Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 655

Chapter 655: Clash Beneath the Waves

“Good, good, good…” General Jorund repeated the word three times, his face darkening with fury. It sounded less like praise and more like a prelude to violence.

‘Good, my ass’, Ethan thought, biting back the urge to say it out loud.

Before he could open his mouth, Jorund barked, “Since you’re here, then let’s fight! Throwers, prepare!”

Ethan froze. ‘Wait, are we really starting a war right now?’

“Hold on!” he shouted quickly. Lyla and Astrid were still in their hands. Jorund clearly wasn’t the type to talk things out—if he couldn’t win an argument, he’d rather settle it with fists.

Ethan’s shout immediately drew the attention of the entire opposing force.

“Father, that’s the one who hit me!”

The cry came from multiple directions at once—some yelling for their mother, others for their uncle or grandfather. Each voice belonged to one of the sea tribes’ younger warriors.

Ethan felt a headache coming on. Perfect. I beat up their kids, and now they’ve gone and fetched their parents.

“Human, you… execute yourself!” A hoarse voice boomed from the crowd. An ancient creature stepped forward, its hunched back covered by a massive turtle shell.

Ethan blinked, momentarily speechless.

“It’s over…” the Dragon Child groaned, covering her face.

‘Yeah, Ethan thought grimly, sure enough…’

Then he exploded. “Execute myself? I’ll execute your tribe! You crusty old turtle, have you lived so long your brain’s gone soft? You want me to off himself? Maybe I should pry that shell off your back and sell it to a fortune-teller—they can rattle it around to tell people’s futures!”

As he spoke, the Merfolk Veil around him rippled like a living thing. Ethan surged forward, landing squarely in the middle of the battlefield—barely a thousand meters from the enemy line.

“Great Nephew, don’t!” The Merfolk King’s face went pale.

The warning came too late.

A flash of silver caught Ethan’s eye.

A chill shot up from his tailbone to the base of his skull, every nerve screaming danger. His Senses barely reached five hundred meters—far too short to react in time.

The Merfolk Sovereign darted forward, his tiny frame surprisingly fast. The Dragon Child, Regis, and Starfall all moved as well, but they were an instant too slow.

Hum… clang!

In that instant, a Five-Colored Divine Light flared from Ethan’s body. A deep hum vibrated through the water, followed by the sharp ring of metal striking metal.

Ethan caught sight of his attacker—a marlin, no longer than two feet, its spear-like bill pressed against his chest. The sheer force behind that strike made his blood run cold.

“You son of a sea witch!” Ethan roared, his fury boiling over.

The marlin’s eyes widened in disbelief. Just as Ethan drew back a fist, it flicked its tail and vanished in a silver blur, retreating faster than it had attacked. Within a heartbeat, it was five hundred meters away again.

Ethan’s punch slammed into empty water.

“The Five-Colored Divine Light… it really is the Five-Colored Divine Light!” the Merfolk king exclaimed, his face shining with excitement. “Haha! Great Nephew, you are truly the Sacred Emissary!”

The entire exchange had lasted no more than a heartbeat. The Sovereign finally reached Ethan’s side, still trembling with excitement.

Ethan rolled his eyes. ‘He’s still hung up on the whole ‘verification’ thing. Unreal.’

“Ethan, are you alright?” Starfall swam up beside him, scanning him from head to toe.

“I’m fine,” Ethan said, though his heart was still pounding. He glanced down at his chest. The Quintessence Bone beneath his skin had automatically activated, shielding him—but it hadn’t completely absorbed the impact.

If not for the Merfolk Veil, that strike might’ve seriously hurt him.

He exhaled slowly, still stunned. This thin, shimmering veil didn’t just let him breathe and move underwater—it could defend him too, and with surprising strength.

“Merfolk King, hand over the human, and we can once again shake hands and make peace!”

The enemy held their ground. The silver marlin had already returned to the side of the Megalodon King, its glinting body hovering protectively near its master. The shark-headed monarch’s eyes narrowed, voice rumbling low as he spoke.

Before the Merfolk King could respond, Ethan stepped in. “Peace, my ass. What do you think I am, a piece of cargo? You think I won’t turn all of you into fish cans?”

“Merfolk King,” the Megalodon King snapped, ignoring Ethan’s outburst, “what is the meaning of this?”

The Merfolk King blinked, then casually lifted a hand shaped like a wrinkled chicken claw and scratched his ear. “Great Nephew, did you just hear a fish fart?”

Ethan’s lips twitched. “Who knows? Could’ve been a burp… or maybe he’s grinding his teeth.”

The corner of his mouth quirked upward despite the tension. This old sovereign was nothing like the dignified, holier-than-thou emperors of the human world.

The Merfolk Sovereign suddenly brightened. “Great Nephew, this ‘fish can’ you mentioned— is it a delicacy?”

“Huh?” Ethan blinked.

He hesitated, then explained, “It’s a way to preserve food. You put cooked fish in a sealed metal container… it keeps for a long time. And yeah, it tastes pretty good.”

The Sovereign’s eyes lit up. “Fascinating. Do you know how to make it?”

“Uh…” Ethan trailed off. ‘Seriously? He’s asking this now?’

The shark-headed king, however, had reached the end of his patience.

“Enough!” he roared, his voice booming through the water.

He felt utterly humiliated— over a hundred thousand warriors from twelve sea tribes stood assembled for battle, and their enemies were standing there discussing… canned fish.

He didn’t know what a “fish can” was, but the way they said it made his scales prickle. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

The other tribe leaders began to rumble in outrage, their gills flaring, their fins thrashing in the water.

“Shut up!”

The Merfolk King’s roar hit like an explosion.

Boom!

Ethan flinched, the shock rattling his skull as the water around him rippled violently. A thunderous pulse of sound rolled out from the Merfolk King, sweeping across the battlefield in a massive wave of pressure.

Boom! Bang!

The seawater churned into chaos. Ethan’s eyes widened as the shockwave turned visible, rippling outward like a living wall and crashing into the enemy ranks.

Did… did the Merfolk King just roar them into next week?

The opposing tribes reeled. The old turtle from before grew rapidly, its shell expanding as it shielded its children behind it.

The Megalodon King narrowed his beady eyes. Without growing an inch, he opened his mouth and unleashed a roar of his own. The resulting wave of sound slammed into the King’s, meeting it in a blinding surge of energy.

The seabed exploded into motion. Mud and sand shot upward, spinning into a storm of silt that blotted out the water around them.

Ethan and the others started to fall back when a clear, gentle voice cut through the chaos.

“Cleanse.”

They turned. At some point, the Third Princess—Star—had appeared behind them. Her tone was calm, but her words shimmered with power.

A soft wave of energy spread outward. It wasn’t like any magic Ethan had seen before—not from games, not from the Umbral Star, not from anyone.

Yet the result was immediate. The swirling mud and sand stilled, drawn downward as though pressed by an unseen hand.

Within seconds, the water cleared. The battlefield beneath the waves came back into sharp focus, bright and still—yet charged with a silence that could shatter at any moment.