Mature Content Warning: A little foul language, and a horny mermaid.

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long. I've been conscripted into doing construction and demolition work frequently in the last few days. So, I had no chance to write anything till today. This chapter is shorter than I would like, but at least it sets the stage for the first arc of this volume. :)

Chapter 26: Super Horny Fish Jerky!

The gentle crackle of the campfire flame provided both comfort and security in a dark and foreboding night. Scott was a grown man. He had spent more than one dark night surrounded by unfamiliar terrain. Yet, there was nothing as strange to him as the endless expanse of the ocean in the middle of the night.

Rhea was unconscious at the moment. He could not be certain if she had gone to sleep or simply logged out. Ero had decided that she needed to take a nap as well. That left the man alone with his thoughts.

He looked out to the midnight sea and wondered about the future between engaging in remembrance of his past. Scott had tried to ignore it, but there were many things about his current life and mental state that did not feel right. The background music currently played a soft and gentle song that perfectly emphasized the moment.

The sorcerer looked down at his hands and considered them carefully. They had become instruments of death in this world. He had taken well over a thousand lives already. Yes, none of them would die and be gone forever, but he had still done it. What was worse, he had actually begun to enjoy it.

Scott flexed his fingers and thought about the sound of cracking bones and ripping flesh. He listened to the death screams of many of the creatures he had slain. The feel of those bones giving way beneath his fist; the sight of blood spurting out in a brilliant crimson arc... Why didn’t they make him sick? What was he becoming?

It was a dream was it not? Go to a fantasy world and live life like it was some sort of live-action roleplaying game. Fight monsters, get the girl... Yet, he felt disquiet about it all. It was not due to the immature desire to be some sort of hero. He could have understood and accepted that. No, what disturbed him was how much he had begun to truly enjoy taking away the lives of other creatures.

He curled his fingers into a fist. With that hand he had taken more lives in one month than he had taken in thirty years of life back on Earth, and that included a decade spent as a soldier.

“Dammit... What’s wrong with me?” Scott questioned his fist. He wanted to know why. He needed to understand what had changed to make him feel so much joy from overcoming his opponents.

“Is this right? Am I supposed to do things like this?” Scott asked his fist those questions but it refused to give him solace or to provide the answers that he sought.

Scott looked up from his fist and gazed out to sea. Then he tilted his head up to the moon. He spent a moment gazing upon it as it hung low and full in the sky. “Why?”

That question is what haunted him. It was fun to travel, to gain levels. However, what was the real reason? What drove him forward? Why did he feel joy and a need to hurt things just to become stronger? What purpose did any of it serve?

“What use do I have for getting stronger, other than being stronger?” asked the man while looking up at the uncaring moon.

His emotional conflict was put on hold a moment later when he saw something truly surprising. Something flopped out of the water onto the surf, a strange and mythological something. “Is that a mermaid?” Scott asked the empty air.

He stood up then moved to where Rhea was sleeping. He shook her gently, but she did not awaken. No amount of shaking caused her to budge. Scott reached the only conclusion that he could in this situation. “Damn, she really did log out.”

The sorcerer wanted to go check out the newcomer, but he could not leave Rhea vulnerable. At least, he could not do so without good reason. So far, the supposed mermaid had not done anything other than flop onto the beach.

However, the new arrival did not come alone. Out of the surf rose several dark creatures. It was hard to see any real detail at this distance, as the night was dark.

The dark creatures who rose from the surf looked like something out of an old monster movie. Scott did not know what they were called in this world, but he knew names from Earth. Sahuagin, Mermen, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and several others. They were rarely good people in any of those offerings. He did not want to think of himself as a racist, but if this world was truly patterned off of human pop-culture and mythology then those fish men were trouble.

The mermaid cried out after she spotted the fish people. She desperately clawed at the sand and flopped forward further from the shore. She was moving toward the campfire! That could not be coincidence. The tent that they were using provided a special sanctuary field. Monsters should not be able to see it. That could only mean that either the effect had been defeated, or the mermaid was not a monster.

Scott had to make a decision. Rhea should be safe, if still slightly vulnerable inside the sanctuary field. Whoever that girl was, she was trying to reach the firelight. That meant that she knew that there was possibly safety or help there. The fish guys did not seem to notice the light at all. If they did, they did not care about it at the moment.

He did not want to step into the arguments and issues of other people. For all he knew, that mermaid could be some sort of thief. However, his instincts told him that the girl crawling for safety was trying to fend off a monster attack. There was no way for him to currently know the level or difficulty of those possible monsters, but he could not sit there and let them get her. Even if that was the smart thing to do, he would never forgive himself.

The sanctuary field had been erected on top of a hill, so that they could see the surrounding area better. Scott ran down the hill, on the opposite side of the mermaid’s location. He spent several precious seconds moving around the base of that hill in order to try and throw off the fish people in case they really were monsters.

Scott ran out onto the beach and called out, “What’s going on out here?”

Some might think that announcing his presence would be foolish. However, he knew better. What if he had been wrong?

What if the mermaid were a criminal and those fish guys had been lawfully tracking her down? She could be a psychotic killer for all he knew. No, he had to get involved but he did not have to take sides immediately.

“Gruaghrkle.” said one of the fish men after pointing at the unarmored human running toward them.

There were seven of the scaled monsters. Three of them immediately raced toward Scott with their spears drawn. The lead fish dude shouted, “Meaghrt!”

Scott suspected that the creature had slurred out the word, “Meat.” As far as he was concerned, that was a good enough answer to his question when it came to who he should try to help.

The fact that the background music changed to an edgier battle tune also helped his decision making process along. It was a simple and effective tune, but it did not evoke much as a sense of danger. Scott was uncertain what to make of that until he made his first attack.

The sorcerer decided to help them in their desire to find meat by creating a little barbecue of his own. “Burn!” cried the man. A golf ball sized dart of flame flew from his hand.

The closest of the monsters did not even have time to cry out before he was caught up in an explosion that tore his body apart. The burning chunks of fish man splattered across the sand like unholy shrapnel and would continue to smoke for quite some time.

“Maghric! Maghric!” screeched the apparent leader of the group. The fish men who had been rushing toward Scott stopped suddenly and flailed their arms before turning around and all possible speed. They ran like their scaly asses were on fire, or rather from the fear that they soon would be.

“Come back here! Don’t you know how much I like fish nuggets!” called Scott before trotting toward the crawling mermaid. Actually, he preferred chicken nuggets but they did not need to know that.

The fish men fled back into the sea. Not long after the anti-climactic battle the musical score changed to the soft and gentle tune from before. Despite the fact that the battle had felt like some sort of event to the man, the world treated it as though it were nothing special. A battle report popped up not long after and he smiled at the result.

Battle Report!

Congratulations!

You defeated a Shar-Shar and made fish jerky out of it in the process!

+ 0 EXP

+ 88 Fayth

+2 Ability Points

Item(s) Acquired:

Shar-Shar Jerky X 1

“Neat, jerky...” He checked his survival lore ring to see how much experience he had earned. He had decided that he would wear it until he learned the skills that it contained. It would give Rhea a chance to catch up to his level, and it would also allow him to finally receive those needed skills.

“Hmm... not bad!” He had gained nearly six hundred points of experience from a single Shar-Shar!

“He must have been around level twenty if he gave me two ability points... Probably weak to magic.” That would also explain why they raced off so quickly.

Either way, the man stopped musing about his incredibly heroic victory. He remembered the reason that he came out in the first place. He walked over toward the feebly crawling mermaid then stopped a few feet from her position. He eyed her carefully for a moment. After a brief moment passed, she looked up at him. “Please...”

Scott preferred not to get too close, yet. Just because the fish men were hungry assholes did not mean she was an innocent victim. “What do you need?”

“My people... please...” the girl lifted out hand and reached out to him.

“What about them? Why did you come here?” he asked. Scott felt uncomfortable questioning her like this, but he had to find out a little more information.

She started to cry. “My people have been captured by the Shar-Shar tribe. I escaped but some of them chased me...”

“Yes...and...” said Scott.

“I saw your sanctuary fire and I hoped to find help... please. I’ll do anything...” The mermaid pushed herself up slightly.

“Anything?” asked Scott curiously. That was a rather interesting thing to offer.

“We’ll be glad to help.” said a familiar voice. Scott turned to see Rhea standing behind him, two torch stones floating in the area. Due to the increased light he could see her expression clearly, not that he enjoyed the heavy frown that she leveled in his direction.

“You will? Thank you!” said the mermaid. Rhea walked closer and the stones lit up the area to a greater degree. The mermaid was revealed to have and earnest and thankful expression.

The fish-tailed girl reached out toward Scott, completely ignoring Rhea’s presence despite the fact that she was the one who offered to help. The sorcerer smiled at the aquatically oriented girl, but secretly wondered what that was about.

Rhea spoke up, loudly, “We should get you to the campfire so you’ll be safe and you can change out of that form.”

The mermaid smiled softly up at Scott then spread her arms out as though she wanted a hug. “OK. Can you help me get there?”

The elf girl snorted then strode over and gripped the mermaid by the hands. The fish-tailed girl cried out in panic, but did not have the strength to fight back. Rhea hoisted her over her shoulder, like she was carrying a sack of clothes then turned toward the campfire.

“No, no... Let him carry Me.” cried the mermaid.

Rhea snorted once more then casually walked away. The mermaid looked back and Scott with a forlorn expression and reached out toward him.

The sorcerer blinked slowly. What the hell had that been about?

“No, he’s so far away now!” cried the mermaid. She began to wiggle and squirm.

“He’ll be over in a minute. Calm down.” said Rhea before she unleashed a loud sigh.

Scott followed them toward the campfire. He had several questions that he wanted answered.

Once they arrived at their camp Rhea gently lowered the fish-tailed girl to the ground. Once Scott entered the area, the elf girl casually moved to stand in front of him. “Be careful, alright Scott?”

“What’s going on, Rhea?” asked Scott.

“Scott? What a perfectly handsome name.” murmured the mer-girl.

“Uh... Thanks?” Scott tilted his head to the side and blinked.

Rhea leaned toward him then whispered into his ear. “Try not to talk to her much right now. I trust you, but she has certain needs.”

“Needs?” asked Scott in a quiet voice. What sort of needs was she talking about?

The elf maiden sighed once more then shook her head before whispering. “Mermaids are an all-female race. They have to mate with a suitable male from a different species. They have a severe fetish for human males.”

“Wait... You’re telling me that she’s ...” Scott started to say.

Rhea finished for him with a whisper. “Super horny? Yes. She’ll be fine by morning. They get like this on the nights of the full moon. Consider it their mating season.”

Scott stared at the elf girl. “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard you say that word before?”

Her cheeks became flushed and she shook her head. “We can discuss my vocal habits later, OK?”

“Sure...” said Scott with a smile.

“Oh, hey... What’s with the private conversation? I might be a little jealous.” said the mermaid. She pouted cutely at Scott then fluttered her eyelashes.

In the light of the fire, the sorcerer could see that the newcomer was quite a beauty in her own right. A man without romantic attachments would probably be helpless before her overall enthusiasm.

After a few minutes passed in idle chatter, a strange event occurred. The mermaid shimmered gently in the light and her tail split apart. Slowly her split tail became two finely formed human legs. “Oh, that is so much better!”

The girl struggled to stand for a moment, and then managed the feat. “Yes! So this is what it’s like to have feet?” She wiggled her toes then giggled at them.

“You’ve never had feet before?” asked Scott curiously.

She looked at him then lowered her lashes and looked down at the ground in an approximation of shyness. “No... Never. I’ve never done a lot of interesting things before.”

“And you won’t be doing them tonight, either.” said Rhea in an authoritative tone.

Scott smirked at the girl. It was kind of cute when she marked her territory. Ever since the Ero incident, Rhea had taken much greater interest in anyone even remotely female who came close to Scott.

“That’s mean... I don’t want to keep him forever. I just want to have his babies. Is that so bad?” asked the girl with an innocent and curious expression.

Rhea snorted at her. “Not happening. How about you tell us about your people being kidnapped, instead?”

“My people? Oh! Yes, my people. Um, well the Shar-Shar invaded our Grotto and captured my sisters. They have tried it before, and failed. But they used the full moon against us this time.”

“The full moon causes you problems when defending yourselves?” asked Scott.

The mermaid nodded at him then pouted a little. “Yes, we become weak and can barely defend ourselves. If only we had a big strong man to protect us...”

Rhea rolled her eyes. “Yes, well you do not have one. Tell us more about the Shar-Shar. How strong were they?”

“Well, that’s no fun...” said the girl before looking up at Scott. He had the good sense not to reply to her, and only smiled in response.

Rhea cleared her throat loudly and the mermaid turned back to her. “The Shar-Shar.”

“Oh, right. Well, they are not actually strong in our area. They are few in number, but aggressive. If not for taking advantage of us during the full moon, we would have easily driven then off with our magic.”

“Your magic is weaker too, now?” asked Scott.

“No, it’s stronger... it just focuses in a different direction.” She raised her foot and wiggled her toes at him.

“Mermaids gain the power to transform into a human-like form on the nights of the full moon, but lose their other magic. They can also completely ignore normal issues with race and mate with almost anything that is humanoid and male.” said Rhea.

Scott looked from Rhea to the mermaid and the fish-girl lifted her chin then ran her tongue gently along her lower lip. He winced then shook his head in response. “I think I wandered into a different game...”

Rhea snorted at him then grinned. “You wish you did.”

He smiled at the blue haired elf then looked back at the mermaid. “You know, we never introduced ourselves. My name is

Scott. This lovely elf is Rhea. What’s your name?”

The girl giggled sweetly at him then said, “My name is Neira... Scott.”

“And Rhea.” said Rhea.

“Uh.... Yes, Scott and Rhea...” said Neira.

The beautiful aquatically oriented girl turned back to Scott then bit her lower lip while smiling gently. She waved her fingers at him cutely.

Scott, uncertain what to do, waved back while sharing a nervous smile of his own. He did not want to be rude after all.

Rhea groaned softly. It was going to be a long night.