After TuTu used her Silver Grass to toss one of the Alluring Sirens' corpses toward the shore, fifteen live ones surfaced near our rocks just two minutes later and began staring intently at us.
Since three more Sirens arrived than expected, it meant even those absent from the nest earlier had come to eliminate the nest's threat. All the better for us—we won't leave a potential threat to the city by wiping out their whole brood at once.
The arriving monsters, young and inexperienced as they were, showed glimmers of intelligence and circled the rocks we stood on, looking for an opening to attack. If we hadn't wisely left the boat farther out, they might have figured out to sink it and wait for us to weaken from hunger before striking.
This is one of the main problems with sea monsters in general. Besides being plainly stronger than land ones, they can come and go as they please, exploiting their home environment advantage.
Even birds don't have such a huge edge—humans long ago invented flight artifacts that, in rare cases, let them compete in the skies with sky lords. But how do you fight sea monsters if they just dive underwater and wait for the right moment?
Land or air monsters can be chased or hit with ranged attacks, but what about those hiding under a water shield? Not only that, water slows most attacks, letting sea monsters dodge easily. Even water-element mages can't match sea monsters in their native realm.
You can only wait for them to finally attack and surface, or use overwhelming force. Like in canon, using Forbidden-level magic to kill hordes of weak Servant-level Sea Ants. Normal monsters you'd just cut down, but sea ones are untouchable underwater—you end up firing cannons at sparrows.
That's what the girls were feeling now—the frustration of fighting these honorless beasts who wouldn't come close enough to strike. My girls tried reaching them with plants grown underwater, but the environment slowed them just enough for the Alluring Sirens to swim away in time.
Jiao Jiao managed to snag a couple with Wind Trap at the second step of Intermediate level, tossing them into the air long enough for her and TuTu to skewer them with plant spears. But then it stalled; the monsters wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.
Meanwhile, despite their seemingly futile efforts, they kept trying to hit the girls with spiritual enchantment, gradually draining their spirit-protection artifacts. Not a favorable situation for the girls.
"Damn, this is just bullying! These weaklings won't come out of the water—it's so unfair!" TuTu fumed; she'd thought it'd be an easy win. The quick takedown of the first five must have misled her. Ah, how naive she is.
"You have all the tools to beat them; you just need to use your imagination," I grinned slyly, enjoying the scene. They were so confident five minutes ago, now playing stare-downs with monsters, biting their lips in helplessness. But I believe in them—I trained them myself.
After my words, TuTu's eyes lit up. For a change, a smart idea hit her head instead of Jiao Jiao's. She hurried to her dear friend and whispered something in her ear. I could have eavesdropped with my sharp hearing but decided to keep the intrigue. The girls nodded to each other and took their positions. TuTu stood in the center of the rocks and cast Blooming at the second step of Intermediate plant element. Massive volumes of Silver Grass sprouted around her, then moved into the water, filling hundreds of meters except one area. Once on the surface, the grass grew downward to block underwater movement.
The Alluring Sirens, unwilling to be shredded, clustered in the untouched water patch. They might have swum off otherwise, but their instincts told them TuTu's reserves were dropping at a brutal rate. Young as they were, with only budding intelligence, they were still driven by urges. Who'd pass up a weakened strong mage?
As the Alluring Sirens bunched up in one spot at about five meters deep, it was Jiao Jiao's turn. She'd been waiting on the shore for the right moment, and it arrived. Releasing her Lightning Blade, she unleashed a concentrated ranged attack on the sea monsters' position, draining the artifact completely.
The water's protection kept them alive but badly wounded and stunned. TuTu directed Silver Grass growth toward the free zone where the stunned monsters were, swiftly binding them. Once caught in the grassy nets, they couldn't escape, and their sashimi-sliced corpses soon floated up.
"Nice job; I never doubted you for a second. So, how was fighting sea monsters?" I smirked at the tired TuTu and Jiao Jiao, who'd unloaded her strongest attack on the weaklings.
"I wouldn't say these monsters are three times stronger than land ones, but they're way more annoying! With the energy I spent killing these thirteen, I could've taken out a hundred land equivalents," TuTu complained indignantly.
"Not a hundred. A hundred mental attacks would've drained your spirit artifact fast, leaving you incapacitated," I smiled, chiding my girl for overconfidence, then turned to Jiao Jiao. I was curious about her take.
"Very troublesome beasts. If all sea monsters are this hard to handle, now I get why Japan built the Tokai fortress. Fighting them on prepped terrain must be much easier," my second girl concluded grimly.
"Look on the bright side. Sea monsters drop whole souls more often, so besides the mission pay, we earned an extra twenty million," I showed the girls the Chieftain-level soul in my hand. Thanks to their Totem Vessels, they could see them now.
"Hm, a whole Spiritual Seed from one outing? Very profitable. On the other hand, under these conditions and with that many Alluring Sirens, it'd take at least ten late-Intermediate mages. Including some to counter mental attacks. They'd get the biggest share as the most useful. Each would net less than two million—still profitable, but not worth the risk," Jiao Jiao analyzed correctly. My smart girl.
"You're thinking right, and you haven't even factored that such a strong mage group might scare off the Alluring Sirens. If a spirit mage tries provoking them, they'll resist hard—mental attacks are their forte. So without a small team of very strong individuals, it couldn't be solved, and ships would need mage escorts, jacking up transport costs. Most likely, without hiring a High-level spirit mage to overpower their mental resistance, this city would've gone bankrupt. Sailing that route would've been unprofitable," Ling Ling expanded, having silently observed the girls' teamwork till now. From her face, she was fully satisfied.
"Well then. Let's sail back, turn in the quest to the mayor, then head to Bird City. Another type of sea monster awaits there," I said to the girls, who grimaced instantly, thinking the Red Sea Demons would be even tougher.
And I wouldn't say they're wrong, given how many have bred there.