Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 319: Here There Be Monsters Part II

The fishing boat that Zane had taken from the docks, after hot-wiring it for his own uses, had rather steadily crossed half the Yellow Sea by now. No doubt Zane was white knuckling the entire journey, paying more attention to the sea, as Beatrix piloted the vessel.

Why was Beatrix the one driving the boat? Well, to simply put it, she was one of two capable of doing so among the Horde Kings in Zane's group. After all, she, like Darren had lived in Lake Tahoe. And both of them owned boats prior to their deaths, and their resurrection as Horde Kings.

It was because of this that the woman was rather gleeful, unusually so as she made a comment on the whole situation

"I'm honestly surprised young master that you have decided to take the Sea route. You seemed quite timid when pondering upon which route to take for some time."

Beatrix was perhaps the only one who called Zane by the term Young Master, which she began doing after recognizing him as the Prince of the Dead. As for Zane, he did not hear her words as he was staring at the water's surface. Or more importantly, using his enhanced vision to try to see beneath the water's surface.

Since most aquatic life was cold-blooded, there would be virtually no difference between the temperature of their bodies and that of the water. Because of this, Zane could not take advantage of his thermal vision to detect these creatures.

Nor was his night vision particularly helpful. The sea was vast, and what lurked beneath its surface was truly a daunting thought. And it was while the boat continued to surf across the water that Zane swore he could have seen something pop up and look at him.

At first, he thought he may have been seeing things. But in the darkness of the night, and the black water, there was no doubt two small glowing eyes staring at him. Zane immediately ran to the other side of the ship and ordered for the light to be flashed upon what he had seen.

"Over there! There's something in the water. Hit it with the spotlight!"

When the light shone upon the face of the creature, Zane instantly pulled out his bow, which he had not used in some time. And fired an arrow at its head. It was an aquatic feminine humanoid, something akin to merfolk, but far more fearsome looking. As its teeth were razor sharp, and its golden eyes had turned elliptical upon reacting to the light.

His arrow missed as the creature dived beneath the surface. Somehow, Zane got the feeling that he had not scared the creature away. Rather that it was instead searching for another angle to attack from.

And he also felt a disturbing sensation that the feminine aquatic humanoid was not alone. Which was confirmed as Gwen began showing the ship's lights on the surroundings, which flashed upon well over a hundred glowing eyes.

Zane couldn't help but call out to Gwen, whose mockery about his lack of courage had forced him to take the sea route.

"Oh? What happened Zane? Did your balls suddenly drop off? Oh gee Gwen, maybe I was trying to avoid this exact fucking scenario we are in right fucking now!"

Gwen had by now withdrawn her own weapons and was prepared to fight on the deck of the ship. As she knew, she would be torn apart in the water. All the while telling Zane that she understood his point, and he didn't need to keep screaming at her.

"Alright, I get it! I'm sorry! You were right, we should have taken the northern route! I won't second guess your apparent lack of courage again! Now about you get over here and help me deal with these fucking things!"

Naturally, Gwen had slashed at one of the merfolk which had jumped out of the water and tried to drag her into the depths of the sea. Zane of course caught up to her, and cut off its hand, causing it to shriek in the most horrifically inhuman way possible, while it fell back into the sea.

"Be fucking careful! These things aren't easy to deal with, especially in the water!"

Zane was more terrified than any of his companions. Because he was the only one who could see the identities of the Merfolk and their relative strength.

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[Yellow Sea Merfolk Whelp]

[level 30]

[HP: 1200/1250]

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Level fucking 30? For a whelp? Wasn't that the name you would use for a monster that is supposed to be at the beginner level? If the whelps were that strong, then Zane didn't dare to think about the more powerful members of the Merfolk which were trying to kill them all.

Besides, the overwhelming majority of his companions were level 25. And that was only if you included the Horde Kings. If you included the Death Knights, they were a much lower level than that! Hell, if Zane manifested his entire horde, and fought these things on equal footing on the land, his army would be torn apart.

He couldn't believe how ridiculously overpowered these freaking merfolk were. And because of this, he was quick to yell at Beatrix.

"Our only chance is to outrun these fuckers. Put the pedal to the fucking medal sweetheart!"

Beatrix was not exactly calmed by this statement. This wasn't a speedboat, it was a fucking fishing boat. There was no way they were going to outrun these things which surrounded them. No matter how hard they tried, these things would undoubtedly catch up to them. Or stall their boat altogether if they took out its propellers.

So what exactly were they supposed to do? Honestly, Zane was at a loss for words about how to survive this nightmarish scenario he had found himself in. Especially as the Merfolk began to climb onto the deck of the ship.

It was really just him, Gwen, and Evilyn that were capable of easily defending themselves. Wait… That's right, Evilyn… She was a ghost, right? Didn't that mean these living creatures which had somehow evolved from marine life were incapable of harming her?

Zane was just about to ask the woman when he saw a flash of light strike her in the chest. It was a bolt of a magic cast from one of the merfolk. And Magic was indeed capable of harming spirits. Evilyn took a blow to her HP as she cut one of the Merfolk in half that tried to tackle Gwen.

Upon realizing that the merfolk could harm Evilyn. Zane realized that he was in deep shit. As even that plan was out the window. Were they really going to die this way? Being dragged into the sea and turn apart by sea monsters?