Aiko didn’t loosen up even with the Jiron Ambassador next to her. the Blasted Islands were filled with thousands of scary monsters and a subjugation has never been tried. She felt nervousness tickle her neck, shivering slightly. “Sir ambassador…” “Please, call me Han Ling.”

Aiko stared at him with shock, “Um! Sure! Um… Sir Han Ling… are you sure about this monster subjugation?” Han Ling turned to Aiko, smiling gently, “Of course, or I wouldn’t have brought any of you here.” Aiko stared at that handsome smile, feeling her face redden slightly as she turned away.

“I-I see.”

Basil on the ship behind reddened in anger as he saw Aiko talking to Han Ling, “That damn ambassador, trying to steal my woman! How far till the kraken appears?” His assistant replied, “Just a few more kilometres, sir.”

“Heheheh! Have your sweet time! Soon you’ll be dead!” Basil gave Han Ling a terrible grin before gazing at the petite princess with a hint of lust. “I can’t wait to have you all to myself…”

Aiko sensed his gaze, shivering again slightly to which Han Ling draped a warm cloak around her, grinning as her face turned beet red. Han Ling gazed into the sea, sending out his sense deep into the ocean. He already knew of the kraken in the water because he already placed a void eye on top of Basil, hearing and seeing whatever he did.

Now he’s just waiting for it to pass, and there…

“Basil, go in front.” The arrogant noble gasped, “Why?”

“Because I believe it’s safe. Unless of course you know of something in the water and won’t go forward?”

Basil immediately froze at that comment, feeling his blood run cold. “O-Of course not sir. I’ll take the front.” His assistant turned to him, mortified that he agreed, the soldiers on the ship were only around level 45, with Basil being level 58 and his assistant being a measly 20, he was risking the lives of his men so he could go free!

“Ambassador of Jiron! He’s lying! He sent me to bait a kraken in the waters ahead! It’ll shred us apart!”

Basil stared at his assistant, dumbfounded, “You Idiot! You fucking peasant! Just take the blame of your lord! Who gives a shit of your puny life!” Han Ling laughed at that sight, “I’m sure everyone has heard that right? This is a noble of the Wave Kingdom, how noble!”

Aiko stood stunned at the brazen stupidity Basil has committed, anger swelled her chest, her voice low and menacing. “Basil Ratten…” her voice rang out, her eye coldly glaring at the teen, “Prepare to face my father when we return.” Basil paled, “N-NO I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

Han Ling appeared right behind him, hitting him on the back of the head, silencing the noisy teen immediately. “Take a small ship and take this idiot back, tell Altos what the idiot did.” Once that was settled, Aiko approached Han Ling, “With a Kraken in the way, how are you going to get to the Blasted Islands now?”

Han Ling grinned, “I was going to need a warmup anyway.” “Excuse me?” But Han Ling didn’t reply, he raised his right hand, the rift opening, and a black blade gracefully protruded from the purple space. Aiko’s eyes widened at that blade, it was like mana was forced into a single blade, that was the best description she could think of.

Then in his left hand was beautiful pearl white blade, a large red ruby stuck at the hilt of the blade. This ruby felt of war, bloodshed and tears. Aiko’s pale face turned a shade paler as Han Ling leapt into the air. With his black sword he slashed down, the slash was so powerful, a beam of sword struck the water, cleaving water the water until it hit something in the sea.

WUUUUUUU

The sea trembled, a gigantic tentacle raised itself from the water, like a rearing sea serpent. Then it slammed towards the Elusive Haze.

WUUUUUOMMMMM!

Aiko thrust her hands forward, trying to form a water barrier in front of the ship, but Han Ling suddenly appeared in front of her, sword blurred.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

[Three-Fold Strike]

Like cutting through butter, the tentacle split into three parts, followed by a terrible roar from the ocean.

Han Ling grinned before swan-diving down into ocean, Aiko tried to speak but another roar sounded, and a purple light flashed under water.

“Seriously! This is too insane! He’s fighting a single kraken on his own!”

One of the other captains of the other ships, Gaber leaped over, sending Aiko a questioning look. “Is the leader really fighting a Kraken on his own?” as if to answer his question, a gigantic wave slammed down on the ship, dousing Gaber into a soaked man.

Another purple light flashed under the sea and a giant tentacle floated up to the surface of the water. Then a third purple light blasted from the sea followed with a staccato of red lights, before the sea was dyed with red.

Then the hunky body of a bloody, battered Kraken floated up to the surface, bobbing up and down as the waves slowly ebbed away. Han Ling blinked behind the pair, body completely dry with a satisfied grin on his face. “Ah… that was a perfect warm up. And it seems we’re already here.”

Aiko and Gaber followed his gaze and saw a large island with black silhouettes flying over it. Aiko immediately recognized those black silhouettes, “Watch out! Those are Bees! They’ll tear through the ships if they get too close.”

Han Ling gazed at them with a little worry, “I wasn’t expecting so many Bees.” In the sky, there were at least hundreds of bees were flying straight for the ships. Then he turned to the two captains, “I’ll be dealing with the Bees, when I attack, I would need you all to protect yourselves. Aiko, your water shield would be useful for defending the Elusive Haze, have your soldiers’ man the cannons, don’t let a single monster live.”

Aiko nodded, clapping her hands together and opening them to form a clear bubble of water, pushing it to the front of the ship before the bubble covered the entire ship. Han Ling nodded with satisfaction and Gaber went back to his ship to activate the shields.

Then Aiko froze, two black wings with a purplish edge sprouted from Han Ling’s back. She felt Han Ling’s aura at full blast, shocking her to the point she was trembling.

But the mana storm around Han Ling was a pressure that squeezed her heart. Those two wings sparked purple lightning and they flapped downwards, shooting Han Ling up into the air, faster than a bullet as he fired purple orbs of lightning at the Bees.

The sky lit up in purple and then the sea grew stormy, literally stormy. Dark grey clouds loomed over the island, suddenly forming in the sunny morning. Purple arcs of lightning smashed down on the flying Bees, the sounds of their shrieks reverberating in the air.

Aiko watched as the winged human slashed in the air, red and purple streaks of sword energy sliced bees into pieces. A group of bees fired balls of acid at Han Ling but before even reaching 10 meters of him, he roared with his head thrown back, a dark bubble of mana burst out, disintegrating the acid into ash.

His body burst into a purple light and appeared right in the centre of the group of bees. He slashed one bee, before whipping in a full circle like a spinning ballet dancer. A ballet dancer with a dangerous blade. The group of bees were diced into piece, and Han Ling burst forward into another group of bees, a trail of purple explosions lighted the sky, group upon group of bees exploded out of existence.

But Aiko couldn’t rest, she commanded at the top of her voice, “Cannons! Fire!”

Dozens of cannon blasts echoed the sea, blasting bees into blackened corpses falling into the sea. A bee slammed against the water barrier, shrieking as it finds itself stuck on it. Aiko leaped forward mercilessly slashing horizontally, decapitating the insect in one strike.

“Archers! Don’t let them get close! Explosive Barrage!”

A couple dozen archers nocked their bows, whispering incantations as they fired, a rain of arrows stuck onto the bees before exploding into a vibrant sky of colours. “Again!”

Soldiers fired cannons, archers fired arrows, and mages shielded the ships. Aiko inwardly sighed in relief, “They were a lot easier to deal with than I expected…” Then thunderclaps sounded quickly, blaring in their ears as if lightning struck everywhere.

Aiko managed to catch a glimpse of hundreds of purple lightning arc in the sky, obliterating the mass of bees. She gaped openly at the winged teen, seeing his face stoic and passive. In reality though, Han Ling was inwardly frozen in shock. He didn’t even realise how many energy barrages he used, but when he snapped his fingers, he never expected the sky to light up like that.

It truly was a sight to behold.

But then came the second wave…

A swarm of worker bees, even a couple of bigger ones with large mandibles and a scary sword like stinger. Even so, Han Ling simply unsheathed Bloody Baron’s Blade and burst straight towards the ground.

The sky lit in purple…