“What did you find that was so important that you left your post and chased after it?” asked Orman.
“Sir, we found out It was one of those blasted sirens that led the attack on us while you were inside clearing the dungeon. If you think about it all the earlier attacks might have been controlled by them as well” said Kaerio.
“Where are they? Did you capture them?” asked Orman searching for the siren.
“No, they escaped into a dungeon before we could catch up to them. I decided it was safer to return and report our findings to you. I left Nesasa hidden near the dungeon to keep an eye on it to make sure they don't leave the dungeon unnoticed.”
“Show me which one it is,” said Orman taking out a thick leather map from his saddle. He unfurled the map and placed it on a nearby rock so that everyone could see.
“Right here this one,” said Kaerio pointing to a dungeon on the map.
“One of the big three? We already knew about this dungeon and two other large dungeons but since the last inspection reported that it was in no danger of overflowing the Queen decided that we should focus on the smaller dungeons. But I didn't know that the sirens were messing around inside them. Alright! Let's take care of this problem before it grows bigger and bites us in the tail. Everyone mount up!” ordered Orman as he rolled the map back up and placed it back into its holder.
***
The dungeon hunting party made good time and met up with Nesasa who had been stealthily watching the dungeon entrance.
“Report,” ordered Orman.
“Sir, there has been no activity near the entrance. I believe that the siren is still hiding inside,” said Nesasa with a salute.
“Very well. Since this dungeon is on the larger size it will be better if we have more people inside to clear it. Support team, you will be responsible for taking care of the seahorses. With the siren trapped inside, there should be no attacks but just in case I need you to be on guard. The rest of you will follow me into the dungeon,” ordered Orman.
With this order 25 mermaid warriors along with Akira's group followed Orman into the dungeon leaving only five warriors to guard the seahorses.
Ding!
Entered Meat lovers dungeon.
Quest update! Spring cleaning 2:
Help Orman clear the remaining dungeons.
The name of the dungeon caused Akira some confusion but it was soon cleared up by Orman.
“Everyone be careful the monsters inside are nasty little buggers that will eat any type of meat. They will even eat their own mothers.”
Akira's was interested in seeing what type of monster would even eat its own mother.
The team's formation was still the same as they had been using to clear the other dungeons but now they had more people to fill any gaps that may appear.
Ten warriors plus Akira were placed in front to help defend against and funnel the monsters to the ten warriors including Mileena and Varbu who would kill the monsters quickly. The remaining five warriors, as well as Maya, were ranged support with the task of helping either the defenders or the attackers when it was needed.
It didn't take long before they encountered the monsters that inhabited the dungeon.
As soon as Akira and the other shield warriors exited the small hallway they had been walking down and entered a large underwater cave room they were attacked.
With the bright glow of the mermaid warriors shields and armor Akira was able to see what was attacking them.
Bam! A large and swift monster darted in and slammed into Akira's shield that was blocking its path forward. Akira watched the large monster bounce off of his shield as he inspected the strange-looking thing.
[Mini Piranha Lvl 36]
'What part of that is mini?' thought Akira as he looked at the fat watermelon-sized fish.
It was a very ugly lopsided looking fish. With its head being the largest part of its body and the rest of its body was rather skinny and small. The head contained its deadliest weapon several rows of razor-sharp teeth made for eating meat.
Several [Mini Piranha] swam in slow circles in front of Akira inspecting him for a few short seconds before launching another attack on him.
Bam!Bam! They kept ramming into his shield trying to get past it to take a bite out of him or one of the less defended mermaids behind, but Akira stood firm and continued to block their path forward.
Swish! An arrow with a green wind cut through the water and pierced through two of the [Mini Piranha] that had been trying to swim above the defenders. Maya was as sharp as ever.
With the large group of fighters, they were able to successfully funnel the [Mini Piranha] to the attackers where Varbu and Mileena help pulverize them.
“Good work everyone. If we continue to fight this well, we'll be able to capture the siren without anyone getting hurt,” said Orman.
They continued to move through the network of caves clearing out all the [Mini Piranha] whenever they appeared.
“Halt,” ordered Orman holding up his hand to stop everyone behind him.
“Looks like this might be the last room. There's something moving on the opposite side of the room, it might be the Siren. You landfolk need to be careful. Sirens have voices that can charm others to do their bidding,” warned Orman.
When the group entered the large cave the movement on the other side of the cave stopped as it quickly hid behind a row of large stalagmites.
They moved forward slowly making sure that there were no other monsters in the cave.
Swish! Something shot out from above the stalagmites and reached the defenders before they could react.
“AHH...!” came the pained cry of a warrior as he was bitten in half. The only thing left was his tail.
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[Mother Piranha lvl 38]
Akira was able to see the attacking monster before it darted back behind the stalagmites. It was a large fish as big as an average adult human.
“%^&*. Everyone back away from its hiding spot,” shouted Orman.
The [Mother Piranha] did not want its prey to escape before it was full, so before they could move away it launched itself at another mermaid warrior its large mouth open wide enough to swallow a mermaid whole.
Shadow chains shot out of the ground and bit into the [Mother Piranha] stopping it only a few feet away from the pale-faced veteran who had hardened his heart to die fighting.
The [Mother Piranhas] large Jaws snapped closed several times right in front of the mermaid warrior as it tried to get free and eat him.
The terrified mermaid warrior came to his senses and swam over to the rest of the mermaid warriors as they prepared to attack after recovering from their shock.
Akira used his skill [Cross attack] and sent a blue X flying towards the [Mother Piranha's] weaker rear end.
The [Mother Piranha] continued to struggle against the shadow chains and was able to break free. There was little room for it to escape from the fast-approaching attack with all of the mermaid warriors surrounding it from every other side as well as above and below.
The [Mother Piranha] moved towards the attack the only exit and was able to avoid a fatal wound as the attack slammed into its tail and cutting it off from its body.
With its tail cut off, its speed had been drastically reduced and it was leaking a large amount of blood now.
Looking at Akira the [Mother Piranha] snapped its large jaws in anger and swam towards him ready to eat him alive.
Bam! Akira jumped to the side and used [Shield Bash] slamming his shield to the side of its head as it passed him, stunning it.
“Now's the time to avenge Bout's death attack and kill this fish!” shouted Orman.
Everyone swarmed the [Mother Piranha] and continued to pierce its body with their different weapons.
Varbu with his brute force helped Akira keep the [Mother Piranha] in a constant dazed state by slamming his quarterstaff into its head.
Mileena darted in and used her daggers to stab the [Mother Piranha] eyes blinding it as blood flowed out.
The [Mother Piranha] began to thrash around angrily blindly biting at anything in front of it.
“AHH,” one unlucky warrior had his arm bitten off as he was attacking the [Mother Piranha]. His sword pierced into the roof of its mouth and became stuck causing the [Mother Piranha] to be even angrier and unable to close its mouth fully without causing itself more pain. Maya sent several arrows into its mouth further enraging it.
Akira used this moment to send a [sword slash] aimed at the opened [Mother Piranha] mouth.
Swoosh! The lower jaw of the [Mother Piranha] was sliced off in an instant. Causing it to thrash around now even more desperate to escape it slammed its body into one of the Stalagmites killing a mermaid warrior by breaking his back before he could escape.
“We can do this! It's almost dead,” shouted Orman.
Akira jumped up towards a stalactite on the ceiling and with a roar launched himself off of it shooting towards the thrashing [Mother Piranha] below him. His sword carrying his full strength and the speed from his jump allowed him to penetrate its head with his sword slamming into its brain killing it immediately.
Ding!
Mother Piranha killed!
Level up!
You are now level 37.
Akira's had shot out and gathered a blue magic stone and a few coins before anyone noticed.
“We'll take care of the dead after we find the siren. Ten of you search the right the other ten will search the left we'll flush out the siren wherever they're hiding,” said Orman as he and five warriors swam to the hallway to block the exit making sure to not allow the siren a chance to escape.
They carefully searched the whole cave but were unable to find anyone.
“I'm sure that they didn't exit out of the hole while I was watching,” said Nesasa.
“Keep looking this is the only place they could be since they did not pass us when we entered,” said Orman.
A group of mermaids swam towards the ceiling to search behind the stalactites and cried out in excitement.
“I found a hole!”
Everyone swam over to the hole and gathered around it looking up into it. It was large enough to let two people walk/swim abreast.
“We can't just sit here gawking at the hole everyone one in!” ordered Orman.
With the order given, no one hesitated and they all entered the hole.
Akira entered and swam up a short distance it started to curve and level out and heading left. They travel for over half an hour down the tight tunnel.
“Halt!” shouted Orman.
Akira looked to the front to see the reason they had stopped. Orman stood next to a hole in the ground not unlike the one they had used to enter the tunnel. The tunnel still continued left but the siren may have escaped into the cave below.
“Looks like another large cave. I can't see anything inside but we shouldn't test out luck we should keep moving forward.”
“I'll go scout it out,” said a young mermaid warrior.
“Wait!” shouted Orman.
But it was too late as soon as the young warrior enter the cave he was grabbed by a glowing tail. A yellow light flashed and electrocuted the warrior frying his brain and guts.
[Electrifying electric eel lvl 39].
The giant tail of the [Electrifying electric eel] slammed into the small hole trying to capture the other people hiding inside.
“Damn it! No one go near that hole let's keep moving. I doubt that the siren could tame that creature. We'll have to come back later with a larger group to kill it.”
Everyone Swam to top of the tunnel and hugged the wall as they pass the hole to continue forward.
“I think I see the exit up ahead,” said a mermaid as they swam towards the light at the end of the dark tunnel.
As they exited the tunnel...Flash! They were blinded by a bright white light.
“Ahhhh!”
Akira huddled behind his shield trying to regain his sight hear someone scream in pain as they were attacked.
“You fools may have been able to get past my first pet but did you think you would be able to catch me so easily?” asked a harsh voice.
Akira opened his eyes and blinked several times. As his blurry light cleared from his eyes he was able to see what was in front of them. There was a cloaked figure sitting on the back of an even more ugly large fish than the ones before. It had a thick drooping antenna growing out of its head with a large glowing ball attached at the end.
[Domesticated lantern fish lvl 38]
“You and your fellow sisters are the fools for causing problems for the Queen. Surrender now and we will allow you a peaceful death,” ordered Orman.
“Never! My loyal pet attack them!” ordered the siren.
The glowing ball on its antenna began to grow brighter as the [Domesticated lantern fish] moved forward.
Everyone in the small cavern room was skilled enough to understand what was happening and closed their eyes before another bright flash went through the room.
There were still a few people who were too slow and were temporarily blinded. The rest formed a battle line to receive the charging [Domesticated lantern fish].
Akira stabbed out with his sword and damaged the [Domesticated lantern fish] as it passed by. The Siren lashed out at Akira with her spear as she passed forcing him to block with his shield. Bam!
The [Domesticated lantern fish] was controlled by the siren to turn and circle around to try another place to attack. It started to gather light in its ball again to blind them just before it swam forward to attack.
It was hard to keep their eyes open to attack and defend due to the constant flash of light whenever the [Domesticated lantern fish] swam towards them. Forcing them to have to keep dodging.
With the fast movement and the constant flash Varbu and Mileena unable to deal any good attacks.
Akira used the skill [Sword slash] with his eyes half closed sending the attack towards the [Domesticated lantern fish] but the attack was dodged.
After several other Mermaid warriors were wounded by the spear of the Siren Orman and Keario decided to take the thing head on and swam in front of the [Domesticated lantern fish] causing it to crash into their weapons taking large damage on either side.
Two green wind arrows are shot out from behind the mermaid warriors and slam into the sirens shoulders knocking her off of her saddle and nailing her into a stalactite.
Without the siren sitting on its back, the [Domesticated lantern fish] stopped moving due to not receiving any new commands.
Akira jumped forward and used the skill [Cross attack] to separate the head of the [Domesticated lantern fish] from the rest of its body.
Ding!
Killed Domesticated lantern fish!
Level up!
You are now level 38.
Akira quickly scooped up the coins and another magic stone into his bag while the others were catching their breath and looking at the last enemy in the room.
They all cautiously swam over to the Siren who is pinned to the stalactite making sure to stay on guard for any unexpected pets that may show up. But after a short search of the room, they found nothing else.
“Who's the fool now? You're going to start talking or things will become even worse for you,” said Orman.