Chapter 279: Battle on the Surface and in the Water
"Silver Mask!"
Ame and her companions gasped in surprise.
"So many problems!"
Below the passenger airship, Li Meng was in freefall, utterly speechless at the situation.
Who would have thought that even at thousands of meters above the ground, the passenger airship would be attacked by the sea tribes?
They were still far from the Saint Bilen Continent.
No matter what, he couldn't allow the passenger airship to crash.
As the approaching waterspout closed in, Li Meng struck it with a single punch.
A surge of air blasted outward, distorting the space beneath him.
The next moment, with a deafening "boom," the waterspout rushing toward the airship exploded into countless droplets.
Li Meng, plummeting like an arrow, shot straight into the sea with incredible speed, creating a piercing whistling sound as he descended.
His descent was so fast that it visibly displaced the surrounding air.
"Boom!"
A shadow streaked across the sky, crashing into the sea with an earth-shaking impact.
The massive force created towering waves that spread outward in all directions, creating chaos on the surface of the water.
This scene left the adventurers on the deck of the airship dumbfounded.
"Oh my god, could he be a Sword Saint?"
"Impossible! There are only a handful of legendary figures of that level. What are the odds?"
"I knew he looked unusual."
"Obviously! Who else would dress like that under normal circumstances?"
Ame and her companions, leaning on the ship's railing, were equally astonished.
They couldn't sense a trace of magical energy from Silver Mask and had assumed he was an ordinary person with eccentric fashion choices.
Unexpectedly, the person they had casually dragged into their card games turned out to be a true powerhouse.
Even Helen and the others on the ship's helm deck looked both surprised and relieved.
Luckily, a hidden expert had been among the passengers; otherwise, they would have been doomed.
"Helen, turn back. Do not lower altitude. Circle in the air and wait!"
Her father's command brought Helen back to her senses. She quickly turned the ship's wheel to the left, causing the floating airship to veer sharply.
Meanwhile, the turbulent sea began to calm.
The reddish water had dissipated after the recent chaos.
Standing on the sea's surface, Li Meng took a step forward.
Ripples spread from his feet, and wherever they traveled, the once-roiling waves smoothed into stillness.
In mere moments, the sea surface within a radius of several dozen kilometers appeared windless, as calm as a mirror.
Though the wind continued to blow above, the sea reflected the sky like a perfect mirror.
"Could he be a Water God-level Grand Mage?"
"Impossible. A Grand Mage wouldn't have such a powerful physique."
"But... only water mages can perform feats like this, right?"
The mirror-like sea surface prompted murmurs of amazement among the adventurers on the airship's deck.
They couldn't comprehend how someone with the physique of a warrior could wield abilities akin to magic.
At that moment, Li Meng, standing on the sea surface, looked down into the water beneath his feet.
Beneath the surface, numerous lifeforms gathered in clusters.
There were two distinct groups: one smaller in number, the other larger, both approximately a kilometer deep.
Li Meng couldn't determine which group had attacked the airship, nor was he keen to engage in an underwater battle.
"Courting death!"
Suddenly, with a cold snort, Li Meng unleashed a massive waterspout beneath his feet that surged downward.
At the same time, a smaller waterspout shot upward from a kilometer beneath the surface.
The two waterspouts collided at a depth of five hundred meters.
The smaller one was instantly torn apart, while the larger one continued its unstoppable descent toward the ocean floor.
Within the depths, countless dark-gray creatures screamed in agony.
Their eel-like bodies, each equipped with four limbs and covered in dark scales, varied in size. Most were around 1.5 meters long, though some were considerably larger, exceeding ten meters.
Hundreds of these creatures were sucked into the waterspout, which tore through their habitat, turning sharply in a full circle before rushing toward the surface.
"Boom!"
With a loud crash, a massive water column burst from the mirrored sea.
Countless dark-gray creatures were flung into the air like scattered blossoms, raining back down into the sea.
"These are... the Jawa tribe?"
As Li Meng observed the peculiar creatures falling back into the water, he thought to himself.
The Jawa tribe, though a member of the sea tribes, was akin to goblins on land—no, perhaps even more terrifying, a calamity of the ocean.
Their nests were typically in deep ocean trenches. Whenever they hunted, they devoured every living thing in their path.
Although incapable of communication, they possessed intelligence and occasionally attacked coastal cities after venturing onto land.
"Master, the Jawa tribe lacks fear. The stronger their opponent, the fiercer their resolve."
Xiao Bai's voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"Troublesome..."
Li Meng sighed, muttering under his breath.
If it had been any other sea tribe, his overwhelming power might have scared them into retreat.
But the Jawa tribe knew no fear.
As if responding to Xiao Bai's ominous remark, the Jawa tribe surged upward in a black mass.
Like migratory birds in the water or a plague of locusts, they swarmed toward the surface.
"Daring to charge en masse before a Grand Mage? Seeking death!"
Beneath Li Meng, the water suddenly erupted with radiant blue magic.
Another enormous waterspout formed, sweeping through the depths.
The previously calm sea began to ripple once more.
As the waterspout churned, the Jawa tribe was shredded to pieces wherever it passed.
The waters turned red as blood churned to the surface.
This time, the waterspout was sustained, extending from beneath Li Meng's feet to hundreds of meters below the surface.
It created a massive whirlpool on the sea's surface that rapidly expanded from hundreds of meters to several kilometers and eventually tens of kilometers.
At the ocean floor, the waterspout became a monstrous maw, sucking in everything around it.
Tens of thousands of Jawa tribe members were caught in its grip, their bodies torn apart by the powerful currents.
Unintentionally, Li Meng had unleashed a disaster-level spell.
The sight left the adventurers aboard the airship utterly dumbfounded.
At this moment, no one doubted that the figure was a mage.
Only a Water God-level Grand Mage could stir the ocean.
Only such a mage could cast a spell of this scale.
"That should do it, right?"
Standing at the whirlpool's center, Li Meng looked down.
Most of the life signals beneath the water had disappeared.
One of the two clusters had vanished, while the other fled far from the area.
Li Meng ceased channeling magic into the waterspout.
As it dissipated, the whirlpool gradually disappeared, and the sea returned to calm.
Ultimately, the once-turbulent waters became as serene as before.