[Arc 4] Chapter 45: Idols of the Seas

Greydra

[Fay Magic] has been renamed to [Fey Magic].

Hag...me, a hag? Hag!? Oh, this girl's going down...

I stared at the Revi-wannabe without concealing my hatred and contempt. Just what gives her the right to call someone with a fabulous bod like mine a hag!?

Irritated, I Identified the vixen's stats with my [Clairvoyance (Fairy)] skill...ah. That explains it.

A Siren...not to mention, a C-rank species. And she has an evolved Courtesan class!? How many fights is she gonna pick with me!?

Grr...whatever! She has fewer combat skills than me! Her higher stats don't mean a thing if she can't use them!  Even if she has more feminine skills than me. Even if she has way more girl-power than me!!

Feeling irritated, I fired an Ocean Arrow spell at the bitch...

Whoops. She tanked the spell without difficulty. That's right, Sirens are Ocean-related. They have resistance to seawater and stuff...

"Hey, Ciara?! We're not finished here!" - Flint

Whoops again. I overlooked that Flint and Karnel's trying to get people to safety. 

"...*smile*" - Nightingale Siren

GAAAHH! Due to Flint's big mouth, the Siren started to take note of the civilians! It may cost some MP, but even so-!

"Ugh..., Aqua Arena!" - Ciara

Letting out a grunt from the excessive MP and overusing my brain to force the spell into action faster than normal, I created a dome of water that surrounded me and the Siren, separating us from the others. 

The problem is that this spell takes lots of MP to maintain, meaning that I have a time limit on me to punish this bitch! 

Using spells would just decrease the Aqua Arena's duration, so I leaped at the Siren with my staff pointed at her. Her physical stats may exceed mine, but a weapon and the first attack can cover that gap!

I struck the Siren in the chest with the blade of my spear-like staff. It didn't penetrate her body, but it was enough to deal a decent amount of damage. The Siren was knocked out of her stupor after seeing the sudden dome of water and took a deep breath. However, having predicted that, I had a summoning circle ready and called a new Callerlhu to counter the Siren's voice attack.

"Wha-!? How?! You shouldn't have the mana to summon another Outer One!" - Nightingale Siren

"Hmhmhm~. You picked a fight with the wrong people." - Ciara

The Siren must be surprised over my constant spellcasting. The Aqua Arena is one thing, but she must think that I summoned all the Callerlhu, including this one, under normal circumstances, which would reduce my total MP for a certain percentage for each summon. 

Sorry, but Oshun is mad at you guys! You should know better than to mess with a real-deal god! And that's why the [Summon Familiar (Patron)] skill has an incredible time-sale~. One Callerlhu for a reduced cost of just 1 point of the total MP down for each summoning~. But even Oshun couldn't extend this super-sale to anything except F-rank Familiars such as the Callerlhus. 

"You little-!" - Nightingale Siren

And it's already biting the dust! The Callerlhu got slashed to bits. So weak...slashed? Geh, she canceled her Revi-disguise. The Siren now has her real, harpy-like appearance, which comes with bird talons for her legs and hands and wings on her back. Good thing Aqua Arena prevents her from flying away. It would be a pain to catch up to a real flyer. 

The Siren must have figured that I could summon more Callerlhus if I want to, so her voice and Music skills can be canceled if I bring out enough of those nasty starfishes. Hehehe. I've blocked her best hand~.

But right after I finished that thought, that stupid Siren brought out her talons again and started to slash at me! Scary! I used my nimble body to dodge, sometimes even changing size to escape the attacks, but one good slash from those talon-hands, and I'm done for! I'm not fit for close-quarter combat!

Half in panic, I canceled the Aqua Arena, which made the large dome of water collapse on us. Ugh, too much water...I feel like a bug that got squished...

The Siren's in no better shape than me, but we'd be in worse shape if it weren't for our water-resisting skills. Before she could recover, I activated my secret weapon.

"[Ink Pool]." - Ciara

A large amount of ink emerged from the ground in front of me and formed a giant puddle of ink. Well, despite its fancy name, it's basically a skill that's just a more quantity-focused [Ink Synthesis] copycat. The quality of the ink's not that good either, nor is it classified as a Crafting Skill even. Though, it's handy in this situation.

"[Ink Demons]! [Ink Tentacle]!" - Ciara

From the puddle emerged my old friends, the Ink Demons, along with long tendrils made of ink...just so you know! I didn't buy this skill for any perverted reasons! They're useful, and that's that!!

I ordered the Ink Demons and tentacles to attack the Siren, who struggled to get to the air, but...too late. One of the tentacles grabbed her leg, preventing her from flying. The Ink Demons and tentacles attacked the Siren, which she retaliated against with blasts of seawater that melted my inky servants...not!

Mwa-hahaha! Taste the power of the [Waterproof Ink] skill! I've learned my lesson from that sea snake! Your attack skills with the Ocean attribute are too weak! Now, fall prey to my...oh, NOW you're using your talons again! Grr, why am I always stuck with opponents that I have bad chemistry with lately?

Seeing that the Ink-servants are not doing enough damage, I put my faith in one last move. Using both Warfare-skills, as well as the new [Monstrous Strength] skill, I increased my stats for a final attack despite [Mystic Warfare] draining the little MP I have left. Then, with my spear-like staff in hand, I dashed toward the Siren and stabbed at her heart.

The Siren was too busy with my inky servants to notice me before it was too late. My staff penetrated her yet again, but the wound's still too shallow. Betting my last MP on it, I used [Water Cutter] from the tip of the spear and...I collapsed.

Crap..., my MP's empty...I can't move my body like this...

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Your level has increased by 3. You have reached Lv.21.

You have obtained a total of 1.2 Skill Points.

Due to Guild Master Garami's "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 1.2 Skill Points are obtained.

Phew...I won. With the little strength I still had, I turned my head and saw the corpse of the Siren. Half her body is covered in blood, enough to make a new, bright-red puddle that took the place of the Ink Pool that had disappeared due to my lack of MP. The Demons and Tentacles also disappeared for the same reason.

Glad I escaped getting coated in ink. The downside with [Waterproof Ink] is that it's damn difficult to wash off.

But man, instead of these tricky skills, maybe I should have taken something with a little more direct firepower? But that's too late to start complaining now. I already have three "Attribute Technique User"-type titles, and it's not possible to get a fourth. And what skill would be strong enough to overcome the loss of no "Technique User"-title support?

"Need a hand?" asked someone while I was concentrating with my face in the dirt...it's Flint.

"No, my MP recovered with the level-up festival just now. I will be able to stand soon..." I said sluggishly. This isn't the first time I have experienced MP loss due to a tough battle. It still feels like crap...

"Good work stalling her though. Karnel got everyone to safety thanks to that Earth- and Wood Magic spells of his." - Flint

"That's good... Revi, I managed to avenge you..." - Ciara

"She's not dead, you pink-brained fairy-girl!" - Flint

I know, but that was on my top-ten list of lines I wanted to say~. Ugh, I feel nauseous... 

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Skill List:

Title List:

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Revi's PoV:

This is quite the flashy city, I thought as we entered the lair of the so-called 12th agent of "Azi Dahaka", as Garami called it.

The day after I was released from both that brainwashing thingy and the "guidance" of that Dejidem-guy's "teaching", Garami gave me a quick explanation about what was going on and tasked me with the job of trying to defeat this agent or whatever it's called. 

That Garami asked me to "try to defeat it" means she probably just wanted me somewhere safe. Due to me being spirited away and all that. If the thing's too difficult, I'll just throw the secret weapon at it and run. Apparently, the big boss Filyn is also down here, and she's working on the 11th agent they had discovered, making the guy living here the 12th.

And where is "here"? A huge city that looks like that one type of Dungeon floor in Damavand. Large buildings that are made of concrete and signs that shine in multiple colors. Several shops, or what's left of them, are placed on the ground floor of these large buildings. And the content of the stores is...delaying us...

"WHOOO!! Look at the curves of this girl!" - Male grunt A

"Damn, you can do that with ropes?" - Male grunt B

"*Pant*, *pant*, I wanna be stepped by those legs." - Male grunt C

Perverted, thin books! That's all that's needed to stop a bunch of no-named grunts!! And as if that isn't bad enough, the female grunts are also trapped! This time due to some books with two guys surrounded by roses on the cover!

Damn it all. Even that officer-looking Beastkin is messing around with those horny idiots! And here I thought that black tiger-like appearance of his was to show he was a responsible fellow...

WHATEVER! Let's just find this so-called agent and blast an insta-death Hex onto him and go home! Some thinking Thrones are far from my problems! I'm going to show people I can be as strong as even that Garami!!

.........though, at reasonable levels, of course. I'm no nightmare incarnated. That's impossible. Brr, there's barely anything that scary as Garami when she's channeling her inner demon. Even if her race already is demon~!

At that time, I didn't know. That there are some things in this world scarier than demons, or even the devil himself...

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Kigal-Note/Passive Skills: [Waterproof Ink]

Description:

One of the many attribute-altering skills, [Waterproof Ink] deals with the common weakness of the Ink attribute: it's easily removable with water while the ink is liquid!

To counteract this weakness, this skill allows its owner to grant Anti-Water property, meaning it becomes resistant to water. This is not permanent, as the effect wanes with time, but this time limit, as well as the strength of the granted resistance, can be increased by having this skill at higher skill levels.

Flint's comment: Yeah, yeah, not sooo-oooiii!! Is this thing saying there exist OTHER skills that grant alternative effects to attribute-based skills!!?