Second World

When they were getting near to the place where the adult dragon turtle was trapped, they saw a large army of Merfolk idling there. The reason they were standing by was that the enclosed tunnel where they trapped the dragon turtle wasn't big enough to hold all of them. If all of them went in, there would be hardly any space to maneuver. They would become easy targets for the more physically powerful dragon turtle.

Hence, these merfolk took turns going inside. If one of the merfolk inside died, the one from outside would go through the gaps and take over the deceased one's place. The merfolk were using their own lives to wear the dragon turtle one.

When the merfolk children had been successfully rescued, John sent a message to Bowler to let him inform Ama. Of course, there was a chance that Ama decided to pull back after learning the children were safe. However, John didn't think the sea mother would do so.

This dragon turtle had always been a thorn in the merfolk's side. They couldn't be this gulf's true ruler as long as this turtle remained here. Additionally, they couldn't just let someone or something, who had so audaciously kidnapped and consumed their children, go unpunished like this. Now was the only chance for them to eliminate this turtle, with the Hex of Power Restraint preventing the dragon turtle from using its dual-world domain.

So, even though she lost quite a number of warriors, Ama continued to send her merfolk in. She herself was heatedly battling inside.

As for the players, around twenty were inside. The merfolk preferred to not let them in because their standard ranged attacks were weak. It was more advantageous to let their spots be given to Merfolk to increase the damage output. But since the Hex of Power Restraint belonged to the players, the merfolk agreed to let a few players enter.

This arrangement was agreed upon before between John and Ama. The reason was that John wanted their side to deliver sufficient enough damage to the dragon turtle so it dropped loots when it died and for the nearby players to receive exp points. The twenty who were inside were ranged players with the highest damage count. These ranged players were situated at the wall next to the gaps. If the turtle charged at them, they could easily slip out to take cover.

Once they arrived, Nogg didn't wait for his turn. He just rushed and slip through the gap. John was glad that he did. Since Nogg was his companion, whatever damage that Nogg inflicted would count as the player's portion as well.

"Ahoy!" Will came to them. He was among the players who waited outside because his standard ranged attacks were nothing to speak of. Billy and Rough Criminal were inside, though. Billy was a Hidden Weapon Specialist while Rough Criminal was a Gunner.

Bowler was also inside, using his healing spells to aid the merfolk survived. John communicated with him using messages. From Bowler's report, the dragon turtle had only lost around one-third of its life.

Almost one and a half hours had passed since they activated the Hex of Power Restraint. This meant it was already half of the artifact's active duration. At this rate, they wouldn't be able to deplete the dragon turtle's HP before the Hex's three-hour duration was over.

"Hm… This is not good. Although I prefer to watch the fires burning across the river, we might need to join the fight. Otherwise, we would all be in trouble once the Hex's duration is up," John said to Jet.

"What fires burning across the river? We are under the sea, Goddamnit! Can't you just speak in normal language?" Jet complained.

"Never mind that, do you think that Seven Injuries Fists of yours can affect this adult dragon turtle?" John asked.

The two of them had also been looking at the situation inside through one of the gaps. The battle inside was fierce. The dragon turtle had been in a frenzy ever since it sensed that its offspring was gone. It had now gone crazy and unleashed its wrath on these merfolk who had been trapping it.

"Theoretically, this adult turtle should have the same physiology as the small one. Its weakness should be at its underside as well. But I might need to get near to sense its mana to make sure the exact spots on its plastron to hit," Jet answered. "I think my art should work just fine with this turtle. The problem is whether I can hit all seven spots in the required time. This turtle had a much larger body, hence I'll need more time going from one spot to the other. Not to mention, it is unlike that small one who stayed still. This big one moved like a crazed nutcase. It will be much more difficult… Like a hundred folds!"

"I believe in you, old man," John said and clasped Jet's shoulder.

Jet grumbled at the comment. He was sure John was not truly confident in him. The guy was simply pushing him to go ahead with the risky endeavor.

Will, who had been listening to them, asked, "Are you two truly going in?"

"Yeah, we need to expedite this," John replied.

"How are you two going to do that? You are a summoner and he is a melee class."

"You will see," John didn't bother to explain.

He sent a message to two members inside to come out so he and Jet could take their places. The two entered as soon as the ones they replaced came out. The merfolk didn't bother them. As long as they kept their number as agreed and didn't cause trouble to the merfolk fighting inside, those merfolk just ignored them.

Once they went in, they saw a merman fly towards them. They hurriedly moved to the side and that merman slammed into the wall. John saw that that merman had zero HP already. Another victim to the ferocity of the dragon turtle.

"Shit! Are you asking me to go near that thing?!" Jet uttered. Watching the battle from the inside was completely different from the outside.

"Who not long ago said he isn't afraid of a turtle?" John mocked. He was already firing his standard ranged attacks at the turtle. He had a high-level unique-grade magic staff, so his standard attacks produced higher damage than the other ranged players.

"Damn punk! Don't try to trick me. There is no way I can get close to that thing!" Jet grumbled.

After the diving experience with Jack in the Village of Peace, Jet spent quite a lot of time swimming under the lake in their headquarters' territory. He was also very enthusiastic during John's underwater training session when preparing for this operation. So, his swimming and underwater fighting ability in this world had been honed. He was one of the few best underwater fighters in Everlasting Heavenly Legends.

Even so, the dragon turtle was indeed intimidating. Even the fast-swimming merfolk took extreme care to not get hit by the giant turtle. The turtle could strike in six directions using its head, four limbs, and tail. The only blind spots were the top of its shell and underneath. Luckily, one of those blind spots should be where the weak spots for his art were located.

"Try to approach as close as possible to sense its weak spots, but don't engage it first," John said. "After you confirm the spots, wait for my cue. I will create a window to allow you a short time to execute your art."

"Are you sure you can do that?" Jet asked skeptically.

"Leave that to me, just go identify the weak spots and prepare," John didn't bother to explain further.

Jet also didn't waste time asking more questions. He swam forward but maintain himself under the turtle so that it wasn't aware of him.

John continued to fire his standard attacks while monitoring the situation. Several merfolk stood out in the fight with the turtle. The sea mother, Ama, was the most impressive one. Her swimming speed was very fast and she could do sharp turns easily, allowing her to dodge the turtle countless times. Her very long golden trident was also very accurate, and John sensed a few of those attacks were empowered by the mana manipulation technique. Most of the damage suffered by the turtle came from her trident.

A few other rare elite merfolk was also remarkable. They were only one notch slower than the sea mother but faster than the regular merfolk. Nogg was one of them. They also contributed a lot to the damage count.

The rest mostly run interference, to prevent the dragon turtle from focusing on Ama and those rare elites. These merfolk were mostly the ones that got killed from time to time because of failing to dodge the turtle's attacks.

The battle continued for some time. Jet continued to stealthily keep within a sufficient distance from the dragon turtle. It was difficult because the turtle didn't exactly stay in one place. It lunged from time to time when it tried to catch a merfolk.

There was one time when it noticed Jet and was about to come at him. Jet was extremely panicked at the time. He couldn't swim as fast as the merfolk, after all. Luckily, Nogg came and struck the turtle's head, drawing its fury. It chased after Nogg instead.

After some time, Jet finally sent John a message. "I've identified all its weak spots."