170 Chapter 17{‘DRAGON’S NEVER COME IN PEACE. I WILL HAVE YOUR HIDE TODAY,’} it whistled out loud and slashed at his tail.
Long Aotian growled loudly in pain. His fins were almost chopped off by its heavy blow. ‘What the fuck, why is it angry now?’ he swam swiftly upwards, but that thing kept following him, taking any chances it cut into him little by little.
‘This is bad!!’ his sight went blurry for a second. He knew that he was losing consciousness. ‘I can’t lose my life now.... Xi is waiting for me...’ his sting tail moved side by side and his swimming speed increased. Sooner the dark layer was coming to an end.
Sensing this, that thing slowed down a little.
‘It’s slowing down, does it not come up to the surface,’ he thought as he hasted his phase. His huge body finally broke through the dark layer and went over to the blue-coloured water. The pressure disappeared, and the thing stopped chasing him.
Glancing back, Aotian growled at it. The black thing was still lurking in the dark water, glaring at him. Only a bony sceptre shot out towards him. ‘shit!!!!’ he ducked to the side, dodging it.
The sceptre sped upward and shot into the sky.
Raijin, Felia and the ghoul were extremely startled by this.
“What is that?” Felia whispered in shock.
.....
“Is that a spear?” Raijin mumbled softly, pulling Felia safely to his side.
The ghoul who was caring for Yukiya stood up all of a sudden. He placed her carefully on the ground and pulled the others behind. “Careful, that is the water sceptre of the Mers!!!” he shouted.
“Mer?!” Raijin too glanced at the sceptre that was still airborne. “Aren’t they extinct?” he whispered in fear.
“Mers, the kings of the waterways. Their powers exponential to dragons when they are underwater, but after the war that happened ten thousand years ago, they were rarely spotted. Some even assumed that they went extinct. But they just went into hiding after offending the dragon race.”
The ghoul took a deep breath. “This is bad, they loathe the dragons, highness is in deep trouble,” he mumbled.
The water became turbulent as huge waves washed over the deck. A huge golden Dragon surged up and charged up into the dark sky. Water splashed from its sparkling body along with a rain of blood.
“He is hurt,” Raijin whispered softly.
“Very badly,” Felia finished with her eyes wide open. The blood was like rain washing them from head to toe. She stepped closer to Raijin and nudged him. “Hey, didn’t you say dragon blood is useful for cultivation?”
Raijin shot her a glare.
“Come on, I was only joking. I do worry for that jerk. He was the one who saved you after all,” she snuggled at the crook of his neck. “But seriously, are Mers that terrifying?”
Raijin gulped. “In the great war, their presence was so strong. Every water ways were owned by them. When the Rakshasas tried to take control of the humans, they separated the lands into islands. They were absolute top notch predators,” his voice trembled softly.
“As beautiful as they are, this beast are terrifying. They only act on instinct. In water you are neither friends nor foe, only their prey,” the ghoul whispered from the side.
Right then Long Aotian flew over to the boat and changed back to human. His naked form filled with a huge laceration on his body and he was bleeding badly. He the ghoul dashed to him and held out his shirt.
“Who is manning the wheel?” Aotian shouted.
The others glanced at each other. The ghoul stepped forward and whispered, “I have enchanted it with your highness,”
“Good, did my brother come out?” his eyes glowed golden as he peered at him.
“N-no, he did not come out,” the ghoul stuttered in fear.
“Shit....” Long Aotian shouted out loud and ran over to Yukiya. She was still unconscious, but her breath was steady. “Do you know healing?” he whispered.
“n-no,” Felia whispered in fear. “But I know that she is fine, I think she collapsed due to shock,”
“You think,” Long Aotian shouted. “Darn it, I’ll go and find my brother, you guys sail as fast away from here. There is a terrifying creature down below,”
“That was a Mer your majesty,” the ghoul interrupted.
“A Mer?” long Aotian said in shock. “That thing was a Mer? Man, that is bad,” he whispered raking his hand though his long hair.
Suddenly a loud splash was heard nearby and Long Ki broke surface. His huge body was seven times worse than his. His dorsal fin was almost torn apart. His nostrils were bleeding profusely.
“Ki!!” Aotian shouted.
The red dragon sailed down and jumped onto the deck. His body transformed into a human form. He toppled down and cursed out loud. “I found him...he as right near my grasp... yet...yet that thing..... it stole my child!!!!” he shouted thunderously.
Aotian helped him up. His brother’s entire back was scored and flesh was hanging down. “Did you find the egg?”
“Hmmm but that thing...”
“That was a Mer,” Aotian said softly.
“Mer..... no way..... They came too soon. How did they find us...h-how did they find us? Yukiya...Yukiya where is he,” he shouted blindly.
Aotian led him to the unconscious woman.
Long ki knelt down powerlessly. He carefully hugged her over his lap and caressed her pale face. “Did they find you too.... how did they,”
“Brother what is going on? Why are you talking as if the mer’s are after you,” Aotian knelt done and peered into his tired eyes?
Long Ki sighed. He glanced up at him with tears streaming down his face. “Because she is a Mer... my child is a Mer too...”
“what!!!!” Long Aotian exclaimed in shock. “What do you mean? Isn’t she a Koi fish? How did she suddenly become a Mer now?”
“She always was a Mer.” He paused. “She is a Mer and a human hybrid, that’s why she lived as a Koi for a very long time... I believe that dual cultivating with me evoked her Mer heritage in her,” he whispered tiredly.
He gently hugged her and carried her over down to the deck. “Someone safeguard her... I will bring my child,” he whispered.
Aotian held his shoulders. “Brother... they are extremely powerful and they are in their territory which makes them ten times stronger. Even I was not a match for that creature..... We have to palm before we act,” he said.
Long ki paused. He knew that entering a battle ground without any preparation was the stupidest mistake one could make, so he agreed with Aotian.
All of them sat down on the deck in a circle.
“Okay, let’s brainstorm, how can we retrieve his child without dying. Shoot,” Felia said and gestured to all.
The ghoul suddenly glanced up. “Maybe we can shoot your heavenly fire down below. It might burn them and scare them enough to return his egg,”
“No! That doesn’t work at all. My powers are useless underwater. The pressure and the freezing water burn my flame out easily,” Aotian said with a frown. He softly bit his lips and glanced at the now peaceful water.
“Okay, anything else,” Felia whispered, glancing at them all.
Raijin this time softly whispered, “Maybe we can lure them up. But we don’t have what they want..... ‘sigh’,”
Aotian held his hand. “Wait but we do. We have Yukiya,”
“What do you mean?” Long Ki growled out loud.
“She is a Mer right. I have heard that Mer’s never leave their kin behind. They might come to the surface to retrieve her,” Aotian said with a smile.
“NON SENSE!! You are suggesting we use Yukiya as bait. Are you crazy? As if I would allow that,” Ki growled and pushed him away.
“BUT....”
“NO MEANS FU*CKING NO!!! She is my mate and I shall not risk her like that,” long ki shouted.
Felia stopped the fight before it could happen. “Guys, we are brain storming, this person... red dragon is right. We can’t risk her. Besides, there might be more Mer’s below,” she glanced at the stairs leading down deck worriedly. “But why did she collapse if she was a Mer? Wasn’t water their domain?” she whispered.
Suddenly Long ki shot up. “you..... you are a genius. She didn’t collapse for no reason. She collapsed because it was sea water,”
Aotian frowned. “But those creatures live below. Is it because your mate is a hybrid, she was not able to adapt to it?”
“no, no, no, she collapsed because it was sea water and those Mer live in fresh water. They can’t move up because they are weak in salty water.”
They all glanced at him confusedly.
He sighed and sat down. “When I was swimming down, I actually reached the boundary between the blue ocean and the dark waters. The water there was sweet!!! It was sweet because it was fresh water down below. Those Mers are living in fresh water!!!!”
“if by Aotian’s plan we can lure them up, we might have an advantage over them,” he shouted.
“Didn’t you say that you were not going to use your mate as bait?” Aotian whispered with his eyes narrowed.
“We are not, but we are going to create an illusion that she is,” Long ki said with a huge smirk.
“eh!”
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶