Chapter 7: The Power of the Naga Siren

Li Mingxing had no idea about what was happening behind him. By this time, he had already arrived at the small settlement of the Naga sea sirens mentioned by the mermaid. After all, ninety nautical miles was nothing for Li Mingxing's ship; they could reach it in just a few hours.

Upon arriving, the first thing Li Mingxing saw was not a Naga sea siren, but a huge banner. This triangular banner was entirely pure blue, with white lines depicting ocean waves. Pointing at this banner, the half-magic mermaid said, "Did you see that? That is the banner of the Naga sea sirens. According to their legends, this was a gift given to them by the Sea God, claiming that with this, they are the strongest masters upon the crest of the waves."

Just as she mentioned the masters on the crest of the waves, four Naga warriors rushed out from the sea. Li Mingxing noticed that these Naga warriors looked a bit different from the desert-type Nagas; their entire bodies were covered in blue scales, and their heads were fish-shaped without hair, sporting only a yellow fin on top. Their method of movement was what attracted Li Mingxing the most: they actually stood right on the surface of the sea, and with just a flick of their tails, they could dart forward by dozens of meters. Such speed truly lived up to the title of masters of the wave crests.

The weapons in their hands also gave Li Mingxing a start. Having gone through several inner worlds, Li Mingxing once again witnessed an inner world developing toward technological advancement. The weapons these people held were actually harpoons capable of firing long spears underwater. These Naga sea sirens appeared to be merely patrolling the area. However, when they spotted Li Mingxing from afar, they became nervous—not least because of the sheer size of Li Mingxing's ship and the direction they were heading.

Without any hesitation, the hindmost of the four Naga sea sirens turned around immediately, apparently heading back to report the news, while the remaining three raised their harpoons and shouted loudly, "Who are you people, and what are you doing here?"

Before Li Mingxing could speak, the half-magic mermaid serving as the figurehead on Li Mingxing's ship whispered, "Those are their weakest forces, with strength roughly around the second tier lower grade that you speak of."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Li Mingxing's face, and he said to Zheng, "The upcoming battle is left to you."

Though Zheng did not want to leave Li Mingxing's side, she would never refuse his request. Under Li Mingxing's command, she leaped onto her black wyvern, followed by one-third of Li Mingxing's flying troops taking to the air.

This had been planned out along the way by Li Mingxing. After all, in the previous battle with the mermaids, luck had played too large a factor, making Li Mingxing realize that launching more troops was not always better; as long as they could overwhelm the enemy, that was enough. Excessive forces would only disrupt the development of the overall battle.

Watching Zheng make her move, Li Mingxing turned back to Aisha and asked, "Have you figured out the method to control the sea grass that you were asked to research last time?"

"I've figured out a bit," Aisha replied, though she was not accustomed to controlling plants, knowing that the bulk of her capabilities lay in transformation and lightning.

"Good. The enemy isn't numerous this time, which is just right for you to experiment with these spells. Try it out thoroughly now, otherwise, when facing stronger enemies later, we won't even have the chance to test our moves."

Hearing that Li Mingxing was using these Naga sea sirens as target dummies to test moves, the half-magic mermaid was quite delighted. She harbored a deep-seated hatred for these Naga sea sirens. However, thinking of the connections among the various branches of the Naga sea sirens, killing a portion of them would bring the relentless pursuit of all Naga sea sirens. That was why the half-magic mermaid had never attacked this settlement right on their doorstep.

Now that Li Mingxing had arrived, things were different. The very first thing Li Mingxing intended to do upon reaching this place was to court one faction and strike down another. Since the half-magic mermaid happened to be Li Mingxing's choice for an alliance, the strongest Naga sea sirens in this sea territory naturally became his enemies.

Now that Li Mingxing wanted to use the Naga sea sirens to experiment with certain techniques, all the mermaids were overjoyed. In fact, several mermaids plunged directly into the ocean, following closely behind the sea monsters, ready to strike at any moment. At this time, the three Naga sea sirens who remained in place also displayed their extraordinary side. Because their harpoons were designed for underwater firing, they utilized a high-pressure pneumatic shooting mechanism, and what they fired were modified long spears rather than bullets, which were difficult to control directionally underwater.

If such items were brought to the surface, their destructive power would be considerable. Just as Zheng and her troops flew over, the Nagas fired three shots. Under these three shots, six of the harpies behind Zheng were actually struck down.

Judging from the appearance of these harpies as they fell into the water, they were beyond saving. Such lethality naturally shocked Zheng inwardly. She shouted loudly, "Griffins, charge forward and entangle them! Harpies, prepare blowtorches—prepare the blowdarts!"

Unexpectedly, the moment the griffins flew down, the three Nagas plunged right back into the sea water, and then three more long spears shot up from beneath the waves. If the harpies had not reacted with extreme agility, this single strike would have claimed the lives of several more harpies.

Just as Zheng was about to order her subordinates to locate the enemy based on the trajectory of the spears, three more long spears shot out from a completely different position.

At this moment, Aisha suddenly shouted aloud, "Don't worry, I'll handle this!"

As soon as Aisha finished speaking, Li Mingxing, Zheng, and the others watched as the seawater began to churn incessantly. Over a thousand strands of black sea grass shot up from beneath the waves, tightly entangling the three Nagas together.

Looking at Li Mingxing and Zheng's dumbfounded expressions, Aisha said quite proudly, "This is the Sea Grass Domain, a magic spell I recently developed. It counts as a mid-tier tactical spell that can only be used underwater. Within this range, everyone will be bound by the sea grass."

Hearing this, Li Mingxing nodded with satisfaction. Zheng did not miss the opportunity either; the griffins under her command swooped down and tore the three Nagas into pieces within a few moments.

Just as Li Mingxing and his group killed these three Naga sea sirens, all the remaining Naga sea sirens in the settlement swarmed out. Only then did Li Mingxing witness the true strength of the Naga sea sirens here.

There were a total of eleven Naga sea sirens charging out this time. Among them, besides the five holding harpoons, there were six much more powerful Naga sea sirens.

Out of these six powerful Naga sea sirens, five wielded firearms similar to dwarven disruptors—though Li Mingxing certainly would not mistake the guns in their hands for mere matchlock muskets; he knew they must be holding underwater assault rifles.

This type of underwater assault rifle utilizes a smoothbore barrel, a gas-operated long-stroke automatic principle, a rotating bolt locking mechanism, an open-bolt firing mode, and a bolt carrier that doubles as a hammer. It is fed by a 26-round curved plastic magazine, uses a telescopic stock and a front-post and rear-sight aiming mechanism, allows for single and burst firing, and is equipped with a safety mechanism.

The bullets used by such a gun were unlike the long spears used by the initial Nagas. These bullets were made of a fully enclosed cartridge chamber and a diffusion port, filled internally with gas under a certain pressure. They could be used for underwater self-defense combat, underwater scientific research, space technology, and civil underwater hunting. Underwater firearm bullets could be used underwater for a long time, with a validity period of up to three years, and could reach depths of up to 80 meters underwater.

The underwater firearm bullet is characterized in that the cartridge case, primer, propellant, bullet head, cartridge chamber, and diffusion port constitute a fully enclosed whole, with the interior of the cartridge chamber filled with a certain pressure of gas; the front of the bullet is equipped with a shock-absorbing sleeve.

Equipment of this caliber was rarely produced by any nation in the real world; if forced to name one, perhaps only Russian underwater assault rifles could compare.

Coincidentally, Aisha had seen such items before. As soon as she spotted these underwater assault rifles, she shouted loudly, "Watch out for those guns! Their power underwater is immense."

However, what caught Li Mingxing's attention was not these underwater assault rifles, but the female Naga sea siren at the very back.

The scale color of that female Naga sea siren was not dark blue or dark green like the ones before them; her scales were a lake-green and translucent. What truly attracted Li Mingxing was the black tube she held, which was taller than she was. Li Mingxing immediately guessed the function of the tube in the female Naga sea siren's hand. Of course, this was not because Li Mingxing was exceptionally knowledgeable, but because he saw five warheads placed behind this female Naga.

Those five warheads were identical to the torpedoes Li Mingxing had seen on television in the real world. Although they were ten times smaller, Li Mingxing believed that since the Naga sea sirens had brought them out, their destructive power would not be much less.

Facing such an enemy, Li Mingxing felt a trace of concern. He turned back to Aisha and asked, "How long can your Sea Grass Domain hold them?"

Aisha also glanced at these Naga sea sirens and hesitated before saying, "I can only say I'll give it a try."