[71] Rescuing Merfolks
<span style="font-weight:400">Chapter 71: Rescuing Merfolks
<span style="font-weight:400">—
<span style="font-weight:400">The building was twelve stories high, and my [<b>Jade Perception</b><span style="font-weight:400">] said the merfolks were on the basement floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">The guards were scattered across all the floors, though the basement naturally held most of them. I was on the very top floor, and currently I was hiding behind an open door frame.
<span style="font-weight:400">"This is boring," I heard a guard say as he crossed paths with another guard.
<span style="font-weight:400">They patrolled in opposite directions, so every few minutes they''d cross paths and stop for a chat. Now was that time.
<span style="font-weight:400">"That''s the job." The other guard stopped too and shrugged.
<span style="font-weight:400">Though I called them guards and they did carry military-grade rifles, I could sense traces of mana inside their guns. In their barrels. They were carrying magic bullets. If I''m not careful, it might be fatal even for me.
<span style="font-weight:400">"When will the Captain return?" The first guard, let''s call him Guard A, asked Guard B.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Eh, not sure. He doesn''t have any reason to return to the base unless he gets into trouble in the sea. To begin with, he''s in the sea because it''s safer than thend. At least for someone with his skill set."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Ah right, he''s part of the Leviathan n. I keep forgetting it since he''s a lot of other things." Guard A concluded, which gave me a lot of information to go with.
<span style="font-weight:400">I knew whoever the Captain of this Pirate crew was, was a Dark Mage in the past. But to think he was a devil, too. A part of the Leviathan n, known for sea-rted powers.
<span style="font-weight:400">Does this Captain have that unique ability – Sea Serpent of the End? If he does, it might make things troublesome if I have to resort to fighting him in the sea.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Let''s continue the stroll," Unfortunately the guards didn''t give me anything else to work with. They began to separate, their backs facing one another.
<span style="font-weight:400">They passed by my door, and I took that chance to step between them. Before they could turn around and register me, my hands held their shoulders.
<span style="font-weight:400"><b>[Fulmination of Cyclone]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">The Underlord technique that was used to render the Jaguar Warrior into a cluster of flesh and bones surged out of my hands. I lowered the intensity to keep the effect within their bodies, as I didn''t want some kind of sensor within the other guards to sense my Qi.
<span style="font-weight:400">While [<b>Wrath of the Roaring Sky</b><span style="font-weight:400">] turned enemies to dust, this technique did a more gorey job as it disassembled the body into chunks.
<span style="font-weight:400">The technique coursed through their veins and left it sted, causing the two men''s mouths, noses, eyes, and ears to burst into blood as they gently fell to the floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Floor 12, clear." I muttered as I looked at theirmunication devices to make sure the electricity destroyed those too.
<span style="font-weight:400">There was nobody else on this floor. But the lower the floor went, I could sense the numbers growing.
<span style="font-weight:400">It was really easy to raid this building, as it wasn''t enchanted by magic to stop my senses. With the help of my Copper Eyes and Jade Perception, it was as if ying a shooting game with "Wall Hack". I didn''t waste time and went down to the 11th floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">….
<span style="font-weight:400">I moved fast, there was no need to waste time. The more time passed, the more chances of someone realizing that their number was being cut down.
<span style="font-weight:400">In under ten minutes, I managed to finish all the floors. A total of 66 guards were on the floors, and I dealt with them all.
<span style="font-weight:400">This was a pretty big organization if they could have 66 guards on side watch, while arger number waited in the basement.
<span style="font-weight:400">"How boring," I shook my head. And this wasn''t even the main job. I had to go down now and kill all the guards, but interrogate the higher-ups about where in the sea I could find their Captain.
<span style="font-weight:400">I walked to the elevator that they used to travel below. I pressed the ↓ button and waited for the elevator toe. The door parted soon and I gently walked in.
<span style="font-weight:400">A few secondster, the door parted again to reveal a hallway. Two guards stood by the elevator as they blinked at me, looking at each other before quickly realizing the situation.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Intru-" one of them began to yell, while the other one almost shot his magic rifle. I let out two tendrils of [<b>Gale Grapple</b><span style="font-weight:400">] that grabbed their necks and snapped them in two.
<span style="font-weight:400">I walked out of the elevator while the two guards'' bodies fell behind me.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, I began to rampage.
<span style="font-weight:400">There was no need to hold back now, it was impossible to not get detected by them as the area was very small. Instead of hiding and taking them out one by one, I followed my [<b>Jade Perception</b><span style="font-weight:400">] and sted towards the chamber where I sensed the merfolks with a surge of Lightning Qi.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Intruder! There is an intruder!" People sensed my Lightning Qi and yelled, but I didn''t stop.
<span style="font-weight:400">Taking multiple twists and turns, I found myself in front of a metal door.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Time to use a Cloud attack technique," I said as I called forth my Cloud Qi and held my hand curled around an invisible hilt.
<span style="font-weight:400">A massive hammer of cloud formed in my hand, and I swung it at full force against the door. A loud thud resonated around the building and the door was sted out of its restraints.
<span style="font-weight:400">There was an opening in the room. I went inside as the hammer of cloud dissipated, stepped over the fallen door, and caught the highly alert gazes of four guards in the room. Along with that, I caught the scared eyes of two dozen merfolks.
<span style="font-weight:400">Half of the room was constrained by bars, making it a prison. Behind the bars were the fish people I was supposed to rescue, while four highly equipped guards stood outside it. They weren''t just highly equipped, they were magically strong too.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Who the hell is this bastard?!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Talk less, cast spells!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"[<b>Ice Spear</b><span style="font-weight:400">]!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"[<b>Fire Bolt</b><span style="font-weight:400">]!"
<span style="font-weight:400">Two of the mages yelled while two others raised their guns. I channeled lightning and used [<b>Thunderstep</b><span style="font-weight:400">] by my feet. I moved like a blitz around the room with a knife in my hand that I took from one of the guards. I coated the de in superheated electricity, making it glow red as I dove it through the necks of the guards.
<span style="font-weight:400">Bullets and Spells flew as they tried to resist, but I was faster than that. My feet danced on the floor and the knife went through the throats of one, two, three, and then thest Mage. Within just 4 seconds, four dead bodies fell to the floor at once.
<span style="font-weight:400">"M-more areing!" the merfolks must have caught on that I was an ally as they yelled in warning while pointing to the door. The guards whom I skipped over were rushing towards this location.
<span style="font-weight:400">While there were no mages, there were too many of them. All of them carried rifles that might hurt me, and even if one was not enough to do any damage, thousands of bullets would be painful at the very least. There was also the worry that the prison faced the door, so the moment the showers of bullets happened, many of the merpeople would fall.
<span style="font-weight:400">I ran out of the door. Then, I resonated with an Icon.
<span style="font-weight:400">The [<b>Crown Icon</b><span style="font-weight:400">] manifested over the building, floating in the sky, and I called forth my authority over humanity with a loud growl.
<span style="font-weight:400">''Haah, the Emperor again.'' I sighed and let my voice boom. "<b>Humanity, lower your heads</b><span style="font-weight:400">."
<span style="font-weight:400">Their weapons fell out of their hands and they fell to their knees. A part of me felt betrayed to myself as I weaved lightning through my veins and let out arge surge of voltage towards the dozens of humans who were bowing to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">''They were heretics working with a devil,'' I reasoned as chains of lightning burned nearly a hundred humans at once, filling the area with their agony-filled yells. ''They deserve to die. Yes. Besides… I don''t care for humanity as a whole of this world.''
<span style="font-weight:400">The chain of <b>[Fulmination of Cyclone]</b><span style="font-weight:400"> did its job as the bodies fell on the floor with their mouths, noses, eyes all bleeding. They were dead. I canceled the technique and let out a soft breath.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Done," I said and cracked my neck, and my Icon also vanished from the sky.
<span style="font-weight:400">I turned back to face the prison. All the merfolks were looking at me in shock and awe, and more than a little bit of fear as well. I walked into the room again and a couple of them flinched back, and I raised my hand in response.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I pose no harm to you, I''m here to rescue you all. This is the Hawaii region if you didn''t know, and apparently Quetzalcoatl rules around these parts. So Antis asked help from the Aztecs, and that''s why I''m here on Quetzalcoatl''s behalf." I said in clear English, and I hoped they understood since one of them had yelled in English earlier.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Ah, I see…" a middle-aged man, whom I recognized to be the same voice who had yelled in a warning earlier, stepped up from the crowd and nodded at me.
<span style="font-weight:400">He was half a man with the bottom half of a fish, his red scales glistened under the room''s light. He had sharp eyes and a short gray beard with quite a noble look in his eyes. He didn''t look arrogant, however, so good for him because his flesh smelled delicious.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Then thank you for saving us, young human. My name is Robert, I am the butler of the Princess. Since you''re here, does that mean Lord Quetzalcoatl is in the sea and saving our princess?" The butler man, Robert, asked in an almost certain tone.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Uh, no? No. I am supposed to go find wherever this Princess of yours is now. I''m the only one here, I''ll go save her." I said with a tilt of my head, making the butler blink.
<span style="font-weight:400">He looked a bit disappointed but nodded. "I see. I shan''t judge your capabilities after seeing what you just did, but you still have to be careful with it. Ah, before that, can you free us?"
<span style="font-weight:400">Right, they were still inside their cells. I looked around in search of a key before I let them out one by one.
<span style="font-weight:400">….
<span style="font-weight:400">A few minutester, we were out of the building and near the sea. The merfolks began to slide into the sea one by one, their expression easing with a relieved look as they felt water on their skin again, while I stood before them with my arms crossed and knees submerged in the water.
<span style="font-weight:400">"If you go down north, you should find a portal to a cave in the Far Shore, Earth. Quetzalcoatl awaits you there with many other merfolks. Before you go, can you tell me where I might find your princess?" I asked while looking at Robert.
<span style="font-weight:400">He took a dip in the water before poking his head out again and nodding. "Based on what I can sense, she is west ahead from here. I know she is locked up in a ship, and given her size, the ship must be quiterge so you won''t miss it. Be careful, however. The Captain of these pirates is great with water magic, and he can even control the sea beasts to an extent."
<span style="font-weight:400">"I will be careful, thank you." I nodded to him and he nodded back. He looked at his fellow merfolks and they gave me onest grateful smile before diving away.
<span style="font-weight:400">I stood on the shore until I sensed their presence fade into the portal deep underwater. I counted all of them vanishing, and then I let the wind carry me to the sky.
<span style="font-weight:400">"If this Captain has dominion over water, it''s better for me to take the air again. Half the job is done, let''s finish the other half."
<span style="font-weight:400">I shot through the sky and decided to pick up my speed by calling forth [<b>Tiger Icon</b><span style="font-weight:400">]. Ack ofmunication from their base might put them on their edge, so I had to find them as soon as possible before they could expect an attack. The Mirage Frame of a tiger formed around me and began to run through the sky like a hungry cheetah.
<span style="font-weight:400">**
<span style="font-weight:400">**
<span style="font-weight:400">**
<b>If you want to read the next 20 chapters right away, visit my Patreon.</b>
<b>Link: /Master4thWall</b>