Five minutes.

I just needed to stay underwater for five minutes to reach the little corner of hidden items I had prepared. Simple, very simple, I thought even as I dodged another tentacle, followed by another sharp pull to avoid the huge body of the beast, staying as close to the bottom of the river as I could manage.

It was dangerous.

The temptation to escape the river early, hoping that I could slip back to the camp was sweet, but unless the option was between that and immediate death, I wasn't willing to make that call.

Trying to approach the camp from the same direction was a suspicion I couldn't handle, not at the moment. Another slash to kill a fish, even as I used my empty hand to pull myself to the side, dodging another tentacle attack as the beast tried to stay in the same direction as me.

I was lucky that the beast was an ambush predator, I realized as I dodged another attack. It was fast, and it was strong, but its underwater charges were predictable enough that I was able to predict them before they launched, which got easier as I slowly got used to the sudden increase in my Strength.

And, its arguably greatest benefit, the siren's call that was ordering me to stop, was completely useless.

The sight of my experience counter-growing as I killed the beasts that were attacking me was certainly welcome after I had drained most of it earlier. I managed to avoid them … mostly, until one of them lucked out a hit, taking a painful bite of my shoulder while I dodged the ambush beast.

[-2 Health]

[+6 Experience]

…

[+42 Experience]

Yet, barely a minute into our dangerous dance, the situation changed. The beast was not as stupid and reactive as I had hoped. Rather than continuing to charge forward, it started swimming closer to me, attacking with two tentacles at a time.

I dodged one and slashed against another. Even with my improved Strength, it wasn't enough to lop it off, but it left a large gash, forcing it to pull back momentarily. Unfortunately, it wasn't without a cost, as it allowed another fish to take a bite off me, this time even deeper.

[-5 Health]

I pulled down, going even deeper into the river, so, when it next attacked, I just grabbed a rock from the bottom of the river. The pull of the water made the attempt painful, but I did not doubt that, without my Strength to counter the effect, it would have ripped my arm off.

That allowed me to dodge the tentacles, which just slammed against the riverbed hopelessly while the water dragged him away. It was a temporary reprieve, as it was certainly strong enough to swim against the current, but it gave me a few seconds of reprieve.

That reprieve came quickly. The move didn't occupy my blade, and I killed the fish that was determined to destroy me.

[+33 Experience]

…

[+18 Experience]

The problem, I didn't believe that I would have a chance to repeat it, at least not with the same success. I might be facing a monster, but that clearly didn't mean it could not learn, and the repeat would result in a painful end.

As I battled against underwater torrents and the beasts, I was desperately trying to come up with a new trick. At first, I had hoped that it would charge forward recklessly, to pay me back, but instead, it closed in slowly, carefully — and, most interestingly, it didn't try to block my path to the shore.

Together, I didn't have any hope of passing it — even if I was confident of swimming just as fast. Pity I didn't have any weapon that it could harm it, I decided as I glanced at its huge maw, where the hilt of a sword was glistening.

Or maybe…

It was time to test just how smart was the beast. As it approached toward me, I first looked to the side, above water, acting like I had noticed something. Then, I started swimming toward there desperately.

The beast reacted as well, but carefully, showing that it didn't believe completely. Not a problem. I suddenly changed my path and started swimming back, and when it attacked with a tentacle, I repeated the same trick of grabbing the bottom of the river.

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Its second tentacle was waiting for that exact purpose and attacked me.

Excellent.

Ignoring the smaller fish that was using that as an opportunity, I changed direction. Swimming directly toward the beast. I could have used the opportunity to bypass the beast … but then what? I didn't want to go back to the shore so early and get caught, and I also didn't want to race a beast of water in swimming speed.

No, I had a different target.

I rushed directly toward its maw, my dagger ready. I ignored the bites of the smaller fish as the distance between us dwindled further, even ignoring the threatening length of its teeth as its maw parted threateningly.

It recognized the danger too late. It had the speed but lacked the mobility to adjust it momentarily.

And my dagger sank into one of its many eyes.

Its mouth opened even wider, threatening to swallow me — but in anger, it made the true mistake. It allowed me to grab the hilt of the sword that was buried in its flesh. The Vitality allowed it to recover from that wound, and its flesh was tight around it.

I tried to pull it, but it didn't work. Some leverage was needed, I decided as I twisted impossibly, even as the tentacles moved toward me. One of my feet, I pressed against its head — and the other, I used the opportunity to kick the dagger deeper into its eye.

The jolt of pain was enough to stall its tentacles for a moment, which was what I needed to pull the sword. With the leverage, it was moving.

But the fish around me started to bite me wildly, forcing me to spend Health to recover as soon as possible, and with my immobile state, they were able to deliver much more dangerous attacks.

[-7 Health]

[-4 Health]

[-9 Health]

That would not do, I decided, once again dipping into my reserves. I would have preferred to have some in storage to put some in Charisma once I managed to get a handle on how to use it — or if I somehow managed to awaken another Stat — but that kind of long-term concerns weren't as critical as the fish that tried to do their best to eat me alive.

Or the monster under my feet, with its tentacles rushing forward.

[+10 Strength]

[-10 Stat Points]

As I pulled the sword, I was fascinated that it was still bright and glistening, like it hadn't been buried in a monster for the last couple of days… But I didn't have the time to enjoy the sight.

As the tentacle rushed toward me, I swung the sword. When I hit it with my dagger, I barely managed to leave a temporary wound that disappeared just as quickly, giving me only a second.

Magical swords had a different effect, especially when supported by my newfound Strength. The tentacle was shaved into half, the unconnected side drifting among in the waves.

Pity. I had a feeling that Zolast would have been able to whip up something really delicious from it.

However, as I noticed that not only the tentacle stop bleeding in an instant, but actually started to grow back, I ignored the amusement, and instead used its body as a launching board, kicking to get away.

It attacked with its other tentacle, which I prioritized over the other fish to deal with, which was persistently attacking me. Only after another piece of tentacle floated away, I started dealing with those fish, giving me quite a bit of experience.

Unfortunately, the delay had cost me quite a bit of my Health in the process.

[-52 Health]

[Health: 118/225]

Not ideal by any means, but certainly better than the alternative. The beast didn't attack me for a moment, allowing me to easily deal with the attacking fish and even drift back to the bottom of the river, which I could use to help me dodge in case of an emergency.

I expected the beast to charge forward. Surprisingly, it didn't, probably remembering it had ended up with a sword buried in it, unfortunately not in a vital location. Instead, it waited for its tentacles to grow back before attacking once more, carefully.

Only to end up with two stumps once more. It was hesitant as it was attacking, which meant it even failed to allow the rest of the fish to deliver an attack. I couldn't blame the beast for not attacking, as I could see that, unlike its tentacles, the eye with the buried dagger was not recovering.

A good reason to stay back, but it still put a frown on my face. It implied that some of the beasts were able to hold back their instincts to kill people under unfavorable circumstances, an ability that the smaller variants lacked.

It made the world even more dangerous, I thought even as I took down another small fish attacking me. The larger beasts were strong enough without the implications brought along with even basic tactical competency.

[+45 Experience]

It had been an intense minute, one that almost pushed me to the brink. Yet, with the magical sword in hand once more, and the beast hesitant, the rest of my journey passed without anything significant. The beast didn't dare to push forward recklessly, and taking down the tentacles had become almost trivial. By the third minute, it was just used as a tool of containment, showing that even its Health had limits.

Pretty significant limits, I guessed considering it still regenerated them several times. But limits nonetheless.

By the fourth minute, I faked an escape to the shore, and while it tried to prevent my escape in a hurry, I managed to cut both tentacles at the same time, one from the middle, the other just shaving the end. The beast still recovered, but I didn't care about that. My aim wasn't to damage it significantly.

No, I just wanted it to be hesitant to prevent my escape. So, when I finally saw a familiar curve, I started my journey, I swam toward the shore at full speed.

A move that the beast was too slow to react, and before it could do so, I was already on muddy ground — which was annoying, but I was glad that the rest of the mud I put for concealment had long washed away, the angry flow of the river working excellently as a washing machine.

The beast burst to the surface, its cry of anger spectacular, especially when combined with the pull of its unique brand of Charisma. I could hear the beasts that surrounded us getting to move.

I didn't care that. With my magical sword in hand, I rushed toward the spot where I hid my clothes, though, at the edge of the muddy riverbank, I dipped the sword down, hiding its shine behind a layer.

No need to shout I had a treasure in hand.