Be Careful, Don't Die
"That's exactly why I'm here.
I managed to escape the trench dwellers and made my way here."
Atlanna looked at Mera with complex emotions. The little girl who used to be like a little mermaid had grown so much. She wondered how her two sons were doing.
"You've been here alone for twenty years?"
Mera couldn't believe it.
Why didn't she leave? The Atlanteans had long believed their late queen was dead, but they never expected her to be alive and well.
"It's harder to get out of this world than it is to get in,"
Atlanna shook her head. "Without the power of the Trident, I can't return to the surface."
To get in here, one had to escape from the mouths of millions upon millions of trench dweller monsters. As for leaving, she'd rather face the trench dwellers' encirclement and pursuit ten more times.
At least the probability of success wouldn't be zero.
"How did you end up here?"
She had fled into the abyss and ended up here out of desperation. As for Mera, had she been sacrificed to the trench dwellers by Atlantis?
"And who is he?"
She looked at David beside her.
Atlanna sensed an immense pressure emanating from the young man, like a small fish in the deep sea feeling the unease of encountering a colossal monster.
Since this young man arrived, this little world where she had lived for twenty years seemed to have changed.
She felt as if she were inside the mouth of an unimaginably large monster, her life and death solely at its whim.
"He said the Holy Trident is here, and he came to retrieve that treasure.
As for me... I was taken hostage."
Mera secretly glanced at David, who had closed his eyes as if sensing something, and answered in a low voice.
"Hostage?"
Atlanna frowned, secretly on guard against David.
"He's right.
The Holy Trident is indeed here."
"It's really here?"
Although she had seen this peculiar little world and had a premonition, Mera was still surprised to receive confirmation.
Atlantis's lost treasure had been in the habitat of one of the seven tribes all along?
Could it be that this land dweller's claim that he always knew where the Trident was, but just didn't want to retrieve it, was also true?
"No matter his reasons for seeking the Trident, he won't get his hands on it."
Hearing Atlanna's voice raise slightly, David knew she was speaking to him. He opened his eyes and looked at the woman who was now the King of the Seven Seas and the future King's mother.
"The remains of the first Atlantean King and the Holy Trident are guarded by the colossal deep-sea monster Karasen.
It's behind the waterfall in the canyon,"
Atlanna pointed to a canyon behind the island where a waterfall cascaded down, chuckling lightly. She exuded the composure and elegance of a queen.
"Only a true king can obtain it."
She not only didn't hide it but also pointed out the Trident's location to David.
However, David had already investigated it moments ago, sensing the Trident held by the remains of the first Atlantean King through gravity, as well as the monster behind the waterfall.
"Karasen is two kilometers long, with its front half resembling a deep-sea crustacean and its rear half covered in tentacles like an octopus."
Its incredibly vast size was like an unshakeable mountain range.
"What does this lady mean by 'true king'?"
David asked, as if with great interest.
"I'm not sure."
Atlanna's eyes flickered, and with a hint of genuine advice, she said, "If you don't have the bloodline of the Atlantean royal family, I advise you not to try."
"Karasen has killed everyone who dared to seek the Trident. Its power is beyond your imagination.
Even an Atlantean King wielding the Trident was no match for it.
No one can defeat Karasen."
Over the years, she had made countless attempts. If she hadn't possessed the pure bloodline of the first Atlantean King, she would have already died under those sky-obscuring tentacles, reduced to a bloody pulp.
Mera was speechless.
Did the first Atlantean King perhaps not want anyone to obtain the Trident at all?
Even with the Trident of Poseidon in hand, they couldn't deal with Karasen. So how could they get the Trident by passing Karasen? And for someone who could pass the trial bare-handed, would they even need the Trident?
"Land dweller, you heard that too.
You'd best abandon your ambitions." She looked at David.
"Now that I'm here, am I supposed to go back empty-handed?"
David smiled.
"A deep-sea monster that no one can defeat?
I'd like to give it a try."
He looked towards the area behind the waterfall, his gaze seeming to pierce through it at something, but he remained motionless for a long time.
"No one will mock you if you give up now, land dweller."
Mera thought David was hesitating at the critical moment and had lost his nerve. A slight fear flickered across her beautiful face.
"After all, that's Karasen."
Although Karasen had vanished long ago, it had always been the nightmare of Atlanteans, the star of the terrifying stories they told their children – a fearsome beast living in the deep sea that could sink an island with a single blow.
Meanwhile, Atlanna frowned as she scanned her surroundings. She vaguely felt something was wrong, and the earlier sensation intensified, as if the unseen leviathan was moving.
Hummm!
The air vibrated, an invisible great power was at work, causing the pebbles on the island to tremble and bounce.
Mera stumbled backward due to the sudden change.
"Be careful. Don't die on me anytime soon. You're still useful to me."
David turned to Mera with a smile and slowly ascended into the sky.
He had brought Mera here not only to unite Lord of the Oceans Orm and King Nereus of Xebel and summon all the Atlanteans, but also for another consideration.
After he ruled Atlantis, he could not always stay underwater. He needed someone to handle state affairs for him. The original Orm would certainly not suffice; Mera was an excellent choice.
"A high and mighty princess, willing to accept a cold political marriage for her country and people, marrying someone she doesn't like at all."
A perfect subject for threat and control.
"What?"
Mera didn't understand what David was talking about.
Wasn't he going to challenge Karasen behind the waterfall?
Why was he telling her to be careful?
In the next second, Mera understood.
Atlanna's pupils contracted sharply, her mind greatly shaken as she looked towards the distant canyon.
Rumble!
The earth shook, the waterfall flowed backward into the sky, and the canyon seemed to be torn apart by two unseen giant hands. The entire island, like fragile cardboard, appeared to be ripping in half.
A massive rift was brutally torn open by an unimaginable power, revealing the deep sea on the other side that the island had covered.
The two looked up. The man standing in the sky seemed like a god controlling everything in the world, tearing the earth apart with a wave of his hand. This scene was deeply etched in their eyes, and their hearts churned with stormy waves, their mouths agape.
Deep beneath the sea.
A colossal beast, as if awakened from a deep slumber, suddenly opened its eyes. It looked around, the surrounding seawater becoming agitated, and a vast, unseen force enveloped it.
It was being pulled upwards towards the sea.
"Roar!"
Karasen let out an enraged roar, its sonic waves boiling the entire ocean. It tried to break free from the force, swinging its mountain-like tentacles, the terrifying power exploding ten thousand tons of seawater, creating a void.
Rumble!
But the force was omnipresent, impossible to disperse. It grabbed the beast and roughly dragged it out from the seabed, pushing aside monstrous waves, bringing it to the surface.
"Karasen!"
A sky-obscuring shadow cast down, and the island darkened. The two gaped in astonishment as they watched the deep-sea monster, whose shadow covered the sky, roaring and struggling, yet inevitably being dragged out from the seabed.
Their gazes turned to the figure in mid-air, unleashing earth-shattering power.
"God!..."
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