The Record of Unusual Creature

The tunnel towards the palace was just before their eyes. This place was the core of Nasaton and should have been brilliantly lit, but yet it stood in a gloomy darkness and the giant bulkhead and tunnels were seemingly smothered by the darkness that permeated from the deep abyss. Leaving a pathway without end before the group.

Y’zaks looked at the two tattered uniforms behind him. “We’ll be on our own now.”

Shaqira nodded without a sound and lead the group.

They soon passed another series of tunnels and blast doors and the foreboding atmosphere was more and more obvious. The brain monster had made this place its lair for far too long and had changed the entire atmosphere of the palace. Anyone stepping into the place was seemingly being watched by countless of hateful gaze. The siren wail was heard again from afar and most of the palace guards knew by now that there are intruders as the blast doors were sealed one by one. It was just a matter of time before they reached the palace grounds proper. Battle was imminent.

Hao Ren followed Shaqira through the last door and entered a wide domed hall. This was a resplendent hall made out of white metal and light green crystals. A shining pearl hug from the dome as lines upon lines of light shone through the stained glass dome. It was almost as if the rainbows were dancing in the water.

But the group had no time to gawk and the awesome throne room as the door behind them sealed shut and a wave of Siren guards dashed out from the top of the dome!

The siren guards were in their serpentine form and fanned about the group to surround them. Behind the serpents were a group of mermaid soldiers. They held position as soon as the encirclement was complete. Raising their enchanted tridents, they blast out a series of soul-shattering shrieks.

Vivian was preparing a cloud of icicles to attack but the shrikes immediately shook her and with her spell forcibly broken a ring of ice from around the group. The shrieks too had disrupted Y’lisabet and Teuton’s spellcasting. Only Y’zaks the demon lord could withstand the mental assault and throw a three meter wide molten fireball towards the sirens. The fireball drew steam as it sped through the water before colliding with the Sirens and smashing through the dome.

This was just the start of things, as Hao Ren pointed his silver spear to fight his way out, a massive rumble came from all across the room. As the green crystals around the room sunk, a new wave of enemies appeared. These group were glad in massive shell carapace and were about the side of a battle tank. Their limbs shone with menacing glow of magic and cold light permeated from their appendages.

Hao Ren gasped in horror and turned back towards Shaqira, “What the hell are those?!”

The Siren was deploying a shield to ward off the shrieks as she yelled back. “Mantis shrimp form! And also crab form!

Lily with her Frostfire Claws deployed, could only looked on apathetically, “You can this monster of a tank…. mantis shrimps?!”

Hao Ren looked around him and was at least glad that the giant sea monsters at least did not have a human face on them. That at the very least left the mantis as only ‘fearsome’. He then turned towards Wuyue and yelled. “You are forbidden to change into this form from now on! It’s just god damn weird if when you guys change into that!”

Wuyue had bravely curled into a ball behind the team as she maintained the barrier. She immediately yelled back. “Is this the time for that?!”

As the three siren’s magical barrier had managed to block out the mind rending shrieks, Vivian took the opportunity to counter attack. A swarm of bats with cold light on them darted towards the sirens encircling them midair. A few meters before the siren guards the bats spread out as they turned into a torrent of freezing wind to assault the enemy lines. The sudden drop in temperature below freezing point had turned many of the sirens into ice blocks and they fell limply onto the ground. Lily too had swung her Frostfire claws towards the awesome looking…. mantis shrimps. Alright, alright, even though they are mantis shrimps, they were still the size of a MBT! This was no joking matter!

Even though everyone present were capable combatants, even Rollie using the powers of the Golden Apple had managed to score some scratch and bites on the trident wielding sirens but alas, fighting in the Siren’s own turf was a disadvantage as spells were affected by the flow of water and had to be even more carefully deployed to avoid friendly fire. It was disheartening to say the least. Yet, after getting the hold of things, they managed to suppress the attacking sirens.

It was a chaotic battle, and even Y’lisabet was showcasing her prowess as she joined the fray with powerful demonic magics. No one had seen how this little brat fought and today everyone learnt that the adage like father like child rang true, at least for this father-daughter pair. The little runt of a demon had cast spells with just a bare hands without the need of any incantation as a storm of sulphuric flame and dark arrows rained upon the enemy. Looking at her bright radiant look, it was clear as day that she was relishing the moment.

But they could not waste their time on mere sentries and based on the navy men’s intel, the hall was the final obstacle before the Queen’s personal chambers. The Queen was just behind the blast door across the hall. In order to maintain Nasaton’s energy flow, the Siren Queen could not go too far from her chamber and the prize was just right in front of Hao Ren.

“Charge!” Hao Ren threw a graviton grenade and the force of the blast blew the mantis shrimp tank and the siren mages on it aside. Leading the charge, he yelled. “Take the Queen and it’ll all be over!”

Two serpentine sirens charged with tridents towards the group but they were intercepted by Y’zaks as he tied their tails together before flinging the sirens like a flail towards another group of sirens, and scattering them. He pointed towards the other direction pf the hall. “As Ivan said, that is probably the entrance to the dungeons. Lets split up!”

“You, Ylisabet, the three demon hundres, and the Nangong siblings stay here and deal with the Queen. The rest of you follow me to the dungeons. Shaqira, Sorma, chose a team!” Hao Ren quickly assigned the teams their objectives. He may look a bit flustered but he had actually planned this ahead. He was the only person with experience to face the monster and it was natural that he needed there. It was said that the Siren Queen too was a force to be reckoned with and thus he left Y’zaks and the three demon hunters to see things through. The rest was just to balance out the numbers.

Shaqira and Sorma was to be the guide. Even if they did not know the exact path, they were still familiar with the place.

As to how to face the monster, despite Hasse’s suggestion of an sneak attack, Hao Ren felt that a frontal assault was more feasible. He thought that against a monster that has mental sensory ability, chances of a successful sneak attack was very low.

No one had any objections and Y’zaks blew open the blast door with a bolt of sulphuric flame. The heavy alloy blast door shuddered under the blast as the explosion rang in everyone’s ears. The second attack came in the form of Y’lisabet’s own sulphuric flame as the door still shook and the second blast blew the blast door into smithereens.

By that time, most of the sentries had been vanquished and the surviving spellcasters and sea monsters could not do much against the invaders. Hasse quickly used his hand crossbow to take out the survivors as he cast a sealing spell to slow the resurrection of the sirens. He then made his way behind Y’zaks into the palace.

Hao Ren lead his own team towards the other entrance on the far side of the hall.

A wall of water suddenly appeared before the entrance and Rollie was just about to attack it before Hao Ren yanked the dumb cat back. “What a time for you to be brave eh? Lily, attack!”

Lily let out a howl in ascent as she caught the edge of the closing water screen and started pulling the door apart. As her feet sank a few inches into the ground, the werehusky tore the entire door down.

Hao Ren rubbed his face. This was sure to make a lot of noise…

Beyond the water screen was a dark and foreboding tunnel leading towards the far side. There were only dim lights along the way. The place seemed like an abandoned waterway and according to Ivan’s reports, this was the closest, most direct pathway from the outer palace. Only a few sentries stood in their way before the dungeons where the monster resides.