Chapter 106: All Taken

She mused under her breath, her eyes filled with confusion.

’Do they have a different way of referring to the feminine gender in this world?’

Declan wondered quietly.

But then he watched as she suddenly puffed into a cloud of purple smoke and from within a gigantic creature emerged.

It was the exact creature he had seen in the water.

Before Declan could move a muscle, her enormous eyes were already directly above him, staring down as her gigantic snake-like tail curled through the sand.

"You..."

The creature’s voice carried a strange amusement.

"You really are the one."

Declan stared at her in disbelief.

Even after using the NanoPhoton Blaster and swimming at full speed, she had somehow reached the shore before him, as if she had simply swum faster than he could escape.

"Surprised?" she asked, clearly amused.

"I..."

Declan tried to respond, but he hadn’t even found the words when he suddenly felt something coil around his legs.

In the next instant, he was lifted into the air, hanging upside down as her tail locked tightly around his ankles.

He frantically tried to react, but every movement came to a halt the moment he found those eyes directly before him.

He could see nothing else. Only them.

They were purple, with pitch-black serpentine slits running through their centers.

It felt like staring into a boundless void of purple, scattered with black stars.

And without even realizing it, Declan whispered,

"So beautiful..."

Those words made the woman’s widening maw pause in its movement.

Her eyes quavered within their sockets, and then,

BAAAAANG!

Declan’s head smashed into the sand.

His legs dangled in the air for a couple of moments before he finally managed to tear his face out from the sand.

He breathed chaotically, then looked forward.

The woman was already thirty meters away, standing with her feet inches from the water.

"You’re lucky I have no appetite for Inferiors..."

She had once again returned to her humanoid form.

A fully formed woman.

Unfortunately, she was naked once more, causing Declan’s eyes to unconsciously shut.

She noticed immediately, and the robe reappeared around her body.

"What are you, anyway?" she asked, furrowing her brows.

The young man looked too much like her, at least in her humanoid form.

"Huh... a Dunman?" she said.

Declan felt the breeze brush against him, and he blinked once.

When he opened his eyes again, she was already standing directly before him, less than ten centimeters away.

Her eyes carefully scanned his face before she straightened herself.

"You’re not a Dunman."

"Dunmen have dark lines on their faces, and they stink!" she added.

"Oh well, thanks for the compliment!"

"Compli... Tehehe."

She giggled widely.

"No one compliments their food, do they?"

Declan’s smile immediately disappeared.

"I am a dude," he said.

"Dude? I’ve never heard of such a race before," she mused quietly.

"It’s a... huh... special race from, uh... very far away," he answered.

[How Ridiculous Does That Sound]

Maybe a bit?

"Interesting," she said.

[For Real?]

The System panel flashed, and even Declan could only stare at it while scratching the back of his head.

’I can’t believe she’ll fall for that.’

"What are you, anyway?" he asked.

He rose to his feet, only to pause when he saw her irises slowly turn serpentine.

That evil smile returned to her face.

"I’m a monster!" she declared proudly.

Declan looked from her serpentine eyes down toward her feet beneath the robe.

"Really?"

Her eyes narrowed for a moment before the serpentine slit retreated.

"I’m a Mergas," she answered quietly this time.

Declan furrowed his brows.

’Mergas, Mergas, Mergas... yeah, that ain’t hitting any chord.’

"What!?" she shouted in disbelief.

"Huh?"

"You’ve never heard of that before?" she asked, staring at his expression.

"Not really."

"I am a Mergas. Devourer of all that is superior!"

She declared it wildly, placing one hand over her wrist as she struck a grand pose.

All she received in response was Declan’s lost expression.

"Not familiar still."

"Doom of the Greats?" she tried.

"No. Not really."

"End of Supremes?"

"Not close."

"Ultimate Fusion of Eclipsing Accursed."

"No."

"Haaaa..."

She exhaled a long sigh and finally abandoned her mighty pose before giving him one last attempt.

"Hybrid of a Mermaid and Nagas?" she asked.

"So you’re a mermaid!" Declan shouted, "I knew it."

"Wait... a hybrid? Nagas?" he mused quietly.

"Nagas. I’ve heard that before. Wait, those are the half-snakes."

"Mermaid, Nagas... Mergas. So you’re a hybrid," he mused quietly.

Now it made more sense.

"Hmmm, it’s weird, you know, that title."

"It’s a name from an ancient book from my clan, now long lost. None but a Mergas should know that," she said, furrowing her brows.

Declan unconsciously swallowed, but quickly came up with an answer.

"They’re quite popular where I come from."

"There are mermaids and Nagas where you come from?" she asked, pausing.

"No, not really. They’re myths from children’s storybooks. They don’t exist," he said.

But then he paused, looking at her.

"Or do they?" he mused quietly.

"I don’t know," she whispered.

She began walking toward the water, although calling what she was doing walking was already pushing things.

She only took three steps before disappearing into it.

All Declan saw was a gigantic fish tail creating a powerful wave with a single flap before she vanished completely from sight.

BADUUUMP!

BADUUUMP!

Only after she disappeared did the sound of his own heart pounding loudly finally reach Declan.

He cautiously gripped his chest.

"Just what type of nightmare is this?"

Giants.

Mermaids.

Nagas.

All of those races were fantasy creatures written about in children’s books.

How could they possibly exist?

Was all of this really just a dream?

If it was, then how could time continue moving without him?

If this were merely a dream, he should have awakened where he had left off.

Yet the world had continued moving, leaving him behind.

"Hey, System, just where is this?" he asked.

As usual, there was no response.

Whenever he tried asking, there was only silence.

Since the creature was gone for now, he ought to get out of here.

But when Declan looked around, all he saw was the endless sea.

There wasn’t even a sign of the bridge he had jumped from.

He magnified his vision, but all he could see was endless water stretching in every direction.

’How did this even happen? I jumped into a river, then went over a waterfall... and now I’m in the middle of nowhere?’

Even if he wanted to swim away, how could he?

There was nothing but water and that left only one thing.

The island he was standing on.

It was wide, and Declan had only landed on its shore.

He knew that once he slept, he would be sent back to reality so before that happened, he might as well do a little exploring.

With that in mind, Declan turned toward the forest and ventured into the jungle.

Yet five minutes hadn’t even passed when...

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A heavy explosion suddenly erupted.

Trees were blasted into the air, and among them, a figure came flying wildly through the sky.

ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!

A powerful roar erupted from deep within the jungle.

The resulting sonic wave blasted Declan straight off the island and sent him crashing back into the water.

His head felt groggy, and his vision was dim.

But his eyes quickly widened when he found the Mergas directly before his face.

For some reason, she appeared even larger underwater, and instead of a snake tail, this time, she had a fish tail.

Suddenly, her tail suddenly whipped out from below.

BOOM!

Declan was hurled out of the sea and slammed headfirst into the shore once again.

COUGH!

COUGH!

"Everything here is already taken," she said as Declan coughed out sand and water.

"The only place you fit in is..."

She paused looking at the shore, but then her eyes narrowed with amusement.

"My belly."

"WHAT!?"

She remained in the water with her upper body exposed while her tail disappeared beneath the surface.

Her fingers had transformed into long claws covered in blue fish scales, and she pointed directly at her stomach.

"In here," she said.

Declan’s hair immediately stood on end.

"Tehehe."

The sight of his hair standing straight up made her giggle strangely again.

She soon swam out of the water.

"Doragun owns the forest. He’s very troublesome to deal with and will kill you if you wander into his territory," she told him.

Declan’s heart pounded loudly.

He recognized the creature she was describing.

One attack from it had launched him into the sky, while the follow-up force had sent him crashing straight into the sea.

If he hadn’t reacted quickly enough, he would have been knocked out by that blow.

"Tch, bastard," he cursed beneath his breath before settling his anger and turning toward her.

"Where is this place?"

"You don’t know?"

"I don’t. I jumped off a bridge and fell out of a waterfall, yet I landed right here. It doesn’t make sense at all."

If he had simply followed the waterfall and dropped into the water below, there was no reason he should have ended up in the middle of the sea...

Unless he had somehow fallen from the sky.

It just didn’t make sense.

Something must have gone wrong during the fall.

"You most likely fell through the portal while trying to escape imprisonment from the Yorimunda Race..." she said with a shrug.

Declan’s brow furrowed.

That actually summed things up fairly well.

"A portal, huh? Do you know how I can get back to it?" he asked.

She pointed toward the forest.

"You’ll have to meet Doragun for that. The portal is within the cave he sleeps in."

Declan’s spine immediately chilled.

The portal is inside that fiery creature’s abode!?

"Don’t tell me you go to him and he just allows you in?" he asked.

She giggled evilly.

"Of course not."

"Then... how did you ever get out?"