We continued rolling Mr. Psycho around in an ice ball while watching the adventurers prepare stuff.

  So whatcha guys up to?

  One of the guys approached us. “I’m glad that you two can mess around, but we reached the territory of the salmon, we’re preparing for battle.”

  Do you mind if I watch it? I’m an outsider, so I don't know anything about your traditions or customs.

  “Oh, that is fine, we will be relying on your strength if things go wrong.”

  I’ll keep an eye out.

  The elderly fisherman returned to his task and started to order some others around.

  Some were making long ice chains, while the more experienced people equipped themselves with magic equipment that improved their buoyancy and allowed them to breathe underwater for a limited amount of time. Others took out barrels of crayfish, squids, and herrings out of the hold.

  I now realized why these had the label ‘Bait’ on it. A good thing I didn't touch it, these could have been a good addition to our fish banquet earlier. I was wondering why they needed the bait though…

  Just a question, why do you guys need this bait? We just need to enter their territory for them to attack us.

  “To attract the salmon, of course! Who goes fishing without bait?!”

  No, I get that, but I don’t think you need it…

  I pointed southwest, They couldn't see it yet, but an enormous school of spirit salmon was approaching us. They noticed us first and were staging an attack to protect their territory.

  An enormous spirit salmon of 10 meters long was leading the school of these monsters. The smallest spirit salmon in the school was about 3 meters long, suggesting that these had been left unchecked for quite long.

  So uhm, you guys said it was just 1 big salmon, right?

  “Yeah, we had a run-in with him a couple of times, salmon normally swim in schools, but strangely he was always alone so we’re taking advantage of that.”

  Aha, Giana, I need you to start singing and dancing, this is going to get ugly. I have bad news for you guys, our target brought a school with him.

  3 of the most experienced people dropped their equipment. “So do we flee?”

  “Huh, why? It’s just a school” Said one of the younger members.

  “You say that because you haven't experienced the fierceness of that salmon, there is no way 2 ships can deal with a school of those fuckers, I can sense that something is approaching, but I can't see them yet, Silver Torrent, what are the numbers and their size?”

  Uhm, our target is leading the school standing 10.4 meters strong, I guess swimming 10.4 meters long? His school has about 12000 members and the smallest is about 3.2 meters long.

  “...”

  “I guess this is where we die…” The experienced members of the group started to discuss the possibility of getting the best out of the situation and escaping with minimal casualties, while the less experienced ones started panicking.

  Giana first started a song to calm them down, and then one to boost morale and reinforce the ship's magical defenses. The other ship was closer to the school of salmon, and it was getting assaulted and sank 3 minutes later.

  I tried to get as many people out of the shipwreck and over to our ship by making a current that would guide them here but I couldn’t get them all like this.

  I’m going in.

  An experienced fisherman turned pale. “Wait what? Are you crazy! You saw what they did to that ship!”

  Yeah, and if they can do that to a ship, imagine what they can do to a squishy human.

  I jumped overboard, started [Water Dragon Festival] and headed toward the shipwreck. These spirit salmon were fierce. These fishermen or adventurers or whatever they are, tried to defend themselves, but they were powerless against spirit magic.

  The spirit salmon weren't fighting that hard though, they were just drowning everyone because that's all it takes, and they realized that. I sent water dragons to fish the people out of the ocean and put them on [Boat magic].

  I don’t have time to babysit you guys, I made a current that will bring this boat to the ship, you will be safe there, hopefully…

  I repeated this till everyone was on a boat. Those that were alive at least… the spirit salmon had claimed 8 lives, and they didn't seem to be done yet. Some had already started to assault our ship, but Giana’s defense was going strong.

  A group however, set their sights on me. Contrary to normal salmon, spirit salmon are on the top of the food chain in normal circumstances. Their only natural enemy is us, the 9t as only spirits could realistically damage them. Our near extinction is giving them a free pass to do whatever they want, which includes sinking ships for fun. They also mess up a lot of things for other aquatic lifeforms in the ocean as they are so territorial.

  I took a quick scan revealed the absence of zombie spirit salmon. Which was very fortunate for us. These things are ridiculously strong. These fuckers gain a dark affinity when they start to zombify and not only that they gain a set of skills that are similar to necromancers and plague bringers by spamming status conditions and DoTs on top of reviving any of its dead allies.

  The 9t don’t call those revived salmon zombie salmon because that would be confusing, so we just call them ‘Smolders’. Besides that, the zombie spirit salmon are way stronger than their ‘living’ peers. That is about as much as my mom had told me about spirit salmon.

  The absence of Zombie Spirit Salmon means that we don't have to worry about Smolders. The only problem is their numbers… I put my hand in the water and used [Boil]. Only the smallest and weakest got defeated by it.

  People yelled at me from our ship, probably telling me to stop because the whole area became a soup. I collected the dead spirit salmon and chucked them into my dimensional pocket. I left a shadow clone behind and got back on the ship in stealth, which was taking attacks from all directions.

  “We can’t hit them!”

  “We are doomed!” The fishermen screamed while trying to defend against spirit magic.

  Someone was moving slowly and carefully toward Giana, who was still dancing. It was one of the people she pointed out to be problematic. He seemed to attempt something in this chaos as he took out a peculiar dagger.

  Giana was too busy keeping up defense, keeping people calm, and healing new arrivals to notice someone slowly approaching her. It looked completely natural. This dagger, however… I think he knew he can't hurt her so he is going to force a lot of status effects on her so she can't get rid of the ones that matter which is probably [Sleep] or something.

  It's popular in the assassin community when dealing with exceptionally sturdy targets. I don’t blame him, if I was tasked with kidnapping Giana, I would probably take the same approach.

  My tail got sent into overtime to create a variation on [Cleanse] that will specifically get rid of conditions like [Sleep] or [Stun] first. Now this doesn't benefit Giana because I can only use it on myself but…

  I swapped myself with Giana the moment he went for the stab. The temperature dropped as he broke a [Frozen Skin] layer. I only took some unimportant status effects as [Sleep], [Disorient] and [Stun] got removed from my improvised version of [Cleanse]. I grabbed him and slammed him into the floor.

  “What? An assassin here?!” The old fisherman exclaimed.

  “Whoa, did he just swap places with Giana? Good job protecting her!”

  Not everyone had noticed what happened, but it soon spread. The Mr. Psycho got some of his friends and took the assassin away. “Good job, we’re lucky you were alert, this would have been the best moment for him to strike and the worst moment for us to lose Giana’s support.”

  “Let me pass please!” Giana came through the crowd and lifted my shirt. “Why did you have to do it like this!” She checked for wounds and got rid of the status effects.

  This was the best way, if it wasn't clear what he tried, he could feign ignorance or disappear in the group and try again later.

  She kept inspecting me if I didn't have any other wounds. “Couldn't you at least find a way where you don't get stabbed? You don't seem to have other injuries. And you guys, I have a word for you! Why wasn’t his possible stab wound your first concern!” Giana started scolding the fishermen and adventurers while I went with the guys taking the assassin away.

  “I organized this adventure and am aware of there being fanatics aiming for the idols. I already have an idea why you were aiming for Giana but let me still hear it” Psycho said.

  The assassin looked up and smirked. “Heh, as if I would tell you.” You might want to get rid of his disguise first.

  “Disguise?” The assassin seemed shocked to hear that I knew he was disguised. Deal enough with anti-shadow magic guards and you become a master in it yourself.

  He was probably so confident because he knew he could escape at any time. Playtime is over, fess up!

  “Shit! I didn’t realize that you were an anti-shadow magic guard!” I dispelled his [Shadow form] and his real identity became visible.

  His appearance didn't tell me anything, however Mr. Psycho seemed to recognize him. “You… you're that guy that sponsored this trip!”

  “Ugh, I guess this is it for me. But since you can't stop us, I’ll tell you haha! You guys aren't worthy to even breathe the same air as Giana! You have no idea what you're dealing with!”

  Great another crazy fan…

  “Wait, he said ‘us’ he might be part of an organized group.” Mr. Psycho said. I admit that was a sharp observation from him, so there are more guys like this one? Give me a break…

  The ship was groaning and rocking hard from all the attacks. It would be nice if the problems stopped appearing all at once.

  Ok Mr. fan, tell us why don't we deserve to be near her?

  “Don't you know? She’s a goddess, no even better! When the gods turn against us, it's her who will protect us, without her this world would collapse and die. You, people, are wasting her time with your selfishness!”

  Mr. Psycho shook his head. “So, you are indeed another crazy fan…”

  While I do agree with the psychologist's assessment. This guy isn't exactly wrong. He is more or less describing the role of a 9t.

  Hey asshole, is this because she’s an idol or more tied to her identity?

  The assassin looked at me with an interesting expression. It seems he knew that I have an idea what he’s talking about. “I see, there is someone who knows a bit more than the average ignorant fool. Her being an idol doesn't matter, she could be a beggar for all I care.”

  “Huh, you make no sense!” Mr. Psycho protested.

  So, what do you plan on doing with her?

  He got a creepy smile. “Well turn her into an actual goddess of course!”

  Everyone took a step backward. His smile was so unnerving that everyone backed off.

  “You are a lunatic!”

  Wait I want to hear what he has to say.

  “He is obviously talking nonsense! He has nothing to say!” It would be nice if Mr. Psycho would shut up, as he has no idea what he’s dealing with. He would be correct in normal situations though…

  The assassin looked at me. “Do you care to join our cause?”

  I will have to turn you into dust if you don’t get to the point, what do you mean about turning her into a goddess, that’s impossible.

  “That’s true, but that’s assuming she’s a human, and we all know she is not.”

  The others started to realize where he was going with this.

  So, you are part of a cult that wants to turn Giana, a 9t, into a goddess?

  “We are not a cult, and what is a 9t?” The assassin said as he tried to escape, which got thwarted by me.

  Oh right, I mean a nine-tailed spirit fox.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Interesting, you use that term often enough to shorten it, I noticed that you’re quite close to Giana, we might bring you over to our side with enough persuasion.”

  Dream on!

  A shockwave traveled through the ship, and it started to tilt sideways. Enough to get a feeling that we’re capsizing.

  Shit, I need to help out. Don’t let this guy out of your sight, he’s dangerous, but not in the way you think.

  A freshly created shadow clone [Shadow Melded] into the Assassin’s shadow to keep track of him, and I got on deck. Another shockwave went through the ship, and it almost sent me flying, but someone grabbed my leg before I flew off.

  “We need your help and we can't get it if you fly off!”

  Oh, Flare guy, you're still alive.

  Giana had her hands and tails full. She had to focus more defense on the boat which meant less for the adventurers and fishermen, so many of them were hurt. Some spirit salmon jumped on deck, thrashed, threw water spirit magic around, and jumped back into the ocean.

  What a mess…

  “Yeah, unfortunately there is a lot going on and only Giana seems to be able to do anything against them…”

  People tried to wash or kick the salmon back into the sea, but with 0 success because their attempts phased through the attackers. Only Giana could flush the salmon back, but she also had a million other things to do. She had 6 tails out and was grabbing people, moving them out of danger, picking salmon up and throwing them back into the sea creating barriers, healing, singing for morale and to calm everyone down, and more.

  It's the situation with the spirit stalkers again. Why are the 9t the only spirits that can be affected by normal attacks? This is discrimination! But… the mana runes they use are quite normal, same with the spirit stalkers. Is this the difference?

  Isn’t this strange? We’re all spirits, but the 9t magic is different and… 9t love to eat spirit salmon, wouldn’t it make sense that we would originate from the same dimension, or does my hypothesis have glaring flaws?

  I must be missing information. What a pain in the ass. Mr Psycho came out and tried to assist but failed. He then approached me.

  “The assassin is secured safely. Now we have to deal with this problem…”

  Right... Rejoice Mr. Psycho your suspicions will be confirmed soon.

  I created [Frost walls] at the side of the boat to prevent more salmon from jumping in and sent [Fireballs] at those still on deck, frying most of them.

  That’s one problem solved. I covered the boat in frost magic, and it relieved some pressure from Giana. Unfortunately, this was temporary. “Thank you Agnis, are you alright?”

  How about you worry about yourself for once? Take a break.

  An hour had passed since the salmon attacked and she had continued to make sure we didn’t sink.

  “Thank you.”

  The frost wall on the starboard side shattered and the boat got assaulted by spirit lasers.

  Oh, hell no! Not this shit again!

  “I guess my break is over.” Giana said as she got up.

  Nono! Go rest.

  “But Greg told me that lasers are your weakness!”

  I will be fine, probably…

  “I’m helping too!” I used [Spatial Flop] on her and tied her up.

  I will release you when I need help, rest up.

  Giana pouted but stayed put.

  The adventurers started panicking and I started panicking too. The 10-meter-long salmon and some others were gathering energy, it wouldn’t take much imagination to conclude that they were charging up a big laser together. I really need to find a way to outlaw the use of lasers…

  Giana thrashed as she noticed this. “Agnis I’m well rested now! Let me go!”

  Shit, it seems that Giana noticed this laser too. I stopped a panicking sailor after getting an idea.

  Hey, can you ask the captain if he can dodge that laser?

  I pointed at the energy-gathering spirit salmon.

  “Uhh, sure!” He ran as if his life depended on it. Actually, his life does depend on it.

  What could I do to make a ship dodge a laser, and why does this keep happening to me? Normal lasers could get reflected by [Frost Mirrors] but these are spirit lasers so they don’t care…

  My tail used water Dragonvein and moved the current under the boat to attempt and move it. The salmon that weren't charging the laser were actively countering it.

  These assholes! Just wait till you're digesting in my stomach!

  Giana was struggling to break free of her bind but she needed her rest. She started tugging at it with her tails imbued with blue fire. I don’t know if it's going to work, but it would be impressive if she could break dragonbeard.

  [Flush] was ineffective, as salmon are known for climbing waterfalls. Why is my favorite fish so overpowered?

  The laser was almost charged and I made the ocean swell under the boat. The moment the laser went up I created an enormous [Dragonvein: Waterspout] and knocked the ship into the air.

  Oof, maybe this was a bad idea.

  Sailors and adventurers alike grabbed on to anything that was attacked to the ship. “Aaaaah! Silver Torrent you madman! How are we going to land safely?!”

  Does someone know Landing magic?

  “What the hell is Landing magic?!”

  I guess that a ‘no’ guess I have to create that too…

  I evaded several [Ice Spikes] as the salmon that I also managed to launch got on deck and started wreaking havoc again.

  So, do you want me to deal with these salmon or the landing?

  “The landing!” the crew and fishermen yelled in unison.

  Shit, I was hoping you would ask me to help with the fish.

  I looked over the railing and looked down, we were quite high up and would probably go ‘splat’ when we hit the surface. I shifted stance and started [Dragonvein: Howling Updraft]. The ship… rocked a lot, demonstrated by the people getting tossed around the air with this updraft but it was just temporary as it would stop once we crash.

  My tail aided and sneaked in some [Wind Dragon Festival] moves to create wind dragons that would carry the ship.

  Oof, carrying something heavy as this is going to suck in the long run.

  Giana broke free from her restraint but slid over the deck, just like everyone else. Because of the weight, I had trouble keeping the ship straight.

  Ugh, who decided to make this ship this heavy, I’m sorry guys, we’re going down.

  I might have caused everyone to panic and directed the wind dragons downward. I froze my feet on the deck to make sure I would fall at the same rate as anything else.

  Huh? Where is Giana?

  “Help!” I looked up and spotted a vixen floating down.

  I made an ice cube and swapped it with Giana.

  “Ooh, hey there.”

  Grab on, I can’t stop it.

  She grabbed onto me and not the ship…

  I didn't mean to me…

  She stuck out her tongue and covered the ship in a barrier. I made some ice cubes, threw them to the deck and froze them to the deck, and then swapped them with some people that flew off the boat.

  Giana caught some people with her tails while singing. “This is fun! Are all your adventures like this?!”

  Uhh, kinda. I need to pull up, but I don't think I can do it; my arms are going numb…

  “Oh, I can help! I have a song that helps against that!” Giana started to sing, and I did my best to make sure we didn't nosedive into the sea. The crew reacted favorably to Giana’s song as they started to calm down.

  The surface came quite close, and we braced for impact, it cracked the barrier and damaged the hull. Everyone got hit by the shockwave and everything got soaked.

  I don’t know what was more dangerous, getting hit by that laser or that stunt.

  “Nobody died so this was better.”

  Our allies seem to disagree…

  “Are you trying to kill us?!” was the most common complaint.

  Trust me if I was you would all be dead.

  Giana hummed a calming tune while still speaking. “I don’t think that's helping Agnis…”

  Oh, look it seems one of the spirit salmon knows the skill [Tsunami].

  A gigantic wave was heading toward us and I heard names of various gods getting called out. And I also heard Giana’s name. I looked over, and it seems the assassin escaped and was looking at Giana as if she were a goddess.

  Ah, right that guy there thinks you’re a goddess, care to make him proud and perform a miracle?

  “You know that I can only use defensive skills! And I’m not sure if my barriers would hold out against that [Tsunami], I’m not used to making barriers this big so I don't know… I can try and freeze it!”

  Don’t bother freezing such a huge body of moving water is going to drain too much of your mana, mana we need to stay alive.

  I stepped forward and countered the [Tsunami] with my own. It wasn't as big as the one coming at us, but I would freeze everything with frost magic after they collided.

  Have you figured out yet how to use frost magic?

  “Not yet, sorry. I can only use it by using your mana”

  The [Tsunami] collided, and I froze them solid. I then turned it into regular ice and some familiar fishermen turned it into an [Ice Golem]. It had its moment of glory before it was getting chipped down from being bombarded by spirit magic and water spirit magic.

  The situation was dire, and I might have to get serious with all these people around, but only Giana and I might be left if I don't, and we will have to get back to shore by ourselves if that's the case.

  A big group of spirit salmon swam to the ship, attempting to jump on the ship again. They all jumped together and my tail responded by drawing 2 primal runes in the air.

  Cessnam, vaporiya!

  The salmon stopped midair and got vaporized.

  Phew, I didn't mess those runes up.

  Another wave jumped at me, but I couldn't recreate those perfect runes, so I covered myself in my multilayered barrier and got Nilah out to cut as many salmon in pieces as I could reach.

  I guess I can’t half ass this for much longer…

  The assassin stared at me as if he were captivated by me.

  Hey, assassin! Stop staring at me I don’t swing that way!

  “Oh, don’t mind me, I’m just curious how you and Giana are the only ones that can hit these salmon.”

  I am a spirit mage! Kinda…

  “Oh! Do show me your contracted spirit!”

  Contracted spirit… oh shit! I don’t have one to make this lie fly. Why am I so shit…

  Two more [Tsunami] were approaching us and ‘playing pretend’ was over.

  Ok fine! You guys win!

  7 tails popped out, they used [Eternal Winter] and started dealing with the attackers. The collected mana got used to form a [Foxfire: Summer Heat] above the frozen ocean. Some parts of the ice broke because the spirit salmon melted it, but that was not a problem.

  The fireball’s temperature spiked and I dropped it on a large part of the school. My 3 rd tail used [Boil] while my other tails slapped all the salmon of the ship. Giana’s barrier saved the boat from the heat and the steam explosion.

  “I knew it! You’re one too!” Mr. Psycho seemed ecstatic, and the assassin seemed to be very happy too.

  “Unbelievable! There is a male god and a female goddess! I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to witness this miracle!”

  I threw a spirit salmon in their direction to shut them up. Their expressions were priceless as they evaded an approaching 3 meter long salmon.

  It felt great to have my tails out, the problem is what will happen after this. There were looks of curiosity, amazement and… is the assassin worshiping me?

  Hey asshole cut it out! I will drown you if you worship me!

  I was expecting to see fear, but there was none of it. Is humanity ready to accept us? Which begs the question… where are the non-humans?

  Non-humans got more accepted, but there aren’t many around. I’ve also hardly seen anyone that came here with the 6 th dimension. How strange…

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