Chapter 259: Lurking in the darkness
"Okay, guys, time to go. Pack your things and let’s get out of here."
Kyana perked up after Kai’s announcement, happy that they’re finally leaving this place. She would rather spend her time on water than in water. Still, she preferred land, especially grassy areas with a lot of plants and trees.
"Yes! Thank you! Mwah! I love you so much! Sasha! Amaya! Get up! We’re leaving!" Kyana turned back to Kai. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"You have, but I can stand to hear it again." He smiled.
"Well, I love you." The two of them started making out, relishing in the feeling of each other’s bodies.
"Okay, knock it off!" Nadya separated the two of them, which surprised everyone. She wasn’t one to show emotion like this.
"My turn." She stole Kai’s lips, taking Kyana’s spot.
Kyana didn’t know what to say. This was Nadya, the quiet girl, and she just expressed jealousy. "You! I can’t believe you would do something like this!"
She stopped kissing Kai for a moment to speak to Kyana. "Shut up, he’s mine as well."
Gwen interrupted them. "He’s ours. Now stop kissing and take us out of here, or we’ll be waiting until he fucks both of them." She said to Kai, who was enjoying the banter.
Kai held out his arms. "Everyone, group hug!"
The six women rushed into his arms, eager to be the one to hug his front or back, except for Amaya. She always took his neck as her personal seat, and Kai was fine with that.
"Next stop....Where are we going again?"
"Rocksalt Island." Cornelia reminded him.
"Right! Next stop, Rocksalt Island!" They all vanished, the water rippling with their exit.
---
Hovering above the sky, out of view from even Leo himself, were two beings. One of them was a man wearing a long black cloak with a scar on his face, while the other was a handsome-looking man with hair that waved in the wind.
"Did you feel it?" The scared man asked.
"I did." The handsome man responded. "The blood of Nemean flows in a person on this planet. But something is strange."
The scarred man agreed, knowing what his partner was talking about. "A mortal."
"Indeed. This civilization is primitive, backward. Nemean’s blood should easily be able to take this planet over, yet they are not."
"Perhaps they are unaware of their lineage." The scarred man theorized.
"That would make the most sense, considering they are a mortal. Nemean only has mortal children when he is having fun with the inhabitants of a planet. While they would be the best of their race, they wouldn’t carry his power."
The scarred man nodded. "We should observe more. Their actions have been sporadic, and it is hard to know what they are planning. For all we know, it could be a trap."
"This is why I’m not engaging with them at the moment." The handsome man rubbed his hand along his chest, feeling a scar inflicted on him from long ago.
"Understandable. We should-" The scarred man turned his head, feeling power from somewhere else.
"I felt it too. The blood of Nemean once more!"
"Nineteen of them!"
They couldn’t believe what they were feeling. Taking care of one person with the blood of Nemean was already a challenge, but taking on 20 of them was asking for death.
"They definitely know that we’re here. Why else would 19 more of them reveal themselves? We need to head back into the shadows, wait, and listen. Being prepared is the best option!"
The handsome man agreed with his partner. They were not equipped to handle 20 children of Nemean and would need to form a plan to handle all of them.
"We’ll continue watching from afar, but only a little. We can’t allow them to get wind of our location. Out of the 19 other Nemean children that we felt, 17 of them were in one spot, or at least close in proximity. This means that their main base should be there. For now, we’ll focus on the three Nemean children who are separated from the rest of their siblings."
The scarred man agreed, and space behind them cracked open, swallowing them up as they retreated to their safe place.
---
"Yes! Land! I love you! I’ll never take you for granted ever again!" Kyana gasped. "A tree!" She ran over to it and hugged the tree as if it were a long-lost family member.
"We need to get her comfortable in the water," Kai whispered in Gwen’s ear.
"Well, you can’t blame her. She’s an elf. They’re creatures of nature."
"Water is nature." He pointed out.
"Okay, she’s a creature of land nature. You know, grass, plants, trees, and all the greenery."
"Fair. But is water that bad? Look at Amaya, she’s a cat, yet she isn’t complaining about the water."
The two of them looked at Amaya, who caught a fish with her mouth. She turned to Kai to show him, and he gave her a thumbs-up.
"Okay, I see what you mean." Gwen nodded.
"Stop being mean." Nadya poked Kai’s arm.
"I’m not being mean. I’m just worried."
"Sure you are. Let’s just turn in our reward and get our prize."
"Yes, ma’am."
---
At the mercenary guild, Kai and the crew returned after a week of being away. Everyone thought they were killed after being dragged under the central sea and didn’t expect them to return.
"Woah! They’re back!"
"You’re alive!"
"How did you all survive underwater for a week?"
"Really, Jerry? They obviously weren’t underwater for a week, you dumbass!"
"S-Sorry."
"Welcome back." The receptionist greeted them with a smile.
"Glad to be back. We completed the job." Kai placed the guantled on the counter and explained what it does.
The lady didn’t even need his explanation because the craftsmanship was nothing like what she’s seen. It was clearly from the lost city, and that was all the proof she needed.
"A-Amazing! The city actually exists! I-Is it under the central sea? How did you even handle the leviathan?" She wanted to know everything; how could she not? The lost city was known to be a myth for generations, yet Kai came around and proved it to be true.
"Technically, no, it isn’t. The lost city is actually in another dimension. A pocket reality created by the goddess. The seven of us were about to die from the leviathan, but seeing our resolve to find the city, she teleported us to the place and let us stay there for a week."
Kai wasn’t actually going to tell them the truth because he had no reason to. His job was to confirm if the place was real or not, and he did. His job was done now.