Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 192: Episode : Welcome to the Spires

Roxy’s arms were burning.

Being a mermaid came with a lot of perks: enhanced strength, night vision that turned the abyss into a twilight wonderland, and a tail that moved like an engine. Even the fish all feared her now, and she could taste it.

I didn’t opt for these senses.

[TheMotheroftheWorld scoffs and says you should take it like that, stuff like this comes with perks.]

[TheSassyGoddess nods, and yes, you need to enjoy it while you can.]

But what she didn’t understand was why she was dragging 300 pounds of weight through the ocean.

"You know," Roxy panted, her voice vibrating through the water as a series of clicks and hums that the System auto-translated into speech. "For a guy who just killed a Kraken, you are incredibly heavy. Do you have rocks in your pockets?"

Caspian didn’t answer. He was still slumped against her chest, his head resting in the crook of her neck, his arms draped limply over her shoulders. He let out a weak, theatrical moan.

"The darkness..." he whispered dramatically. "It calls to me..."

"The darkness isn’t calling you, you dramatic sardine," Roxy snapped, her patience fraying. "We are literally swimming past a coral reef."

She kicked her tail harder, propelling them over a ridge of jagged black rock.

"Just a little further," she muttered to herself. "We find a safe spot, and then I figure out how to un-fish myself."

[Just keep it.]

Never.

She glanced down at him, checking his wounds, worried that the swim was aggravating his injuries.

Wait... What injuries?

She frowned.

The deep gash on his chest, where the Kraken’s tentacle had crushed him, was... gone.

In its place was a patch of fresh, pearlescent scales, slightly lighter than the rest, but completely healed. Even the bruising on his ribs had faded to a faint yellow.

Roxy stopped swimming. She hovered in the water, looking at the "unconscious" King.

"Caspian," she said flatly.

His eyelids fluttered. He didn’t move.

"I can see you smiling," Roxy accused.

Caspian’s lips twitched. He opened one golden eye. He looked pristine. His silver hair was floating majestically around him, his skin was glowing with health, and he looked about as close to death as a well-fed shark.

"You’re healed," Roxy stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "How did I forget that so fast?"

Caspian straightened up in the water, smoothing his scales with a sheepish grin. He didn’t even look tired.

Roxy hissed, mirroring the one that he used on her before when angry.

This made Caspian blink in surprise, his tail swishing left and right in excitement.

"So you just let me drag you for the last two miles?" Roxy screeched, a high-pitched dolphin sound that made a passing school of fish scatter.

"I enjoyed the ride," Caspian shrugged, swimming a lazy circle around her. He reached out to touch her pink fin. "You are very strong, Little Pearl. And your swimming form is... adequate. For a newborn."

"I am not a newborn! I paid 500,000 points for this!" Roxy swatted his hand away with her frying pan, which she had tied to her waist with a sash. "Now lead the way. Where do we go? If we stay out here, the scavengers will come."

Caspian laughed, a deep, resonant sound that rippled through the water. He pointed a clawed hand toward a faint, pulsating glow in the distance.

***

They swam toward a glow in the dense darkness.

As they crested the final ridge of the Abyssal Canyon, the view opened up, and Roxy’s breath caught in her throat.

She had expected caves, mud huts, or maybe some hollowed-out shells. Something primitive.

What she didn’t expect was Atlantis.

Sprawled across the vast canyon floor was a city.

Massive spires, carved directly from the bedrock, stretched thousands of feet up into the darkness, like black needles piercing the ocean. They were connected by intricate bridges of woven crystal and white bone that looked fragile but had likely stood for centuries.

The city was alive with bioluminescence. Giant, transparent tubes ran up the sides of the spires, filled with glowing neon-blue algae that acted as streetlights.

Thermal vents had been capped and redirected, creating fountains of golden bubbles that illuminated the plazas.

It looked like a cyberpunk metropolis built by coral reefs. It was sharp, dark, and stunningly beautiful.

"The Spires," Caspian announced, puffing out his chest. "Carved by my ancestors. Powered by the planet’s blood."

"It’s... huge," Roxy whispered, her pink tail swishing nervously. "How many people live here?"

"Thousands," Caspian said. And Roxy’s mouth opened. She had a feeling Caspian didn’t know the actual number.

"And they all have teeth like you?"

"Yes."

Roxy swallowed hard. "Great."

Now I am in a nest of predators.

As they approached the outer perimeter, four massive shapes shot toward them.

They were sharks. Great Whites, but larger, clad in armor made of chiton and burnished gold. And riding them were Mermen armed with tridents.

"Halt!" the lead guard roared, his voice amplified by a shell-device on his throat. He leveled his weapon. "Identify your—"

The guard froze.

He saw the silver hair. He saw the indigo tail. He saw the arrogant tilt of the head.

"My King!" the guard gasped, pulling back on his shark’s reins. The beast thrashed, bubbles swirling.

The other guards immediately dropped their weapons. They dismounted in unison, floating in the water and bowing low, pressing their fists to their chests.

"We thought you lost," the guard captain stammered, his eyes wide.

"My home has been destroyed by the Kraken," Caspian stated simply. He pointed to the broken bone spear still strapped to his back. "But it has been sorted out. Its carcass feeds the scavengers now."

A murmur of awe rippled through the guards. To kill an SS-Tier beast alone was a feat of legend.

Then, the captain’s eyes drifted to Roxy.

He blinked. He stared at the iridescent pink scales and stared at her delicate, translucent fins and the silk robe she still wore over her upper body.

He had never seen a mermaid like this.

In the Trench, colors were dark blue, green, black, and red. Camouflage for the deep. Pink was not a color of the deep. It was the color of rare corals found only in the most mana-rich shallow reefs.

To them, she looked impossibly exotic.

"And..." the captain lowered his voice, bowing even lower to Roxy. "We welcome the... High Princess."

Roxy blinked. "Princess?"

When did I fucking become a princess?

Caspian smirked. He didn’t correct them. He wrapped a possessive arm around Roxy’s waist, pulling her flush against him.

"She is of the Sunrise Tides," Caspian lied smoothly. "Her scales hold the light of the upper world. She assisted in the slaying of the Beast."

The guards looked at Roxy’s frying pan (which looked vaguely like a blunt-force war mace to them) and then at her tail.

"A Warrior Princess," one guard whispered reverently. "To shine so bright in the dark... she must have immense mana."

"Lead us to the Palace," Caspian commanded. "We require rest."

"At once, Sire!"

One thought formed in Roxy’s head. If he had such a beautiful place down here, why were Nimue and the other females, plus Caspian, painting it like this?

They swam through the city filled with stares.

The guards formed a phalanx around them, clearing the way. As they swam down the main thoroughfare, a wide avenue paved with crushed pearls, citizens began to emerge from the towers.

They knew their king had returned.

Merfolk of all shapes and sizes drifted out to watch. Some had tails like eels, others like tuna or sharks. They were fierce-looking people, with sharp fins and sharper teeth, but their eyes went wide when they saw Roxy.

"Look at the color," a female mermaid whispered, pointing a clawed finger. "It is like the inside of a conch shell."

"Is she a spirit?" another female asked, clinging to the other female, their arms hooked.

"She glows," another murmured.

Roxy felt incredibly self-conscious. She tried to hide behind Caspian, but he kept pushing her forward, parading her like a trophy. To the point, Roxy wanted to untie her pan and smack him on the back of his head.

But she figured she might get arrested.

"Just wave," Caspian whispered in her ear. "They expect it."

Roxy raised her hand and gave a small, awkward wave, with a half smile.

The crowd erupted in excited clicks and whistles.

"She greeted me!" someone shouted.

Roxy looked around the city as they passed. Despite the grandeur, she noticed the details. No shops were selling cooked food, just stalls with raw fish. There were no salons, just weapon training grounds. The merfolk’s hair was wild and tangled, their armor functional but unpolished.

It was a city of warriors, not artists. It was impressive, but cold.

They have no idea what conditioner is, Roxy thought, spotting a wealthy-looking mermaid with a rats-nest of hair tangled with expensive pearls. I could make a killing here.

They approached the center of the city.

Rising from the abyss was the Royal Palace. It was vast. It had towers, bridges, and massive gates made of solid gold that had been salvaged from surface shipwrecks over centuries.

"My mother awaits," Caspian said, his grip on her waist tightening slightly. "Do not be afraid. She is... traditional. But she respects strength."

"Does she eat people?" Roxy asked, eyeing the sharp spikes on the palace gate.

"Only the rude ones," Caspian assured her.

They reached the main gate. Two massive stone statues of Leviathans guarded the entrance.

A herald, a merman with a chest like a barrel, swam forward. He held a massive, spiraling conch shell that was inlaid with sapphires.

He took a deep breath, pulling water into his gills, and blew into the shell.

The sound resonated through the entire city, a deep, powerful note that signaled the arrival of the Monarch.

The golden gates groaned open.

The herald lowered the shell and turned to face the gathering crowd of nobles and soldiers who had assembled in the courtyard.

He filled his lungs again and shouted, his voice amplified by the acoustics of the canyon.

"BEHOLD!" the herald bellowed. "THE KING OF THE DEEP RETURNS WITH HIS MATE!"