Arc 6 Chapter 6.7 ( The little mermaid and the Marshal )

Zone looked to the side and saw a black haired man holding a double edged sword with its blade pointing at his neck . Zone blinked his eyes and immediately realized who the man was .

" Shade? "

Shade smiled handsomely and put back his blade to the sheath . " Long time no see , Zone-- i mean , Marshal Thaniel . "

" General Luna "

Zone didn't expect for Shade to have reincarnated as one of the five major generals in the empire. Shade saluted and smiled .

Zone patted the space beside him and looked back at his little husband . He smiled and pointed at the black haired man beside him.  " That's my friend , Rito La Luna . "

Shade waved his hand to the mermaid.  The mermaid's eyes blinked innocently for a while then slowly nodded in acknowledgment.  " Nice to meet you , Rito . I'm Ria

Shade's lips twitched for a while hearing the unfamiliar name , although he became Rito , it sounded too old for his vessel's age. 

( Note : Rito sounds like Tito , which in Tagalog means Uncle . Tita alike means Auntie.  The word has a spanish origin . ) 

Rian stared at the man for a while before clutching the edge of the basin secretly.  He watched them silently as they talked openly. 

Shade opened a potato chips and started munching . " I was requested to visit you as one of the generals wanted to tell you that another dungeon has appeared. The grade was quite high , and they wished for your assistance . "

" Where? "

" In the middle of the East Scorpion City.  "

Zone clicked his tongue.  " That's not good , East Scorpion City is one of the most populated city in the Empire. When is the estimated opening? "

Shade answered.  " Tonight . "

Zone subconsciously patted Rian's head while contemplating . " A high rank dungeon , did you inform my subordinates about this? "

Shade nodded.  " They were also dispatched to escort some guilds on clearing the dungeons in the vicinities of the outer towns . "

Shade's eyes landed on the purple tailed mermaid.  " We have also recieved data about the movements of the Merfolks in the West Atlan Ocean.  "

Zone gazed at the little mermaid in the basin and saw the mermaid blinking his eyes innocently.  Zone's serious expression immediately softened and patted his head gently.  " Merfolks , then this little guy must be a big figure under the ocean.  "

Rian smiled and blew up bubble from his red lips . Zone extended his hand and poked it . Rian immediately chuckled in amusement and held Zone's forefinger and giggled adorably. 

Shade looked at Zone and noticed the evaporating mist above his head.  Shade sighed then glanced at the mermaid . Rian on the other hand also stared back at him before smiling innocently.  Somehow , Shade had a hunch that the mermaid in front of him was pretending. 

How can Zone not noticed the peculiarity of the mermaid?

---

The huge red dungeon portal could be seen even from afar mid-air.  The spinning energy inside it evokes ominous feelings towards those who were near it . Several people in formal suit and black sunglasses could be seem busying themselves measuring the data about the dungeon. 

On the other hand , another group of force could be seen warming up from the side , ready to clear it after it opens .

Sounds of indistinct footsteps rang out drawing out the attention of the two groups of people . When they saw the silver eyed irisless man at front doned in a black full armor they immediately stood up straight and saluted. 

The marshal gave them a glance them looked at the people wearing formal suits . " The dungeon have already been registered? "

One man immediately arranged his sunglasses properly and solemnly answered . " The Silver Wolf Guild have been given permission to clear the dungeon as per the orders of the military.  "

The man then gave the group of hunters a salute.  " Good luck . "

One blonde haired lady immediately smiled and waved her staff . " Thank you , Sir Neil . "

" Also ... " The blonde haired lady bowed to the Marshal . " Please take good care of us , Marshal . "

Zone nonchalantly nodded.  " Shall we go now? "

The lady blinked her eyes for a bit before immediately nodding . " Ah , yes yes . "

The guild members and soldiers entered the dungeon with their porters . Several citizens watched as they entered the dangerous portal , reporters and camera men could be seen recording these scene and broadcasting it to the whole world live. 

Before Zone completely entered the dungeon , he turned his body slightly and saluted to the camera . Flashes of light reflected upon his body along with the encouraging cheers of the Marshal Fans .

The marshal turned his back to them and disappeared into the dungeon . When they entered the dungeon they were greeted by a hot wide lands of a desert . Hot wind flew by making the whole force scrunch their noses .

" So hot! "

The blonde lady named Janah immediately passed an order . " Immediately bring out the heat resistant potion , have you prepared buckets of water in your inventory? "

" Yes , leader! "

Inventory , a kind pf thing that was bestowed to the ability users by the research institute . It was a spatial ring that was succesfully invented by a space ability scientist , and because of his invention he was rewarded greatly by the emperor .

Janah noticed that the marshal didn't take out a potion to resist the heat.  " Do you have a potion? Marshal? "

Zone glanced at her and shook his head.  " I don't need a potion to resist the heat.  "

The blonde lady then nodded in understanding.  " Marshal Thaniel must be so strong enough that this high temperature must be nothing for you right? "

Zone smiled and said . " You're smart . "

Janah's face froze then awkwardly chuckled.  " It's a common sense , Marshal . "

The two were about to continue chitchatting but Zone immediately perceived the movement of the sand monsters . " Prepare!! "

All forces immediately stood in attention with their weapons in a stance . After the Marshal's voice resonated , they immediately perceived the shaking of the ground and the movements of the desert sands .

" Be careful of a dry quicksand!!! "

The whole group immediately retreated and run away when they noticed the movements of the sand.  Their movements were pretty quick and immediately ran out of the range of the quicksand. 

" Roaaaar!!!! "

A monster finally came out of the sand and towered over the small figures of the mortals below it .

" We immediately met an A rank monster right after entering the dungeon? " An ability user from the guild team muttered .

One soldier from the Escort Team ( Marshal Team ) responded . " This is a red portal , you do have to expect high Ranking monsters.  "

Janah immediately shush them before it ends in a fight . " For now , let's find a way to defeat it . "

The escort team were already searching for the data of the monster but it seems that this monster is new for them.  " It is an unrecorded monster . " Said Uno who was in charge of identifying a monster's rank , Abilities , name , weaknesses and the way to deal with it. 

Uno was the only one present beside the Marshal's since he was the first to clear the dungeon assigned to him earlier .

" I'll record it's data once it was defeated.  For now , let's mark down everyone's observation about it during the fight.  " Said Uno

Janah gave him a glance then nodded in agreement . " I'll cooperate with Sir Uno about that . "

Their attention was drawn again when the millipede like monster lunged down with its head . The whole group immediately dispersed .

Bam!!!

Particles of sands flew out when its head landed on the sandy land .

" Attack!!! "

No one knows who ordered that but the immediately held their mana pistol and started firing at the monster.  The ability users on the other hand also started attacking . A mage immediately chanted a high grade spell and bombarded the sand monster with hundreds of ice arrows . A damage dealer on the other hand run forward and faced the sand monster with his blade .

" Does anyone noticed its weakness? "

A soldier answered.  " Note yet! It has an incredibly hard scales !!!"

Janah lifted her staff and started chanting.  A few seconds later a big orb of a concentrated mana suddenly appeared over the monster's body and immediately exploded. 

While the hunters fought the sand monster. Uno beside the still Marshal was observing the fight trying to find its weakness .

" Where do you think is its weakness? Uno? "

Uno with his recording device turned yo look at Zone and pondered for a moment.  "When the ice mage attacked the monster , i noticed that it's more vulnerable to a low temperature attacks . As the monster were already accostumed to the high temperature environment of the desert , it must be weak to ice . So I'm thinking of attacking it with the help of the ice mage , but there are no other mage that can utilize ice in this land.  "

" In order to create an opposite attribute spell in the desert , you need to mobilize the moist in the surroundings first , but if the mage did that.  The temperature around here will surely rise more. "

" I think , we should just crush this monster with a stronger power.  "

Zone glanced at Uno and shook his head . " You hadn't observed the monster more carefully.  Look at theo monster's attack pattern, the millipede clearly has a long body , but it did not used its body to coil the hunter's to death. Have you seen how it didn't even raised its body to crush them? That means that its protecting its belly . Try attacking its belly , I'm sure it will cry out in pain like a tortured gangster.  "

Uno immediately shouted to the hunter . " Try attacking its belly!!! "

Janah immediately heard the man's order and started sending Concentrated mana orb to its belly. 

Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!!

" Roarrrrr!!!! "

The millipede sand monster roared in pain and started twitching before it died. 

After the monster died , the hunters started collapsing one after another from exhaustion .

" Help!!! I'm dehydrated.  "

" Water!! "

" Get me a mana crystal! I feel like dying . Urrrg.  "

---

Far away from the city of Scorpion in the east.  A purple haired man with golden eyes suddenly appeared in the seashore along with three more handsome man with varying hair colors between , purple , red , and gold .

" Proteus , are you sure that Triton is in the hands of the Human Realm's Marshal? "

Rhodes , the purple haired man asked the golden haired man .

" I'm sure of it , i have been watching their interactions before the news about his disappearance enter father's ears.  "

" Why didn't you tell us about this beforehand? " The red haired man called Karyb shouted in anger .

Proteus just glanced at them calmly and reported a thunder summoning news . " I'm afraid Triton will become a mermaid now , as i saw that Triton is falling inlove with that human marshal . "

" No way!!! If that really happened .I'm afraid father will declare a war on the humans.  "

Proteus closed his eyes.  " That's what i fear too , as although we are good fighters having honed our fighting skills on constantly fighting monsters under the seas , our reproductive ability is different from a fish' "

" If we go on a war , many pregnant mermaid's will have to raise their children without a father.  "

Rhodes sneered . " We already know father's temper , we have to do everything to get back that dumb child . "

The silent red haired merman knight at the side just calmly watched the three siblings talking about the youngest and the humans' fall. 

He looked up into the sky and thought to himself . " Instead of your youngest safety , I'm more concerned about the marshal' safety.  "

Remembering how he discovered the real face of that two faced Triton . Quarion couldn't help praying for the safety of the Marshal's butt hole .

" Rest in piece "

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Author's note : A mistake have been detected , Rian's appearance is actually A Golden Haired , Golden Eyed , Purple Tailed Mermaid .

In the first chapter of the arc , i forgot that i wrote him as a purple eyes mermaid. Please forgive me .