'I see that the Sages really are out for your blood.' Zero reminded me as I bolt for my life after another encounter with the snake people.
A few hours ago after crossing the gate, I was met by a wall of cascading water.
Little did I realize that I was transported to a simulated version of what I think is the Hydra's Court. The interior design and the general vibe screams it. But what I met instead of hydras were:
"DEATH TO THE SURFACE DWELLER!"
That place was crawling with native Naga, humanoid like serpents proficient with Spear and Net combat. Green Scales, Forked tongues, and the rancid smell of oiled leather. Truthfully, I used 'Scry' on them.
Name: Naga
Family: Serpent/Humanoid
Level: 20
Notes: Immune to Water, Highly Agile in Sea Water
Being a mage, I have the clear disadvantage already, and to make matters even worse, I have to use the water element. The only element they are immune against!
"This. Fucking. SUCKS!" I exclaimed as I escaped for the fourth time in two hours. Willing the power of water in my hands, I raised a tower of saltwater beneath me so I could go to an unreachable surface.
I was breathing heavily, my feet were screaming in pain as I took off my shoes. Two Hours, and I am already hating this place.
"Zero... How's my condition?" I asked. Steadily trying to keep my breathing back to normal.
"Realistically, the condition of this zone is way out of your depth." It said.
"Did you really have to make a pun?" I questioned the AI I was paired up with and I felt in my mind that it shrugged.
"You can survive if you can outrun most of them. However, the realistic and safest way for you to both get the sages off your backs and the academy set low standards for you is: To fail your assessment." Zero said.
"Excuse me what?" I asked my AI as if I misheard him.
"This is an impossible task Yman. The biggest issue is the immunity of the Nagas against Water Magic. At the same time, your knowledge in Water magic is more suited for defending and supporting." Zero explained it's reasoning.
I was about to say something else when I caught the scent, it was rancid like leather dipped in acid.
"Shit..." I said and I dodged a trident when it burst from the left wall.
"Holy Sh—" It was Zero's turn to cuss as I ran as fast as I can.
Despite my bare feet brushing against the rough coral roads and the salty sea, I ran, as hard and as fast as possible. The Naga were on my trail, and they were craving for my blood. One even threw it's net at me and it caught the hem of my Grimoire, so I had to leave it behind. Now I have to apologize to Captain Ventus about that.
"Yman, turn right!" Zero pinged on my brain and I instinctively did and I leapt from a ravine down towards a stream of warm, fresh water. I waded across the banks and collapsed on the shore. My lungs felt like coal and every breath I take was painful, like shards of glass were laced in every air.
"Thanks... Zero." I said in between my breath and I could smell the rancid scent again. The Naga were already looking at me with their golden slanted eyes, but they didn't dare cross the Warm water.
I wondered why they didn't want to cross, so I waited for Zero to explain it to me.
"This is a Fresh Water Oasis. The Naga wouldn't dare to invade it." Zero assured me.
"So... am I safe?" I asked.
There was another scent in the air, and this time, it was sweet like honeysuckle. "Guess not..."
I turned my back and saw a single feminine-like figure. She was... beautiful. Sea green eyes, flaming red hair, she was slender and her scales gleam like a pearl underneath the seabed. Her slender figure was covered by a white shawl.
"D-don't come any closer!" She said, her voice quaking from fear. She was quivering like a cornered rabbit.
"Relax... I'm not going anywhere." I told her as I lay down on the beach. Catching my breath as I looked at the crystals that line up the fresh water cove.
Even though she doesn't look like it, the girl was giving me an aura of suspicion, she was very wary of me.
"A surface dweller? Why are you here?" The girl asked. Her sea green eyes were calming down a bit.
"I wasn't given a choice for that matter." I said, annoyed by her accusing voice.
"So you come here to my cove. Bringing a horde of Naga while their unsavory stench fills up the air, all the while defiling this spring with your unclean body." She said.
"Look princess, I'm sorry for doing all of those things, but can you keep it down. My ears already ringing from the stress, can you keep it down a notch?" I said and she threw an abalone at me.
"Uncouth surface dweller." She stick her tongue out and pouts. And I was a bit annoyed with her, but I had no energy to deal with her.
More hours have passed and I feel a bit rested now, but the thing is, I could still smell the acidic scent of the Naga outside. And between them and the abalone princess, I'll take my chances with the latter.
"Aren't you going to leave?" The princess demanded. And I looked at her with a look that screams 'calm down'.
"Trust me Ariel, I would if I know it's safe." I said and was met with a seaweed this time.
"How unethical. And my name isn't Ariel. It's Kimalasca." She said.
"Kima-Who-now?" I asked and she rolled her eyes.
"See, even now the surface dwellers are getting illiterate by the century." She groaned anxiously and I felt a tinge of annoyance.
"Look Kim. I'll call you Kim for my sake. I'd like to stay and chat, but-"
"You want to pass this exam so that the Sages will get off your back. Yes I know, I've heard that line for the past five centuries." She brushed off my question and stalked off.
"Rude..." I muttered under my breath and walked away. "Hang on... How do you know the sages gave me this task?"
"Are your ears garnish or full of varnish? Honestly, all of you are the same. But the difference is, you alone are the blubbering one. I've seen the same scholars. And honestly, only one of them is... satisfactory." She said, her face was full of reminiscence.
"So uh... Who was it?" I asked and she snapped back to reality. Her face morphed back to an annoyed expression.
"Not one that you could try and emulate. He is both kind and intelligent, while you?" She scoffed and I rolled my eyes.
A few minutes of Silence, I finally regained the strength in my legs. I also willed the fresh water towards me so I could drink. But not before testing it if it was poisoned or not. Fortunately, it was fine. But Everytime I took a sip, some nagging fish lady was always on my shoulder.
"When are you going to leave?" She asked and I just stared at her.
"I'll leave once I figure out what I should do." I said and went back to drinking. But I felt something on the ground, it was shaking, and the rancid smell was tinged with the scent of seawater, and all of a sudden, just missing me by an inch, a trident bursts forth from the ground.
"Surface Dweller!" The Naga came in waves. At least five of them encircled me, their nets were crackling with electricity, and their harpoons glittered with a clear, red substance which what I don't think is raspberry jelly.
"H-how?!" Kim staggered, her scales morphed into a dangerous shade of cobalt, she was afraid.
"Princess of the Dracaena, so this is where you were hiding." The Captain Naga said, his green tongue brimming with slight venom. His arms were muscular and tattooed with fangs, his body full of battle scars, and his tail fin was chipped and uneven.
But there was something else on my mind. The word I heard:
Dracaena... Wait I remember... Queen Amaryllis of the Dracaena had a deceased daughter. Toby's sponsor during the Underwater Catacombs arc when he found the Siren's Tear. If this was 500 years already... That means this girl, is the heiress to the Dracaenanian Queendom. And she's still alive!
"This spring water, so it was your doing. No wonder my soldiers are enamored into coming to their deaths. You were leading them here, vile temptress." The Captain snapped and goads the others to ignore me, as if I wasn't appealing enough for them.
I glanced at Kim again, and my whole world slowed down.
Of course, that meant I have an exit path out of the oasis, but...
'You're not thinking of leaving her are you?' Zero asked
Sometimes I hate that my conscience and the AI assigned to me were being in tandem. Most especially in a crisis such as this.
"Torrents bring Refuge; Rain Screen!"
A tower of fresh water formed out of nowhere and blocked the captain and its fellow naga, making it clear for me to take hold of Kim.
"Hey let's get out of here!" I said as I grab her hand and flee.
"H-hey! How dare a surface dweller-" I didn't even let her finish as I covered the both of us in a clear sphere of fresh water as we descend the hole that the naga kindly made for us.
Then I realized that the path goes way underground, and that it was going even further, until I caught the scent of salt in the air.
"W-wait! We're going down towards the sea!" Kim screamed near my ear, if she had a megaphone, it would've been enough to burst my eardrums half.
"You're a dracaena, you'll be fine!" I insisted as I was about to will the water to scoop us out, when Kim suddenly yanks my arm and the water orb that held us stayed adrift on the sea water's surface.
Kim looked flimsy and fragile, but that strength was enough to dislocate my shoulder and yank my whole arm off.
"What gives?" I inquire indignantly.
"I- I'm allergic." She muttered.
"Come again?" I asked, I thought I heard it wrong.
"I said I'm allergic!" She said in a sudden and sonorous tone. "Seawater activates my allergies!"
"You? A dracaena?" I connect two and two together, and I couldn't help but look stupid in front of her, a Dracaena, a lady of the sea and tide, was allergic to the salt in the water.
"You surface dwellers are all the same. You never believe me!" She huffed, tears streaming down her face.
"If you're allergic to the sea, why are you trapped in this Seafoam Cavern?" I inquired and she rolled her eyes.
"Obviously I didn't come here on my own. I was forcefully taken from my home. By who and what, I don't know!" Kim said in a shrill voice, as if defending herself. I raised my hands in defense.
"Okay okay… No need to shout." I said.
'Is this what they called... Constipated?' Zero inquired.
'No. That's what you called concerned.' I told the AI and it made a mental note.
"Why did they take you?" I asked. Not knowing what happened to Amaryllis might be a key for me to know who I am up against.
"Dracaena blood is a commodity for the Naga. For several millennia, we Dracaena are hunted by them, our blood for them is like alcohol for burly men." She explained.
So Dracaena blood has an intoxicating flavor that drives the Naga mad with ecstasy.
"So how come you are hiding in the caverns below?" I asked, clearly curious why she didn't try to escape her captors.
"One, I am allergic to sea water. And two... We are in the middle of the Victor Mare." She said and I paled. No wonder this place seem familiar. The sages were very vindictive, they sent me to the Shrine of Palamedes, the Former Deity of Water.
Victor Mare, the sea of the conqueror. The only place that is built above it was the Shrine of Palamedes, and the Naga, are his children.
"I'll land us somewhere without any seawater then." I said gently and Kim nods pensively.
The freshwater sphere was slowly drifting by as we reached the shores. The smell of the sea was getting stronger, as a pulsating energy was overflowing from the giant doors, I could feel the hairs on my arms standing. It was the same sensation as when I was walking towards the country, a mana storm was also happening here. An abnormal amount of mana was pouring and spiraling towards the ceiling of the land.
'Yman! Your heart! It's pulsating!!' Zero warned.
Kim was getting heavy behind me, my vision was getting a bit blurry from the heat, and the next thing I knew... I was keeling on the ground, my hand clutching on my chest. It was the most pain I have ever experienced. Far worse than the serpents biting me, or maybe even on how Reiko was with me. The Mana storm was getting stronger, and I could feel my own body being torn apart.
Someone was speaking in another language, an ancient, lost script that seem alien to me. The voice, was that of a young boy.
'et... e... ee...' it said, and before I knew it, Kim was walking towards the temple door and from her, emanated a soothing blast of energy. Pacifying the rogue element that was unleashing the influx of mana.
But I was staggering to get to my feet as the light from Kim was fading, and she crumples on the ground. When I tried coming towards her, I caught the scent of the Naga yet again.
They were all staring at the gate as if they were in a trance. All of them slithered slowly, dropping their nets and their harpoons as the light from the temple gates were beckoning them, like moths to a candle.
"Set me free." The voice said, and it was clear. It was a young boy's voice I hear. Clear and tranquil, like a sea breeze at dawn.
As my eyes began to dim, I felt the tug of ropes tangling me, and at the corner of my eye, the naga captain was carrying Kim like a bride. Zero was talking to me, but his voice was... Dim and distant. Ahh... I'm so... Tired.