The war against the alliance of three sea kingdoms was probably the toughest war Xian Mei'er and her East Sea Kingdom had faced to date. The total number of evolved soldiers that the new Queen led northward amounted to approximately 5.000.000 but by the time the war ended, that number had been reduced to a pitiful 740.000 sea creatures.
The war had raged for over a month, finally ending with the victory of the East Sea Kingdom; an extremely harsh and bloody victory that left the East Sea troops almost completely annihilated and with 2/3 of their commanders seriously wounded, mutilated, or killed on the battlefield.
The seabed, more precisely its depths, was littered with huge boulders and volcano-like mountains that spread everywhere. In addition, being closer and closer to the Pacific Ocean, the waters were cold enough for those sea beasts below level 20 to feel their blood freeze and their movements become restricted.
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Deep in a dark cave more than 40 kilometers long.
The dim light from the azure-colored stones faintly illuminated the surroundings. While the amount of light provided by these mineral stones was not particularly high, it was still high enough so that the soul evolvers of the marine race could easily see each other even from several hundred meters away.
Resting on a temporary stretcher made of seaweed, Xian Mei'er tried unsuccessfully to sit up. Her careless movement brought her a wince of pain as the deep wound extending from her midsection to her beautiful fish tail worsened, sending a light but dark mist of blue blood mingling with the waters inside the cave.
"Big Sister don't move carelessly!" Xiao Xiao in her human form quickly but gently pushed her shoulders down. The beautiful spirit dolphin's eyes flashed with hatred and pain but she still scolded, "Right now you are seriously injured. You can only lie still and rest until you heal!"Xian Mei'er shook her head but said nothing. Her blue eyes flashed with anger and frustration as she stared at the ceiling more than 4 meters high, "Xiao Xiao, did you succeed in communicating with him?"
Xiao Xiao didn't need to ask about who Xian Mei'er was referring to, "I did. Big brother said that his army finally managed to conquer the last human camp in the world so now he can only wait until the Soul Record deems him ruler of the humans."
"What a shame... He already managed to conquer all the humans but I still couldn't break through to the Pacific." Xian Mei'er raised her slim arm and covered her face in embarrassment as she muttered to herself.
In an alliance, all parties involved were supposed to cooperate at least in equal percentages. However, Xian Mei'er felt that she was not doing enough; the reason behind her embarrassment.action
"Big sister, did you forget how much you helped big brother when the Transcendent faction was a little baby?" Xiao Xiao pointed out in a serious voice: "It was you who led the troops to the coasts to wipe out the zombies in the various villages closer to the water. It was also you who helped big brother save the human population near the East Sea and it was you who helped him indirectly fight that Fourth Order crocodile even going against the former King's orders."
Xiao Xiao might be relatively young when viewed from the point of view of the sea race, even so her words were quite effective as Xian Mei'er's mood lightened a bit.
'Considering that man's personality he would probably agree with Xiao Xiao's point of view.' She thought to herself, now genuinely relieved.
"Did he say anything about when he could send help?" Xian Mei'er asked softly as she looked at the bloody wound that ran from her upper body to her tail, "I'm afraid that with this poison running around it will be difficult for me to regenerate from my wounds. If it weren't for the Purifying Pearl needing to rest for 3 months to build up energy again after I activate it I could do something about it, but as things stand now I'm afraid we don't have much choice."
Unlike the human race, the sea race was not a race that cared too much about things like brewing poisons and antidotes. This in itself was a big problem as not only were there many beasts with extremely poisonous bacteria prowling their claws and teeth but many underwater plants could poison to death those who came across them accidentally.In fact, Xian Mei'er had to face three Realm Kings at the same time on her own since in order to protect her people she ordered her father to stay behind with a good number of soldiers at his disposal. Although in the past few months Xian Mei'er's level had reached 200 and was currently advancing to the Fourth Order, she was, after all, a Third Order soul evolver.
Fighting against three other soul evolvers whose Soul Power was only slightly lower than hers in terms of quality but whose levels were equal was not at all easy for her. Xian Mei'er not only ended up being seriously injured but was poisoned twice, and if not for the fact that she managed to remove one of the poisons using the Legend grade treasure called 'Purifying Pearl' she would have definitely died under the fatal effect of two extremely cruel poisons.
"Big Sister, don't worry anymore first." Xiao Xiao said in a serious voice. Her pink eyes flashed underwater as she whispered, "Big brother said he will personally come this time. Not only him but big sister Bing Xue is also coming. They are even bringing Hero City!"
Xian Mei'er's expression froze after hearing Xiao Xiao's words. A few seconds after her brain finally understood what those words meant, her eyes sparkled brightly at the same time as a small but beautiful smile peeked weakly from the corner of her lips.
"I see."
Xiao Xiao sighed in relief as she saw Xian Mei'er's mood improve noticeably.
The past few months had been far from easy for her. Not only had Xian Mei'er just become Queen, which was putting great weight on her shoulders, but she was also leading a bloody war against her own kind at the risk of annihilation of her nation.
Besides, Xian Mei'er was not Bai Zemin.
She was extremely talented in the path of magic, so much so that in the past centuries she could be considered the best among the royalty of the East Sea. However, the distance between being talented and skillful was still large when compared to a monster that should never have existed.
In each of the battles she fought against the various kings of different kingdoms, Xian Mei'er was always injured. Some were light wounds, some were deeper, and eventually severe wounds that left her on the edge of the precipice like she was at present. The fact that she advanced thousands of miles and almost reached the edge of the East Sea and the Pacific Ocean was an impressive feat that probably no other royalty in the surrounding kingdoms would have dared to dream of for thousands of years!
Perhaps it was the accumulated fatigue after not having slept a proper night's sleep for the past three months, perhaps it was the fact that her heavy mood had lightened considerably after learning that Bai Zemin along with several soul evolvers from his faction would be arriving in the next few days, or perhaps it was the pain and torment caused by the poison in her system... Xian Mei'er did not know when but her eyes simply closed completely and her consciousness faded into dreamland.
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