NOVEL NEXT Chapter 404: Intruder! You are not welcome here!
Meanwhile, Damon sat cross-legged on Erin's sleek serpent body as she glided effortlessly over the surface of the blood-red sea. Her scales shimmered with a faint black sheen, catching glimmers of dull purple sky above.
Each coil of her body rippled beneath him with sinuous grace, parting the crimson waves as if the ocean itself bent to her will. Riding her over water wasn't just fast, it was surreal
His mount from the last life couldn't even begin to compare.
Each flick of Erin's tail sent them surging forward in smooth arcs, water spraying into the air in glittering fans. Her massive body undulated with natural rhythm, rising and falling with the swell, carrying him with ease.
Damon leaned back slightly, letting the spray hit his face, his crimson eyes narrowing against the rush of salty wind. "Huuuu. I'll admit it… this is a hell of a ride." He grinned from ear to ear, surprised that he was enjoying this so much.
"I'm glad you think so, my Lord." Erin smiled. Then suddenly, without warning, her head dipped beneath the water. A moment later, Erin rose back up. But this time, her top half was no longer that of a serpent.
Her torso had shifted back into her human form, pale skin glistening with seawater, long black hair slicked back as she emerged. Her lower half remained a massive serpent mount still carrying them forward across the waves, but her upper half...
Damon's eyes went wide. He gulped. Staring at him was the devilishly beautiful face and her two seductive blue-green eyes. But these two eyes were not the problem now.
The problem was the soft, jiggly mounds that had suddenly popped up underneath the area where his palm had been resting for balance. His hand, without him even realizing it, was now planted firmly against her mounds.
The woman was completely naked, the entire top half, and he was riding her at the moment with his hands gripping her mounds tightly!
"…the fuck. Why the hell are you naked?!"
What sort of a compromising position was this? His entire body was heating up, and his little general roared at him angrily. Which sane guy hasn't fantasized about lamias?
To make matters worse, Erin was mercilessly teasing him. "Why shouldn't I be naked? I thought my Lord said this was 'a hell of a ride.' Shouldn't I make it… more enjoyable? Does my Lord not like this?"
She then paused and thoughtfully added. "My Lord… are my scales not comfortable enough? You seem to prefer something softer."
Damon's face twitched. "Let's just stop it here, alright? I can't take this anymore. I am getting blue-balled here left and right."
Erin looked confused, not understanding the term. But suddenly her carefree expression changed. "My Lord, we have some company ahead. Fishes. Lots and lots of them." Her eyes gleamed with bloodlust. "If you give me a few minutes, I can take care of all of them for you, my Lord."
"Fishes?" Damon raised a brow. He yanked his hands that were still busily teasing the soft, perky mounds underneath and focused on the surroundings. He too sensed that they were not alone anymore.
In the distance, the waves broke unnaturally, shadows slicing through the crimson surf. Silhouettes began to rise, slender figures with glistening scales and long, flowing hair.
Dozens of merwomen with sleek, shimmering tails breached the surface, their eyes glowing like pale lanterns. Their upper halves were beautiful, almost human, but their lower halves were long, predatory tails of jagged scale and fin, nothing like the delicate mermaids from bedtime stories.
Each tail ended in barbed fins sharp enough to cleave through stone. Their movements were synchronized, rippling like a school of sharks circling prey. Some of them were pale blue in color, some were pale green, and some were even pale red.
Behind them, the bulkier mermen carried tridents of bone and coral, their tails thrashing hard enough to whip the waves into froth.
The crimson surf boiled with movement as the newcomers fanned out, encircling Damon and Erin in a tightening ring. The merwomen's hair floated around them like veils of seaweed, their hauntingly beautiful faces hiding the hunger in their glowing eyes.
Their pale blue, green, and red scales glistened like gems, but the menace in their synchronized formation made it clear, they weren't here to be admired.
The mermen behind them let out guttural calls, their tridents slamming against the water like war drums. The ocean itself seemed to bend to their rhythm, waves rising unnaturally high before crashing down in sheets of red foam.
"Intruder! You are not welcome here!" They shouted in chorus.
[Ding! Hostile detected – Merwoman Water Mage (Level 92).]
[Ding! Hostile detected – Merman Water Warrior (Level 95).]
[Ding! Hostile detected – Merwoman Tidecaller (Level 97).]
Erin's body coiled and flexed beneath Damon, her forked tongue flicking in agitation. "My Lord, they're water mages and warriors. They're shaping the tides against us." She bared her fangs, her serpentine eyes gleaming. "Let me crush them. Let me show these fools where they belong. Under my lord's feet!"
Erin's expression made the merwomen and mermen only that much more hostile, and both sides were ready to rip into each other until one of them died.
Before something like that could happen, Damon instantly rose to his feet, balancing with ease on Erin's slick scales as if standing on solid ground. The blood-red spray lashed his face, and his crimson eyes locked onto the circle of hostile figures hemming them in.
"I am not here to fight." He spoke calmly, surprising everyone, including Erin.
The merwomen scowled, their water magic still at the ready to tear him apart. Several mermen growled low, tridents trembling as though aching to pierce him. Even Erin was not happy.
"My Lord?" she hissed, half in confusion, half in frustration. She wanted blood, yet Damon's calm refusal held her frozen in place.
Damon lifted a single hand, palm open toward the encirclement. His voice carried over the roar of waves, even and steady. "I came to explore, not to butcher your kind. We are all on the same side. There is no need to fight."