Chapter 1213 - Under the Sea (Part 3) (1/2)
”Welcome to our city of Zhen. Even though you might think this room is just an artificial cave, it's actually a place to host people from different races.” Rem said while taking bathrobes out of the amulet and giving them to the other two merfolk before drying them with water magic.
According to Xoth, humans had issues with nudity, and speaking while her gills were still filled with water was a hassle.
”Is this your home? It seems a nice place to live.” Tista said to be polite. All she had managed to perceive before Rem sealed the room with earth magic were a bunch of rocks and several moving forms that might as well be fish.
”Thanks for your kindness, but I doubt you can appreciate the beauty of our city with your human senses.” Mal said, noticing her embarrassment.
”Since there's only so much air, it's better to not waste time with niceties.” Rem scolded him. ”The reason why we brought you here is to give you the final details about your mission.
”To infiltrate Kolga, you can't move around while looking like merfolk nor humans. The inhabitants of the cursed city have a different appearance and you need to shapeshift yourself to look like them before entering.”
”Why didn't you take a few corpses to Reghia, then?” Phloria asked. ”Studying their physiology and modifying our bodies will take time.”
”For good reasons. Kolga has lots of inhabitants, but if a few of them go missing, they are bound to be reported. By kidnapping them at the last minute we are buying you time, not wasting it.” Rem replied.
”Also, because of the link with the Forbidden Sun, the corpses would have disappeared the moment I took them out the dimensional amulet. Bringing them here is the best possible compromise.”
She had just finished speaking when three corpses slowly came out of the ceiling which had temporarily been turned into a softer material with earth magic.
They looked like merfolk who had gotten stuck between their underwater and surface form. They had blue skin instead of scales, both noses and gills, and they had fins coming out from where ears were supposed to be.
More fins came out of their calves, elbows, and wrist. All of them had odd-colored hair that looked out of an anime. While examining the corpses with Life Visions, Lith noticed that they all had enchanted weapons and rings.
'This mission is much more important than I expected. Judging from the equipment, the merfolk captured nobles to give us more freedom of movement. I wonder how many people sacrificed their lives to give us this opportunity.' He thought.
The group quickly undressed the dead Kolgans, storing the clothes inside their respective Scalewalker armor to replicate them. Also, their diagnostic spells were useless on corpses.
The only way they had to study their physiology was by taking a good look on them before the corpses disappeared.
”If they got here so fast, I guess that we're near Kolga.” Lith said without interrupting his work.
”Correct. Zhen is one of the closest outposts. We need to constantly check the status of the mana crystals fueling the arrays and replace them.” Khalia said.
”How and why does Kolga manage to expand despite all of your efforts?”
”All the crystals in the world can't compete with a mana geyser.” Rem sighed. ”Kolga is surrounded by cities like Zhen, but the best we can do is to slow down its advance. As for the why it's simple.