"Who I am isn't important,"
Alex said calmly, meeting Orm's horrified gaze as if he were talking about something utterly trivial.
"What matters is that you have no choice at all."
Orm was instantly furious.
Too arrogant!
This Homelander was simply far too arrogant!
Yes—his strength was terrifying, overwhelming enough to utterly crush Orm himself.
But Orm was not alone!
As the King of Atlantis, standing behind him was an entire, vast ocean empire!
"Homelander, I admit I'm no match for you—but that doesn't give you the right to be so insolent!"
"You might be able to deal with me, but can you deal with my massive undersea fleet?!"
Orm stared fiercely at Alex and barked out the challenge.
Alex laughed.
"Oh? That's what you think?"
"Homelander, King Orm is right. You should know when to stop."
Vulko spoke up as well, immediately backing Orm.
"You're making an enemy of the entire ocean empire! No matter how strong you are, you will lose!"
"So you really won't turn back until you hit the Yellow River."
Alex raised an eyebrow. His super senses spread outward, instantly grasping the situation.
"A fleet outside will arrive soon—about three minutes."
"Good," Orm snapped.
"Then I'll wait right here for three minutes!"
Orm, Vulko, and Mera were both shocked and furious.
Shocked, because Atlantis's movements were completely transparent to the Homelander—nothing escaped his awareness.
Furious, because even knowing this, he still looked utterly unconcerned.
As if the incoming Atlantean fleet were nothing more than a pile of toys.
Did this man really look down on Atlantis that much?
"Homelander, you'll pay for your arrogance and ignorance!"
A deeply provoked Orm let out a cold snort.
Alex couldn't even be bothered to respond.
Instead, he walked straight up to the supreme throne in the royal hall—
And sat down.
With zero hesitation.
As though Orm were merely a nobody, and he were the true King of Atlantis.
"This is outrageous!"
Orm was grinding his teeth in rage, staring at Alex as if he were his sworn enemy.
But there was nothing he could do.
Alex was simply too strong.
No matter how unwilling he felt, he could only watch helplessly.
"Let's see if you can still act this arrogant later,"
Orm thought viciously.
Mera and Vulko felt the same.
All they could do was wait for the Atlantean fleet to arrive.
They had no other option but to endure Alex's dominance.
Fortunately—
The fleet arrived quickly, leaving Alex little time to keep posturing.
"Your Majesty!"
An Atlantean general strode up to Orm with imposing presence.
"The First, Second, and Third Guard Fleets have assembled. Awaiting your command!"
Orm finally showed a trace of smug satisfaction.
This was excellent news.
"Homelander, if you surrender now, there's still time!"
Orm said coldly, looking at Alex lounging lazily on the throne.
"Bold criminal!"
"That's the king's seat—who do you think you are, sitting there?!"
The Atlantean general was furious the moment he saw Alex seated on the throne and immediately shouted at him.
But Alex didn't even glance at the general.
He continued sitting there calmly, as if nothing were happening.
Only his super senses expanded once more.
And just as expected—
A full one thousand undersea warships had assembled outside.
They were packed densely together, completely surrounding the royal hall.
It could even be said the encirclement was airtight.
No wonder Vulko and Mera now felt confident.
One thousand warships were on an entirely different level from a mere forty.
"So this is your confidence?"
Alex shook his head, smiling dismissively.
"A thousand warships… and you still think that's enough?"
"You're still too careless."
Those words—
Were almost identical to what he had said back in the old city.
Vulko and Mera's hearts both skipped a beat.
Forty warships had indeed been careless.
But a thousand?
Could that still be considered careless?
Impossible, right?
No matter how powerful the Homelander was, could he really deal with a thousand warships alone?
Instinctively, neither of them believed it.
Yet—
The confident smile on Alex's face made them deeply uneasy.
Because when he faced those forty warships before—
He had worn the exact same expression.
"Homelander, this is your final chance!"
"Surrender immediately!"
Orm shouted at Alex.
"I won't repeat myself!"
"No,"
Alex replied meaningfully.
"This is your last chance."
Whoosh!
With that, Alex said nothing more and flew straight toward the outside of the hall.
"Impudent—!"
Seeing Alex behave so arrogantly—making a mess of the royal hall and then daring to leave so casually—the Atlantean general stepped forward to stop him.
But Vulko reached out and stopped the general with a firm grip.
He shook his head hard, signaling him to let Alex go.
The general looked at Vulko, then at Orm.
Seeing that Orm tacitly approved, he retreated with lingering doubt and shock.
"Vulko, what's going on?"
"Who is he?"
"And why did you have me assemble the fleet?"
The general glanced at Alex's departing back and asked in a low voice.
"It's a long story,"
Vulko shook his head.
"But assembling the fleet was for the sake of dealing with him."
He nodded toward Alex.
"Vulko, are you joking?"
"To deal with one person, you needed me to assemble a fleet?"
The general's eyes widened as if he'd heard the most absurd joke imaginable.
Mobilizing a fleet—
Just to deal with a single individual?
What nonsense was Vulko talking about?
But now wasn't the time to dig deeper.
Because Orm, Vulko, and Mera were already following Alex out.
Soon—
They arrived outside the royal hall.
Looking ahead, they saw the space before them completely filled with dense ranks of undersea warships.
The sight was overwhelming.
Dazzling, oppressive, awe-inspiring.
And as Orm looked upon his mighty fleet—
His confidence returned once more.
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