Chapter 81: Chapter 75 – Hunting beneath the waves

"Merfolks rarely hunt. Their society shifted to agriculture and ranching early on in their development, and the armed forces they keep tend to be mostly intended for self-defense. After all, unlike on land, there is definitely more than enough room for everyone to live together beneath the waves." -Scaemille Avudnia, Elven Water-affinity Archmagus and long-time dweller in Gtou'rergh.

 

As Scaemille explained to the group, merfolk rarely hunted, other than occasionally when creatures considered delicacies showed up nearby. Or when they do it traditionally to entertain guests like what would happen today. The deepfolks hunt far more often, as it was more difficult to sustain agriculture and ranching at the depths they lived in, and when emissaries came, it was tradition to hold a hunt to entertain them.

 

The group had gone back from their visit to Ragiula, and the two days afterwards had been spent as they toured the city and marveled at the underwater scenery. Since they too were guests, Scaemille invited them over for the hunt. An invitation Cal accepted for the group.

 

As they set out for the hunt, Cal saw that other than Ur-Go'rath and his bloated, blob-like compatriot, Silas also participated. Around twenty members of armed merfolk much like the guards she saw on patrol before also accompanied them just in case.

 

Their target for the hunt were a bale of large sea turtles, each easily three or four meters in size. Unlike their known ponderousness on land, Cal watched as the turtles flitted about rapidly in the waters, as they swam far faster than merfolk could.

 

It was for that reason that the guards came along. They split up in groups of four, and spread large nets as they approached the turtles from five different directions, which would have corresponded to five faces of a cube. The sixth direction was left open, as the hunting party awaited their prey there.

 

Cal looked with interest when Ur-Go'rath and his bloated friend pulled out their weapons, a long barbed spear and an equally long polearm which ended in a three-pronged hook. It looked much like a fishing hook, just enlarged and attached to the end of a pole. Cal understood its general use though, as it would be a handy tool to stay attached to prey faster than themselves.

 

As the turtles started to approach their way, Silas brought the two deepfolk emissaries along as they were to be given the honor to strike first in the hunt. Scaemille stayed behind the group, ready to make use of her magic to keep the turtles in place if need be.

 

The first turtle that arrived had not feared the hunters, and charged at them with its beak wide open instead. Ur-Go'rath swam forward and held his spear steady as he watched the turtle approach. An instant before the turtle would have reached him, he thrusted his spear towards the roof of the turtle's mouth. The creature's own charge helped the spear strike deep, and although the anglerfish therian was brought along by the remaining momentum of the charge, the beast went limp and perished as his spear reached its brain.

 

His bloated merfolk compatriot handled the second one, even as Silas dispatched a third turtle that approached with a single thrust of his harpoon. The bloated merfolk used his fish-hook polearm to latch himself to the turtle's shell, and he jabbed his spear through the creature's neck from there, aimed at the major blood vessels in the beast's thick neck. It took a while longer before his turtle died of blood loss.

 

Fighting underwater was a more difficult task for Cal and her students, though Aideen clearly had some experience with it. The unliving woman simply pulled out a sealed vial as a turtle charged her way with its beak open, gave the flask a good shake, then tossed it straight into the creature's gullet as she allowed it to pass by. A low rumble was felt soon after, and the turtle floated powerlessly as blood and pieces of its guts leaked out from its beak.

 

For her part, Cal followed the bloated merfolk's example. It was beyond difficult to fight underwater when there was no surface for one to support themselves on, so she treated the turtle's back as such a surface. She hooked her legs around the edges of the beast's shell, and charged her magic as far as she could before she violently swung her halberd at the beast's head. It turned out that she had overdone it, as the turtle's head broke apart into pieces as her blow devastated it.

 

Her students had to gang up on one turtle before they succeeded, where Ognar, Leila, and Willa kept the beast occupied to let Giselle drive her blade through the turtle's thick neck. Scaemille watched them with some amusement from the back as she kept two runaway turtles held in place with her magic. In the ocean, water affinity mages like her became far more potent than they could ever be on land.

 

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Overall, the hunt went smoothly, and they bagged a dozen of the large turtles before they claled it a day. The guards regrouped with the hunters now that their task was over and done with, and together the group made they way back towards the settlement.

 

Shortly after they departed, however, their trip was interrupted by the arrival of three massive sharks, each fifteen meters or so in length, which had smelt blood in the water. The guards deftly split into two teams of ten as they harried the massive beasts with nets and spears, while they stayed well away from its maw full of dagger-like teeth. Scaemille held the third beast in place as she made use of the same trick she used for the deepmaw a few days ago.

 

Cal's students watched with interest as she lectured them and pointed out how the merfolk fought the beasts. The guards focused their efforts to harry, bleed, and tire out the beast, and when the chance presented itself one would latch onto its back and saw through its flesh with their paddle-like toothed swords. They kept this up for an hour as the massive beasts struggled in futility against its far more agile tormentors.

 

Willa commented that she had an idea on how to kill such a beast faster, and Cal pondered for a moment before she informed Scaemille to let her student try her idea on the third beast. She figured that with Aideen and Scaemille there, coupled with Willa being a blood mage, it would be safe enough to let the girl either learn a lesson or gain some unusual experience.

 

Before Scaemille let the beast loose, Willa asked for a moment to ready herself, and Cal raised an eyebrow when she noticed the girl put on her whole armor set - its weight made her struggle to stay where she was. The girl would barely have any mobility with her armor on, but she got a glimpse of the girl's idea soon enough and nodded.

 

When Scaemille let it loose, the third beast went straight for the nearest of the small creatures that had troubled its two fellows - Willa -, its gigantic maw opened wide. For her part, Willa readied herself, and timed a fierce push with all four limbs that together with the weight of her armor propelled her straight at the creature's incoming maw. The push and the way she curled herself up was just enough to let her slip through the jaws as they bit down, two teeth that caught on chipped against her armor plates.

 

Ur-Go'rath was quite surprised to see the young girl literally send herself down the giant shark's maw, and asked with worry in his tone. On her part, Cal just told him to watch, as the show was just about to start.

 

Sure enough, mere moments later the giant shark that ate Willa started to thrash around wildly, as it vomited out most of its stomach contents forcefully. The wolf therian was notably missing from its vomit, and instead Cal could see traces of blood in them.

 

More blood leaked out from the shark's maw soon after, as its wild thrashing went crazier. It thrashed around for a good ten minutes before it spasmed and went still at last. A few minutes later, Willa's figure - now sans her armor but with her clawed gauntlets equipped - pried open the dead creature's mouth and extracted herself.

 

Cal praised her for the creative idea, but also warned her not to do that again unless she was certain she could get the timing right, or could survive being bitten in half. Also not to try such a trick on a too-large creature.

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