Master Of None

The look of triumph that Leon had by showing off how easy it was for them to defeat the red tangs quickly changed. He had bolstered their morale but that was not all he had done. In spearing the red tang through he had made things more dangerous.

Walker had originally seen the blood from the red tang and thought that this was the danger that was making Leon’s face scrunch up. But in reality, it was something worse. However, Walker couldn’t do anything. He saw that Leon made hand motions to everyone around then Walker was being pointed toward the ships. They were all being ordered to leave the water.

The sudden change of mood was enough to put Walker in a rush. He quickly pulled at the water elemental mana around him and created ice to block the lowest point of his vision in the water. He wasn’t sure if there was a dangerous monster approaching or what. But whatever it was, he would be preparing to do whatever he could.

The red tangs that had already been defeated and hooked to ropes to be dragged up were suddenly cut off. The ropes were left to float on the surface of the water. Walker only noticed this as he reached one of the ladders to climb in to the ship. He used his wind ripple skill to let the merfolk use the ladders and got to where Leon was giving orders.

”What happened? Why are we not taking the red tangs? What monster is around?” The merfolk were all busy checking their bodies while the soldiers that had been pulling up the red tangs looked like they were narrowly escaping a great danger.

”Are you serious? Did you not see the mouth of that one? I stabbed it and I saw the tongue eating parasites. They will take over every school of fish they see. No matter the strength of the monster. They are basically a one way trip to death for anything that lives in the ocean!” Leon knew that Walker didn’t know the dangers but a lot of the sailors had explained how these affected fish needed to be thrown back.

”Just touching the body of something with them has a chance to leave an egg on your body. Then you are stuck with a parasite that makes its way through your body and to your mouth. It eats your tongue and takes the place of it. From there it’s torture.” Leon seemed pale. The merfolk didn’t have the much of a different set of features when they became emotional, but Walker could tell that the adrenaline and fear instilled by these monstrous parasites was real.

”They will eat whatever you eat. Eventually, they will eat everything and you will starve to death. After that they wear your body and swim around to infect others before dying. Those red tangs were barely alive anymore. They were just infected things!” Leon called over the nearest healer and had her begin an examination of his body. Every single merfolk was doing the same with the healers that rushed to see if anyone was harmed.

Feeling that he should check himself now, Walker began to look carefully at his own body. He didn’t feel or sense anything different but knew that he had the ability to ensure that even if there was something it would not make it to a hatching state.

The sudden burst of flames around him shocked a few people. However, the sailors all gave a shout of approval. They knew that fire was the best way to cleanse anything that had been in touch with such tongue eating parasites. They were never able to survive the heat and that was why some of the sailors would dry their washed clothes in the sun. yes, it left dried salt on their clothing, but it protected them.

There were only two or three of the merfolk that had reacted negatively when a healer told them to sit down. Leon’s quick thinking had prevented most of them from exposure to a dangerous parasite that would easily kill them over time.

The healers that found evidence of this tongue eating parasite quickly used their purification skills. It was a slightly different variant than purification for poison or other negative effects on the body. This was one that was specifically aimed toward parasitic monsters.

The world was a dangerous place and many adventurers would have to go to a whaler to handle anything they got while out in the wilderness. Some of the younger soldiers also had this issue when they would drink water without properly sanitizing it. Some healers would also use the same skills to purify water to make it safe to drink. It was an alternative to boiling it.

When Walker saw that the healers had finished, he glanced at Leon who was still on high alert. Now they would not be able to go down under water and protect the ships until they were a good distance away from this area.

’I think the golems will need to handle this for a while. We can be ready to jump down at the slightest issue. Whatever is attracted to those dead red tangs will be infected too. The faster we leave here the better. No monsters to bother us and no parasites wither.” This was a wise choice since it was the safest. If they stayed the dangers would only multiply.

The other ships received the full message and threats in the area causing them to keep themselves under a tighter watch. The golem ship was sending out all the golems at once to perfect their patrol. The king of the surface’s orders were perfectly in line with what he had gleaned from the way Merfolk and aquatic demi-humans patrolled.

There were some exemptions when it came to demi-humans though. ”Those demi-humans have traits from the pistol shrimp, long tailed anemone, and even the spiked hunter fish. They all eat the parasites and are natural predators of tongue eating parasites. Especially when they are larger. Scylla has a very well gathered variety of soldiers.” Leon praising Scylla was a little blunt but it was true to what he saw and what he appreciated.

”I didn’t realize that there were such things. A tongue eating parasite could even infect everyone here. It will be important to share this with the port village that is going to be built. We need to have patrols there so that monsters with them are not brought in to port.” Walker was thinking of this risk even more than the others. His mind had wandered to the future of the port village.

”Agreed. I will ensure that we handle that when the time is right. We can worry about the fish brought in. but they won’t live near the mouth of the river. They do not survive in fresh water.” Leon seemed to have much more information than everyone else. It was a basic foundation for him being from the merfolk city. He had to know every single danger that his people face.

The look out towers were suddenly shouting for everyone to look behind the ships. Walker didn’t feel that it was a good sign at all. But the sight didn’t need to be seen from the towers. Those on look out had seen it first because they were there. However, the greater dangers of the deep ocean had just shown its face to them.

The large plume of water that had attracted everyone’s gaze was coming from where they had just rushed away from. Every single red tang, sun bathing fish, and whatever else had been attracted to the area had just been swallowed by a large blue skinned monster.

’Island swallower

The island swallower is a whale monster species that has lived for hundreds of years. They may lack intelligence but they make up for that in toughness. They can survive in the deepest parts of the ocean only rising to feed once every year. They can block many manners of attacks naturally and are often peaceful unless angered or hungry.

When aggravated, they have been known to swallow small islands. They also do this to create nests for their young. It is a rare sight to see one but if seen, it is better to avoid them unless one is sleeping on the bottom of the ocean when seen.’

Walker nearly whispered this. He was stunned. The massive size of this monster was enough to swallow a dragon if it wanted to. It was even enough to make everyone wonder if they could possibly fight against this ever. ”Full sail ahead. Get some distance!” There was a rush to get far from the danger. As far away as possible for the moment.

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