CHAPTER 272: RECEIVE! TRANSFORM! RELEASE!

Whoosh—Whoosh—

The waves crashed violently against the sea surface through the gaps, sounding like countless fragile crystals shattering upon the reefs.

The shore was silent except for the seductive voice of the mermaid lingering in the air with a peculiar sharpness.

Helnersen kept his eyes closed, his steady breathing rising rhythmically with his chest movements, appearing completely indifferent as if letting her words go in one ear and out the other.

The mermaid lay halfway on the shore, her colorful fishtail swaying on the water surface, stirring up mists of spray.

She propped herself up with one hand while resting her chin on the other, tilting her head and repeatedly batting her expectant eyes at Helnersen.

"Mr. Bear, please tell me."

Helnersen remained as steady as ever, completely unaffected by her presence.

Seeing that Helnersen continued to ignore her, the mermaid pouted, her forehead flushing red as she suddenly slammed both hands onto the water surface, creating a spectacular splash of foam and mist.

"If... if you don't tell me, I won't help you anymore!"

Helnersen finally spoke, though his tone remained indifferent:

"Not needed."

The girl was exasperated. Her tail slapped the water surface, sending up sprays.

She fell backward into the cold seawater, twisting her tail as she swam beneath the surface.

At this moment, Leon approached and faced the mermaid in the sea with a smile, speaking in a gentle tone:

"Councilor Finni, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The mermaid paused, raising half her head above water and blowing bubbles as she examined Leon with puzzlement:

"An elf?"

This was quite eye-opening - she had never seen an elf at Bryston Port before.

But looking at Leon, she felt the girl's face seemed somewhat familiar.

She blinked and suddenly exclaimed:

"Oh oh, you're Leon who's always with that little miss!"

Leon nodded.

"Indeed."

"My my, I never expected an elf would willingly follow humans."

Loreley crossed her arms and nodded.

"Though I heard something happened recently in the Elven Forest. Seems like some kind of... reform?"

Her fish brain had trouble remembering things clearly, even though she had just heard about it recently.

She didn't dwell on it further though, as Leon had already asked another question:

"Councilor Finni, what brings you to Bryston Port this time?"

"Hmm? Just came to see the sea of course."

The mermaid said happily, seeming to feel extremely content in the ocean.

Loreley Finni.

One of the twelve councilors of the Mage Council.

Unlike other councilors, she lived freely in the sea and had no nationality.

After all, there was no such thing as a country of the sea.

Loreley often wandered through any waters of this world, monitoring for any anomalies that might appear in the entire ocean, like a guardian of the seas.

Not only did she protect the safety of human fishing vessels and adjust disturbed ocean currents, but she would also strike hard against those who polluted the ocean.

If Loreley discovered anyone polluting the marine environment, regardless of who they were or what race, they would face righteous attacks from her as she passed by.

Loreley looked at Leon and said:

"Well, I wasn't planning to come to the Empire's waters, but as you can see."

She was referring to the tidal wave from earlier.

The terror of that wave was far beyond any ordinary surge. Its towering might and heavy tumbling all demonstrated a power capable of destroying everything.

Although Helnersen had managed to block it in the end, such a level of tsunami was incredibly awe-inspiring no matter how many times one witnessed it.

This made Loreley feel that these waters were not peaceful.

Especially the current weather, alternating between clear and gloomy with only minutes between changes.

Leon was certainly familiar with Loreley.

This mermaid councilor often visited Bryston Port, the Empire's largest harbor.

When Miss Lia was away, they would follow Helnersen to intercept ships at sea, searching for any forcibly captured demi-human slaves.

Once discovered, they would deliver righteous judgment.

Loreley had witnessed Helnersen's righteous actions many times, and this warm-hearted bear-man had left a deep impression on her...

Having seen Helnersen's presence often, as a mermaid and a highly moral councilor herself, seeing Helnersen's righteous side, Loreley had taken a liking to this steady bear-man...

Thinking of this, Leon looked at the seaside with resignation, black lines appearing on her forehead.

Loreley's delicate jade hands wandered over Helnersen's body, hooking around his shoulders and neck, seductively teasing him.

"Mr. Bear, please pay attention to me."

Helnersen remained unmoved.

Leon suddenly realized something.

As a bear-man, Helnersen also had bear-like traits.

So...

He actually quite liked eating fish.

At this moment, Director Norma arrived hurriedly with several mages, holding the badge of the Mage Council.

Upon seeing Loreley in the water, their faces lit up with smiles.

When she saw Leon, Norma suddenly paused, then turned to look at the surrounding demi-humans and understood.

These were servants of the Kravina family...

After all, only the Kravina family would allow demi-humans to hold such high positions.

Norma respectfully nodded to Leon, then turned and saw Helnersen's massive figure.

She blinked rapidly, dumbfounded.

What... what was this?

"A... giant?"

Though the bear-man's presence was steady, even just sitting there, the pressure he gave off made her feel instinctively fearful.

The Kravina family truly had hidden dragons and crouching tigers...

Finally, Norma's gaze moved past Helnersen to the undulating sea surface, where she saw the mermaid beside the bear-man.

The mermaid kept caressing Helnersen, her seductive expression almost being fed directly into the bear-man's mouth,

But Helnersen remained as calm as ever.

Seeing this scene, Norma's eyes widened.

What... what was going on here.

Norma dared not think too much, remembering her subordinate saying the councilor was the demi-human swimming in the sea.

So she stepped forward and respectfully presented the three badges with broken heads.

"Miss, are these yours?"

Loreley, who was in the middle of teasing Helnersen, paused when she saw Norma approaching with the badges.

"Ah, yes yes."

She gently waved her hand, and immediately a current rose from beneath the surface.

It seemed to become a delicate arm, quietly touching past Norma's wrist to retrieve the badges, reattaching them to her magnificent chest.

Seeing this flowing and natural display, Norma felt amazed.

Indeed, she hadn't mistaken the person.

She was a mage too, but admitted she couldn't achieve such skill.

"Let me introduce myself, I am Loreley Finni."

Hearing the councilor's self-introduction, Norma came back to her senses and respectfully replied:

"I am Norma, director of the Bryston Weather Bureau."

"Councilor Loreley, can you really help us?"

Loreley's long eyebrows lifted slightly as she proudly withdrew her arm from Helnersen and fell back into the sea.

"Hmph hmph, of course."

As a councilor, briefly changing the weather was just a small matter.

Norma quickly asked:

"Councilor Loreley, do you need our help?"

Loreley waved her hand, answering confidently:

"No need."

"I alone am enough."

As she spoke, her gaze unconsciously drifted toward Helnersen again.

But the cold Helnersen still kept his eyes tightly shut, his furrowed brows marking his dismissal of Loreley.

Seeing this, Loreley puffed her cheeks in frustration and called out with a sense of defeat:

"Watch this!"

As her words fell, Loreley began moving through the sea surface.

Her body was like a brush, continuously drawing intricate patterns and wide formations on the water's surface.

Her hands kept moving through the air as she swam across the surface.

Countless flashing blue magical power gradually settled on the sea surface, transforming into several runes.

The complex patterns quickly gathered together, as if pulling those huge formations together, with magical power flowing constantly between them.

The spectacular blue array glowed like scattered stars, making Norma draw in a sharp breath:

"This level of formation... is this what a fourth-tier mage is capable of?"

The formation before her eyes was already too complex for Norma to understand, as was the design of the array patterns.

But she could vaguely sense the direction of magical power flowing stably within the formation.

Loreley floated in the center of the formation, shining together with that blue magical power, radiating confidence.

The extreme discord between rain and sunshine was originally caused by two elemental attributes colliding.

So, her goal was to adjust the chaotic elements, especially these raging water elements.

As an aquatic being, Loreley was quite skilled at controlling water elements.

Six streams of magical power converged at the center of the formation, and a blue light orb gradually began to become unstable.

Loreley waved her hand, and that magical orb immediately burst forth, a blue light pillar like an inverted waterfall shooting straight into the sky, piercing through the thick cloud layer.

Fine blue lights shuttled between the clouds, the magical power at the top merging into the sky like stars.

She tried to drive away the heavy clouds pouring rain, to make the rainfall lighter.

Finally, the chaotic downpour in the sky seemed to calm somewhat, the raindrops becoming notably smaller than before.

"Did it work!?"

Director Norma felt a surge of joy, thinking the councilor's intervention had stabilized the air in just moments...

Splash!

Suddenly, the downpour intensified again, seemingly even more violent than before.

The shocking rainfall poured onto Director Norma's face, and onto everyone else around.

"?"

What... what was this situation?

Everyone looked confused - wasn't the rain supposed to get smaller?

Even Loreley herself was stunned, saying irritably:

"That was a mistake, I'll try again."

She urgently mobilized the magical power within her body, constantly making adjustments to the magic formation, but the patterns in the array gradually became chaotic, completely losing their regularity.

The increasingly panicked Loreley still tried to reduce the water molecules in the air, however, those star-like blue lights seemed to disperse even more water elements into the sky.

After the final release, the rain in the sky became even heavier.

Loreley: "???"

She fell into deep confusion.

It was as if some higher being was controlling the vast water elements in the sky.

How was this possible?

How could anyone control the rain clouds, making rainfall extend for thousands of miles?

Could it be nature itself competing with her for control of the weather?

But suddenly, the surrounding water elements seemed to become angry, beginning to rage at some extremely bizarre frequency.

The storm above Bryston Port swept through again fiercely, raindrops flying chaotically in the fierce wind, the violent droplets like sharp thorns in the whirlwind, creating dull impact sounds as they struck the roadside signs.

Huge waves rose again from the sea surface.

This time, Loreley was completely dumbfounded.

Because no matter how she tried to channel magic, the surrounding water elements would no longer obey, making it impossible for her to cast spells.

And once a mage cannot use magic.

She becomes no different from a useless person.

At this point, Norma stared at the towering waves that seemed to touch the clouds, her mind completely blank.

At this moment, there were no more thoughts in her mind.

Just as the waves were about to crash down toward Loreley and destroy the port.

Helnersen stood up.

The huge bear-man stood alone at the shore, his expression solemn, his broad figure appearing particularly solid under the black storm clouds.

He faced away from the crowd, showing only his sturdy back.

Then, he stepped into the seawater.

Everyone stared in confusion as Helnersen walked forward to meet the waves.

Because Helnersen's feet were actually standing on top of the water surface!

As if empowered by some force, despite his incredibly robust build, he simply could not sink into the ocean.

The mermaid leaned against Helnersen's back, mouth agape, frozen as she stared at his broad silhouette.

At the moment the water was about to crash down completely,

Helnersen's hands touched a corner of the wave.

[Receive!]

The wave flowed gradually along the bear-man's broad arms, yet seemed to be held up, then forcibly stopped.

The massive volume of seawater surged violently, completely suspended in mid-air.

[Transform!]

Helnersen stepped back with one foot, his hands rotating in the air, white 'qi' following his hands, moving gradually.

As Helnersen's body turned, the path of qi flowing through his hands changed, and the wave similarly rotated, as if flipping over in the air.

Completely losing its impact force.

[Release!]

Helnersen pushed with the momentum, suddenly dispersing the power of the surging wave, taking the opportunity to push it back to the sea surface, creating a white water spray reaching a hundred feet high, shooting straight into the sky.

The wave transformed into scattered water drops, plunging back into the ocean all at once.

After everything passed, the sea surface became completely quiet, with only rolling waves remaining, the great ocean pacified.

The chaotic raindrops kept striking the sea surface, the sound of the downpour quickly occupying the entire quiet space, interweaving with the waves' motion.

In the storm, the crowd stood dumbfounded.

Even Loreley stared blankly at everything that had just happened.

However, amidst everyone's shock, Helnersen didn't look back.

His gaze was fixed toward the center of the ocean.

Then, with white and heavy 'qi' flowing around his body, he leaped toward the ocean.

Leaving only rippling waves and water spray in the air, he shot into the sea like an arrow, quickly departing from this place at extreme speed.

Loreley blinked in confusion, then suddenly became flustered.

"Mr... Mr. Bear!"

Not caring about her previous performance anymore, she hurriedly dove into the water, chasing after Helnersen's direction.

Watching the bear and mermaid gradually leave the port, Norma blinked in confusion.

"Uh... could that bear-man be the real councilor?"

Leon said solemnly from the side:

"...No."

"Mr. Helnersen is the head butler of our Kravina family."

"By the way, bears can indeed swim, so you needn't worry."

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