Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 165. Son of The Empress

Everyone’s eyes went right to where Zara had the rider pinned. The purple glow coming from the figure was quickly fading, just as they had said it would.

The corruption energy that had been around him was fading away like smoke.

They could finally see the rider clearly when the corruption went away. He looked like a person, but he wasn’t quite human.

His skin had a hint of blue-green, and there were small gill slits on his neck. His hair was long and dark, like seaweed, and his eyes were a deep ocean blue, which was normal again.

A creature that lives in the ocean. And not just any ocean dweller.

Sylvia said. "Let me get the kill..."

"Wait, Sylvia!" Rick yelled as the Dragon Queen, still in her human form, walked toward the confused rider with murder in her eyes.

"No! He’s starting this, so I bet he’s going to kill us all!" Sylvia growled, and flames started to form in her hands.

"It was all because of the corruption that was controlling him!" Rick stood between Sylvia and the rider. "I mean, just look at him!"

"He’s coming back to himself!"

The rider was blinking in confusion, and his face changed from the blank evil of corruption to real confusion. He looked down at his hands as if he had never seen them before.

Then he looked up at Zara, who still had her blades at his throat. "What... what the...?"

"Where am... I...?" His voice was rough and unused, like he hadn’t talked in days. "What the hell just happened...? Why do I feel this way...?"

He stopped talking and stared in shock at the destruction around him. The dock was destroyed, the defenders were hurt, and the signs of corruption were fading.

His face slowly turned to horror. "N-No...! This is... this is impossible!"

He whispered, "Did I do this?!"

Zephyra came closer, and her baby was still sleeping through all the noise. With a clinical interest, she looked at the ocean dweller, her sharp eyes taking in every detail.

"Interesting," she said in her usual flat voice. "Your physical traits match what people say about the royal bloodline."

"The way your gills are shaped, the way the patterns on your skin glow in the dark, and the color of your eyes."

"You don’t just live in the ocean, but you’re a member of the Meridia royal family."

The rider, who was still confused, slowly nodded. "Y-Yes... I am."

"My name is Thalor Abyssryn, the first son of Ocean Empress Nerissa Abyssryn and the first heir to the Meridia throne."

The group was stunned to learn they had been fighting Nerissa’s son all along. The Corruption had turned one of the Ocean Empress’s own children into a weapon against the surface world.

"For how long were you corrupted?" Liora asked softly, kneeling next to him even though Zara was standing guard. "Do you remember it well...?"

Thalor’s expression crumbled. "I don’t know..."

"Maybe for days? No... wait... probably weeks?"

"Agh! I don’t know...! Time has lost its meaning inside my head."

"I was inspecting the wards near the storm’s edge, and then... there was darkness with whispers of commands I couldn’t refuse."

"I watched myself attack my own people, attack this port, and I couldn’t stop it at all..."

"It’s like being enslaved in someone else’s body..."

Tears were flowing freely down his face now. "My mother..."

"I need to warn my mother that the corruption isn’t just affecting the ocean."

"It’s targeting the royal family specifically. If they could take me, they might be able to take her."

Rick exchanged glances with his bonded partners, realizing that this changed everything. If the Archon was targeting Nerissa’s family, the Astral Deep was more corrupt than they thought.

Rick said, "Zephyra," and made up his mind.

"Can you verify his identity? Ensure that he is who he claims to be?"

As Zephyra got closer to Thalor, her face stayed the same. Rick felt a rush of diagnostic magic come from her when she put one hand on his forehead.

She nodded after a moment. "His magical signature is the same as the royal bloodline."

"Thanks to Liora’s divine magic, all of the corruption has been removed. And what he says is the truth."

"This is Thalor Abyssryn, and someone was controlling him against his will."

Zara finally put her swords down, but she was still on guard. "What do we do now?"

"We still need to get to Nerissa herself, even though the Ocean Empress’s son just tried to kill us while we were trying to stop corruption."

Thalor looked up at them, his eyes full of hope and despair. "Bring me with you... please!"

"I can help you get past the wards and I even can get my mother to listen to you all!"

"She needs to know that the threat is real after what happened to me. Before the corruption takes over the whole kingdom, she needs to accept your help."

Rick looked closely at the ocean dweller. With his empathic powers, which were stronger because of his bonds, he could only feel honesty and a strong need to act.

It contains no corruption or hidden malice. "Just a son who wants to save his mother and his kingdom."

"Okay," Rick said, reaching out his hand to help Thalor up. "You’re coming with us, but we must first ensure this port is safe and the corruption storm doesn’t return."

Thunder rumbled ominously overhead, as if in response to what he said. The storm of corruption was still there, still sending its corrupted rain into the ocean.

They had won this battle by beating the megalodon and freeing Thalor, but the war was far from over.

Rick looked out at the dark, churning ocean, the storm that blocked out the sun, and the corruption that could destroy the whole world. Somewhere beneath those waves, the Ocean Empress stood alone, oblivious to her son’s abduction and transformation into a weapon.

They needed to reach her. They had to talk her into accepting help. If the oceans fell into corruption, nothing else would matter.

Rick told everyone to take a break and recover before they go inside the ocean. "Zephyra, can your barrier stand up to another attack?"

"Not right now," she said. "However, I cannot guarantee its effectiveness if they deploy a creature stronger than a corrupted megalodon."

Rick said, "Then we need to go as fast as we can before another attack comes."

"Thalor, how fast can you take us to your mother?"

The ocean dweller’s face hardened with determination. "If we leave right now, I can get you to the Meridia Citadel in a few hours."

"My magical signature is still on the royal passages, and the wards will probably see me as family and let me through."

Rick nodded, feeling the weight of their mission settle back on his shoulders. The Ocean Empress was waiting for them. She might have had the key to stopping the corruption that was threatening to take over the seas.

However, their first task was to reach the depths of the journey. They had to go down into the corrupted ocean itself, where the Archon’s power was strongest and thousands of evil creatures were hiding in the dark.

Rick glanced at his bonded partners, then Zephyra, cradling her sleeping baby, and Thalor, whose determination was evident despite his visible scars. They were on the brink of entering the most perilous environment they had ever encountered.

"Get ready, everyone," Rick said quietly. "The real mission is about to begin."

And in the corrupted waters beyond Zephyra’s barrier, something huge moved in the depths, drawn there by the battle’s magical energies.

Something that had been waiting for this chance.

The Archon’s troops weren’t done with them yet.