William tried to defend himself against the whirlpool, but everything happened too fast. The suction force was impressive, and with his boat destroyed and no way to fly, he was pulled under.

The sound of water filled his ears, and he was unable to breathe in that situation. William was dragged to the bottom of the whirlpool, his body tossed from side to side, crashing into some corals that existed in that lake.

He’d imagined he’d been caught by the aquatic serpent with wings the fishermen had talked about. However, William soon realized that wasn’t the case.

As soon as he reached the bottom, his breathing returned to normal, and in front of him stood a small city. All the houses were made of some type of coral, and it was as if magic was keeping the water away from the city.

“No way,” he thought. “This belongs to mermaids!”

William had encountered mermaids and tritons before. He’d even received a ring from the triton king, indicating that he was someone of extreme importance.

He hadn’t imagined he’d find those creatures inside the lake. This came as a surprise to him.

But judging by how they treated him, well, those mermaids and tritons weren’t as friendly as before.

Quickly a group of tritons headed toward William. He analyzed the strength of each one before they got close.

They were weak compared to him. He could fight if he wanted to, but was it the right move?

Even if he defeated that specific group of tritons, there would be more, and certainly the captain or leader of that small city would be someone strong.

William let things play out. The guards approached and restrained him using shackles.

“Arrest the human and throw him in the cell with the others.”

He didn’t try to resist. The tritons took the sword from his waist and led him into the city toward the building that served as a prison.

The mermaids and tritons living there didn’t seem surprised to see him. That, combined with what the triton who captured him had said, William already had some ideas in mind.

“They have other humans locked up here. Are they fishermen? What do they want with humans?”

The building was different from what he was used to. The materials were corals, which gave the place a very distinct appearance, especially inside.

The cells were made of some type of metal, and William could sense the magical barrier placed on them to ensure no one escaped.

He was thrown into a cell with other humans.

William stood up and looked around. There were indeed fishermen, weak men and women who had been fishing in the region and were captured.

But there were also some stronger ones. These appeared to be adventurers who had gone there to explore and gotten caught, similar to what happened to William.

What caught his attention was the expression on their faces. It was as if all the hope they once had was stripped from their bodies.

Everyone there had given up on moving forward. They probably didn’t believe they’d ever leave that place.

“Who are you?” a woman approached William. “It’s been a while since they captured new humans.”

“Just a traveler who got caught in a whirlpool,” William replied.

The woman sighed. “A shame. Another young person caught in these wicked schemes… How long will this go on?”

William frowned. The word “scheme” was rather curious, and apparently, all those people had been caught in similar ways.

“And you, how were you caught?” William asked.

“Fishing,” the woman said. “My husband and I went fishing further out and we were caught. He ended up dying during the process…”

“And the others?”

Another person came to talk to them. It was a man who had been leaning against the corner of the cell’s wall, one of the adventurers William had seen earlier.

“You stopped at that fishing village, and they told you some story about a flying aquatic serpent and you came to check it out, right?”

William was shocked. “How do you know?”

“It’s the same thing for all adventurers. Some damn people from that fishing village work for these mermaids. They spread that story, and adventurers end up falling into the trap. You weren’t the first and you certainly won’t be the last.”

William couldn’t believe it. The man who’d shared the story with him had seemed like a decent person, yet he was actually part of a scheme with those mermaids?

“No fucking way,” William said, clenching his right fist. “And why do they do this?”

The adventurer chuckled. “Money, perhaps. Or protection against the magical beasts in the area. Either way, they’re all part of this shit.”

Not just that adventurer in particular, but all of them had been caught the same way.

No one knew for sure if that flying aquatic serpent even existed in the first place, or if it was all a made-up story used to draw them to that location.

William inquired further, trying to understand the reason those mermaids wanted humans locked in those cells.

Everyone had been there for quite some time, so they weren’t planning on killing them. That much William was sure of.

“Blood. They want our blood.”

“What?”

Out of all things, blood wasn’t what William had expected to hear. He’d met mermaids before, so he knew their nature. They didn’t use blood at all—especially not human blood.

But the mermaids of this place were different.

“Yes. Our blood strengthens their bodies, and also helps them live longer for some reason. That’s what I know.”

“How often do they come here to get the blood?” William asked.

“Once a week, I think. The cell looks like shit, but they feed us well. I think that’s to make sure we don’t die.”

William couldn’t believe it. He’d ventured into the depths of the lake to find the mysterious creature and tame it, but ended up locked inside a cell instead.

Sure, he still believed he could leave if he wanted, but now he wanted to know more about what the mermaids were doing. He also wanted to help the others who were locked up. And more importantly, find out if the story about that serpent was true or not.

“And you didn’t think of leaving this place? I mean, if you all worked together, surely you could escape.”

“Impossible. They use a drug on us every time they take our blood. It makes us weaker, and takes a long time for the effects to fade. We couldn’t leave even if we wanted to.”

The mermaids weren’t stupid. To keep their scheme running, a contingency was necessary. With this drug the adventurer had mentioned, no one would ever leave that place.

William didn’t ask further questions, as someone showed up and told them to shut up.

It was a triton, carrying a syringe filled with the drug the adventurer had just described.

Using a blowgun, they shot syringes at all of them. No one tried to dodge. It was impossible to do so.

William felt the drug enter his system, yet it didn’t seem as potent as he’d expected. The sturdiness and regeneration aspects of his body dealt with it quite easily.

While the others had to wait ten days or more for the effects to pass, William guessed he would be fine after one or two.

“This is a great opportunity,” he thought.

If the mermaids believed he was weak when he wasn’t, then this was the perfect moment to make his move—and maybe help everyone escape.

They opened the cell after drugging everyone.

“Come. It is time for the harvest.”

The harvest was when they took the human blood. All of the prisoners were handcuffed and led to the city’s main building.

It looked like a castle and a church at the same time—a fusion of both.

The current leader of the mermaid city lived there. William paid close attention to everything on the way.

He analyzed the city’s layout, how many guards were patrolling the streets, and whether the ‘normal’ citizens were strong or not.

William also looked for barriers or other defensive formations that might be placed in the area. All of that would matter during his escape.

The palace had plenty of guards. It was far more protected than the rest of the city.

All the mermaids and tritons looked at William and the others with disgust and greed at the same time.

They hated humans, but their blood was something special to them.

William and the others stopped in front of a throne. He saw someone there. A human! But unlike how they treated all the other humans, that one was feared and respected by the mermaids.

“What the fuck?”

He studied the man’s face. Although the human appeared to be an older man, William recognized him!

It was his teacher from Earth—one of the summoned heroes! Many years had passed since he’d traveled to the future with his portal skill, so even the heroes were aging somehow.

“Is he the one behind this blood harvest scheme?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep