Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Chapter 534: Chapter 534 [Island Drifting]

The Ocean Duchy, situated at the southern end of this world, is a nation comprising the ocean and many islands. Although it’s called a country, they are more like a loose federation.

The citizens of the Ocean Duchy are collectively known as sea-dwelling species, aside from the Hapi who live on a few of the islands.

But you can’t generalize about the sea-dwelling species, just like in Wansheng Country, where beastmen include both lion beastmen and deer beastmen, there is a huge diversity among different sea-dwelling species.

There are octopus girls with eight tentacles, mermaids who are half human and half fish, and even members of the True Fish Clan that look like salty fish with four short arms.

Even among mermaids, you can’t generalize about the different tribes.

For example, Jiao Xi belongs to a type of Parrotfish mermaid, who are special in that they can control the magic power in their bodies and switch between two genders at any time.

The sea-dwelling species of the Ocean Duchy are even more diverse than the beastmen of Wansheng Country.

However, unlike Wansheng Country, there is no leader who unites all the sea-dwelling species in the Ocean Duchy.

Because there is a large Dragon God Evaluation Country as a barrier between the Ocean Duchy and the human world, many things here have been preserved from long ago to the present.

For instance, various sea-dwelling species still maintain small tribes, each fighting for themselves.

Under such circumstances, forming an adventure group with strength across the barriers of various sea-dwelling species is rather difficult.

”Island Drifting” is undoubtedly one of the most successful.

And Jiao Xi and Lang Yi are both adventurers belonging to the S-level adventure group ”Island Drifting”.

After exchanging a few simple greetings, Jiao Xi tied her hair into a ponytail and stirred the waves with her fishtail, while Lang Yi, a member of the Fish Dragon species, reseated himself on the raft and cast his fishing rod into the sea,

”Jiao Xi, what are you doing here?”

Jiao Xi turned her head to look at Lang Yi, but only caught a quick glance from him before his attention hurriedly returned to the calm sea,

”Can’t you tell from my appearance just now? In front of you, I rarely switch to a male form.”

The hand holding the fishing rod trembled slightly, and Lang Yi realized Jiao Xi’s intention and cursed out loud,

”That woman, did she start trying to conquer that Underground Maze under the sea on her own again?

I explicitly warned her, a place guarded by such monsters could not possibly be an ordinary large Underground Maze. There must be something fishy, and who knows what dangers one might encounter.

Still, she took my words for the wind.

Tell me, did she run into danger, get hurt, and that’s why you came to find me?”

Jiao Xi shook her head, ”On the contrary, we successfully conquered the first five levels of that Underground Maze. Look, this necklace around my neck is one of the spoils. How is it? Pretty, right?”

Jiao Xi lifted the necklace around her neck, cheerfully shaking her fishtail and causing ripples, but Lang Yi didn’t look back. Jiao Xi pouted unhappily, and her tail, which had been stirring the waves, stopped as well.

”So that’s it. That woman must want to show off how wise her judgment was.

The safety of the earlier levels doesn’t guarantee the rest will be safe. Maybe it’s a ploy by some entity trying to lure adventurers further in with sweetness.”

”Isn’t that a bit of an overreaction?” Jiao Xi said.

”Hmph—I know what kind of sea-dwelling demons they are; they couldn’t possibly have that high a level of Wisdom and have also learned a never-before-seen toxic Attack.

The scene of us, having touched that yellow smoke and nearly being eaten as food by that big fish, is still vivid in my mind.

It’s all too abnormal. That woman has gotten over past pains and forgotten them; she’s simply not suited to be the team leader.”

Lang Yi grew increasingly angry as he spoke. Having just caught a small fish, he immediately tossed it into his mouth and swallowed it whole.

Jiao Xi said, ”But her becoming the team leader is an indisputable fact, and it’s precisely because she can be somewhat foolish at times that she needs you as the deputy team leader.”

Casting his fishing line out again, Lang Yi was silent, blaming himself for being too young at the time and falling for that woman’s nonsense: ”Each of us is an island, drifting in the endless ocean. Despite our differing appearances, we are fundamentally no different and can surely become the best of partners.” It was that kind of bull that got him to join.

Seeing that Lang Yi wasn’t speaking, Jiao Xi continued, ”If you’re really that afraid, you could ask around to see if anyone knows about such occurrences. I remember your sister is in the S-ranked adventure group ’Corpse Collection Coffin’. She should be able to get quite a bit of information about the Human World. If you could get to the Human World’s All Things Library, you would almost certainly be able to confirm if similar things are happening there or not.”

”I don’t want to deal with those Spirit Manipulators who deal with corpses all day long and form contracts with Spiritual Bodies to fight. If it weren’t for my sister having similar abilities to theirs and for our relationship with a certain person from ’Corpse Collection Coffin’, which made it difficult to refuse their invitation, I wouldn’t have sent my sister off to the Terun Republic to learn how to use her powers.”

”Despite what you say, you’re actually just worried about your little sister’s safety, aren’t you? You’re such a siscon!”

Lang Yi wanted to retort, but Jiao Xi poked his cheek with a finger.

Realizing Jiao Xi was looking at him with a teasing smile, Lang Yi turned his face back expressionless and admitted, ”I’ll admit that’s part of it. After all, it seems like the Human World isn’t so friendly to us Subhumans. Even with that elder there, I’m still worried she might face discrimination.”

”See, that’s better when you’re honest about it,” Jiao Xi said and pushed off, plunging into the sea, ”The team leader is so eager to tackle that Underground Maze for a reason.

I’ve heard that the Dragon God Evaluation Country also faced the arrival of a large maze called the ’Defensive Hall’. One S-ranked adventure group from there, ’Divine Dragon’s Might’, conquered it and obtained a Legendary Level Shield and a key whose use is unknown.

The team leader suspects that our Underground Maze may be the same kind of thing.

If we conquer it, we can not only leap up in ranking, but also gain Legendary weapons to enhance our strength.

This is the ocean. Our Sea-dwelling Clan’s domain.

The Underground Maze is also underwater, where other S-ranked adventure groups can’t intervene. This is a rare opportunity for us, and the team leader doesn’t want to miss out.

I’ve conveyed the team leader’s thoughts to you. It’s up to you whether to come or not.

You blockhead!”

After that, Jiao Xi dove into the sea, leaving Lang Yi alone on the raft, still fishing.

The surface of the sea returned to calm.

Lang Yi reeled in his fishing rod without a word, then let out a long sigh,

”Do you two really not want to let me fish in peace?”

He carefully wound the fishing line onto the reel and, removing his straw hat, realized there was no choice but to head back into the sea to prevent any issues that might arise with the members of ’Island Drifting’.