The Killzone was just as brutal as I remembered it. Large fish with all kinds of weird and deadly mutations swam around at speeds that should have honestly been impossible, constantly fighting against other open-ocean fish or hunting down much weaker reefborns.

It was a stark contrast to the relatively peaceful areas of the reef. Sure, there was danger there, obviously, but if one was smart about it, it was all too easy avoiding predators.

Here, though, it was simply impossible to not encounter danger. The area had some rocks and corals here and there, but as the ground level continued to lower, they became rarer and rarer.

I hadn't fully explored the area yet, but now that I had the strength to, I fully intended on, if not conquering, at least learning how to survive in such an area.

I swam my way around the initial contact area between reef and ocean, remaining only a couple of meters above the floor level, daring any challenger to approach my glorious 8-meter long frame.

Although my memories of the other world are already pretty fuzzy, I do remember the longest snake in that world was only some 7.5 meters, so I'm technically already well over my old world's limit.

And, just as expected, it wasn't too long before a challenger showed up. A frankly gigantic tuna-like monster with eight eyes and some crazy sharp teeth.

I'd actually seen this fish back during my mad dash to adulthood. I'd had to flee from this damn thing twice, but thankfully it never pursued me too far.

But... Things were different now, far different.

I bared my teeth at the tuna, showing off my poisonous fangs. Although my poison was by far not my strongest weapon, it was still much stronger than most beings around here.

The tuna itself seemed to hesitate at my aggressive stance, but it still went ahead with its attack. All of its attention was focused on me and I felt as though there was something attempting to control my mind.

But it was weak. Pathetically weak. It was all too easy to crush this strange force with my willpower, even if I never experienced something like this.

The tuna recoiled, 4 of its eyes violently shutting close, blood streaking out of them. Mental attacks, huh. Good thing I've got the mind of a human along with far, far more years of experience than this thing.

I didn't waste any more time and instead shot forward, taking advantage of the momentary shock the tuna seemed to have gone into. I bit with enough force to easily crush its bones, latching onto its side as the rest of my body followed suit, wrapping around the still stunned tuna.

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When it came back to itself, it struggled violently, attempting to bite or dislodge me. It even smashed itself into the nearby rocks, although, doing such a thing was obviously hurting it far more than it hurt me.

It took surprisingly little for the thing to die. Evidently, the backslash from failing whatever it tried to do to my mind was far worse than I originally thought.

Hmph. I am the queen of myself, attempting to try to steal my mind from me will only get this dumbass a one-way trip to my hungry stomach.

I pushed away a couple of notifications, no level up, unfortunately. Meanwhile, I was also busy eating up the tuna. It was big, yes, but far from too big for me to swallow up. It was also really tasty, and it's eyes were also suprisingly good. Like, 5-star restaurant good.

I eyed the few ferocious-looking fish that were looking at me while I ate my meal. I puffed myself up, making me seem as big as possible while showing off my fangs.

There was an uncanny level of intelligence in their eyes as they considered their choice. Eventually, they slowly backed off, leaving me to my own devices.

I heaved a sigh of relief. It's a good thing that it's seriously rare for fish, both here and on the reef, to form any real groups. If they did, I would almost surely be overwhelmed.

Well, their loss is my win. I proudly finished swallowing up the tuna and then waited around an hour for it to be digested. When I felt ready enough, I continued to make my way through the Killzone.

I came across multiple battles between all sorts of creatures, and it was honestly awe-inspiring to see such diversity. I even saw a car-sized crab wrestling with a 20-armed octopus that had spikes instead of suckers.

As a marine biologist in my previous life, I couldn't help but want to take them apart and see just how they functioned as living beings, but most of the interesting ones were still above my league. Hence, I left them alone.

I even had an encounter with something akin to my past self. A merely 2 meters long goldfish attempting to steal away a piece of another creature's kill while it was distracted. However, unlike myself, the goldfish wasn't very smart about it. Instead of robbing a large piece and then fleeing for its life, it continued to steal little pieces, always coming back. It wasn't long before the rightful owner of the kill noticed it, and made quick work of it.

Ah, how glad I am that I outgrew those days. The stress of constantly risking your life for such small morsels is really something I don't regret leaving behind.

Nonetheless, I kept up my exploration of the Killzone. I even caught a glimpse of the real open-ocean, which was an impossibly vast expanse of nothing but water, darkness, and death. I was quick to back off, preferring to remain in the middle-area between reef and ocean for now.

As I was exploring, though, I was suddenly attacked. A Bobbit-worm-like creature exploded out of the ground, attempting to catch me with its jaws. It came really, really close to doing so, but my relatively slender body allowed me to just barely dodge its lightning-quick grab.

The vicious bite I gave it for its attempt made me feel a lot better as it quickly fled back into the ground. I wasn't feeling particularly confident in battling it in its home area, so I begrudgingly left.

Still, I wisely decided that, perhaps, it might be a good idea to invest more in dexterity and intelligence, just so that I can react faster to surprises like this.