Gardener of Eden

Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Naga Prince

Rowan adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, resting his trusty hoe over his shoulder as he met Gareth’s gaze. ”Deal. 60:40, but your team draws the initial heat. We hit them from the rear.”

Gareth grinned, extending a gauntleted hand to seal the agreement. ”Consider it done. Once the horn sounds at the main plaza, we’ll turn the east entrance into a warzone.”

The two teams split off to take their positions along the stronghold’s perimeter. Guided by Caelen’s detailed blueprint, Squad 07 navigated the flooded side-alleys, their boots moving almost soundlessly through the ankle-deep tide until they reached the shadowy alcove outside the stronghold’s heavy driftwood West Gate.

Minutes later, a thunderous explosion echoed from the eastern side of the fortress. Bright flashes of fire and lightning illuminated the sky as Gareth’s high-level vanguard struck the East Gate head-on. War horns blared inside the central courtyard, and the splashing of heavy footsteps rang out as dozens of Murloc defenders scrambled east to reinforce the front line.

”That’s our signal,” Rowan whispered.

Caelen stepped forward, gripping Edge of the First Warden with both hands. With a concentrated, silent surge of kinetic mana, he delivered a clean, precision strike straight through the West Gate’s heavy iron latch. The wooden barrier yielded without a sound, swinging inward just enough for Squad 07 to slip through unnoticed.

Stepping onto the elevated western terrace, Rowan’s party looked down into the central flooded throne plaza.

The pincer strategy had worked flawlessly. Their rear defenses were left completely wide open.

”Mirei, take the archers from behind,” Rowan commanded softly, raising his hoe as his core mana hummed with quiet power. ”Caelen, Lyra, Barney—we hit the Murloc phalanx from the back.”

Before Mirei could even release her first arrow, the massive, coral-embossed doors of a grand royal hut at the far end of the plaza burst wide open.

Splashing violently into the ankle-deep tide, Prince Kael’shasz emerged from within his hut, his eight-meter cobalt-and-gold serpentine frame glistening under the bright tropical sun. All four of his massive arms flexed in fury, gripping twin double-ended tridents that hummed with volatile blue lightning and pressurized water mana.

”Who dares attack this prince’s territory?!” Kael’shasz roared, his thunderous voice echoing across the flooded marble ruins.

The boss’s roaring entrance sent a violent ripple through the shallow water, but Rowan didn’t lose his composure for a single heartbeat. ”Stick to the plan! Strike before he locks down the arena!”

Mirei instantly loosed three arrows in rapid succession from her elevated perch. The wind-infused shafts tore through the ocean air, striking three of the five Murloc archers squarely in their backs before they could even pivot their heavy crossbows toward the western breach.

Simultaneously, Barney, Caelen, and Princess Lyra vaulted down from the terrace, landing in the shallow tide with a heavy splash.

Barney led the charge, slamming his massive tower shield directly into the unshielded backs of the Murloc Warriors. Before the phalanx could turn to adjust, Caelen stepped through the gap, bringing Edge of the First Warden down in a brutal, horizontal arc that cleaved two Murlocs in half in a single blow. Princess Lyra swept in right behind him, her longsword blazing with radiant energy as she pierced a third, completely shattering their rear formation.

Seeing his retinue ambushed from behind, Prince Kael’shasz snarled with pure fury. Raising his twin tridents high into the air, the Naga Prince began channeling crackling electricity down into the shallow tide, preparing to unleash his [Electrified Tide: Chain Surge] across the entire courtyard.

Rowan stepped cleanly down into the water, resting his hoe over his shoulder and adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat as his core mana flared. ”Not on my watch.”

Rowan took five decisive steps out ahead of his squad, stepping cleanly into the open line of sight between the disrupted Murloc rear guard and the looming Naga Prince. Prince Kael’shasz’s four arms were already locked in place, his twin tridents ablaze with blinding blue arcs that crackled violently as high-voltage lightning began pooling into the ankle-deep water.

”Not today,” Rowan muttered.

Gathering his core mana into a dense, terrifying concentration, Rowan raised his trusty hoe with both hands before slamming the iron head straight down through the flooded marble floor.

”Earthbreaker Plough: Celestial Furrow!”

The ground didn’t just crack—it violently exploded.

A roaring surge of heavy elemental energy detonated across a thirty-meter forward cone. The waterlogged stone tiles, deep soil strata, and ancient bedrock beneath the flooded plaza violently upheaved like a storm-tossed ocean. Massive slabs of broken marble and towering, jagged boulders erupted straight up through the shallow tide, churning the tranquil, flooded floor into a chaotic wall of earth, flying stone, and pulverized mud.

The sudden, seismic upheaval hit Prince Kael’shasz dead center.

The solid floor beneath the giant Naga’s eight-meter frame shattered into rising pillars of stone. Caught completely off-guard mid-incantation, the Prince was violently thrown off his feet as a massive boulder slammed upward into his armored serpent tail. The brutal shockwave completely shattered his spell focus; the crackling blue lightning along his tridents sputtered into harmless sparks, instantly interrupting [Electrified Tide: Chain Surge] before a single volt could reach the water around the squad.

The remaining Murloc Warriors caught in the thirty-meter cone were hurled into the air like ragdolls, their tight phalanx completely ruined as they tumbled into the newly formed sea of jagged terrain.

Across the courtyard, Gareth and his strike team skidded to a halt near the broken East Gate, their eyes wide in absolute shock as they stared at the massive crater of churned bedrock and broken earth that had just reshaped the entire battleground in a single heartbeat.

Rowan stood firmly at the edge of the crater, pulling his hoe from the newly raised earth.

”Channel interrupted,” Rowan called out smoothly over the roar of settling stone and falling spray. ”Gareth! Barney! Move in while he’s pinned!”

At the East Gate, Gareth’s strike team kept the choke point locked down, trading spellfire and steel with the incoming Naga reinforcements to keep the outer perimeter secure. Gareth himself didn’t waste a single heartbeat.

Vaulting over the newly raised rubble of Rowan’s Celestial Furrow, the vanguard captain surged straight into the central arena, his silver cuirass flashing under the sunlight. With a fierce battle cry, Gareth unleashed a heavy sword strike, his blade clashing violently against one of Prince Kael’shasz’s twin tridents.

The force of the impact rang across the flooded ruins, successfully drawing the giant Naga Prince’s immediate fury and aggro away from the rest of the battleground.

Meanwhile, Barney stepped forward to take his place as Squad 07’s immovable vanguard. Planting his massive tower shield deep into the jagged, newly upheaved earth, he created an impenetrable defensive anchor, completely securing the western flank against any surprises.

Behind Barney’s shield, Mirei, Caelen, and Princess Lyra moved with lethal efficiency to clear out the remaining Murlocs. From her elevated perch, Mirei loosed two high-velocity wind arrows, sending them whistling through the ocean air to pick off the last remaining Murloc Archers on the high stone pillars.

Below, Caelen vaulted over a shattered marble slab, gripping Edge of the First Warden with both hands before delivering a devastating horizontal slash that carved straight through two disoriented Murloc Warriors. Princess Lyra darted right behind him, her longsword blazing with blinding radiant energy as she delivered a series of precise, sweeping strikes that finished off the final survivors of the retinue.

With every single Murloc eliminated, a visible red shimmer broke around Prince Kael’shasz. The sacrificial blood-mana aura of his Tide-Bender’s Aegis shattered into harmless blue sparks, leaving the Level 15 field boss completely stripped of his damage redirection and frenzied defensive buffs.

Gareth parried a roaring trident swipe from the four-armed Naga, gritting his teeth as pressurized water and sparks flew. ”The minion link is down! Fall in!”

Rowan stepped cleanly past Barney’s shield, adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat with a calm, focused smirk as he brought his trusty hoe to the ready. ”All retinue cleared. Everyone—full burst on the Prince!”