Niken and Merylin accompanied Flynn, who had been whining to go to the top of the hill. The two girls felt they were trying to calm a big, huge baby child when faced with this certain naughty daemon.
After traveling for several hours, they arrived at the top of the hill showing a scene that words could not describe.
Reddish-brown cottage settlements and trees that adorn the environment with its natural green color make the scenery look beautiful and refreshing.
At least they could enjoy this view and no longer feel annoyed with Flynn. Without them knowing the Lord of the land was visited by an uninvited guest. Both planned a devious and greedy plan that would be a drastic change to the mermaid lake.
The three of them returned right at sunset. Flynn even followed Niken and Merylin into the lake and swam to Pilsbry. When Pilsbry's mouth opened, Flynn shamelessly joined in together with Niken and Merylin.
Merylin, who realized that there was a pervert who was about to enter her privacy, quickly launched a whirlpool spell and flung Flynn all the way out of the lake to the open sea.
"HUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
Niken laughed with amusement at Flynn's screams and the frowning look of her adopted sister.
"I never thought that a daemon would have a cute personality. I like him," said Niken in a humorous tone. "You have my blessing if one day, you be his spouse." Niken deliberately teased her, making a red tinge appear from her cheek.
"Niken, ah. Since when have you become so annoying?"
Niken laughed out loud, seeing the mermaid's nervousness. It seemed like this is the first time she could laugh out loud since she woke up in this strange place.
"Merylin, thank you."
"Ah? What for? I haven't even found a way to go home."
"Not because of that. I want to thank you because you extended your hand to me. Thank you for thinking of me as your sister. I also want to thank you because you remain by my side even though you already know I'm not from this era. Eh? Why are you crying?" Niken was more stupefied, seeing the princess shedding a tear.
"Huwaaa... so this is what it feels like to have a sibling. At last, I can feel it... huwaaaa... "
"Ah?" Niken is increasingly confused and overwhelmed to handle the mermaid princess who is weeping.
"I'm fortunate to meet you, Niken. I'm grateful you accepted me as your sister." Merylin explained, sobbing.
Niken laughed at that and then hugged Merylin like a sister. Luckily they were already in the water, so Merylin's tears had been washed away by the lake.
Meanwhile, poor Flynn had collapsed with his eyes spinning due to being blown away by a swirling whirlpool. Flynn laid on the rock with his body outside the border so that he did not feel any evil energy lurking on the lake's shores.
That night, all the water creatures, including Flynn, who was still unconscious, were completely unaware of the dozens of water Elementalists by the lake. In the middle of the night, where all the mermaids and villagers were fast asleep, the Elementalists began their action.
With a unified movement, the Elementalists raised all the lake's water until it floated in the night sky with moonlight, causing the lake's bottom to become dry land.
Instantly a sigh of shock was followed by a terrifying scream from the bottom of the lake.
Not all mermaids could survive without water. Only senior mermaids and members of the kingdom could breathe without water. The rest could not breathe and began to experience convulsions like humans drowning in the sea.
Some Earth Elementalists went down and caught some young mermaids who could breathe without water to be carried on land. Some struggled and attacked the Elementalists with magic, but in vain. All the Elementalists there had been wearing magic-warding armor to repel any offense magic.
The mermaids were hopeless as they could only watch the Elementalist held their family one by one.
The mermaids did not have enough magic to turn their tails into feet so they could not walk or fight. Their screams became more hysterical when they saw some Elementalists walking towards the cave where the mermaid incubator was.
Two earth Elementalists created a giant boulder and simultaneously hit the incubator's cave door, producing a deafening 'bang.'
The vibrations from the impact of the boulder and the cave door woke Flynn in surprise. He even felt confused when he realized this unusual scene. Part of his left side was wet because of the open sea, yet his right side was entirely dried.
What happened?
While Pilsbry had ensured its mouth was tightly closed so that no sound entered to not awaken the princess mermaid. Pilsbry also shrank its size and disguises itself as the same color as his environment, so it is invisible to the human eye.
Pilsbry tried its best to protect the princess mermaid inside it.
Flynn, who had just woken up from his trance, immediately traced the dry ground quietly. Sensing that there was so much elemental energy in front of him, Flynn let out an invisible cloak from his astral and put it on.
This invisible cloak hides the air of his presence and his magic so that no one will notice that he was approaching them. Flynn was shocked when he saw that some Elementalists had removed the incubator mermaid from the plant's roots and brought it ashore.
"NOOOOOOOO!!"
Hysterical screams and deep grief from the mermaids sounded very painful.
Flynn did not move at all, he could not even digest what was happening in front of him. The next thing he knew, one of the mermaids came out with a pair of legs and a scepter.
Queen Mermaladia appeared with a scary expression.
"HOW DARE YOUUU!!"
By swinging the royal scepter toward the water above, some of the water load fell and wet the mermaid who was nearly dead because she could not breathe. A fierce battle between the queen and a group of trained water Elementalists happened.
The queen tried to destroy the Elementalist's defense to break the wall so the water would return to the bottom. At the same time, the Elementalists insisted on controlling the water upward.
Simultaneously, several Metal Elementalists attacked the queen, making the queen unable to concentrate on destroying the water's wall in the sky.
Splash! Boom!
The queen was overwhelmed by having to strike back and protect her subjects at the same time. It seemed like these Elementalists didn't care about the lake and attack as they please. Seeing her members vanishing one by one and her daughter still remaining safe in the royal shell, the queen made a decision.
She broke her scepter, causing the magic flow of various colors to come out and enveloped the queen's body.
Flynn, who saw this from a distance, was stunned at this sight.
Will the queen sacrifice herself to fight the Elementalists??
Flynn had to find Merylin so that she wouldn't have to look at her mother's sacrifice.
Flynn stimulated his magic aura to track down the mermaid princess's oyster among the other clams. As soon as he found it, he promptly walked without making a sound towards Pilsbry.
"Psst, Pilsbry, I want to get the princess out of here with my magic to teleport, can you remove your defense?"
Without being told twice, Pilsbry lowered its defenses, and at once, Flynn could see everything inside the oyster with his red eyes. He directed his magic circle right under the princess's bed and then moved the two girls who were still sleeping into the open sea.
Right when he finished teleporting the girls, a thunderous roar from the terrifying monster made the aura around them tense.
Flynn was having cold feet when he saw a creature like a giant serpent with a water body. One of Metal Elementalist cut its head with his sword, not knowing the snake grew two heads. The creature began swallowing the Elementalists one by one. Repeatedly the Elementalists tried to injure the monster but failed because their attacks pierced and disappeared inside its body.
Boom!
Splash!
The sound of pounding water and explosions from the attacks of the Elementalists mutually shouted. Flynn smiled slightly at how abominable the queen of Mermaladia was in the form of her authentic appearance. He glanced sarcastically at the Elementalist, who was trying to escape. That's when he felt there was a magic aura belonging to Zeed's pureblood wizard.
What is a wizard doing here?
Flynn walked then jumped to the mainland to see the source of the owner of this powerful magic aura. He looked up and saw a silver-haired man with red eyes drifting in the sky. He activated the invisible magic so that Elementalists or spirits could not see him. Only Flynn and the queen Mermaladia could.
The queen realized the mastermind behind all the Elementalists was that the man, so she directly rushed towards the pureblood. Flynn became worried when he saw a confident, mocking smile on the man and then casually took a black bottle from his astral dimension.
Once the bottle penetrated into the creature's water body, the queen's mouth was already above the man's head, ready to pounce on him. But unfortunately, the man had disappeared, and her mouth caught only the wind.
Not long after, the queen cried out in pain with her monstrous voice.
Flynn couldn't move as he watched the queen's blueish body darkened with black liquid.
What happened? What is that black thing?