"Cough cough... It's all the damned Ye He'er's fault! And then there's Galliot, taking advantage of the situation, isn't this bastard supposed to be missing? Why didn't he just die outside?"

It seems to have entered the virulent outbreak phase of the illness, as Melro's condition worsened significantly overnight.

The green thin line had spread from her elbow to her right shoulder, and the originally radiant and magnificent golden fish tail had lost its luster. Her entire body showed signs of weakness from inside out.

At this moment, she was also struck by a sudden powerful thunder attack, causing her divine glow to scatter, making her appear exceptionally powerless.

Melro knew better than anyone that her current status made her completely unfit for combat, especially against that infamous Grand Duke with the blood of several Tier 4 beings on his hands.

However, whether she could fight was no longer up to her.

"I've decided it's you, Pokeball, capture!"

A sudden, incomprehensible shout rang in her ears, just as "Mother of Water" was about to make a move, she inexplicably hesitated.

Duang——!

A flash of golden light before her eyes was followed by a series of buzzing noises inside her skull.

It was the treasure[Oath Prison Lock]in the shape of a lock that struck her smooth forehead, causing Melro to reel her head back, almost falling on her rear in the water. However...

Nothing else happened!

"Huh? Isn't this how you use the 'Prison Lock'? Sorry, this thing didn't come with instructions, let's try a different approach."

Melro rubbed her forehead, showing no signs of disturbance, as the attack failed to break her defense.

Yet, despite its low damage, the humiliation inflicted by this "hidden weapon" was considerable. Coupled with Aiven's immediate "suggestion," it instantly ignited Melro's fury.

Even though she felt unwell and wanted to avoid fighting, she vowed to teach this despicable guy a lesson he wouldn't forget.

"Ah! Galliot, you're courting death! No one can treat a great deity like this!"

With an angry roar, her body rapidly inflated like it was being pumped, her upper body retaining human features while her lower body swelled into an inverted octopus head form.

From it extended massive scaled tentacles, serpentine bodies, crustacean pincers, jellyfish stingers...

Melro had now activated her exclusive power[Hybrid], formed from the fusion of[Aquatic Creatures]and[Fertility]power, allowing her to incorporate all aspects of aquatic life onto herself.

This was the strongest combat form possible only in the ocean!

Upon completing her transformation.

Boom!

Among numerous auxiliary limbs, two huge pincers closed sharply, sparks flying, thunderous booms resonating endlessly underwater.

The instantaneous maximum temperature at the claw tips reached 5000℃, vaporizing the sea water into a formidable steam cloud, two beams riddled with countless bubbles speeding toward the nearby Aiven.

However, facing an attack capable of easily destroying a stone fortress, Aiven didn't flinch or evade, instead raising his hands high above his head, an icy frost-like infinite Sword Qi had already formed a blazing white longsword between his virtual grasp.

The longsword, complete with guard and patterns, seemed almost indistinguishable from the real object, highlighting his terrifying control.

Stab——!

With a single strong slash, he cleaved the massive shock wave open. His figure flashed to Melro's enormous body, wielding the sword's glow, in the sparse sparks, countless resilient tentacles, stingers, pincers... fell to the ground.

Before advancing to a Tier 4[Badge Knight], Aiven was already capable of independently killing the titled knight "Thorny Fire," dealing with Melro in a weakened state was even more of a breeze.

Simultaneously, Anita, displaying a half-dragon form like Aiven, also rushed in riding a roaring water stream. So far, none of Melro's shaman wizards had come to her "rescue," the battle seemed to have completely lost its suspense.

The only concern was that besides Anita, as someone who could convert "name" into power,[Titled Knight]whose belief was powerful enough to achieve miracles inconceivable regardless of manpower and time, already maxed out various resistances.

Others, the three women, did not want to directly confront Melro, who possessed the[Fertility]power.

As expected.

Realizing the situation was dire, Melro acknowledged that fighting Aiven in melee was overestimating herself, she suddenly restored to her original fish people form from the hybrid giant beast form.

After distancing herself, she disregarded the rushing Anita, but instead, with gleaming divine glow in her eyes, bestowed the most sincere "blessing" upon the nearby Aiven:

"My Lord Duke, I bless you and your descendants forever!"

Finally, she unleashed the fear-inducing power of "Whoever I glare at gets pregnant."

Stab——

Aiven's body suddenly stiffened and inexplicably split into two, connected by white strands, and quickly grew into two identical Aivens, they glanced at each other, then drew more strands.

Ah! I'm splitting open! Ah! I'm splitting again! I'm doubl... I'm tri... I'm quad...

Thus, before Melro, one became two, two became four, four became eight... until encircling her completely. By the time the wide-eyed "Mother of Water" exhausts all power, Aiven had split into 256 entities.

Hundreds of Aivens glanced at themselves on both sides, shrugged indifferently, and steadily approached Melro.

In fact, when the second "Aiven" appeared, the expression on the face of the High-Rank Totem God had already begun to crumble. Now, seeing the approaching "Aiven" army, she couldn't help but retreat step by step.

After retreating a few steps, there was no more room to retreat. Under the intense gaze of hundreds of pairs of eyes, she was so frightened by this scene that completely defied her understanding of power that she started crying.

With her worldview collapsing and her strength exhausted, Melro, using her despondent precursor state, softly knelt to the ground:

"I surrender, I give up! You can do whatever you want, boohoo..."

The moment she finished speaking.

Clatter, clatter...

The [Oath Prison Lock] that Aiven had picked up jumped out of his pocket. Endless golden chains spread from a ball of golden light, enveloping 256 "Aivens" and the mermaid-form Melro within.

Clearly, this was the correct way to subdue her.

Ten minutes later, when the chains reopened, the "Aiven Legion" had reverted to a single person.

All the numerous "Aivens" were like immortal "Lighthouse Jellyfish", reversing from differentiated cells back into an undifferentiated stem cell state, returning to Aiven's body as if birds returning to their nest.

For a "Native Species", splitting eight times was not harder than eating or drinking.

As for the "Mother of Water" Melro, who followed him around with her head lowered, a gold lock-shaped mark appeared on her chest between her collarbones.

Where the initiative of the oath lay was self-evident.

Having subdued the High-Rank Totem God "Mother of Water" Melro, bringing a powerful general into his fold, Aiven was ecstatic. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

It wasn't just about having a high-tier combat force; her path aligned with the "Life Tree School". She could also assume some functions of the "Father of Creation", allowing the duchy's current annual population growth rate of 3% to be taken to the next level.

"She's practically a perfect tool to be worked to the bone! What a gain!"

Seeing the sudden aggrieved look in Melro's eyes, Aiven awkwardly rubbed his nose, accidentally letting slip what he was thinking.

Suddenly.

"Teacher, come see this; no wonder no Shaman Wizard came out to help, turns out they're all sick."

In the ten minutes, the few people left outside had already cleaned up the Sea Basin Palace, discovering within it the merfolk suffering from an unknown condition, along with the Shaman Group, Totem Gods... Among them was the "Sea Serpent God" Nata Piyie, who had hunted Aiven and Angie years ago.

These people had bluish lips and were mentally exhausted, with only the very peculiar merfolk having slightly better conditions.

During the chaotic battle in the "Cloud Sea Secret Realm", Ye He'er had gained new power and didn't deeply understand the strength of Anita's group.

Moreover, back then, she had picked up "Demigod Blood" from the duchy's territory, indicating that the duchy had even defeated a descended demigod body, making it really not worthwhile to count against them.

But Ye He'er was very familiar with the strength of the "Mother of Water", with whom she'd been in conflict for over a hundred years. Unprepared and caught off guard, the "Mother of Water" and her followers suffered a major loss.

After more than half a month of brewing, the planted germs had already fully broken out. Maybe Ye He'er had planned to come in a couple of days to reap the rewards, but unexpectedly, Aiven and his group had already picked up the ready-made fruits.

"Click click, a stable merfolk community is such a rare species."

Aiven walked up to his new subordinates, clicking his tongue in wonder. Apart from some he had seen in the "Golden Kingdom", intelligent demonized creatures with humanoid characteristics were indeed rare in the outside world.

Their community resembled that of the Thunderbird Clan. The "Totem God" achieved from an Animal Spirit protected both their human followers and their living demonized creature community.

Back then, the Thunderbird "Sasimo" was a more powerful Tier 4 Totem God than the Spirit of the Giant Bear "Gleam". Near the Thunderbird Clan, real demonized creatures called Thunderbirds survived, which were similar to the Sub-dragon Species with Giant Dragon Bloodline, with adulthood starting at Tier 3.

Aiven had once killed one and made it into the [Thunderbird Robe], which greatly helped him in the early stages and was now gifted to his fifth disciple, Bach, who possessed the Thunder Attribute.

However.

In the early days of the Galliot Duchy's rise, the Thunderbird "Sasimo" had already led the aboriginal Quinayinter Clan beyond the northern border of the duchy to the Elbert Mountain Range, rooting themselves on Logan Mountain at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

The climate there was cold and life sparse, with few natural Spirit Bodies. Moreover, being near the coastline and far from the interior, the Spirit Tide Impact was not severe.

Going further northwest from Logan Mountain was "Mount McKinley", the highest peak in the northern continent and also the nest of another famous Totem God, "Eagle Spirit" Avanca.

Also an Azik people belief, Avanca's Extraordinary level is only a step away from a High-Rank Totem God.

Ordinary Tier 4 Totem Gods dare not spy on the "Spiritual Origin" of a High-Rank Totem God, but he has no such scruples, flaunting his speed that tops the New Continent, having become increasingly high-profile recently.

The "Spiritual Origin Overflow" brought great benefits to Aiven and his group, giving many others the opportunity to rapidly rise to prominence.

The stage is set; perhaps the next star is you!

Including Ye He'er and Melro, those who became active during this opportunity were not aware that the entire northern continent was under strict surveillance by the [Mind Network].

And the certain someone who regarded the north as their private territory was already... ready with bow drawn.