[71] Rescuing Merfolks
Chapter 71: Rescuing Merfolks
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The building was twelve stories high, and my [Jade Perception] said the merfolks were on the basement floor.
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.
"This is boring," I heard a guard say as he crossed paths with another guard.
They patrolled in opposite directions, so every few minutes they'd cross paths and stop for a chat. Now was that time.
"That's the job." The other guard stopped too and shrugged.
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.
"When will the Captain return?" The first guard, let's call him Guard A, asked Guard B.
"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 the land. At least for someone with his skill set."
"Ah right, he's part of the Leviathan Clan. 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.
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 Clan, known for sea-related powers.
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.
"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.
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.
[Fulmination of Cyclone]
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.
While [Wrath of the Roaring Sky] turned enemies to dust, this technique did a more gorey job as it disassembled the body into chunks.
The technique coursed through their veins and left it blasted, causing the two men's mouths, noses, eyes, and ears to burst into blood as they gently fell to the floor.
"Floor 12, clear." I muttered as I looked at their communication devices to make sure the electricity destroyed those too.
There was nobody else on this floor. But the lower the floor went, I could sense the numbers growing.
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 playing a shooting game with "Wall Hack". I didn't waste time and went down to the 11th floor.
….
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.
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.
This was a pretty big organization if they could have 66 guards on side watch, while a larger number waited in the basement.
"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.
I walked to the elevator that they used to travel below. I pressed the ↓ button and waited for the elevator to come. The door parted soon and I gently walked in.
A few seconds later, 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.
"Intru-" one of them began to yell, while the other one almost shot his magic rifle. I let out two tendrils of [Gale Grapple] that grabbed their necks and snapped them in two.
I walked out of the elevator while the two guards' bodies fell behind me.
Then, I began to rampage.
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 [Jade Perception] and blasted towards the chamber where I sensed the merfolks with a surge of Lightning Qi.
"Intruder! There is an intruder!" People sensed my Lightning Qi and yelled, but I didn't stop.
Taking multiple twists and turns, I found myself in front of a metal door.
"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.
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 blasted out of its restraints.
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.
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.
"Who the hell is this bastard?!"
"Talk less, cast spells!"
"[Ice Spear]!"
"[Fire Bolt]!"
Two of the mages yelled while two others raised their guns. I channeled lightning and used [Thunderstep] 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 blade in superheated electricity, making it glow red as I dove it through the necks of the guards.
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 the last Mage. Within just 4 seconds, four dead bodies fell to the floor at once.
"M-more are coming!" 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.
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.
I ran out of the door. Then, I resonated with an Icon.
The [Crown Icon] manifested over the building, floating in the sky, and I called forth my authority over humanity with a loud growl.
'Haah, the Emperor again.' I sighed and let my voice boom. "Humanity, lower your heads."
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 a large surge of voltage towards the dozens of humans who were bowing to me.
'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.'
The chain of [Fulmination of Cyclone] 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.
"Done," I said and cracked my neck, and my Icon also vanished from the sky.
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.
"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 Atlantis 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.
"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.
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.
"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.
"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.
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?"
Right, they were still inside their cells. I looked around in search of a key before I let them out one by one.
….
A few minutes later, 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.
"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.
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 quite large 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."
"I will be careful, thank you." I nodded to him and he nodded back. He looked at his fellow merfolks and they gave me one last grateful smile before diving away.
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.
"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."
I shot through the sky and decided to pick up my speed by calling forth [Tiger Icon]. A lack of communication 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.
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