Mera couldn't stop him, and watched Arthur rush forward with wide eyes. She had no choice but to follow him. Orm, the prince of Atlantis who grew up in the depths of the sea, had a much more practiced water control technique than Arthur. He wielded the golden trident, surrounding the Savage Wolf tightly.
However, compared to Arthur as a warrior, he was closer to a mage. When Savage Wolf found an opening to get close, he was slapped into the ground. Red blood floated out from his mouth, and he moved his only movable right arm, tossing the trident back to Arthur.
Blood surrounded Arthur as well. The claws of Savage Wolf were unique, creating wounds that were hard to heal. Even water magic could only partially stop the bleeding. Arthur was already pale due to excessive blood loss.
At this moment, the Seven Clans Leaders arrived late. Seeing the tragic state of the two former leaders, they roared in anger and rushed toward Savage Wolf. Yet Arthur shouted, "No!!!"
Savage Wolf stomped his foot hard, and the immense force sent ripples through the entire sea area. The Seven Clans Leaders were directly overturned by the quicksilver. Arthur gritted his teeth and charged at him again, not retreating even as the assault from Savage Wolf made him stagger.
The Seven Seas Leaders exchanged glances and continued to raise their weapons after getting up, shouting, "Long live Atlantis!!!"
Then they continued to charge at Savage Wolf, and the other Atlantis warriors were inspired, persistently attacking Savage Wolf. Gradually, the entire sea turned blood red.
Even without the attack from type demons, Savage Wolf was truly too strong, with claws that could shatter anything, metal armor that was invincible, and incredible strength that couldn't be opposed by ordinary Atlanteans despite the resistance of water.
Arthur fought with all his might, wounded upon wounds, but could only leave a scar on his neck while he himself was exhausted.
He was once again flung away by Savage Wolf. Mera, who was attacking nearby, hurried over to support him. Arthur's face had already turned somewhat ashen gray, but he still smiled at Mera.
Mera pressed her lips tightly, seemingly wanting to say something more, but Savage Wolf's assault had arrived, forcing her to pick up Arthur's trident to defend. Yet she didn't seem able to unleash the true power of the trident, and just like that, the trident was knocked away. Savage Wolf's sharp claw was about to cut across Mera's neck.
Suddenly, his movement halted—Arthur hugged him from behind by the waist. Arthur used his last strength to slam Savage Wolf to the ground, but at the same time he couldn't get back up.
Savage Wolf got up from the ground, grabbed Arthur by the neck, and lifted him up. Mera let out a sharp scream: "No!!!"
The claw tightened more and more. Arthur felt himself suffocating, and many fragments flashed before his eyes again. At six years old, he stood in front of a big city's aquarium for the first time and heard a shark speak to him. He jumped into the water from the beach at Port of Mercy, with the whispers of fish in his ears. He rescued sailors from a submarine, listening to the townspeople's praises. His father finished a day's work and waited for him in front of the lighthouse...
Throughout the years he grew up, nearly every night he would see his father sitting in the empty lot in front of the lighthouse, gazing at the sea as if waiting for something. Before he knew what he was waiting for, but after learning about his own origins, he realized his father was always hoping for his mother's return.
Arthur had also floated countless times on the sea surface, quietly staring at the light at the edge of the sea. He knew the lighthouse at Port of Mercy would never go out as long as he hadn't returned.
If he died here, his father would never get a chance to wait for him to come home.
Years ago, his father had already suffered the loss of a loved one, only able to wait bitterly by the shore. Years later, if he were to lose his son again, he would only be able to guard the lighthouse through endless nights, experiencing disappointment over and over, never able to see his family again.
Therefore, amidst the gradually blurring consciousness, a sharp and intense survival instinct surged up—he absolutely could not die here!
Arthur began to struggle desperately. But the large hand gripping his neck seemed to have endless power, making his struggle utterly futile, ineffective. Yet he still refused to give up.
He had already seen too many times the lost look in his father's eyes when he returned at dawn. Before the sun rises, he must return to the surface. He must... absolutely...
Mera and Orm, lying on the ground, both noticed the sea water starting to tremble faintly. It wasn't like the usual currents they felt but rather as if each droplet of water was beginning to release strong power.
Countless clueless tourists felt the tremors from the depths of the ocean and ran toward the shore screaming. The monitoring devices at meteorology and ocean stations issued loud, piercing alarms. Soldiers on the aircraft carrier ran fearfully into the cabin.
At the same time, all the oceans on Earth began to boil.
Lost in oblivion, Arthur seemingly traversed through time and space, returning to ancient times to witness firsthand how this blue star was shaped by the ocean into what it is today.
When this battle-scarred star first acquired a drop of water, the ocean began to form. Frozen beneath ice, rising into the atmosphere. Fire marked the beginning of human civilization, while water is the source of all life, forming mountains and nourishing all things.
Arthur hears the ocean speaking to him—the strength of water has never been in eruptions and surges, but in each confluence, each wash, repeated billions of times, causing earth to crumble and mountains to collapse, changing the world in silence, growing strong in quietude, like time.
The world falls silent. Arthur floats in the seawater just as he once floated in his mother's amniotic fluid. The process of being born from the mother's body is akin to retracing the path traveled by life over billions of years. Humans and Atlanteans have never been so different; life on Earth originates from the ocean.
Arthur suddenly awakes. In the next second, the golden trident flies toward him, which he firmly grasps in his hand. At this moment, the surrounding seawater stands still, and the armor scales on Savage Wolf begin to peel off one by one.
Everyone is stunned. Savage Wolf hastily retracts his hand. He quickly steps back, checking his armor, only to witness a scene that shocks him—the edge of his indestructible alloy armor has rusted.
This is truly incredible! Savage Wolf feels only this—this thing could jump into a star and not be burned, yet now it's rusted?!!
Only Arthur knows, he has mastered the ocean's most powerful force—evolution.
The power of the ocean has never been in a single breath or fleeting moment. Those tumultuous ocean currents, the so-called rage of the ocean, are merely the surface power of the ocean. If the time span extends to trillions of years, nothing could be born from the ocean that it won't eventually engulf.
At this moment, quietly resting at the bottom of the sea might be fragments of the indestructible earth's crust from billions of years ago, now just scattered gravel; while those now distanced from the ocean, creating splendid civilizations on land, were merely small cells occasionally appearing in the ocean billions of years ago.
Arthur closes his eyes. At this moment, through the golden trident, he can now feel not just the flow of seawater, but how everything evolved through the ocean over billions of years, changing its form in the vast sea: either aging, breaking, mutating, or being reborn.
Suddenly, there are exclamations from the battlefield. The Atlanteans retreat in horror, not because they have been attacked, but because those heavily armored Type Demons suddenly start to devolve: the fingers holding weapons retract into the palms, limbs begin to vanish, the spine gradually curls up, a layer of gray-black eggshell envelops them. Then the eggshell disappears, inside flows a pus-like substance, leaving only microscopic cells. Then even the cellular structure disappears—imperceptible prokaryotes vanish into the seawater.
This reverse evolution process is so terrifying that the Atlantis Warriors drop their weapons and flee, fearing they might be next. Mera seems to understand something and looks towards Arthur.
Savage Wolf notices something amiss, too. He swims towards the surface as fast as he can. His speed is incredibly fast, yet in this short instant, most of his armor has peeled away, leaving only the central waist part, which is now rusted beyond recognition.
The most horrifying thing is, upon breaking through the surface, the giant horn on his head has shrunk by half, a sharp claw on his right foot has transformed into a dreadful, ugly cyst. Yet he feels no abnormality, as if he was born this way.
"Ah!!!!" Savage Wolf lets out a furious roar.
But suddenly, his nose twitches, as if he's smelled something strange. He turns in a direction to look, and in his view, a white light rises from the East Coast—that's the Mother Box's aura.
Knowing he must not return to the ocean, Savage Wolf chooses to abandon the attack on Atlantis and heads straight for Metropolis.
Arthur looks up at him but first helps Mera up, then pulls Orm from the ground and pats his shoulder. Orm doesn't say anything, only rolls his eyes when Arthur turns away.
"Thank goodness, they've retreated," Mera breathes a sigh of relief.
Arthur shakes his head and says, "Not necessarily a retreat, just finding that they can't get what they want from us, they're turned to seek elsewhere. We must follow him, can't let him succeed."
Mera worriedly looks at his chest and says, "Your injury..."
"It's nothing," Arthur lowers his head, takes a glance, and says, "Won't take long to recover, it's more urgent to stop Savage Wolf. Orm, you first consolidate Atlantis's forces in case he returns. Mera and I will go to the land."
Orm nods and goes over to speak with the Seven Seas King. Arthur leads Mera back to Metropolis. Upon seeing Victor, Arthur knows they guessed correctly—what Savage Wolf is after might be partly on Victor.
Arthur raises the trident, intending to repeat the trick but slowly lowers it. He can't flood Metropolis with seawater; who knows how many would die. So he summons a wave to first wash the streets, while Savage Wolf just suffered in his hands, might as well scare him a bit.