Chapter 185: Primordial Naiad

Chapter 185: Primordial Naiad

Evelyn felt like she was once again back at that conveyor belt. Helpless, unable to move, and only able to stare at her slowly approaching death. Only this time, it was a mermaid instead of an industrial meat grinder.

Her only source of relief was that the mermaid hadn't immediately started tearing her apart, and the longer she delayed, the more time there was for her to flip the situation around. Maybe Aurora would come, maybe somehow she could mobilize her strength, or something else.

The half-fish girl rubbed Evelyn's long pink hair between her fingers curiously, and then swam around her in circles, as if observing her from every angle.

It was as if she was trying to decide what kind of thing this was, and had Evelyn not known she might die the next second, maybe she would have found it cute.

Up close, Evelyn noticed that what she had previously thought was some type of armor or clothing that covered the mermaid's chest, it didn't seem to have any seam to put on or take off, and looked more like an exoskeleton, or perhaps an ability?

The mermaid stopped circling her abruptly as she seemingly made up her mind, and the entire right sleeve of Evelyn's dress was ripped right off before she even realized.

The grade two dress obviously never stood a chance to put up any kind of resistance against this creature's sharp claws, but Evelyn wasn't surprised. What did surprise her, though, was that instead of chomping on her arm after throwing the cloth away, the mermaid actually started stuffing the torn sleeve into her mouth.

Only to spit it out a few moments later with a disgusted expression.

She gave the pink-haired girl an aggrieved look, as if feeling wronged.

Even if she had been able to, Evelyn wouldn't know how to respond. ""

'I'm sorry that my dress doesn't taste good?'

Although that thought flitted across her mind for a moment, Evelyn quickly realized something else.

The residents of the lake were clearly used to feasting on humans and beasts alike, but that wasn't necessarily true for this mermaid, who seemed to have awoken from the depths after being disturbed by the chaos bone beast's struggle.

Given the fact that she was able to consume the chaos bone beast like that, even though it was really all bones, it was expected that what the mermaid sought in food must be energy. And as long as something didn't have enough, it would probably be tasteless.

As Evelyn's mind revolved rapidly, the mermaid looked a lot more hesitant on taking another bite. She even looked in another direction, as if debating whether she should just go back and leave this little morsel to the others.

Thankfully, she didn't really do so, and hesitantly inserted a finger right into the pink-haired girl's belly.

The sharp claw pierced through her soft skin like a hot knife through butter, but instead of being terrified, Evelyn's eyes glinted in excitement.

Although she had been helpless before when surrounded by the lake's restrictions, all she needed from this girl was to not kill her with the first move!

The suppression of the lake was strong, but it wasn't omnipotent. If that had been the case, no one would be able to even defend themselves at all, and their abilities would all dissolve the moment they entered the water.

Seeing the creature curiously tilt her head, Evelyn pointed to her mouth and repeated her words, and in response, the mermaid grabbed her hand and tried to take a bite!

Unfortunately for her, this was still Evelyn's domain, and while she couldn't smother or destroy a soul that was stronger than her own with a snap of her finger, defending herself from someone who didn't know anything about manipulating her soul energy at all was like snatching candy from a baby.

The mermaid looked shocked when someone smacked her up her head from behind, and she swiveled around with an aggrieved expression, pouting at the pink-haired girl.

"Do you think you can do as you please with me? No one likes little babies who don't know how to behave themselves, you know?"

Although she knew it was unlikely for the mermaid to be able to understand her words, this was her own soul space, after all. Carrying her intent to the other party was simple.

Whether or not she was willing to hear her out, however, was an entirely different thing.

The mermaid obviously didn't want to hear anything, and quickly lunged at her again. This time, her expression was no longer so cute and curious, but ferocious instead, and her speed was fast as lightning.

Had this not been her own soul space, Evelyn believed she would have been torn to shreds before she even realized what was happening.

Unfortunately for the mermaid, however, she picked the wrong place to fight.

Smack after smack landed on the back of her head, and even her fish-butt, and the always silent creature finally started howling in aggravation, as if she couldn't believe someone would hit her like that.

Slowly, her lunges got slower, and then she stopped altogether and just floated there, crying big, pearly tears.

Obtained one drop of [Primordial Naiad's Tears]

Water Affinity increased by one percent!

Current affinity with water is 81%

Obtained one drop of [Primordial Naiad's Tears]

Water Affinity increased by one percent!

Current affinity with water is 82%

Evelyn's expression turned blank as she looked at the little baby mermaid crying, and then listened to her continuous system prompts in shock.

Each one of her tears gave one percent water affinity?!

The pink-haired girl's serious expression quickly melted into a smile, and the mermaid stopped sobbing as she wagged her tail cautiously, as if wondering if she wouldn't bully her anymore.