Once the command was given, all the merfolk who had prepared themselves immediately unleashed their skills. Flashy attacks and elemental energies battered the dragon turtle’s body, taking out a chunk of its life. It was greatly startled by this sudden turn of events.

The most impressive attack was one delivered by Ama, the sea mother. She conjured countless water spears that struck the dragon turtle endlessly, stopping its swimming. This allowed the other merfolk an easier time landing their attacks.

Nogg was below the dragon turtle. He thrust his green trident down and a score of green eels came out. These eels entangled the dragon turtle and caused it unable to move.

The merman who stayed beside Jet had already grabbed Jet and dragged him toward the dragon turtle once John gave his signal. Jet was already at the underside of the dragon turtle when it was bound by Nogg’s skill.

Jet didn’t waste any time. He immediately started executing his martial art. Since he had done it before, it was faster this time as he remembered the punching spots. He didn’t need to be too reliant on his mana sense to pinpoint the spots.

The dragon turtle was taken aback by all these merfolk suddenly using skills, but its surprise only lasted a while. It immediately realized that it should be able to use skills as well if so. Without delay, it activated its Dual-world domain.

A sphere of light burst out. When this sphere passed, all the water was suddenly gone. The sphere expanded a long distance. Even affecting the water outside the tunnel. The merfolk who found the water around them disappearing, lose their mobility and fell to the ground. Their fish tails were unable to help them walk.

Jet was hitting the dragon turtle’s plastron rapidly. When the sphere that drove out the water spread, he had only landed four hits. When the water disappeared, he similarly lost footing and fell. But what was worse was the dragon turtle’s heavy body was also falling on top of him.

He was about to roll away when his feet touched the ground, but he sensed someone coming next to him. The person was Nogg. Nogg’s fish tail had transformed into two legs, allowing him to still walk in this waterless environment while the other merfolk were floundering helplessly on the ground.

Nogg used his two hands and grabbed the falling turtle, preventing it from squashing Jet. Despite the obvious heaviness of the gigantic turtle’s body, he managed to prop the turtle up with his strength so that its plastron was still exposed.

“Finish it…!” Nogg yelled at Jet.

Jet immediately acted. His katar stabbed into the fifth spot. On land, he could move faster. He was about to hit the sixth spot when he sensed the turtle’s head coming at him.

The turtle extended its neck unnaturally until it curved downward and was about to bite him. Nogg couldn’t do anything about it. If he let go of even just one hand, both he and Jet would be squashed by the turtle’s heavy body.

Jet saw the turtle’s large jaw coming at him, but he didn’t move. Before the turtle hit, his crimson-maned lion appeared before him. The jaw struck the lion instead. The lion planted its feet on the ground and resist the turtle’s advance.

However, the turtle was much stronger. Even when the lion activated its armor’s skill and boosted its attributes, it still couldn’t fight the turtle’s strength. Luckily, in this critical moment, John’s avatar and feral tiger came and helped the lion hold the turtle’s head.

With the three’s combined strength, they prevented the turtle from disrupting Jet who stood behind them. The crimson-maned lion who received the brunt of the impact lost HP but its armor mitigated the damage. It also bit down at the turtle’s head in retaliation.

Jet didn’t let everyone’s effort go to waste. He landed his sixth and seventh fist. The dragon turtle again felt the familiar energy turmoil within its body. The force struck from the inside, so all its defenses were useless against it. It roared when the energy buildup reached a critical mass and exploded.

Those who heard weren’t sure if the dragon turtle roared out of fury or fear.

Jet, Nogg, and the crimson-maned lion were pushed away by the force of the explosion. When they got back up, they saw that the turtle was no longer moving. Its HP was zero. Everyone watched in silence. They still couldn’t believe the fight was finally over, until the dragon turtle’s body broke into dust particles.

When it did, the enormous sphere that held out all the water also vanished. The water rushed back in. The merfolk welcomed the return of the water while the players who were standing upright didn’t prepare for it. They were washed away by the strong current and tumbled a few times inside the water.

The merfolk cheered then. The players also cheered through messages. Every player received a large number of exp points. The dragon turtle was a level 80 mythical grade, after all.

Jet had dealt almost half the damage to the dragon turtle. Additionally, he was the one who landed the killing blow, so the players received more than John would have expected. Still, the exp points were divided among a hundred players. Even if not all those one hundred players joined the fight, they were nearby and were in the party with those who dealt the damage. So, what was received by each player was significantly less, but it was still enough to push almost everyone’s level up by one level.

John was among the ones who didn’t increase in level, but he was close to level 59 after receiving the exp points.

He came to the place where the dragon turtle’s body used to be. There were a few things on the sea floor. He used Inspect on them. There were the usual coins, mana cores, several pieces of equipment, and materials. The notable ones were a set of unique-grade claw weapons, a technique book for the Beastmaster class, and an evolve seed.

“Well, you are the one who dealt the highest damage and landed the finishing blow, so I guess it makes sense that the loots that drop mostly catered to your class,” John remarked.

“Then these two are mine then, haha!” Jet laughed and was about to grab the claw weapons and the technique book, but John swatted his hands away.

“These two things are yours, but I will keep them first. Let Jeanny do her things. Jack will want this technique book as well,” John said.

“Oh…,” Jet very much wanted the loots now but he held himself.

John stored all the loot. The technique book contained a skill called Beast Howl, while the evolved seed was a unique-grade seed named Shell Seed. John did not doubt the seed gave a defense-oriented effect.

“We don’t get a share?” Billy and Rough Criminal were there as well. They were among the players who had fought with the turtle inside the tunnel.

“You two get a different reward,” John said, sending them a guild invite.

“Yes!” Billy clapped Rough’s shoulder. Rough Criminal didn’t feel as enthusiastic. He preferred a share of the loot, but he didn’t reject the invite either.

John also sent Will a guild invite earlier. Will had accepted. If the guild went on many wild adventures like this one, he was very on board.

“I will be forming a sea unit that explores the sea. Will will be heading this unit. I want you two in it as well,” John said to Billy and Rough. “I will buy a ship for you to use and send a few battle-capable members to help in the exploration. Just remember that the guild gets a cut on all the profits from your exploration. In time, we should be able to secure more ships and expand into a fleet.”

The two became excited after hearing it, even Rough Criminal’s eyes lit up.

John left them and headed to Ama. She was briefing their merfolk. They had lost a number of good merfolk but with the dragon turtle gone, the bottom of this entire gulf was finally theirs.

Ama noticed John’s approach. “I’ve heard that our missing children are safely back in our town. I know some didn’t make it, that was a pity. But you hold your end of the bargain, the reward is yours.”

“Bargain?” Nogg, who was nearby, asked.

“Yes, we strike a deal with him to rescue our missing children,” Ama informed.

“What?! But didn’t you say…”

“The deal is to save the children. The condition I’ve given you is to save you. Our deal is fair,” John cut Nogg’s words.

Nogg wanted to say something but then stopped. He just uttered, “Hmph! Don’t call me for aid if there’s nothing important!” He then swam away.

“Come on! Don’t tell me you didn’t level up from killing the dragon turtle just now!” John shouted at him.

Ama just shook her head. “You are one devious outworlder,” she said, to which John just shrugged.

John had heard a notification of his quest completion when Ama said the reward was his. He received exp points, pushing him to level 59. He also received a first-class special class, Marine Keeper.

‘Marine Keeper?’ John was honestly a bit disappointed hearing it. It sounded like a class that could only see its potential in a water environment. But then again, his original plan was only to catch the newborn dragon turtle. This special class was a bonus, so he was grateful for it. The class’ grade was a first-class special class, so it shouldn’t be bad.

He opened his class page and studied the passive abilities this class granted.

*

Intelligence, Endurance, Reflex, Wisdom +10%.

HP +2,000 and MP +200.

Recover 50 HP every second when in contact with water, recover 5 HP every second when not in contact with water.

Stats and movement speed of self and summons +100% when underwater.

*

As expected, he was more powerful when underwater, but it was still good enough even when he was not.

As for the first spell he received from this special class, it was Summon Dire Alligator.

‘Well, at least it is not a pure water creature,’ John thought.

“Thank you, sea mother, for your blessing,” John said to Ama.𝔫𝒪𝚟𝞮𝓁𝗇𝑒xt.𝚌𝒐𝐌

Ama nodded. “I think our deal is done here. Take your people and return to the surface. Don’t come down here without permission.”

John didn’t blame the sea mother’s rude treatment. He did use tricks to blackmail them for rewards. This outcome was already much better than his original plan which would have put the merfolk as their mortal enemy. He figured that once the sea mother cooled down, his guild should still have a chance to build a relationship.

John called the others to arrange their return to the surface. After giving instructions, he finally could turn his attention to incoming messages. There had been many pings even during the battle, he had no time to attend to them. Now when he checked, all the calls were from Tip. He decided to call him back directly.

“What’s wrong? Something happened in our headquarters?” John asked.

“No, something happened to Jack!” Tip said

“What could possibly happen to that expert?” John asked.

“He had been imprisoned, by the kingdom! He has been caught for the crime of murdering Prince Alonzo!” Tip informed.

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