With the acolytes having fled the scene, Wayne found himself unable to maintain his tense state any longer. He half-kneeled on the ground, feeling somewhat limp, as his body, concealed beneath the armor, sent out painful signals.
Trading an injury for a life tactic he employed during the battle had proven effective, allowing him to evade the acolyte's siege. However, it also resulted in more than a dozen bruises and cuts on his body. The high-intensity battle had nearly depleted his physical strength within just ten minutes.
After about five minutes of resting on the ground, Wayne's body began to recover slightly from the effects of the swallow potion. He rose to his feet and made his way towards the blood pool altar in the depths of the cave. Passing by the corpse of a special acolyte, he retrieved the strange staff forged from an unknown metal and stowed it in his storage bag.
Upon reaching the blood pool, Wayne observed the weird-looking octopuses still rolling in the blood. The six hostages remained seated in the pool, leaning on wooden stakes, still unconscious.
Wayne approached to check their pulse and breathing. Despite their weakness, he confirmed that they were still alive. However, upon closer inspection of their faces, Wayne was horrified to discover that many small octopus tentacles had sprouted from their jaws.
Though not yet reaching the lengths seen on the special acolyte, these tentacles appeared to have caused permanent changes to both the bone structure and flesh of the hostages, likely as a result of the strange ritual they had undergone.
This kind of weird thing made Wayne very worried, and he couldn't help but think of horror movie plots such as evil gods descending and looking for flesh. Perhaps like the aliens, there are already heirs of evil gods conceived in the bodies of these hostages, waiting for the time to break out when the time is ripe.
Concerned, Wayne retrieved Fitz, from the blood pool. Fitz lay unconscious, his dilated pupils indicating his state of unconsciousness. He put the little guy into the cold water in the puddle beside him, letting the cold liquid cover his body, but unfortunately, there was still no sign of waking up.
Witnessing Fitz's continued unconscious state, Wayne felt a pang of distress. While the acolytes had likely fled the cave, they must go through the underwater passage that is hundreds of meters long. Wayne could still get through there himself with the talisman, but trying to get through with a few comatose, completely immobile people was just a dream. Moreover, leaving the hostages behind in their current state didn't sit well with Wayne.
Wayne had no choice but to look for other exits in the cave. Unfortunately, after searching for half an hour, he couldn't find the exit. Instead, he found a lot of pearls and corals as trophies to make up for the loss of his alchemy bombs. And the hostages were still unable to wake up, which made Wayne quite entangled.
Just when he didn't know how to act and was in a dilemma, accompanied by three small footsteps, a familiar voice suddenly entered his ears:
"Wayne, are you alright?" the voice inquired. "I brought my father and mother to find you."
Turning his head, Wayne saw three Godlings of varying heights, clad in simple fur clothing, approaching him. Among them, the youngest, Lala, appeared particularly anxious as she trailed behind the two older Godlings.
Upon spotting Wayne, her eyes immediately lit up with excitement, and she seemed eager to rush over, but another female Godling held her back.
Wayne smiled warmly at Lala before turning his attention to the two older Godlings accompanying her. Despite their smaller appearance, the two exuded an air of elder wisdom.
The male godling, noticeably more mature, stood at about 1.2 meters tall with a black and white beard adorning his chin. Holding a wand crafted from unknown animal bones, he nodded respectfully at Wayne
"Wayne, thank you for taking care of my daughter Lala and thank you for the adventure you took to save my son Fitz. My name is Cruz, and I'm the father of Lala and Fitz. I heard that Witchers must receive corresponding rewards for entrusting them a commission. After this incident, I will definitely pay you a satisfactory reward."
After saying this, he looked back at his wife and daughter who were anxious, then looked at Wayne again, paused for a second, and asked:
"Depending on the situation, you have already killed the acolyte priest here. I wonder how my child Fitz is doing now?"
Wayne nodded to Cruz, pointed to the blood pool altar behind, and said truthfully:
"Cruz, I don't know the specific situation. When I arrived here, including your son Fitz, a total of six hostages were tied up in the Blood Pool Altar, and they were performing an evil ritual. Although I killed the acolytes here, I don't know their knowledge, and I can't wake up your son. However, no matter what, it's best to take these people out of the cave first. This is the territory of the acolytes. If we stay here for too long, we might be attacked by those acolytes."
Hearing this, Cruz looked at the direction Wayne was pointing at, and his expression returned to anxiety. He nodded at Wayne, said nothing more, and immediately took his wife and Lala, trotting towards the location of the blood pool.
To Wayne's surprise, this little male godling, Cruz, was actually quite a powerful spellcaster. Although he couldn't wake up his son Fitz and others, he was able to use magic spells, levitation, and underwater breathing to solve the difficulty that Wayne couldn't take them out of the water before.
However, after all, there were still too many people who needed to be rescued. Wayne protected their safety all the way, and it took more than an hour to escort the godling family and the hostages who had not yet awakened to the location of the Fisher King.
When he arrived near the boat, the Fisher King was still sitting on the rock, with the corpses of several acolytes lying beside him. Seeing such a large group of people coming, he turned his head to look at his own boat again, but he couldn't able to say anything.
Angela, Lala's mother who had been taking care of her son in the group, suddenly walked to the shore, took out a green leaf from her clothes, and blew a melody out of her mouth. Tens of seconds later, a huge sea turtle with a body length of seven or eight meters suddenly crawled out from the bottom of the lake.
After seeing the giant sea turtle, Lala clapped her hands excitedly, and said to Wayne: "This is my mother's friend, Mandu."
After the giant sea turtle climbed ashore, he talked to Angela in an unknown language, then crawled down and let Lala's father, Cruz, transfer the six people, including Fitz, onto his back.
After completing the rescue operation, Cruz looked back at Wayne, casting spells for such a long time made the godling exhausted, he nodded to the witcher and asked
"Wayne, I must urgently bring my child home to use the power of the Goddess Altar to lift the curse. As for the other five individuals, I lack the ability to rescue them. I can only transport them temporarily back to the vicinity of Marsh Village and return them to human hands. Is this acceptable?"
Wayne, understanding the limitations and the urgency of Cruz's situation, nodded in agreement. With no clear solution to the evil god's ritual, saving them from the murloc's lair was a kindness in itself. The fate of these individuals rested on their own luck.
As they discussed the next steps and prepared to depart from Black Tern Island, the Fisher King, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice:
"Wayne, Lala, and the cursed Fitz, the goddess invite you to meet her. She hopes I will take you to her."
Wayne was surprised by the invitation. He hadn't anticipated being summoned by the legendary goddess of the lake that very night. Cruz, despite his earlier sadness, displayed immediate excitement and joy at the prospect of the goddess wanting to see his daughter and son.
"Excellent! If the Lady Goddess is willing to bestow her favor, my son Fitz will surely be safe and sound," Cruz exclaimed enthusiastically.
Noting Wayne's hesitation, Cruz, assuming it stemmed from unfamiliarity with the goddess of the lake, attempted to reassure him:
"Wayne, the Lady of the Lake is a benevolent and mighty deity who has safeguarded this lake for thousands of years. It is her protection that has prevented this lake from becoming a stronghold for the followers of the evil god Dagon."
"You thwarted the ritual of the evil god Dagon today and vanquished his followers. The goddess will assuredly reward you for this deed," Cruz affirmed.
Wayne harbored no fear of any sinister intentions from the Goddess of the Lake. His concern lay more in discerning her intentions. Observing the questioning gaze of the Fisher King, he eventually nodded, agreeing to the invitation.
'I won't face any harm when meeting such a benevolent and righteous deity,' Wayne mused to himself.
Ding! "[Save Godling Fitz]" was successfully completed.
Reward: 48 experience points, one expert-level treasure chest.