Vol. 2 Chapter 31: Ihathiri

Chapter 31: Ihathiri

"Hagrid, the plan is about to succeed. Lord Shandy will return soon, and your days will be miserable!" At this moment, Lu Li, speaking in a different voice, approached Hagrid, who was walking ahead with a torch. Through constant conversation, Lu Li had already gathered a lot of information about the hybrids.

"What does his return matter? His mother was a lowly human. Even if she gave birth to him, we are his true brothers, sharing the same bloodline. That dead old woman was nothing but a breeding tool. It's already generous that she lived this long. She dared to harbor outsiders; killing her was justifiable." Hagrid said dismissively, waving his torch as he walked. Suddenly, a strange voice came from behind him:

"What a cold-hearted race you are."

Sensing something was wrong, Hagrid quickly turned around to see Lu Li standing alone behind him. His companions had vanished. "You're the human that old woman took in. Where are my companions?"

"Don't worry, you'll join them soon…" Lu Li moved swiftly, closing the distance between him and Hagrid. His muscles, released from their constraints, swelled as he punched Hagrid. Hagrid hurriedly swung his torch forward and raised his hand to block Lu Li's attack.

In Hagrid's view, this lowly human, although having some strange tricks, was no match for his strength. His awakened great deep Ones bloodline ensured that his power was far superior. But before he could react, Lu Li's fist bypassed the torch and knocked him down. Shadows crawled from Lu Li's feet, binding Hagrid's limbs and pulling him in front of Lu Li. A shadowy scalpel formed in Lu Li's hand.

As Lu Li had recently been using his shadows in battles, his control over them had greatly improved. The shadow in his hand constantly transformed, thinning into a blade resembling a scalpel. Looking at the immobilized Hagrid, Lu Li smiled excitedly. "I've been learning dissection lately, but never had the chance to practice. Thanks for being my test subject."

Lu Li began to operate the shadow scalpel, narrating as he worked. "Let's start with a small incision under the chin, then peel back the surface layer… Your fish-scaled skin is really ugly."

"You filthy human, you dare treat a great deep One like this! You will face the god's punishment; your soul will…" Hagrid cursed, but before he could finish, Lu Li had already removed a peculiar lung lobe from his body.

"Your lung can store water to regulate internal pressure and body weight." Lu Li cut open the water-filled lung, releasing a fishy smell. A shadowy tentacle turned Hagrid's head to the side as Lu Li examined his gills. "Your respiratory system is becoming more fish-like, huh?"

"And your heart… Oops, I severed your main artery." Fishy blood sprayed all over Lu Li as the unfortunate hybrid died. Losing interest, Lu Li released the binding shadows, letting the broken body fall to the ground. "How boring. He died so quickly. I need more practice."

Through his conversations with the hybrids, Lu Li had learned a lot about this place. At the end of the passage was a three-story underwater building. The first floor served as a prison for human sacrifices, while the second floor housed premium humans kept for breeding.

Some deep divers had a strong desire to mate with humans. Women who failed to conceive after a long time were thrown to the first floor as sacrifices. Men served female deep one until they were old and useless, then were also sacrificed.

The third floor had few inhabitants, mainly for gestating deep one or human females. After giving birth, human women were reassigned to the first two floors, while deep one left. Newborn hybrids were sent to the fishing village for upbringing. Rarely did young people like the old woman stay in the village after falling in love with hybrids.

Beyond this building was Ihathiri, an underwater city built by deep ones. Most severely mutated hybrids and a few deep ones lived and worshipped there. After the ritual, they would leave for the deep, cold sea.

Deep divers preferred live human sacrifices. To keep the sacrifices fresh, they had modified the first-floor prison with half-human-high seawater infiltrating the building. This seawater, enchanted with magic, could exchange oxygen with the outside sea, releasing it into the building.

Reaching the end of the passage, Lu Li found his lower half submerged in seawater. Ahead lay the first-floor prison, guarded by numerous hybrids. The shadow assassin's steps he learned might conceal his presence on land, but not underwater. Any movement in the water would create ripples easily detected by the hybrids, who were accustomed to underwater life.

Lu Li narrowed his eyes, devising a plan as he waited patiently. After a while, two deep ones appeared in front, conversing with the guards before opening a cell door and extracting a dozen lifeless humans. These were the latest sacrifices.

The sacrifices were urged forward, their faces numb with resignation, knowing their fate. They had seen many taken away, never to return. Some were shipwreck survivors, some sold by slavers, others exchanged by deep ones for fish [TL: Humans sold for fish? wtf] and gold from island humans. They had been confined in the water prison for some time, given only a few fish to eat daily. Now, they just wanted to die quickly.

Suddenly, the last human in the line struggled in fear, stirring the water. The deep ones angrily shrieked and approached to discipline the troublesome human, beating him without listening to explanations. This sparked a commotion, causing one human to trip and fall into the water. Eventually, the deep ones restored order, unaware that an extra person had joined the group of sacrifices…

End of the chapter