Cave Refuge

So even the most hidden merfolk could hardly withstand the search and attack of resentful spirits, and while the white bone puppets were still entangled with the merfolk in the city center, those resentful spirits had already annihilated a quarter of the merfolk in the underwater city.

Due to the massive deaths of merfolk within the underwater city, the tainted blood enveloping the city began to absorb the essence of flesh from those who had died.

As the number of dead merfolk continued to rise, the Blood Sea, replenished with the essence of flesh, had transitioned from the original semi-transparent state barely enveloping the city to a deep red color.

As the color of the Blood Sea surrounding the underwater city deepened, the merfolk engaged in battle with the white bone puppets soon noticed this situation.

A merfolk, disengaging from the battle with a white bone puppet, swam near the Blood Sea, first attacking it directly with their weapon, then upon realizing that the weapon could penetrate the Blood Sea, immediately employed water system spells against it, discovering that these spells too could pass right through it.

Although both forms of attack could penetrate the Blood Sea, he didn't believe the tainted blood that enveloped the underwater city was merely for show, so at this moment, he cautiously inched closer to it.

As his body approached the tainted blood, he suddenly felt his blood start to boil within him as he came ever closer to it.

He could feel the blood in the capillaries of his skin bursting forth from his flesh and shooting towards it.

Upon realizing this perilous situation, he retreated decisively but still noticed a considerable amount of blood continuously flying towards the tainted blood; it was only as he moved further away that the boiling blood inside his body gradually calmed.

Therefore, the blood continuously streaming towards the tainted blood couldn't possibly be from his own body, but he needed no further thought to understand the source behind him.

Having taken part in the battle against the white bone puppets himself, he knew that despite the intensity of the fight, the casualties on both sides weren't significant.

Yet noticing the endless stream of blood trailing from behind gave him an ominous feeling.

As he turned to look towards the city in search of the origin of the blood, and upon seeing where it was coming from, he was instantly dumbstruck.

The blood in the water wasn't conspicuous, so unless one observed closely, they wouldn't notice the fleeting red flashes.

Thus, he had failed to see the anomaly in the underwater city during the battle, and even now those merfolk engaged with the white bone puppets were unaware.

But when he calmed down and started to search purposefully, he was horrified to find that blood threads were now drifting from various parts of the underwater city, all flying towards the nearest patches of tainted blood.

The source of this blood, he naturally didn't believe to be from the enemy, so the blood flooding the city signified that the hidden elderly, women, and children had fallen victim to the enemy's assault.

The moment he noticed this, he immediately began casting spells, and upon releasing the magic in his hand, a ripple emanated from him, quickly spreading outwards in all directions.

As this ripple touched the merfolk that were fighting against the white bone puppets, they withdrew from the battlefield as if receiving a telepathic message, leaving only a few behind to hold off the white bone puppets while the others dispersed and entered the city to check on their kin who should have been hiding.

However, when following the trail of the blood to its sources, they found mostly mangled corpses and, as they moved forward, many skeletons stripped clean of flesh.

Seeing this, the searching merfolk displayed faces filled with both fury and terror.

Zachary, upon learning through his Divine Sense that the Merfolk had discovered the Resentful Spirit, no longer continued with the act, and summoned the Three Flags to their full power. The originally sluggish White Bone Puppets accelerated their attack speed in an instant, directly slaying several Merfolk that encircled him.

The Bone Puppets did not spare even the distant Merfolk, their bone spikes shooting out like arrows, blanketing the sky and striking all around. Facing such a saturating assault, many Merfolk failed to react in time and were turned into porcupines by the incoming spikes.

The Merfolk who became spiked porcupines, even if they didn't die at that moment, eventually couldn't last long due to the increasing suction of the Bloodthirsty Banner and were reduced to mere white bones.

As the White Bone Puppets exerted their full strength, the Blood Sea, which had completely enveloped the Underwater City, began to shrink like the contracting poison zone in a game, driving the dispersed Merfolk of the city towards the center.

Those Merfolk who did not wish to move closer to the city's center and tried to withstand the Tainted Blood found that upon contact with their skin, it immediately began to fester, and then their entire bodies dissolved into puddles of blood within a second, directly absorbed by the Tainted Blood in the Blood Sea.

At this time, the Resentful Spirits within the Hundred Ghosts Banner no longer hid and ambushed in secret, but banded together openly to attack the Merfolk who drew near.

The majority of Merfolk were overwhelmed in an instant, their souls torn apart and devoured by the spirits, leaving behind bodies akin to those of coma patients, quietly awaiting their dissolution and absorption by the shrinking Blood Sea.

With the Blood Sea's continuous contraction, more and more Tainted Blood was absorbed, increasing its potency. Meanwhile, the number of Merfolk gathered at the city's center also grew.

With the increasing number of Merfolk in the city center, the White Bone Puppets, still battling, could kill or injure several Merfolk with almost every attack.

Just as the battle seemed about to end, a sudden movement in the crowd: one of the Merfolk lifted a bauble shaped like an eye over their head.

The other Merfolk, seeing this, promptly sank beneath the raiser. On this side, once Zachary saw this through his Divine Sense, he withdrew it immediately to prevent any accidents and also hid himself within the Cave.

About five minutes later, Zachary felt it was safe and tentatively opened a link to a passage, first using his Divine Sense to scout the outside. Once he confirmed there was no danger, Zachary left the Cave.

Now, as he turned his attention towards the site of the Underwater City, Zachary was shocked to find that the city, supposed to be sealed by the Blood Sea, had vanished without a trace, not just the Blood Sea but also all the buildings that had once stood there.

The area where the Underwater City stood had become an empty space, as if a picture drawn upon it had a section wiped clean with an eraser.

Despite the shock that even made him break out in a cold sweat underwater, Zachary did not believe the Merfolk and the White Bone Puppets had been annihilated together. After all, the actions of the other Merfolk before the bauble was used indicated that it had been used previously.

If that was the case, then it meant the Merfolk certainly hadn't disappeared altogether like the Underwater City.

Having established this, Zachary rapidly extended his Divine Sense in all directions. Before long, he indeed found a weakened Merfolk carrying the bauble that was used earlier, slowly swimming away.

Seeing the enfeebled state of the Merfolk, Zachary was sure that using the treasure had come at a significant cost.

Therefore, without hesitation, Zachary charged toward the Merfolk. Before they could react, his Flying Swords instantly chopped them into pieces.

Even so, Zachary was not content. He collected the blood mixed with the remains into the Cave for disintegration. Only then did he turn his attention to the object that looked like an eye, brought back by the Flying Swords.