"--my gosh! Jie! Thank goodness you're okay!" someone said as Jie was spat out back into the original room. It looked exactly as it had before with not a single brick out of place.
It took Jie a moment to realize it was Pan Tian who'd spoken with how strange their voices were underwater.
Ithilix, Xue, and Pan Tian were around her. They looked okay despite some torn clothing, fur, and a variety of burns. Nothing that a healing pill or two wouldn't fix. Jie let out a relieved sigh through her gills.
"Are you guys okay?" Jie asked.
"We're alright," Pan Tian said, "you worried us though. You were the last to arrive."
"I'll tell you about it when we get out of here," Jie said.
The plaque glowed red and four red orbs streaked off and into each of them. Jie flicked her tail as her scaly skin itched from the orb. Red energy bubbled up out of the floor and formed into seven chests.
"Woah," Pan Tian said, "there's no way I did well enough to justify this reward... how many did you kill, Jie?"
Jie heard whispering that carried through the water... in that same strange language... they seemed to come from every direction at once and maybe it was just because sound was back to normal... but she could swear it sounded like even more than before.
"I think we should get our treasure and get out. Now," Jie said.
Nobody argued and they each sped to the chests, threw open the lids, and stored the contents inside their storage rings. Then, Pan Tian led the way out with Jie close behind her, cycling her qi to replenish as much as she could before the next fight she was sure would be coming. They could worry about what treasures they'd gained after they got out of here.
They raced through the labyrinthine passages of the temple, heading right back the way they'd come. Jie's heart pounded as she thought of the sheer amount of that white flesh she'd seen earlier.
How am I supposed to fight? I'll kill my friends with how my qi is in this water! Jie thought.
They sped through the temple.
Patches of white flesh came off the ceiling, revealing the horrid creatures Jie had fought in the dark. Pan Tian's claws of light gleamed, and she slashed, sending arcs of bright white qi through the water that bisected these weak specimens. They continued swimming and a sense of helplessness grew in Jie's heart.
Some of the creatures raced out of a side passage behind them and Xue whirled to face them. His jaws opened wide as he exhaled a cloud of crackling dragon lightning qi that turned into a beam of brilliant plasma on contact with the water. His attack annihilated the creatures in an instant and they pressed on, leaving the gory remains of their attackers in their wake.
They made it to the entrance hall and Jie noted that there were none of those creatures in it anymore. She felt like an idiot for not being more suspicious of that pale flesh earlier. But it hadn't felt like any animal or plant she'd ever encountered, and it had been subdued in her spirit sense.
I really need to get Elder Shi to teach me how to detect things better with it... Jie thought.
They swam out of the temple and into the city and Jie's attention was immediately drawn to the enormous cloud of the pale creatures swimming in a gathering swarm like a shoal of fish. Except there had to be thousands... tens of thousands... perhaps even more as it was impossible to count the moving, swirling sphere of swarming monsters.
There were packs of the creatures everywhere, many of which swam over to join the enormous horde.
"My attacks aren't safe for you guys down here," Jie said, "I'll put myself between you and that huge cloud of them. Stay away from me or I'll accidentally kill you. Xue, you should guard them from the other side as me. Stay away from Pan Tian and Ithilix. Your attacks are like mine down here."
Jie expected Pan Tian to argue, she was in charge after all. But instead she gave a quick nod.
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"You'd better be right behind us. If you die, I'll never let you forget it!" Pan Tian said and raced upward with Ithilix at her side and Xue guarding the opposite side of them as Jie.
Some of the packs of gathering creatures took a detour toward Pan Tian and Ithilix only for Xue to rip them apart with another blast of lightning breath.
Jie kept the majority of her focus on the huge ball of the monsters as she cycled her qi, careful to position herself between it and her friends at all times. Some of the monsters left their ball and raced toward her. Jie unleashed twin chain finger of light attacks and reduced them to a cloud of acidic blood and smoking white flesh that drifted down toward the lake floor.
But, despite Jie and her friends being unbelievably exposed, the creatures mostly seemed content to remain in their ball. It didn't make sense to Jie, particularly given the aggression they'd shown earlier, but if they decided to attack, she wasn't sure they'd all make it out alive. So, she was glad of their strange behavior despite the fact it unsettled her for some reason.
Then, the creatures began to chant.
It started as a rhythmic whisper that rapidly grew in volume and Jie tensed, expecting them to rapidly spread out and rush toward her and her friends, or to unleash some kind of group attack. But, she saw no obvious effect as the chanting continued.
The pattern of their swirling ball shifted in concert with their chanting and the creatures began sending out their lava attacks in seemingly random directions. But even those attacks which headed her way were too far away and merely flashed and turned to stone in the water with great clouds of white smoke forming a strange almost spiritual, shifting image around them.
Jie conserved her qi rather than attacking them and kept herself between her friends and the creatures as they continued doing their strange, rhythmic... whatever it was.
Jie swam higher with her friends, anxiously scanning for any sign of what the creatures were doing. Whatever it was, their chanting and strange rhythmic dance heightened to a fevered intensity. Then, all at once they stopped and unleashed their lava attacks so the tendrils of snaking lava connected and exploded in a single, final note that reverberated through the lake.
Jie felt the sound wash over her but didn't notice any obvious effect as she and her friends continued swimming.
For a long, tense moment, it seemed that nothing had happened. Then, a sound like a whale's song reverberated through the water, alternating in pitch from higher to lower. It sounded huge and the force of its song vibrated Jie's bones, sending a wave of fear rolling through her as it did so.
The pale creatures scattered in every direction. Most of them raced downward to the temple buildings as a dark shape rushed into view.
It was enormous. Bigger than the building Jie and her friends had left. It had large front claws, terrifying, utterly black, soulless eyes, and far too many legs with the armored body of a lobster, though it was covered in curved spines.
Its terrifying, alien face reminded Jie of the symbols in and around the temple. Jie's heart pounded with fear as she stared wide-eyed at what looked like an otherworldly god made flesh.
Despite its size, it was incredibly fast, and when it unveiled its aura it slammed into Jie like a wall. This thing was at the fourth star of the Elementalist rank. Something she couldn't possibly fight against.
It raced toward where the pale creatures had gathered and opened its beak. Tentacles unfurled from its mouth, enveloped a cluster of stragglers, and swept them into its mouth in one large bite as the other pale creatures fled for their lives.
The enormous monster circled in the water, catching another helping of the pale creatures. Then, it turned and its beady eyes focused on Jie's friends. It rushed toward them, moving impossibly fast.
Pan Tian, Ithilix, and Xue swam as fast as they could. Jie could feel the fluctuations in their auras and their desperate movements to get away, but the lake was deep and even if they made it out above the ice, Jie doubted it would stop this massive beast from attacking them.
Jie cycled her qi through her meridians in the pattern for a finger of light attack, pushing as much qi into her attack as possible. Her fingers throbbed and tingled as lightning sparked and crackled over them and she directed it not at where the enormous creature was, but where it was going to be.
It left her fingers in a flash, turning the water around it to brightly glowing plasma before slamming directly into one of the beast's utterly black eyes with an enormous explosion.
The massive monster roared a deep, angry song as it flinched away from where she'd struck. It thrashed its head from side to side then turned its attention on Jie as its entire body bristled with rage and its spines quivered. The smoke and steam on its eye cleared, revealing only the barest of scratches.
Ice-cold fear pulsed through Jie as even her strongest attack to such a vulnerable area did nothing. But there was no time for inaction. So, Jie pushed all of her energy into her lightning step technique and pushed off an electric platform that exploded in a plasma discharge.
It sent her rocketing through the water like a torpedo in a path that would take the enormous monster in the opposite direction from her friends. Back toward the lake temple.
The beast roared and Jie spared a glance over her shoulder to make sure she'd taken its attention away from her friends. Sure enough, she'd got her wish. The monster raced toward her, heedless of anything else as it sped through the water unbelievably fast.
Jie's lightning step technique gave her a massive boost to her speed even when she wasn't using the platforms. And that speed boost seemed greatly increased as all her abilities were within this water. She moved faster than she ever had, and yet the horrifying creature was catching up.
Worse yet, from what Jie could sense, it wasn't even using a movement technique.