Lisa saw the present situation as more than dangerous, so she had all intentions to help out.

“This is just a simple encounter with beasts that are no longer hesitant about you since you are no longer a useless duckling. It is a simple situation where the strong eat the weak, and power or sense doesn't matter. Battleworld does so for the sake of everything, as strength is what matters. It leads to tougher times, but at least you know who you are against while the opponent is an unintelligent beast. Think about this!” Lisa said, clutching his neck while talking as if her life depended on it.

It did, in a sense.

Think? Thinking about this mess doesn't, and shouldn't make sense... Hmph! So what! I think I made a huge mistake in trusting things while ignoring the past...

Murai scowled, thinking of how his current view of the situation was his fault. He shouldn't depend on outside influences. That was what he learned many lives ago.

“I am unhappy, Lisa so some sensible care can piss off. I don't care either way about it, since this is natural. Only natural... The world should be like this while blaming other things only makes me unhappy about myself. Those fucking monsters... I will solve it. Watch.” Murai fumed in anger and looked at dozens of large Regators around him.

The monsters viewed him through their Gnarly Eyes, enabling them to see everything much clearer the same way Murai did. Though, Murai's appearance was clearer, thanks to his use of the Diving Sphere that glowed around him, changing him into a glowing sun in the darkness.

“Can I give you one piece of advice, Murai Hisagi?” Lisa asked in a calm tone which changed all of a sudden. “RUN! those freaking beasts aren't something you can deal with at your level. There are over 19 of them, if not more!”

“Tsch... Stop shouting so much...” Murai said, ignoring the fact that Regators were yet to attack. They waited, for something, or for him to move. “I will run, regardless of your words since I can sense the situation and I am not stupid. It is terrible even when fleeting. The level is whatever, but for them to attack me without repercussions is pissing me off. Although, this is how it is in nature, so why am I angry or surprised? I met this kind of situation many times before so why am I so agitated?” Murai asked himself, unknowingly thinking that his mind wasn't as it should be.

However, he had limited time so he forced himself to act.

Looking at the sight beyond him, he Conjured a massive amount of mana in the shape of a sphere. Mana glistered in its fundamental appearance, and let a lot of light off. It was the same sphere he created in the Acaman Tower. He wanted to use the Gnarly Eye's effects against the Regators. Their eyesight should be fairly sensitive to a huge amount of light right now, so the light blinded and shocked them for at least 5 seconds. The light was also fairly powerful since his Mana Pool was full after spending many hours doing nothing but reading.

It was working, albeit it didn't put Murai at ease. Time was not up to him, so and so was the fleeting up to the surface. He was at least a minute away to flee out of the water, so he had chosen the corners of this "lake" instead. It didn't amount to much, other than gambling, and hope to not get swarmed by them out in the open waters. He needed to swim faster, but also safer.

The light of the surface was dim, so he guessed he was well over 20 meters below the surface of the water.

With a successful distraction, Murai wasted no time, Shaping his Diving Sphere as fast as he could above. He moved to the side of the wall, where nothing will obscure him from his left side. Seconds passed, and the light turned useless. The first charge of a few Regators pushed forth. They were fast, pushing at the glowing Diving Sphere and stumbling to the wall in the same manner that Speedo Shark did. They shook the wall a little, but none of them hit Murai, who wasn't an easy target. In fact, he had to make sure to dodge everything completely, otherwise, he would be killed for sure.

Swimming and charging out of his Diving Sphere was a terrible idea. His lack of breath would be fatal, and dozens of meters to the surface did seem like an eternity. Adding to that the fact that Regators had much higher dexterity and speed under the water, Murai had no other option but to use some tactics. Hopefully, they would work.

His face long turned serious, and Murai would even clutch his fists if he could, but all he could do was stare at the beats with utter killing intent. It wasn't met with any kind of response, making the beast strangely convinced to the motion of a simple hunt.

He knew he hadn't gotten to that point of shaking those things up with his eyes alone so what about his Will? For the first time, he used the Strike of the Will, but Regators barely stumbled for a moment, before restarting the journey. Strike of the Will was an intangible wave of intent and appeared invisible, jolting the beast for a single moment.

Though, Murai felt like a child, slapping an adult. It didn't change shit, which was strange. He thought his Will was stronger than this, while this Strike of the Will seemed to be weaker than his own Will which was subjective to his soul. His soul was incredible, so seeing this weak strike was suspicious.

He at least hoped that the beast would be hesitant by something, but nothing happened. Their Gnarly Eyes were as if possessed, and their killing intent seeped out of them. Maybe his soul would work wonders in regular Path, but he didn't know how to work around it, since his Path had just started. For now, he had no choice but to improvise and get out of this dire situation. Fleeting was the only option, but no amount of that will make him less angry about the Will of the Battleworld and this mess.

Left and right, and up and up he went, Murai dodged every incoming Regator by a couple of dozen centimeters. They were fast, furiously smashing into the wall in their missed attempts to catch and kill their prey. By now, their features were more than apparent. They had long and wide jaws, with the long and flexible bodies of an alligator.

Their jaws were their biggest weapon, littered with surprisingly wide and tall teeth. They could open their jaws wide and clutch Murai's Diving Spheare without issues. Thus, even if Murai was thrice bigger, he was sure a jaw would envelop his body regardless of anything.

Their numbers were another advantage, and Murai felt a rising tingling sensation of deadly dangers. His Diving Sphere was getting unstable from just 2 scratches from 2 strikes that he was unable to dodge properly.

Yet, he still fled as he could, hoping to see the light of day.

Alas, the Regators would say otherwise, if they could. Two of the faster and bigger Regators charged further up, making Murai unable to dodge anywhere. It was an encirclement, making Murai unable to do much but stare at the jaw of death, and their glowing, stupid, and gnarly eyes.

Murai cursed wildly but was in a helpless spot with few meaningful choices. However, there there was one choice, right aside from the further Regator. It was a hole a few dozen centimeters wide that went into the wall. He would fit there for sure, and Regators wouldn't. It would be a safe spot for him, and Murai felt some very weak current coming from that hole.

The time wasn't on his side and so were the Regators, who charged at their prey in their eyesight. It was prey and their purpose, so nothing else mattered in their eyes. Weak or strong, it was useless. They were a pack for a reason, hoping to kill any enemy that would appear before them. The numbers were their strength, while they had nothing extreme in itself. They weren't the strongest species of beasts and were quite normal instead.

Murai shrank his ego inside his head, feeling helpless to see the fast movements of these beats. Their power in this current situation was too much for him to handle, even though he would flee at any other chance.

So, he had to come up with the best solution in a split second.

He dissipated his Diving Sphere and grabbed Lisa with his beak. “I am not sorry.” he sent her his words but it didn't help her one bit in her panicked, yet helpless state. She can't help him with anything right now, nor did a motion of her, going back to his soul space appeared in his head. She also thought this world was against her, like Murai, but she wasn't one to tell it.

A couple of Regators charged into the bubbles, hitting the wall again. With the Diving Sphere gone, the light dissipated and bubbles temporarily shrouded Murai's location. Using this chance of pressure to his advantage, Murai used his tiny legs and wings, propelling himself up to the hole.

He had enough time and force to swim about 5 meters away, allowing him to fly past those 2 front-facing Regators whose jaws missed, thanks to Murai's smaller appearance, and sudden force. Swimming and swinging his body as far as he could, he used his everything. He even used the residual mana of his diluting Diving Sphere's mana to glow up and make the eyesight of these beasts useless for a few seconds but it didn't change anything.

It was a matter of time before they will catch him since there were too many of them. Although the majority was no longer locked in the direction of his Sphere, their Gnarly Eyes can adjust to it anyway.

Especially those two Regators that just missed him, eyed the chance, while more were coming forward.

As Murai focused forward, hoping, and imagining his freedom, his yearning was shattered. His speed wasn't sufficient and one of his wings was caught within the jaw of one of the two bigger Regator which was quickly able to turn its head. The shiny and glittering feathers could help only so much against the tough and sharp physicality of a Power Bite. This time, the pressure was too much on the feathers and his body.

Murai didn't watch, but as he kept swinging his body, fleeting, he felt searing pain, and how feathers moved and almost disappeared. His flesh and blood did, and crimson colored the water.

Power Bite was incredible, and sharp teeth moved against his speedy fleeting, revealing a deep crimson and gushing wound across the wing, and part of his body. Alas, this didn't stop Murai's movement, nor his fleeting. Murai's left wing ended up deeply injured, but the Regator didn't bite it off completely. Its teeth glided instead, making the gushing wound as troublesome as if the entire wing was cut off.

Even though this injury, Murai preserved, thinking of no pain, but hope. While gritting his beak even though Lisa was still there, he did what he wanted. At least he could do so since Lisa can't feel the pressure or any physical pain. She watched in her panic - the gushing crimson and monsters that were coming.

By sheer will and effort, Murai reached the hole where he stumbled to the wall, hiding his body for now. No Regators could come here, so that was at least a part of his successful hope. Without seeking past enemies, he only glanced at his left wing and further bite marks around his body. Weirdly enough, no feathers left his body, but they moved away instead, letting the teeth attack his flesh underneath them. It was no wonder since this attack was too much for these feathers.

Without wasting more time, Murai noticed his breath and swam further into the hole without caring about the consequences. He knew his limits, so he had to make sure to get to the surface as quickly as possible. Hopefully, this hole will go somewhere, or it will end up as his grave. That hole was a huge gamble but also a hope. If he hadn't felt here, he would have died regardless of his desires or choices.

In order to reach the possible surface, he had to be quick, and that was what he did. Flapping his legs, and both wings regardless of his injury, Murai still had his Mana Detection, so he swam as fast as he could until this tunnel ended at 10 meters.

Its end revealed a deep, and long tower, only about two meters in diameter. It was still filled with water, but Murai looked up and saw clear water and a small hole with bright sunlight. He was closer to the surface than before, so he continued to swim up as fast as he could.

He was struggling in his mind and pain, and his breath was turning haggard. He was closing on his limits, yet Murai still breached the surface of the water, flying through a small hole around a wooden structure, which revealed a bright sky. It was a well. A human construct to make water more collected. Murai breached the surface fast, even amidst his limited care.

He flew fast, breaching the reaches of the surface. The air was finally in his lungs, making his mind glad, yet his wound wasn't small at all.

Flapping his wings in midair, and above the well, Murai immediately stumbled in midair, collapsing to the ground beside the well. He was glad to see the world of the sky once again, but he wasn't in a shape to enjoy it further. The blood flowed around his feathers, making him bloody and filthy. He forgot about everything, as he fell to the ground and didn't even look at the surroundings properly.

Right beside him was a well with wooden pipes that make a water source out of a small stream of water coming off of some lake further up the hill. Those pipes ended up in the well, but he crushed one of them, letting it flow to the ground. It was clear that this water went to the bigger water source, but that was further down the hills - to the place where Murai battled Regators.

Murai blinked, getting his eyesight back on track, but he was still feeling quite hurt. Lisa within his beak was still struggling, but she was conscious and shouted something to him.

“WAKE up!” she smacked his beak, getting him to reach full consciousness even if he wanted some rest.

Alas, it was too late for that, since she and Murai noticed a sword pointing at both of them.

He heard some language that he could understand. It was a familiar one, but his ears and mind were playing some tricks on him... Pain. He was hurt. This was a common language across many lives, albeit he didn't know the reason for that.

“W-what is this? Why is it a d-duck... No! A demon coming from our water source? Impossible!” a manly voice said, and it was coming from the holder of the sword.

The one who was speaking was a man, wearing dark fabric trousers and a tight shirt. He appeared quite strong but wasn't too muscular either. He had some tight ones, meant for endurance, or fights. However, the muscles were one thing, but the sword in his hands was trembling in fear. It was obvious he had some familiarity with the weapons, but a fear of a demon was within his eyes the moment he saw Murai, or the being before him.

Murai knew it, but it was his first time meeting another... Well, it was his first time seeing a proper human in this life at all.

“A human? What's wrong? Put the swords away and help me out, will you?” Murai scowled, but all that came out of his mouth were quacks that humans couldn't comprehend.m Murai didn't know it, since he was used to Lisa that could understand him regardless of that.

The man that wielded his sword hesitated after hearing the quacking duck quack, but that wasn't something abnormal. What was abnormal was the mana coming off of this seemingly ordinary-looking duck, which wasn't something he had ever seen. No, he saw just enough. A little, but enough of the world.

What he felt was something else than what his eyes made it out for him. It was a feeling of a demonic beast and mana that was anything that human mages had.

Aside from the man, a child appeared. It was a young boy around the age of 7. He grasped the man's hand to stop his forceful manners since he couldn't feel the strange and dangerous sense of the mana that Murai had. It wasn't obvious for this kid, unlike this man who was afraid of it.

“Uncle, this is a simple duck. Why are you doing this? We have plenty of chickens and ducks are fine to leave out. Isn't it what you told me?” the child said, standing between Murai and the man.

“Listen, Timmy. I know that, but this isn't a normal duck... I don't know why... this... AH?!” the man exclaimed and grabbed Timmy before doing a quick slash at Murai's body. It was such a clumsy attack with barely a sharp sword that left no injuries. The attack simply slid off of Murai's feathers and didn't penetrate any skin or flesh.

Though, the sword didn't aim at Murai, but at Lisa, who finally got off his beak's grip. Her appearance wasn't as clear to the man, but upon getting free, Lisa got hold of her physicality and form, which was a bit haggard. The man stumbled with Timmy in his embrace, pointing his sword at her demonic appearance. Succubus was right there, albeit in a ghostly appearance.

Lisa floated up and watched the surroundings as well as the surrounding humans. Her appearance was of a demon after all, but her feelings, power, or danger didn't match her appearance. She was a soul form made of mana, which wasn't anything evil, nor necessarily good. Some people would be kind to such a creature, while others would consider it a creature of the devil regardless of the death or life of a soul. However, her choice of appearance was a succubus, so it was obvious that she was a creature of Chaos.

As for the surroundings, Lisa noticed quite a lot more people. In fact, a whole group was standing around, observing this man from a safe distance. A few dozen of others were also hiding around the houses. This well was in the middle of the village, with dozens of buildings surrounding it. It was clear that some would notice a sudden appearance of a duck coming off of their source of water. The moment Murai emerged, everyone was surprised and paid attention to this strange occurrence.

Lisa watched everything in utter silence, wondering if this was terrible or good. These people... These mortals? She held no regard for them, but that wasn't the case for her to decide, or think of that. Her current life wasn't the one she held before.

She can't do anything else but appear good and helpful for Murai's cause. She wouldn't be able to do anything, regardless of her will to them. She was like a trophy, which possessed no skills at all. She felt weak, but her appearance was giving off nothing but nasty feelings. A succubus wasn't anything good.

Alas, what will these people do to her was none of her concern since damaging a soul form was impossible for them. Some powerful intent, magic, or a mage or dark mage with some steps in souls would damage her, but that was about it.

However, what they would do to the injured Murai was something else. That would affect her more than she would like, so she had no choice but to react to their hostility with words or come up with some plan to save Murai from this place. The man before her was quite hostile to them after all, and Lisa had bad feelings about it.