Akira and the others waited at the tables for the two mermaids to return. When they did, they found that the princess was missing.
“She escaped again did she?” asked Profus letting out a long sigh.
“The last few months she has been quite rebellious after learning about how her father died,” said Chatterbox.
“Was it bad?” asked Akira.
“The king...he died in the last major war while helping defend allied kappa cities from the Demigod invasion. The enemy had an unending amount of troops that fought the king and his army. They were unable to hold them off and were forced to retreat after everyone had been evacuated. But they were ambushed while they were retreating and the king was killed along with all but a few of his soldiers who were able to escape and report to the queen on what had happened,” explained Profus.
“I didn't know the war reached all the way out into the sea,” said Akira visualizing all the fights that must have been going on in each country.
The power the Demigods had and their persuasive speech was extremely frightening. It would take an extremely large and veteran army to keep them at bay for long if anyone wanted to stop a determined army of Demigods.
From what Akira could remember most of the demigod's opponents could only play defense due to the inhuman abilities that the demigods had. If they were not strong enough they would be pushed back like the late mermaid king or face death defending their city.
After traveling around the continent meeting many different demon races and learning more about their fights with demigods along with his own experiences he wished that the demigods would never come back or at least not while he was alive.
“No need to be so gloomy, your making our guest feel uncomfortable,” said Chatterbox looking at the others who were lost in thought of their own experiences with the demigods when they had been young.
“Ah yes, sorry about that. Here is the book you were looking for,” said Profus handing Akira a thick book with a cover made out of stone.
The title of the book read [Swardmon's underwater movement]. Akira took it over to the now unoccupied table to start reading it.
“I'll leave you guys to your reading as I have to go and start my search for the princess again,” said Profus unhappily before leaving the library. His student was such a pain for this old man. He vowed that she would be his last student and he would retire and spend all his time in the library.
“I'll be going as well since I have other duties I will send someone later to help you find where you are going to stay while you are here,” said Chatterbox.
The four nodded and continued to look at the book reading the thick leather pages that had the words sewed onto them.
Akira spent over an hour reading the book and when he was finished he decided to take a break. He would test his newfound knowledge later.
He left the table and began walking through the large bookshelves scanning the titles of the books to see if anything caught his interest and pulled them down when he found one.
He returned to the table with a large stack of books and saw that Mileena and Maya were already taking cat naps under the table on the seaweed carpet while hugging each other.
Akira was able to learn many new details about history that involved the mermaids and other interesting facts like the long feud between humans and mermaids.
The reason? Ancient humans used to think that if they killed Mermaids and ate their flesh then they would be able to live an even longer life.
There were many wars over this. The writer of the book was applauded that humans would even think about eating mermaids as if they were not alive and sentient being and were just fish.
Due to the constant fighting, the mermaids had to move their cities deeper into the ocean where no human could survive.
In another book, he read about the mermaids and sirens that listed the differences and the similarities. The book was quite detailed and even explained how the sirens and some mermaids used their vocal cords for special voice attacks that most creatures could not do.
Akira wished he had something like that as well. He remembered how useful it had been when something similar was used by the Desert Warriors. But even with the knowledge of how it was done, it was near impossible to replicate if the person's body was not built a certain way.
Akira finished the last book in the stack which was about special blacksmithing techniques on how to combine them with armor and weapons just in time to see that Profus had finally returned with the young pouting teenage princess.
Akira started to hurriedly clean up the table that had multiple books strewn all over it.
“Sorry for the mess I'll put them back and let use the table for your studies,” said Akira.
“It is nice that someone appreciates reading. Don't worry I can take care of the books later,” said Profus with a smile, his view of Akira rising.
Not wanting to bother or interrupt the princesses studies Akira poked the others who were all sleeping until they woke up.
“Let's go practice the new movement skills from the book,” said Akira.
“Ehhh, I want to take a nap,” said Maya.
“You just had one!”
“I want another one.”
“Come on,” said Akira half dragging Mileena and Maya who were still half asleep out of the library with Varbu following them.
***
Deep underwater inside the territory of the sirens a meeting was taking place between two people their faces covered by black hoods. One had two legs the other had a tail like a fish.
“Number four it is odd to personally hear from you and even more strange for you to come personally to ask for something,” said an enchanting female voice thick with an overpowering sweetness that was almost sickening.
A glowing light appeared on a piece of special paper with a written message from the mute number four.
[Cut the crap with your fake pleasantries. Your voice tricks will not work on me. I have a job I need you to do. Can you do it?]
“Depends on what it is. Can you tell me before I accept?” asked the siren giving up on trying to control number four.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
[There is someone in Nepttis that I need you to capture.]
“Oh, something like that? That should be easy. So who is it?”
***
Akira and the rest of the group had been practicing the new movement technique at the mermaids training ground for what Akira thought was maybe a day or two. He really could not tell the time due to not being able to see the sun.
The new movement skill was a mixture of moving like you would normally on land but also had portions of swimming added into it. It was fairly easy to learn but felt unnatural and weird when they used it.
Ding!
Endurance up +3.
Several mermaid warriors had come to watch the rare land folk guest training. There was even a small group of civilians that had been allowed to come and watch them.
A few of the warriors even challenged Akira and Varbu to duels to which the mermaids had the advantage due to their movement speed in the water.
GONG! GONG! GONG!
The sound of a large gong being hit rushed through the water and reached everyone in the training field.
Akira didn't know what it meant but he had a guess so he looked over to the nearby mermaid warriors and saw the shock on their faces confirming his guess.
“Enemy attack! Everyone to your designated stations!” shouted an officer of the gathered mermaid warriors.
“Who would be strong enough or more likely suicidal enough to attack the city?” asked one of the female civilian mermaids with a worried look on her face.
A large shadow appeared from above the city and was moving back and forth over the city slowly moving forward towards the training ground.
“What is that?” asked another voice.
The large Blob became clearer as it moved forward. [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus lvl 35].
The monster looked like it was looking for something as it slowly moved over the city.
Several mermaid warriors swam out to meet it and tried to block its path but they were batted away by its Tentacles.
The large mutated Octopus soon reached the training field and stopped.
Seeing this as a chance the mermaid warriors launched another attack but before they reached the mutated Octopus it had already launched itself down toward the training field where Akira's group and the small group of civilian mermaids where.
Seeing the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] coming in to attack, Akira and the rest of the group all readied their weapons to fight the oncoming monster.
Its multiple tentacles reached out to grasp its target. Akira moved forward to intercept the tentacles that were coming towards them but...they ignored him and the others and shot into the small group of civilian mermaids.
“AH!” came the surprised voice of a young girl.
The [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] pulled its prize out of the crowd to reveal a struggling teenage princesses Cora. It started to swim away with its catch.
“The monster has the princesses!!” shouted the guards horrified.
“Save the princesses! Kill the monster!” shouted a panicked officer.
Everything happening so quickly it was hard for anyone to react fast enough Akira's eyes met Cora's as she was pulled up and away from the crowd.
“Big brother help!” pleaded the terrified young girl.
Maya was the first to react and sent several arrows towards the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] but due to the water slowing them down they only bounced off the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] harmlessly.
The voice shocked Akira's senses into overdrive and his muddled thoughts cleared allowing him to take action.
He jumped forward using the new movement skills and activated the skill [Shadow-Chains]. The chains shot out from the ground and bit into the ten tentacles of the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] stopping its movement for several seconds.
Using the few precious seconds that the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] was immobile he used the skill [Sword slash] aiming it at the tentacle that still held the princesses.
The blue light swished through the water and cut deep into the flesh sending out a large amount of blood. The tentacle had a strong leather outer layer and the attack was not full strength for fear of harming the princess so the result was as one would expect the tentacle was still not fully cut through.
A loud vibrating screech was heard from the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] due to the pain. It was fiercely struggling to break free of the chains that were binding it so it could retaliate.
Another [Sword slash] followed the first and slammed into the wound cleanly cutting through the rest of the way. Freeing the princess, and angering the monster even more!
Akira grabbed the princesses outstretched hand and pulled her out of the large limp tentacle and headed back down to the ground where the rest of the group was.
Crack! Snap! The shadow chains broke into nothingness freeing the wounded [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] who was now very angry.
Not only had it been injured but its prey had escaped.
Still leaking large amounts of blood the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] sent two tentacles shooting towards the princesses trying to grab her.
Akira pulled her behind him and used the skill [Cross attack] Aiming at the unprotected soft belly of the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus].
Sensing danger from the approaching blue cross the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] tried to use its two tentacles to knock the attack away but ended up with a second tentacle being cut off.
The mermaid warriors had finally caught up with the monster and began to attack the monster from above, trying to draw its attention away from the princess.
Akira made a quick decision and pushed the princess towards Maya and Mileena.
“Take her away from here. Go to the palace if you can. Just get her away from this monster!” shouted Akira before jumping up to launch another attack at the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus].
In its anger caused by the pain of losing two tentacles, the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] forgot its purpose and decided to kill the annoyance that had caused it harm.
It ignored the mermaid warriors that were hacking away at it from above and causing gruesome wounds.
It only had eyes for Akira and the pain from the new wounds only caused its anger towards him to rise.
All eight of its remaining arms shot out wanting to crush Akira.
The blue light of another [Sword slash] flew forward and bit into the oncoming tentacles. But did not stop them.
BAM!
Akira was knocked back into a nearby building creating a large hole in the wall.
BAM!
The tentacles of the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] slammed on top of the building destroying it after a few hits.
BAM! Another hit tried to flatten Akira but he blocked the attack with his shield and only sunk into the ground.
The wounds the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] received by the mermaid warriors were now taking effect as it grew slower and more blood leaked out of its body.
The [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] did not want to give up and die meekly so after another attack was blocked it grabbed Akira with a different tentacle before he could dodge.
It opened its mouth as it pulled Akira towards it revealing large sharp teeth meant for piercing and tearing meat apart.
When Akira was only a few arm lengths away from the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] mouth he used the last of his mana to send a [Cross attack] right into the wide open mouth of the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus].
A loud vibrating screech came from the [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] as its body was wracked with spasms.
Akira broke free from its weakened grip and swam out of its reach.
The [Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] stopped moving and became limp, floating above the training ground unmoving while leaking large amounts of blood.
Ding!
[Mutated Ten Tentacle Octopus] Has been killed.
Level up!
Level up!
You are now level 35.
Toughness +5.
New title received!
One who hates ten tickles:
Mr. Octopus was only trying to tickle you but you killed him.
+5 fame