I nestled my head under Dicken’s neck and inhaled deeply that scent which only he had, fawning over him like a child. At the same time, his lips were brushing repeatedly over my ear, and he took a deep breath as if he had received an answer that satisfied him, while a laugh seemed to be growled out of his throat.His warm breath brushed over the side of my ear, and it felt like he was both tempting me and waiting for something—or hoping that I could do something to prove my confession. This made me even more confident that my dear leader had returned and slowly regenerated on his younger body… because only that scoundrel would seduce me on his own. So, how was I going to prove that?Even as I wondered about that in my head, I suddenly remembered the first time Dicken had asked me to respond to him on Lemenland. Embarrassed, I averted my gaze and licked his pointy ear as if tasting a fresh slice of raw fish, and then bit him—in the next instant, I was pushed down to the ground punis
“Don’t be like that, Dicken. He just needs our help—you’re too paranoid.”I held Dicken’s shoulder, only realizing then that all his muscles were stiffened like steel and would burst out with frightening strength at any instant. Damn it! I honestly couldn’t understand why Dicken could be so hostile towards Asura when he was already maimed, and didn’t he just check if Asura had laid his hands on me? It would be bad if Dicken were to lose control and they started fighting too, and so I wrapped my hands around Dicken’s muscular body, my fingers gently stroking his chest in hopes that it would calm his nerves. Perhaps what I did worked too, since Dicken didn’t do anything else, although Asura suddenly mustered his courage and approached us. The shadows cast by the flames beneath the trees streaked past Asura, reflecting the eye-catching luster of his purple tail. He paused and looked up at Dicken as if he refused to back down, which left me suspecting that he had just been too wounded t
I could see shadows approaching from the distance from between the branches—they were a team of well-trained soldiers led by Bob, and Mary was being flanked by two of those soldiers as she walked behind Bob. It was obvious that her plan did not escape Bob’s cunning gaze, and we were just three people against a group of armed men—saving Mary was clearly very difficult. Moreover, it wouldn’t be an easy task to convince Dicken—the strongest of us—to willingly save Mary.‘Damn it!’ I cursed inwardly as I watched the soldiers get ever closer, since the woods couldn’t hide us perfectly. Still, that was when Dicken grabbed my arm and warily pulled me backwards ever so slightly, whereas Asura remained still, staring tightly where Mary was as if he wanted to just lunge at them to get Mary back.When I reached out to put a hand on Asura to calm him, Dicken seemed to know what I was thinking and took me in his arms first, then clapped his webbed paw tightly over my mouth. I almost made a sound,
Be that as it may, the gods seemed to have picked the right time to prank me—just as I thought that Asura didn’t notice what was going on with us, he suddenly turned towards us and looked directly at me and Dicken. His gaze seemed to stiffen for a moment before he clasped a webbed paw over his nose, as if afraid to breathe in something terrible, and even his tail twitched by reflex. In turn, Dicken threatened him with a strangling gesture, seemingly furious that Asura had peeked with poor timing.That was when rushed footsteps started to approach us and I turned towards it. Mary was approaching, still flanked by two soldiers, and soon arrived close to us and Asura. At that very moment, Mary seemed to be connected with Asura in mind and guessed that Asura was close by, and started looking around. She soon found Asura in the darkness, but in the instant their gazes met, Asura’s gaze changed drastically, while Mary remained exceedingly calm and basically didn’t react at all. Even so, I w
“What did you say?!”I felt my breath get caught in my throat. My grandfather was at the concentration camp? So that was why my family was involved in the plans for the merfolk’s race—my grandfather had been involved from the very start. It was why my grandfather and Dicken had made a pact, and later, Bob had a reason to approach me, offering support for my studies on merfolk. I hadn’t been pulled into the plan for no reason, but had been involved from the very start.I couldn’t allow anything to happen to my grandfather even if it was in this dimension, although there appeared to be no time for us to talk about the old times either—in my agitation, my various physical processes were escalating. My calves were spasming endlessly and I almost dropped to my knees, but thankfully Dicken’s tail caught me. His webbed paw was grasping my wrist gently and firmly, even if his gaze was as ferocious as a reaper from hell, glaring fixedly at the soldiers approaching us.Just as the fishing net
This was bad.Amid the confusion, Dicken and I had lost our way and ventured deeper into the island instead. And with soldiers in pursuit behind us, we couldn’t retreat and could only keep moving ahead.Meanwhile, the path beneath us had become even more inclined, to the point that we seemed to be climbing up a slope. The trees around us were getting sparser as well, and I looked forward to finding that it was a clearing without any vegetation, the bright moon piercing the darkness and shining directly upon us. Still, my heart cheered up in that instant, and I couldn’t help getting excited—we were on the edge of a cliff, and that must mean the sea was below. After being with Dicken for so long, I had zero fears of leaping off a cliff, especially when the sea awaited below. That was when Dicken’s movement slowly turned sluggish. Scaling a slope was clearly not easy for his tail, and I promptly leapt off him to drag the unconscious Bob aside. I had wanted to help Dicken get up the
I glanced at Dicken—he picked up my limp body in understanding, and used his muscular arms to push himself up the slope, eventually arriving at the cliff over the sea.When I looked downwards, the scent of seawater and gunpowder gusted upwards, forcing me to hold my breath even though the sickening feeling in my body was suddenly alleviated. On the surface of the sea was the still-burning debris of various fighter jets, drifting aimlessly in the water. Gray smoke swirled over the surface as if to tell of war’s cruelty and brutality, but Dicken and I were going to jump in it anyway, and I felt not a shred of fear even now.“Have no fear, Linda.” Dicken assured me softly beside my ear, his arms still around my body as we approached the cliff’s edge. “Wait.” I grabbed Dicken’s arm, unable to resist turning around to look at Asura and Mary, the latter who was clutching on to Bob and looking at the distant battle with a troubled look, hesitating.Asura grasped Mary’s hand with his we
“Asura!” Mary cried out in surprise as she grabbed Asura’s arm which was holding Bob, but Asura suddenly firmly pulled her into his arms, pulling Mary along and making a beeline to the cliff, ignoring her struggles. Nonetheless, I noticed that Bob had regained consciousness just then, and reacted immediately when he saw Asura and Mary’s tussle. Even before I could warn Mary, Bob had already lunged at them.“Watch out!” I yelled.“Father!” Mary also cried out in surprise when she saw Bob, but the man didn’t stop—there was a flash in his hand and in the next instant, he had thrusted something into Asura’s tail.Asura bellowed in pain immediately and swung his tail at Bob, but Bob dodged it with his quick reflexes, pulled his dagger out of Asura’s tail and aimed it at his head this time. I was sweating bullets from the sudden turn of events, but even as I thought that it was over for Asura, Mary lunged between the dagger and Bob, taking the blow for Asura.I could clearly see the dagg