Flerken

"Ah--!"

A sharp, piercing scream suddenly rang out, startling the unprepared fishmen so much that they almost dropped their harpoons.

"The Flerken! It's that terrifying Flerken! It... it's back—!"

At this moment, the fish-men once again recalled the fear of being ruled by felines.

Although strictly speaking, Fina isn't a feline? Probably.

The merman's shout successfully attracted the attention of all the mermen nearby. They looked towards the Patrol Team Captain who had been knocked away, and sure enough, they saw an orange cat-like creature shaking its little head as it climbed off the man's body.

The fishmen swore they would never forget that figure for the rest of their lives.

They had been living peacefully in the Black Lake for hundreds of years. During these hundreds of years, thanks to the protection of Hogwarts, although their living space was limited and they were unable to expand their population, they had never been attacked by external enemies and were able to live a peaceful life.

But everything changed dramatically starting that night two years ago.

That night, one of the Patrol Team members suddenly disappeared.

At first, the other members of the Patrol Team didn't pay any attention.

After all, there aren't any dangerous creatures in Black Lake, and Patrol Team members have occasionally gone slacking off in the past. That missing guy is probably fast asleep somewhere right now. Everyone's gotten used to it by now.

It wasn't until the Patrol Team changed shifts that the fish realized something was wrong.

One member from every Patrol Team has gone missing!

This is just too much of a coincidence, isn't it?

Realizing that something had changed, the fish-people immediately conducted a thorough search of Black Lake.

As a merfolk race that has lived in the Black Lake for hundreds of years, they are extremely familiar with this place.

Therefore, not long after, fishmen discovered Fina feeding in a hidden Underground Cave.

The scene was absolutely terrifying!

It is said that the fishman was so frightened that he went insane, and he is still acting crazy to this day.

Upon receiving the signal, the fishmen quickly gathered. To protect their kind, every fishman fought bravely and relentlessly against the terrifying "Flerken."

In the end, through their tacit cooperation, the fishmen finally drove the enemy away.

(Fina: "I'm so full. Master said that it's not good to do strenuous exercise when you're full, so I'll go find a place to sleep.")

After that thrilling battle, the merfolk increased patrols around their village once again, hundreds of years later. Young merfolk, especially those who were not yet adults, were strictly forbidden from leaving the village.

And so, several months passed, and that terrifying "Flerken" never appeared again.

After discussion at the village assembly, everyone agreed that the "Flerken" should have already left.

After all, this is Hogwarts, the wizards' territory. The wizards would not tolerate such a dangerous Magical Animals occupying this place.

The fish-people, relieved, resumed their leisurely lives.

However, the good times didn't last long. Less than a week after the alert was lifted, the terrifying "Flerken" that appeared out of nowhere reappeared outside the village and attacked the Patrol Team once again!

Although the alert has been lifted, the fishmen are much more vigilant this time because of the previous midnight terror.

Therefore, as soon as one member of the Patrol Team went missing, the Patrol Team immediately sent a distress signal to the village.

Once again, the swarming merfolk blocked Fina's path as she was enjoying her meal in the same underwater cave as before.

This time, Fina, who wasn't full yet, wouldn't run away immediately like last time.

You know, it was thrown out of the castle by Shanna at noon today for stealing the Spirit Pet Pill again, and it hasn't eaten anything for half a day now. The baby is starving!

To the fish people's horror, they discovered that in just a few months, this terrifying "Flerken" had become even more terrifying!

Their opponent swam faster in the water than they, the fishmen; their sharp claws could sever a fishman's throat with a single blow; their tough hide was impenetrable even by their harpoons.

Moreover, what's most terrifying is that the enemy can also spew powerful streams of water from their mouths, disrupting their formation and preventing them from fully utilizing their numerical advantage.

And so, after a fierce battle lasting more than ten minutes, and after the enemy had taken away several more of their brave warriors, the fishmen finally managed to "repel" the enemy.

But this time, even the most optimistic murlocs could no longer shout victory like they did last time.

"We must seek the help of the wizards!"

At the village assembly, an elder slammed his fist on the table and spoke passionately.

Even a fool could see that the ' Flerken ' left on its own because it had already hunted enough food. They simply didn't have the ability to do anything to it!

"Naive! Do you really think those wizards care whether we live or die?"

If you go to the wizard for help now, he'll only demand more magical materials. That might cause even more of our people to die, so it's better to do it now!

Another elder countered.

As an old man with a wealth of experience, he had long seen through the wizards' greedy nature.

"Then what do you suggest we do? We can't just do nothing and let them take advantage of us!"

The first elder questioned.

In truth, if he had a choice, he wouldn't want to deal with wizards either. Their tribe has detailed records of why they were forced to live in such a small lake as Black Lake.

"Since we can't win in a direct confrontation, we'll have to set up traps!"

With sufficient preparation, our ancestors even successfully hunted the legendary Kraken. No matter how terrifying that "Flerken" might be, it couldn't possibly be stronger than the Kraken, could it?

After a heated discussion, the village assembly finally decided to adopt the elder's strategy of "setting a trap".

But if the trap still can't get rid of that ' Flerken ', then they'll probably have to become the prey again, letting the wizards harvest them again.

The fish people mobilized the entire village and laid all sorts of traps around the village.

At the same time, the Patrol Team narrowed its patrol area, so even if they were frugal, no fishman would venture outside the trap area.

Whether it was the fishmen's actions that worked, or whether the terrifying "Flerken" had truly left this time, in any case, no fishmen ever encountered the "Flerken" again.