Our combined spell hit the ship’s hull and a metallic plate underneath flared to life with arcane runes. The wave intended to push the fleet away vanished as if it’d never existed. We tried again to the same effect. Unless we destroyed the enchantment, water magic could not affect the vessel.
It was a sensible countermeasure. There was no way they didn’t know they would face water creatures, and I think aquatic monster encounters are frequent enough to warrant this kind of protection.
But they couldn’t move without oars. I approached the ship and inspected the plates. There were nine, one on the bow and four along each side. They were meant to repeal and harm attackers. I touched a plate and a huge surge of lightning assaulted me.
> You were hit with lightning for 304 HP. Mana shield burned 101 MP. Magic Eater restored 97 MP. (1,200 [-180 prismatic skin] base x3 Size x5 Enchantment x2 Perk x0.85 Magic eater x0.75 affinity x0.03 Lightning Resistance V).
That was meant to shock huge monsters, like the Heralds. I doubted it was cheap, though. Three hundred HP, about my regen per second, and I felt just a tingle from the attack. I struck the plate until it died down. Then I used a {Force Blade} to cut it out of the ship and stored it in my item box. Score! Later, I intended to replicate it around the reef and key it to ignore mermaids.
Before I could move on the other plates, I sensed people diving into the water. Five knights wearing finned helms and metallic plate armor were swimming my way, armed with spears. Their helmets were open in the front and there was a film, some kind of bubble in front of their faces. They were breathing air normally.
It was still a ridiculous sight. The guys were in full plate underwater and they swam as easy as walking on land. That’s magic for you.
I let {Keening} warn them of the danger they were about to face. Even if they didn’t stop, the penalty to their combat Skills was worth the time.
> Contested Charisma test successful.
Unnerved, they still pressed on. It was a testament to their courage and training.
I warned them.
Two of them threw their spears at me. I stored one in the item box and dodged the other. The spear that missed zipped back to its owner’s hand. The other three used something like {Charge} to close the distance and strike.
I flicked my tail and arms, ducking and bobbing under and around their strikes. They could move underwater in their metal armor, but they weren’t aquatic creatures. Compared to my ridiculous stacking mobility Perks, they had no chance. {Harried Defense} and {Home Ground} eliminated any penalties from defending against a group of attackers.
But it would take one lucky blow to get me. Their levels were all in the nineties. Before the System update, they would be considered the elite of the elite.
My stomach churned with butterflies. Even if I loathed it, I knew I had to fight back. I wasn’t strong enough to subdue this whole expedition.
> Manastorm
>
> Wail of the Banshee
I unleashed my area attacks at their full power and range. I shifted into Lakerta’s form. The [Blue Lamia] was almost as mobile underwater as my mermaid form but this way I could make use of her [Champion] defensive Perks. Moreover, I could use the rattle to maintain the {Wail} and keep my mouth shut.
The high-leveled knights resisted the Wail, taking only the damage.
“For Virturia!” One of them shouted. Underwater. His armor looked a bit different with more ornaments and better enchantments. He might be a commander. As I scanned their battlefield, I could see they were
I dodged one, parried another two. The remaining spears found their mark, scratching my snake tail.
“{Champion’s Challenge}!” I targeted the one that shouted. Pushing the water with my tail, I used a burst from {Water Jet} to accelerate. {Flash Step} brought me within striking distance and I punched. At the last moment, I noticed I lacked a melee weapon.
> You punched Virturia Knight for 5,852 HP of arcane damage (Base 21 (-5 armor) x1,96 Skill x1.6 Strength x3 Champion x3 Mana Strike x3 Flash Step x2 Blood Sacrifice (441 HP) x3 Arcane Smite x1.5 Favored Slayer x0.6 Armor x0.8 Riot Defense).
>
> Disarm: Contested Strength and Dexterity (vs Strength) test successful.
>
> Glorious Charge: Target is stunned for 4 seconds (base 5 x0.8 Stun Resistance)
Did his armor reduce the base damage? Another update? I got his spear and sent it to the item box. Punching him was stupid but it had its merits.
> You gained 1 rank in Karate.
>
> You gained the perk: Master Karate (ultra-rare): Your strikes ignore half of the target’s defenses. You deal 5% damage per Skill rank and the damage is upgraded to d8.
I’m climbing to the peak of martial arts, baby!
> You punched Virturia Knight for 2,333 HP of damage (Base 29 (-2 armor) x2.5 Skill x1.6 Strength x3 Champion x3 Mana Strike x2 Blood Sacrifice (441 HP) x1.5 Favored Slayer x0.8 Armor).
>
> You punched Virturia Knight for 2,592 HP of damage (Base 32 (-2 armor) (...)
>
> You punched Virturia Knight for 2,851 HP of damage (Base 35 (-2 armor) (...)
>
> You punched Virturia Knight for 4,924 HP of damage (Base 59 (-2 armor) (...)
And before his stun wore off, I {Shadow Warped} behind him. A well-placed {Backstab} put him out of commission.
> You punched Virturia Knight for 0 HP of damage. Virturia Knight is unconscious for 3 hours and 16 minutes.
>
> Peaceful Resolution. You gained 800M Exp. (Base 90,250 x3.05 Exp Boost, x256 Fast Learner, x7.59 Favored Enemy x3,05 Champion’s Challenge x0.5 PR).
>
> You reached Spell-Singer level 20.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser granted you 12 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained +5 Strength +10 Dexterity +5 Endurance +10 Mind +10 Willpower +10 Charisma +20 Magic +10 Luck, and +10 Soul.
>
> You gained 140 HP, 300 MP, and 180 SP.
>
> You have 11 Spell-Singer Perks.
>
> A Class Rank-Up is available.
>
> You reached Veiled Dolphin-Mermaid level 8.
>
> You gained 8 Attribute Points.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser granted you 4 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 2 Endurance, 2 Mind, 4 Willpower, 2 Charisma, 2 Luck 4 Magic, and 4 Soul
>
> You gained 112 Skill Points.
>
> You gained 4 Human Perks.
>
> You have 232M Exp available.
I didn’t expect that the second path would also give Attribute Points, but it made sense. I had to get the {Third Path} Perk just because of that. I dumped the Attribute Points in Ego. It was the primary Attribute for me as it affected everything. Especially it being the key Attribute for {Epic Constitution).
> Level 68 (1st Path: 88)
>
> Strength: 18+17 / 40 - Dexterity: 10+24 / 40 - Endurance: 26+19 / 40
>
> Mind: 30+24 / 40 - Willpower: 28+22 / 40 - Charisma: 10+22 / 40
>
> This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
>
> Magic: 40+32 / 40
>
> Ego: 40+12 - Luck: 8+27 / 40 - Soul: 40+22
>
> HP 3,120,432 (1,083 HP/s)
>
> MP 2,885,960 (342,834 MP/h)
>
> SP 1,442,070 (104,883 SP/h)
Maybe I could do it. Maybe I could win without killing. One could hope. I felt a disturbance and became ethereal out of caution.
One of the knights snuck behind me and his stab went through me. The other saw it and pointed up. They disengaged and swam back to the surface. I let them go but held to my prisoner.
I took a few minutes to study his armor and gear. The finned helmet had a separate enchantment to keep him supplied with air. So long it stayed equipped, he wouldn’t drown. I shapeshifted cat claws and slashed the straps, removing his armor into my item box.
I estimated even odds that he would be killed or raped if they had their way. Neither sat well with me.
With the prisoner secured, I disabled and stole the other eight plates. Now it was time to meet the invaders and negotiate. After quickly swapping clothes, I assumed my natural form and burst out of the water in front of the derelict ship.
“Mermaid!” Rhenius shouted as both a warning for his people and a challenge to me.
At the prince's command, all the nobles assembled prepared themselves. Everyone but the elf noble drew their weapons and the archmagister started to chant. I sank a million MP and shot my own spell. The combination of fairy magic and sorcery made my magic almost instantaneous.
"{Mass Force Binding}!" All the nobles and the prince were locked in place. They would struggle and drain my MP as a starving vampire did to a maiden's lifeblood so I had to act fast.
Leaving the upper body the same, I swapped my dolphin’s tail for Lakerta’s and slithered in. Just like the knight-commander underwater, I used {Flash Step} and knocked the prince unconscious with {Grandmaster Backstab}.
At least I tried to. His necklace floated out from under his chain hauberk and flashed as one of the gems broke. A massive wave of Force pushed me away as his bindings broke.
“What are you? A shapeshifter? Would you be a mermaid or a lamia? Nevermind, monster! I shall be your opponent!” He declared.
He creeped me out so much. But the prince was the fulcrum of this invasion. He and the archmage but the latter was no threat to me. “{Champion’s Challenge}!”
We didn’t need to roll a contest. The prince beamed a predatory smile. “Accepted. {Yield and surrender, you fiend}!” He shot back with {Royal Order}. Rhenius’ eyes went wide at the message he got.
What a cheater! Guess he cheesed a lot of duels that way. I greatly disliked that guy already.
“Yeah, I was surprised the first time I tried to do that to a Royal too. Here, let me set my proper titles for you.”
> {God-Slayer Heroine Princess}
I grinned, “There, much better. So, do you still want to fight?”
“Impossible!” Rhenius gasped. “I don’t know what trickery you did, but unless you surrender, you die today, mermaid!”
“Dying sucks,” I whined and shifted into a taunt. “Maybe if you’re a good boy I’ll let you see it for yourself. One on one?”
Meanwhile, I sensed a spell on the ship’s deck. Tasting it with {Magic Eater}, I learned its nature.
You learned the spell Mana Stabilization.
It was an area spell to prevent the {Manastorm} or the wellspring from affecting its area the whole ship. That was the reason they weren’t writhing in pain. The {Manastorm} was still active. I looked around and set the three elves on deck, the nobleman and two knights as friendly. Then I started to devour the area spell. The [Archmage] strained once I did that.
I knew how much of a bitch it was to pay the upkeep of a spell when someone was actively fighting it. His MP drained by a few thousand per second.
Rhenius stared at the sagging mage and clicked his tongue. Then he addressed me. “Mermaid. Let’s set the terms of our duel.”
No respect for his subordinates either. I was really despising that prince.
“Do you care about that, invader?” I hissed back. “You tried to cheat as soon as we started. But alright. The terms will be, you and me, to death, unconscious, or submission. No interference from any other party, including familiars, companions, hirelings, or summons. We can use anything we have on ourselves only. Or in our storages, as I see that fancy ring in your hand. Hope you have spare weapons.”
“If you can disarm me, I’ll yield,” He said with his shit-eating smile. “I have a {Grandmaster Sword} Skill.”
“Fine. Blades it is,” I said as I summoned Alloralla’s daggers. The elf noble got weak on the knees and leaned on the railing. At least someone caught up.
“Nice blades. Elven craftsmanship, by the reaction of Count Treehugger. They’ll make adequate trophies.”
Oh, how I wanted to beat him up so bad. But I had one last card to stack on the deck. “Just one last question. Did you ever kill a mermaid?”
“Hundreds,” he boasted. “You’ll be only another one, princess,” the prince mocked with forced sarcasm.
I wouldn’t question his statement. A confession was all I needed to trigger my [Avenger] Perks.
“Enough talk,” prince Rhenius said and drew the two-handed sword from his back. “Have at thee!”
Exactly as his personality hinted, Rhenius wasn’t one to take half-measures. He came at me with everything he had. My goal was to demoralize him, so I didn’t bother to dodge.
> Prince Rhenius slashed you for 7,146 HP of damage. Mana shield burned 2382 MP. (Base 128 x5.75 Skill x2.9 Strength x1.8 Dexterity x2 Sword Focus x3 Mana Strike x2 Rank x2 Charge x3 Champion Strike x1.5 Enchantment x3 Royal Slayer x2 Power Attack x1.4 Sharp Will x0.75 Avenger Resilience x0.75 Steel Scales x0.6 Tough Scales [halved] x0.6 Snake Fortress x0.75 Favored Defense x0.5 Home Ground x0.8 Armor [halved] x0.03 Eye of Manastorm x1.5 vulnerability)
>
> Endurance Test passed.
‘Tis but a scratch. Seven seconds was all it took to recover the lost HP. I hadn't taken any offensive action yet, so the {Eye of the Manastorm} still protected me. The Prince's choice of Perks made me raise a huge eyebrow. Royal Slayer? Seriously? Must be a new addition.
“Is this the best you can do? I mean, I have an itch on my back, would you care to scratch it?” I taunted and rattled.
“Foul serpent!” He slashed again, to an even worse result now that he’d burned his big-hit Perks. “Fight like a man!”
I sputtered and cackled. “Fight like a man? Look at me, I’m no man, you [Royal Buffoon]! Not human, not male. And it pains me to say, you hit like a girl.”
Time was on my side. The longer I drew this duel, the more MP the archmage was forced to spend on keeping everyone on the ship from burning from within.
“Aaaaargh!” He slashed again. This time, I dodged. Staggered, Rhenius took the accuracy penalty like the [Champion] he was. I broke the {Snake Fortress} and put myself on the move around the ship’s deck.
However, he was a {Grandmaster} with his two-handed sword. I found myself forced to parry more than a few of his strikes. I jumped from the prow deck and into the main one. The prince followed, landing and almost breaking the deck's floorboards.
“Stop running, you coward!”
I wrapped my tail around the mast and climbed up. Rhenius charged and I jumped up. He cut the mainmast with a clean slash. It creaked and fell, snapping ropes and causing the sailors to get out of the way with muted curses.
It distracted me and that’s when he got me.
> Prince Rhenius slashed you for 103,904 HP of damage. Mana shield burned 34,634 MP. (Base 134 x5.75 Skill x2.9 Strength x1.8 Dexterity x2 Rank x2 Sword Focus x3 Mana Strike x3 Champion Strike x1.5 Enchantment x3 Royal Slayer x1.4 Sharp Will x0.75 Avenger Resilience x0.75 Steel Scales x0.6 Tough Scales [halved] x0.75 Favored Defense x0.5 Home Ground x0.8 Armor [halved] x1.5 vulnerability)
>
> Endurance Test failed.
>
> Glorious Charge stunned you for 0.45 seconds (base 5 x0.55 T'ai chi ch'üan x0.33 Unbound Hero x0.5 Slippery Body & Mind.
Stunned, I couldn't defend myself. The prince seized the opportunity. “{Execute}!”
> Prince Rhenius slashed you for 1,798,938 HP of damage. Mana shield burned 599,646 MP. (Base 119 x5.75 Skill x2.9 Strength x1.8 Dexterity x2 Rank x2 Sword Focus x4 Death Strike x5 Execute x3 Mana Strike x3 Champion Strike x1.5 Enchantment x3 Royal Slayer x1.4 Sharp Will x0.75 Avenger Resilience x0.75 Steel Scales x0.6 Tough Scales [halved] x0.75 Favored Defense x0.5 Home Ground x0.8 Armor [halved] x1.5 vulnerability)
>
> Second Wind healed you for 156k HP.
Ouch, there went half of my HP and a quarter of my MP. That Execute strike left his guard open as he had to recover from the strain of using it.
I jumped at the opportunity and rushed from the ruined mast at the prince. No more playing around. No more cat and mouse. No more games. I couldn’t die here.
The elven daggers went back to the item box as I shifted my hands into cat claws and slashed twice at his arms.
No criticals. His armor soaked the damage like a spilled teacup in a desert. I clung to his arms and lashed with my tail, wrapping around him and pinning his movements.
I squeezed him as hard as I could. Rhenius struggled.
“Yield or surrender your youth,” I threatened.
“Never!”
A curious effect happened. The guy had a triple of my strength score. He could remove me except for one little problem. {Absolute Clinging} made it impossible for him to remove or move me from his armor. As he struggled, he snapped the straps and bindings of the plates, effectively ruining his protective gear.
Without a choice, I used {Drain Longevity} on him. Rhenius screamed as he aged twelve Yznarian years (sixteen Earth ones) in the minute he took to break free.
He threw me away along with the pieces of his armor which I sent to the item box immediately.
“What have you done?!?” The prince, angrier than ever, exclaimed. “My perfect skin!”
I needed more power. I assumed Duchess’ Nagini’s form with cat paws. That lamia persona had a real snake’s tail and would give me sorely needed twelve points in my physical Attributes. I kept Lakerta’s rattle.
Rhenius charged again. This time, I became incorporeal. He went through me and I checked my surroundings. The Archmage was drinking a mana potion. He must be on his last dregs of MP. Once the {Manastorm} was free to ravage them, this duel would devolve into a many-to-one brawl.
I had to make this stupid prince submit. Me and my luck with royals.
“What are you? Some sort of undead shapeshifter?” He approached, wary. Having a tenth of your natural lifespan stolen in a snap did that to people.
“I was all that and more along my many lives. Last chance. My next attack will claim your life.”
He straightened his back, “Kill me and your precious reef will never see peace.”
“I’ve decimated entire countries. Heck, even to this day they blame the state of half your continent on me. Haven’t you figured out who I am yet? Nobody can fake a title. That was a core mechanic of this world.”
He didn’t listen. Rhenius charged again. I kept my eyes focused on his and used {Keening} with my rattle.
I dodged his charge and slashed his wrists. This time {Vorpal Claws} did their magic and I claimed his hands and blade as trophies. The prince fell down with a {Stunning Bleed} debuff.
“The winner is the Old Soul!” The elf noble declared. “Priest, heal the prince’s hands!”
“Nonsense! We can win if we attack all at once!” One noble lady shook the elf.
He raised his hand and released a spell. The ship's wooden floorboards sprouted dozens of barbed spears around me but facing outward. "Stop! The prince was defeated in a fair duel. Send a message to the other ships. We are surrendering!"
I smacked the back of Rhenius’ neck, putting him to sleep for the next few hours.
"Lord Gaelin! We'll fight to the last man!" Another nobleman said and pointed his sword at me.
“Stop,” the weakened [Archmage] said. “She can kill us all. We surrender!”
“No! We must strike now!” The lady ordered.
By the amount of face the other nobles gave her, she must be some sort of princess.
I shifted back to Arista with Apricot's lower body and hands. The suit adjusted to the difference in height. I put a foot on Rhenius’ back.
"Do so and forfeit your prince's life," I threatened. "He's unconscious now. It'll be child's play to execute him for invading my territory. Surrender now, or die."
> Contested Charisma check successful.
>
> You gained 5 points of [Diplomat] Proficiency. One ability is available.
They dropped their weapons.
> Peaceful Resolution.
>
> For defeating Prince Rhenius, level 145 [Royal Champion], you gained 91.2B Exp. (base 210,250 x3,05 Exp Boost x4,096 Fast Learner x7.59 Favored Enemy x3.05 duel x2 Class Rarity x1.5 Rank x0.5 PR).
>
> You reached Veiled Dolphin-Mermaid Level 15.
>
> You gained 7 Attribute Points.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser granted you 5 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 2 Endurance, 2 Mind, 3 Willpower, 2 Charisma, 2 Luck 3 Magic, and 3 Soul
>
> Attributes above the cap were redistributed.
>
> You gained 84 Skill Points.
>
> You gained 4 Human Perks.
>
> You have 25,6B Exp available.