Once the whales with prisoners were completely out of the imperial capital periphery, the leading whale suddenly opened its mouth, and a giant dark figure swam out of it and landed on its top.
The Whale Tamer was startled when he saw this, and his expression went pale, 'So, the monster was here all along?!'
This was simply too bold and daring. After all, what would've happened if the empire decided to attack? Either the monster was confident or simply wasn't afraid of death, and the whale tamper thought the former.
Jacob looked towards the whales with the prisoner and then the whale tamer, making the latter shudder. He knew this was a risky move, but he was confident that a calculative man like Alfonso would not risk attacking his 'representative' unless he himself weren't present. Not to mention they had already signed a Zodiac Oath Contract.
So, he only needs to ensure that he remains hidden, and what better place to hide than in plain sight?
"Stop right here." Jacob coldly ordered the Whale Tamer.
The other guy gulped in fear, but he didn't dare try anything and quickly stopped the whales. Jacob then ignored the timid fellow and landed directly on a whale filled with prisoners. The prisoners were listless and seemed to have resigned to their fates. But it was quite clear that they had no idea why they were being 'shifted' into another prison.
Jacob then asked, "How do I open these barriers?"
"R-r-replying to sir! These barriers will only restrain those prisoners with a special slave rune. Those without those slave runes can pass through these barriers without any restraints." The Whale Tamer quickly replied.
"Oh, there's such a thing? It seemed your empire is quite proficient in the art of runes. I should've demanded this knowledge as well…" Jacob commented impassively, causing the Whale Tamer to tremble in agitation.
But the Whale Tamer wasn't aware that while Jacob was drawing his attention, something small and extremely thin entered his ear. He was simply too horrified and afraid of Jacob to pay attention to anything else.
Jacob didn't head inside. He was waiting for Autarch to confirm whether what this fellow just said was true or if this was a trap. After all, the Might Whale Empire wasn't some random place that he could terrorize.
He knew they only let him have his way because they wanted him to cause trouble for their enemies, or there might be another reason. He was sure of it after he witnessed the huge army. He could tell there were at least three Inception Legend Rank experts among them hidden, not to mention the hidden formation they had installed. Nothing could hide in front of his eyes.
He was just lucky that they underestimated him. When they finally paid attention, he was too strong in their eyes, so going toe to toe with him was simply not worth the effort.
As for his promise to return that whale tamer safely, Jacob knew that even if he let him go, the Mighty Whale Empire would never dare to take him since there was a huge chance that he had turned him into his puppet. It was simply too risky.
"He was telling the truth. At least, there was no more information he knew." Autarch spoke with the Whale Tamer's mouth since now the real Whale Tamer was dead.
"Well, have him enter first, and we can confirm it further," Jacob ordered as he glanced toward the magic puppet.
Autarch obeyed and controlled the puppet to enter the barrier, and nothing happened. When he had him get out, he was able to pass through the barrier easily, just as he had entered it.
"Heh, I guess that fellow should've expected that, so he didn't play any trick this time." Jacob chuckled as he finally entered the barrier himself. Without wasting any second, he directly started the 'harvest!'
After all, he can't have this huge target on his back while traveling. These whales were simply too massive, and one was enough for traveling. If they didn't have their speed, he would've never traveled on them.
The prisoners were shocked when Jacob suddenly started to slaughter them all, but they were like sitting ducks because of the slave runes and couldn't resist unless they were ordered. Even if they were able to, with their current conditions, it was impossible to block Jacob.
Like a grim ripper, he cut their heads and reap their lives, dying the water crimson. There were even some prisoners of beyond unique rank among them. As for Inception Legend Rank, it was simply too hard for such an expert to be caught alive. Even killing one was an achievement on its own.
Only Quasi Legend Rank experts could do it, and Jacob was quite aware that there hadn't been any Quasi Legend Rank expert seen for thousands of years, neither on the surface nor in the ocean.
But one thing that perplexed him were that it wasn't like the Quasi Legend Rank expert hadn't appeared among the surface or the deep ocean, for some reason, they simply vanished into thin air like ghost. So, there were not many records about them.
According to the information Autarch had collected, those ignorant deep ocean races believed that the Quasi Legend Rank experts were like gods who ascended to a higher realm after they reached the ascension. The source of these rumors was actually the Siren Hymn Temple!
Jacob even got a piece of information about the mysterious Ocean Oracle that can predict the future or read people's fates. But he didn't have much to go with to believe it completely.
However, the star ocean was simply too big, and the Three Empires and the Temple were hiding too much from the common public. They kept everything under tight wraps. Even their high-ranking officers didn't know anything crucial.
Only people like Alfonso and Whale Dukes have secret information, but before he could get any of them, they had long fled in the imperial palace and then offered him this deal.
This actually made Jacob curious, but not enough to avert his attention from the final stage of the first phase.
While Jacob was slaughtering with a somewhat bored look on his face as if he was crushing a bug, he asked Autarch, "So, where did they want to send me? Let me guess, Battle Shark Empire?"
"No, Sir, this tamer has the order to lead you in another direction, not the Battle Shark Empire," Autarch replied emotionlessly.
Jacob's hand stopped for movement before slashing his sword again and sending six heads rolling while his eyes narrowed as he asked with an iffy feeling, "Where?"
"The Siren Hymn Temple!"