Sure, you can tame a beastie and take it into battle, but that seems like a waste of time when a sturdy cutlass and a little practice is just as lethal.

-Excerpt from ‘Charting the Tide: A journeyman’s guide to skills and occupations’ by various contributors

Yasmin began to hum a melancholy tune. It was a shanty from her homeland, a country that no longer existed in this world.

With a thought, she sent out dozens of inky tendrils into the surrounding waters. They writhed and squirmed, searching for the approaching fish-riders.

She hoped the weaker one wasn’t an ice user as well. Of all the people to interrupt her, an ice wielder was the most frustrating.

Of course, just because his element of choice countered hers didn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to take him down. It just meant that she’d need to resort to more tiresome methods.

The ink was like a second skin to her after so many years wielding it and it was rare that she needed to use her more devastating skills. Even the flashy explosions didn’t take much effort.

All of a sudden the connections throughout her nervous system started to vanish, the work of the icy lances freezing and shattering her tendrils. However, that wasn’t a problem.

In fact, the man destroying her scouting strikes gave her a read on his location. Sighing at the incompetence of her enemies these days, Yasmin reached deep into her core and almost moaned as the arcane power surged through her.

It had been too long since she used her deep well of power. Her personal inkstone. Arcane circuits that hadn’t been used in decades groaned in protest as the proverbial rust was shaved off.

There was an itch as the energy started to swirl faster and faster through her body. The icy lances drew nearer on her right and a tremor on her left told her the two officers were going for a pincer attack.

Given their individual weakness, she thought it a foolish move. Only by sticking together had they managed to resist her earlier attacks.

The power in her core built and built until she felt her bones and muscles start to quiver, turning almost jelly like as her entire body shifted towards being midnight black. All of a sudden, dozens of icy lances exploded from her right, aimed for every vital point on her body.

She lifted a hand, but frowned when an immense suction force came from her left, enough to drag her body towards the depths even with her cloaked in ink. Caught between the suction and the deadly strikes, Yasmin was seconds away from an early grave.

All of a sudden, her core stopped thrumming. Dozens of icy lances pierced the cloud of ink, but other than freezing a little of it, they passed through harmlessly and were sucked towards the other fish-rider.

His eyes widened as his partner’s strike missed, but the man reacted quickly and began to wave his arms while his fish sailed through the water. The spears started to turn towards the ocean floor, when suddenly the cloud of ink exploded.

Dozens of inky tendrils slammed into the spears of ice and sent them rocketing at the navy officer. A stream of bubbles came out of his mouth as he tried to curse but his fate was sealed.

The first spear pierced his leg and blood poured into the murky sea water. Something blasted through her ink, shattering a piece of Yasmin as the other fish-rider raced to his companion so fast it was as though he teleported.

A second spear struck the man in the shoulder, and more bubbles burst forth, accompanied by another torrent of gushing blood. However, before more of the lances could reach him the ice wielder appeared in front of him and the ocean itself froze outwards, creating a circular shield of ice that blocked the remaining lances.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

However, they were both exhausted from just one exchange. And Yasmin hadn’t even begun to use her own abilities, only redirected their misguided attacks at each other. The entire cloud of ink pulsated as she let out a sinister laugh that made the ocean tremble.

There were cracks running across the shield from the barrage of lances. The cloud shrunk and a small whirlpool appeared in the centre. Moments later a beam of ink blasted outwards and struck the centre of the shield.

The cracks grew wider and dozens more appeared as the beam continued to blast into the shield. A moment later it shattered, sending ice flying in every direction.

Unfortunately for the ice user, he wasn’t able to move out of the way when his shield broke and he spat a little blood from the backlash of it breaking. The beam slammed into his chest and Yasmin smiled at the crunch.

His body went flying towards the depths. He might’ve survived, but it didn’t matter much—he would no longer be able to stop her from finishing off the weakling.

Suddenly, she felt a gut-wrenching pain as multiple portions of the ink cloud were ripped away from her core by the water currents. The other guy was manipulating the ocean to split the ink apart.

If she was still in her regular form, all that would do is weaken her offensive power a little. However, she was currently taking the form of the ink itself. Which meant each cloud of ink that was torn away felt like someone tearing off her arms and legs.

Somehow, even with two gaping holes in his body, the officer was able to keep using his skills. Yasmin had to commend her foe for his tenacity.

She’d written him off as useless when his ally had to step in to save his life earlier, but it seemed like he did have some talent. It wouldn’t be enough to stop her from claiming his life.

With a single pulse from her core, the remaining ink in the cloud shattered, dispersing into millions of tiny black droplets. Unlike when the ink was ripped apart by an outside force, this self-dispersal didn’t damage her body.

The main weakness of this move was that it left her arcane core entirely exposed, floating in the murky ocean. However, it was even darker than the sea water and inherently stealthy. Against an opponent of this level, she wasn’t worried.

He seemed shocked at the sudden change and his fish began racing away from her. It was rare for a navy officer to flee from battle—it was a crime punishable by death.

Even with his quick thinking, he was far too slow. A powerful surge of arcane energy exploded from her core, directed into the closest droplet of ink. Almost instantly, that droplet fired a slightly stronger beam of energy into the nearest droplet.

This continued until the beam of energy was moving so fast that even Yasmin had trouble keeping up with it and the energy it emitted made the water around it boil, sending clouds of steam rushing to the ocean’s surface.

It reached the droplet furthest from her core and then a deafening boom shook the entire ocean, sending colossal waves flying on the surface and making the ships creak. A beam of ink so dense it was on the verge of becoming pure energy blasted towards the officer and then instantly faded.

He had a perplexed expression on his face, thinking nothing had happened from such a dramatic build up. Then his body fell into two halves, followed by the fish.

Skill up!

Ink Attunement ★★13 > ★★14

Your occupation has advanced!

Embodiment of Abyssal Ink 83 > 84

A comforting warmth spread throughout the inky cloud as her most used skill and her occupation gained a level each. As she pulled her body back together, substituting the missing chunks of flesh for ink until she healed, Yasmin felt the cold touch of her blessing.

Malaxas wasn’t always a kind god, but she had never once regretted accepting his blessing. She’d gained more of his favour since that first minor blessing, yet it still felt as though beyond the occasional whisper he didn’t care whether she lived or died.

She was about to turn and soar back to the surface when she felt a gentle tug on her mind, pulling her back to the depths. She turned and looked at the water wielder’s corpse with a wry smile.

It had been a very, very long time since she harvested a treasure. It was time to see if her skills were up to par or if her time away from the sea had let them rust.

Attempting to harvest [Inkstained Heart ★64]...

Harvest success!

Not even mesopelagic… Yasmin tossed the heart into her inventory without a second thought and rushed to the surface.

A shower of water reached to the sky as the ink-cloaked woman burst back onto the battlefield. Her eyes darted around as she sought Trent and his foe, quickly locking onto the two men from the massive waves their clashes made.

However, right as she caught sight of the pair, Trent suddenly exploded in flames as a gigantic column of fire burst into existence.