Chapter 158 – Evacuation

Chapter 158 – Evacuation

“Safi, Emi, could you please keep watch around us while we talk here?” I turn to my lovely Slime ladies.

Safi makes a polite nod. “Of course, Master. We will let you know when enemies start heading this way.”

“Master can count on Emi!” The emerald beauty shows a wide grin.

“Thanks. We won’t take long. Be careful out there and don’t do anything silly.” I point a finger at them.

They both nod and come closer to receive a parting kiss before departing in opposite directions. They return to their original forms and roll away at a quite decent speed. This is definitely much faster than them running the way the usual humanoids do. And I have to admit, it’s much cooler watching them roll around in these bouncy shapes.

“We will join them and cover the other two directions,” Cornelia says and Neira stands by her side. “You and Meru should be enough to take care of the situation here. Let us know when we are going to move.”

“Alright. You be careful too.” I smile at them and repeat the gesture with the other two ladies before they leave.

Cornelia uses a simple chilling spell to cover the ground with ice and skates north while Neira creates a small wave of seawater and rides it south. It all feels like I’m watching superheroes go on a mission or something. Well, they definitely are super to me.

I turn to Meru, receiving her calm and collected gaze, and then glance at the still-shaken crowd made up of male Merfolk. The aquatic men with skin colour in various shades of blue stare back at us with some level of uncertainty. I observe their figures with more attention, noticing a bunch more details about them, like their fin-like ears and gills on the sides of their chests. They don’t have tails but their toes are webbed, and their fingers have some membranes to a certain extent too.

It looks like the Sahuagins didn’t steal their clothes to humiliate them even more after conquering their city so the men do wear some remains of their pre-battle attire like short pants, waistbands, loincloths, and such. Their chests were most likely exposed from the start. And, with how handsome they all seem, it isn’t really a surprise.

“So, you might not know me, and I might not know you, but I would like to say that we are here to help, as you might have seen a moment ago,” I begin, running my gaze over their faces. “Our goal is simple, to get rid of the Sahuagins. Thus, even if you find it hard to trust a Human-like creature like me, try to cooperate at least in consideration of my Nershark friend here, whose home was destroyed by those bastards. We’ll kill all of them here and be on our way. It’s up to you if we will be able to save some of your captured people while doing so or not.”

“Alastair is my mate and he doesn’t bear ill intentions towards other races,” Meru joins in. “You have a choice of working with us or doing things on your own, though I think we all can see how things have turned out when you tried the latter option. Are you going to aid us or keep to yourselves?”

The Merfolk men begin whispering amongst themselves while looking around. I’m pretty sure they understood my words correctly as I’ve used the same language as Meru did. Thankfully, I have a few that the aquatic races usually use, excluding some dialects or unique ones, of course. But, it’s quite likely that they do know bits of Common too.

After a short while, the crowd starts parting and one guy walks forward. He doesn’t look like anything special, fitting with the others more than well. But, regardless, a dude with dark green hair brushed to the back and bright blue eyes stops in front of us, making a respectful bow.

“Thank you for rescuing us, Saviour. My name is Fheylan and I would like to pass our verbal gratitude onto you,” he says, trying to act kind and proud.

“Gods, not this Saviour shit again.” I roll my eyes with a slight chuckle. “Just Alastair is fine. But, anyway, you are? I assume they haven’t picked you as a representative randomly.”

“You assume correctly. Out of everyone here, I would be the person with the highest rank in our tribe, taking into consideration all our deceased leaders. Before the raid, I was one of the Third Circle advisors. The chief and his consorts made the First Circle while the elders made the Second Circle,” Fheylan explained.

“That’s very unfortunate and sad to hear.” I nod at him respectfully since it’s obvious what happened to everyone above him. “All I can offer you right now is revenge. Either on your behalf or achieved with your own two hands and our assistance.”

“Do you know anything about your females? We still might have a chance to save the majority of them,” Meru continued after me.

“It might be possible. It was maybe a day or two ago that they were taken and the soldiers are still looking around the city to find anyone hiding. We were left alive as bait, to lure our mates, daughters, mothers, and everyone else out. The slow executions happened for that exact purpose,” he replies.

“Then they might have not yet sent any of the females away.” Meru strokes her chin. “Do you know where they gathered the women?”

“There’s a chance that I do. We saw the direction some of them were dragged in and I can make a few guesses regarding the buildings that can house this many people at once. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the leader of these savages keeps them close to feed his ego, and other reasons which I would rather not name right now,” Fheylan answers.

“Would you be willing to act as our guide?” I ask. “It will be more efficient than having you describe those places and us struggling to find the locations in an unfamiliar environment.”

“If that will allow for our women to be rescued, I will naturally volunteer for that role.” He makes a small bow while the other guys nod enthusiastically. “Like almost everyone living here, I know our city like the back of my hand. We should be able to utilise some paths and obstructed passages to sneak around the enemy.”

“Very good. We just need to figure out what to do with your friends here. When the Sahuagins realise that their prisoners have gone missing, they will definitely flip this place upside down once more. It will be pointless and dangerous to hide anywhere here.” I scratch my head. “How long can you stay out of the water and if you even are able to?”

“It depends on the weather and the sun exposure we will receive on the surface,” Fheylan replies. “But, having in mind the perfect conditions, excluding heavy rain which will make that almost indefinite, it’s around four days before we start suffering from the lack of moisture.”

“That long should be fine, then. I don’t think we’ll take longer than a day here.” I nod to myself. “Now, how fast can you guys swim? Are you confident in outswimming the Sahuagins in a straight line, or at least not losing to them in terms of speed so that a late pursuit can’t catch up?”

He shakes his head. “We definitely aren’t faster but we should be fast enough to beat the delayed pursuit to our destination, depending on the distance we need to cover.”

“Are you thinking about sending them to the ship, Alastair?” Meru asks, glancing up at me with her dazzling, golden eyes.

“Yeah. Even if the enemies roaming around the dome catch on and follow, Lianne and her girls should have no issues taking down a few fish bastards on their own ship. The Merfolk men would be safe with Alyssa’s crew.”

“You should first ask them if they are willing to fight,” she points out, turning to the men. “Are you?”

The Merfolk start whispering between themselves again while Fheylan spreads his arms. “Do you have enough weapons for us? Besides, most people here are not warriors. They immediately killed or executed the soldiers. We are workers, scholars, advisors, and so on. We already tried aiding our defenders and we didn’t make a difference even with proper equipment. I don’t think we will be of any use to you. Other than bait, of course.”

“I don’t plan to sacrifice any of you to make it safer.” I wave my hand dismissively. “Just you will be enough. Or you and any other men that would like to offer their knowledge. But no more than two to make sure that we can protect you properly. We don’t lack the strength to beat the invaders.”

“Alastair tells the truth. What you saw earlier was just a fraction of his and his mates’ power. I haven’t yet gone all out either.” Meru stands a little bit prouder.

“Then we will accept your offer to shelter us.” Fheylan makes a low bow and everyone behind him follows suit.

“Let’s try to get to the closest breach, then.” I nod. “The faster we can get you all to safety, the sooner we can look for the females.”

As Fheylan turns around to take command of his brethren, I reach out to my incredible wives and fill them in on the current plan. Neira gives us the location of the nearest hole in the crystal dome and the four ladies start heading there to clear up a path for us, reducing the chances of unnecessary combat encounters during our escort quest.

We give them some time to put some distance between us and head out right after the Merfolk men group up in a decent rectangular formation. I take the front with Fheylan while Meru watches over the back of the column. We both have to keep an eye on the sides but things should work out well with our ability to communicate mentally.

The other four do an amazing job and we walk through the dirtied streets while stumbling on a body or few every now and then. It’s obvious who dealt with those not-so-poor bastards thanks to the fairly unique way they died and we start a small competition with Meru, guessing which one of our companions scores the most kills. About halfway to our target, Cornelia is in the lead by at least five points.

It seems that our little game reaches the ears or minds of the fighting ladies and ignites the competitive spirit in them. We begin hearing many more screams and gurgles of pain from almost every direction as they actively hunt the Sahuagins after clearing every possible enemy on our path.

I chuckle to myself while shaking my head. It’s almost certain that the winner will expect a reward and I can feel it somehow involving my person. Or perhaps my body.

But, it’s way too late to stop this friendly competition and the two of us keep counting bodies for Cornelia, Neira, Safi, and Emi. Though, they have to report their kills themselves whenever they get anyone outside our route since we obviously can’t leave the Merfolk alone and unprotected.

If only they knew that they have been reduced to a game element for the people that are protecting them.

About fifteen minutes later, we reach the breach and I send Meru out to scout ahead since she is the fastest out of us under the water. Before she comes back, we split the Merfolk men into smaller groups and prepare them for the sprint to the surface. Naturally, I talk to Lianne and Alyssa before anything happens so that they are aware of the upcoming guests and make sure that they are on board with the idea.

Then, we start sending the guys out with Meru as their guide and escort. She swims alongside them to the ship and returns to pick up another group. From what she tells me, they manage to avoid contact most of the time, having to deal with only two rude Sahuagins interrupting their trips.

All of the males are up on the ship in no time and only Lheyman remains behind when Meru jumps through the barrier holding back water from spilling into the pretty city. She takes a glance at Cornelia and Neira, who are waving their fingers at each other threateningly, and looks at me.

“I’ll need some more space above our heads. We might need to somehow remove part of the floor above us so that we can be launched out without any issue,” my artist wife replies.

“There’s a balcony three levels above us. We could check it out,” Lheyman suggests. “Will that high be a problem?”

“No. It shouldn’t make a difference.” Safi shakes her head.

We start walking and get to the floor our guide mentioned. There is a little bit of an open balcony in the direction of the warehouse just as he said. Neira prepares her spell on the floor while we gather up around her. Cornelia swallows her saliva hard so I pull her closer and wrap my arm around her waist, trying my best to reassure my lovely magician wife.

When she is ready, we huddle up and I bind us together with my Void Chains in the form of tight but not uncomfortable violet straps. Neira takes one last look at the distance and gives us a warning nod. Closing her eyes, she recites the chant of her spell and water starts bubbling under our feet.

Suddenly, a pillar of mighty water bursts out from beneath us and sends us flying up and ahead. Cornelia tries her hardest to keep her mouth shut and not let any noise out. It’s certainly commendable considering that we are tens of metres above the ground and flying towards a hard-top building which has a flat roof too.

After we cross two-thirds of the distance while bundled together, Safi and Emi leak themselves out of my hold and join together under us. We all watch them merge and shape themselves into a sizable bowl of blue and green, praying for nothing to go wrong as we are moments before a disaster.

Thankfully, they reach their full form before we slam into the scenic roof of the provision warehouse and our small party bumps into the jelly blob as our lovely Slime girls cushion our fall. They actually weaken their membrane and let us sink into them partially. It surprises Cornelia and Lheyman but I find it quite smart. That move prevents us from getting flung somewhere away due to their bouncy nature.

They quickly spit us out on the hard floor and I recall my bindings. Cornelia takes a deep breath as I rub her back and we watch Safi and Emi return to their respective humanoid forms. They both smile at us proudly after finishing their task without a hitch.

Then, we follow Lheyman as he guides us to the roof entrance and leads us inside. We carefully move through the stone hallways while quickly silencing any stray Sahuagins. In just a moment, we reach the main section and peer down the hall from the second floor.

Some of those bastards are gathered around a few Merfolk ladies dancing in the middle, who are clearly forced to do it. They are stripped naked while serving as visual entertainment for the feasting beasts, including the commander. The much bigger guy is seated atop a small pyramid of food while snacking on whatever makes it into his grasp. His appearance matches Lheyman’s descriptions, pretty much. More women are held in the corner, huddled up together and watching every Sahuagin’s movements with heavy anxiety and fear.

“Time to crash the party?” Cornelia glances at me.

“There’s no better time than the present.” I smile at her.

We chuckle together and jump over the stone railing together with everyone else. Even Lheyman joins us but his choice is a quite logical one since his chances of survival are higher around us than alone. Spooking a lot of our upcoming opponents, we slam the ground while knocking a bunch of them out of the fight already.

“What? Who the hell are you?” the unique Sahuagin asks.

“Oh. The big ugly can talk?” I ask mockingly. “I guess your size is compensating for something other than intellect.”

I hear a snicker or two as my companions respond to my little joke. Unfortunately, it isn’t appreciated as much by the recipient. The violet guy jumps off his food throne and unsheathes the Wolverine-wannabe claws from his bone gauntlet.

Before I can engage him though, Meru steps in front of me. “I’ll take care of him, Alastair. Can you protect the females and keep the other Sahuagins from interfering?”

“Of course. Don’t give him mercy.” I peck her chilly cheek before running off towards the chained girls.

The battle is already in full swing and I can spot Lheyman trying his best to keep himself close to either Cornelia or Neira to assure his survival. He has no chance of catching up to my Slime ladies as they utilise their shapeshifting a lot and squeeze through the enemies around the battlefield with crazy reaction time.

Slicing the guys guarding the females in half with a hastily formed longsword, I get rid of their restraints and explain that they need to stay there for a bit longer because it’s not safe outside. Thankfully, Lheyman arrives by my side and his words are met with a little bit more trust than mine. Leaving them to him, I refocus on helping my badass girls.

But, it’s not like I have to put a lot of effort into saving them or something. All four of my companions are handling themselves well against the fish bastards, fighting them with their own means. Naturally, Cornelia and Neira have to be mindful of their surroundings, and thus limit the power of their spells. Otherwise, Neira would be able to bring out a technique equal to those amazing Dragons from our first contact with the Sahuagins.

As for Meru, she is engaged with the commander in a battle of strength at the current moment. My fierce sharkgirl mate exchanges blows with the enemy that is more than twice her size. Judging by just their builds, he should be able to smack her around like a wet rag but she doesn’t let him.

She makes the perfect use of her weapon with a much longer reach, parrying the swipes the angry leader is throwing at her. The size difference works more in her favour, actually. She has more surface to aim for while it’s the opposite for her opponent. But, just that isn’t enough to put any deeper wounds on the commander. His skin and flesh are incomparably harder than the normal grunts.

Thankfully, the trident she uses isn’t just some random weapon found commonly in any random shop. Sirgia put all her heart and sweat into her creation and it’s clear that the quality of the sharpening or durability is almost unmatched, even if she will never agree with that statement. With a polearm like that, she adds more cuts and slices to the collection of her enemy.

Taking down an interrupting idiot now and then, I watch her fight attentively. Both because I want to intervene at the first sight of things going wrong and because it’s just so mesmerising and enjoyable to observe. She is skilfully kiting the angry Sahuagin around the support pillars and using other elements of the environment against her opponent.

Most likely thanks to the assistance of my stats, she can fight on equal ground with the beefy commander, which surprises him a lot. He must have grown used to bullying the Mermaids, Nersharks, and other aquatic races while not having to worry too much. That worry is starting to appear right now, though.

Meru keeps deflecting most of his swipes, with just a few grazing her skin or diving suit. I notice some shallow cuts on her body but she can deal with this much on her own right now. There’s no need to interrupt her duel yet.

Water and ice-based spells fly around the warehouse alongside heavily acidic blobs of green and blue liquid. While getting pushed back by the ferocious assault of the violet shark man, Meru spins her trident and catches one of the liquid projectiles onto the head of her weapon. Taking a lowered stance, she surrounds it with mana and makes a mighty thrust.

Whatever technique she uses, a small cyclone surrounds the head of her trident as it moves forward. The poor guy has no chance to react to the horizontal tornado crashing right into him. The chaotic water recedes soon after the blow and reveals that the commander is missing his left arm down from the elbow. It has been cleanly eaten up by the strong acid, leaving burn marks all around.

But, the big bad doesn’t give up and activates something from his own arsenal. A gurgling roar reverberates from the thick walls. I have placed Hall of Serenity around us before engaging so we should be safe from any reinforcements hearing his calls. Naturally, the loud shout isn’t all that happens and the leader enters a frenzied state.

Meru doesn’t even flinch when met with his increased ferocity and raised stats, most likely. It becomes harder for her, of course, but it isn’t the end. She evades his attempts to grab her or pierce her with the remaining Wolverine gauntlet. Unfortunately, she is too slow when stepping around the fallen bodies and the boss lands a solid hit on her with his muscular leg.

My Nershark mate flies backwards and slams into the stone wall next to the captured women. They hastily scatter and form two groups, each on the side of my lovely sharkgirl. She hangs limply from that wall, partially encased in the crushed stone. Boasting about his victory with loud roars, the commander slowly approaches her position to finish the job.

I prepare myself to intervene, but it looks like my help won’t be needed.

Just as he raises his remaining arm into the air and aims it at Meru, she pushes herself out of the niche created by the impact and immediately spins around. Her beautiful tail smacks the leader right in the balls covered by a fancy loincloth. There’s no way his Enrage can ignore that and he lurches forward.

She seizes the moment by jumping onto his back and starting to choke him with her trident pushed into his throat, locking the polearm behind her elbows while pulling it back with all her strength. Some panic finally makes an appearance in his ugly eyes as he flails around, doing his best to smack the sharkgirl off his back.

The chokehold turns out to be not the only thing in Meru’s plan for that fight as she lets go of her opponent and kicks off his back. The commander rolls forward without control and lands on his butt. Before he can regain his composure and stand up, Meru’s weapon falls at him from above in the mode with four spokes.

They all detach, excluding the middle spike, and wrap the big Sahuagin with a thin wire while the trident lodges itself in his shoulder. He wriggles around in an attempt to break out of his confines with pure strength but nothing seems to be working out for him.

Then, he notices movement ahead and Meru shows up right in front of him. She grabs the quite crucial part of his body and rips the ugly but certainly useful tool from between his legs, evoking a powerful screech of pain from the owner.

My fierce mate doesn’t stop there and takes a few steps of a wind-up before rushing forward and impaling the poor bastard on her bare palm. She then pulls it back with a weird thing atop her hand which turns out to be the sizable Sahuagin’s heart. Looking him straight in the eyes, she crushes it and then shoves her fist deep into his throat after jumping in the air.

It takes a moment for his body to catch up to the fact that he is already dead and he flops onto the ground with a loud thud. Meru sighs heavily and pulls her weapon out of her opponent. I slowly approach her with a gentle smile and start pouring healing mana into her with my Rejuvenate.

“Great job. Just don’t forget to wash your hands later.” I chuckle softly.

“Thank you. It was nothing. Let us clear out the remaining Sahuagins,” she replies with a trace of a smile on her pouty lips.

“After you.” I extend a hand to her and Meru takes it as we jump right back into action together.

We still have a bunch of small fries to take care of and some pretty ladies to comfort and bring to the ship.