chapter 996: sea monsters are here!

although the un and the celestial kingdom were at odds due to their conflicting views, beliefs, and general cultural practices, vaan never considered wiping out the celestial kingdom's population.
after all, the celestial kingdom was ultimately a human civilization; he would not discriminate against it for being different.
although the nauticans may have evolved differently to adapt to the sea, the majority of the civilian population residing in the residential zone was no different from lunarans, who made up a fraction of pangea's human population.
the only difference was that once vaan united the land and sea, the lunaran ethnicity would change from a minor fraction to a major fraction of the human population.
after vaan took control of the command center, he gained commander hotri's level of access to all utilities and facilities in moonwater city's top layer, the military zone.
furthermore, with commander hotri's permission level, vaan gained access to more confidential information related to the starships, including their locations. still, it was only limited to moonwater city's starships.
moonwater city's starships were stored in the military zone's restricted hangar district.
information on other cities' starships was inaccessible, which also showed the relationship between the celestial kingdom's cities. each city functioned like an independent city-state.
the military faction was the only binding force that kept twelve cities together. each city's military formed its own groups, which wasn't surprising.
after all, even if people work for the same big company, they only have a few colleagues they work with and feel closer to than others.
with the exception of periodically sending tributes to celestial city, the remaining twelve cities rarely contacted each other unless they had issues or businesses to discuss.
as such, the twelve cities were quite detached from one another.
when vaan examined the information on the moonwater lord and general neyi, he found that they were last recorded as eighth-stage divine star realm cultivators.
given the nature of the divine inheritances, their increasing impurity caused by the successive transfers, and lack of law comprehensions, these eighth-stage divine star realm cultivators were most likely only as strong as regular fifth-stage divine star realm cultivators.
it was also the reason vaan could slap third-stage divine star realm cultivators to death despite possessing first-stage divine star realm equivalent physical strength.
however, fifth-stage divine star realm cultivators were beyond his abilities.
that said, vaan had the divine protection of the sea god temple. thus, while his own cultivation was lacking, he still didn't put general neyi and the moonwater lord in his eyes. they couldn't do anything to him.
their offensive capabilities were so ungodly high that they stood at the very top of the sea monster rankings in terms of danger level, and it was well deserved. after all, this was a monstrous species that could deliver a force of up to 2500 times its weight.
there were no walls built by celestials that the giant mantis shrimps couldn't tear apart.
"it's the fucking mantis shrimps! they are coming...!" a celestial soldier shrieked, almost wanting to flee to the residential zone on the spot.
however, he knew that if the giant mantis shrimps were truly coming to attack them,
nowhere was safe within the city. the giant mantis shrimps would tear straight through the thick walls of metal like they were soft tofu.
"d-did the ocean master summon them? why?" the garrison captain wondered nervously.
boom!
the city entrance was hacked into countless pieces, creating a much larger opening after the giant mantis shrimps found the previous one to be too small for them to enter.
dozens of giant mantis shrimps quickly poured into moonwater city's top layer, followed by other types of sea monsters behind, mostly crustacean-type sea monsters like devil crabs, killer krills, and spear prawns.
only a few hundred sea monsters squeezed into moonwater city's top layer, but they already
occupied a vast space.
the battle-frenzied celestial soldiers in the square suddenly ended their war and became deathly silent, suppressed by the sea monsters' oppressive gaze.
in any other scenario, the sea monsters would have already rushed to sink their claws and fangs into their bodies upon seeing them. yet, right now, they were strangely obedient, simply staring at them from a distance.
"this... the ocean master has summoned the sea monsters to aid us!"
the celestial soldiers on vaan's side exclaimed, pleasantly surprised, after realizing the situation. their respect and fear toward vaan were instantly elevated by several levels.
meanwhile, the faces of the opposing celestial soldiers morphed into pure shock, disbelief,
and horror.
the new ocean master could command the sea monsters of the outer sea! that was something not even the previous generations of ocean masters could do!