leadership of the high priest and the king, Lantisde was rebuilt. The merfolk began to deal with the Nether Whirlwinds with scale and strategy.

  However, Lantisde still had to pay a huge price every year when the Nether Sharks appeared before they could survive the one-month-long dark period.

  The Nether Sharks would leave one month later and disappear in the vast sea before appearing again one year later.

  This cycle has been repeating for the past 1000 years.

  There were a few periods in Lantisde’s history that the number of Nether Whirlwinds increased significantly.

  300 years ago, three giant Nether Sharks led an attack on Lantisde with a few hundreds big, medium, and small Nether Sharks. The Lantisdeans’ subterranean castle was breached, and the high priest and eldest prince died in the battle. The numbers of deaths and injuries among the normal merfolk were more so countless.

  And this time, the numbers of Nether Sharks was even more than during that worst attack in history.

  Even though Lantisde had 10-odd 10th-tier powerhouses with the high priest in the lead and hundreds of thousands of merfolk warriors, they still only felt despair when they had to face that hurricane that was immune to magic.

  “No. Let them all return to the capital.” A faint blue light appeared on the crystal ball in the hand of the high priest. Scenes of dozens of simple and crude underwater towns appeared on the crystal ball’s surface. “The Nether Sharks love to clear the small towns out one by one. There are too many Nether Sharks this time, no town is going to survive for one month.”


  “But High Priest, the capital city is going to face the Nether Whirlwind directly if all the merfolk shift into the capital. Given the upcoming Nether Whirlwind’s numbers and power, we are not able to stop them beyond the capital city. Once the capital city is breached, Lantisde will perish completely,” that merfolk said to the high priest, shaking his head.

  “Even if we let them stay out there, given the intensity of the current Nether Frenzy, the capital city will still be breached eventually.”


  “High Priest—”


  “Pass on the order. 1st-tier command. All the merfolk are going to retreat into the capital to prepare for battle. Disperse the information about the Nether Sharks’ current status to all as it is. Mobilize all our people. If we want to survive this Nether Frenzy, every merfolk needs to contribute,” the high priest interrupted the other merfolk calmly.

  That merfolk’s expression became solemn as he loudly replied, “Yes.” Then, he turned and strode off.

  “God, You gave us instructions, but You didn’t tell us how to survive this. As Your loyal follower, I beg You to save Lantisde……”


  The high priest’s chanting was reverberating throughout the great hall……

  Verell Town.

  As a border town was located in the northwest of Lantisde, the arc-shaped black barrier could be visibly seen whenever they raised their heads. It was hanging over their heads heavily as if it was going to fall down any moment soon.

  The town was located 350 kilometers from the barrier boundary, and it was abound with a kind of small fish called “Crescent Fish”.

  This transparent fish was only as big as a thumb. There was a crescent-shaped bright yellow luminous bone on their head, hence the name.

  This was one of the rich and noble people’s favorite foods in Lantisde. It wasn’t expensive, but at Lantisde where resources were scarce, it was already enough to make many merfolk gather here to catch the Crescent Fish as a living.

  “Dewell, quick, pull the net! I’ve chased many crescent fish over!” A frail teenage mermaid chased a school of shiny crescent fish over.

  A similarly frail teenage merman swam out from a huge boulder. He swung the fishing net in his hands out, and accelerated toward the school of fish. He caught all those little crescent fish which couldn’t turn in time with the net.

  “There are so many! It’s fantastic!” the mermaid exclaimed happily as she came forward and looked at the hundreds of crescent fish in the net with bright eyes.

  “Do you need to be so happy when it’s only a small amount? I will bring you out to catch the big ones one day. One of them is equal to 100 of these small ones.” The teenager called Dewell glanced at the little fishes in the net with disdain. He looked at the black barrier in the sky, and said, “I want this sky……”


  The girl snatched the fishnet, pursing her lips, and said, “This sky not only blocked your eyes, but also blocked the big fishes too. We’d better stay here and catch the crescent fish honestly. As long as we can catch 5,000 of them, Uncle Bulters is going to bring us to the capital, and we won’t have to stay here any longer.”


  The maiden’s eyes lit up when she mentioned the capital.

  She heard that it was a big city that was 100 times, 1000 times more prosperous than Verell!

  She couldn’t imagine what kind of prosperity that involved. The biggest place that she had ever been to was Bulloch City which was about 300 miles away from Verell. The people of Verell would seek refuge in Bulloch City when the past years’ Nether Whirlwinds came.

  The maiden’s face paled when she thought of the Nether Whirlwinds. Their parents died in the giant sharks’ mouth in the whirlwind eight years ago. She grabbed the lad’s sleeves, and said, “Dewell, that’s what Uncle Butlers promised, right?”


  “Yes, that fatty has already promised us.” Dewell nodded before he pursed his lips with disdain, and said, “Not much money is needed to travel to the capital, and yet this fatty asked us for 5,000 crescent fish. He is going to earn more than half from us.”


  “It doesn’t matter. As long as we can get into the capital city, we won’t have to fear the Nether Whirlwind anymore.” A smile appeared on the maiden’s face.

  Looking at the maiden’s smile, Dewell’s expression slowly became solemn. He turned and gazed at the black distant expanse as he clenched his fists, and said, “I will kill all those bastards sooner or later. I will.”
……

  “Alright, the grill, condiments, and ingredients are all prepared. They should be enough to cook seafood.” Mag inspected the case of kitchenware and nodded. Then, he saw Gina coming downstairs with a pile of mud casing. “Are you preparing to bring some local specialty home?”