Rotten Tail

After Alfonso introduced her softly, Coral seemed to hear him underwater. She timidly lifted her head and looked toward the surface.

That let Thor see the face hidden behind her red hair.

He had the uncanny feeling that he was looking at the Little Mermaid from a fairy tale.

The mermaid named Coral had a slightly narrower crown and jaw than an ordinary human, but her face could already be called oval.

Her eyes were the same red as her hair, gleaming like rubies.

But before Thor could admire the mermaid's appearance any further, she arched backward in the pool, revealing the tail below her waist.

Thor's brows immediately knitted together.

Half of Coral's tail had rotted away.

It was green, like the clear sky after rain, but most of it was missing, exposing the tailbone and a great deal of decayed flesh, bleached white from soaking in the water.

A few scraps of flesh still clung to her tail by thin strands, as if they would come away with the slightest tug.

Her translucent fin reflected a rainbow sheen like mother-of-pearl, but it was full of gaps and horribly tattered.

In short, it looked painful.

"Is this what you meant by Black Tide Pollution? Its symptoms don't look much like the Black Tide Pollution I've seen before."

Alfonso said gravely, "We've preliminarily ruled out the possibility that another substance caused the contamination. As long as they remain in seawater tainted by the Black Tide, the contamination worsens."

If Alfonso wasn't lying, then the rotting could indeed have been caused by Black Tide Pollution.

"Fine. Black Tide Pollution can manifest in many ways. This might be a newly discovered symptom." Thor didn't commit himself.

"I've named this contaminating disease 'Rotten Tail Disease.'"

Thor nodded. "That's fitting."

"Coral was the first