Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach had only made soft and flexible worms with his skill, Material Extraction. As if that wasn't enough, he almost exclusively used the skill on biological materials. He had used it on plants, herbs, flowers, monsters, muscles, and skeletons. Occasionally, he had used it on treasures similar to the mountain essence or gems.

He hadn't used it on just stone.

But not having done it before didn't mean he couldn't do it. There was a first for everything, including extracting worms out of chunks of stone.

Zach had a vague idea of what he was going to use the worms for. He had that image in the front of his mind as he put his hand against the stone wall and focused on the skill. Slowly, he tensed his fingers and pulled them inward like he was pinching a cloth draped over the stone.

He frowned.

It was tougher than he was used to. It was like the stone was resisting him.

Zach wouldn't stand for it. First, all the safe houses and places that were supposed to help him survive had ridiculous requirements like being a woman or having friends, and now even the stone refused to let things go his way.

Ridiculous.

Zach concentrated harder and tightened his grip on the stone's material before yanking it out.

Zach stumbled backward, which was a little embarrassing. Fortunately, the only ones who saw it were Alzara and Yanael, and they wouldn't talk about it.

Zach straightened his shirt with one hand and looked at the yellow-white brick in his other hand. It felt sturdy. It wasn't as heavy as he had expected, but it could work. He handed it to Alzara.

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Alzara took the brick and put her thumb on one corner. She made eye contact with Zach as she pressed down with her thumb.

The brick crumbled.

"Uhum."

Zach grabbed the brick and chucked it away.

He put his hand against a new block of stone and made a new brick. He handed it to Alzara. She inspected it.

"Better."

Zach threw it away. Better didn't mean good enough. He quickly made another and another.

They only had a few hours left before the dome disappeared. If he wanted to make bricks that were good enough and then use those bricks to build a shelter, he had to work fast. There was no time to be studious or gentle with their words. And there certainly wasn't time to waste on needless formalities.

Zach extracted brick after brick and handed them to Alzara, who either discarded them or used them to start building their shelter. They were smaller than the blocks the houses were made of, so he would need more than what a house used. They also needed to be of great quality.

He hurried, but he couldn't let that hurry make his efforts go to waste, so he also made sure to focus on creating stable, strong, dense, and solid bricks that would hold up against an ocean crashing down on them. Alzara was in charge of connecting them with her alchemy or something.

Zach didn't understand, nor was he paying enough attention to what Alzara was doing to have a chance at understanding.

Eventually…

[Ten seconds remaining.]

It was a pitiful reminder of the time they had left. The message did nothing to help them. It was too little time for it to change anything. All it did was make everyone look up in anticipation or dread of the protective dome's collapse.

An unlucky few managed to get an unobstructed view of the dome and the pseudo-sky. They hadn't found shelter in time. The best they could do was hide in a house without a door and hope for the best.

Five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

As soon as the last second passed, the protective dome around the underwater city disappeared. The thin veil covering the city and faintly obscuring the water, blurring it and the light seeping through disappeared like it had never existed.

The ones who saw it happen frowned in confusion.

Everyone, without exception, had assumed the ocean would come crashing down on the city when the dome disappeared.

The ones who didn't see it happen braced themselves for impact, even if they were in the safe houses.

Nothing happened.

The ones who hadn't found safe houses noticed it first since they could see that it wasn't a delay or anything. The ocean wasn't coming for them to make up for lost time.

Something was still keeping up the water.

But then what was the protective dome protecting the city from if it wasn't the ocean?

What was going on?

Questions buzzed in everyone's minds. It didn't make sense.

However, it didn't take long for an answer to appear.

Silhouettes appeared in the distant water, and they quickly got closer to the city. After a few breaths, figures came into view around the city.

An ominous pressure surrounded Haya. Everyone, including the ones inside the safe houses felt it. It was a different kind of pressure to the simple water that would have crushed them.

Around the city, scaly, webbed hands and feet broke through the water surface as beings more fish than man stepped onto the stone with slapping sounds. Some wore clothes. Some were naked, not that their bodies showed anything but denser scales. Continue your saga on empire

Some had weapons. Others had long fingernails. Some had gills on their necks. Others had gills on their cheeks. Some had no ears. Others had wings that resembled the tailfins of a fish.

Some had hair like seaweed. Others were bald. Some had noses. Others didn't even have nostrils.

Water dripped from their bodies as they marched into the city, united by one thing and one thing alone. Bloodthirst.

The only thing common between all the fishpeople was the crazed hunger for violence in their eyes.

They did not have peaceful intentions.

Another thing that many of the fishpeople shared was the attraction they felt toward a specific direction. Like something was calling for them, like a sweet treat that wanted to be eaten by them, they moved toward a corner of the city.

It was the only part of the city with damaged houses.