Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Yang Yu, along with his companions, descended step by step toward the gleaming lights.

Without Lang Yi’s lead, traversing the dangerous ship area would be exceedingly difficult, so Yang Yu decided to first enter Reflection City and then gradually move from the civilian district to the affluent district.

As they swam, Yang Yu felt something was off. The magical lamp that illuminated the path seemed to be misaligned, and the seawater before him grew murkier than before, obscuring his view of the bubble enveloping Reflection City.

There must be some trickery involved.

Just as Yang Yu thought this, a great amount of silt surged up from the seabed, and a thick, muddy yellow mist swiftly engulfed the bubble under Yang Yu and his crew’s control.

A few Manta Ray Subhumans, with large fish-like fins on their backs, burst out from the silt with lightning speed to launch an attack on Yang Yu and his group.

Before the action, these Manta Ray Subhumans had completed a communication using sound waves undetectable to average people.

Here, occasionally, there are fools who think they can traverse the sea route by themselves after just a few tries.

The targets of the mantas are precisely these fools.

People like Yang Yu’s group, who can use moving bubbles, are either wealthy or noble. This attack, if successful, would result in a hefty ransom.

However, these Manta Ray Subhumans were entirely unaware that when they set the ambush yesterday, they sensed the presence of the dangerous figure Lang Yi and completely ignored Yang Yu beside him.

Honestly, even if they had sensed Yang Yu, so what?

Those who use bubbles are cowards afraid of diving. On land, they might be no match for those cowards, but underwater, it’s a different story.

A few Manta Ray Subhumans flapped their wings, intertwining and soaring, shaping the stirred silt into a mini tornado, which firmly trapped Yang Yu and his companions.

A few lantern fish disguised as magic lamps swam toward the silt and water-formed tornado, releasing currents into the tornado to exert control on Yang Yu and his group.

Outside the tornado, a hefty Manta Ray Subhuman rubbed his hands together, sensing the magic aura of the weakest moving bubble inside the tornado.

If they could capture the weakest among them, they could threaten the rest to give up all their valuables willingly.

”Good! Found it! You are the one chosen!”

The hefty Manta Ray Subhuman took a deep breath, spiraling around the tornado and accelerating continuously, generating a blue luminescence around him, like a blue meteor as he darted into the murky tornado.

In no time, the tornado bore a hole, and the hefty Manta Ray Subhuman pushed a bubble out of the tornado.

With broad fins resembling wings flapping, Manta Brother found the weak point of the moving bubble, exerting force with his hands, and completely crushing the bubble, gripping the target’s throat.

”Aha~”

Seeing the blue-haired girl weak and helpless in his grip, the hefty Manta Brother’s facial muscles lifted intensely, expressing immense pride as he said with exaggerated expression:

”I got it.”

The hefty Manta Brother signaled his companions to stop the tornado, revealing the other bubbles trapped within.

Then, Manta Brother hoisted the captured He Meng for Yang Yu and his friends to see, shouting loudly:

”Nobody move! Look closely, your important companion is in my hands.

If you don’t want her to drown, hand over all your valuables obediently.”

From his heart, Manta Brother couldn’t wait to see Yang Yu and his group’s anxious and terrified expressions and then, have them respectfully hand over money to ransom the girl in his hand.

However, Manta Brother only saw the indifferent expressions on Yang Yu and his companions’ faces.

”What is with those expressions! Your companion is in my hands!

Don’t joke with her life! Look closely at her painful and suffocating face.

Imagine how she would look when she hates you for not saving her close to death!

This is all your fault....”

Manta Brother’s words trailed off as he furrowed his brows and tilted his head.

The girl whose neck he gripped showed no sign of suffocation, staring at him with a look of anger.

Suddenly, a long hand grew from the girl’s forehead and slapped him hard.

Caught off guard, Manta Brother failed to dodge and got slapped hard, causing his cheek to sting fiercely.

Eyes widened, Manta Brother held his slapped cheek, in disbelief over what just happened,

”What, what on earth is happening! Are you really human?”

Before Manta Brother could finish, the girl in his hand melted, turning into a thick syrupy slime, wrapping around him, tying him up completely.

”Quick, help the boss!”

A few of Manta Brother’s companions swam forward, trying to peel He Meng off Manta Brother. However, He Meng transformed into a giant red octopus, using sucker-laden tentacles to bind everyone.

Those Manta Ray Subhumans who didn’t step up to help saw He Meng in that form and dared not stay a moment longer, screaming ”Monster!” as they scrambled away.

Yang Yu sighed helplessly and called out to Bai Jin, asking her to use fifty percent of her power to clean up.

Bai Jin nodded, pressing her magic wand to the bubble, causing a bright magic array to form before it.

”[Lightning Chain]”

Several streams of electricity shot out, and He Meng timed it perfectly to release the unfortunate ones, allowing Bai Jin to shock them senseless.

He Meng is a Slime, inherently incapable of suffocating or drowning.

Earlier, at Yang Yu’s request, she even learned the ocean encyclopedia, enabling her to transform into a few useful marine creatures.

Yang Yu hoped for He Meng to become a great white shark so they could dash across the ocean with her in a dazzling display.

After packaging the unconscious Manta Ray Subhumans and delivering them to Reflection City for punishment by the guards, Yang Yu and his friends followed the street, passing through glass walls to reach the affluent district.

With some time left before the appointed time, Yang Yu and his companions played and arrived at the civilian district.

Luo Luosi had been waiting at the entry of the civilian district for a long while, having changed into clean clothes and washed off any trace of smoke from herself.

The young women who had stumbled at the civilian district entrance had disappeared, replaced by ordinary-looking Sea-dwelling Species who bade farewell to Luo Luosi one by one.

Only after seeing Yang Yu and his companions did those present for the send-off slowly return to the dilapidated civilian district.

Luo Luosi instinctively reached back for a cigarette, searched for a moment, and not finding one, seemed to remember something, smiled, and greeted Yang Yu and his friends:

”Good morning. Are you the members of the newly formed S-class adventure group?

You seem pretty decent, but I wonder if you’re good in actual combat?

The Submarine allows for early boarding, but it’s terribly dull inside. It takes two days to reach the sea zone you need to go to.

As it’s still early, let me take you around, buy some trinkets, and relieve some boredom during the journey.

We can also... find a place to test your skills.”