The Magic Carp looked at Murai in anger, its eyes glowed in distinct glossy and azure light. Then it opened its mouth, revealing a swirling motion of water and wind. A true vortex.
“Dodge!” Lisa shouted, but it was too late.
A whirling tornado tore the water many meters forward, making sections of ripples and bubbles like a swirling tornado. It pushed against Murai wide and quickly so he wasn't able to dodge anywhere. He saw there was a mixture of pressured water, wind, and some little stones in this attack, making it very quick and sharp.
Unexpectedly, this wasn't a part of this Whirwind Breath. Magic Carp ate some rocks to strengthen this attack, making it sharper than it was.
The Whirlwind Breath tore the water, striking Murai who was in his Diving Sphere, which wasn't meant to protect him from such attacks, yet it wasn't an ordinary ability. It was under Anatidaes, so it was strong.
The Diving Sphere backed to the tower's wall, still intact. Thanks to its roundness, it moved along the ripples, moving a few meters around the perimeter upwards. Small cracks spread from a couple of ripples around the Diving Sphere, but Murai quickly stabilized his control over it with more mana. Noticing a stop of the attack, he moved half a meter to the left in a single moment, before a smacking motion of dust and bubbles revealed the Magic Carp that attacked with its jaw. It missed.
“What a deadly combo... Does it think it's powerful? What a joke!” Murai mockingly said, feeling that the Mana Detection worked a bit better here than before. He didn't know why, but he didn't question it, since he was thinking of one issue.
How was he supposed to attack under these circumstances?
His Diving Sphere had a glaring issue. His physical body was within it, making it a good shield against the water but that was it. He can't put his beak from it, otherwise, it would destabilize for a moment, or straight up end its effective protection.
Is my Mana Shaping enough to form a good attack? My Beak's Fury would be much more effective, but this isn't a place for this. Unless... What is the best course of action? Murai thought, observing the Magic Carp that turned its head towards the uninjured foe. It was angry. Very much so.
Murai could see and feel its unhinged emotions.
“You should figure something out with the mana since that's the only long-range ability you have.” Lisa helped him after silently hugging his neck in this sharp turn of events. “That or you can use your surroundings to your advantage. Impale this fish to the Mana Spike if you can, or use something else, but first, you have to move to the end of this tower. The limit of 60 minutes is long, but going up seems like an important task. It's the first step while dealing with the Guardians is secondary.”
Lisa spoke some sense to his years, and this time, Murai had to agree with half of her words.
“Time limit isn't an issue, Lisa. I am too. Couple minutes. Remember.” He argued, making Lisa remember that their time limit was unlike what Battleworld gave them. Breath. Murai can remain like this for only a couple more minutes.
Nevermind. I am inclined to work with what this dungeon has to offer, but not in this way. Screw this fish, and screw this dungeon. That's it. I want to escape this and not do some stupid trials. Let's get the fuck out!
Floating up, Murai began his ascent while ignoring the glaring Magic Carp. He wasn't really fast or good at this. With 40% of his swimming speed, he was far slower than the Magic Carp. He wouldn't be able to dodge the incoming fish that was much more agile in this environment. Yet, he realized it soon enough, noticing a simple motion of the quick-moving Magic Carp towards him.
So, Murai decided to flush any kind of restraints away and deal with them. Cursing this fish with hundreds of words that even Lisa couldn't understand, he forgot about the ascent and made a quick, important change.
First, he used his Mana Flow to repair and strengthen the Diving Sphere as much as his senses allowed him. The residual force from the quick repair was put into 2 Mana Blades of similar height as himself. They floated outside of the sphere, facing the Magic Carp to strike it down. Each blade was like a knife or short sword, but their appearance wasn't as clear, and they had some rough sharpness to them.
Glaring at the carp, which had nothing but chaos and killing in its eyes, Murai viewed it more like prey than anything else. He thought little of it, as if it wasn't even a challenge, since it was a bother, albeit it may turn into something that will put his mind toward the excitement.
Magic Carp watched the foe, seemingly understanding the form of mana and what Murai was doing. It ceased its ferocious charge, beginning to follow the same attacking pattern with the use of Whirlwind Breath. This time, Murai knew what to expect, since it would be stupid to get hit with this attack twice. He dodged it by moving toward the bottom of the tower, while the Mana Blades remained in front of him.
Amidst the chaotic Whirlwind Breath that traveled for about a dozen meters, the attack completely failed. The view of the charging, and upset Magic Carp left no speck of emotion in Murai's mind who knew perfectly where it was. This was a much weaker opponent than the Devil Fox, even though the level was different.
No. That was wrong. Murai got stronger. Significantly stronger.
Like an overlord, he gazed at the approaching enemy with utter confidence. It was hiding in the gust of dust and bubbles, but that did nothing. Murai Shaped his blades to stand side by side, making them tougher by connecting them together with his Shaping.
The incoming Magic Carp went for the kill because the Whirlwind Breath failed. Its jaw scrapped the blades off, but it was enough of a distraction and power to lower its charge.
Murai glared forward and pushed his Diving Sphere right toward its face. In an unyielding tone of power, he jumped forward with his beak, making two quick jabs at the opponent.
“Beak's Fury!”
In this way, Murai pierced his Diving Sphere, but it took a second before he repaired it after his quick retrieval, letting only some water leak inside.
These sorts of quick strikes were enough to see gushing holes of blood and gore around Magic Carp's neck and head. Murai perfectly executed his plan, which left silent Lisa on his back surprised. It took him just a second to recognize Magic Carp's attacking pattern and see the possibilities to end this fight in the smoothest way possible. In fact, he didn't even waste that much time.
This was an excellent start, and without waiting for more, or glaring at the corpse of this fish, Murai began his ascent with confidence.
“Wait... Why don't you eat that carp? Isn't fish good?” Lisa suddenly remembered his eating issue, forgetting there was another one with a time limit and an issue with Diving Sphere's physicality.
That thing? Raw fish is disgusting, and not worth the time at the moment. Murai spits some blood from his bloody beak, thinking what he meant with utter disgust.
1st Wave was done, but another 4 would come, so Murai watched and motioned his Diving Sphere to move up as fast as he could. While doing so, something strange was happening.
Glaring upwards, Murai viewed this tower for the first time with little more attention.
It was a wide circular corridor with a couple dozen meters in width. Around the wall, there were residual stone or wooden walls, providing some places to hide. But the middle was empty of these walls, enabling him to see the end of the tower that ended up with quite some brightness. It was at least 100, or more meters away, making this tower quite tall.
What was strange, was a sudden pushing power that was acting against his diving Sphere. It was getting heavier and heavier to move upwards, almost like a tougher and more potent gravity spell.
Huh? I move 50% as fast as swimming. He thought.
“Murai Hisagi, I knew it... Nothing is simple in the dungeons.” Lisa smacked her head. “This is another thing of these places. Sometimes, dungeons can have traps and magical effects outside of the Will of the Battleworld's interferences. Sometimes, the reason is provided, but not now. This is some pressuring power of some sort. Maybe gravity spell, water, or some pressure that is beyond the surface, or it is part of this tower. There could be also some traps around the wall, or those rooms that used to make this tower, so be careful.” She said, pointing to the right and left around the wall.
This tower in itself had still some remaining walls, indicating the former rooms that used to be there. As for now, the tower was looking more like a big tunnel, with residual floors and rocky, or wooden walls that made this place a bit varied. Murai looked high above. Moving his neck, he saw the end of the tower from the near bottom. It was far, but he will get there soon enough.
[1st Wave was defeated]
[2nd one is coming forth]
[2 Magic Carps are better than 1. That is simple math and common sense, so get moving]
“Fucking goddammit! Stupid Battleworld.” Murai cursed upon seeing the two magic carps of similar weight and mass appear from above.
They came from some of the walls outside of his line of vision, so who knew if some other monsters were hiding there too?
And here you said it's simple or whatnot. Now what? Murai looked at Lisa, who was for once, quiet.
“I... I...” She mumbled, unable to help him much.
I don't think I will have enough time to get to the surface in this manner. I have like a minute or two of breath left. Murai complained and Conjured another wave of mana, Shaping it into short blades. The last ones were unfortunately met with the Carp's jaw, disintegrating back to the mana so he killed it with his beak.
Unfortunately, the Magic Carps worked in tandem, unleashing their Whirlwind Breaths at the same time.
The walls shook, and so was Murai, who looked at the upcoming sight that he wasn't willing to meet head-on. So, he moved his Diving Sphere down 5 meters, figuring that the pressuring gravity made his descent faster than his regular swimming. He hid around some wall, dodging the raging Whirlind Breaths that struck quite a large area. Part of the wall was destroyed in the process, while the Carps charged forward without seeing what their opponent was doing.
After all, the moment they attacked, their eyes almost popped from their sockets, and they couldn't see or move as long as they were using the Whirwind Breath.
Outside of their vision, Murai knew more than them, since his Mana Detection perceived the foes without the need for physicality. Adding the effects of the Soul Read, he knew what to expect with his eyes closed.
Stupid fish... They don't know shit, but I can't work properly... Fine... Eat this fishfuckers! Murai changed the shape of the Mana Blades by letting floods of mana from his body flow into them.
100. 120. 150? it was hard to tell how much he spent from his Mana Pool, but not like he cared about numerical messes. Murai can't feel his Initialization stage Beast Core all that well. A good chunk of mana disappeared from his reserves, causing the blades to turn wider and thicker like a spike at one end.
Mana Javelin should do with this Shaping for now. It is burly and weak at the other end, but the spike is at least sharp. Oh, it's manageable with the Shaping, but it's hard to let it remain firm. This will kill one enough, but not the other. Fuck... Murai thought and felt the following restrain within his mind. It was a special dreadful feeling when mana was getting out of control, but this time, it wasn't that bad for some reason. With such an amount of it gone, he thought he would cough blood, or destabilize his Diving Sphere, but here he was, fine apart from some headache.
The use of his sudden Conjuring was fast and Shaping it afterward was another thing altogether. But neither was it good or bad since Murai was always comfortable wielding things he wasn't meant to wield or were a bit too difficult to get used to. Somewhat, it worked, but he felt it would be quite a fatal issue against stronger or clever opponents. He needed to think of that.
The javelin was outside of his body influence, but he still Shaped it forward, piercing the body of one of the Carps who charged around the corner. It could not dodge since it had no powerful abilities like Murai. The other Magic Carp came afterward, noticing the blood, and dodging the javelin's rough tip that obliterated the first carp into many parts. With a look of fury, the other Magic Carp was furious. Swirling left and right, it charged at Murai since his weapon was away, meaning a chance had come.
Gazing at the imminent enemy, Murai wasn't one bit nervous, but his bloodshot eyes were more than agitated. Mana. Return!
A speck of point appeared before the Diving Sphere until it grew into a rough javelin from before. The bloody one in the water vaporized, turning to mana particles that traveled back to Murai. With too much momentum going, the Magic Carp pierced the tip of a rough javelin with its jaw, ending its life while traveling deep into it.
“Hmph! Stupid fish. I swear I would eat you If I could.” Murai spitted those words out but tried his hardest to force this mana to turn back to his body.
It was little, as the mana return was even harder than the issues with his Shaping. This try amounted to no small amount of residual mana to seep into the world, but he was comfortable with diminishing returns. About half of the mana still returned to his body which was something he could work with.
“What? What did you just do?” Lisa asked in curiosity, glancing behind his neck at the dead carp.
“Used mana to my advantage, as you said,” he answered. “It was a gamble, but I succeeded. Recalling the mana when it was Shaped a few seconds ago is a possible thing to do but it was a bit difficult to manage. Doing so in a straight line and a few meters in this environment worked to my advantage. I am glad it worked with my lacking mana and control in this body.”
“Wait! What? I never heard of this. How did you return it?” Lisa shouted an inch from his face, irritating Murai in return.
Get off me... We had a deal, didn't we? Murai pushed his beak to her, yet it struck nothing. Don't talk shit. That's the deal.
Furrowing her brows, Lisa was indeed unwilling to let go of this topic, but he gave her no choice. Floating back to his journey up, Murai was much grim-looking than ever before. He was floating slower and slower, but at least no traps were around the middle of this tower. The pressure was rising, dropping his speed below 40% of his swimming speed.
That was until the 3rd wave came with a single enemy this time. A snake-like monster appeared around the corner of the wall above, glaring and floating in the water like some kind of eel.
[Horn Snake emerged]
[A unicorn of fishes, but a fish nonetheless. So much for their name, but what a name it is]
[Level: 12]
[Class F]
[Notable ability of the species]
[Horn Spike: It has powerful, slippery power. Its horn on top of its head is sharp like a fine spar, with very easy-to-use stabbing motions. Powerful forward heavy barrage can lead to a lot of damage, so be careful if you don't want to end up as a strainer]
[Grade D]
[Level 10]
[It is a monster of caution and predatory behavior. You are not quite ready to go toe to toe with it, so be aware of the level differences and solve it as is]
[Notable things to consider is its high dexterity in the water or the surface, so be careful. It is a challenge and trial without a chance to back off, so too bad]
[Get good, or die]
Veins popped into Murai's eyes as he heard it. Although they weren't that noticeable, he was really pissed off right now, which he showed in the easiest way possible.
Shaping 3 mana blades around him, he cursed the snake to oblivion. The following case with this foe was quite different from the two chaotic Magic Carps. The Horn Snake didn't attack immediately. Instead, it was taking its time, observing the enemy like a predator from a distance.
Unlike the Magic Carp, this one had no magical abilities that were told by Will of the Battleworld, but that didn't mean it had none. After all, the notable did mean some and not everything. It at least seemed that way, but Murai knew it was much more powerful than some measly little Carps. Thanks to his dozen-meter-long flexible body and species ability, Murai was afraid this foe wouldn't be easy this time around.
Horn Snake floated high above him. Its body was at least 10 meters long, and 40 to 50 centimeters thick at some points. Its head was normal looking for a snake, but it had a spike like a unicorn around the top of its head. It wasn't curved or anything. It was a straight-up horn with a straight-spiraling spike that went directly to its advantages.
That was, to stab the foe to death, with S-like shaping of its body. It was still a snake, after all.