Chapter 158 – Evacuation
<span style="font-weight:400">“Safi, Emi, could you please keep watch around us while we talk here?” I turn to my lovely Slimedies.
<span style="font-weight:400">Safi makes a polite nod. “Of course, Master. We will let you know when enemies start heading this way.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Master can count on Emi!” The emerald beauty shows a wide grin.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Thanks. We won’t take long. Be careful out there and don’t do anything silly.” I point a finger at them.
<span style="font-weight:400">They both nod ande closer to receive a parting kiss before departing in opposite directions. They return to their original forms and roll away at a quite decent speed. This is definitely much faster than them running the way the usual humanoids do. And I have to admit, it’s much cooler watching them roll around in these bouncy shapes.
<span style="font-weight:400">“We will join them and cover the other two directions,” Cornelia says and Neira stands by her side. “You and Meru should be enough to take care of the situation here. Let us know when we are going to move.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Alright. You be careful too.” I smile at them and repeat the gesture with the other twodies before they leave.
<span style="font-weight:400">Cornelia uses a simple chilling spell to cover the ground with ice and skates north while Neira creates a small wave of seawater and rides it south. It all feels like I’m watching superheroes go on a mission or something. Well, they definitely are super to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">I turn to Meru, receiving her calm and collected gaze, and then nce at the still-shaken crowd made up of male Merfolk. The aquatic men with skin colour in various shades of blue stare back at us with some level of uncertainty. <span style="font-weight:400">I observe their figures with more attention, noticing a bunch more details about them, like their fin-like ears and gills on the sides of their chests. They don’t have tails but their toes are webbed, and their fingers have some membranes to a certain extent too.
<span style="font-weight:400">It looks like the Sahuagins didn’t steal their clothes to humiliate them even more after conquering their city so the men do wear some remains of their pre-battle attire like short pants, waistbands, loincloths, and such. Their chests were most likely exposed from the start. And, with how handsome they all seem, it isn’t really a surprise.
<span style="font-weight:400">“So, you might not know me, and I might not know you, but I would like to say that we are here to help, as you might have seen a moment ago,” I begin, running my gaze over their faces. “Our goal is simple, to get rid of the Sahuagins. Thus, even if you find it hard to trust a Human-like creature like me, try to cooperate at least in consideration of my Nershark friend here, whose home was destroyed by those bastards. We’ll kill all of them here and be on our way. It’s up to you if we will be able to save some of your captured people while doing so or not.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“stair is my mate and he doesn’t bear ill intentions towards other races,” Meru joins in. “You have a choice of working with us or doing things on your own, though I think we all can see how things have turned out when you tried thetter option. Are you going to aid us or keep to yourselves?”
<span style="font-weight:400">The Merfolk men begin whispering amongst themselves while looking around. I’m pretty sure they understood my words correctly as I’ve used the samenguage as Meru did. Thankfully, I have a few that the aquatic races usually use, excluding some dialects or unique ones, of course. But, it’s quite likely that they do know bits of Common too.
<span style="font-weight:400">After a short while, the crowd starts parting and one guy walks forward. He doesn’t look like anything special, fitting with the others more than well. But, regardless, a dude with dark green hair brushed to the back and bright blue eyes stops in front of us, making a respectful bow.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Thank you for rescuing us, Saviour. My name is Fhen and I would like to pass our verbal gratitude onto you,” he says, trying to act kind and proud.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Gods, not this Saviour shit again.” I roll my eyes with a slight chuckle. “Just stair is fine. But, anyway, you are? I assume they haven’t picked you as a representative randomly.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You assume correctly. Out of everyone here, I would be the person with the highest rank in our tribe, taking into consideration all our deceased leaders. Before the raid, I was one of the Third Circle advisors. The chief and his consorts made the First Circle while the elders made the Second Circle,” Fhen exined.
<span style="font-weight:400">“That’s very unfortunate and sad to hear.” I nod at him respectfully since it’s obvious what happened to everyone above him. “All I can offer you right now is revenge. Either on your behalf or achieved with your own two hands and our assistance.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Do you know anything about your females? We still might have a chance to save the majority of them,” Meru continued after me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It might be possible. It was maybe a day or two ago that they were taken and the soldiers are still looking around the city to find anyone hiding. We were left alive as bait, to lure our mates, daughters, mothers, and everyone else out. The slow executions happened for that exact purpose,” he replies.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then they might have not yet sent any of the females away.” Meru strokes her chin. “Do you know where they gathered the women?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“There’s a chance that I do. We saw the direction some of them were dragged in and I can make a few guesses regarding the buildings that can house this many people at once. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the leader of these savages keeps them close to feed his ego, and other reasons which I would rather not name right now,” Fhen answers.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Would you be willing to act as our guide?” I ask. “It will be more efficient than having you describe those ces and us struggling to find the locations in an unfamiliar environment.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“If that will allow for our women to be rescued, I will naturally volunteer for that role.” He makes a small bow while the other guys nod enthusiastically. “Like almost everyone living here, I know our city like the back of my hand. We should be able to utilise some paths and obstructed passages to sneak around the enemy.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Very good. We just need to figure out what to do with your friends here. When the Sahuagins realise that their prisoners have gone missing, they will definitely flip this ce upside down once more. It will be pointless and dangerous to hide anywhere here.” I scratch my head. “How long can you stay out of the water and if you even are able to?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It depends on the weather and the sun exposure we will receive on the surface,” Fhen replies. “But, having in mind the perfect conditions, excluding heavy rain which will make that almost indefinite, it’s around four days before we start suffering from theck of moisture.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That long should be fine, then. I don’t think we’ll take longer than a day here.” I nod to myself. “Now, how fast can you guys swim? Are you confident in outswimming the Sahuagins in a straight line, or at least not losing to them in terms of speed so that ate pursuit can’t catch up?”
<span style="font-weight:400">He shakes his head. “We definitely aren’t faster but we should be fast enough to beat the dyed pursuit to our destination, depending on the distance we need to cover.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Are you thinking about sending them to the ship, stair?” Meru asks, ncing up at me with her dazzling, golden eyes.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah. Even if the enemies roaming around the dome catch on and follow, Lianne and her girls should have no issues taking down a few fish bastards on their own ship. The Merfolk men would be safe with Alyssa’s crew.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You should first ask them if they are willing to fight,” she points out, turning to the men. “Are you?”
<span style="font-weight:400">The Merfolk start whispering between themselves again while Fhen spreads his arms. “Do you have enough weapons for us? Besides, most people here are not warriors. They immediately killed or executed the soldiers. We are workers, schrs, advisors, and so on. We already tried aiding our defenders and we didn’t make a difference even with proper equipment. I don’t think we will be of any use to you. Other than bait, of course.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t n to sacrifice any of you to make it safer.” I wave my hand dismissively. “Just you will be enough. Or you and any other men that would like to offer their knowledge. But no more than two to make sure that we can protect you properly. We don’tck the strength to beat the invaders.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“stair tells the truth. What you saw earlier was just a fraction of his and his mates’ power. I haven’t yet gone all out either.” Meru stands a little bit prouder.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then we will ept your offer to shelter us.” Fhen makes a low bow and everyone behind him follows suit.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Let’s try to get to the closest breach, then.” I nod. “The faster we can get you all to safety, the sooner we can look for the females.”
<span style="font-weight:400">As Fhen turns around to takemand of his brethren, I reach out to my incredible wives and fill them in on the current n. Neira gives us the location of the nearest hole in the crystal dome and the fourdies start heading there to clear up a path for us, reducing the chances of unnecessarybat encounters during our escort quest.
<span style="font-weight:400">We give them some time to put some distance between us and head out right after the Merfolk men group up in a decent rectangr formation. I take the front with Fhen while Meru watches over the back of the column. We both have to keep an eye on the sides but things should work out well with our ability tomunicate mentally.
<span style="font-weight:400">The other four do an amazing job and we walk through the dirtied streets while stumbling on a body or few every now and then. It’s obvious who dealt with those not-so-poor bastards thanks to the fairly unique way they died and we start a smallpetition with Meru, guessing which one of ourpanions scores the most kills. About halfway to our target, Cornelia is in the lead by at least five points.
<span style="font-weight:400">It seems that our little game reaches the ears or minds of the fightingdies and ignites thepetitive spirit in them. We begin hearing many more screams and gurgles of pain from almost every direction as they actively hunt the Sahuagins after clearing every possible enemy on our path.
<span style="font-weight:400">I chuckle to myself while shaking my head. It’s almost certain that the winner will expect a reward and I can feel it somehow involving my person. Or perhaps my body.
<span style="font-weight:400">But, it’s way toote to stop this <i><span style="font-weight:400">friendly</i><span style="font-weight:400">petition and the two of us keep counting bodies for Cornelia, Neira, Safi, and Emi. Though, they have to report their kills themselves whenever they get anyone outside our route since we obviously can’t leave the Merfolk alone and unprotected.
<span style="font-weight:400">If only they knew that they have been reduced to a game element for the people that are protecting them.
<span style="font-weight:400">About fifteen minutester, we reach the breach and I send Meru out to scout ahead since she is the fastest out of us under the water. Before shees back, we split the Merfolk men into smaller groups and prepare them for the sprint to the surface. Naturally, I talk to Lianne and Alyssa before anything happens so that they are aware of the uing guests and make sure that they are on board with the idea.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, we start sending the guys out with Meru as their guide and escort. She swims alongside them to the ship and returns to pick up another group. From what she tells me, they manage to avoid contact most of the time, having to deal with only two rude Sahuagins interrupting their trips.
<span style="font-weight:400">All of the males are up on the ship in no time and only Lheyman remains behind when Meru jumps through the barrier holding back water from spilling into the pretty city. She takes a nce at Cornelia and Neira, who are waving their fingers at each other threateningly, and looks at me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What are they doing?” she asks curiously.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Just arguing who won when it’s a tie. Ignore them.” I shrug.
<span style="font-weight:400">Lheyman steps closer and makes another respectful bow. “Thank you all for bringing my brothers to safety. I’ll do my best to aid you as much as I can. If you have any questions or requests for me, please let me know.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Can you tell us anything about the leader of these bastards? We are more or less informed about the grunts since we’ve dealt with a lot of them already,” I reply to his offer.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Not so much.” He shakes his head. “But, I did see him once. He is a big guy whenpared to the usual Sahuagins. Almost twice as big, I would say. Instead of themon shades spotted amongst their kin, his skin and scales are bordering on violet hues. He doesn’t seem to care about anyone below him, killing off his soldiers whenever they do or say something he disapproves of. He wears armour made of bones, including gauntlets with skeletal talons sharpened to the point that he uses them as weapons.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“An even more savage savage, huh.” I chuckle wryly. “We’ll need to be careful around him since we don’t have any experience against anything else other than grunts. But, he most likely won’t be a challenge for any of us.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You bet your ass he won’t,” Cornelia joins the conversation as the rest of my party arrives by our side. “How many points for his ass, though?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Are you still going on with that?” I raise a brow at her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“We decided to keep the count until we finish the operation here,” Neira answers. “There’s no other way to choose a clear winner.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“And you?” I nce at the colourfuldies behind the twopetitive girls.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Since it’s a battle for the first ce amongst the tied second, we opted out of thepetition, Master,” Safi exins. “We didn’t qualify as our scores were below theirs.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Emi tried her best but there were just no more bad fish people to melt…” my emerald Slime Queen whines dejectedly.
<span style="font-weight:400">I move closer to pat her jelly head. “You did great. I’m proud of you. Now, you can help me protect Lheyman while they duke it out between themselves. That way, you can stay by my side more than them.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Emi instantly perks up, making me chuckle lightly. Neira and Cornelia don’t even notice as they are still in the middle of their discussion about the worth of the boss. Our new Merfolk friend can just stare at our interactions with an uncertain smile. I’m pretty sure I know how weird we look from the outside perspective, acting so casually in the middle of the enemy territory.
<span style="font-weight:400">After theye to an agreement regarding the rules of thispetition, we move out to continue our quest of saving the Merfolk women from the dirty ws of the savage Sahuagins. As we head in the direction that Lheyman chooses, he talks a little bit about his settlement and how things looked before the unfortunate day of the enemy invasion.
<span style="font-weight:400">From his words, we deduce that it must have been an even more incredible and unimaginable sight than what we have in front of us right now. I really hate those bastards for ruining this experience for us. You don’t get a chance to sightsee a fucking Antis that often in your life and we end up in a freshly raided one. That’s unforgivable and punishable by total annihtion.
<span style="font-weight:400">“So, how many ces do you have in mind?” I ask him as we wander around, trying to avoid unnecessary contact.
<span style="font-weight:400">“A few. About five, I think. They all should be able to fit a lot of people so I’m not exactly sure where we should look first,” Lheyman replies.
<span style="font-weight:400">“And what are those buildings?” Cornelia joins in.
<span style="font-weight:400">“One is the main temple. Another is the garrison. The third ce is the equipment storage right next to it. The fourth is the provision warehouse. And fifth is the medicalplex,” he lists our options.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Main temple, then?” Meru suggests. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they chose it to defile the sacred grounds that the residents respected.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Or the garrison,” Neira says. “That should be the safest ce with many weapons and defensive contraptions that they can use.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No.” I shake my head. “They aren’t expecting any reinforcements. They won’t even think about defending or fighting after they fully conquered the ce.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What do you think then, Master?” Safi nces at me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Food warehouse,” I answer. “They are sure they have already won. That bastard will definitely want to feast on the resources of the conquered, letting his army regain strength and pack some provisions before they have to continue their contest. I’m sure he and most likely some other Sahuagins are celebrating their sess and indulging in the food. And probably women too.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Lheyman sighs heavily. “You are most likely right.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I ce a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll get them soon. And rip those assholes into pieces before they can hurt any more people. Then, we will sail further into the sea and kill the ruler of this scum too.”
<span style="font-weight:400">He smiles weakly and nods. The girls all suddenly get fired up and we pick the warehouse as our first destination. As we move closer to our target, more patrols show up on the streets, with some of them heading in the same direction. Naturally, we take down some of the bastards whenever we aren’t sure if we can easily sneak by them. Not letting even a single messenger reach themander is still extremely important.
<span style="font-weight:400">It takes us about twenty minutes to reach the area of the warehouse, ording to our guide. We still are feeling a little bit lost in the sea of simrly-looking buildings, no matter how pretty and well-designed they are. Things just appear more or less the same in every direction, and the crystal dome spanning above our heads doesn’t help as much as I expected it to.
<span style="font-weight:400">A tall and wide structure enters our sight. Obviously, plenty of Sahuagins wander around it. We get off the street and enter one of the skyscraper-like buildings, just without the ss. Moving as silently as we can, we ascend a few floors to get a good view of the warehouse’s surroundings.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It looks like you were right,” Cornelia says after we peer past the empty window to nce down. “I don’t think they are just randomly gathered here. And many of them have something to eat or drink in their hands. They are definitely celebrating.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That doesn’t make it certain that the leader is here but yeah,” I agree. “This is our best bet. We have to find a way onto that roof without getting spotted.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Ice bridge or slide?” she asks.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Too shy. There’s no way they won’t notice something like that forming above their heads. They aren’t blind, even if some of them might be intoxicated.” I shake my head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“This will be tough. It’s not like we can fly.” Lheyman nces around.
<span style="font-weight:400">“But, if we could for a certain time, do we have the means to secure ournding?” Neira strokes her chin.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What do you have in mind?” I raise a brow at her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I canunch us with a violent but controlled geyser. I’m not that confident in creating one in time with our descent, though. Too early or toote might throw us in random directions and we don’t want that,” she exins.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Safi and Emi can do it!” The green girl raises her fist.
<span style="font-weight:400">“How?” Cornelia turns to them.
<span style="font-weight:400">“We should be able to merge together and create an stic cushion wide enough to let everyone fall onto it without bumping into anyone else,” Safi replies. “This height should be fine. It will also be quiet and won’t shake the roof during thending.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Are you crazy?! What if we miss?!” Cornelia throws her arms into the air. “I don’t fancy bing a stain on top of some stone warehouse! There’s still so much I haven’t done with Al!”
<span style="font-weight:400">I smirk at her, evoking a faint flush from the magiciandy. “I’ll use my chains to assure that we hit the target. It would be a pity to die without having to experience what you have in mind.”
<span style="font-weight:400">She grows even redder and escapes my gaze. Neira hides a smile behind her slender hand, trying her best not to chuckle and capture the attention and ire of our embarrassedpanion. Returning my attention to the two lovely Slimes, I pat both Emi and Safi.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Are you sure about this?” I ask them.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, Master. You can trust us,” Safi answers confidently while Emi beams at me with her iconic sunny smile.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Alright. Neira, get your part ready. We are moving out in a minute.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll need some more space above our heads. We might need to somehow remove part of the floor above us so that we can beunched out without any issue,” my artist wife replies.
<span style="font-weight:400">“There’s a balcony three levels above us. We could check it out,” Lheyman suggests. “Will that high be a problem?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No. It shouldn’t make a difference.” Safi shakes her head.
<span style="font-weight:400">We start walking and get to the floor our guide mentioned. There is a little bit of an open balcony in the direction of the warehouse just as he said. Neira prepares her spell on the floor while we gather up around her. Cornelia swallows her saliva hard so I pull her closer and wrap my arm around her waist, trying my best to reassure my lovely magician wife.
<span style="font-weight:400">When she is ready, we huddle up and I bind us together with my Void Chains in the form of tight but not ufortable violet straps. Neira takes onest look at the distance and gives us a warning nod. Closing her eyes, she recites the chant of her spell and water starts bubbling under our feet.
<span style="font-weight:400">Suddenly, a pir of mighty water bursts out from beneath us and sends us flying up and ahead. Cornelia tries her hardest to keep her mouth shut and not let any noise out. It’s certainlymendable considering that we are tens of metres above the ground and flying towards a hard-top building which has a t roof too.
After we cross two-thirds of the distance while bundled together, Safi and Emi leak themselves out of my hold and join together under us. We all watch them merge and shape themselves into a sizable bowl of blue and green, praying for nothing to go wrong as we are moments before a disaster.
<span style="font-weight:400">Thankfully, they reach their full form before we m into the scenic roof of the provision warehouse and our small party bumps into the jelly blob as our lovely Slime girls cushion our fall. They actually weaken their membrane and let us sink into them partially. It surprises Cornelia and Lheyman but I find it quite smart. That move prevents us from getting flung somewhere away due to their bouncy nature.
<span style="font-weight:400">They quickly spit us out on the hard floor and I recall my bindings. Cornelia takes a deep breath as I rub her back and we watch Safi and Emi return to their respective humanoid forms. They both smile at us proudly after finishing their task without a hitch.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, we follow Lheyman as he guides us to the roof entrance and leads us inside. We carefully move through the stone hallways while quickly silencing any stray Sahuagins. In just a moment, we reach the main section and peer down the hall from the second floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">Some of those bastards are gathered around a few Merfolkdies dancing in the middle, who are clearly forced to do it. They are stripped naked while serving as visual entertainment for the feasting beasts, including themander. The much bigger guy is seated atop a small pyramid of food while snacking on whatever makes it into his grasp. His appearance matches Lheyman’s descriptions, pretty much. More women are held in the corner, huddled up together and watching every Sahuagin’s movements with heavy anxiety and fear.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Time to crash the party?” Cornelia nces at me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“There’s no better time than the present.” I smile at her.
<span style="font-weight:400">We chuckle together and jump over the stone railing together with everyone else. Even Lheyman joins us but his choice is a quite logical one since his chances of survival are higher around us than alone. Spooking a lot of our uing opponents, we m the ground while knocking a bunch of them out of the fight already.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What? Who the hell are you?” the unique Sahuagin asks.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh. The big ugly can talk?” I ask mockingly. “I guess your size ispensating for something other than intellect.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I hear a snicker or two as mypanions respond to my little joke. Unfortunately, it isn’t appreciated as much by the recipient. The violet guy jumps off his food throne and unsheathes the Wolverine-wannabe ws from his bone gauntlet.
<span style="font-weight:400">Before I can engage him though, Meru steps in front of me. “I’ll take care of him, stair. Can you protect the females and keep the other Sahuagins from interfering?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Of course. Don’t give him mercy.” I peck her chilly cheek before running off towards the chained girls.
<span style="font-weight:400">The battle is already in full swing and I can spot Lheyman trying his best to keep himself close to either Cornelia or Neira to assure his survival. He has no chance of catching up to my Slimedies as they utilise their shapeshifting a lot and squeeze through the enemies around the battlefield with crazy reaction time.
<span style="font-weight:400">Slicing the guys guarding the females in half with a hastily formed longsword, I get rid of their restraints and exin that they need to stay there for a bit longer because it’s not safe outside. Thankfully, Lheyman arrives by my side and his words are met with a little bit more trust than mine. Leaving them to him, I refocus on helping my badass girls.
<span style="font-weight:400">But, it’s not like I have to put a lot of effort into saving them or something. All four of mypanions are handling themselves well against the fish bastards, fighting them with their own means. Naturally, Cornelia and Neira have to be mindful of their surroundings, and thus limit the power of their spells. Otherwise, Neira would be able to bring out a technique equal to those amazing Dragons from our first contact with the Sahuagins.
<span style="font-weight:400">As for Meru, she is engaged with themander in a battle of strength at the current moment. My fierce sharkgirl mate exchanges blows with the enemy that is more than twice her size. Judging by just their builds, he should be able to smack her around like a wet rag but she doesn’t let him.
<span style="font-weight:400">She makes the perfect use of her weapon with a much longer reach, parrying the swipes the angry leader is throwing at her. The size difference works more in her favour, actually. She has more surface to aim for while it’s the opposite for her opponent. But, just that isn’t enough to put any deeper wounds on themander. His skin and flesh are iparably harder than the normal grunts.
<span style="font-weight:400">Thankfully, the trident she uses isn’t just some random weapon foundmonly in any random shop. Sirgia put all her heart and sweat into her creation and it’s clear that the quality of the sharpening or durability is almost unmatched, even if she will never agree with that statement. With a polearm like that, she adds more cuts and slices to the collection of her enemy.
<span style="font-weight:400">Taking down an interrupting idiot now and then, I watch her fight attentively. Both because I want to intervene at the first sight of things going wrong and because it’s just so mesmerising and enjoyable to observe. She is skilfully kiting the angry Sahuagin around the support pirs and using other elements of the environment against her opponent.
<span style="font-weight:400">Most likely thanks to the assistance of my stats, she can fight on equal ground with the beefymander, which surprises him a lot. He must have grown used to bullying the Mermaids, Nersharks, and other aquatic races while not having to worry too much. That worry is starting to appear right now, though.
<span style="font-weight:400">Meru keeps deflecting most of his swipes, with just a few grazing her skin or diving suit. I notice some shallow cuts on her body but she can deal with this much on her own right now. There’s no need to interrupt her duel yet.
<span style="font-weight:400">Water and ice-based spells fly around the warehouse alongside heavily acidic blobs of green and blue liquid. While getting pushed back by the ferocious assault of the violet shark man, Meru spins her trident and catches one of the liquid projectiles onto the head of her weapon. Taking a lowered stance, she surrounds it with mana and makes a mighty thrust.
<span style="font-weight:400">Whatever technique she uses, a small cyclone surrounds the head of her trident as it moves forward. The poor guy has no chance to react to the horizontal tornado crashing right into him. The chaotic water recedes soon after the blow and reveals that themander is missing his left arm down from the elbow. It has been cleanly eaten up by the strong acid, leaving burn marks all around.
<span style="font-weight:400">But, the big bad doesn’t give up and activates something from his own arsenal. A gurgling roar reverberates from the thick walls. I have ced Hall of Serenity around us before engaging so we should be safe from any reinforcements hearing his calls. Naturally, the loud shout isn’t all that happens and the leader enters a frenzied state.
<span style="font-weight:400">Meru doesn’t even flinch when met with his increased ferocity and raised stats, most likely. It bes harder for her, of course, but it isn’t the end. She evades his attempts to grab her or pierce her with the remaining Wolverine gauntlet. Unfortunately, she is too slow when stepping around the fallen bodies and the bossnds a solid hit on her with his muscr leg.
<span style="font-weight:400">My Nershark mate flies backwards and ms into the stone wall next to the captured women. They hastily scatter and form two groups, each on the side of my lovely sharkgirl. She hangs limply from that wall, partially encased in the crushed stone. Boasting about his victory with loud roars, themander slowly approaches her position to finish the job.
<span style="font-weight:400">I prepare myself to intervene, but it looks like my help won’t be needed.
<span style="font-weight:400">Just as he raises his remaining arm into the air and aims it at Meru, she pushes herself out of the niche created by the impact and immediately spins around. Her beautiful tail smacks the leader right in the balls covered by a fancy loincloth. There’s no way his Enrage can ignore that and he lurches forward.
<span style="font-weight:400">She seizes the moment by jumping onto his back and starting to choke him with her trident pushed into his throat, locking the polearm behind her elbows while pulling it back with all her strength. Some panic finally makes an appearance in his ugly eyes as he ils around, doing his best to smack the sharkgirl off his back.
<span style="font-weight:400">The chokehold turns out to be not the only thing in Meru’s n for that fight as she lets go of her opponent and kicks off his back. Themander rolls forward without control andnds on his butt. Before he can regain hisposure and stand up, Meru’s weapon falls at him from above in the mode with four spokes.
<span style="font-weight:400">They all detach, excluding the middle spike, and wrap the big Sahuagin with a thin wire while the trident lodges itself in his shoulder. He wriggles around in an attempt to break out of his confines with pure strength but nothing seems to be working out for him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, he notices movement ahead and Meru shows up right in front of him. She grabs the quite crucial part of his body and rips the ugly but certainly useful tool from between his legs, evoking a powerful screech of pain from the owner.
<span style="font-weight:400">My fierce mate doesn’t stop there and takes a few steps of a wind-up before rushing forward and impaling the poor bastard on her bare palm. She then pulls it back with a weird thing atop her hand which turns out to be the sizable Sahuagin’s heart. Looking him straight in the eyes, she crushes it and then shoves her fist deep into his throat after jumping in the air.
<span style="font-weight:400">It takes a moment for his body to catch up to the fact that he is already dead and he flops onto the ground with a loud thud. Meru sighs heavily and pulls her weapon out of her opponent. I slowly approach her with a gentle smile and start pouring healing mana into her with my Rejuvenate.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Great job. Just don’t forget to wash your handster.” I chuckle softly.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Thank you. It was nothing. Let us clear out the remaining Sahuagins,” she replies with a trace of a smile on her pouty lips.
<span style="font-weight:400">“After you.” I extend a hand to her and Meru takes it as we jump right back into action together.
We still have a bunch of small fries to take care of and some prettydies tofort and bring to the ship.