Chapter 96: Merfolk Live Beneath the Lake
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 96: Merfolk Live Beneath the Lake
Our plan was simple.
The main objective was to capture the Blue Apostle, break him mentally and physically to take over his body, and then disguise ourselves as cultists to carry out a purge in the maze beneath the Layer Division of the Underground City.
To execute this grand plan, we first needed to explore the Lake Section and find a way down past the Layer Division.
Splash. Splash.
Walking on the lake’s surface sounded like treading through puddles in rain boots. It felt strange, as if I were walking on top of giant slabs of pudding.
“This feels bizarre. It’s like I’m stepping on corpses,” the Saintess remarked.
“Your choice of words is certainly... fitting for a Saintess,” I replied.
Fascinated, she kept stomping her feet, sending ripples across the water. The rest of the party was equally intrigued by the unfamiliar sensation. Every time they moved, the surface of the lake swayed and surged.
It really is something.
We were currently walking on water thanks to the Necklaces and Rings of Water Walking. They didn't provide any other buffs, but they allowed the wearer to traverse liquid surfaces. These accessories used to be unpopular because there was rarely a use for them, but now they had become hit items that were flying off the shelves.
Plop!
“Gah! Holy shit!”
“Raphael!”
“He fell in!”
Raphael had plunged into the water. He’d been hopping around like a child because he thought the swaying surface was fun, only to sink straight through. Honestly, he was acting like a toddler.
“Uh, yeah. If you jump too hard, you’ll fall in.”
“Dammit! You should have told me sooner!”
“I didn't think you’d be that excited about it.”
“Ugh... I’m soaked. Son of a bitch.”
“Pfft, hahaha!”
Paramel snickered at the sight of Raphael looking like a drowned rat. He fiddled with the accessory around his own neck and explained the weakness of the Water Walking items to the shivering man.
“These aren't foolproof. If the impact is too great, you sink. Also, the effect only applies to the soles of your feet; any other part of your body is outside the magic’s range.”
Furthermore, if something beneath the surface grabbed our ankles, we would be dragged down regardless. The Water Walking accessories weren't a perfect solution. They had clear limitations and were merely a means to navigate the Lake Section more efficiently.
Bzzzzzz...
Slap!
“Ugh, bugs.”
“The further in we go, the worse they get.”
“From flies to mosquitoes... every pest imaginable is gathered here.”
“Paramel, the Bug Repelling Blessing, if you please.”
“Yes, yes.”
Paramel chanted an incantation, casting the Bug Repelling Blessing on us. It was the same Sigil Magic we had used when dealing with the Skinwalkers.
“Finally, I can breathe.”
“You never know what kind of diseases these pests carry. It’s best to be prepared.”
The blessing made a world of difference. Having swarms of insects buzzing around us had been a nightmare, but now I felt like I could finally focus.
Splash.
“Huh?”
“Did anyone else hear that?”
“What was it?”
As we stood still for a moment while the blessing was being cast, the sound of splashing water echoed from somewhere nearby. Something was there.
“Monsters.”
“Keep your eyes on the water. If they catch you, they’ll drag you under.”
“Porter, do you have any spears?”
“Right here.”
I handed out spears to the party. When fighting enemies in the water, weapons with the longest possible reach were ideal. If these were the creatures I thought they were, they would likely try to pull us into the depths.
No matter how strong you are, if you’re dragged underwater and can't breathe, you’ll drown. None of us were capable of underwater breathing. We would just thrash around until we died.
Splash!
“They’re coming!”
Raphael shouted, pointing at the spray of water rising ahead. Several shapes were swimming toward us at incredible speed.
“Mermaids!”
The indigenous species of the Lake Section. The demons beneath the surface. The Merfolk were closing in.
Whoosh—!
Raphael and the Saintess hurled their spears at the approaching Merfolk. As the two strongest members of the party, their aim was true; the spears pierced the swimming monsters through and through. The Merfolk, impaled, thrashed for a moment before floating to the surface.
“There’s more coming!”
Their numbers were significant. I continued to supply the Saintess and Raphael with spears from my inventory. The two of them threw with divine precision, turning the Merfolk into something resembling fish skewers.
“They’re close!”
“Draw your weapons!”
Sasaro and Rosier drew their sword and mace, respectively, swinging at the Merfolk leaping out of the water. Sasaro’s blade deflected the bone harpoons thrown by the monsters, while Rosier’s mace crushed the body of a Merfolk attempting to cast a net.
CRACK!
With a sound like a bursting balloon, the Merfolk’s upper body was obliterated. Fishy gore splattered everywhere, and blood began to spread through the water. As the scent of blood permeated the lake, the Merfolk became even more frenzied.
“Hup!”
I thrust my spear beneath the surface.
Tch...!
The Merfolk were agile, darting out of the way. Those grazed by my spear bared their teeth in fury and reached out to grab me.
“You bastards!”
I pulled a one-handed sword from my inventory and hacked at the Merfolk clinging to my calves and ankles. They didn't care if their fingers were severed; they hung on with grim determination. They were like water ghosts, intent on dragging me down with them.
Their black, fish-like pupils glared up at me. I swung my sword even more violently as a nauseating gurgling sound leaked from their mouths.
“Goddammit!”
Even with their arms half-severed and dangling, the Merfolk wouldn't let go. I was slowly being pulled into the water.
What should I do? Pour oil? If I dumped industrial-grade oil into their gills, wouldn't they suffocate? This was the Labyrinth, anyway. A little environmental destruction shouldn't matter.
SMASH!
“Are you alright?!”
“Yeah!”
Just as I was about to pull an oil bottle from my subspace pocket, Rosier rushed over and slammed her mace onto the water’s surface. A heavy shockwave rippled through the water. The two Merfolk that had been dragging me down floated up, their brains turned to mush by the impact, blood pouring from their eyes and mouths.
“Kyaaa!”
Water splashed everywhere again as more Merfolk leaped up. This time, Paramel was caught.
“Aaaah! You crazy bastards! You’re so gross!”
Paramel shrieked like someone who had just seen a giant cockroach. He resisted with all his might, his mace caving in a Merfolk’s chest.
Wait, he’s actually strong!
It was easy to assume Paramel was weak because of his timid demeanor, but he was still an Inquisitor. He was stronger than your average adventurer. The heads of the Merfolk clinging to him were being pulverized like watermelons.
“Looks like he doesn't need help,” Rosier noted, nodding toward Paramel.
I agreed. Paramel was screaming about how disgusting they were while systematically slaughtering every Merfolk that came near him.
“Rosier! Recover the spears while you can. I’ll take care of the corpses!”
“Understood.”
Rosier ran to retrieve the spears thrown by the Saintess and Raphael, while I quickly gathered the scattered Merfolk corpses into my inventory.
“Take that!”
“Kieeeee!”
Meanwhile, Sasaro sliced a Merfolk in half just as it was about to throw a bone harpoon. The Saintess crushed the face of a Merfolk that was grabbing Raphael’s thigh with a single kick.
In an instant, dozens of Merfolk were dead, their bodies carpeting the surface of the lake. The water was turning a deep, murky red. It was time to leave.
“Everyone, grab the spears and get out of here! Push the corpses toward me!”
Now was the time for haste. We had to get as far away from this spot as possible. Why?
The scent of blood in the water is going to attract the real monsters.
It was a trait of the Merfolk—they could smell blood in the water from a vast distance. Olivia had warned me about this, and it was also mentioned in Monster Dismantling Savoring. We had to leave the combat zone immediately. If we lingered, we’d be swarmed by hundreds of them.
“I’ve got the bodies! Let’s move!”
We ran.
There were several abandoned buildings in the Lake Section, and we decided to take a breather inside a stilt house that looked relatively intact.
“Phew...”
“It’s a madhouse over there.”
“Can you see that far, Saintess?”
“Yes. I can see them. Good grief.”
The Saintess, with her exceptional vision, looked back at where we had fled from and marveled. The Merfolk, drawn by the scent of blood, were thrashing about like a school of frenzied piranhas.
“So this is why we were told to avoid combat as much as possible.”
“I didn't realize so many would gather just from the smell of blood,” Sasaro and Paramel remarked.
I added a grim detail to their observation.
“If it gets any worse, the things living at the bottom of the lake will start crawling up, too.”
“The bottom of the lake?”
“Yes.”
Even the Inquisitors didn't know much about the Lake Section. It was a new area that had appeared after the Great Cataclysm. Consequently, there was very little information available. Even the Underground City Strategy Teams rarely entered this area because the environmental factors were so treacherous.
“Yes. Among the monsters living on the lake floor, there are three types that are particularly dangerous.”
While the Plaza Section had wild dogs and wolves, this place was ruled by aquatic monsters. This was information I had cross-referenced from Olivia and Monster Dismantling Savoring.
“First, there’s the man-eating catfish. They’re called Boar Fish. They strike from below at incredible speeds and swallow a person whole in one gulp.”
“How grotesque.”
“That’s not all. Excluding the smaller monsters, there are two more big ones.”
In the Plaza Section, monsters like Garum, Hati, and Gulun relied on numbers. In the Lake Section, however, there were fewer monsters, but each one was as strong as a mid-boss.
“Besides the Boar Fish, there are the Kraken and the Killer Turtle.”
In addition to the Boar Fish that snatched adventurers into the depths to drown them, the Kraken and Killer Turtle posed massive threats.
“The Kraken is a colossal octopus. It uses its eight tentacles to seize adventurers and drag them down. While the Boar Fish is fast, the Kraken uses its inescapable grip to slowly pull you under.”
“If you’re caught, it’s over.”
“And the Killer Turtle?”
“It’s like an alligator snapping turtle. Records say its jaw strength is immense. One bite, and you’re likely snapped in half.”
“Um, Saintess... I think this place is way too dangerous...”
“But this is the fastest way to get below the Layer Division.”
“Ugh...”
Paramel groaned, lamenting the high level of the monsters here. It couldn't be helped. If we wanted to finish this quickly, finding a path down through the Lake Section was our best bet.
“The commotion seems to be dying down. Let’s move again.”
We left the stilt house. During our brief rest, we had finished reorganizing our gear.
“Anything on the map?”
“Nothing significant yet.”
I was constantly scanning the surroundings with my mapping skill, but no notable structures appeared. Aside from the dilapidated stilt houses we had seen earlier, there was nothing special.
Do we have to go deeper?
Probably. We had to keep moving until we found something.
“Over there! There’s something!”
After another four hours of wandering, we finally spotted a building that looked important. It was different from the rotting stilt houses we had encountered so far. It was a stone building—a ruin that felt like an ancient site. We cautiously approached the mysterious structure scanned by my map.
“This is...”
It was a cathedral, half-submerged and crumbling. Inside, there was an iron cage used for holding prisoners. And inside that cage, an unexpected being was waiting for us.
“Hey. You there, adventurers. Mind letting me out? Croak.”
Its eyes seemed to look in two different directions at once. Its green skin was glossy, as if coated in oil. It had rounded fingertips and a flickering tongue.
“Is it the Curse of Transformation?”
“Well, you could call it something like that. Croak.”
That thing wasn't cursed. It was born that way.
A Frogman.
We had just encountered a Frogman, one of the only two neutral NPCs in the Underground City.