Chapter Fifteen: The Merman Boss

The passage of battle seemed slow, yet in truth it went swiftly; before the sun had set, the hunters had already slaughtered every minor foe in the fishman village. Only on the largest platform did a few confused fishmen remain, their eyes vacant, as the village’s boss had yet to appear—everything shrouded in an unsettling strangeness.

After quietly slipping into the house closest to the platform, Liu Zong saw, from a distance, the rogue on the rooftop waving at him, seemingly urging Liu Zong to ring the bell once more. Though he knew that ringing the bell again would have little effect, Liu Zong complied, striking the bronze bell before him.

The moment the bell’s sound reverberated, Liu Zong noticed bubbles rising from the water behind the platform, and an enormous fish head slowly emerged from beneath the surface. That fish head was as tall as a fishman’s dwelling, its eyes larger than the head of a hunter, sharp teeth as thick as an arm covered in water plants.

Below the fish head were three massive tentacles, each over ten meters long, their tips fashioned into a spike, a bone plate, and a spray nozzle.

King Gado, Fishman

Race: Modified Humanoid Creature

Level: Lv1 (9-star) Boss Template

Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 9, Constitution 9, Spirit 7

Description: The leader of the fishmen, modified for maximum underwater combat ability. On land, mobility is negligible; its only viable battlefields are underwater and at the central platform of the fishman village...

As the fish head appeared, all remaining fishmen on the platform knelt, as if praying or begging for mercy. But the fish head gave them no heed—its spiked tentacle swept through, skewering the fishmen one after another and feeding them into its maw.

It was then that the hunters moved. Leading the charge was not the druid in bear form, but the rogue, who leapt onto the platform and darted nimbly among the boxes scattered there.

The rogue’s presence enraged the fish head; its spiked tentacle lashed out, attempting to pin the rogue to the platform. Liu Zong observed that whenever the spike raised high, signaling an imminent strike, a concealed hunter would let loose an arrow, forcing the tentacle to retreat.

At this moment, the druid and shaman appeared on the platform as well, though they did not assist the rogue. Instead, they dashed toward the rear of the platform. The giant fish head seemed to grasp their intent, swinging its other two tentacles to block their advance. Yet the druid, transformed into a lion, was just as agile as the rogue, evading the bone plate's heavy smash and the poisonous spray from the nozzle with ease.

When the druid reached the far end of the platform, the shaman arrived too. Without hesitation, he thrust three water totems into the edge of the platform. The totems enveloped the druid in a bubble shield, a detoxifying aura, and a spring for healing.

With protection in place, the druid leapt high and plunged into the water. From the distant high ground, Liu Zong watched as the druid, upon entering the water, transformed from a lion into a giant orca, its sharp teeth lunging at something unseen.

Once the druid was submerged, the hunter finally emerged from hiding, his leopard bursting forth to join the rogue in their agile dance across the platform. This time, the rogue and the leopard were not merely evading; they worked in tandem—one would dodge, while the other sought a way to flank the giant fish and attack its unused tentacles, preventing them from retreating underwater.

Meanwhile, the hunter perched atop a rooftop kept his aim trained on the last uncontrolled tentacle, loosing an arrow whenever it made a move.

Thus, the fish head was unable to counter the druid’s underwater assault, and soon blood began to billow from beneath the surface.

Yet the battle would not remain so tranquil. After less than three minutes of relentless attack, the fish head let out a furious roar, its three tentacles thrashing wildly, smashing the platform without restraint.

In the face of this chaos, the shaman reacted fastest, retreating to the center of the platform and planting a soil and a water totem in the ground. The totems conjured a vast circle of mud at the shaman’s feet; seizing the center of this circle, the shaman pulled upward, forming a mud-made shield for defense.

The rogue and the hunter’s leopard swiftly darted into the shield, evading the fish head’s frenzied blows.

Meanwhile, the druid, now in the water, sprang from beneath the surface and landed at the platform’s edge, transformed into a massive bear, his fur bristling like rows of iron spikes.

Only the hunter, standing far atop a rooftop, made no move to defend himself. Instead, he fitted a bronze-tipped arrow to his bow, raising it slowly and solemnly, aiming at the raging fish head.

At that moment, the fish head’s roar reached its peak, its three tentacles lifted to their highest, and even Liu Zong on his distant perch could see a gap open in the creature’s gaping maw. The hunter’s right hand released; the bronze arrow shot forth like a meteor, plunging precisely through that narrow gap.

A thunderous crash followed—the fish head recoiled three to five meters, nearly tumbling into the water.

Reacting instantly, the druid cast a spell, summoning thorny vines to ensnare one of the fish head’s tentacles. Simultaneously, the rogue and the leopard shot forth like bolts of lightning, leaping from the platform onto the fish head itself; the rogue’s daggers stabbed into its right eye, while the leopard’s fangs sank into a tentacle.

The fish head, now deprived of most of its strength, understood its predicament. Unlike other bosses, it did not fight to the death, but instead tried to retreat into the water.

But it was too late. The druid and shaman remaining on the platform would not permit its escape. The druid shifted back to human form, sending another wave of thorny vines to drag down the fish head. The shaman abandoned healing and support, tossing a totem into the water. The area within three meters of the totem transformed into ice.

The hunter rushed onto the platform, unleashing a volley of direct shots at the fish head, no longer concerned with evading.

Under the full assault of all four, the giant fish head failed to make its escape, quickly sinking beneath the waves.

Soon, the water seethed with blood-red bubbles, and the boss’s entire body finally floated to the surface.

From afar, Liu Zong saw that the boss now resembled a fishman not at all. Aside from its enormous fish head and three tentacles, it possessed only a normal-sized fishman body, which beneath the giant head looked like a mere dot on a balloon.

Beneath the fishman’s body were five fan-shaped fish tails; the largest bore several bone spines, while the others were merely small tails for steering.

From this, it was clear why the boss had always lurked in the waters behind the platform.