Mermaid Shells usually stayed hidden deep in sand or dirt, and when somebody took the time to dig them up, they’d be long gone. Only mermaids could harvest them by using their songs to attract them to the surface. This was how the shells got their name.
Due to their price, a Mermaid Shell could earn its finder enough expense for several years. For this reason, mermaids and mermen living in Lloyds would search for them whenever they had time.
Angor was curious to find out what kind of horrible sight the little mermaid just saw, to the point that she even discarded her precious shell.
He tried retrieving a tiny trace of nightmare energy from the mermaid so that he could catch a glimpse of the illusion. This was usually impossible for the common Fear cantrip, but Angor’s enhanced “Nightmare Fear” was a different case.
Removing a part of the illusion could easily alert the victim and allow them to tell that it was an illusion, but the young mermaid probably wouldn’t notice anything.
Angor grasped the nightmare energy in his hand and closed his eyes to feel what was within.
“This is a... shrimp?”
Inside the image, he saw the mermaid being chased by a giant and ferocious shrimp with a pair of sharp pincers.
“Mermaids are afraid of shrimps?!”
Although this one didn’t look like any ordinary shrimp. Perhaps it was some kind of sea-dwelling monster.
They reached a zigzagging underground tunnel, in which the mermaid spent several moments running around before Angor finally saw light ahead.
After telling Toby to hide the lamp and conceal their auras, they approached the light source carefully.
What they saw turned out to be a small village, but not Lloyds. There were roughly 20 small houses built out of colorful coral formations, as well as stone ones. The entrances of these buildings were all located on the ceilings similar to the Duon houses Angor came across in the Sea of Purification. Though this was not surprising since mermaids and Duons were supposed to be related.
The young mermaid rushed to the entrance of the village and cried her story to a pair of merman guards with tridents in their hands. Her panicking voice attracted a lot of residents from the village, who all took up their arms and went to fend off the “monster shrimp”, which never showed up.
When one of the guards took out a whelk-like item and pressed it against his forehead, Angor saw a series of water ripples being released from that position.
“A detection trick?” He watched curiously. The ripples had reached him but without causing any effects yet.
Without finding anything, the guard gave the small mermaid a stern glare and pushed her away, and the onlooking villagers also scolded her.
The little mermaid tried her best to explain, including showing everyone how she lost a precious Mermaid Shell to escape, but no one listened.
“Awww, that’s so sad... ” Brulee clicked its tongue.
“How about you return her shell then?”
Brulee quickly stuffed the shell into its beak.
Angor snickered and looked at the village again. By finding this place, it shouldn’t be difficult to find Lloyds.
“Should I find another mermaid as our guide...?”
The ground nearby suddenly began to shake as if there was an earthquake coming.
As soon as Angor noticed the abnormality, he heard the villagers in the distance screaming loudly.
Next, around a dozen eel-like creatures with electric arcs along their bodies rushed out of the ground and began wreaking havoc in the village. Several mermaids who were directly hit by the attacks fell dead on the floor instantly, bodies seared black.
The rest of them hastily dived into their respective houses, which seemed sturdy enough to block the eels as well as their power.
However, the little mermaid was left alone in the open. It appeared that she wasn’t from this village. She tried to seek shelter in a house nearby, but she was knocked back out by the house’s owner, who mercilessly shut the door.
Seeing all the villagers giving her the same attitude, the mermaid bit her lips and began swimming away from the village while being chased by several eels.
This was exactly what the villagers wanted. By leaving her to her own fate, they would force her to bring the predators away from this place.
The mermaid was too focused on escaping that she never noticed why none the eels caught up with her yet, when they should move a lot faster.
The truth was, the eels behind her were illusions created by Angor. As for the real ones... Angor cut them up within seconds and gave some of the best meat to Toby and Brulee.
The mermaid was swimming through several complex-looking tunnels that were obviously manmade, or in this case, mermaid-made. Without her guidance, Angor knew he could get lost pretty easily.
After traveling for another hour, the mermaid finally left the tunnel through a dark exit. Angor saw more blurry light spots in the distance.
It was a giant underwater city this time.
He was still pretty far away from the city, which made all the light appear fuzzy, but this only made the whole sight fanciful like a dream.
Back in the purification garden, he already saw the Duon City in the water as a masterpiece of a brilliant civilization. Yet this even bigger city was on a whole different level.
“We’re here!” Brulee seemed rather excited. “See that barrier at the center of the city? There’s a water-free section inside, and where we’re supposed to go and find the Ashen Traders.”
The city was too big for Angor to find the other end of it. Apart from ordinary buildings on the seabed, he also saw a number of glowing coral structures floating above the main city, where mermaids and even giant whales were moving to and fro.
While admiring the amazing design that seemed to be from the most imaginative child, Angor slowly approached the city and saw the little mermaid explaining her terrible experience to the guards again. And similar to last time, she was shooed away.
Desperate, the mermaid paced around the city gate, when she suddenly saw something glittering in the sand beneath her.
“A magic crystal?” She picked it up and suddenly felt a lot happier.
...
“Why did you give her that for?” Brulee asked while going into the city with Angor.
“Payment.”
In Angor’s view, the mermaid was hostile against him because of the natural instinct of a predator, but she was not evil. Since she somewhat “helped” him by taking him to Lloyds, he would obey the rule of equivalent exchange and pay for the favor.
In order not to attract any attention, he activated Infinite Reticence and moved along the city streets. He met with no trouble and arrived at the waterproof barrier.
He thought the barrier was like the ones used by Duons, which meant he could simply walk through it. To his disappointment, the barrier felt rather solid like the surface of a balloon.
“It’s not that strong, but don’t break it, I tell you,” Brulee warned. “There are lots of supernatural people inside, including wizards. They won’t be happy if you get them wet. You want to take the door.” Brulee pointed to the street nearby that ended at a small tunnel in the barrier.
However, upon arriving at the tunnel entrance, Angor noticed that they needed a “pass” to get in. Eureka never mentioned such a thing.