“Plug it? With what?” Jaflig, the merman who had carried John here, asked.

“With rocks, of course,” John replied. “You go cut large rocks somewhere else and bring them here. I believe you merfolk had no problem swimming while carrying rocks larger than yourself, don’t you? Once you bring them here, place them above the opening. Wait until the dragon turtle was lured in before you push all those rocks to seal the opening. Those rocks won’t be as sturdy as the thick natural rock walls here, but they will still hinder the dragon turtle from escaping. With you harassing it inside here, it will be even harder for the turtle to force its way out.”

Ama was pondering John’s proposal. This enclosed tunnel was large. There was enough space for them to maneuver while facing the dragon turtle. That, of course, considering the dragon turtle didn’t use any of its skills on them.

“Do you truly have a tool that can prevent the dragon turtle from using its skills?” Ama asked.

“Of course,” John answered.

“Show it to me!” Ama demanded.

John snickered. “As you wish,” he said. A strange contraption appeared beside him. It was half his height. The main body of the contraption was a large tube. It had five legs that supported its footing. The top part was a thin rod with an end that held a large emerald-like stone.

“What is that?” Jaflig asked.𝒩𝒐𝗏𝓮𝑳𝑵𝑬xt.𝕔𝒐𝓂

“The Hex of Power Restraint,” Ama informed. She recognized the item. “It’s an artifact that can stop everyone in its vicinity from using skills, spells, tools, or any other items. I’m surprised an outworlder possesses such an artifact.”

John’s hand never left the artifact. If any of the merfolk tried anything, he could easily store the artifact back into his inventory.

“So, do you believe me now?” John asked.

“… It will take time to collect the rocks to seal this tunnel, as well as organize the manpower to deal with the dragon turtle,” Ama said.

“I understand. We can start this operation tomorrow morning. I believe one night should be enough for you to arrange all that, shouldn’t it?” John asked, then added, “If we delay longer, I’m afraid there will be fewer children whom I can save.”

Ama frowned hearing the possibility of losing the children. If possible, she wanted to demand this outworlder show her the dragon turtle’s lair right now and went there to save the children immediately. But thinking further, she thought the outworlder’s argument was sound. She might just endanger the children if she just rushed over blindly. Luring the dragon turtle out would be the best option.

“Fine. We will make it happen by the morning,” Ama said. She then gave John a hard stare while saying, “Outworlder, you better deliver on what you promise. Otherwise, don’t ever think about coming underwater again.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t regret this cooperation,” John replied.

They swam back to the merfolk’s town. Bowler and the others were greatly relieved when they saw John and the others returned. It was almost the half-hour limit that the sea mother gave.

Ama left the players to go back and organize for tomorrow’s operation. John led the others back to Grey Jewel.

Back on the ship, John described to everyone the plan for tomorrow. He asked everyone to take a good rest. He would need everyone at their best tomorrow.

*

Tomorrow morning, all one hundred players dove into the water after drinking the Underwater Vision Potions. John also gave each one of them at least one Underwater Propeller Scroll.

For Bowler, John gave him an Underwater Communication Potion. They would separate into two teams down there. One would go and aid the merfolk in dealing with the adult dragon turtle. The other was led by John to tame the young dragon turtle and release the merfolk’s children. Bowler would be leading the one who aided the merfolk, thus the need for the Underwater Communication Potion so he could talk with the merfolk.

Once they reached the sea bed, they separated as planned. Only ten players followed John. The rest went with Bowler. Among the players that John brought were Will, Life Runner, Jet, and two other Beastmasters for a contingency in case something happened to Jet.

They swam to the main entrance of the dragon turtle’s lair, which was the largest cave in the mountain.

“You know what to do,” John said via the party chat and handed Will a small item.

“I don’t mind dangerous tasks, but ever since meeting you, you just keep on taking me to the most dangerous places,” Will said.

“So, are you telling me that you are no longer willing to join my guild and prefer to pay your debt with interest?” John asked.

“No. I’m saying that I wish I have met you long ago,” Will replied.

“My man!” John exclaimed and clapped his shoulder.

Jet and Life Runner looked at one another. Their look said, ‘Those two are practically made for each other.’

With the item given by John in hand, Will swam into the large cave. “Wish me luck!” He uttered in the chat.

“Good hunting!” Jet said to him.

“More like he will be the one that gets hunted,” Life Runner commented in a private message to Jet.

The two laughed, causing water to enter their mouth.

John didn’t know what they were laughing at. “Let’s go,” he said to them. “We will enter the side entrance through one of the small caves.”

On the way, Life Runner sent John a private message, “That thing you gave Will is the bait to lure the dragon turtle out?”

“Yes,” John replied.

“You said your original plan was also to use the merfolk against the dragon turtle. I understand how you lured the dragon turtle, but how are you luring the merfolk? The dragon turtle won’t go near the merfolk town even with the lure, will it?”

“No, it won’t. Luring the merfolk is actually easier. We just need to attack them and draw them out. Or simply do what the dragon turtle had done, kidnap their kids and force them to come at us. But like I said, using my original plan will earn us their ire. Luckily, the dragon turtle had done the job for us.”

“Damn, dude… You are truly vicious. If Jeanny or Jack is here, they wouldn’t have gone with your original plan.”

“Well, they aren’t here, are they? And Jack also did a similar thing in the past with that Grim Sand Drake. Now, stop speaking hypothetical and focused on the task at hand!”

Life Runner sighed. He had heard about Jack’s past story from the others. He wanted to point out that the incident John referred to was pitting a monster against another monster, not against natives. But he decided John would just dismiss him.

Life Runner brought them to one of the small caves that linked to the dragon turtle’s lair. They went inside then.

*

The item in Will’s hand was something that John had bought from one of the shops in the noble district. It was from a shop that sold cosmetic goods and entertainment products for the natives. Not a shop that provided a product beneficial to players.

To lure the dragon turtle out, he had two options. Giving the dragon turtle a feeling of menace, so it would chase after this menace to protect its offspring, or tempt it with an irresistible bait.

From Peniel’s information, John learned about what could be a menace and what could be bait for a dragon turtle. Aside from actual dragons, the dragon turtle’s natural enemy was a monster called the Deep Sea Behemoth Serpent. This giant sea serpent enjoyed preying on young dragon turtles. Hence, it could be a perfect thing to agitate the dragon turtle when it had offspring in its care. However, John couldn’t find anything that could mimic this serpent.

So, he went with the second option, giving it irresistible bait. Peniel informed John that the dragon turtle’s preferred diet was the giant glacier seal. This seal was not categorized as a monster but as an animal. It was usually found in colder water at the poles, which was also the natural habitat for dragon turtles. Peniel was rather surprised when she heard from John that a dragon turtle was living in Themisphere gulf.

As for this giant glacier seal, John found something in those entertainment shops. It was a stone that had the recording of the seal’s voice. The seal had a unique voice that gave people a soothing feeling when hearing it, thus the stone was quite a popular luxury item for rich natives.

Unlike Jack, John made it a habit to learn more about this world, even for mundane stuff that had no game features. That’s why he frequented all the shops in the capital even if the things they sold are mostly useless to players. But due to this, he knew the existence of this voice item.

When activated, the stone would produce a loud sound that mimicked the seal’s voice. Will didn’t activate it yet. He needed to get into the range where the dragon turtle could hear him. Life Runner had given him a tour yesterday so he knew his way inside the cave.

Once he was close. He took out another thing from his bag. It was the second thing John gave him for the mission. It was a large white cloak, made of the fur of the giant glacier seal. This was another cosmetic item with no game feature that John had bought. Will equipped the cloak and approached the mouth of the cave hall.

He saw the dragon turtle resting in the lava pool. Aside from catching merfolk’s children and feeding its offspring, it mostly spent its time in the lava pool.

Will took a deep breath. He took out the Underwater Propeller Scroll and had it ready in hand. He then activated the stone with the giant grey seal’s voice.

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