Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 176. The Citadel of the Broken Empress

Rick put all of that information together and made connections. Five Guardians, made out of love, were left behind after betrayal, and one by one they fell to corruption.

It was a perfect way to describe how Nerissa felt.

Myrissa said, "Explanations aside," as she floated back toward the Kraken.

"You’re all clearly crazy for trying to make this journey, but Thalor trusts you."

"You also cleansed Scylla, which is more than our mages have done with any other corrupted creature of this size."

"That gets you in touch with Mother."

She easily climbed onto the Kraken’s head. "Come with me."

"Kraken will show Scylla around the wards. "

"Try not to set off any defensive protocols."

"What will happen if we set them off?" Rick asked.

Myrissa smirked, and the look on her face was very much like Thalor’s. "You’ll find out why Mother has been in charge for six hundred years."

Rick shivers for a moment. "Shiver me timbers. That doesn’t sound good at all..."

The Kraken moved forward, and its tentacles made a gentle current that pulled Scylla along like an ocean current. They got closer to the shimmering ward barrier that kept the corrupted ocean and the sanctuary apart.

Rick saw the Kraken’s bioluminescent patterns flash in a certain order that was too quick and complicated for him to follow. It looks like a code for royal access.

The wards immediately responded, radiating light and unfolding like drawn curtains.

Everything changed the moment they stepped inside. Rick’s breath caught when the water quality changed right away.

Outside the wards, there was thick purple corruption that was cold and murky. Inside, the water was pristine, warm, and brimming with a magical energy that evoked a sense of life.

Liora gasped, her divine senses clearly too much for her. "The corruption is all gone here... and it’s totally cleaned out."

"Water temperature increased fifteen degrees," Natasha reported, always analyzing. "Magical saturation is extraordinary."

"This level of sustained enchantment should be impossible for a single caster to maintain."

Carmilla kept her hand on her sword, but she looked more scared than threatened. "I can feel the wards looking at us and analyzing us."

"It’s like something big is watching us all."

Rick’s bond resonance felt the same way. "These wards are real... not only are they automated defenses, but they are also aware of some things."

"It was Mother’s personal magic," Myrissa confirmed. "Every drop of water in these wards is a part of her will."

"She knows we’re here." Myrissa looked at Rick. "Demon King, she also knows you’re here for something."

According to Rick’s depth sense from the Thalassic Crystal, they were now going down to about forty-eight hundred meters. At this depth on the outside, the pressure would break diamonds. He felt completely at ease inside the wards.

The city revealed itself gradually as they descended. Rick initially felt that referring to it as a city was not appropriate. Meridia Citadel was a work of art carved from the living ocean itself.

The design of the building defied the logic of the surface world. Living coral that glowed with bioluminescent light in shades of blue, green, and purple made up an underwater mountain range that grew into huge buildings.

The crystalline towers twisted up through the water, and their surfaces were carved with detailed patterns that could have been writing, decoration, or both.

There are bioluminescent gardens between the buildings. The magical currents made the kelp forests sway.

There was a soft light in the anemone fields. People who lived in the ocean used roads made of fast-moving water that flowed with magic.

As they got closer, the people became visible. There were thousands of ocean creatures swimming freely through the city.

They have humanoid bodies with skin that looks like scales, webbed hands and feet, and gills on their necks. Rick watched kids play in the current streams.

He could hear their joyful laughter even through the water as they chased each other. In coral markets, merchants haggled over things that Rick couldn’t name.

Guards with tridents that crackled with oceanic lightning patrolled busy intersections.

The size was mind-boggling. The city had to be at least ten kilometers wide in all directions.

Rick thought of population estimates that said there were at least fifty thousand people living there.

The palace stood at the top of the underwater mountain range, in the middle of everything.

Rick’s gooner brain turned off completely, and he felt real awe. "Wow..."

"Holy shit... It’s not even a building anymore. It’s a whole goddamn monument to an entire civilization."

The Palace of Tides was carved out of a single huge coral formation that had been slowly growing for hundreds of years. Rick couldn’t help but think that the seven spiraling towers that rose from its base might stand for the Seven Major Powers.

The central dome was as big as a cathedral and pulsed with a steady blue-white light that lit up the water around it.

Waterfalls went up instead of down, defying gravity. These were magical structures that moved water from the base to higher levels.

At the highest point, clear crystal walls let people see into the throne room. Rick could still make out people inside even from this distance.

And there, on the throne, was a figure that made Rick’s body scream both danger and deep sadness.

Ocean Empress Nerissa Abyssryn sat perfectly still, and her presence spread across the water like a physical force. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Myrissa said softly, "We’re here."

"The Kraken will take you right to the door of the throne room, and then you walk from there."

She looked at Rick with a serious face, and all traces of her earlier sarcasm were gone. "One warning, Demon King."

"For fifty years, Mother hasn’t felt anything."

"She keeps the kingdom going out of duty, but there’s nothing behind her eyes anymore. If you’ve practiced or planned what you’re going to say to her, it won’t work."

"She’ll smell the lie through the water and turn you down right away, no matter who you really are, even if you are the Hero of Mature Hearts."

Rick slowly nodded. "I understand. I’m going to be honest."

"That’s all I’ve got because it’s my greatest power inside of me."

Myrissa’s face changed from frustrated to sad and hopeful at the same time. "Then you might really have a chance."

"Good luck, Hero of Mature Hearts."

"You will need it."

The Kraken started to rise toward the palace, taking them to a meeting that could save or destroy the whole ocean.

Rick could see her more clearly now that the throne room walls were made of crystal. Nerissa Abyssryn sat up straight on a throne made of white coral.

Her hair was short and flowing, and it was a light blue color like shallow tropical waters. Her ocean-dweller features gave her a beauty that went beyond just being pretty, but her eyes were just empty blue holes that looked at nothing.

Her face didn’t show any expression at all. No anger, no sadness, and no interest.

Just a void of emptiness.

Typhon was slumped in a smaller chair next to the main throne, and he’s still looking cursed, like a statue of a living person who had been there for fifty years.

Rick’s inner voice got really loud. "Oh shit!"

Thalor was telling the truth... she’s feeling more than just sad or down.

"She clearly feels empty both inside and out." There is nothing there."

"How the fuck am I supposed to get in touch with someone who hasn’t felt anything in fifty years?

Sebastian appeared on his shoulder, speaking very quietly. "Rick... This is the time."

"Everything you’ve learned, every relationship you’ve built, and every person you’ve helped."

"In the end, it all comes down to this."

"Don’t mess it up, you gooner."

Rick answered after Sebastian disappeared. "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

The entrance to the throne room was ahead.

Rick inhaled deeply and prepared himself to face an empress who had forgotten her emotions.