Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 67: Tritons in the Dark River
"I just don't think it's safe for us to go on like this," Ivy muttered, "Especially since I have to leave my armor and shield behind."

"Don't rely too much on external things, Ivy," Victoria said with a sacred expression, "seek strength within yourself."

"I'm not going to believe in Heim." Ivy sighed resignedly and began to undress from her gear.

Driver looked at this, then looked at that, then took two steps back in fear, and said with an awkward smile: "Well, well, I'd better show you the clothes here... so that it won't steal them!"

Aikzuri: ???
You're a goblin and you're afraid of water, so why do you involve me?
"Am I that kind of dragon?!" Exuri snorted at Driver in dissatisfaction, and the strong sour smell made the goblin sneeze. "But I really can't go down with you - the 'teacher' specifically told me that the creature is not very friendly to dragons."

"I'd better not go and get into trouble."

"Okay, but let's set a time." Ron stretched out his foot to touch the underground river water, then quickly pulled his foot back because it was so cold. "How about three hours? If we can't come up, I'll have to trouble you to find us."

"Don't worry about that!" Aiksuri nodded, "I will abide by the agreement."

Although Ron was the first to take off his clothes, he was the last to jump into the water. It was not because he wanted to admire the figures of the three girls on the shore - a heavy armored warrior, a barbarian, and a guard. Those muscles and scars were not so pleasing to the eye, even though Ivy and Victoria were quite remarkable in Ron's eyes.

The main reason is that the water is too cold and he needs to adapt to it.

"puff--"

Sera, who dived into the water first, spit out a mouthful of water and laughed at Ron, "You mages are too sensitive! In our place, if you want to go into the water, you have to jump in quickly after you dig a hole in the ice, otherwise your head will hit the re-frozen water!"

"Ah..." Ivy sighed exaggeratedly, "Every time I hear you tell stories about the North, I always feel like you're bragging."

"Tsk, if you don't believe me, forget it. Go try it yourself when you have time and you'll know!"

After a long while, Ron finally "slipped" into the water. The temperature underwater was relatively warm, not as cold as when he first entered the water.

"Keep diving deeper from here. If the creature is not a purely aquatic creature, you may be able to find a hidden cave where you can breathe!" The voice of the black dragon Exuri came from above their heads, on the other side of the water.

This was underground and underwater. Although Ron had his eyes open, his vision was almost the same as when he had his eyes closed.

Moreover, he couldn't speak here, so he couldn't release the Dancing Light Technique.

“Mmmmm…” Ivy confidently approached the three blind humans and gestured to indicate that she could lead the way.

Following the half-elf girl, as they dived deeper and deeper, a little light began to appear under the deep water. It was the fluorescence emitted from the surface of various aquatic creatures.

Apparently humans aren't the only ones who have trouble seeing underwater.

In the underwater world that had become relatively brighter, Ron and his friends quickly found the underwater entrance to the cave that Axuri had described.

But when they filed in and swam towards the cave entrance, they found that this breathing place was not so easy to enter.

A pair of huge orange-yellow eyes appeared above their heads. No emotions could be seen on the huge blue-green fish head. The strange creature just floated above them, staring at Ron and his group coldly.

What should I do?! The other three might be fine, but Ron was not an athlete, and had not received any systematic training. In such a silent confrontation, the oxygen in his lungs was being consumed rapidly - he could no longer hold on.

At this time, his companions obviously noticed Ron's situation and began to gesture frantically to each other, hoping that this creature with a fish head and a human body would show mercy, or at least be humane and let them go up quickly.

Even they can't hold out for long in this stalemate.

Finally, when Ron began to show signs of drowning, the creature finally gave in and turned to swim upwards. Ivy and the others quickly grabbed Ron and followed.

"Ha ha!"

As his head emerged from the water, Ron began to breathe heavily. He was finally alive.

The short but long dive almost brought him to the gates of hell!
The culprit of all this was the "merman" in front of them who had jumped onto a protruding rock and began to look at them with his head tilted again.

Its scales were very beautiful. After Ron released the light technique, the blue scales reflected colorful rainbow light under the light. However, from the appearance, it seemed to be quite different from the mermaids Ron had heard of.

Simply put, the fish part is its head, and the human part is the body.

"That's not a mermaid," Ivy whispered, "It's a fish-man."

"But I don't understand. No matter which fishman race it is, it should live in the sea. Why does it appear here?"

"All bodies of water are connected to the ocean, all oceans are connected to the Elemental Plane of Water, and the Elemental Plane is connected to all worlds."

The fishman suddenly started talking in fluent Common Language, and he started with a long sermon.

"It's not strange that I'm here. It's you who are strange."

This murloc probably learned an outdated version of the Common language, so the choice of personal pronouns is a bit strange.

"Sorry?" Ivy was stunned. She looked up at the other person in confusion. "How could you... No, since you can do it, then you must be-"

"Triton, that's what you land people call me," the fishman nodded, confirming Ivy's thoughts, "My name is Devin Booker, the centurion of the 4th Army of the Freshwater Legion."

The fishman seemed to deliberately swallow a small part of the pronunciation to make his name easier for Ron and others to understand: "I have been guarding this place for ninety years."

"Guarding here?" Ron looked at him curiously, "Why do you want to guard here?"

"He said it was the Freshwater Legion," Sera said, "I guess the underground river should also be considered freshwater."

"That's not what he meant," Ivy explained. "The tritons guard the depths of the ocean, building small settlements near trenches, portals to the elemental plane, and other dangerous places far from the sight of land dwellers. Although a little far away from us, they are indeed respectable fighters who have made outstanding contributions to preventing the elemental plane from invading the material world."

(End of this chapter)