“Ey, you two. Seems like you enjoyed a night here. How was it? Comfortable, no?” asked the merman for the first time as he arrived at the Repose Lodging.
“You’re here. Why don’t you reply to my message last night?” asked Clara.
“Because I’ll come here whenever you send me a message or not.”
Angga could tell from Clara’s expression that she didn’t understand what Kai meant.
The merman inside the water bubble added more. “Today is a seasonal day when the electric fish came to the surface and raided this lodging. So I need to be here to command pest control.”
One of the staff came from the inside building, and she informed Kai of the current situation. The merman of the City Hall nodded and told her to prepare the other staff to get ready.
“Wait a minute, Kai. Why would those fishes going to attack this place?” The lion girl stopped the merman mid-way when he would get inside the lodge.
“You see, we got these electric massage stones, right? I suppose you’ve tried them?”
Angga nodded. “Yep. It was better than expected, and I think it was the main attraction point of this place.”
“Indeed, indeed. The stones are amazing, and I can lose track of time because they feel so good. But, do you know those stones gained their attribute because of this land’s unique condition?”
The merman explained further. Basically, this land has a pretty good electric affinity, so the stones naturally absorb those electrical energies and contain those energies later managed by the staff. Then, it could do a massage service just by leaning toward the rocks. Yet, the electric fishes have their own cycle to the point that they lack electrical energy, and they would go out to seek the natural energy en masse.
“So… we just have to repel them off?” asked Clara.
“Repel or killing them is the same. They tend to have an excess population during this season, so we’re not harming the environment. You can help us so we can finish this quicker.”
“I see… well, I’m not sure with my hunting ability. But I can help you out.” The lion girl seems unsure.
“Let’s see what I can do,” Angga also didn’t know what to do since he didn’t have any magic to fight the said monster.
Shortly, all the staff, including Kai, Clara, and Angga, got ready at the front of the lodge. Some mermans or mermaids held their own weapons made from water, such as swords, shields, lance and crossbows. The ones who excel with projectile magic are positioned behind to support the frontline.
Kai himself was holding a water trident while observing the situation. Angga didn’t expect the merman to summon something cool like that, so he secretly took Kai’s pictures.
A few minutes passed, and the staff knew they had to prepare their stance and magic.
“It’s here,” Kai calmly notified everyone.
Angga went tense since he had no means to protect himself. He thought he would keep his distance from others and maybe be behind the magic squad to be safe. Still, he wanted to take footage of the enemy’s entrance before retreating. The human imagined a similar situation in his previous world would be. Perhaps it can be compared when a tiger escaped from the zoo, and he should catch it with any equipment available. A lack of experience could be fatal.
A swarm of something was coming from far there. Their numbers are big enough that Angga could see them as dark yellow masses moving like a sea wave rhythmically. It was mesmerizing at first to see a crowd of monsters could act like that. But what came after could have been dangerous for him, so he started to step back.
A floating fish. They were using their fin to float somehow and seemed pretty hostile because their mouth was wide open, showing off their sharp teeth while maintaining their floating distance from the ground somehow. It’s not too high, but not too low, either.
“I’m sorry, Clara, but since I know I can’t fight, I’ll maintain a safe distance!” the human guy shouted while getting away.
“Sure, no problem! Don’t get hurt!”
When Angga moved to the backlines, the frontlines were getting ready to intercept the monster’s mass exodus. Those fish had spiky, intimidating teeth, dark yellow fins, and little sparks from their bodies. It didn’t make any sounds, but the friction of their fins produced distinct noises that somehow gave Angga an unknown pressure.
“Prepare your shields. Block them out.” instructed the merman of the City Hall.
A few seconds after every staff member deployed their water shields, those electric fish launched a lightning attack on everyone. Since the water is a good conductor, it absorbed the lightning effectively and quickly dispersed when it successfully repelled the attack.
Kai twirled his trident and pointed towards the horde of fish. “Now attack, everyone.”
By his command, everyone was shouting as a sign of counterattack. The frontlines are quickly fought back with everything they have, mostly a solid water magic reshaped into a weapon that effectively pierces the fish’s body.
Someone with a water sword slashed a few fish, and another staff member triumphed with his water axe as if battling those monsters was natural for them. They covered each other’s backs while slaying the electric fish one by one, while some mermaid nearby used their water crossbow and spears to help them reduce the numbers.
Kai himself swung his trident back and forth lazily, but all of those swings hit some of the fish, and it fell to the ground, bleeding badly because of a big cut on its body.
“Whoops.”
The merman of City Hall swayed his trident towards the sky as it emitted a faint water, and then it quickly became a big bubble while gave a slight rain towards the fish, cutting them for good. Despite being a fish, it does not seem good with such water.
“Woah, you’re really a good fighter! I never know that!”
“It’s because we rarely fight side by side. Now, please pay attention to your left. A few ugly teeth are coming on your way.”
“Huh?!”
Clara barely avoided the thrust of the fish's body while it emitted many sparks by taking a few steps back. In response, she quickly punched everything before her as many fish blew away.
She then grabbed the big fish nearby compared to the others and used it to hit another fish, which tried attacking her. The lion girl spun like a small tornado while her hands gripped that poor fish firmly.
“That almost had me!”
“Yeah, indeed. But I suggested you let go of that fish quickly, Clara. It’s because–”
Suddenly, the fish on Clara’s hand electrocuted her until she collapsed. It struggled to escape Clara and succeeded because the lion girl was lying on the ground weakly due to an unforeseen attack.
“–it can electrocute you in a nasty way,” Kai continued.
“Ah-hahahaha. They got me good,” she said with a stupid grin.
But somehow motivated because the electric damage hit her, she quickly stood up thanks to her innate solid muscles and was ready to fight back. This time was different from hunting since her target was coming at her, and all she had to do was repel. The merman of the City Hall glanced at her and nodded slightly, acknowledging her incredible spirit and strength. As expected as Satwa people, Kai thought.
The extermination seems under control. The backlines gave magical projectile support for the frontlines who were diligently slaying one by one the horde of the electric fish, Kai who were constantly giving commands while killing some of the monsters himself, while Clara kept using her physical prowess to dominate the battlefield.
All were captured with Angga’s mirrorless camera. But he had difficulty obtaining good angles of the shots since he couldn’t go near the fish, or the electrical attack would hurt him. Thankfully, he discovered that the camera’s zoom feature was much stronger than usual. So, he still managed to record excellent footage from afar while staying in a safe zone.
Everything went well to the point that the horde itself was pushed back. The fish were in dire need of an electrical supply to survive and tried to find a way to obtain energy, no matter the cost. Desperate as they were, the monster scattered up and down, flying high and low like a hectic flock of birds.
“Woah, woah! What is this?” Clara shouted since it was her first time seeing this.
Kai maintained a calm manner while observing the situation. Every electric fish there moving randomly, totally in contrast to what they did a few minutes ago. Most of the staff were looking at him, waiting for further orders. Another command was needed for another situation.
“Everyone, disperse. Act as you will. Try to cover anyone who is in trouble.”
He knew that it was not ideal to issue that kind of order. But, his short observation told him that the electric fish somehow acted differently than in previous years. Therefore, he should respond at random, too.
Thankfully, the staff understood that direction, and they acted as they pleased. There were no more frontlines and backlines, only crowded fish and struggling staff who launched spells and blocked the lightning attacks.
Even though the direction of the fight has somehow changed from what Kai expected, pretty much, everything was still manageable for him. A few staff were hit by the fish’s thunder tackle or lightning attack. But, another staff in charge of healing quickly took care of those who were shot.
But, this situation was troublesome for Angga, who panicked because the fish were dispersed and attacked randomly. He tried his best not to get in the way of the merman or mermaid while evading the monster’s attack.
“W-Woaah!!” he shrieked.
Angga was definitely not used to this kind of situation. A while ago, he was only a person doing his work earnestly, barely involved in any fights in his lifetime. And now he was suddenly in the middle of a magic team fight. A battle between a merman and a horde of electric fish, who would’ve thought?
While he was escaping, one of the fish hit his hand and got away, resulting in him dropping the camera.
“Oh no. Why now of all time–”
As Angga tried to reach his camera, he realized that one of the fish was coming to him with its jaws open. In reflex to defend himself, his arms moved to protect his face from the threat while shouting loudly.
“Gah!”
His camera on the ground suddenly moved and blocked the fish’s direction, protecting Angga and causing it to move away.
“Eh?”
He now witnessed the mirrorless camera floating before him. He picked up his camera, checked its function, and ensured nothing was broken. It still can work just like usual. He thought that since the Recording Orb is quite fragile and can be damaged easily, his camera might also have the exact nature. But, apparently, it’s not.
Now, Angga tried to let it go, and the camera was still floating. Somehow, he got the gist of how to move its camera in any direction and move in any way he wanted. He also was curious about something and wanted to test it out.
“Well, a trial and error should be taking place if I want to understand this world more, right?”
So he floated the camera towards one of the nearby fish with enhanced velocity and hit it in the face. But, the said fish only felt hurt for a few seconds before moving again randomly and frantically, following the others.
After that collision, Angga pulled back his camera and checked its function. It was working like usual. So, he concluded that somehow his camera was pretty durable for now, more potent than any Recording Orb in this world.
“Alright! Now I know that my camera can fly and is super durable, I can change the way I shoot! Time to–ah.”
A big fish already made a way towards him, caught him off guard. Angga could move his hands or camera to block the attack, but he’ll most likely get hurt. Look at the size of the sharp teeth.
Still, it’s better than openly accepting his fate. So, Angga tried to embrace himself for the attack and hoped it would not turn nasty later.
Until Clara kicked the big fish harshly and quickly covered the human guy.
“You okay?”
When Angga saw the gallant figure of a strong, tall lion girl before him, his heart skipped a beat.
