## Chapter 965 – Sea

ㅡBubble.

The exploded corpses of the merfolk scatter blood and entrails, sinking to the bottom. As if the blood is so alluring, a school of small fish swimming nearby rushes in like bullets from a machine gun, shoving their snouts in to tear off chunks of flesh.

This is the cycle of death and life.

The same goes for the tridents they wielded.
Weapons that have lost their masters can only fall.

But damn it, aren’t those all made of iron? The merfolk used coral-forged swords, but to use such iron weapons, there must be specialized facilities.

Forging iron underwater doesn’t make sense to me. If there’s magic, it’s possible, but I don’t know. Could they have received weapons support from pirates, as the officer said? Or do they have a base on land?

Anyway, it’s worth finding out.

ㅡShhh.

Unlike the dead merfolk, those who were outside the shockwave and merely stunned floated to the surface. The corpses are discarded. Let’s pick out some of those bastards and take them. Of course, those we can’t take will also be turned into corpses.

I immediately went up to the surface.

“Hoo.”

Inhale, exhale.

This is the power of the Heavenly Demon Overlord Steps.

I can grind up most bastards alive. And they dared to point their blades at me? Even the rowboat that the soldiers lent me was smashed to pieces.

I borrowed it, and now it’s broken.
How can I save face like this?

This is absolutely unforgivable.

“You goddamn sons of bitches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I roared, rebuking the world.

There were exactly six merfolk floating. One in each hand. I’ll kill the remaining four and take only two.

ㅡSplash!

As soon as I decided, I slammed the surface and shot my body out. Like a guided missile, I flew and grabbed the neck of a floating male merfolk, crushing his neck bones to kill him.

ㅡCrack!

Literally grabbing the back of his neck with my grip and crushing it. Soon, blood poured from his nose and mouth, turning the surrounding seawater red. I immediately discarded the corpse and shot out towards another target.

ㅡCrack!
ㅡCrack!
ㅡCrack!

The sound of snapping wood echoed endlessly.

Repeating such murderous work, I easily killed four merfolk and grabbed the wrists of the remaining two. Let’s just take these bastards. Fortunately, they were still unconscious, so it seemed like I could carry them without any problems.

“Heavenly Demon Divine Art.”

As soon as I grabbed their wrists with both hands, I focused my mind.

The Heavenly Demon Overlord Steps from just now shattered the seawater and created a tremendous shockwave, temporarily floating my body on the water.

Then.

“Heavenly Demon Water Surface Walk.”

This is also possible.

ㅡThud!!

Kicking the submerged feet strongly, an explosion occurred, and my body rose upwards. Not a 90-degree vertical jump. Exactly 45 degrees. The body shoots out diagonally.

ㅡWiggle, wiggle.

As I flew, the bodies of the merfolk in my hands fluttered. Their arms wouldn’t be torn off, but they would be dislocated. Of course, I don’t need to worry about their arms.

When the shot-up body touched the surface again.

ㅡBang!!

Stepping down familiarly, I launched my body again.

“I am the Heavenly Demon.”

Thus, I ran across the water like a transcendent basilisk lizard. Long ago. Jesus Christ also performed the Water Surface Walk and crossed the sea. Is this the feeling he felt back then?

“I’m Kim Kat.”

That’s when I was speeding across the surface.

“Cough…! Kaaaaaaack!!”
“Kiyaaaaaaaack!!”

The merfolk, awakened from their unconscious state, screamed and tried to go berserk. Of course, that didn’t mean they could overcome my strength and current speed.

I increased my speed a little more.

ㅡBoom!

Finally, when I arrived at the beach, I threw the two merfolk onto the sandy shore. This was a place where there were no soldiers. There might have been a patrol ship near the sea, but it hadn’t even been five minutes since the attack, so they might not have noticed.

“Cough…!”
“What the hell is…!”

The merfolk thrown onto the sand writhed, clutching their shoulders where I had grabbed their wrists, and complained of pain.

“You merfolk bastards!!! What the hell are you? If you don’t talk, I’ll eat you alive as sashimi!!”
“Huh!”
“Y-You human…!”

ㅡGrip!

I grabbed the water-soaked blue hair and lifted it up, asking.

“Gahaaaaack!!!”
“Who the hell are you!!!”
“Let go! Let go!! Let go, human!!!”

This bastard… he’s a monster too, so words won’t work. I grabbed a handful of his hair and swung him like a mace, slamming him back into the ground.

ㅡThud!

“Deugh!”

The merfolk next to him could only open his mouth in shock. Since his lower body was a fish, he couldn’t run away.

“Keuh…!”
“Tell me your name. There are two of you to interrogate, so if you don’t talk, I’ll fillet you and eat you.”
“Then, kill me!! I won’t say anything to a human!!”

This bastard hasn’t come to his senses yet.

“This is not a joke…!!”

ㅡStab!

I plunged my index finger deep into the fish’s lower body. My finger easily pierced through his scales and muscles, as if piercing tofu.

“Haaaaaaaack!!”

A scream erupted as blood splattered.

“I don’t care about your human-like upper body, but your lower body is fair game!!! I’ll repay you with the pain of live octopuses being eaten alive!!! If you don’t talk, I’ll tear off your flesh and eat it!!”

Of course, no matter how much I like sashimi, I’m not inhuman enough to tear off and eat the raw flesh of such an unpleasant creature. It’s better to extract information from two people than one. Let’s break their will to resist first.

ㅡTear!

“Hiyaaaaack!!”

I tore off a piece of his flesh with my finger and shook it in front of his eyes.

“Like this.”
“S-Stop! Stop! I’ll tell you everything!!”
“You traitorous bastard!! Are you going to open your mouth because you’re afraid of pain!!!!”
“Wh-What!!”
“Be quiet!!”

ㅡBang!!

Unable to suppress my anger, I impulsively gave him a Heavenly Demon Headbutt. ㅡSplatter! His head immediately burst, scattering blood and staining my entire body.

Sorry… I couldn’t keep my promise.
But I had to avenge the resentment of the live octopus.

“…!”

Thus, there was only one merfolk left.

One merfolk trembling in fear, looking at me.

“Merfolk. Damn it, you were so murderous when you stabbed my boat, but why are you suddenly so scared?”

I asked, touching his webbed ear.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

He was a male merfolk with a fairly sturdy upper body, but he was completely terrified and could only apologize. This is enough to interrogate him.

“Alright. Do you die if you don’t go into the seawater?”
“A-About a day… is okay…”
“Sounds like a lie.”
“Really! Really!”

Anyway, it’s not like he’ll die right away? I need to quickly inform the soldiers and prepare a tank.

“Merfolk friend, what’s your name?”
“Kurtak… It’s Kurtak.”
“How the hell is that a person’s name?”

Even a fish’s cry is more sophisticated than that.

“How can you speak human language?”
“W-We have to communicate with humans… so merfolk all learn it…”
“Communicate? But why did you stab me first?”
“I received such a mission…”

He was just trembling and rolling his eyes anxiously, answering my questions. If it wasn’t an act, he was completely terrified.

But a mission… I’ll have to properly judge later whether what this bastard is saying is a lie or not, but if he came after receiving a mission, it means that these guys have a chain of command.

If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be strange for them to have some kind of purpose.

More than anything, communication.

These bastards definitely learned the language to hook up with pirates.

“Hehehe, good. You told me well. If you cooperate properly, I won’t kill you. Of course, I won’t tear off your flesh and chew on it either.”
“…”
“Answer!!!!!”
“Yes, yes! I understand!!!”
“Perfect.”

Then let’s take him.

I immediately grabbed the two of them and headed towards the soldiers.

* * *

“It’s a merfolk! Paladin-nim has captured a merfolk!!!”

The soldiers showed an explosive reaction when I brought the merfolk. I threw the headless corpse at them and said.

“Can you get me a tank?”
“Yes, sir!”

The soldier answered energetically to my request.

It’s so convenient because everyone listens to my requests. The title of Paladin is very useful.

“Ah, by the way, how long can a merfolk live outside of water?”
“Although it varies from individual to individual, I know that they can last about a day!”

A day means this bastard wasn’t lying.
Anyway, I took the merfolk and looked for the officer.

“I’ve captured a merfolk.”
“Huh! To capture him alive like this…!”
“Instead, I blew away the rowboat. I’ll compensate you for that.”
“It’s alright! You used it to capture the merfolk!”
“If you say so.”

I roughly put down the trembling merfolk and tied him up with the rope inside, then sat down and talked to the officer.

“The officer knows that I’ve been scouting with the rowboat for the past few days.”
“Of course.”
“I did that again today, and suddenly merfolk appeared and attacked me. There were as many as sixteen of them, and they were all armed with iron weapons.”
“…Yes.”

He took out paper and recorded my words.

“Anyway, I think I need to interrogate him. It’s all coming together now. These bastards were scouting. They must have gathered information and planned to attack me.”
“That makes sense.”

Actually, I was using the rowboat as bait, but seeing them attack like this, I can roughly guess. They were gathering information near this coast. And they felt the need to eliminate me and attacked.

“I brought the tank.”

Soon the soldiers brought the tank.

“Oh, thank you.”

I immediately went outside and filled the tank with seawater. And then I came back in and put the merfolk Kurtak inside the tank.

“You’re really… incredibly strong. To just lift up such a tank…”
“Of course. First, I think we need to go to a place where we can interrogate him.”
“I’ll guide you.”

Thus, I carried the tank, refusing the soldiers who offered to help, and followed the officer.

* * *

“Name. Kurtak.”
“…Yes.”
“You said you received orders and tried to attack me? Then what does your superior do? Is he a soldier? Or a tribal leader?”

I started the interrogation familiarly.

This was a dilapidated shack near the coast. A place so remote that it was outside the destruction range of the Sea God. There, I interrogated him with the officer.

I would ask, and he would answer, and the officer would write it down.

“The order was given by Siren-nim… and delivered by our captain…”

The merfolk calmly answered as I asked.

I listened to the story in that way.

Roughly summarized, the merfolk are social creatures and have a country. The country is ruled by a prophet merfolk called Siren. The size of this merfolk country varies, but Kurtak’s country is made up of about 2,000 merfolk. From there, he received orders from Siren and formed a special forces team to attack me.

“Good.”

If they specifically targeted me, it means that my information was entered into the merfolk’s side. The fact that my information was leaked means that they scouted or spied.

It seems they value me quite a bit.

Why?

Among those who killed the Sea God, I’m the one who comes out to the beach the most. I can’t think of anything else.

“This time, that giant monster that attacked our land. It was called the Sea God. What is it?”
“That… I don’t know well… I just know it as a monster called Triton…”
“Triton? Are there many of those?”
“I don’t know that either…”

He doesn’t know the details?
I can find out by interrogating him.

“Don’t lie, merfolk!!”

Then the officer shouted.

“Calm down first. We have plenty of time to interrogate him.”
“…Yes.”

I asked him one by one about what he knew for about two hours. I don’t think one of these bastards will know everything. That’s the truth.

What important information would come out if I kidnapped an ordinary soldier and extracted information? Just common sense. Social structure. Orders received. The size of his unit. He only knows these things.

And those facts are probably already known here.

Still, interrogation is essential to gain something.

“He seems like a low-ranking soldier just from listening to him…”

The officer said, recording the interrogation details in the document. I also feel that way.

“Good, officer.”

But the important thing starts now.

I looked at the interrogation details recorded over several pages.
Quite a bit of data has been accumulated.

This is enough.

“Your ear.”
“Yes.”

I whispered in the officer’s ear.

“Ask him the same things I asked, accompanied by torture. Change the order arbitrarily. Check everything that comes out differently from what you recorded. You can determine the truth by repeating it several times.”
“I understand.”

The officer, as someone who has been in the military for a long time, knows how to interrogate properly and answered immediately.

“Don’t inflict major injuries or kill him.”
“I understand. Leave it to me.”

I came out like that.
Now I just need to organize the interrogation details.