The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

"Your Majesty just needs to touch it," Gulvig said with a smile.

"Ah, like this?" Liszt reached out and gently touched the Heart of the Mermaid. Instantly, the Heart of the Mermaid popped like a bubble with a cracking sound, and then burst into nothingness.

A feeling of kinship rose in his heart, as if an intangible connection had been established between him and the mermaid Gulvig. At the same time, he immediately understood the significance of the Heart of the Mermaid. It was a follower's pact, not very binding, and could be severed at any time.

Its primary function was communication, allowing the contracting parties to contact each other from great distances.

Moreover, the leading party of the Heart of the Mermaid's contract, which was Liszt's side, could use the power of the contract to command the Naga Species and the Fish Ugly Race.

It also allowed him to receive the protection of the sea, to breathe freely and move freely in the water without the pressure of the seawater affecting him. In other words, he no longer needed Ach or the mermaids' assistance to live underwater.

"A very practical contract." After understanding the capabilities of the contract, Liszt smiled, "But it seems there isn't much point in accepting so many Hearts of the Mermaid. It appears that just one Heart of the Mermaid is enough to gain the sea's protection and command the Naga and the Fish Ugly."

Gulvig explained softly, "Your Majesty, the power of a single contract is weak; the more contracts you have, the greater the benefits you'll receive. In the era of the Moon Empire, a great Archmage once had the following of a hundred mermaids, and with the power he gained from the contracts, he could part the sea to reveal the dry seabed."

"That powerful?"

"Yes, it's just a pity that in this era there are only about seven of us mermaids left, and we cannot provide you with much power from the contracts."

"If that's the case," Liszt looked at Ach and made a decision, "I will contract only with you, Gulvig, and let Ach contract the remaining six mermaids to enhance her abilities."

Seven contracts would not create a qualitative change, and the simple protection of the sea and command over the Fish Ugly were already his, so there was no need to contract so many Hearts of the Mermaid. After all, he was human and preferred living on land; he did not enjoy soaking in the great seas, as riding dragons and soaring through the skies was his true path.

Ach shook her head, "Brother, Ach does not need the assistance of the Heart of the Mermaid either. Contracting with a single mermaid to command the Fish Ugly and incidentally study the secrets of contract magic will suffice. Brother, you are the King of the Flame Kingdom; let the mermaids follow you instead."

Seeing the two of them pushing the responsibility back and forth, Gulvig suddenly felt very disheartened.

"Has the era really changed..." Mermaids were the sovereigns of the sea, and when she was young, she heard that human Archmages would go to great lengths just to contract with a single mermaid. Yet now that the contract was before them, there were those who were pushing it away as if reluctant.

She deeply felt that the times had indeed changed.

...

Four days of waiting.

The six mermaid statues gradually melted from their petrified state into flesh and blood.

On the fourth day, Viswinti was the first to awaken, her gaze bewildered as she looked around her. Informed by Gulvig of the events of the past few days, Viswinti, recognizing the purified altar, solemnly presented her Heart of the Mermaid to Ach.

Afterward, Eternia, Bluposi, Tibidais, Sharivara, and Cocolix all awakened one after another and offered their Hearts of the Mermaid to Liszt.

The power from the six contracts made Liszt feel even closer to the sea, allowing him to move freely without any pressure from the seawater. He breathed easily and even had a keen sense of the currents, enabling him to detect disturbances far away while underwater. His Dou Qi operated smoothly without hindrance.

Regrettably, his Dou Qi was of the Fire Attribute, and even after becoming Superior Magic Dragon Dou Qi, it was still suppressed by seawater, rendering his strength far inferior on land.

He had also tried manifesting as a Phoenix Incarnation in the sea.

The flames on his body did not extinguish, and he breathed quite normally, but the magic of the Phoenix Incarnation was also severely oppressed, making his flight speed slow as a dog. It was even worse than his swimming speed when he returned to human form.

"Respected human ruler, Your Majesty Liszt, thank you for purifying the ocean and reviving us. We, the last seven mermaids, are willing to follow you and fight and build for your nation," the seven mermaids, after consultation, formally joined the ranks of the Flame Kingdom.

Unlike sea serpents, the carefree sprites of the ocean, mermaids behaved more like humans. During the era of the Moon Empire, the Sea Kingdom that mermaids established also waged wars against one another.

"I am delighted with your joining. Humans have already entered an era of nobility with the knight's feudal system. I will first ennoble you as Marquis, and when the time is right, you can re-establish duchies on the seas, becoming vassal states to the Flame Kingdom." The strength of the mermaids was slightly greater than that of Domain Knights, making them worthy of being ennobled as Marquises.

In the future, Liszt planned to promote them to Dukes, allowing them to establish duchies in the seas surrounding the Legendary Continent to help the Flame Family cultivate the oceans.

...

"Your Majesty, we wish to take a look at the Devil's Sea and see if the devils that fell from grace still exist," the mermaids requested, after clarifying the current state of affairs.

Liszt also wanted to witness it and thus agreed, "Then let's go together."

So, a group of people moved majestically toward the Devil's Sea. Since he had no chance to ride a Unicorn, he had to stand on the back of the most powerful mermaid, Eternia—Eternia was once the ruler of the Great West Nation, which had long since perished in the ocean, becoming part of the Devil's Sea.

"Ach, Super Magic - Eye of Mana requires High Magic to cast. You can teach it to the seven mermaids to allow them to search for Elves under the sea and learn to develop the ocean's sprites," Liszt suddenly thought of this during the sea voyage.

He considered the Eye of Magic a prized treasure and was reluctant to let its secrets spread.

But teaching the Eye of Mana to the mermaids was no issue, after all, the age of the mermaids had passed, and they wouldn't come ashore to compete for resources. They could only honestly develop sprites in the sea for him.

"Hmm."

Ach was more than willing to teach magic to the mermaids. In her view, mermaids with Superior Magic were exceptionally good magic experiment assistants, far more reliable than human magicians who could only perform Low Magic.

They taught as they traveled.

Although the seven mermaids had all experienced varying degrees of power degradation, their swimming speed could still reach eight hundred kilometers per hour in the sea.

When the mermaids barely understood the casting principles of the Eye of Mana, they had already arrived at the continental slope.

The seabed of shallow waters is called the continental shelf, and the seabed of the deep sea is known as the abyssal plain. The steep slope that transitions between the continental shelf and the abyssal plain is called the continental slope. The continental slope is named steep, but it's hard to discern the slope with the naked eye; one can only faintly sense that the seabed gradually deepens this stretch.

When passing over a sea trench on the continental slope, Gulvig, the ruler of the Sea Trench Tribe, said in a somber tone, "I remember this place now. This is the 'Eyelid Pattern' trench. My mother fell here, becoming a devil, and went toward the Devil's Sea, never to return."

Standing on the edge of the sea trench cliff, she looked down into the abyss of the dark sea, sighed deeply, and said, "So many years have gone by, the Eyelid Pattern hasn't changed much, only the seawater is much cleaner, without the pollution of the Cursed Dragon."