Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 657

Chapter 657: When the Sea Stands Still

Ethan looked up and immediately recognized the towering figures in the sky, the Dragon Child, the Dragon of Consumption, and the Fortune Dragon circling above like three shimmering omens. The sprawling vacuum beneath them, a dry basin dozens of miles wide, was mostly the Dragon Child’s doing, although it clearly needed the Dragon of Consumption’s power to hold the sea at bay. The little golden one, for all its glitter, mostly hovered in encouragement.

“Your Majesty, we should move,” Ethan called, already leaning forward.

As he spoke, he shot across the churned earth like an arrow released from a bow.

“Ah, yes, Jorund, Jorunn!” the Merfolk King barked.

At his command, a dozen Merfolk warriors broke off from the main force. As they left the water, their shimmering tails split and folded, reshaping into legs in a blur of scales and muscle. Ethan watched with grim satisfaction. Just as he suspected, Merfolk could fight perfectly well on land when they needed to.

He turned away from the king and the warriors, his attention locking onto a single figure thrashing in the distance: the Marlin Mutant, the very creature that had ambushed him before.

Unlike the other warriors, the Marlin Mutant had not shifted into a half-human form. It writhed helplessly on the cracked mud, trying to fling itself toward a distant puddle. On the open sea it had been a blur of speed, but here its strongest attribute had been stripped away.

“Don’t you dare run,” Ethan growled, closing the distance, “I am eating marlin sashimi rice tonight.”

Without water bogging him down, Ethan moved like he was born on this battlefield. He cut the creature off effortlessly.

“Heavy strike.”

He wasted no breath, his body swelling with the familiar pulse of Bear Form. His paw came down with crushing weight.

Regis had warned him that this creature was Apex State, maybe even mid-stage, something a War God would struggle with. Under normal circumstances, Ethan would have needed every ounce of his power. But today was different. Stranded on land, the Marlin Mutant was nothing more than a stranded assassin, built for piercing strikes and sudden acceleration, none of which mattered now that it could barely crawl.

Apex State meant nothing if you could not use it.

His paw landed with a thundering smack. The mutant’s body bounced off the ground like a startled frog, slamming back down with a wet, ugly slap. The earth caved beneath it, forming a shallow crater.

The mutant’s small, needle-sharp eyes flicked up with hatred. It squirmed violently, then launched itself in another direction, desperate to reach even the smallest pool of water, desperate to regain its element.

But Ethan shadowed it step for step.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

His fists came down in a steady rhythm, driving the creature back every time it tried to flee. After several blows, he finally stopped, shaking out his hand with a hiss of pain.

“That stings,” he muttered, glancing at the raw scrapes forming across his knuckles. Even crippled like this, the Marlin Mutant’s hide was brutally tough. Depth-born creatures were conditioned by pressures that would crush any land creature. Crab soldiers, shrimp soldiers, fish beasts, all of them were wrapped in armor thicker than bone.

Above him, a strained voice suddenly rang out, vibrational and thin.

“Ethan, hurry, I cannot maintain this much longer.”

He froze for half a second, startled by the urgency. He knew the Dragon Child’s ability to hold back the sea had limits, but he did not expect them to reach it this quickly. Barely a minute had passed.

That cry sent a ripple of panic through the battlefield. The leaders of the Twelve Sea Clans raised their heads, eyes glinting with sudden hope. If the ocean returned, everything changed. They would not be pinned and beaten like livestock. Their true strength lay in water.

At that realization, a frustrated roar rolled across the cratered plain. These creatures possessed overwhelming power, but without legs they could barely defend themselves. Their rage was thick in the air, desperate and suffocating, as they writhed under the weight of land.

And all eyes shifted to Ethan, the one person able to end this before the sea rushed back.

“I don’t believe this…” Ethan muttered, his eyes narrowing.

“My great-nephew, don’t worry about me!” the Merfolk King shouted over the chaos, “Just make sure that one doesn’t get away!”

He was locked in combat with a massive lobster and had already brought it to its knees in under a minute. Not far off, Regis and Starfall were struggling against two of the most fearsome leaders among the Twelve Sea Clans—the Old Turtle King, whose defense was unmatched, and the Megalodon Clan King, whose strength was second to none.

Starfall was clearly having a rough time. Even weakened and stranded on land, the Megalodon Clan King still met him blow for blow. Starfall had planned to end it quickly, but that plan had evaporated the moment he realized just how powerful the creature remained.

Regis wasn’t faring much better. The Old Turtle King had pulled its entire body into its shell, turning itself into an unbreakable fortress. To make matters worse, that shell somehow reflected Regis’s sealing arts. Every time he tried to suppress it, the energy bounced right back at him, forcing him to withdraw. The thing was maddeningly clever too—whenever Regis paused for even a heartbeat, it would poke out its limbs and scuttle away with surprising speed.

Ethan glanced at the scene, annoyance flickering in his eyes. Who ever said turtles were slow? Among the Twelve Sea Clans, the Sea Turtle Clan had been the first to retreat—leaving only this stubborn old king behind.

Ignoring the Merfolk King’s warning, Ethan clenched his jaw and raised a hand.

Four distinct rays of light burst from his palm in rapid succession, streaking out in red, blue, green, and gold.

He’d intended to capture the Marlin Mutant alive, which was why he’d fought barehanded until now. But his arm throbbed, his knuckles burned, and frustration bubbled under his skin. Even so, he didn’t lose sight of the plan—he just decided to get serious about it.

The four lights were the Four City Lord Seals, ancient treasures he had claimed back in the Sea of Death.

“Crush him,” Ethan ordered through his Soul Sense, his voice cold and sharp.

The seals responded like hammers in a forge.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Each impact landed with perfect precision, slamming into the Marlin Mutant’s body. The creature screeched, twisting helplessly as it was boxed in from every direction.

“Kid… you’re bullying this fish too much!” the Marlin Mutant howled in fury.

Its every attempt to flee was blocked by one of the floating seals. On land, it could barely move—its leaps were clumsy, its attacks useless. The seals weren’t powerful enough to kill it outright, but every hit sent waves of pain through its scaled body.

“So what if I am?” Ethan shot back, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The seals didn’t need his constant control; their spirits guided them well enough on their own. With the Marlin pinned, Ethan turned his attention elsewhere. His gaze landed on the massive silhouette thrashing against Starfall in the distance.

“Sir Starfall, I’m coming to help!” Ethan shouted, already propelling himself forward.

Starfall blinked, momentarily thrown off. Sir Starfall? For a heartbeat, he forgot to move, staring blankly at his son in disbelief. He almost shouted back, I’m your father!

“Hey, snap out of it!” Ethan yelled again as he passed by, seeing his father standing there, dazed.

Before Starfall could respond, the ground quaked with a heavy boom from the other side of the battlefield.

Ethan’s Soul Sense registered a surge of energy. The small but mighty Merfolk King had just kicked through a giant crab, sending its enormous claws flying through the air. The creature collapsed instantly, unconscious before it even hit the ground.

“Great-nephew!” the Merfolk King called out, voice fierce and elated, “Forget the others! Let’s take down this Megalodon together!”

His small frame blurred as he darted past Ethan, charging straight toward the Megalodon Clan King where Starfall still fought to keep it contained.