Varian didn't know how strong he was. But with each fight, he gained a better idea.
In the disguise of Merman, he ran to the mid-level 7s princes and princesses willingly.
Compared to the first mid-level 7 prince that he fought, these were further inside the lake, and thus, significantly stronger.
Of course, encountering them was also rare due to their low number in the vast lake.
Twenty-three miles.
Twenty-five miles.
Twenty-eight mile—
"Who?!"
Varian turned his head to the source of the sound and found a woman.
She looked at him in confusion for a second, perhaps wondering why a merman was wandering, but the next second, her skin wriggled and a large form replaced her.
It was a creature that wasn't normal by any means. In fact, it wasn't one particular creature at all.
It had three faces. A shark, a tiger, and a snake. Its body was similar to that of a pangolin—full of scales.
"…" Varian recalled the girl before she transformed.
Even though she was nowhere as pretty as Sarah, she was still a bit beautiful.
But now.
"Kree!" He roared, but in reality, he lamented.
'I feel bad for you girl, I won't beat you too much.'
The princess, now turned into a hybrid creature felt irritated by that roar.
She couldn't understand what the merman implied. But she felt that it wasn't a normal battle cry.
"Growl!" The tiger face growled and the shark face gnashed its teeth while the snake hissed.
The next moment, they all attacked.
A pillar of purple poison reached Varian in the blink of an eye, closely followed by an ice dragon.
The next in line was the creature itself. In particular, the tiger head, which opened its mouth and seemed ready to tear him apart.
Varian didn't want to test his resilience against the poison, so he teleported.
But like other things on the lake, his teleportation was also restricted. He could teleport dozens of miles outside, but here, he ended up teleporting only a hundred meters.
And when he did, he realized something.
Green smoke filled the hundred meters. The poisonous gas spread everywhere and gave him no escape.
'A hybrid beast can be a headache.' Varian looked at the strange creature and thought.
Unlike normal beast morphers that transformed into one entity, these hybrid morphers transformed into a creature that was a mash-up of multiple entities.
They could either be very weak or very strong, depending on the compatibility.
This one had poison, water, and physical strength.
'The most troublesome part is poison.'
Varian's thoughts spun and he quickly thought of a solution. His space body pulled bits of space power out of his body and formed a very thin, but very formidable space layer on every inch of his body.
It was like an invisible second skin.
Hiss!
The moment the poison touched his space guard, they began to class.
Varian couldn't understand how a poison could fight the space layer, but he had more important things to do than think.
Even if he wanted to think, his opponent wouldn't give him the chance.
"Roar!"
From the green smoke, a giant creature lunged at him.
Varian wanted to roll to the side, but as if it was all planned, two ice dragons came from both sides, cutting off his routes to escape.
"I'm cornered?" Varian snickered. Instead of feeling flustered, he felt amused.
Szzz!
The poison still continued to meltdown his space protection.
Varian didn't care. He put force into his legs and pushed the ground. Then, with a resounding blast, he jumped into the air and met the creature mid-air.
His eyes locked with the tiger head's and the creature's eyes suddenly turned sluggish.
But perhaps this was the benefit of three heads, the other two heads were fine.
The shark face and the snake face looked at him with killing intent.
Varian raised his arms.
Zap! Kaa!
The space around the creature shook violently and cracked like a mirror.
"Kaa!" The shark face grimaced and an ice barrier formed around the creature.
Boom!
As the space blasted into pieces, and chaotic space currents flooded the region, the creature was left unharmed due to its armor.
But—
Bang! Kacha!
Varian's body was thrust forward by his macro kinetic force and he reached an insane speed. At this speed, even a normal stone could destroy a big room.
And with that speed, Varian reached the creature.
His fists glowed in golden lightning as lightning mana coursed through them and he aimed for the tiger head.
The creature panicked and hurriedly attacked. The snake's poison pillar engulfed him.
Szz!
His space armor was already cracked and it began to creep in, but Varian decided to end the fight.
On the other hand, the shark head was about to build another ice armor to protect itself from his punch.
Right then, Varian used his psychic powers to stall its thinking.
It was delayed for only a few moments, but that was enough.
Bang!
It was a single punch. A punch that mixed the powers of his superhuman strength, lethal lightning, and momentum provided by macro kinetic force.
The punch was no joke.
As the punch was about to finally connect, Varian realized something and forcibly decreased the intensity of his attack.
Kaa!
The creature crashed to the ground like a meteor. If not for the lake's strange surface, there would have been a huge crater already.
"Roa—"
The creature tried to get up, but it never got the chance as one more arrived. Then another followed.
Until it fainted.
The creature transformed back into a normal woman.
Varian looked at her and sighed.
'If I didn't control my punch at the last moment, she'd have died.'
Varian covered his face.
He never thought of himself as one of those overly righteous heroes who never killed, even if it was the best answer.
He killed many. And he did it without any remorse.
But he never killed for the sake of killing. It was always for some reason or necessity.
If he did kill her here, it'd be entirely his fault.
As far as he observed, the princes and princesses here weren't trying to kill each other. They just fought for the key.
Of course, this princess herself attacked him with no mercy. If she could've killed him, she would've.
But that was because he was a 'merman', not a human.
"Urgh!" Varian was irritated by the realization that he wouldn't be able to do much about it.
But that was the price to pay if he wanted to use all his paths openly.
'I should find an excuse that works to use all my powers in public, I can't keep restricting myself to three paths forever.' Varian thought.
Hoo!
He felt a small surge of strength followed by a familiar blue interface.
[+100 Xp]
[+100 Xp]
[Superhuman Level 7: 300 out of 10,000]
[Space Level 7: 100 out of 10,000]
'The increments are high, but in the total amount, it is only a drop in the ocean.' Varian shook his head and reached for the princess.
He decided to 'put' her at the edge of the lake. The princes and princesses who fought him were also thrown or escorted there.
As he was about to touch her, a shout resounded.
"Stop!"
It was followed by a spear that was aimed at his head.
Varian dodged it easily and looked at the intruder.
A man in his late twenties. He closed the distance between them and pulled the princess behind him.
"Who is she? No, fuck, if I was late, she'd have died! Fuck!" The prince cursed.
Then he glared at the merman. "I'll fucking kill you."
'Oh well, this puts me at peace.' Varian thought and his body disappeared.
"Stop!"
He didn't stop.
Thirty miles in.
Thirty-one.
Thirty-two….
It wasn't an unobstructed fight. He had to fight both humans and mermen.
When Varian was at the thirty-fifth mile, he encountered the strongest opponent yet.
It wasn't an easy fight, despite using all his powers.
However, he won and reaped the benefits.
[Superhuman Level 7: 0.5k/10k (+0.1k)
Space Level 7: 0.2k/10k (+0.1k)
Lightning Level 7: 0.1k/10k (+0.1k)
Plant Fighter Level 7: 0.6k/10k (+0.2k)
Psychic Level 7: 100/10k (+0.1k)
Macrokinetic Level 7: 100/10k (+0.1k)
Water Level 6: 4/6 (+1)]
And like that, he entered the thirty-sixth mile and reached his first high-level 7 opponent.
