The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

Chapter 139 Hunting the Storm God (1)

Arma's face, which had been full of hope, showed confusion at Turan's answer.

As the relaxed atmosphere became tense again, the merman boy asked as if he couldn't understand.

"Why...?"

"There are several reasons, but first, I don't trust you. How would I know if you're just making excuses to take it? Besides, if it's something comparable to this, it would at least be a mirror you use underwater, and I doubt you'd give that up."

"T-that's true, but-"

"Arma!"

The one who grabbed Arma by the scruff of his neck was his sister, Rowena.

After subduing her brother, she frowned at Turan and said.

"So what are you going to do? Don't tell me you're going to let that monster continue to roam the sea? It's not beneficial for us, of course, but for you humans as well. You might have been lucky so far, but if that thing keeps swimming in these waters, eventually all your coastal cities will be destroyed. And if it goes through the mirror, then the southern sea won't be safe either."

That was truly an unwelcome prospect for Turan.

Given the circumstances, if the Mimicker relic had been sealing the giant sea serpent, he couldn't deny some responsibility for the disaster created by taking it away.

But he didn't like that the proposed solution demanded a one-sided sacrifice, and even worse, he couldn't be certain it would actually work.

Additionally, the loss of power from losing the relic would be fatal when considering the eventual confrontation with those powerful gods.

In contrast, if the other method succeeded, not only would there be no power loss, but they could potentially achieve a massive power increase.

"How strong is this resurrected giant sea serpent?"

"What?"

"You mentioned earlier that it hasn't fully resurrected. So I'm asking how strong it is now."

"...Why are you asking that? Don't tell me you're planning to hunt it?"

"If I think it's doable. As you said, we'd just be sealing it again, but it would be safer to eliminate it completely."

Solif let out a "wow" of admiration at Turan's words.

"Are you really going to do it?"

"If it's not impossibly strong. Feel free to back out if you're scared, I won't blame you."

"Don't be ridiculous. Have you ever seen me back down from something like this?"

As he answered, he glanced at Meisa, who also nodded without hesitation, showing her support for Turan's decision. Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire

Rowena looked at them as if they were insane and asked.

"Do you... even know what the giant sea serpent is? It was once a being that stood equal to your gods."

"I know enough. I've seen its corpse, even if it was dead. If you're not going to answer my question, we'll be on our way. We'll handle it ourselves."

Of course, if the giant sea serpent was truly that powerful, he was also prepared to retreat and try again after building up his strength.

Thanks to the relic's senses, he could roughly gauge how powerful the opponent was.

More people might be sacrificed to the storms in the meantime, but he couldn't risk a massive power loss and the accompanying dangers for that.

Right now, his first responsibility was to his friends, not to unknown shepherds on the coast.

When he cut the conversation short, Rowena's face turned cold.

They could trample a few ordinary wizard houses but would be pitifully crushed if a great house decided to act, and dwarves who had half turned into beasts were in an even more pathetic state.

In comparison, Rowena before him was similar in level to the strongest black elf necromancers he had fought before, so she could be considered among the top-tier of non-human races.

In this case, he wondered how the merfolk maintained an equal partnership with the god of House Kamain.

As his thoughts deepened, Rowena spoke to Turan.

"However, I need to know if you truly have the strength to enforce such demands. There's no guarantee you're not just putting on an act."

"How?"

"There's an inconspicuous clearing to the north of this island."

It wasn't difficult to guess she meant they should fight to assess each other's abilities.

Turan glanced down and asked.

"Will it be alright on land rather than in water?"

Hearing this, Rowena smiled faintly.

"I was prepared to fight here if necessary."

==

Walking north from the alley for about thirty minutes, Turan asked the mermaid siblings several casual questions.

From the basic ecology of merfolk to their social structure.

Unlike Arma, Rowena, being an older mermaid, knew more and it was quite an informative time.

"So, education can't solve the issue of eating people?"

"That's right. When they're adequately fed, they don't particularly crave humans, but there are few prey as easy to catch as humans who enter the sea or stay on the coast. The lower class's ability to control their urges is worse than most animals, so unless you openly beat them right beside them, they can't be controlled."

"And what about you?"

"Apparently our royalty used to eat a lot in the past, but since your god came, we don't eat humans anymore. It's not particularly for ethical reasons, but simply to avoid giving a pretext for being eradicated..."

That's how he ended up learning the secret about the merfolk's cannibalistic habits that Arma hadn't known.

In the middle of their conversation, Turan subtly changed the subject.

"By the way, what happened to that corpse?"

"Which one?"

"Our god. Is it still there? If it had come back to life, I think it would have said something, but there's been no word."

At that time, even after Turan took the relic, the drowned god didn't decay or crumble in that place, but he didn't know if it was still the same.

Rowena answered calmly.

"I heard it's still there intact. Do you want to see it?"

"I don't mind, but there's someone who wants to see it."

That made him newly curious.

Why had the giant sea serpent resurrected from death while the drowned god had not?

What difference was there between the two?