"Do you submit?"
"I... I submit..."
After several minutes of relentless beating, Karathen finally gave in.
The human in front of it was simply unreasonably strong, defying the laws of physics.
Even though his physical form was much smaller than its own, his strength was absurdly high. Every time it tried to struggle or resist, it would be forcibly suppressed, followed immediately by an even more violent round of beating.
What was even more terrifying was that this human could also release an extremely high-temperature flame.
Even Karathen, which could bathe in magma, couldn't withstand the burning of this flame. Many parts of its body had been burned bright red, at least nine-tenths cooked; it could be eaten hot right then and there.
Karathen had lived for thousands of years, and this was the first time it had been beaten so miserably.
This human was simply too brutal!
Seeing that Karathen had finally calmed down, Darian stopped and said with satisfaction, "It would have been over sooner if you'd done this earlier. You had to get beaten up to behave. Tell me, what was the point of that?"
Hearing this, Karathen felt so aggrieved it nearly cried.
In fact, less than a minute after being beaten by Darian, it had already wanted to beg for mercy.
But who knew, after Darian asked the first two times, he never asked again, just kept punching it in the face, one blow after another.
It tried to speak several times, but every time it opened its mouth, it was met with a punch. The words at its lips were knocked back into its stomach; it didn't even have a chance to make a sound.
Karathen chose to skip this painful topic and said in a muffled voice, "Since you have defeated me, you have passed the first trial. Now you can go and accept the final trial. As long as you gain the recognition of the holy trident, you will be the King of Atlantis."
Although it said that, it knew deep down that Darian, being a pure human, could never gain the recognition of the holy trident.
Darian understood this too and laughed, "I told you already, I'm not interested in the holy trident. Let's leave this opportunity to Arthur."
Karathen immediately grew anxious upon hearing this, "You mean that thief who just tried to steal the holy trident? Pardon my bluntness, but he is just a half-breed, completely unqualified to touch the holy trident. It is an insult to the holy trident, and there is no way he could ever gain its recognition!"
Darian shook his head, "Karathen, you are still too young. Half-human bloodlines are the real cheat codes."
"But..."
Karathen wanted to argue, but seeing Darian raise his fist again, it immediately swallowed the rest of its words.
Clearly, it had developed psychological trauma from being beaten by Darian.
Not long after, the effects of the Giant Potion began to fade.
A faint shimmer appeared on Darian's body, and he seemed to deflate, shrinking visibly until he returned to his original size in just a few breaths.
Looking at Darian, who had returned to normal human size, Karathen didn't dare to harbor any devious thoughts.
It didn't dare to gamble on whether this guy would turn back into that terrifying giant at any moment and pick it up for another beating.
On the other side, Mera and Queen Atlanna worked together to dig Arthur out of the ground.
The battle just now had been too intense. Arthur had been closest and caught in the aftermath, struck hard by Karathen's tentacle, embedding him into the seabed's bedrock.
Darian landed on the ground and walked over to the disheveled Arthur, "Arthur, go pull out the holy trident. As long as you gain the recognition of the holy trident, you will be the new King of Atlantis."
Arthur watched as Darian easily subdued Karathen. Recalling how he had basically been carried through the entire journey, he felt uncertain.
"Can I really do it?"
Darian patted Arthur on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Believe in yourself, you can do it. If it really doesn't work out, it doesn't matter. At worst, I'll let your brother lead the Atlantis army to invade the continent, and then I'll wipe them out. By then, Atlantis will have no legitimate heir, and you can still rightfully ascend the throne and become the King of Atlantis."
Arthur: "..."
"...If Atlantis is gone by then, what kind of king would I be?"
Mera looked at the terrifying humanoid giant as it reverted back to Darian, shocked beyond belief.
Now she finally understood what Arthur had meant by those words earlier.
Darian could even pin Karathen to the ground and rub it in; if Orm really led the Atlantis army to attack the land, the outcome was obvious.
It turned out that everything Arthur had done wasn't out of concern that the Atlantis army would destroy the continent, but rather that Atlantis would court its own destruction.
Thinking of this, Mera's expression turned solemn. She stared at Arthur and said in a deep voice, "I also believe you can do it, and you must do it. Otherwise... we'll go back and assassinate Orm! For the sake of protecting the peace of Atlantis!"
Mera spoke with murderous intent, as if she were about to rise up in rebellion the next second and go take out the tyrant Orm.
Rather than letting Atlantis face a terrifying enemy like Darian, it would be better to take the risk and eliminate Orm; at least that way, the entire kingdom could be saved.
For the sake of Atlantis, Orm would just have to die.
Arthur was scared and quickly waved his hands, "There's no need for that, really, there's no need."
"Child, I believe in you too."
Queen Atlanna looked at Arthur, her eyes full of expectation.
She also saw how powerful Darian was and worried that her younger son was too ignorant, risking himself and all of Atlantis. She could only pin her hopes on Arthur.
Looking at everyone's expectant gazes, Arthur suddenly felt his shoulders grow heavy; the pressure was immense.
"Alright, I'll give it a try."
Arthur took a deep breath, adjusted his state, and floated toward the ancient throne once again.
The battle just now had destroyed the surrounding environment, but only the skeleton of the first King of Atlantis remained completely unaffected, not even a speck of dust on it.
That was understandable, after all, this was someone who had fought against Darkseid's army back in the day, even if they were only responsible for clearing out the grunts.
Arthur reached out, and as soon as his fingertips touched the handle of the holy trident, he felt a warm power travel through his fingertips.
He subconsciously gripped the handle and applied a little force.
The next second, the holy trident was pulled up by Arthur with ease, without any resistance, so smoothly that he himself found it hard to believe.
Just like the legendary King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone, it was destiny.
Many legends loved this trope; divine artifacts were like they were equipped with fingerprint locks, only unlockable by the designated person.
For example, Thor and his Meow-Meow Hammer.
The difference was that the Meow-Meow Hammer could also be unlocked with a password; as long as the password was correct, it wouldn't refuse anyone.
The moment Arthur pulled out the holy trident, a surge of golden energy poured out from the skeleton and was absorbed into the holy trident.
The skeleton that had been sitting on the throne for thousands of years turned into fine ashes as the energy flowed out, slowly dispersing in the water.
Darian stood not far away, looking at this scene with disgust.
This was also the reason he insisted on carrying the Water-Repelling Bead.
Although with his current physical strength, he wouldn't be affected much even if he soaked in the deep sea, he didn't want to come into direct contact with seawater. Who knew what kind of weird stuff was mixed in the water.
You have to know, the corpses and excrement of marine life are floating in the water. If you're not careful and yawn, you might accidentally swallow something nasty.
As the first king's power fully merged into the holy trident, the holy trident erupted with dazzling golden light, instantly enveloping Arthur's entire body.
In the blink of an eye, Arthur was covered in a layer of golden scale armor. His lower body was clad in deep green tight combat pants, and his hands and feet were covered in deep green arm guards and combat boots. He was instantly transformed.
As expected, divine artifacts come with a built-in costume change feature.
Divine artifacts that can't transform are trash; after all, being cool is a lifelong matter.
Arthur's eyes glowed with golden light. He gripped the trident with both hands and thrust it forward. An invisible ripple spread through the seawater, traveling across the entire ocean.
All marine life received this mass message and knew that their new king had been born.
Karathen, which had looked down on Arthur in every way just a moment ago, now lowered its massive head, lying obediently on the seabed, its tentacles neatly tucked at its sides, signaling its willingness to obey Arthur's commands.
The holy trident is not the Dragon-Slaying Saber; they say it can command the world and no one dares disobey, but once someone gets the Dragon-Slaying Saber, not only can they not command the world, but they are attacked by everyone, and everyone says, "I dare to disobey."
As a divine artifact, the holy trident can command the ocean if it says it can.
[Mission "holy trident" completed]
[Rewards obtained: Experience Points +3000, Arthur Curry Favorability +10, Item "Fountain of Youth", Item "New Energy Fishing Rod"]
[Item: Fountain of Youth (Just one drop can restore one to their youthful appearance and permanently maintain that look, but normal lifespan is not affected; at least you won't die of old age, just die young)]
[Item: New Energy Fishing Rod (Two lure rods, fish pile up like a mountain; double rods on a boat, more fish than you can eat)]
Darian glanced at the reward panel and found it mediocre.
The Fountain of Youth sounded awesome, but unfortunately, it only keeps you young, not immortal, so it was useless to him.
His character model wouldn't change anyway; even if thousands or tens of thousands of years passed, he would remain exactly as he was.
But just because he didn't need it didn't mean others didn't.
If those women found out about this, they would probably spend every penny they had to get their hands on it.
Permanently maintaining a youthful appearance—think of how much money that would save on skincare products.
As for that New Energy Fishing Rod, Darian threw it directly into the second-hand... recycling system.
In the circle of anglers, this thing is considered the darkest of dark arts. It's powerful, but the price is that the family photo in your safe ends up with only one person left.
[Pre-requisite mission completed, next stage mission automatically enabled]
[Mission: Unify Atlantis]
[Objective: Reunite the divided kingdoms of Atlantis]
[Reward: Distributed based on player contribution]
The new mission popped up, and Darian glanced at it without giving it much thought.
As far as he knew, the Atlantis army was indeed formidable. Its military equipment and technology were unknown levels higher than the surface, making it arguably the strongest army on Earth.
But the disadvantage was that there was no super-scale combat power; it was just a bunch of super soldiers. Only Arthur's half-brother was passable, barely reaching the category of a hero unit.
Now that Arthur had the holy trident, he was more than enough to deal with Orm; there was no need for Darian to intervene.
For Darian, this mission had no difficulty; it was basically a freebie. It would be better to issue missions to the Atlantis people on the other side instead.
Darian put the mission out of his mind and said, "To celebrate Arthur becoming the new King, let's hold a barbecue banquet. Karathen, you come along too."
"Me?"
Karathen was stunned for a moment, unable to believe it.
Darian nodded, looking serious, "As the saying goes, we don't know each other without a fight. Since you've taken a beating from me, we can consider ourselves acquainted. Others don't have to come, but you must. The banquet can't happen without you."
"I... am I that important?"
Karathen felt a bit touched.
For so many years, apart from the first King, no one had ever treated it as an equal existence; they only saw it as a monster.
Karathen's favorability toward Darian increased instantly.
Although this human was a bit ruthless when he attacked, his heart seemed not bad.
But then it heard Darian add happily, "Of course, after all, you are the main ingredient for our barbecue banquet."
Karathen: "..."
The barbecue banquet was held as scheduled.
The ingredients for this banquet were quite rich, not only with various seafood but also dinosaur meat from endangered species.
Of course, the real main course was still Karathen.
Without needing Darian to do it himself, Karathen voluntarily cut off the burned parts of its body to serve as ingredients for the banquet.
Anyway, it had natural healing abilities and would grow them back before long.
Ordinary fire couldn't cook Karathen's meat at all; the temperature wasn't high enough.
Darian simply summoned Hellfire, and before long, the meat skewers were sizzling and oozing oil.
[Karathen BBQ: Meat from the deep-sea behemoth Karathen. Consuming it permanently increases Strength, Speed, and Constitution by 2 points each.]
Sure enough, Karathen's meat was much more awesome than that thousand-year-old salted fish.
Adding two points to all attributes except Spirit was equivalent to getting six free attribute points.
Darian took a big bite without hesitation.
[Strength 115 → Strength 117]
[Constitution 75 → Constitution 77]
[Speed 75 → Speed 77]
Getting stronger just by eating—this feeling was truly awesome.
Darian was always generous when it came to eating. He distributed the grilled meat skewers to Arthur, Mera, and Queen Atlanna, stuffing several into each of their hands.
Even Karathen itself wasn't left out; Darian roasted a large piece of meat in the same proportion and threw it to it.
The main point was to treat everyone fairly and not play favorites.
Karathen: "..."
"I'm eating myself?"
I have to say, the quality of Karathen's meat was indeed good.
I don't know if it was because Karathen's own meat quality was outstanding, or if it became bouncy after those few minutes of Darian's bare-handed pounding, but the texture of the meat was exceptionally chewy, carrying a natural oceanic umami.
Arthur's eyes lit up as he ate, his mouth stuffed full, mumbling, "This is too delicious! What was all that seafood I ate before compared to this?"
Mera and Queen Atlanna were still a bit hesitant at first.
After all, this was the meat of a sentient being. But seeing Darian and Arthur eating without any psychological burden, and even Karathen itself tasting it, plus the smell was just too fragrant, they finally took it and tasted a small bite.
Then they couldn't stop, eating until their mouths were covered in oil, with no image to speak of.
And the one who ate most emotionally was actually Karathen itself.
It had been trapped in this deep-sea restricted zone for who knows how many years, without even a fish around; it didn't know how many years it had been hungry.
Now that it suddenly ate such delicious food, it almost wanted to cry.
"It's so delicious! I had no idea I tasted so good!"
Karathen regretted it endlessly.
If it had known it tasted so good, it would have eaten itself earlier to satisfy its cravings.
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