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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored By: Wesley Brown, Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Maxamaicus, Emblyon, maou99sama

At the same time that the Murloc Shaman was healing his brother, I turned around to look at Paliseth who seemed amused by that very act. “Your reinforcement came a lot faster than I had expected.”

“Well, that’s because there’s nothing more important than your holiness.” Paliseth withdrew her gaze at this point then smiled at me. “Seeing your holiness safe and sound fills me with a great sense of relief.”

“Like those fishes had any chance of ever hurting me.” With the Devil King Idol at my beck and call, their assault was never really going to be a real problem. Having said that, I smiled back at Paliseth. “So how should we deal with them?”

“Does your holiness despise them? We can just kill them all if your holiness desires it so.” She said with a smile on her face, though I couldn’t see a shred of levity in her eyes then. “If your holiness does not wish to dirty his hands, Paliseth is more than happy to do the deed.”

“No… no… don’t kill us…” The Murloc Shaman hastily chimed in, having overheard us talking while he was busy healing his brother. He waved his hands about in utter terror, any thoughts of healing completely forgotten at this point. “I beg of you, please do not kill us… we are very, very dirty… no matter who kills us, they will definitely dirty their hands…”

“But us Dark Elves don’t mind getting our hands dirty…” Paliseth tilted her head and said with a smile. “Other than dying, how else do you expect trash to show their worth?”

“…nooo… we are very useful, absolutely useful…” The Murloc Shaman was practically weeping at this point as he said that. He was clearly frightened out of his fishy scales, having gone so far as to kowtow and beg for his life. “I beg of you, spare us… we are really useful…”

Without even finishing his sentence, the Murloc Shaman started crawling over to hug my legs. Unfortunately, he was swiftly kicked away by a sharp-eyed Zurnalin.

“Disgusting fool, stay away from his holiness.” Zurnalin unsheathed her sword and waved it menacingly at the shaman. “The next time I see you approach his holiness without permission, that will be your last!”

“ cries… but I don’t want to die…” From his makeshift fishball shape, the Murloc Shaman finally came to a tumbling halt a few meters away. This time, he cried. He was really crying hard too. Droplet after large droplet started falling from his otherwise vicious looking large eyes. The sound he was producing right now could only be described as horrific. Whatever definition the word horrific held, it needed to at least be doubled in order to fully describe the grating noises he was producing right now.

Thankfully, this crying did not last very long, at least not to the point where we lost our patience. Perhaps the impending danger of his situation had finally awakened whatever dormant intelligence he had left in him, but the next time he spoke, he cut right straight to the heart of this problem. “As long as you do not kill us, we can provide a host of benefits…”

Seeing him try so hard to justify his own worth, I suddenly had this urge to laugh at him. I gently reached out to ruffle Jezsere’s silver hair and said, “Oh? Go on and tell us then.”

The Murloc Shaman paused in thought for a second then suddenly lifted his head up. “We can gather resources for you. There’s no one more familiar with swamps than us. As long as it’s something that can be found within the Fluorescent Marsh, we will get it.”

“We have the Duergars as slaves. They don’t fare much worse than your race in the swamps. And they are completely obedient to us as well.” Paliseth gave the shaman a bemused look as she eyed him up and down. “Compared to your race, I would much rather trust the Duergars.”

The Duergars as a race were weaker than the Murlocs, and much more obedient. After generations of slavery, they had already become accustomed to serving the Dark Elves. For low-skilled labor, the only thing better than a Duergar were the undead who didn’t require rest or food. After all, these Duergars were the kind of slaves that you only needed to feed once a day. Even if you starved them to death, they would never try to fight back. They were climate resistant, sickness resistant, and had a high efficiency to food ratio. More importantly, they would never protest their treatment. Was there anything more a slave owner could ask for?

Raising Duergar slaves could be said to be a zero risk, high profit venture. Once they’ve been trained, they could basically be left to their own devices and they will just keep on working. The Murlocs were different. Not only were they hard to train, they were warlike and not easy to manage. More importantly, they couldn’t leave the waters for long. A Murloc that did not receive any water replenishment for a long time would die of dehydration. They weren’t actually a terrestrial race after all. It was impossible to keep them on land for long without them falling sick as well. But if they were to be set free in the water… that was just returning a tiger to its den – a really bad idea.

“We can rear fish as well!” The Murloc Shaman raised his neck a little as he said that, as if he was really proud of that fact… He must have been really confident in his own race’s ability to rear fish. I bet he thinks he’s some bigshot now that he pulled out the fish rearing card.

Unfortunately for him, Paliseth was more than ready to burst his bubble with her needle of a rebuttal. “You mean your fish rearing technique that can’t even meet your own clan’s needs?”

“We… we can reproduce really fast! We can even give birth twice in a year!” The Murloc Shaman was clearly scraping the bottom of his fish barrel at this point, given that he even tried to turn reproducing fast into a benefit. Unfortunately for him, Paliseth would never accept this as a reason to keep them. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that this high reproductive rate was the main drawback of their race. The Murloc Shaman was still oblivious to this fact and continued bragging about this. “As long as you give us time, we can raise a thousand, no, ten thousand Murloc warriors!”

He’s basically on cloud nine right now, isn’t he? Why the heck would we want you to reproduce so fast for? Just to create another problem for ourselves?! Give it a few years and the streets of the city would be filled with your fishy smell, now that would be unpleasant…

Paliseth clearly knew of this problem as well, that was why she came to such a swift decision. “Why do we even need you to reproduce so much for? So you can start a rebellion within our own city? I think I’ll just kill you all now.”

“Noooo… don’t kill us… we’ll do whatever you say…”

Paliseth blinked her eyes. “Anything?”

“That’s right, anything. Even if you want me to… want me to…” The Murloc Shaman raised his head at that point and looked right at Paliseth, then recoiled in disgust. “Even if you want me to be your mate, I won’t resist…”

The moment I heard the word mate, my lips immediately curled to the side. Dang it, why are you even acting all reluctant for? We should be the ones who… wait, I guess it only makes sense that you would be reluctant… Hold on, so those Dark Elves are actually mad enough to do it with a fish? Actually, scrap that. They’ve already done it with a magical beast after all.

Paliseth wasn’t angered at all by his reluctance. Instead, she began contemplating the possibilities of his suggestion. “I wonder if a Murloc’s bloodline can produce an offspring who can breath underwater…

What the fish… so you’re really considering his offer then… I … I…

“Hmm… with regards to mating, there’s no need for you to worry about that front at all. We were planning to do so anyway.”

So you’re telling him to just lie down and enjoy the ride then… how is that any different from surprise procreation? You Dark Elves…

Even though Paliseth held the bearing of an upper-class lady, the reality was that she spoke like a typical underworld mob boss. The way she so nonchalantly talked about mating not only shocked me but also the Murloc Shaman as well.”

“You’re going to force yourselves on me?” The fishhead that he was immediately covered up his crotch as he said that. However, he was powerless to stop it and could only resort to a last futile attempt at resistance. “You may have my fish body, but you will never have my fish heart. I… I… will never surrender…”

Those Dark Elves are all top class beauties and you actually don’t want to… what the fish is going on here?! Just let me do it, I promise I’ll be more than happy to oblige.

Just like that, our little comedy skit continued for a good long while until the Murloc Clanleader was once again revived. By that time, the Undermarsh Murlocs were officially servants of the Shadowhunter Clan, my slaves in short. Naturally, that wasn’t to say that I was planning to stay here for long. In other words, Paliseth was the actual owner of these new slaves.

In actuality, there was a logic behind this fishy madness. The Shadowhunter Clan was now facing immense pressure because of war. The Minotaurs and the Harpies were running amok just 50 km south of their city. Even though the Shadowhunter Clan clearly didn’t fear the combined armies of those two races, the fact was that wars would result in casualties. Enemy casualties weren’t an issue at all, the problem was that they had to die as well.

More importantly, why were the Minotaurs suddenly acting up, even going so far as to ally with the Harpies? Lest one forgot, the Harpies had a horrible reputation even in the Underdepths.

The Harpies had no males so they had to rely on capturing males from other races in order to procreate. This manner of forced procreation wasn’t a short term matter either. While the victim still had some time to rest in between sessions, the fact was that the majority of their time would now be spent procreating… even a Dragon would collapse under that kind of pressure.

Naturally, this arrangement would continue till the victim finally died from exhaustion.

To be honest, I was really against this custom. I once talked to Ellena about this matter. It was my hope that they would come up with another alternative instead. And if that wasn’t possible, they could at least only target enemies, and not their allies.

Long story short, the thought of Minotaurs and Harpies coming together to form an alliance was just unthinkable. The Minotaurs were one of the victims of the Harpies as well. Logically speaking, there should be an unbridgeable gap between the two races. Yet the reality was that these two very races were now attacking the Shadowhunter Clan in concert… So the true question was this: exactly who had the power to force these two otherwise warring races into an alliance?

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored By: Wesley Brown, Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Maxamaicus, Emblyon, maou99sama

Who the heck is Lily? And are you two brothers fighting over a potential mate? A family dispute then? Sometimes… having an unreliable brother is really such a pain… for both sides too…

Still, I doubt he’s getting up anytime soon with those injuries. There’s no point saying that to him.

At least, that was what I thought.

“Really… you mean it?” Thanks to the unrelenting efforts of the Murloc Shaman, the Murloc Clanleader was finally able to open up his eyes slightly. His weak, shivering hand grabbed onto the shaman’s wrist, and in an extremely soft voice, asked, “you will really give up on her?”

Woah, how touching! For his brother’s swift recovery, the Murloc Shaman is even willing to give up on the mate he’s courting. What’s even more amazing is that the Murloc Clanleader actually responded to his moving words! Such a noble tale of brotherly love!

“Big brother, you’re awake… that’s amazing!”

Upon realising that his big brother was finally awake, the Murloc Shaman finally broke into a relieved smile. While his face might have been ugly already, that smile somehow managed to make it even uglier than before…

“Answer me…” The Murloc Clanleader narrowed his eyes. “You said you will give up on Lily as long as I wake up, right?”

The Murloc Shaman raised his head and looked elsewhere. “Errr… did I say that?”

“You did!”

“Big brother, I think you’re still recovering from the trauma of your injuries, that’s why you are even hallucinating…”

“Don’t try to lie to me, I’m more than lucid right now.”

“Ahahaha… Big brother, you know I have that… that… thing…” Knowing that his ruse had failed spectacularly, he uneasily looked around for an out before finally saying, “I have intermittent amnesia. So whatever I said just now, I don’t remember at all. In that case, it doesn’t count, right?”

“Is that so…” The Murloc Clanleader slumped back down onto the ground and weakly said, “I’m dying…”

At this point, based on the Murloc Shaman’s closeness with his brother, I expected him to immediately panic again. However, I was soon to be proven wrong. “Oh. Okay then. At least there won’t be anyone to fight with me over Lily once you’re dead.”

What the fish? I want a refund on my tears!

“Then how about I remind you of what you said!” To no one’s surprise, in the face of this betrayal that even the Buddha would get mad at, the Murloc Clanleader snapped. In the blink of an eye, he dragged his battered body up and grabbed onto the Murloc Shaman’s head and began shaking it profusely. “You. Need. To. Remember. The. Words. You. Said.”

“Stop shaking me, big brother… if you keep shaking me, I have to fight back!”

“Go on then! Fight back!”

“Big brother, have you forgotten about your current state?!” The Murloc Shaman was about to snap from the shaking at this point. “If you really want to die, I don’t mind sending you on your way!”

“You stupid fish, you’re willing throw away your own sibling for a female?”

“You’re the one that started it! And what do you mean a female? Lily isn’t just a female! I’m going to tell her about you, then she’ll see your true colors!”

“How dare you! Lily is your sister-in-law. How can you covet your own sister-in-law like that?! You disloyal brother, I’ll teach you a lesson!”

“Spare me, big brother, you haven’t even gotten together with her yet!”

“She’s your future sister-in-law!”

“You said it yourself: future. And haven’t you heard of the saying: there’s nothing better than a good fish, and nothing more fun than a sister-in-law.”

“Brrrgggwwlll… you rotten fish bait, how dare you covet your own sister-in-law?! I’ll kill you!”

At the same time as they were scolding each other, the two Murloc brothers were busy wrestling with each other. With the Murloc Clanleader’s massive stature, the Murloc Shaman would have ordinarily lost by now. However, his serious injuries meant that not only did he not have the upper hand, those same wounds were now reopened and spilling blood. As time passed by, the Murloc Clanleader got ever weaker, to the point where the Murloc Shaman was starting to win.

While the brothers continued tumbling about on the ground, the rest of us were happily watching the comedy play out before our eyes. Jezsere was even blushing from that whole nonsense about playing with your sister-in-law.

That’s right, a left hook. A left hook! That’s right, hit his face!

Yet just as I was getting into the mood of things, Zurnalin’s dragon spear suddenly dove in the from the side, forcefully splitting the two fishheads apart. Having been ambushed so abruptly, the two brothers only had time to jump away before throwing us a pair of strange looks.

What the fish? The fight was just getting good, why did you stop them?

I never got to ask her that however. The gallant but expressionless Zurnalin coolly waved her hands, and following that, a couple of her Blood Drake Riders promptly jumped off their mounts. The pair swiftly marched up to the separated brothers and mercilessly tied them up with a rope. Naturally, the both of them tried to resist, but one of them was severely injured while the other was just a weakling. Resistance was futile.

It was at that point that I realised why Zurnalin threw out her spear.

It turned out that as we were happily watching them wrestle, they had unknowingly come close to the river banks. While the river itself was still frozen over because of the Compound Magic, the fact they went through so much trouble to edge towards it meant that the ice wasn’t going to be a problem for the both of them.

Sly… who would have thought that the whole clown act was actually a ruse for them to escape. If it wasn’t for Zurnalin’s sharp senses, they might have really gotten away with it too.

Man… who would have thought that a couple of ugly fishheads would be capable of such cunning. I swear… these fantasy world types sure seem a lot smarter than ordinary earthlings… and I think I’m included in that as well… blast…

“You two…” Once the two were secured, I finally walked up to them, teeth grinding from sheer annoyance, and fist pounding on my palm. “Was it fun making fun of me like that? I don’t even care who Lily is anymore, I just want to ask you two this. Do you wish to die or do you wish to live?”

“Hah, I would rather die than beg for mercy!” The Murloc Clanleader spat in my direction. “There’s no way I would ever beg for mercy from such an ugly female!”

I quickly stepped to the side to dodge the projectile then threw him a disgusted look. “Ugly female? Let’s get something straight here. I’m no female. Also, how am I ugly?”

At this point, my eyes were practically bulging with anger. Putting aside his stubbornness, the fact that he called me ugly meant that he really wanted to die right now.

“You have no scales, your head is too small, your skin is too white, your fangs aren’t sharp enough…”

The Murloc Clanleader began listing out the points in earnest… Upon hearing that, I almost wanted to slap myself at that point. Of course their sense of beauty is different from mine, how stupid can I be? But why isn’t my Lust Demon bloodline working on him?

“Curses! I want him beaten up right this instant!”

I turned around and eyed one of the Blood Drake Riders. The lady nodded in response and began kicking the Murloc Clanleader’s wounds.

“Ahh… curse you… you ugly females… I will never surrender!”

The Murloc Clanleader yelled even louder to express his outrage while I continued gesturing at that Blood Drake Rider to proceed. After several more kicks, the Murloc Clanleader finally fell silent. He was severely injured, after all. The Murloc Shaman might have casted a few healing spells on him, but those weren’t enough to completely heal wounds of this severity.

“Don’t hit him… don’t hit my brother… hit me instead…”

I’ll admit you two fishheads have some backbone. Even a scrawny shaman has the guts to make a request like that. Fine, I’ll grant you your wish then. You can be beaten up along with your brother!

“Itching for a beating then? Good, since you’re such a good brother, the two of you can share the same fate.”

“Understood, your holiness.” The Blood Drake Riders in charge of guarding the two brothers began kicking and punching the two bound up Murlocs -and not in the way those two fishheads were wrestling with each other either.

“Ahh… oww… don’t hit me… please…” Before we had even gotten more than two hits in, the Murloc Shaman had begun begging for mercy.

The silent up till now Murloc Clanleader couldn’t help but glare at his spineless little brother at that point. “You rotten fish, a Murloc warrior’s dignity is not to be insulted like this. We would rather die standing than live begging!”

“But big brother… I’m a shaman… not a warrior…”

He’s right there… very right, in fact. I can’t even say a word to refute that. Even the Murloc Clanleader had nothing to say to that. Even though the both of us knew that that was just a lame excuse, but it kinda made sense.

In that case, a change of tact was required. “If you have any shame at all, hit me instead! Don’t hit my little brother.”

“Big brother… don’t be so stubborn… we should just give in…”

“Never!”

While the Murloc Clanleader might have sounded very heroic right now, in actuality, it only took a few more hits before he fainted entirely. What was worth noting however was that he really was about to die at this point.

“Heal him.” I curtly commanded the Murloc Shaman. “Untie him as well, I doubt he has the guts to try anything at this point.”

“Thank you… thank you… oh mighty Fallen Angel…” The Murloc Shaman fervently kowtowed to me in a show of unprecedented subservience. After doing that, he immediately rushed to begin healing his brother.

In honesty, the healing spells of a Murloc Shaman weren’t all that strong, But the situation being what it was, something was a lot better than nothing. After all, we really did a number on that Murloc Clanleader…

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

Leave a comment

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored By: Wesley Brown, Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Maxamaicus, Emblyon, maou99sama

Compound Magic is magic cast with the help of at least ten mages working together. The defining traits of such magic are their immense mana requirements, and equally immense power. The preparation time required for the casting is only matched by the complexity of the spellcraft itself.

Because these spells are most used for war, they are often referred to as War Magic or Tactical Magic.

The basis for Compound Magic is the very simple principle of, if one person isn’t enough, how about ten? In a lot of ways, this out-of-the-box creativity of humans can be said to be one of the Creator’s finest works. To a certain degree, this creativity is a legacy of the Creator’s own sense of creation.

The application of Compound Magic is one of the most complex tasks a mage could ever attempt. First off, an immense amount of time has to be spent training the coordination between the participating mages. Next, the varying mana reserves and habits have to be smoothed out to ensure an even casting. Finally, at least a Seven-star mage is required to conduct the actual casting. Once all that is settled, there is still the issue of Compound Magic’s inherently high rate of failure. After all, even if preparations have been done, it is still impossible to completely harmonize the mana of so many mages. Mutual rejection is only to be expected.

Yet in spite of all that, the power of Compound Magic cannot be denied. In terms of raw firepower alone, the only magic that could possibly top it is Forbidden Magic. A single successful casting will more than likely decide the outcome of a war!

— From |Compound Magic: The Key to Winning a War|

Escaping into the wilderness wasn’t an option at all. This was the Underdepths, not the Western Human Realms; danger was lurking in every corner of its forest, the only difference was whether it was a plant or an animal.

The stubbornness of the Undermarsh Murlocs had truly placed me in a bind. I couldn’t be sure if they were bluffing or they really had more reinforcements waiting in the river. Either way, it was also an undeniable fact that with just these ten attendants alone, fighting off a thousand Murlocs was close to impossible.

So it’s time for the Devil King Idol? Or perhaps I should let them know that I’m the Holy Son? Sigh… if only these fishes worshipped my godmother as well… like why would I ever risk my own life when I can just pull the parents card?!

However, the fact that these Murlocs were at war with the Dark Elves meant that they clearly had no respect for my godmother. So it’s stomping time then?

But pulling out the Devil King Idol just to bully a bunch of fishes just feels bad. All the opponents I used it against were all high level enemies and deserved that level of treatment. But these fishes… somehow it feels like it’s my loss just for summoning it.

Yet before I could come to a decision about whether or not to employ the Devil King Idol against them, fate had already made the decision for me…

The ground around us began to visibly shake. From across the river, there came the thunderous sounds of an army riding ever closer to our position.

A company of roughly two hundred Blood Drake Riders were galloping at full speed towards us right this instant. Their blurred figures reminded me of a sprinting leopard I once saw on television -that was how fast they were riding right now. Unfortunately, with how much distance they had to cover, it was highly unlikely that they would reach us in time.

However, the moment I thought they would never make it in time, the riders all made their move. They reached for the nearly two meters long spears on their backs and took up a throwing stance akin to an olympic javelineer.

Dragon spears: launch!

The Blood Drake Riders launched a volley of attacks against the Undermarsh Murlocs. With the speed of their mounts and their powerful arms propelling the spear forward, the spears easily crossed the distance between them and the Murlocs in an instant. Across the air, one could see dozens of spears flying towards the Murlocs in a perfect arc, reminiscent of dragons riding the clouds. This first rain of spears alone took out over a hundred Murlocs easily.

The fact that half of these spears were able to hit their targets from such a long distance away was testament to the extraordinary skill of these Blood Drake Riders. No wonder they were considered the trump card of the Shadowhunter clan! Lest one forgot, these Murlocs weren’t just target dummies standing there to be shot. They were living, breathing, and more importantly, moving creatures. Such a success was an unexpected surprise for me, though it probably also had to do with the sheer density of their formation.

“Brggwwllll!”

The Murloc Clanleader gurgled out more orders in response to the sudden attack. Following that, the otherwise unending stream of Murlocs swam back into the river, in all likelihood to stall the incoming reinforcement. Perhaps in his mind, he had the situation here completely in his control.

Unfortunately for him, this was a huge mistake. It wasn’t just the Blood Drake Riders who came to our rescue -the mages were here as well!

Close behind the Blood Drake Riders, the sounds of mages chanting in unison slowly became clearer amidst the din of the rumbling Drakes.

By the time the Murloc Clanleader discovered what was going on, it was too late!

It turned out that not only were the Blood Drakes carrying their usual riders, they were carrying a mage on each of their backs as well…

The uniform chanting only meant one single thing: Compound Magic! Magic like that required a prerequisite number of mages chanting at the same time, along with a well-honed coordination. Not only did it require a long time to cast, there had to be at least a Seven-star mage leading the whole ritual.

By now, the chanting sound had already begun to overwhelm the rumbling of the Blood Drakes. It almost seemed like the whole world was silent except for that strange, arcane chanting. Soon, the air itself began to turn cold like a blizzard was raging in the middle of summer. Or maybe we were teleported to the North Pole…

In just the blink of an eye, the surface of the Brackishwaters River turned to ice. And I meant ICE. Rather than the onset of winter slowly freezing the river, it was more like the Ice Age itself had arrived and caught everyone by surprise. Any lifeform who wasn’t able to jump out in time was now encased in ice. Even the odd limb or two that somehow made it to the surface had frozen over like an ice sculpture.

If I had to describe the current scene, it was like looking into a popsicle. The entire river had frozen into a transparent popsicle and those Murlocs trapped within were the fruit chunks…

The Blood Drake Riders took this opportunity to charge across the newly created surface and scatter the Murlocs. Thanks to the chaos created by the Compound Magic, it barely took any effort at all before the Murlocs were routed and their formation broken. Zurnalin was the one leading the charge of these fearsome riders. Her mighty dragon spear went straight for the Murloc Clanleader, hoisting him up high while her Blood Drake bit down on the dangling lower half and began thrashing about.

Their leader was captured, and this battle had been decided.

Try as they might, whether by spear or by claw, no amount of struggling was going to overturn this battle now. The Murlocs had completely lost their advantage, and even if they had the numerical advantage still, that wasn’t enough to salvage this situation.

Without any leader to direct their army, the Murlocs weren’t able to mount an effective defense at all. They were the very definition of a headless snake, struggling in vain during its last few seconds.

“Your holiness, please forgive Paliseth for her lateness.” Paliseth practically leapt off Zurnalin’s mount at that point, hugging me tightly the moment she landed. “ Nothing fills Paliseth with greater joy than to see your holiness safe and sound. Paliseth honestly thought that she had to commit ritual suicide as penitence to the goddess…”

That’s fine and all, but you can not point those things in my chest… I’m suffocating here…

“Cough… we can talk about all that later… First, I need you to let me go…”

Although it took a bit of struggling, I finally managed to escape from her diabolical clutches. However, I was immediately buried in darkness once more as I bumped into a new pair of bouncy mountains…

“Your holiness, you’re alright! Thank the goddess. Once this battle is over, how about we get married…”

Zurnalin… sister… I really need some oxygen right now…

Just as I was about to pass out from oxygen deprivation, my ears picked up the anxious but still timid voice of Jezsere. “Master… he looks like he can’t breathe…”

“Ah! Your holiness, what’s the matter? Don’t frighten me like that…”

“So Paliseth really has to commit ritual suicide?”

“Master… master…”

A minute later…

BREATH… I’m alive again…

The next time you two want to use those weapons of mass destruction, how about giving me a warning first?! Breath… also, Zurnalin’s aren’t half bad, they can give Paliseth a run for her money.

Well… bouncy bouncies are nice and all, but I still have some matters to attend to. Like that half-bitten Murloc Clanleader…

“So… how do we deal with this fella?” I pointed at Murloc Clanleader who had finally been freed from the jaws of that Blood Drake but was still breathing out more than he was breathing in. At his side was the Murloc Shaman who was frantically casting healing spells on him.

“Finish the job?”

“Ahh… I beg of you, don’t kill us…” The moment that I wanted to kill them, the Murloc Shaman immediately dragged himself to my feet and began grovelling, his healing spells clearly thrown to the wind at this point.

“Hey… I think your big brother is not going to make it at this rate…”

Ordinarily, the Murloc Clanleader should have been at his death throes by now. But thanks to the healing spells, he was beginning to recover somewhat, at least until his little brother completely forgot about them…

“Ahhh… big brother… don’t die… if you die, what am I to do…” Having been reminded by me, the Murloc Shaman abandoned his grovelling entirely and went back to casting his healing spells. As he did so, drop after drop of regret-filled tears rolled from his eyes. “Please wake up, big brother. As long as you wake up, I… I… I promise to never fight with you over Lily ever again…”

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Sponsored By: Wesley Brown, Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Maxamaicus, Emblyon, maou99sama

The Murloc Shaman was captured, meaning the battle was over for now. The Murlocs around us dared not move a centimeter forward in this situation and could only gaze trepidatiously in our direction.

The Undermarsh Murlocs had always lived under the command of their Clanleader, following that, their shaman. Given that the former wasn’t here, and the latter was a captive, their entire chain of command had collapsed in an instant. No matter how much they racked their fish brains, they couldn’t figure out a way to break out of this impasse.

“Bring the Murloc Shaman over here. If they dare make any moves, cut it.”

Because we didn’t know fish talk, we had no way of communicating with the Murlocs. In that case, the simple brute force method was our weapon of choice. Better to have them know who was in charge earlier than later.

However, it turned out that it was only I who thought we couldn’t communicate.

“Wait… please wait… esteemed Fallen Angel, I wish to speak.” The voice had a sharp quality to it, and its accent was strange as well. At the very least however, it got its message across. I turned around in the direction of the voice and found, to my surprise, that it was the captive Murloc Shaman.

Previously, I had my Shadow Demon pierce both its shoulders, yet to my amazement, those injuries had already stopped bleeding. Even though it still reeled in pain each time it spoke, the pain was bearable and it knew to keep its head down as it spoke.

Just from that fact alone, I could tell this Murloc wasn’t dim like the others.

“Have them back off first.”

Naturally, the Murloc Shaman knew who ‘them’ referred to even if I didn’t explicitly say so. Bearing with the pain of having two gaping holes in its shoulders, it gurgled in that strange Murloc call of theirs and the remaining Murlocs began to back off slowly.

“Bring him over here quickly.”

The Shadow Demon pulled out both of its hands from its shoulders but maintained its binding on the Murloc Shaman itself. Without any Murlocs to block their way now, the attendants quickly had two of their companions carry the bound up shaman to my side. In the meantime, the remaining eight kept a wary eye on the Murlocs.

However, it seemed like the Murlocs had no intention of trying their luck now that the Murloc Shaman had spoken. That Murloc turned out to be a pretty good hostage, after all. In that case, there was no need to escape so hastily either. There was time for a quick interrogation.

In actuality, with our proximity to Shadowhunter City, it was debatable how much danger we actually were in even if the Murloc Shaman turned on us. Before the Murloc attack, there were some Duergar slaves fishing by the river banks. They were definitely gone by now, but in all likelihood, they had fled back to the city to get help. As long as we held our position, I had no doubt in my mind that Paliseth would come flying to our aid in no time at all.

I had the Shadow Demon keep the Murloc Shaman tightly bound up on the floor while I gazed down loftily at him from above. With a flap of my purple wings, I exuded my mana like a blanket of pressure, keeping this captive constantly under duress.

The Murloc began to shiver uncontrollably under my withering pressure, to my delight. “Why did you attack us?”

“We’re here for revenge…” With my mana still pressuring him, the Murloc Shaman dared not even look me in the eyes. He turned his head to the side and continued in a meek voice, “There was an army of Blood Drake Riders who assaulted our settlement recently… we just so happened to be outside hunting when that happened…”

So what he’s saying is that Zurnalin stumbled upon an undefended Murloc settlement which was why she had such an easy time. The Murlocs returned home to find it destroyed and were out for blood. That’s when they so happened to stumble upon me…

Truthfully, the Murloc Shaman had been here since the beginning of the attack. He was merely hiding out in the waters of the river. Had it not been for my interference causing too much of a stir and forcing him to use a battle hymn, he would have probably stayed hidden throughout. Unfortunately for him, this decision led to him being captured by my Shadow Demon.

Upon hearing the Murloc Shaman’s explanation, I couldn’t help but smile sinisterly at it. “I’ll have you know, my lucky charm over here suffered quite a fright because of you.”

“Huh?”

The Murloc Shaman was stunned. If there was someone who should have been frightened, it was him not her.

I gently reached out and ruffled Jezsere’s silvery hair, not at all concerned by the shock on the Murloc Shaman’s face. “I’ll make it simple for you. Do you want to live, or do you want to die?”

“Live… live…” Perhaps it was the sudden agitation in his voice that ended up opening his wounds again, but the moment he rushed to utter that first word, his voice faltered a little.

“You wish to live? Be my slave then.” My sinister grin grew even wider at that point. “Have your Murlocs throw down their weapons.”

“But…owww… don’t… I’ll do it…”

The Murloc Shaman clearly wasn’t too willing to have them disarm like that. After all, as long as the other Murlocs were still a threat to us, his value as a hostage was guaranteed. However, the pain in his shoulders had another plan entirely.

This Murloc Shaman was a shrewd one, I’ll admit. He knew what it was that was keeping him alive right now. However, I was in no mood right now to play with him. With a mere thought, I had the Shadow Demon stab both his shoulders once more. This time, I only had it stab a few inches in, barely leaving any distance at all between its shadowy blades and his bones. If he dared try anything funny, I would be more than happy to send him off to the big fish pond in the sky.

“See. You should have listened from the very start. I wouldn’t have had to resort to forcing you at all then.”

Being scolded by me like that, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this poor Murloc had the mind to cry just there and then.

“Put down your weapons… all of you put down your weapons now!”

Well, that was a quick change of heart. He acts all obedient in front of me, but he sure is quick to turn around and boss his own Murlocs around.

A small portion of the Murlocs who were directly under his command immediately threw down their weapons. The rest, however, were more hesitant to do so. They gazed at each other in confusion, unsure as to how to react. After all, throwing down their weapons was an act of surrender, and that was something a brave Murloc would never do.

Naturally, running away wasn’t a form of surrender… that was just postponing the battle.

“Are you all deaf?! I said throw down your weapons.” Seeing so many still hold onto their weapons, the Murloc Shaman’s first worry was that I would have my Shadow Demon stab him once more. That was why he immediately yelled at them. His heightened mental state caused by the wounds in his shoulders meant that he was more than furious right now. Too bad for him, he couldn’t direct that anger at the culprit, me. In that case, that only left the surviving Murlocs. “Are you all trying to get me killed or something?! Throw down your weapons now!”

This time, his enraged yelling seemed to have taken effect. However, before the murlocs could carry out his orders, a massive black silhouette emerged from the Brackishwaters River. It was a massive black Murloc, roughly two meters tall and with the typical brawny stature of a Murloc warrior. Unlike an ordinary warrior however, it had a much larger stone spear and even wore a horn by its left waist. In comparison, this horn was several times larger than the shaman’s horn, coming in at roughly a football’s size.

“Mrrrggrwwwllll!”

The giant Murloc gurgled sonorously. While I might not have understood Murloc, I could roughly guess what it was saying. After all, the moment that giant Murloc spoke, the remaining Murlocs immediately tightened their grips on their weapons. Even those Murlocs who threw down their weapons had already picked them back up.

The Murloc Shaman’s eyes went wide the moment that giant Murloc appeared. Even his words were starting to sound a little garbled, to the point where he forgot to gurgle. “Clan…Clanleader…”

“That’s the leader of your clan?” Seeing that newcomer suddenly wrest control of the situation away from me like that, my face immediately sank. I gave the captive Murloc Shaman a swift kick and said, “help me translate. Tell him to surrender immediately or I’ll kill you.”

“There’s no need for translation, I can understand you.”

The Undermarsh Murloc Clanleader menacingly waved his stone spear at that point, then flashed me a scornful smile. “Kill him if you want, it’s not like our settlement is lacking shamans.”

The moment he said that, the Murloc Shaman promptly panicked “Big brother… save me… I’m your own little brother…”

So they are siblings? A brawny fish like him and what looks more like a fish finger… exactly how are they siblings? Exactly whose genes is the recessive one here?

“Idiot! Why can’t you keep your mouth shut!?” The giant Murloc glared at his little brother as he said that. However, now that their relationship was exposed, the Murloc Clanleader had no choice but to change his tact. “Devil, do not harm my little brother, else I’ll never let you all go.”

“So you two really are siblings then. Pretty close too, by the looks of it.”

I swept my eyes over the Murlocs at that point. There had to be over a thousand right now.

Even though the Murlocs weren’t strong individually, there was no denying their numbers. Furthermore, our backs were against the river at this point. If we were to run away now, we could only escape in the direction opposite of the city. And even if we were to do that, the complexity of the wilderness might not necessarily be a better choice either.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.