Chapter 26
Kingdom of Avalon, coast of Noah City, Warship "The Great Rogan", approximately at the same time that Rogan arrived at the capital of the Kingdom of Sybilla.
Triton, the Grand Commander of Noah City's marine forces, rested carelessly on the deck of the great Warship "The Great Rogan". The powerful warrior of the sea was in charge of protecting the small boats that were fishing in the surroundings from the surprise attacks of the sea monsters that occasionally appeared in the coast.
"Today the sea is very calm, isn't it Lady Aqua?" – Triton commented to his companion, Captain Aqua.
"It seems so, Lord Triton." – she answered.
Captain Aqua was next to Triton on the deck of the ship, but where the commander was relaxing in the sunlight, the captain was alert for any attack.
Perhaps it was this attention that allowed her to notice the attack in time.
A powerful jet of pressurized water suddenly appeared out of nowhere, heading towards the ship.
"Spirit Magic: Rising Wave!"
With the pronunciation of the spell that Aqua had prepared beforehand, a large wave changed the ship's course, making it barely avoid the enemy attack.
"Wow! What's going on?" – Asked the upset commander.
"It seems that we are under attack, Lord Triton." - Aqua calmly explained to Triton.
As these two spoked, the enemy finally showed their faces.
They came from the depths. Their heads were reptilian, with pointed teeth protruding from the top and bottom of their large jaws. Their eyes were yellow and vertical, like a snake's, and the large crests and fins that protruded like spears from parts of their bodies were golden in hue. Their torsos were certainly humanoid in appearance, but rather a bizarre mixture of man and reptile; its long scaly arms had huge claws; and their lower bodies gave the appearance of a serpent's tail.
One minute the sea was calm, and the next thousands of these hideous creatures rose to the surface.
"People of the Naga! It's time to put an end to these surface vermin! For the return of our eternal god, Lord Verldark!" – exclaimed one of the creatures, apparently Nagas. This one was bigger than the others, and his aura was much more powerful. He seemed to be some kind of leader.
It was the first time that Triton and Aqua had seen these hideous creatures, but if they were sure of one thing after hearing those screams, it was that they did not come in peace.
"We must inform Noah City immediately! This is an invasion!" - Triton exclaimed.
"As you wish. Thetia, warn the fishing boats, they must return to port. Ikis, go immediately to the city and report the attack to Lady Tuatha." - Aqua ordered two of her subordinates who were nearby.
"Sound the alarm! We are under attack! All soldiers to the deck." – Triton ordered his subordinates.
There were only about five hundred soldiers on the ship, but they were elite Sirens and Undines, personally trained by Triton and Aqua for this type of situation. The rest of the fleet would not be long in coming.
"Marines! Are you prepared to defend our home? – Triton shouted, once all his subordinates were gathered on the deck.
"Yes, sir!" - they all answered.
And so began the first battle between the armies of Avalon and the united army of Veldark. More than five thousand Naga, against five hundred Sirens and Undines.
The soldiers of Avalon were more powerful than the Naga, thanks to having been named by Rogan and having better equipment. They immediately took advantage of this power by ruthlessly attacking the enemy army. But they were outnumbered ten to one, and despite their efforts, casualties began to appear.
Seeing that their soldiers were outnumbered, Triton and Aqua decided to attack personally, but were stopped by the enemy leaders.
"Who are you? What do you want?" - Triton asked, as he prepared to attack with his trident.
This trident was a special weapon that Lord Rogan had given him the day he was appointed Grand Commander of the Noah City marine forces. It was made of an alloy called Orichalcum, which made it a Mythic Grade weapon.
"We have nothing to discuss with you, prey. Die!" – Said the leader of the Naga, as he attacked Triton with two large scimitar-shaped swords.
Triton blocked the attack with his trident, but the force of the attack knocked him back several steps, losing his balance. The Naga took advantage of this to launch another slash with one of his swords, which Triton evaded by jumping even further back.
Having regained his balance, Triton attacked this time. He charged at the Naga leader before he could attack again. Caught off guard, the leader covered the attack with his other arm, causing Triton's trident to become imbedded in his skin. A scream of fury tore from the serpentine creature's throat, but it launched its counterattack even so. Taking advantage of the trident's lack of mobility, the Naga leader attacked, not with his swords, but with his massive serpent tail. With no time to avoid it, Triton took the full impact of the blow and was sent flying several meters.
As the fight between Triton and the Naga leader raged on, Aqua faced an equally troublesome Naga. This seemed to be a female Naga, her hair was long and tied with seaweed. Her face seemed to be more humanoid than that of the males of the same species, but even then, she couldn't be considered beautiful in any way. This Naga had four arms instead of two, and in these she held a large bow, with which she could shoot two arrows instead of one, using her extra hands.
Aqua instead defended herself using her weapon of choice, fans made of Magisteel. Arrow after arrow was fired by her enemy, but she managed to evade or deflect each and every one of them, dancing on the water like a ballerina. This seemed to infuriate her enemy.
"Be still, prey! I, Shiladur, the great lieutenant of his majesty, Salkalar the King of the Naga and faithful servant of the great dragon Veldark, will put an end to you!" – The angry Naga shouted.
"Why should I be still? During a battle, is it normal for the attacked person to defend themselves" - Aqua answered calmly, as she deflected more arrows.
Aqua's calm demeanor seemed to infuriate Shiladur further, believing that she was being underestimated. This time when she fired her arrows, they seemed to contain a blue glow. As Aqua blocked these arrows with her fans, a torrent of cold came from the arrows, freezing one of Aqua's hands up to her elbow. The captain, not expecting a magical attack, took a few steps back to put distance between her enemy and her.
"Ha, ha, ha! Take a bite of my Ice Arrow!" – Shiladur mocked, seeing his enemy partially incapacitated.
As the leaders of both factions clashed, the Naga gradually took advantage of their superior numbers to overwhelm the Avalon navy, inflicting heavy casualties. More than three thousand Naga had been defeated, but the casualties of Triton and Aqua's soldiers already exceeded two hundred, almost half of the small army.
Triton's match was no better than Aqua's. Although he had landed a few slashes on Salkalar, King of the Naga, the commander himself had suffered several wounds.
At that time, the match seemed to be even. To get out of that impasse, Triton decided to use his Unique Skill, Ocean Master, to control the marine life in the vicinity. Although intelligent sea creatures were not affected by this skill, it did allow him to control less intelligent creatures such as sea monsters and fish.
Suddenly, a huge red Kraken appeared from the surface of the water, right in the middle of the enemy army. This was Calypso, one of King Rogan's pets, which he himself had created, and one of the guardians of the island of Avalon.
Calypso had answered Triton's call, and had come to help.
Having such a large creature in the midst of their army surprised and confused the Naga, which Calypso took advantage of by devouring several dozens of them.
In addition to Calypso, other sea monsters also appeared and attacked the Naga, inflicting heavy casualties on them.
With Calypso and the other monsters creating chaos in the enemy army, both Aqua and Triton could concentrate more on their individual combat.
Triton for his part, launched a great counterattack against Salkalar, managing to seriously injure him, but during one of their struggles while Triton was busy withstanding the attack of Salkalar's swords using his trident, a terrible pain ran through his back.
It was one of Shiladur's Ice Arrows!
The female Naga had been keeping Aqua busy, while keeping a close eye on her king's combat, waiting for the right moment to give him the upper hand.
Ice and frost quickly began to cover Triton's body. The arrow itself hadn't done that much damage, but its chilling effect had paralyzed him enough for Salkalar to gain the upper hand.
Taking advantage of his foe's paralysis, Salkalar stabbed with both scimitars, passing through Triton's body cleanly.
"Lord Triton!" – Aqua shouted, seeing her commander being killed by the enemy.
Rage consumed the mind of the normally calm Aqua, as she unleashed her most powerful spell.
"Great lord of the Ocean! Grant me the power to punish this world with the might of the seas! Spirit Magic: Hydropulse!"
With the chanting of the spell, an immense amount of magical energy surrounded Aqua, transforming into a large ring of water around her. When Aqua opened her arms wide, the ring of water shot out at high speed in all directions, severing everything it touched.
When the spell reached Shiladur, it severed her neck with extreme ease, her head falling from her shoulders with a shocked face.
The spell continued its course, taking out several hundred Naga in its path, but thanks to Aqua's majestic control, the Avalon soldiers were unaffected.
The spell reached Salkalar, but he managed to avoid maximum damage by sacrificing one of his arms to get out of the way of the spell.
Now an exhausted Aqua tried to reach her commander's body, but before she could get close, a huge explosion rocked the island of Avalon.
The explosion came from Noah City!
"Ha, ha, ha! That winged bastard got it!" – Salkalar laughed with dark delight. "People of the Naga! Our goal has been reached! Begin retreat as planned!"
As the Naga horde retreated, Aqua ran to her commander, hoping she could do something to save him, but her hopes were dashed when she realized there was nothing she could do.
"Captain Aqua! What should we do? Do we chase them? – Asked one of her soldiers.
"No! Pursuing them would be suicide. Gather the dead, and tend to the wounded. We must return to the capital immediately. It seems that we were not the only targets of this attack."
"¿What about the commander?"
"I'm afraid, there's nothing we can do. Commander Triton is dead. I shall carry his body myself." – she answered, deep sadness in her voice.