Chapter 38: The Sea Witch
The Fishmen's Island. I really don't like this place. It's damp. Gloomy. The smell of fish is way too strong. And a crowd of disgustingly ugly fishmen who, at the first opportunity, would be happy to grab any woman into slavery, since their own females are infertile.
Fortunately, despite how much I disliked being here, I had clear goals I was sticking to. First, upon arriving in the local settlement—where fishmen at least pretend to have some decency and don't attack travelers on sight—I headed straight to the local tailor. I needed to buy a hooded cloak so I could at least somewhat shield myself from the rain and, more importantly, hide my appearance. After that, I went to the tavern.
In the game, the sea witch is located in the underground part of the island's temple and is so weakened that she can barely even speak. And to regain her strength, she needs male seed. In the game, only after meeting her do you get the quest that lets you find some pervert who fucks anything unusual, and he's absolutely thrilled to learn that some sea witch is in dire need of male company. Even though this encounter will be fatal for him, on the other hand, in the afterlife he'll be able to brag that he fucked a goddess.
Will my conscience torment me? After all the blood on my hands, plus Lona's memories? Definitely not, but I won't be a hypocrite and call myself a good person either.
I found the man I needed fairly quickly. He wore a hat made from a wolf's pelt, and he had a pretty impressive gut sticking out because his top was way too short. Honestly, with looks like that, the only one who'd willingly sleep with him would probably be a whore for money, or someone like the sea witch who would literally drink him dry.
Pulling my hood tighter to hide my face and ignoring the discomfort of my ears being pressed flat, I walked up to him.
"Hmm? Oh, a new face! By any chance, do you know any interesting demi-humans? I've slept with almost every known type of girl. Including those with fur or long ears. Oh yeah! All I've got left is to cross mermaids off my list. But for some reason I haven't seen a single one of them, even though there are rumors that they're infertile. Have you heard anything about mermaids?!" I didn't even get a chance to say anything before he immediately buried me under a pile of words about his obsession with sex with other species.
"Oh, I see. I'm sure you already know!" he said, obvious madness in his eyes. "I can't even imagine how wet and slippery her fish cloaca must be!"
"I can't take it! I have to cum inside one of them right now!"
"Well, you're in luck," I said with a dark smirk. "I happen to know a mermaid who's in need of some male assistance."
"W-WHAT?! Holy shit! Where?! TAKE ME TO HER!" He immediately grabbed my cloak with his filthy hands, and I really wanted to zap him with a bolt of lightning, but I held back. I'd already decided to condemn him to a rather agonizing death anyway.
"Soon…"
"TAKE ME TO HER RIGHT NOW!!!" he roared madly, starting to shake me.
"Well, now I definitely don't feel sorry for him…" I thought, making an effort to suppress my irritation.
"Let's go," I said, sharply yanking myself out of his grip, making him almost kiss the floor with his nose. Then, ignoring the strange looks from the other patrons of the tavern, I headed for the exit.
After that, despite his impatience, the fat man wasn't as loud anymore; it was clear he was no stranger to traveling. Which, honestly, wasn't surprising, if what he said about the number of different races he'd screwed was true.
The only annoying thing was how he kept urging me to hurry up and bring him to the mermaid. And so, after three hours of walking through the swamps, we finally reached a small temple called the Caves of Fertility. Upon entering, we saw four elegant columns and a truly childishly simple puzzle: four stone blocks had to be placed into the proper recesses according to the images carved on them.
"Put those two blocks in place, and I'll handle these."
"You said you'd take me to a mermaid, not make me haul blocks."
"…" I let out an irritated sigh and looked at this walking annoyance. "Mermaids aren't that easy to come by. The only mermaid you can actually reach is down there. And she's probably the only one of her kind you could even call beautiful."
I involuntarily grimaced at the memory of what fishmen look like.
"AND SHE'S BEAUTIFUL TOO?! Move it!" Suddenly full of energy, the man quickly arranged all four blocks in the right places himself.
Then, in the very center of the room, an opening appeared, revealing a staircase leading downward. He was about to rush down first, but I stopped him.
"Don't rush. I'll go first to make sure the way is safe, and under no circumstances are you to make noise until we reach the sea… mermaid," I corrected myself. He didn't need to know yet that she wasn't a mermaid, but a goddess. "You go down thirty seconds after me."
"Yeah-yeah, got it," the man nodded quickly, and I went down the stairs, grimacing in annoyance when I realized the water below came up to my knees and soaked my clothes.
I waited for him a bit, and then, with careful, unhurried steps, we started walking forward, straight toward the statue of a huge fish-man. At its base lay a completely naked girl with dark grayish-blue skin and neat tentacles instead of hair, which, surprisingly, looked quite harmonious. Her figure was, admittedly, very seductive, but there was one detail in her appearance that personally repelled me: way too many piercings all over her body.
"H-hungry… Need… m-man…" the girl rasped hoarsely, barely audible.
"…She's… she's not a mermaid! She's not JUST a mermaid! She's an octopus girl!!! Holy shit!" the man exclaimed excitedly, then did something that made me want to blast him with a fireball.
"Look at my little guy! He's grown so much!" the pervert cheerfully dropped his pants without a second thought, proudly showing off his erection.
"Thank you so much! You really earned this," he said, tossing me a pouch of coins. But while he was distracted, the sea witch had already noticed him.
"A man… It's a man~!" The girl, who just moments ago had seemed completely exhausted, snuck up on him from behind and suddenly knocked him to the ground.
"H-ho-ho, no need to rush. I'll do everything," the man babbled happily, but she was no longer listening.
"Oh god, what a wet hole, this is the best pussy of my life!" he raved when she straddled him. Already knowing how this would end, I decided I'd rather not watch, so I turned away and stepped farther back. However, that didn't save me from the sounds coming from the pair.
"I'm cumming!" Less than a minute later, the man's shout rang out.
"More, I need more!" came the sea witch's voice, filled with desire, followed by the man's barely coherent babbling as he still hadn't realized what he'd gotten himself into.
But after nearly ten minutes, the sounds changed.
"What?! Why, why can't I stop?!" the man cried out, now with panic in his voice. "No, I can't anymore, why am I still cumming?!"
"We've only just begun." The sea witch's voice changed; it was no longer a cry, but a calm, bewitching tone that, quiet as it was, seemed to echo from somewhere inside you. "I… am not… satisfied yet."
"S-spare me! NO!" the man's screams grew more and more desperate.
"You should be grateful. Your pitiful soul will be returned to the ocean! Devoured by the great sea goddess!"
The screams went on for another half hour. At first, even I got chills from them, but soon I simply grew bored of waiting. Sitting down on the steps, I just waited for it to be over.
When I could no longer hear even a single ragged breath from the man, I finally decided to go back.
"…Was that you? Tsk… A pathetic pest like you? You're the one who fed me and saved me?" the now-restored sea witch said with a hint of contempt in her tone. She was standing over the man, whose body had been literally split in half by her efforts, and her lower half was covered in semen and blood.
"Yes," I replied calmly, ignoring the gruesome sight.
"Hmm, it seems the strength I've recovered is barely enough for the most basic things," the goddess muttered with a slight frown.
"Well then, my child, before you stands the goddess of the catch and the harvest. Since you saved me, I will grant you one wish." Hearing her call me "my child," I involuntarily nodded, confirming that, despite gaining cat ears, the promised deep-sea race still remained within me. However, unlike Lona—who, for some reason, even as a sage who'd become disillusioned with the gods, kept wasting her wish on expelling the dark miasma—I decided to do things differently.
"Help me awaken my heritage and teach me how to control it."
"What a foolish wish. You are a child of the seas, and thus my child. Naturally I will help you awaken. Fine… when I fully regain my strength, I'll let you voice one more foolish wish."
"Come closer," she ordered, and I obediently stepped up to her, noting that she was actually quite tall. I barely reached her chest.
"Since you want knowledge, well, I think that's still within my power," she said, stretching out her hand and touching my forehead with her index finger. Then I felt as if I'd been plunged headfirst into icy water that, for some reason I couldn't explain, felt strangely cozy. Next, memories surfaced in my mind, some of them matching the knowledge I'd gotten from the sage Lona, and some that had been beyond her reach—namely, how to learn to control my charm in the form of a sea witch.
"…," when it was over, the sea goddess stared at her hand and then at my face with a strange expression. "Could it be that I've grown this weak?"
"Is something wrong?" I asked, looking at her bewildered face and her slightly dimmed blue eyes.
"Did you… feel anything?"
"Yes," I nodded.
"Then why are you still in this lower form?!" the goddess snapped irritably, her eyes flashing with blue light.
"Hmmm. One moment," I replied, trying to concentrate. According to Lona's memories, she solved the problem of her charm—which instantly turned any man in quite a large area into a lunatic obsessed with fucking her—by using a half-transformation. Although this cut her newfound abilities almost in half, it was still a very strong boost in combat power, especially in terms of water spells, as well as the ability to summon water creatures to fight in close combat—and what's more, they grew stronger the more powerful her magic became.
So, focusing on this half-state, since I still couldn't control the sea witch's special traits, I felt the water around me begin to swirl, and pain shot through my body. My body was restructuring itself to fit a new template, and then, after a painfully long minute, it finally ended.
"What kind of freakish creature are you?" the goddess asked, giving me a strange look.
"What do you mean?" I didn't understand. In response, she summoned water and shaped it into a kind of mirror, and I saw what had confused her.
Just as was proper for sea witches, my skin tone had shifted to a grayish blue, and where human ears usually are, neat, sharp ears like an elf's had grown. The whites of my eyes had darkened, while the iris had turned completely blue and was faintly glowing. My hair had become smoother and silkier and, although still gray, had taken on a slight bluish tint. But what was truly strange was that my cat ears were still there.
"Well, here's your mutant," I muttered, slightly stunned.