Shadara and Killa didn’t hesitate. A pair of arrows flew from Shadara’s bow as three blue, translucent tentacles reached out from Killa’s hand. The arrows shattered against its scales, while the tentacles only nudged the creature.

I started backpedaling when it charged. When Killa’s magic struck the serpent’s side, its attention snapped to the slime woman. It suddenly charged her.

Shadara continued shooting, but her arrows didn’t crack a single scale. I fired all six shots from my magical revolver. All six shots hit, but they only left the slightest dents in the monster’s scales.

Shadara lowered her bow to her side. “It’s too strong. We’re not touching this thing.”

“Then we run,” I added. “But it’s following us on land. Where do we go?”

Killa threw a few more of her magical blue tentacles while running from the serpent. It was weird that the creature snapped at each of them, attempting to eat them. It wasn’t hard to notice that it was also gaining on her.

Killa and Shadara aren’t fast enough to outrun it. Even with all these levels we got, they’re too slow.

“We have to get that thing to leave her alone.” I took off after the fishy snake. “Killa can’t outrun it.”

Shadara tried to follow me, but she was still the slowest of us three.

Feeding more shadow magic into my gun and reloading it, I fired off more shots, aiming for its face and eyes. I couldn’t get a clear shot, and my bullets just glanced off. My attempts to draw its attention from my sworn sister ended in failure.

Maybe breaking its line of sight will work.

I sprinted faster, releasing shadow magic in a field around me while shifting my vision to terahertz radiation so that I could still see. We crossed a tree line into a forest. I hopped over a log as I pushed more magic into the field around me, draining more mana from my battery.

Shadow Power: Manifestation leveled up.

The field started enveloping the serpent as I ran alongside it. It stopped and crashed through a tree as it turned toward me. Its jaws snapped wildly at the sphere around me. Each bite destroyed chunks of it.

It’s almost like it…

“It’s eating your magic!” Killa screamed.

The times it charged at specific targets suddenly made sense. Killa had the strongest magic of the three of us.

“Go back to the boat, I shouted from the darkness. “I’ll lead it away and lose it. My magic is the perfect bait, and I’m fast enough.”

I watched Killa hesitate. The serpent kept snacking on my magic like it was an ever-refilling ball of cotton candy. My magic was draining with each wasted second.

Killa nodded. “Okay. Just stay safe.”

She ran back to Shadara, pushing her back. I heard her explaining the situation as I took off. I already fed enough magic to the creature.

I led the serpent by the nose. I kept just far ahead to stay tantalizingly close but just out of its reach. While the creature could barrel through trees and the various foliage, I had to hop and duck through everything.

Running with extra arms messed with my balance. But I figured out that I could tuck my stinger arms tight against my back to reduce the effect. I really need to get used to using these things.

The further inland we went, the thicker the vegetation got. The serpent tore through everything effortlessly. My mana battery was getting low. I was down to two hundred percent mana in my battery when I decided to make my move.

I bundled all the mana in my field and pushed it towards the ground. My goal wasn’t to just move the field, but to anchor it to the ground and give me time to gain a substantial lead over the deviant. I pictured the field of darkness staying behind me while I cut off my feed to it.

It worked. I felt the disconnect from the field, and I came out on the other side of the field.

Shadow Power obtained: Anchoring Level 1.

I didn’t stop running, but I risked a glance behind me. The serpent was tearing up the ground, trying to eat up the darkness. When it finally finished eating through my shadowy field, it looked around before it saw me. Then it charged again.

By that time, I had already put a lot of distance between us. I headed right for the beach, where Killa and Shadara should be waiting for me. As I kept running, I risked another glance backward, only to see that the creature stopped following me and that its body was convulsing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

It let out a piercing shriek and started thrashing around. I stopped to watch it as it thrashed about. Its scales fell off its body as it rapidly shed them, revealing even brighter blue scales that seemed to glow as the two side fins that originally looked like they atrophied caught up with the rest of its growth. They grew spines much like its tail fin and protruded out almost a foot. Then it grew longer, and its mouth grew wider with three rows of teeth.

Maybe leaving magic for it to feed on was not exactly the best idea.

It seems that the creature feeds on mana and grows in power the more it consumes.

That is a major problem since Shadara’s bow, my gun, and Killa all use magic for our primary weapons.

The creature slowly rolled over to face me again. I pushed my muscles to the limit just before causing damage to myself. I returned my vision to normal and ran through the trench of destruction the creature left behind when I let it chase me for the first time. The thunderous sounds of it barreling through trees were steadily growing weaker as I outran it.

When I made it to the beach, Killa and Shadara were there waiting for me. The boat was in the water, and the blood was gone. I wasted no time and jumped into the boat. Killa held out her hands to catch me and ease my landing.

The serpent made it back to the beach just as we reached the Puddle Jumper. It roared one last time as we climbed up the rope on the deck.

As I climbed on the deck, I pointed at Captain Webster. “Go. If you value the state of your ship, go!”

He let out a raspy chuckle. His tongue flicked out, and he spun his wheel. The sails unfurled, and a strong gust of wind carried us out to sea. The serpent hissed as it chased after us. The captain took us farther out until the island was merely a spot in the distance.

Once we were out of the serpent’s reach, I felt the tension leave my shoulders. I turned to face the captain.

He smiled at me, showing off his razor-sharp teeth. “Ye lasses really be stirrin’ up some trouble.”

Shadara stepped forward. Her voice was a low growl. “We didn’t ask for this to happen. How were we supposed to guess that would happen?”

I held up my hands. “Shadara, relax. It’s not his fault. If anything, it was mine. It was my idea. I should’ve thought that an ocean of carnivorous fish would start a feeding frenzy if we started killing them.”

Shadara growled again, but she stepped back and folded her arms. “I’m going back down. Just keep that thing away from us. You can keep this ship fast enough to outrun that thing, right?”

The captain cackled. “Aye. This ship can outrun any beast. This pirate would be a pathetic one if I be lettin’ a fish chew me ship. Ye look’n’ to stop at another island tomorrow?”

Killa shook her head as she urged Shadara below deck. “We’ll want to take tomorrow off. We need to recover our mana.”

I nodded. “We’ve got to spend some time recovering from that.” And I need to train with these arms.

The demon toad shrugged. “Whatever suits ye. Ye know where to find me.” He narrowed his eyes on me. “But if that fish be showin’ its face on me deck, ye best be ready to kill it. Ye be cleanin’ yer own messes.”

I shivered as I turned to leave.

The captain let out a raspy laugh as I descended the stairs to the lower deck. Shadara was pacing back and forth in the cabin.

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Killa gave me a hug. Shadara did too.

Shadara patted my back. I could feel her shaking. She pulled back to look at me.

She wiped her eyes. “That was brave and stupid at the same time. Something could’ve happened to you.”

I held them both tight with all four arms. “It was a snap decision. But it all worked out in the end.”

Killa patted both of our heads. “You two need to take a minute to calm down. We could die in so many different ways in this place. Rina, you can relax. You didn’t cause this. Things are always going to go wrong. It’s a part of life.”

I relaxed and leaned against the wall. My extra arms hung loosely behind me.

Killa giggled as she pointed at my stinger arms. “You’ve been getting more animated with those. But still, you need to learn how to use those properly. They’ll be a huge asset in combat if you can get used to using them.”

I tapped the tips of my stinger arms together. “I have no idea why? I’ve been winging it this whole time. But I should be a lot better with them tomorrow.”

Shadara rubbed her shoulder. “I don’t know about you two, but I’ve still got stats to put down and spent a lot of time actually using my muscles for all that. Yeah, my bow uses my magic to summon my arrows, I still have to pull it back like a real bow.”

I smirked. “Sorry. Did you want to see if we can get you a gun later? Maybe I could loan you mine for now. I need to practice with my new assets.”

Shadara waved her hand as she went to the bed. “Nope. That thing is yours. I’d have to relearn everything with a gun. Maybe when we get to the next floor, we can look into one. Something with a long range.”

She pointed to me. “You’re our short-range specialist.” She then pointed to Killa. “Killa’s our mid-range specialist. I guess I can handle long-range combat.”

Killa held up a finger. “Well, that’s something to think about. We didn’t really see what that last island had on it. So on the next one, let’s see what’s available before we try anything off the wall.”

I hung my head.

Killa tapped my shoulder. “I have to say, we did get a lot of levels in a short time. You did well, Rina.”

Correct. That plan gave all three of you an easy, efficient boost in power. The unforeseeable consequences were a setback, but you handled it exceedingly well. Your actions were well executed.

Thanks, Orange. “Thanks, Killa.” I headed out of the room. “I’ll leave you two alone. If you need me, you may need to put in more effort to wake me than usual. I’d like to spend the entire day alone. You can wake me up if you decide to take on an island tomorrow.”

Without another word, I headed to the room across from Shadara’s. I climbed into the bed and learned real quick that I needed to find a new way to sleep that was not on my back. It wasn’t painful; it was just awkward, and I couldn’t relax. I rolled to my side, pushed all my mana into my battery, and let Orange drag me into a simulation for training.

Shadow Magic Power—Anchoring Level 1:

This power allows the caster to manipulate their mana and detach it from their body, leaving it in a specific location. Once released, the caster can’t alter it again. Increased levels will allow the caster to allow the anchored mana to last longer.

Level 1: Mana can be anchored for up to ten seconds before dissipating.