When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 156



Only Noblemtl

156. The Pope in the Legend of Mermaids
2024.04.04.

When I recalled the time when I cooked and ate lobster like that, I finally thought I knew.

The weakest part of that giant lobster monster.

“Everyone, attack that belly! It must be the weak point!”

As soon as I shouted that, Elodie asked.

“Are you sure? What’s the reason you think the belly is the weak point?”

“Think about where you start peeling the shell when you eat lobster! You start with the belly!”

That’s right. When we eat lobster or shrimp, we peel the shell from the belly because that’s where the shell is the softest.

That’s where the knife goes the best.

And if that monster had the same crustacean characteristics as its appearance, its belly would also be its weak point.

However, Elodie seemed to have a different opinion from me.

“Can we really think that the belly is its weak point for such a simple reason? And when I saw chefs cooking lobster, they cut it from the side with a knife.”

“I peel it from the belly. “From there, it’s easy to peel.”

“Hmm… … .”

“Luciana! Can you use the persistent thorn vine in the sea? Then tie up those claws!”

Luciana heard my shout and activated the persistent thorn vine.

Since it wasn’t activated on land, I was worried that the vine wouldn’t come out, but the skill activated without a hitch.

After Luciana used the persistent thorn vine to tie up the giant crayfish’s claws, it was Cheong-gwang’s turn.

“Cheonggwang! Can you control the seawater with your strength? Create a current and flip the crayfish over!”

“I’ll give it a try!”

Cheong-gwang shouted and moved his strength.

Cheong-gwang had been able to manipulate water without difficulty until now, but that was only water that didn’t have many impurities, like rainwater.

Cheong-gwang groaned as if it was his first time moving this much seawater.

Meanwhile, the crayfish screamed as if trying to tear off the vines that had bound its feet.

Krrrrrrrr!

At the same time, a crunching sound was heard.

It was the sound of Luciana’s persistent thorny vines that had been tightly binding the crayfish’s pincers breaking, unable to withstand the crayfish’s strength.

I shouted at Cheong-gwang.

“There’s no time! Flip it over as fast as you can! I’ll take care of the rest!”

Cheong-gwang nodded upon hearing my shout, and soon began to manipulate the water with an even more vicious expression.

And finally.

“It’s flipping over!”

Dionik shouted at the giant crayfish.

When he checked, the crayfish’s body was indeed half-flipped.

However, the speed was very slow.

The crayfish was slowly… very slowly, as if it was about to flip over.

Unable to stand it any longer, Elodie and Dionik combined with their soul fusion skills and shouted.

【【We’ll help you out!】】

Having merged and become huge, they soon approached the crayfish and began to push its body with all their might.

The crayfish’s body was so huge that it still seemed to be struggling.

In addition, Rubin also started pushing the crayfish, and Luciana also helped out.

Boom!

The crayfish finally flipped over with a heavy sound.

It was now my turn.

I activated the sharp crescent moon toward the crayfish’s exposed belly.

The sharp sword energy released cut the lobster’s belly lengthwise.

Bam!

As expected, the crayfish’s belly was softer than the rest.

My sword energy cut it lengthwise with one strike.

Thus, the crayfish’s insides were exposed, and I used the Moonlight Sword Technique again toward the exposed insides.

This time, it was the full moon penetrating through.

Bam!

A large hole was made in the crayfish’s exposed, tender insides.

The crayfish finally seemed to be finished. It

wiggled its pincers a few times as if trying to release them, then stopped moving.

Having watched with great tension until the last movement, I was finally able to let out a ‘whoa-‘ sigh.

* * *

After that, we went to the mermaids and told them that we had killed the giant lobster.

They were surprised and said, “You’ve already killed it?”

So when we showed them the corpse of the lobster that had died after being penetrated by the full moon, the mermaids were astonished and jumped for joy at the same time.

Then they started cooking lobster with it.

Strangely, the monster corpse did not disappear.

Usually, monsters turn to ash when they die, but for some reason, this lobster did not disappear.

So now, we were having a lobster festival near the breeding rocks.

‘They eat lobsters raw too…’

I thought they would cook them.

The mermaids cut up raw lobsters and served them to us again.

Well, they couldn’t make a fire underwater, so there was nothing they could do.

Our group ate raw lobsters on skewers and watched the mermaids dance happily.

Just as the festival was getting underway, the chief approached us.

“Thank you so much for reclaiming the breeding rocks, warriors….”

“That title, warriors, is a bit embarrassing?”

“We decided to call you that out of respect. We will also teach and teach the stories of your great deeds to our descendants so that they will be widely known.”

“Ah….”

To them, the legendary warrior was originally a ‘prince.’

But from now on, the ‘Pope’ would be called the legendary warrior.

I imagined the mermaids teaching their children the legend of the Pope.

“A long time ago, there was a brave Pope~” Something like that.

While I was having such useless thoughts, the chief called me again.

“If it’s not rude, can I ask you one more thing?”

“What? Are there any more monsters?”

“No, that’s not it… Just follow me.”

With that, the chief began to lead us somewhere.

We were curious, so we followed him obediently.

The place the chief led us to was in front of the breeding rock that we had been trying so hard to protect.

Mermaid eggs were neatly attached to the giant pyramid-shaped rock.

If you sprinkle breeding liquid on it, mermaids would be born? I remembered hearing that from Leah.

While we were looking at the mermaid eggs, the chief spoke again.

“Today is breeding day. On breeding day, male mermaids circle around the breeding rock and sprinkle breeding liquid on the eggs.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard. But… … ?”

“How about you, the warriors, sprinkle your brave breeding fluid on our eggs?”

“… … ?!”

I was so flustered that I froze.

Sprinkling that… breeding fluid that the males have

? That seemed… extremely personal and embarrassing.

I was flustered and just squirting, when the chieftain asked us again.

“The children born after receiving the warriors’ brave breeding fluid will definitely resemble you and be brave. They will greatly revive our village.”

“Ah… … .”

“Would you sprinkle the breeding fluid?”

I thought hard even as my mind went blank.

How could I refuse the chieftain’s offer without making him feel bad?

After much thought, I decided to just be honest.

“Um, among us humans, there is a rule that we can only breed with ‘married people.’”

“Marriage… … ? What is that?”

The chieftain looked puzzled.

Perhaps mermaids reproduce by having the village members lay eggs all at once and spraying their reproductive fluid all at once, so they don’t seem to have a concept of marriage.

I thought about it and briefly explained.

“You choose someone to spend your life with. You choose someone, marry them, and then you only reproduce with that person.”

“Oh… … . That’s fascinating.”

“Yeah, so I don’t think we can share our reproductive fluid. In our society, spraying reproductive fluid indiscriminately on multiple eggs is, well… criticized.”

The chief nodded quietly as if he understood my explanation.

“Then I guess we can’t force you. Okay. Instead, would you like to observe our reproductive ritual?”

“Well… … .”

Today was reproductive day, so the reproductive ritual would begin soon.

Since it wouldn’t take long to wait, I readily accepted the invitation.

In fact, I was curious. What would mermaids reproduce like?

So we waited for the reproductive ritual to begin, picking at raw lobsters.

We waited like that for about an hour. The bright light of the moon, breaking through the clouds,

shone on the breeding rocks.

‘How beautiful.’ The mermaid eggs embroidered on the breeding rocks were shining like crystal beads in the moonlight, shining transparently. We watched the sight quietly, feeling sublime. Then, the mermaids holding drums began to beat them with a steady beat, thump, thump.

Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed that the breeding ritual was about to begin.

As expected, the male mermaids who had been enjoying the festival gathered near the breeding rock.

And they began to circle around it.

The female mermaids who had laid eggs on the breeding rock stood next to it and sang in beautiful voices.

“God of the moon, please bless the children who will soon be born—”

The lyrics of the song were carried to us by the ocean currents.

The tone was so beautiful that we stopped eating for a moment to listen to the song.

Soon, the male mermaids who had been circling around the rock began to spray milky breeding fluid on the eggs.

The eggs soaked in the breeding fluid gradually changed color.

The eggs that had originally been transparent crystal beads soon became white and sparkling like pearls.

Pearls that sparkled white in the moonlight… …

Those beautiful eggs would soon hatch into mermaids.

And they would grow into beautiful adult mermaids in this small but affluent village and continue this beautiful ritual.

Even after a hundred years, even after a thousand years, the chain of birth continues without change.

We, who saw part of that great and beautiful chain, just sat there quietly, absorbed in admiration for a while.

* * *

After watching the entire breeding ritual, we finally returned to our human forms. In

the meantime, the group, who had become quite accustomed to fish legs, looked a little disappointed.

Rubin, in particular, was very sad that the conch shell attached to his back had disappeared.

However, we couldn’t continue to carry that heavy thing on our backs even after coming ashore.

We returned to our original forms and boarded the boat and headed for the island of Celos.

After about a day of traveling,

Cheong-gwang, who had been blankly staring at the horizon on the deck, shouted.

“My benefactor! I can see the island over there! But the shape of the island seems a little strange… … .”

The bored group heard Cheong-gwang’s words and ran out to look in the direction he had pointed. They

really could see the island.

And I—

“… … What is that?”

As I looked at the island gradually getting closer, I began to feel a little strange.