Chapter 232: 8. Siren (Two in One)
“Be careful!”
As the shadow manifested beneath the water, Fisher, who had already anticipated this moment, was the first to sense something amiss. His pupils constricted, and the black hilt of a sword slipped into his palm as he vaulted over the railing. Amidst the astonished gazes of everyone, he shouted.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
Emhart, floating beside Fisher, assumed he was going to divide the spoils when he saw Fisher leap down the railing. He instinctively followed him out a distance, until Fisher shouted in the air, drawing his attention to the enlarging shadow below.
Immediately, he froze mid-air, watching as Fisher’s trajectory abruptly curved back above the deck.
He decided to provide remote support to Fisher, giving him strong psychological reinforcement!
Meanwhile, the crew members standing on the body of the sea ghost had just heard Fisher’s words. However, their rich combat experience led them not to inquire about what was happening underwater, immediately opting to jump into the sea beside them.
“Roar!”
In the blink of an eye, a colossal mouth that resembled an abyss suddenly materialized beneath the massive sea ghost’s body. Its deep red interior was lined with dense, finely arranged fangs, making the mouth resemble a meat grinder. Upon closer inspection, its sucking range was wider than the ghost’s body itself.
This sudden ocean beast aimed to devour the entire sea ghost!
At that moment, several crew members still standing on the sea ghost’s corpse were unable to escape in time. A mere second’s delay turned their attempts to jump into the sea into an impossible feat. Jumping now would lead them directly into a tiger’s den, as if rushing toward death.
In this critical moment, a flexible mercury-like rope swiftly coiled around thewaist of those crew members, binding them tightly.
Glancing up, Fisher, who had just vaulted over the railing, landed on the hull of the Iceberg Queen, yanking hard on the black hilt of the Fluid Sword just as the sea beast’s mouth was about to consume them.
“Bang!”
The massive sea beast suddenly thrust half of its body out of the sea, and as it closed its mouth, the prey the Iceberg Queen had labored to catch was swallowed in an instant.
Carried by the inertia from the monster’s leap, its head violently crashed into the edge of the Iceberg Queen’s hull. A piercing metallic wail rang out, and the whole ship threatened to capsize.
“Hold onto the railing!”
The fierce waves quickly overtook the deck of the Iceberg Queen. The group standing on the deck clung tightly to the railing, executing a near pull-up maneuver, but their personal firearms and curved swords slipped from their grasp, cascading down into the ocean along the sloped deck.
Fisher also lost his footing in mid-air as the ship tilted increasingly, unable to hold onto the escaping crew members with the Fluid Sword, watching helplessly as they all tumbled into the sea.
In this critical moment, Aoxi, standing atop the mast, sharpened her gaze. She didn’t rise; instead, she unfurled her enormous wings, emitting a crisp call that sliced through the stormy winds. With her wings enveloping her, she dove downward, penetrating the rising waves like a drill and reaching the falling crew members.
In that moment, her typically shod foot was fully exposed, revealing powerful bird-like talons.
In mid-air, she grasped one crew member with one foot and then swung violently, tossing them back onto the Iceberg Queen, which was on the verge of capsizing.
“Whoosh!”
At this moment, a chilling wind from the North Region howled into the captain’s chamber of the Iceberg Queen. As the cold breeze flowed through, any seawater it touched instantaneously froze.
Inside, Captain Alagina supported herself on the phantom of the Ice Prince, driving the elegant rapier into the ground, hoping to use the frozen seawater to stabilize the tilting Iceberg Queen.
But after all, what she held was merely an illusion of the Ice Prince. The ice formed from the illusion was thin and fragile, insufficient to support the weight of the heavy Iceberg Queen.
“Crack! Crack!”
Sure enough, the next moment, the icy blocks crystallized on the side of the ship began to crack, and simultaneously, the entire ship tilted further toward the sea.
Feeling the precarious balance of the icy blocks, Alagina’s previously calm expression turned cold. The next second, the illusion of the Ice Prince vanished abruptly from her hand. She turned her head, extending her palm toward the cold, solid ice at the end of her cabin.
“Ice Prince, please lend me your cold power.”
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”
As she spoke, the solid ice seemed to respond, its surface erupting with cracks that radiated cold light.
The essence of the Ice Prince, trapped within the ice, seemed to have endured for long enough, sending forth a strange yet divine cry. Waves of frost radiated outward from the Ice Prince. Meanwhile, the true form of the sacred artifact flew toward Alagina.
The moment she gripped it, her right hand felt as if it had touched the coldest substance in the world, instantly losing sensation. A deep purple hue rapidly spread from her palm across her fair skin, stiffening her muscles as if they were made of ice.
This was the consequence of a human grasping the true form of the Ice Prince. However, there was no time to ponder the losses; she had to act quickly.
Alagina clenched her teeth and swung her frozen right hand fiercely through the air. As her sword sliced outward, a frigid wind far colder than before howled.
From within the cracking blocks of ice outside, a torrent of dense, hard ice surged forth, seemingly emerging from nothingness, and it appeared to push the tilting Iceberg Queen upright!
“Buzz!”
” cough cough!”
The ship’s hull emitted metallic cries as it gradually regained its balance, but Alagina, having used the Ice Prince, found her entire right hand stiffened after unleashing that strike.
She crouched in pain, using her left hand to pry apart her ice-bound right fingers, attempting to retrieve the Ice Prince.
As she laboriously pried each finger open, the glow emanating from the Ice Prince’s blade finally dimmed, allowing it to settle on the ground.
Normally, upon landing, a layer of ice should immediately coalesce around the sword, encasing it, but unexpectedly to Alagina, it did not freeze. Instead, it began to radiate a crystalline light, almost as if it were breathing.
“What’s going on?”
Alagina shielded her frostbitten right hand and looked at the blade of the Ice Prince, only to vaguely see a feather-like object forged into its center.
The feather embedded within the sword resembled a gem, carefully carved by nature, and was distinctly unlike any bird’s feather, easily recognizable for its transcendent status.
It turned out it was not the Ice Prince’s sword that was glowing, but the feather itself. The light it produced emanated from the sword, revealing the hidden feather within.
This scene caused Alagina to furrow her brows, glancing toward the still raucous outside.
Something in the distance seemed to resonate with the feather, but beyond the light she could see, she felt nothing.
“You son of a bitch, daring to ambush me!”
As the Iceberg Queen was pushed upright by the solid ice beneath it, the crew members hanging on the railing to do chin-ups suffered the consequences.
As the ship righted itself, they were all abruptly dragged back to the ground by the force of gravity, crashing down hard.
Though the fats on Pahaz’s face were thicker than the others, she was unlucky enough to smack her forehead against a block of hard ice, leaving a large red mark that hurt so much she cursed loudly.
The originally hot-headed first mate, who had served in the military, instinctively reached for her gun to shoot at the creature but quickly realized her weapon had fallen into the sea. Frustrated, she glared angrily at the colossal beast that had returned to the ocean.
“What the hell is that thing?!”
She hastily lifted her telescope, and through the lens, she saw the massive shadow rapidly moving under the water. This sea beast was far larger than the sea ghost they had previously hunted, its size four to five times greater; even its mouth was large enough to swallow the giant sea ghost whole.
This was the first time Pahaz had seen such a gigantic creature in the sea, and it was entirely unfamiliar; she had never seen anything like it.
This feeling of uncertainty caused her to swallow involuntarily. She put down the telescope, glancing back at the solid ice growing behind her, then raised her eyes to the distant captain’s cabin encased in frost. She urgently shouted to her fellow crew members,
“You! Split into three groups! Group one has two people, group two has three. The rest go to group three! Group one checks on the captain; she must be wounded after using a relic, go help her! Group two goes down to the cabin to see if anyone’s injured! The rest, all of you, go save those idiots still in the water! Did you hear me?!”
“Yes!”
After issuing all these commands, Pahaz quickly stood up, pressing her reddened forehead, then raised the telescope to survey the distance.
In her view, the enormous shadow was circling around far away, then suddenly turned back toward the Iceberg Queen.
That creature wasn’t going to let them go!
The giant beast moved swiftly, extending thin, fleshy tentacles from various parts of its body as it swam, and oddly enough, these tentacles transformed mid-air into numerous humanoid forms.
Upon closer inspection, all those humanoid figures seemed to possess feminine traits and many characteristics of other creatures as well—feathers, fins, scales, wings, and so on—creating a chaotic array.
Once those tentacles transformed into humanoid monsters, all the figures opened their eyes simultaneously, revealing only the whites of their eyes, and shouted loudly at the Iceberg Queen.
“Ah~”
The piercing sound waves radiated outward from the beast, causing visible ripples in the water; strangely, the harsh sound distorted into a sweet, melodic tune once it reached human ears.
In that melodious and soft singing, everyone’s eyes involuntarily took on a faint red hue.
Pahaz momentarily lost focus, an inexplicable violent impulse rising in her mind, and startled, she quickly covered her ears while shouting to everyone,
“Cover your ears! Everyone! Cover your ears! That thing is a Siren!! If you want to live, cover your ears!”
Indeed, in that moment, Pahaz finally recognized what it was.
In the rumors of the Northern Region, there were three terrifying legends of the mysterious sea, each corresponding to one of the infamous deep-sea leviathans.
They were the ferocious Kraken known for its size and brute strength, the elusive Jörmungandr famed for its sudden appearances, and the cunning Siren, renowned for its trickery.
Legends say that Sirens would play the roles of singing goddesses upon the sea, luring ships that heard their beautiful voices toward the abyss of death, into their bellies.
Once swallowed by a Siren, you’d become a part of it, helping it entrap others in the future.
However, that was only a legend; the real Siren was an incredibly dangerous deep-sea creature, the smartest and most cunning of all sea beasts.
Siren was not only massive but also possessed countless grotesque tentacles capable of mimicking the forms of its prey. Whenever it consumed subhumans or humans, it used their languages and seductive words to lure their kin into traps.
It hunted with immense patience and was highly skilled at employing vicious tricks to toy with its prey; this time was no different.
It was likely that while the Iceberg Queen was preparing to hunt the surfacing sea ghost, the Siren had been lurking in the deep waters, following them. The Iceberg Queen was waiting for the sea ghost to tire, while the Siren awaited its moment to exploit the Queen’s vulnerabilities while distracted by hunting.
If not for Alagina’s support from the Ice Prince, the ship would have capsized when the Siren first thrust against its hull; it wouldn’t dare directly confront the sturdy Iceberg Queen. Once the ship flipped over, there would be no chance of competing with it in the sea.
Fisher, immersed in the water, heard the Siren’s and Pahaz’s shouts, but strangely, as the sound wave reached his mind, the destructive impulse it produced lasted less than a second before completely vanishing, leaving no trace.
He looked at himself, unharmed, and then turned to see a crew member beside him with increasingly red eyes.
This feeling felt familiar; the Fallen Resistance from the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans was indeed functioning, though he hadn’t expected it to resist the Siren’s song, believing it only worked against demons.
“Aoxi!”
In the next moment, before he could think further, he saw the gigantic sea beast charging toward him, his expression turned serious as he called out to Aoxi high above.
In mid-air, Aoxi’s flying figure appeared somewhat unsteady; evidently, she too was affected by the Siren’s song, though not as severely as others.
After hearing Fisher’s shout, she shook her head and turned to face him in the water, calling his name.
“Take them back to the ship first!”
The crew members around her were already swimming mindlessly toward the water, and Fisher quickly raised his hand, using the Fluid Sword to strike each one sharply, waking them up, then gathering them all together to pull them back.
“Quick! That thing is coming!”
“Roar!”
Feeling the surface of the sea becoming increasingly turbulent, Aoxi complied with Fisher’s words, twisting her body in the air and flying toward him near the water’s surface.
Behind her, the Siren, with its mouth agape again, seemed to swallow the heavens and the earth, covering Aoxi’s flight path with a heavy shadow, rapidly spreading toward the Iceberg Queen.
“Chirp!”
In a critical moment, Aoxi accurately reached out and grabbed the collar of a crew member in the water. Thankfully not many had jumped into the sea to brandish their spears; two had already been tossed back onto the ship, or else she would have become overloaded.
But even so, carrying these crew members, along with Fisher’s weight, was still too much for Aoxi. Gritting her teeth, she flapped her wings with immense effort, producing a loud sound yet still failing to lift off from the water.
Watching as the Siren approached, Fisher gritted his teeth and decisively withdrew the Fluid Sword connected to the crew members.
“You go get them up!”
With that, he grasped the Fluid Sword and dove into the sea, facing the Siren’s massive mouth head-on.
Feeling a lighter weight below her, Aoxi didn’t look back at Fisher but pushed up with renewed strength and finally dragged the crew members up onto the Iceberg Queen’s deck.
“Roar!”
Below the ship, as Fisher fell rapidly, dense waves surged from the roaring Siren’s mouth, accompanied by the strong scent of marine life crashing towards him.
His expression remained unchanged; with his eyes narrowed, he agilely twisted his body in mid-air, narrowly escaping along the edge of the Siren’s massive mouth.
At the same time, the Fluid Sword in his hand transformed into a sharp fishhook; riding the fierce waves, he flung it against the Siren’s body, anchoring it tightly.
“Bang!”
The Siren, having missed its meal, collided with the Iceberg Queen again, but this time the sideways attack merely caused the ship to sway; it was nowhere near as forceful as the first strike.
“Aoxi, where’s Fisher?”
On the ship, Pahaz, clutching her ears, gazed at Aoxi as she laid down the rescued crew members, only to realize that Fisher was notably absent, which sent her into a panic.
Aoxi’s cloak had come loose during the earlier battle, pulling away part of the covering that hid her face and revealing her small, cherry-pink mouth.
Her overall appearance presented a country-style beauty favored by Nali gentlemen, somewhat resembling the “pure and innocent rural girl” image depictions by many Nali novelists when rich merchants visit the countryside.
Such looks might be popular in Saint Nali, but it left her feeling utterly humiliated in the matriarchal Kingdom of Sardinia, akin to a man misinterpreted as a male concubine in Shivali—particularly in the lower capacity!
Thus, over the years, she had refrained from communication with others, covering her appearance with a cloak to avoid ridicule about her looks.
Hearing Pahaz’s words, she pressed her lips together and pointed with her wing toward the sea, indicating that Fisher was still below and had yet to surface.
“My Frost Phoenix, what are you thinking? He’s a man, a man! Sacrificing himself for a bunch of women is utterly shameful! If anything goes wrong, is the captain supposed to spend the rest of her life serving a light ball?”
Pahaz clasped her face, scolding as she ran to the side of the ship, her anxiousness bordering on the point of jumping in herself to save Fisher.
Behind her, Aoxi felt a wave of shame wash over her, but the next moment, she resolutely covered the lower half of her face with her cloak and then spread her wings, calmly saying, “I’ll go save him.”
Pahaz looked at her, about to say something when she suddenly felt the entire ship starting to shake violently.
“Wait, underwater… the Siren is coming back!”
Just as Pahaz shouted anxiously, a rather sizeable vicious creature suddenly leaped from the sea at the rear of the Iceberg Queen.
“Roar!”
The creature had a massive fish tail, but its mouth mimicked that of a shark, forming a closable circular shape. Moreover, countless twisted, wavy flesh-like tentacles grew along the sides of its mouth and back, while four small, pig-like legs dangled in the air beneath.
That was the true form of the Siren.
“Roar!”
As the Siren leapt from the water, it roared while soaring through the air in a perfect arc. It seemed poised to crash into the Iceberg Queen, yet something prevented it from doing so.
Thus, the Siren passed ominously over the Iceberg Queen, its enormous body blocking the sunlight from above, casting a heavy shadow that brought forth overwhelming pressure.
As Aoxi and Pahaz both slightly dazed, thick green liquid continuously dripped from the Siren’s back, emitting a pungent odor as it splashed down onto the deck—its blood.
“Fisher?!”
Looking up, on the Siren’s back, Fisher stood steadfastly, stabbing his Fluid Sword deep into the Siren’s flesh, pulling it out from another spot, making the sword act like reins for controlling the beast, just like a weaver’s delicate thread.
At that moment, Fisher was soaked from head to toe but remained steady on the Siren’s back, repeatedly stabbing the Fluid Sword into its back, tugging at its muscles and organs.
The intense pain drove the Siren into a frenzied leap from the sea, crashing over the Iceberg Queen before plummeting back into the water.
“Bang!”
Both the Siren and Fisher crashed into the water like Shivali bombs, sending up a towering water column that gradually lost its shape, turning into countless droplets that splashed onto the incredulous face of Pahaz.
Behind her, supported by crew members, Alagina emerged from the captain’s chamber. At this moment, her captain’s uniform was entirely shredded, exposing large patches of her bruised, frozen skin.
Alagina’s expression was grim; she scanned the chaos on the deck but didn’t see Fisher, intensifying the chill on her already cold face.
“Where’s Fisher?”
Pahaz opened her mouth and then turned to look at the distant, gradually receding massive shadow in the sea.
“Fisher? Oh, he’s… riding… riding a fish? No! What fish?! He’s still hanging onto the Siren! And it’s taking him farther away! If we don’t rescue him, the Siren will drown him in the deep sea!”
Sorry, sorry
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(The end of this chapter)
