I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 204: Ceremonies

After a brief contemplation, Timothy was the first to break the silence with a loud whisper. "Okay, let's kill them all!"

Although calm until now, the geezer had to swoop in with a scold. "Are you crazy?"

Carrying a smirk on his face, the latter answered. "Trust me, this isn't my first hunt."

It was evident that he had given a bit more effort to sound like a badass, but his tone cracked in between the sentence so he sounded like a suffocating seal.

But even though this moment could have been used to have a good laugh, the old man still put in an attempt to make a point. His face was building up complex hints, the more attempt he put in to explain the severity of this situation.

Which led to hurriedly adding, "These enemies aren't normal, they're too powerful!"

Such a sentence came in as a bit of a shock, but the couple of friends still weren't exactly convinced. The opposing sect members had mostly been easy to kill, so the severity was difficult to take seriously.

That's why Osira questioned, "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Gerlach stressed, "This sect has ranks even. The most important sect members that our reef has seen, were called Gladiators and that little tribe is full of them!"

Such a name seemed interesting, especially since its origin came from the human world, the sea-pancake could notice that. But most importantly, higher ranked fish being here in the reef gave a large hint of danger.

That's why the youngest boy here asked another question, "Do you have any tips on how to kill them faster?"

"I do, follow my lead." The old man spoke and then hopped off the black-grouper.

The pool of holy-tar was just over 20 meters away, so it didn't seem like much of a hassle for this one to crawl forward instead of clinging on anyone's back.

After they got close enough, Gerlach yelled out. "My lords, I have brought you more fish who are willing to surrender their souls!"

Upon such an uttered sentence, the glares of which the couple of friends had given out, were heavy enough to molest a boulder. Since the beginning, they had not trusted this old shrimp enough; and now he had given them a mountain of reasons to not be trusted.

Before anyone could react, a bundle of dark figures rolled out of the structure that covered the holy-tar. It was difficult to believe that a group of the most important ranks that this reef had seen, could fit under a ceiling that was just over a meter across.

And once Timothy gave a glance of just how these fish were formed, he had a lot of trouble holding in laughter. Not to mention, these fish were half of his length. It was difficult to take them seriously.

These fish had a back that seemed swollen with water retention, a smaller head that didn't get along so well with the back's size, and a short tail. Everything about it was a laughing stock.

Osira had somewhat caught up with what the plan was, so she uttered. "Those are black ranchu goldfish, the full-grown ones can grow double in size. But yet we are still blessed with their presence!"

"Blessed?" The sea-disk asked and suddenly carried a helpless look on his face, blazingly confused too.

Gerlach turned around to face the couple of friends, and locked eyes with the grouper. A smirk grew on his face once realising that this lady was intelligent enough to catch on, he even released a little wink.

The goldfishes had not spoken out yet, so the geezer used the opportunity to add. "That lady over there, has been blessed with a mutation and now she needs your blessing."

Once that statement was made, one of these ranchu's, who was fairly the biggest here, although just 10 centimeters long: separated from the crowd and aimed to face these visitors.

Paying attention solely to the grouper-lady, a feminine tone covered the atmosphere as the ranchu fish asked. "How did you get mutated?"

After analysing that question for a few seconds, she noticed that it paid a heavy value. Considering that there were ranks and procedures in this sect, it was noticeable that mutations are supposed to be done only in a specific way.

So after picking up the right words, Osira answered. "I was about to give my soul to the holy-tar, but an enemy attacked us and collapsed the cavern. I fell in a pool of blue-tar, and came out looking like this."

After pondering over what this grouper said, the ranchu fish nodded and then turned her back to these guests, for the sake of reaching the rest of the group.

Within a moment, the same lady recited. "You're currently unworthy to be a part of our sect, and so is the shrimp who brought you here."

Although the black-grouper couldn't give the slightest damn about this, an act had to be put up for the sake of keeping the rouse going.

That's why she answered with a tone that portrayed desperation, "But why? I want to worship the holy-tar!"

While Tim, well he was going through a rollercoaster of emotions. He gave a peek at the lady he held near and dear, and had it difficult to swallow the idea that she wanted to join the sect. It was fair to say that he remained as clueless as ever.

But he was still waiting for a miracle, that's why drama had not erupted from the young one's side, which allowed the prime conversation to continue.

That's when the leader of these ranchu gold-fishes, added. "You need to undergo not one but three ceremonies, we can only help you with the last ceremony."

Intriguing at least, but more information could be reaped out of this. So the latter asked, "What if I can't do all of those ceremonies?"

The leader gave a brief peek at the grouper, and then casually answered. "You will eventually explode, most have just a few months of time so use it wisely."