A giant shadow rose from the water next to the ship. In the moonlight, the female creature has long dark green hair, wet as seaweed. It looked like a blue anglerfish with a long antenna-like appendage on her head. Incredibly fat, like a blob with two round lumps on her broad chest and no neck beneath her flubber chin. Unlike the mermaids, this one looked more grotesque than her scary species. Lucy might not eat fish for a while.

Mermaid Queen Level: 20 Race: Mermaid HP: 200 Dungeon boss Boss fight alert! Defeat the mermaid queen to escape.

So the reef is actually a dungeon? Lucy has no time to think about that. She pointed her cutlass at the giant sea monster. "Raise the cannons! Shoot her down!"

The Mermaid Queen roared like a lion, drowning in water. She slammed her right fist onto the main deck, knocking everyone off their feet.

Ivy fell out from her crow’s nest, but she grabbed onto the ratline.

All the cannons on the left side fired together. Explosives and smoke jiggled the queen's large stomach, but the blasts left no trace of damage on her rubbery flesh.

Mermaid Queen immune!

"What?" Lucy gasped.

The cannons should have easily sent the creature back into the depths. Somehow, they couldn't hurt the beast.

"It appears the creature is too fat to take damage from our cannons," Charles suggested.

Byron rose to his finned feet. "Or her flesh is her armor. She must have a weak spot."

If cannons and guns couldn't harm the queen, what about swords? Lucy will have to get close to the damn thing before the queen sinks her ship.

"Coming! Mi coming!" Tashina raced from the doorway in the forecastle. She carried a small red barrel with a string on top.

"Close yuh eyes!" She lit the barrel and took cover under the rowboat.

Lucy shielded her eyes before the small barrel exploded into a flash of bright light. She heard a heart-wrenching scream from the mermaid queen. The flash definitely surprised her.

After it cleared, Lucy saw the giant mermaid dive into the water, leaving a big splash and nearly tipping the ship over. Apparently, the light was her weakness.

Boss fight completed! The Mermaid Queen retreated. No reward added.

Lucy sighed in disappointment. She still has to grow stronger, but at least she and her crew survived the giant mermaid attack.

The crew danced around in joy. They cheered and tossed a few hats in the air.

Lucy opened her ship's status and checked the results.

Iron Maiden Type: Brigantine Level: 20 HP: 190 Strength: 10 Speed: 5 Cannons: 40 Crew: 20

Lucy remembered she had a hundred crew members aboard the ship. Tragic how much she lost when the mermaids attacked. All she could do was move on with the grateful survivors.

Lucy clambered down to the main deck and approached Tashina. "Thank you, Tashina. You saved all our skins."

Tashina nodded with a grin. "Sorry it tek mi time tuh build di flash bomb. Mi neva ave di right craft tuh perfect it quicka." She frowned with her ears lowered. "More lives wud been save eff mi neva slow."

Lucy rubbed Tashina’s left shoulder. "You did well still. Not everyone lives through a battle. We can only save what we have, but surviving is all that matters."

The hyena sighed. "Mi understand."

"Yippee!" Walton cheered as he appeared on the deck, with Kiki behind him. "We live! We live!"

Lucy glared at the cat. "Coward!"

Walton snarled at her. "Don't ye dare blame me fer anythin'! Ye did defeat the mermaids, savvy?"

Kiki smacked his head. "Squawk! Still a coward!"

Walton rubbed his head, showing off his angry fangs.

Lucy rolled her eyes. She doesn't have time to argue with the cat all night. "Let's return to the seaport now so we can deliver the goods and repair this ship."

Everyone saluted her.