Chapter 754 - 741: The Resigned Mermaids
Chapter 754: Chapter 741: The Resigned Mermaids
The young mermaid who brought Norris had already hurriedly hidden in the distance.
Sword Saint Puki shielded Norris behind him, two tentacles waving, weaving a tight net of swords in front to block the raging torrent completely.
"Saphirea, calm down! I really am Elvyn!"
"How dare you insult me like this!" The Mermaid Empress’s thoughts were full of anger, the scales on her face slightly lifting in agitation, "Do you think I can’t tell? There’s no trace of Transformation Technique on you at all!"
"It’s not Transformation Technique, I was resurrected as a mushroom!" Sword Saint had never found it so difficult to speak the truth.
"Since you all refuse to be honest," a cold light flashed in Saphirea’s eyes, "I’ll just find out myself from your minds!"
"Saphirea, don’t!" Sword Saint tried to dissuade her, but the furious Mermaid Empress wouldn’t listen at all.
Saphirea used all her might to unleash the Charm of Sound.
However, as soon as the song began to rise, Sword Heart was triggered, a sharp sword light slicing through the depths of the Mermaid Empress’s consciousness.
Saphirea, as if struck heavily, let out a sharp scream of agony, her hands clasping her head tightly, rolling in the water in pain, her long hair tangling around her arms, and the streams she controlled dissipated with a crashing into a series of bubbles.
The spiritual wounds caused by Sword Heart’s counterattack shattered her composure, leaving her voice trembling with sobs: "Why... Why do you have to use him to deceive me! We have no future... That monster will devour everything in the sea! I just... just wanted to see that scoundrel one last time..."
"Empress!"
"Protect the Empress!"
The mermaids watching from afar saw the Empress injured, their eyes widening in anger, and they rushed towards Sword Saint and Norris.
Sword Saint didn’t fear these mermaids, but he didn’t want things to get out of hand.
At the critical moment, he had no choice but to suddenly say, "On the right side of your tail, you’re naturally missing a scale! You always used a shell to cover it, afraid the other mermaids would laugh at you!"
Saphirea’s headache hadn’t subsided, but she forcibly stopped her cries of pain, looking at the Puki surrounded by the mermaids with suspicion and uncertainty.
"Even if you say that..."
"You like to sleep lying on your back on the sea surface! When you fall asleep, you grind your teeth!" Sword Saint’s recount was urgent and fast, not giving Saphirea a chance to interject, "Back then, you secretly went ashore and got knocked unconscious by a fruit falling from a tree, when I found you, you were almost dehydrated and suffocated! And that time, I roasted crabs, the first time you saw fire, you were so foolish..."
"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!" Saphirea swam swiftly forward and grabbed Sword Saint Puki’s mushroom cap with such force that the cap was deformed, her ear fins tinged with a faint blush, "Don’t say anymore!"
Sword Saint quieted down, and there was a brief silence.
She released her grip and looked incredulously at the round Puki before her, her voice carrying a hint of hesitation: "How... how could he share these trivial details with others? Who exactly are you...?"
Elvyn’s mushroom cap twisted listlessly: "As I said, as you see, this is how I am now."
"Could it be... your human form before was a transformation?"
"Wait, wait! What are you thinking!" Sword Saint’s tentacles bent slightly, "I was originally human! I only became Puki after dying!"
"Died...?"
Elvyn rambled on explaining for a good while before Saphirea finally understood the situation.
The farce finally subsided, and the mermaids withdrew their weapons, but still watched that strange Puki and the tailless lizardman hiding his neck intently.
Saphirea seemed to completely forget the injuries she just suffered, cradling Sword Saint Puki and observing him: "Land is truly amazing, I always thought resurrection meant returning to one’s original form, turns out it could mean becoming a mushroom monster!"
"No, normally you wouldn’t become Puki... or rather, now it seems ’normal’ really does mean becoming Puki..." Elvyn was being manipulated like a toy but didn’t resist, though Norris vaguely felt he wished he could just find a hole to crawl into.
After marveling for a moment, Saphirea suddenly hugged Sword Saint Puki tightly: "It’s so great, to die with you in the end, it’s really great!"
Sword Saint promptly used his tentacles to push her chin away and escaped.
The emptiness in her arms, Saphirea looked at Sword Saint Puki with a bit of danger in her eyes, yet suddenly felt this refusal was so familiar, her gaze changing continuously.
Sword Saint Puki tightened the leather strap tying the sword to him: "Why die? It’s not good to be alive? Aren’t you all fine?"
Saphirea’s expression darkened: "We are about to go extinct, just like those of our kind who’ve lost themselves."
Her tone was very flat, as if she had long accepted this fact, and the other mermaids showed no surprise at her words.
"Come with me."
Saphirea led Sword Saint Puki away, while Norris was left forgotten where he was.
Just as he was wondering if he should find a place to squat and wait for the outcome, a few mermaids cautiously swam over, speaking a language Norris couldn’t understand, but their hands touched his silvery scales.
Elvyn was led to a stone grotto adorned with coral, where hundreds of fishmen were singing in unison.
The power in the voices converged and merged within the grotto, finally dispersing from the top, forming a membrane that enveloped the entire sanctuary.
"Relying on the chorus ceremony, we can hide this place. However, this is only temporary."
"This place can’t sustain so many mermaids, for food, some of us have to go out and explore."
"But outside, there aren’t just those monsters; even the fish, shrimp, and seaweed have been eaten to near depletion by them, and the food we stored early on is running low, when we first pulled you in, we mistakenly thought you were a big mushroom we could eat..."
"Recently, it has been using the captured clansmen to create a similar chorus."
"It won’t take long; we’ll either starve to death or the sanctuary’s shield will be broken, and we’ll all be devoured by that monster."
Saphirea swam over, holding the edges of the mushroom cap with both hands, looking at him deeply: "Elvyn, my love, be with me! If it’s you, death doesn’t seem so frightening."
Sword Saint once again gently pushed away the Mermaid Empress’s hands: "Death truly isn’t something to fear, but that doesn’t mean we have to die! Just kill those bugs, isn’t it?"
"Elvyn, I know you’re great, and I know people call you Sword Saint when you returned. But that monster... I’ve never seen a creature grow so huge and so evil, no one can stand against it, not even you, the powerful Sword Saint."
"By the sound of it, you’ve seen its entire form and not just a tentacle?" Sword Saint’s point of concern was clearly different.
Just as Sword Saint wanted to continue asking, the membrane overhead began to shake violently, with a faint, incredibly evil sound seeping through from outside.
The Land of Shelter immediately fell into chaos.
Some mermaids, eyes blazing with anger, planned to fight to the death; some frantically fled, attempting to hide; most, however, simply waited quietly, having long accepted their fate.
"Finally... it still found us." The sound wave membrane above trembled more intensely, and Saphirea looked at Sword Saint Puki with a look of desolation, reluctance, and a hint of relief, "Elvyn, I know you don’t want to die with me, I’ll open a path for you and your companion, flee."
"Sigh—" Elvyn rolled out the four longswords behind him, looking up towards the top with his mushroom cap, "I’ll protect you."
"Elvyn—!" Saphirea gazed at Puki’s rounded back, as if seeing the handsome youth of the past.
At this moment, Norris scratched his head, hesitantly approaching: "Sorry, for interrupting, but I can’t shake the feeling this voice sounds a bit like..."
Pop—
The membrane burst like a bubble, the concealing effect completely lost, and the terrifying, disgusting chorus flooded into every mermaid’s ears.
Before even seeing the enemy, merely hearing the chorus made many mermaids feel their stomachs churn, collapsing weakly to the ground.
"Little mermaid, turned into bubble, a gentle poke and pop~" Countless white ragged bags floated down slowly from above, accompanied by the frightening overlapping chorus, "Tsk tsk tsk tsk~ finally... found you!"
"Ahem." Sword Saint Puki sheathed his sword and turned to Saphirea, saying a bit embarrassedly: "Not an enemy, it’s the boss..."
Saphirea: ???