The threat in Kevin's words was obvious, and Mera's heart sank.
She knew that despite Kevin's playful demeanor and constant jokes with her, in his heart, Mera's position wasn't as high as she imagined.
The two could only be described as a cooperative relationship, or as Kevin said, a kidnapping relationship.
Mera was Kevin's hostage, and Kevin could terminate her at any time.
"…I understand, I won't disturb you."
Understanding her situation, Mera took a deep breath and said to Kevin.
On Kevin's side, no matter what Mera was thinking.
Once he confirmed Mera wouldn't interfere, Kevin walked towards the waterfall.
Below the waterfall was a small, man-made plaza, but it had been reduced to ruins by time, with collapsed stone pillars everywhere.
A giant humanoid statue lay in front of the waterfall; Kevin glanced at it, then looked directly at the waterfall.
Glancing at Mera again, Kevin stared at her for a few seconds before retracting his gaze, saying nothing as he walked directly into the waterfall.
He had said almost everything that needed to be said; he believed Mera understood what to do.
Mera indeed did nothing extra; after watching Kevin enter the waterfall, still in some pain, she found a discarded, broken stone pillar and sat down on it.
Her physical condition was inferior to Kevin's; when crossing the whirlpool earlier, her body had sustained some damage from resisting the lightning.
While not life-threatening, it temporarily reduced her combat effectiveness.
She hadn't felt much when she first woke up, but now that she was safe, Mera felt her body aching terribly.
So, there was no way she could cause trouble for Kevin, at least not now.
"Don't die, Kevin."
Sitting outside, Mera murmured.
She didn't doubt Kevin's strength, but she did doubt the bloodline he carried.
It was true that Atlantean blood might flow within him, but he might not be a direct descendant of the Atlantean King, and if he was unrelated to the Atlantean King, the trident might not recognize him.
According to legend, the trident is guarded by monsters, and if Kevin didn't gain the trident's recognition, or if something went wrong when he picked up the trident due to his bloodline.
Then Kevin might very well die here.
So now Mera could only pray that Kevin truly had Atlantean blood within him.
Otherwise… in Mera's current state, she couldn't possibly pass the trident's trial; she would be trapped and die here.
…
Kevin was well aware of the legend that the trident was guarded by a sea monster.
However, Kevin believed the sea monster Karathen shouldn't be his opponent.
Putting aside everything else, just in terms of physical toughness, that large sea monster wouldn't be able to break through Kevin's defenses.
The key was still the trident.
To gain the trident's approval, one needed the bloodline of the Atlantean King, which Kevin certainly didn't have, and he didn't know what would happen when he picked up the trident.
But after thinking for a bit, Kevin gave up on overthinking, because he believed nothing major would happen.
Kevin even dared to pick up the power stone with his bare hands; could the trident's power be even more explosive than the power stone's?
Compared to the trident's issue, the sea monster's issue was clearly more important.
Passing through the underground cavern beneath the waterfall, Kevin swam into the special sea area where the trident was hidden.
From the surrounding environment, this special sea area clearly used to be a land-based structure, but it had now sunk to the bottom of the sea, becoming ruins.
Kevin swam down from above, landing in the center of these ruins, and looking forward, he saw the corpse sitting on a throne not far away.
The corpse's true identity should be the Atlantean King.
And the golden weapon in its hand, emitting a golden light and clearly of immense value, was the legendary trident.
With his goal within reach, Kevin made no move.
After a brief pause, he shifted his gaze from the trident, turning it behind him.
Above the seawater, murky soil was constantly falling.
The ground was shaking, and the already unstable architectural columns were falling one after another under this tremor.
Kevin stood in the center of the plaza, his back to the Atlantean King's remains holding the trident, and looked up into the distance.
Beneath the dim seawater, a gigantic monster was writhing.
It revealed its massive body, tens of meters long, covered in a hard shell, with sharp spikes like weapons densely covering its entire body.
It had many things, whether limbs or heads, slowly extending towards Kevin in the seawater.
When its gaze met Kevin's, the gigantic sea monster let out a muffled, strange sound:
"Another thief…"
It said, its massive limbs stretching out around Kevin, like the mythical Hydra.
Kevin said nothing, just watched it quietly.
The monster continued:
"For so many years, I have guarded the trident, eliminating one self-proclaimed warrior after another who dared to enter here, but I have never seen a being less qualified than you."
"Oh really?"
"You don't even… have a trace of Atlantean blood! Abomination!!"
After delivering what sounded like an opening monologue, the monster's left limb slammed down fiercely from above.
"Die, abomination that doesn't belong here!!"
Boom!!!
A gigantic tentacle, tens of meters long, slammed down fiercely, making an extremely heavy sound in the water.
The ground trembled as a result, and in an unseen corner nearby, the remains of those challengers who had died earlier scattered in the water.
It was clear that the sea monster was indeed very angry.
Even angrier than it appeared in the movie.
Because Kevin had neither Atlantean blood nor was he an Atlantean.
In the sea monster's eyes, he was indeed just a 'thief' who had run in without permission, attempting to steal the trident.
For an intruder, for a thief attempting to disturb the Atlantean King's slumber, the sea monster Karathen would not show mercy to Aquaman Arthur as it did in the movie.
So it didn't try to knock Kevin away, but instead slammed down directly on Kevin, attempting to crush the hateful thief in front of it into a bloody pulp.
The tentacle slammed down, stirring up clouds of dust from the seabed, making the sea area turbid.
And within this turbid seawater, Kevin's voice emerged.
"Quite strong, but unfortunately…"
Crack crack—
A freezing sound accompanied Kevin's words.
Within the turbid seawater, an icy blue light shone through, so dazzling and dreamlike in the deep, dark sea.
But it was this dreamlike light that was slowly freezing the limbs of the sea monster Karathen.
The tip of the massive tentacle that had struck Kevin was already frozen by ice.
"…You can't beat me."
Kevin's voice then came through.
Then, with a 'bang,' Kevin's figure vanished from his spot, and the next moment, a wail from the sea monster was heard, as its gigantic, oppressive body actually fell heavily backward!
Kevin's figure appeared on one of the sea monster's 'heads'; through a super-high-speed impact, he, with his seemingly small body, knocked over the giant sea monster that was dozens of times larger than him.
"…Abomination!!!"
Although the sea monster hadn't sustained any serious damage, it was completely enraged by Kevin.
As the guardian responsible for protecting the trident, Karathen would not allow anyone unqualified to touch the trident.
This abomination, who had appeared from who knows where, not only refused to be crushed obediently but also tried to counterattack it, which completely infuriated it.
Karathen roared, its extended 'tentacles' constantly flailing, flinging Kevin, who had been on its body, away.
The ground continued to shake, and the ground was broken open by something; a gigantic pincer, larger than the earlier tentacles, emerged from the ground, followed by an even larger monster head.
The 'tentacles' that had just fought Kevin, which seemed like heads, were in fact merely the sea monster Karathen's tail.
It hadn't truly exerted its full strength when fighting Aquaman in the movie, because although Aquaman Arthur was a hybrid, he indeed had the bloodline of the Atlantean King within him.
Arthur had the right to challenge here and obtain the trident.
But Kevin did not.
Furthermore, Karathen's tail had just been knocked away by Kevin, which made it feel insulted; it no longer intended to hide, its massive body fully revealed before Kevin, attempting to completely kill the 'thief' who did not belong here!
The body of the sea monster Karathen was revealed in Kevin's eyes, a massive body hundreds to nearly a thousand meters tall, filled with an indescribable sense of oppression.
If someone with megalophobia were here, they would likely faint on the spot just by looking at it.
Even Kevin, facing Karathen's gigantic body, showed a rare solemnity.
Facing such a powerful opponent, Kevin couldn't guarantee that he could truly hold back during the fight.
"Are you really not going to give me a chance?"
Kevin asked one last time.
If Karathen was willing to follow the original routine and properly test Kevin, Kevin might still show mercy.
After all, if Karathen could be controlled by Kevin, the deterrence and help it provided would be even greater than Kevin wielding the trident.
The trident was just an ancient legend; how many Atlanteans now would still follow ancient admonitions and consider the person holding the trident as the true Atlantean King?
Compared to the trident, direct deterrence was the most straightforward.
So Kevin wanted to spare Karathen's life.
But unfortunately, Karathen did not appreciate it.
"Die, abomination!!!"
A voice mixed with a lot of static, along with water waves, assaulted Kevin simultaneously.
Also assaulting Kevin was the giant crab claw, a hundred meters long.
The crab claw nearly pierced through the path Kevin had taken, stirring up a large amount of seawater, and slammed down on Kevin with incomparable might.
Kevin slowly exhaled, his eyes turning cold.
His hands emitted a luminous blue light, and the seawater froze and took Shape within that blue light, rapidly spreading upwards.
This was Kevin's ice magic.
The ice magic froze the seawater and, under Shape magic, perfected the Shape Kevin desired.
When the gigantic crab claw had already reached Kevin's head, an ice giant hand, no less impressive than the crab claw, blocked the downward-swinging claw.
Immediately after, behind the giant hand, continuously freezing ice formed a tall giant similar in size to Karathen!
The giant had Kevin's appearance, clad in ice armor, and also emitted a deep, resonant sound in the water.
"Is this your answer? Well, it seems that before a dog obeys, it needs a good beating first."
Kevin's arrogant voice emerged from within.
He actually regarded Karathen, the guardian here, as a watchdog that needed to be taught a lesson!