Chapter 263
Chapter 263: Aspiring to Be a 5-Star Model Citizen
A surge of scorching flame erupted from the surface of the sea, as though it sought to set the luminous blue ocean beneath their feet ablaze.
The flame swayed continuously in the air, like a vicious beast searching for the right angle to strike.
The guards around them stared at the flaring fire in absolute shock, eyes wide, as if scared completely senseless, frozen in place.
The officer wearing the badge hurriedly shouted at the assembled guards at the top of his voice:
"Are you attempting to resist?!"
"Attack—all of you, attack! Arrest him!"
At the officer's words, the guards snapped to attention and gripped their spears tight.
The razor-sharp spear tips, formed from what appeared to be water given solid shape, were wound round and round by 2 interweaving streams of water that crawled the full length of each shaft.
A dense thicket of frigid spears thrust forward continuously, waves of blue water energy rippling out from each tip and surging at breakneck speed toward Viktor from a distance.
The concentrated surge tore a gaping trench across the surface of the sea beneath their feet, and the spray, carrying scattered droplets, smashed against the membrane-encased buildings and shattered them to pieces.
Some guards drew bows from afar and loosed shot after shot—high-speed water arrows crackling with a blue fluorescent glow rained down from above, seeking to bury Viktor entirely beneath this ferocious barrage.
Yet faced with the thousand-fold assault, Viktor did not move from where he stood.
The next instant, the Coat, within the flame, blazed with violent fury.
The flames rose skyward—as if possessed of a will of their own—and whipped into a searing wave of heat in the air, blocking every last one of the incoming attacks outright.
The moment the water element made contact with the wall of flame, steam billowed upward and vaporized everything without exception.
The flaring light illuminated every face around them in full, crimson radiance settling into the depths of their eyes.
They stood there baffled, watching as every single one of their attacks was stopped cold by Viktor.
And Viktor hadn't so much as raised a hand.
Countless people were struck to their core, and some came dangerously close to losing the will to resist entirely on the spot.
He……just what kind of monster was he……?!
At that moment, Viktor raised his head.
His gaze drifted to his own Health Bar.
Not a single drop of HP lost.
Truth be told, the Sea Folk were the natural counter to Players who relied on fire-attribute abilities.
They were of the water attribute, and within the elemental counter system, fire damage against them was invariably subject to a damage reduction.
Unfortunately for them, Viktor was an exception.
The flame he wielded was no ordinary fire.
If the Calamity's fire could be doused so easily by water, then Gulton would truly have earned the title of Calamity's shame.
Viktor swept his gaze over the patrol unit with an unhurried air, his tone flat as he remarked, as though pointing something out:
"It appears that you were the ones who attacked me first."
At Viktor's words, the guards all faltered for a moment.
Because, as Viktor had said.
It seemed, in fact, that he was right.
Viktor had only been defending himself in advance, and yet they had already decided he intended to resist and launched their attack.
But arguing over who was right or wrong was no longer the point.
What mattered now was—
Viktor raised one hand, and in an instant, the towering flame, like wrath given form, transformed into a colossal dragon that expanded wildly overhead.
A pair of scorching, furious eyes emerged from within the fire, locking onto the guards with an unyielding stare.
As if the very next second, it would swallow them whole.
Countless guards trembled with dread, while Viktor continued to regard them with cold indifference.
"Then, it is now my turn,"
"To exercise self-defense."
Snap—
The crack of his fingers rang out in the air.
With Viktor's movement, the sound fell.
The next instant, the flame dragon let out a thunderous roar.
A terrifying crimson heat swept across the entire surface of the sea.
The waves kicked up shimmering droplets that seemed to boil and seethe.
Within the flame dragon's eyes too, that scorching fury burned—a dreadful searing heat radiating ceaselessly from all around its body, until even the air itself grew unbearably hot.
The ferocious fire looked as though it would swallow the very sky whole; the dragon's enormous body thrashed and writhed, colliding again and again across the entire expanse of ocean.
【4th-Tier Magic: Dragon Flame's Wrath】
It crashed down onto the surface of the sea, swallowing everything in the surrounding area in an instant.
Countless guards were swept up into the great maw of the flame dragon; the streams of water coiling around their bodies were, in the blink of an eye, reduced to a plume of rising steam.
Beneath this terrible blaze, the flowing water they had taken such pride in was rendered utterly decorative.
The majority of the guards were consumed and burned away within the flame, swiftly losing their lives.
In those final moments before death, an absurd thought surfaced in their hearts.
If water could not extinguish this flame.
Then what, precisely, could protect them?
The next instant, their bodies, within the fire.
Became steam, and rose away into nothing.
Heni stood to the side, staring at the scene in a daze.
Yes—steam.
It was not that she was surprised the Professor had killed these people.
Just as the Professor had said.
He was only exercising self-defense.
What Heni found herself more curious about was the manner of these Sea Folk's deaths.
Swept away by the blaze, they had not left behind ash-like remains.
Instead, like water itself, they had—under that searing heat—become steam.
And then, dissipated entirely into the air.
As though they had never existed at all.
At that moment, only the 1 remaining guard was left, rooted to the spot, as if he had just witnessed a spectacle the likes of which he had never seen.
His body was rigid, and all he could do was stare wide-eyed as his subordinates vanished from within the city.
Vanished, from atop this expanse of ocean.
Just then, his gaze happened to land on Viktor.
And Viktor seemed to notice him too—Viktor walked unhurriedly toward him, one step at a time.
1 step. 2 steps.
As the 3rd step was about to fall upon the surface of the sea.
His body suddenly transformed into a streak of crimson flame.
Like a shooting star, it surged and appeared directly before the man's face.
The flame parted to reveal only Viktor's head—he looked like an emissary of hell bathed in fire.
Carrying an overwhelming scorching heat, he stared at the guard with cold indifference.
Then, Viktor reached out with a hand formed from flame and removed the star-like badge from the guard's chest.
After that, he looked at the trembling guard before him, and spoke in a flat, emotionless tone:
"Get lost."
The guard sagged with relief—his body going limp like a balloon with all the air let out—and scrambled and crawled his way onto the water-formed hull of a vessel.
He activated it instantly and fled.
Viktor took the badge and walked back to Heni.
Heni blinked and watched as Viktor extended his hand, slowly approaching her.
"This—is actually yours."
Viktor fastened the badge to Heni's chest.
Heni couldn't quite make sense of it.
But very quickly, after she had put the badge on, she sensed something wrong.
A sensation like a bolt of lightning seemed to pour into her mind.
Within her head, she could feel it.
A portion of the City of the Sea's layout seemed to take form in her mind like a transparent skeleton.
The three-dimensional map materialized inside her, rising to the surface of her awareness.
It was as if a surveillance feed had suddenly appeared.
So long as Heni wished it, she could take notice of anything happening anywhere within this particular zone.
But beyond the zone she currently occupied, everywhere else was a uniform, murky grey.
What lay behind that heavy fog, Heni couldn't make out at all.
Still, she was struck with awe, and couldn't help but ask Viktor about it.
"The City of the Sea is divided into countless zones?"
Viktor replied flatly:
"That's right."
How vast was the sea?
Even just the surface alone already exceeded dry land in sheer area.
To say nothing of the ocean's depths below.
And the design of the City of the Sea was precisely that—"boundless."
The interior of the City of the Sea was divided into countless zones, and Players could only unlock a zone's map by obtaining the local captain's badge.
The City of the Sea was also divided into 2 parts.
The upper section—corresponding to the area above the sea's surface, where one could still breathe and live normally.
The lower section—corresponding to the area beneath the seawater, where one could only survive within the ocean itself.
And within this vast division of countless zones.
It was unknown just how many Cities of the Sea existed across the world.
Its sheer scope alone was enough to deter anyone who wished to explore it, and sap them of any desire to try.
And right now, Viktor and Heni possessed only 1 zone badge for the City of the Sea.
Zone A-1—the area of the City of the Sea governed by the badge in Viktor's possession.
At that moment, the flames dispersed.
Heni also noticed the area around them.
In this zone, the passersby from before seemed to have all vanished entirely.
Other than the clusters of buildings, the entire city was devoid of a single pedestrian.
Heni couldn't make sense of it.
Just moments ago, it had been a bustling, vibrant city full of people coming and going.
How had it now come to resemble a dead city?
Even if they had fled out of fear of Viktor, they should have made some sound.
Not like this—
Like water, silently dissipated, merging into the sea.
Heni suddenly recalled that the guards Viktor had 'killed' earlier had also left no bodies behind.
As though they had simply evaporated entirely.
"Noticed it, have you?"
Viktor crouched down, and his fingers picked up a droplet of water from the ground.
Who knew which poor soul this droplet had been left behind by—between Viktor's fingers, it was slowly ground to nothing.
"The true Sea Folk have long since merged into the ocean."
Viktor rose and said plainly.
"They are human, yet cannot truly be called human."
"Because they have already become a part of the sea."
Heni listened with a vague sense of understanding as Viktor continued.
"Just now, the one controlling this zone fled—and so, correspondingly, those Sea Folk merged back into the ocean."
"Now that you are the controller of this zone, you can call them back out."
Heni blinked, watching as Viktor's finger pressed lightly against the badge on her chest.
A faint blue Magic Power released from the badge, scattering into tiny points of starlight that rapidly spread outward in all directions.
Like a deep, heavy ripple, it passed through the entire city.
Heni looked around and was immediately struck by surprise.
Those Sea Folk were actually slowly rising from the surface of the water, heads emerging one by one.
The streams of water beneath them kept converging, reconstructing their original forms.
The transparent currents collided violently against one another, like blooming bursts of water flowers erupting outward.
One after another, the People of the Water—they appeared as if reborn, emerging once again within this city.
"So long as the ocean does not perish, they will not truly die."
"But that is not necessarily a good thing."
Viktor stood with both hands in his pockets, watching the Sea Folk with their blank, hollow expressions.
They seemed entirely unaware that they had just been merged into the ocean moments ago, only to reappear once more.
Even the memories from before seemed to have vanished.
The pedestrians on the streets continued about their business as before, and the entire city came alive again with all its former energy.
But this time, when they saw Heni on the street, they would always show deference.
Yet when they faced Viktor, they still displayed the same attitude as before.
They still harbored hostility toward Viktor.
Viktor ignored their animosity—treating them as less than human, completely without regard—and spoke flatly:
"The lives of the Sea Folk are like marionettes on strings, controlled by a higher existence."
"If the controller is satisfied, they survive."
"But if the controller wishes them dead."
Viktor's finger pressed lightly against Heni's badge once more, a single tap.
As if under control.
The Sea Folk around them burst apart like water balloons, collapsing into chunk after chunk of seawater that splash-splashed down into the ocean.
While those around them paid it no mind whatsoever.
Heni looked at the Sea Folk nearby and felt a wave of disorientation.
Just 1 second ago, they had been talking and chatting with one another.
Some had even been haggling with a shopkeeper over prices.
And then, the very next second, their bodies simply vanished and dropped into the water.
And they splashed water all over everyone nearby in the process.
Yet those who had been splashed seemed entirely used to it.
This person was gone, so they went and found someone else to talk to.
Meanwhile, Viktor's gaze drifted to other people in the area.
Each time it landed on someone, that person would burst into a brilliant splash of water and instantly shatter.
Becoming a puddle of liquid, sinking into the surface of the sea, merging fully into the ocean.
At last, Heni grew somewhat puzzled and asked Viktor:
"Professor."
"Then why don't you put the badge on yourself?"
Viktor turned his head and looked at Heni.
"That is the reason I brought you here."
Heni tilted her head in confusion, bewilderment in her eyes, not quite grasping Viktor's meaning.
At that moment, Viktor offered a calm explanation.
"A controller must be recognized—and the prerequisite for that is that the controller must not be despised, or even regarded with hostility, by the Sea Folk."
Heni blinked, and then heard Viktor say suddenly:
"I believe there should be no one in this world who would dislike you."
"That includes me."
At those words, Heni went completely blank.
She blinked and looked at Viktor.
In her heart, a sweetness welled up from nowhere.
Her chest felt warm, as if bathed in gentle sunlight.
So, the Professor……had always thought of her that way?
"I……"
Heni's gaze grew faintly hazy, but she saw Viktor suddenly turn his head back and look once more at the People of the Water.
"It's just as I expected—you've been recognized by the Sea Folk."
"And so, with the badge, you've become the new controller of this zone."
Heni quickly came back to herself, reminding herself that the Professor was still in the middle of explaining something important.
She shook her head quickly, clearing away those wandering thoughts, and listened as Viktor continued:
"But if the controller were me."
Viktor reached up and took the badge from Heni's chest, then fastened it onto his own.
"It would go like this."
The moment he placed the star badge on his own chest.
In an instant, the hostile gazes of countless Sea Folk all turned and converged on Viktor.
Then, what sounded like an alarm—a rapid series of beep-beep tones—began to ring out without cease across the entire city, carrying far and wide.
【1-Star Alert—A 1-Star offender has been detected in Zone A-1.】
【Execute the elimination order immediately.】
At the alarm, Heni immediately fell into a panic.
Viktor, however, remained expressionless as ever.
From his body, a fierce, blazing flame surged up once more.
This was something every single Player who entered the City of the Sea would inevitably experience.
"I had no intention of breaking the law."
"But they."
"Insist on forcing me to kill."