Before I knew what was happening, I was already surrounded by women.
None of them had any scales or fish tails. Actually, they had wings and arms. I saw about nine but there could have been more in the mist. Smooth skin, glowing almost and very symmetrical round faces with large eyes and shapely noses: The woman in particular were rather beautiful and probably the most beautiful I'd ever seen or so I thought at first. Whenever I stared at one of them, they appeared to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but as I stared at the people around them, I kind of felt that for every single one of them at the very same time. No, I wasn't going insane. It was the smell. The scent. The scent was making my senses weird. But I was still sane. I suppose the extra high I got from the forest had given me some resistance?
And none of them wore any tops. Their round mounds and the bits of pink titflesh perked up and drew my attention. I did not dare look down….
"We can fatten him up," one of them said. Sea tongue.
"But that'll take time. I want to eat him now."
"But look at the bones. He's so shriveled up."
"Boy," one of them was just before me. She spoke human tongue. "Don't worry, we'll take care of you. Come with us, we'll help you find your way back home. You're lost, aren't you?" She spoke. And she spoke very sweetly too.
However.
Electricity streaked in my hand and they all jumped away instantaneously. "I appreciate the sentiment," I spoke in sea tongue. "But I have a place to be at and I'm certainly not lost."
Probably.
I got lots of hisses and the scent dulled. I could see them a bit better.
Instead of the glowing sublime skin, they now appeared to have scaly skin similar to that of a mermaid but they weren't as pretty as mermaids. And they didn't have tails.
They definitely had actual mating organs though. Don't look, damnit!
"Look, I'm really not looking for trouble. I'm not in the best mood," I said. "I can easily fry each and every one of you."
"Lies! You would have already-"
"Fishmen took good care of me. Mermaids, Fish goblins, and a bunch of other people. I'd rather not fry up that good will along with you."
Sirens weren't technically part of the Mermaid extended kingdom but they did have some ties with them or so I'd been told.
They maintained their distance while I casually walked ahead. A small spark continued to arc in my fingertips. This was harder than it looked. I tried to maintain a natural expression but it was starting to crack. Not only was this damn thing draining the fuck out of both my mana and the gemstone, but it was also screwing my senses. As in I couldn't keep the fucking hand open anymore!
Ah~! I stopped and switched over to fire instead. Phew. Much more natural.
But in that moment, I realized, I'd made a grave mistake. Because I felt flesh behind me. Flesh pressed on my head. Soft flesh. Breasts. I was dragged into boobs and violated~!
Yeah, not really, she bit me, she bit my fucking head.
Sharp pain spread along with a hot steaming liquid.
"ARGHH!" I punched the air, and set whatever the hell was behind me on fire. I blasted a literal flamethrower's worth of fire on it and kept blasting it and-
The fuck, it's a monster. Damn thing had followed me to shore. It looked a bit different from the stuff I'd seen back there. White skin, and very mushroom-like. I suppose there were more for me to see in that fuckhole.
Anyway, the actual people were still far away though.
But woah- my head was warm and wet and upon touch, my fingers turned red with color.
Well, I'm dead.
Darkness.
I heard a splash, some murmurs and then nothing.
***
Heavy eyes. Odd ceiling.
And… wait, why was there a sun in the sky and why was it waving?
"I'm underwater again," I mumbled.
"Yes, we were surprised when you submerged in the water and kept breathing," someone said. "I suppose we should have taken your visit to the mermaid kingdom, more seriously."
A woman?
A siren.
She had a tray in hand and looked decent enough. As in, at least she was wearing a bra this time. Still nothing below though.
I didn't know why but I kept having a deja vu. My broken arm was no longer broken and my head didn't throb. I could breathe just fine too. Like no problems.
"Am I like, dead?" I said.
Because frankly, this felt too good to be true. "Why would you think that?"
"I don't feel any pain. Did you use any healing magic on me?"
"Not really. We're just drugging you to the point where you don't feel any pain. You would have kept screaming otherwise."
Huh.
No wonder. I rechecked my head and they did wrap it up at least. And my hand was still broken, just not hurting. Won't this grow weirdly if I don't fix it soon?
"Wait, what sort of drugs?"
"You don't have to worry about them. They're slightly addictive but you won't stay here long enough to get addicted," she said, leaving the tray next to me. "Eat, and once you're done, leave."
Huh.
I gulped, and picked up the tray. "Thanks."
And she didn't wait and left.
I didn't have walls around me. And I was merely just lying on a rock of sorts with various other rocks around us. The tray was made of a large shell and contained some sweet-smelling stuff. If they wanted to drug and eat me, they would have done that already. Or maybe they're just trying to fatten me up so they could eat me later? Either way, I was hungry and I had to eat.
Sweet!
This stuff was sweet!
Like cheese mixed with lots and lots of sugar and made into luxurious sweets!
There were six apple-sized pieces and by the time I finished 4, I was full and sort of sick of it. I mean I could always just eat some later.
Meanwhile, I watched the ocean and the Sirens in the distance. There was a whole colony here and they had homes down there, in between the cracks of the rocks. The whole area was patchy and often shallow.
We were probably a kilometer or so away from the forest (I could still see some green) and yet, the ocean was still more or less just patchy. I looked around and yup, it went on for miles. I suppose this whole place was just swallow waters. Wait, isn't that exactly what they'd told me?
So yeah, I really was in the forbidden continent.
A bit drugged but, at least I was finally here.