"Madam, you're joking again," Victoria said, slightly embarrassed as she shook her head.
"Oh, come on!We're out of school now. Just call me COCO. I'm practically your sister's friend, no need to be so formal." COCO replied, looking at Victoria. " Don't be shy. Call my name."
Victoria smiled helplessly: "COCO."
John focused on driving, quickly reaching the city's expressway and heading towards the southern suburbs.
The southern suburbs of Star City, located by the sea, offered a better environment, attracting many of the city's elites to settle there. However, it seemed that an otherworldly portal had also appeared there.
John was roughly aware of the portal's location in the southern suburbs. It was the only one among the four otherworldly portals in Star City that was located on the shallow beach.
If he remembered correctly, that portal might move today. But where exactly it would move to, John was somewhat unclear, given that he had been reborn from five years in the future, and some memories were a bit fuzzy.
About twenty minutes later.
John parked the car in front of the mansion's gate.
The road opposite here led to the beach, making it one of the top seaside mansions.
"It's strange. Why hasn't the butler opened the garage door?" Victoria wondered why no one was opening the gate, so she got out of the car and pressed the doorbell. However, after several seconds, there seemed to be no response.
COCO also got out of the car with Victoria. After discussing for a moment, they decided to enter through a smaller gate to retrieve some items.
It was probably something rather personal, so John was left outside.
He was bored and came to the steps above the beach to smoke. Just then, a small mound of sand not far away on the beach seemed to be moving quickly towards him...
John narrowed his eyes, instantly noticing something beneath it.
He prepared himself for combat.
Indeed, a few seconds later.
A shadow burst from beneath the sand and charged directly at John!
It was a merfolk with a distorted appearance and scales covering its body. It raised its sharp claws but hit the stone steps, leaving deep scratch marks.
"Croak…Croak… Croak…"
The merfolk's large eyes moved around, not understanding why its prey had suddenly disappeared.
John was already standing behind the merfolk, his poisoned dagger slicing through the merfolk's scale-less arm.
Feeling the pain in its arm, the merfolk turned around to swipe its claws again. But as it raised its arm, it fell stiffly to the ground.
John had infused his dagger with a healing potion mixed with snake venom, combined with the high S-grade toxicity. It instantly ended its life.
[Merfolk Sand Lurker killed, 200 experience points gained]
[Current experience: 870/1000 points]
Looking at the merfolk's body on the ground, John realized these creatures were skilled at camouflage and stealth. It seemed they had breached the blockade and escaped from the otherworldly portal. Moreover, merfolk usually moved in groups. The one outside seemed to be on the lookout.
A sudden ominous premonition struck John.
Considering the villa's unopened doors earlier, it was very likely it had been invaded by merfolk. He turned around and ran inside.
Upon entering, John felt disoriented.
The mansion was simply too large!
And there was more than one building inside. John had no idea which direction they had gone.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
At that moment, a scream came from the main house to their left front.
John sprinted towards the sound. His agility of 9 allowing him to run at world record speeds. He covered the nearly 200 meters in less than 20 seconds.
As he reached the main house's entrance, he saw COCO and Victoria, thankfully unharmed. COCO was merely startled, and John soon saw the cause of her scream.
It was the body of someone dressed like a butler, suspended by ropes on the second floor of the residence.
His death was gruesome, his lower half missing, with intestines and other organs hanging from his abdominal cavity, continuously dripping blood.
"John, let's get out of here and call the police!" COCO, regaining her composure, hurriedly wanted to leave with them. Initially, she hadn't taken those monsters seriously, thinking that with so many armed police surrounding the area, none would escape.
But now, COCO realized these creatures were far more terrifying than imagined.
Victoria was pale. She had called home this morning, warning her mother, who was alone at home, to be careful. Her mother had assured her that she had hired several bodyguards. And the otherworldly portal was more than ten kilometers away. So, it should be safe.
"My mom is still inside. I have to check on her!" Victoria entered the villa without looking back, leaving COCO somewhat at a loss.
COCO tried to stop her, but Victoria had already run inside, "Victoria, come back! Let's call the police!"
John also frowned when he saw this. But he knew that as an Awakened One, Victoria could easily handle one or two merfolk grunts.
However, she might still lack some real combat experience.
After all, competition and battlefield fighting are entirely different concepts, especially against these humanoid demons who wouldn't hesitate to gang up on you rather than fight fair.
"John, you should go in too, or Victoria might be in danger!" COCO, knowing John's capabilities. She had fallen for him that night in the bar when he took down four or five thugs single-handedly without even dirtying his clothes.
John furrowed his brows. He could go in, but he absolutely couldn't leave COCO alone outside, not knowing if there were any lurking merfolk.
"COCO, it's not safe for you to be out here alone. Stick close to me. We'll go in together." Without hesitation, COCO nodded in agreement.
Despite her fears, she was more worried about Victoria's safety. Victoria's sister, Trista, COCO's best friend, had entrusted her to look after Victoria before leaving to study abroad. If anything happened to Victoria, COCO could never face Trista again.
Leading the way, John cautiously entered the mansion, immediately detecting a strange smell in the air.
It was a nauseating mix of blood and fishy odors.
John didn't draw his dagger, as it would be hard to explain to COCO. To deal with those level two or three merfolk demons, his strength, enhanced to level 8, allowed him to kill those grunts with his fists.
They walked for a while. Victoria's house proved to be massive. Suddenly, John heard faint noises coming from below a staircase, likely where the servant's quarters were located.
John led the way with COCO clutching her high heels, frantically following behind him.
As they descended deeper down the staircase, a pungent smell of blood assaulted their senses. They finally found the source of the noises. That's a total of three fishmen. One big and two small. They were gathered around a body dressed in a maid's uniform, gnawing at it with their tooth-filled mouths.
The two smaller merfolk, only the size of monkeys, lacked the sharp teeth of their larger companion. They could only use their claws to pull out the softer organs from the corpse's abdominal cavity to swallow.
[Level 3: Merfolk Tidehunter]
[Level 1: Little Merfolk]
[Level 1: Little Merfolk]
COCO covered her mouth, too terrified to make any sound.
She shed tears of fear and suddenly regretted it in her heart... She shouldn't have let John come in here. He wasn't Superman. Facing such vicious monsters, he was sure to get hurt.
She tugged at the hem of John's shirt, trying to signal him to retreat slowly and leave this place.
But the next second, John stepped down the stairs directly.
Under COCO's horrified gaze, John punched the Merfolk Tidehunter straight in its bulbous eye, his entire arm buried halfway into it, destroying its brain.
[You have killed a Merfolk Tidehunter, gaining 300 experience points]
[Current experience: 1000/1000 points]
[Note: Experience cap reached, complete the class advancement task to unlock the limit]
The two little merfolk snapped back to reality and simultaneously lunged at John, but they were far too slow. John caught one in each hand, slamming them together.
His overwhelming strength broke both of the little merfolk's arms.
They didn't even have the chance to let out a pained cry before John twisted their necks, ending them!