The Conquerors Path

Chapter 1041: Chapter 1039-Escape!

‘Got ya!’

Having formed the right group with my help, Elowen stood up, looking at me with a certain complex gaze in her eyes. Even then, she just shrugged her shoulders as she spoke.

“So….. what now?”

To her question, I looked at Kal, looking eagerly at our barrier, itching to break it down but barely holding himself back. I felt the people converging on this location, rushing forth, the ones watching in silence. I had to use a big connection and help from Krave to get all of this arranged.

So I leaned forward, a cheeky smile on my face, a very, very cheeky one as I replied.

“Now you survive, you fight, you grow with that sense of yours, and you arrive reborn. As you know, among many, some willingly gave themselves to corruption for power, greed or whatever their hearts wanted. The ones that come to hunt you are those. Enjoy them and hunt them, and when you reach the end, your next path will be ready. So let’s begin?”

I said with a smirk as Kal was suddenly teleported away from the location, to which Elowen looked at me.

“You don’t want him in the middle of all this, do you?”

Saying so, I gave her a disguise tool. Soon she looked like a normal mermaid folk using her legs, and around her she wrapped a dark cloak to hide her form, which got thinner. Her gaze, though, had a certain madness to it which I liked, the madness of enjoyment she would be getting from this hunt burning in her.

“You get to the end of this, the first gift you shall receive from me will be the awakening of your will.”

With that, I too started to look like a merman, the ones from before, while also hiding myself in a cloak. The first barrier that separated me from Kal faded away, while within seconds, the second barrier also faded away.

“You gonna stick to me?”

“I will be fighting by your side always, big sis.”

“I like the sound of that.”

With that, she slapped my back, a temporary connection being formed as we soon saw the outside surrounded by several of the patrolling soldiers. Their menacing aura focused around us, one among them even being at the peak of Origin level 8.

“Let’s escape first.”

Elowen added, her mana rising forth, cracks forming on the ground.

The moment the second barrier faded, the world outside exploded into chaos. The patrolling soldiers, dozens of them, from various sea tribes with hardened expressions and weapons drawn, surged forward like a tidal wave of steel and scales. Their auras pressed down on us, heavy and oppressive, with the peak Origin level 8 leader at the front, a massive hammer-wielding shark beastman whose presence alone made the water around him churn violently.

“Capture them!”

The shark leader bellowed, his voice booming through the water like thunder. His men responded instantly, forming a tightening encirclement around the small clearing where we stood. Spears, tridents, and enchanted nets glowed with aggressive mana, ready to strike.

Elowen didn’t hesitate. Her Bloomkin power erupted in full force, glowing floral patterns spreading across her skin like living tattoos as vines shot up from the seafloor, thick and thorny, whipping out to entangle the nearest soldiers. The ground cracked wider, small seeds bursting into carnivorous coral-flowers that snapped at legs and arms with hungry jaws.

“Let’s make this quick.”

She growled, her voice low and dangerous, the madness of a woman who had seen too much and was finally letting it out. I disguised as a nondescript merman under the cloak grinned behind my hood.

“You got it, Big Sis.”

The fight erupted. The shark leader charged first, his massive hammer swinging in a wide arc that displaced water in a crushing wave. Elowen met him head-on, her water-whip cracking forward with explosive force. The whip wrapped around the hammer’s handle mid-swing, yanking it off course while vines erupted from below to trip his massive legs. The shark roared, stumbling but recovering quickly, his Origin level 8 power allowing him to shatter the vines with a single stomp.

I moved in sync with her, my own disguised power flaring subtly as I created small pockets of distorted space around the soldiers, making their movements sluggish and their attacks miss by inches. One octopus-armed guard lunged at me with bladed tentacles, but I sidestepped with unnatural grace, grabbing one tentacle and using it to swing him into two of his allies like a living flail.

“Sorry, guys! Wrong turn!”

I called out cheerfully, my voice disguised as a young merman’s. Elowen laughed with a short, sharp sound that was half amusement, half battle-lust.

“Not bad, little brother. Keep them off balance!”

The soldiers were well-trained, but they weren’t prepared for our coordination. Elowen’s vines created a chaotic battlefield, tripping, entangling, and snapping at legs while her whip lashed out with precision, cracking against armour and drawing blood. I focused on disruption, small gravity shifts that made enemies stumble, distorted currents that threw off their aim, and occasional “accidental” trips that sent them crashing into each other.

A group of four mermaids with tridents tried to flank us from the left. Elowen spun gracefully, her whip extending into a wide arc that caught all four, yanking them together in a tangled heap. I followed up by creating a small void pocket beneath them, making them sink suddenly into the seafloor mud before vines pulled them back up, disoriented and covered in silt.

“Big Sis, behind you!”

I shouted dramatically, pointing as a shark guard tried to sneak up on her. Elowen didn’t even turn; she just lashed her whip backwards without looking, the tip cracking against the shark’s helmet with a loud clang that sent him flying into a nearby coral formation, due to the connetcion we moved like we fought together before.

The peak Origin level 8 shark leader roared again, breaking free from another set of vines.

“You two are dead!”

He charged, hammer raised high, the water around him compressing into a deadly pressure wave. Elowen met the charge with a fierce grin, her vines forming a shield wall in front of her. The hammer slammed into it with earth-shaking force, cracking the shield but not breaking through immediately. While she held the line, I slipped around the side, using my disguised space manipulation to create a small distortion field behind the shark leader. His next step suddenly pulled him off balance as gravity shifted, making him stumble forward right into Elowen’s waiting whip.

The whip wrapped around his neck, yanking him down as vines erupted to pin his arms and legs. The shark struggled mightily, his Origin level 8 power making the vines strain and crack, but Elowen poured more power into them, her bloom spots glowing brightly as the symbiotic connection strengthened.

“Not so tough now, are you?”

She taunted, her voice carrying that mix of battle-madness and dark amusement. I kept the pressure on the remaining soldiers, creating chaos wherever they tried to regroup. One octopus guard tried to wrap his tentacles around me, but I twisted space so his own tentacles tangled him up instead.

“Whoops, slippery little things, aren’t they?”

I called out cheerfully as he fell in a heap. The merman, still in his dramatic little brother mode, was doing his part in the most ridiculous way possible. He stayed glued to Elowen’s side, occasionally poking soldiers with random objects he picked up from the seafloor, a broken shell here, a glowing pebble there, while shouting encouragement.

“Big Sis, watch your left! That shark looks like he eats too many doughnuts! Go, team!”

The battle raged on, a beautiful, chaotic dance of power and absurdity. Elowen’s vines created a living battlefield, twisting and turning the environment against our enemies. My space manipulation added layers of confusion, making every attack unpredictable.

One particularly memorable moment came when a group of five soldiers tried to rush us from the right. Elowen created a wall of thorny vines. I distorted the water currents to push them into it, and she delivered a sweeping strike that knocked them all back. The merman, not wanting to be left out, threw a handful of glowing pebbles at them.

“Take that, you meanies!”

The pebbles turned out to be some kind of bioluminescent coral that exploded in bright, disorienting flashes, blinding the soldiers for a crucial second. Elowen couldn’t help but laugh, a short, genuine sound that cut through the chaos.

The peak Origin level 8 shark leader finally broke free from Elowen’s vines with a roar of fury, his hammer glowing with dark energy as he charged again. Elowen met him head-on, her whip cracking against his weapon in a shower of sparks. The impact sent shockwaves through the water, cracking the seafloor further.

I joined her, my arms clashing against the hammer while I created a gravity well beneath the shark, making him suddenly heavier and slower. The merman, still clinging to Elowen’s leg for “protection,” somehow managed to trip the shark with his tail at the perfect moment.

The shark leader stumbled, and Elowen seized the opening. Her whip wrapped around his hammer, yanking it away while vines pinned him down. She delivered the final blow, a powerful strike to the chest that knocked the shark unconscious.

With their leader down, the remaining assailants lost their coordination. We made short work of them, Elowen’s vines and whip, my space manipulation, and the merman’s ridiculous “help”, turning the fight into a comedy of errors for our enemies.

As the last soldier fell, Elowen stood there breathing heavily, her body covered in small cuts and bruises but her eyes alive with something she hadn’t felt in a long time: purpose.

Elowen sighed.

“Let’s get out of here before more show up. I need a drink after this.”

We moved quickly through the chaos, slipping away toward a hidden area I had prepared earlier, a small, concealed grotto. The sounds of reinforcements approaching faded behind us as we escaped the encirclement, the fight leaving us all breathing hard but alive.