Mature Content Warning: Graphic violence

Author's Note: A short chapter, but it is action packed. :) Since some of the chapters I have posted in this volume feel more like they need to be added to other chapters, this volume will probably last another 5 - 7 chapters. :)

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Chapter 14: Liberate Me

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A loud, feminine, voice split the air. “Excuse me, gentlemen. Which way is it to the bath house?”

The Shar-Shar stared hotly at the vision standing before them. She had pale skin, soft pouty lips, expressive jade green eyes, and the biggest most curvaceous fins that any of them had ever seen.

One of the larger specimens among the fish-men gurgled out something that could not have possibly been flattering. The others laughed at the obviously crude joke.

Rhea blew them a kiss, cocked her hips to the side, and then called out, “Guess none of you are big enough to show me where I need to go...”

Several of the fish-men hopped up from their seated positions. However, the high elf had already jumped back then giggled. “No, no. You had your chance!”

She turned and ran back toward the prison quickly. A small horde of overly helpful Shar-Shar chased after her.

The chase led down into the caves under the cove. Once the Shar-Shar reached the place where the mermaids had been captured, Rhea was waiting for them near the edge of the water. She turned around then slapped herself on her perky posterior. “Did you want something?”

She gave them a naughty and exaggerated wink then dived into the water in an overly dramatic manner. Her skin and fins glittered in the dim lighting.

The Shar-Shar cried out and chased after her. They could not let such a prize escape!

However, their desire proved to be their undoing. Once they neared the water they were assaulted by five simultaneous voices screaming out a discordant song of confusion and woe.

The fifteen or so Shar-Shar cried out in agony and fell to their floor. The power of the mermaids was exponential when they grouped together. It was why they were nearly impossible to capture normally, unless they were caught alone.

Unlike when Kiley and Neira sang out their terror song, the addition of three more powerful voices not only inflicted confusion and fear, it also did small but continual damage. Numbers ranging from eight to twelve rapidly appeared over the heads of the Shar-Shar. Each of them took dozens of points of damage while they writhed on the grotto floor.

However, the song of the mermaids was not meant to be their end directly. It was designed specifically to remove their ability to react. Scott rose up from the water like a commando rising from a swamp. He stood atop a rock near the surface then immediately cast the burn spell.

Two explosions rocked the area followed by the complete destruction of the massed group. Warnings of alarm rose up around the small island that the mermaid’s called home. Dozens of Shar-Shar began to run around like they had lost their minds.

Scott, Rhea, and Ero ran along the rocky corridor toward the surface. It was time to bait the hook again.

Once on the surface Scott located a small group of Shar-Shar then cried out, “Hey fish sticks! Where’s the party at?”

They screamed in outrage then called out for their brothers. A few of the nearby fish-men heard them and came running.

Ero shot high into the air to get a better look at the surroundings. While Scott and Rhea fought the fish-men below she tried to determine how many there were left. A few of the monsters crawled up from the surrounding surf, but not many. Most of them were on the island apparently.

She relayed the information back to Scott and the man thanked her. The battle was going well at the moment. The plan had been to gather in the group of Shar-Shar that were lazing around near the grotto entrance, then use the mermaids as a back-up in case the combat team faced too many of the fish-men to fight at once.

Scott fought the small group of fish-men with his fists and boomerangs. He did not want to let them see him use magic yet, in case they chose to run. They needed to kill as many of them as possible in order to reclaim the grotto.

Rhea performed a quick spin to dodge a spear thrust then lashed out at the Shar-Shar who immediately followed her. The sword blade arced down and to the right. The fish-man was thrown off balance, and he was never given a chance to recover. The blade flew up and to the left. It neatly sheared through his throat in the process. Her blade had delivered a critical hit and the monster rapidly lost hit health.

The Shar-Shar fell to the ground while he clutched at his bleeding throat. Rhea paid no attention to him after that. Instead, while the defeated monster turned into motes of light she turned quickly and parried an attack from her first opponent. Her elbow reversed position after the parry, and then it flew upwards after the expert parry and she struck the creature in one of his bulbous eyes. That left her a perfect moment to finish the beast off.

Her free hand rose up and she gripped her sword in both hands. She stepped back then cried out, “Huaaa!” just before she performed a hard downward slash to the creature’s exposed chest. She broke through his clavicle cleanly and cleaved his left arm from his body. She was showered in his blood as a reward for her expert skill, but the deed was done.

While Rhea acted as an elven critical hit machine, Scott fought in an agile and precise manner. Primarily he drew most of the aggression by insulting the fish-men and hitting them with weak blows from his boomerangs. Whenever one went toward Rhea, he drew it back by striking it with a boomerang. He was not designed for tanking opponents, but he was the closest thing that they had to a tank.

Three spears slammed toward him with great anger and force. However, the Shar-Shar were weaker on land than in the sea. Their actual fighting capacity was more akin to a Shar-Shar several levels lower. Even if Scott had not spent most of his ability points on his stats he would have been a little stronger than they were. However, compared to him they were little more than angry and hideous children.

The sorcerer hopped back and chose to perform a quick acrobatic lateral movement to the side. The aerial cartwheel was an excellent evasive maneuver because it lowered the overall amount of body surface that an opponent could strike, while simultaneously allowing for movement in a non-standard manner and direction.

The Shar-Shar were not nearly as agile on land as they were in the sea. Their spears were long and their ability to quickly re-orient on a fast moving opponent who moves to the side was limited.

Scott peppered them with quick strikes from his boomerangs then jumped back a few times. Unlike Rhea he was not going for quick kills. His job was to keep the majority of them interested in murdering him. They needed to defeat the Shar-Shar, but she could use the experience points more than he could. He wanted her to get as many kills as possible before he introduced the fish-men to the reason why he had been given the title, “The Burning Terror.”

Time passed and Shar-Shar fell. Scott rarely had less than ten of them attempting to murder him. Rhea routinely had to deal with two or three of them. At the moment there were at least thirty of the angry fish-men in the area, most of which wanted to take a bite out of Scott. A few would prefer to nibble at Rhea, but who could blame them really.

It was not until Ero told Scott that she could see no more of the monsters on the island that things changed. Now was the time to end this battle.

Scott jumped back then cried out, “Freeze!”

The ice spell froze several of the Shar-Shar that were closest to him, and drastically slowed several more. Scott had not stopped to admire his handiwork, however. He immediately leapt back and performed a short series of acrobatic maneuvers in order to get enough distance to use his spells properly.

He shot out several rapid-fire burn spells that sent many of the fish-men flying through the air. Chunks of their burning flesh rained down around the area. Those among them who were too far away to be caught up in the blast began to shriek out, “Maghric! Maghric!”

However, a few of them did nothing but stand there staring in horror. Scott’s special ability to terrorize aquatic monsters when he used attack magic in battle had caused them to become paralyzed with fear.

Rhea took advantage of that factor to neatly gut or decapitate the frightened fish-men who were closest to her. The sudden deaths of so many of their brethren caused the fish-men to flee in terror.

Scott would have none of that, however. He chased after the fleeing fish-men and attacked them with boomerang or spell until he had defeated the remainder of them. They moved with far less speed over land than he did, and it was their undoing. An attempt to flee from a fast moving ranged attacker with great damage potential was pointless if you had little to no cover to hide behind.

After the island calmed down, the battle report appeared to them. Scott’s eyes lit up when he saw that the liberation of the grotto was considered to be complete.

<<< Battle Report >>>

Victory!

Congratulations! Your party defeated eighty-nine Shar-Shar in a single battle! You also completed the quest: Liberate the Mermaid Grotto

+ 3236 EXP

+ 8657 Fayth

+ 176 Ability Points

Item(s) Acquired:

Fish Eyes X 12

Shar-Shar Fillet X 18

Cracked Spear X 46

Fish Scale X 63

Coral Spear X 1

Soul of the Fisherman X 1 [Rare]

Pearl X 4

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You have completed the quest:Liberate the Mermaid Grotto

You receive the following rewards:

+ 12000 EXP

+ 25 Attribute Points

+ 10000 Fayth

Pearl X 12

Due to your leadership you acquire the following benefit:

+ 2 Intellect

>>

“Oh, hell yes!” said Scott.

Rhea smiled at him. “Good report?”

“I didn’t know you could get stats from completing quests.” said Scott.

The high elf nodded at him. “It depends on your contribution and party position. Leaders tend to get intellect if they devise a plan that works and it is a difficult quest.”

“Ah, that’s what I got.” said the sorcerer. Intellect was an awesome stat increase. His magical damage heavily relied on it.

Rhea grinned at him. “Look at my smart little man.”

He laughed at her. “No one has accused me of that in a while.”

Ero dropped down to where they were then smiled cutely. “You two were awesome.”

“What about you? You’re a great spotter and scout Ero.” said Rhea.

Scott nodded to the fairy. “Yeah, I wanted to say that, but the pretty elf beat me to it.”

“I can’t help it if you’re slow.” said Rhea

Scott stuck out his tongue at the girl and she tossed her hair them smiled at him. Ero just giggled happily then swayed from side to side. This was nice. She had been praised and everyone was getting along so well.

They chatted happily for a moment then turned toward the grotto entrance. The grotto had been liberated, but there was still a lot to do. The rest of the mermaids had been taken, but they had only a vague idea of where to search for them.

Back in the grotto, the mermaids had popped up above the surface of the water. Their tails fanned happily in the water and each of them war a beautiful smile.

“You did it!” said Neira

“That was hot!” said Kiley.

“So hot, Kiley.” said Geri-Geri.

“Right!” said Kiley. She winked at her friend and Geri-Geri splashed at her playfully.

“You know that we beat those guys?” asked Scott. Had they received a system message?

“Yah, totally. We can’t feel them in our grotto anymore.” said Neira.

“That was so gross, they were in every part of our grotto.” said Shelle. She pouted up at Scott. It had been horrible.

“Yah, like, what was up with that?” asked Marne. They would never get the Shar-Shar funk out of their beautiful grotto.

Scott looked to Rhea and she shook her head. The girls would need to calm down a little before they could discuss the coming mission to liberate the rest of their friends.