To say Oak was surprised was an understatement. The man looked like I had offered to make him Emperor. I think it was because he had expected me to refuse. That much was clear on his face.

“I—of course.” he stammered. “Give me five minutes.” There were no more words after that. Oak got to work. Like he was afraid I would run away if he didn’t leave fast enough. The group was ready within minutes, their packs already packed and weapons ready to be used. I wondered how the spears did not rust. There was probably magic in use.

Oak led us through the same path through the town and out the hole. I took note of it. There would be spears shooting at us when we returned. There did not seem to have been any bribes paid to the city guard. I did not protest. Not like I had the money to pay them.

But I should preserve some mana for that. Now if only I knew how to tell how much mana I had. There really wasn’t much sense as to why I couldn’t. I should ask someone. I was sure that Oak and the rest would know this.

How could I, though? I was supposed to be Rank 3. Shouldn’t someone of that power level already know things like this? Did I risk blowing what little safety my apparent power provided if I did this? I probably did. And with Story magic being what it was, it probably was a stupid idea.

Elena could ask though. I wish she would wake up already. Not having anyone to trust was starting to get to me.

The area Oak led us to was different from where I had come. The current was stronger here. Not strong enough to push us around, but strong enough that I noticed it. And there was more seaweed on the seabed. But few fish. That seemed strange. The place looked like it had plenty of food, at least from a fish’s perspective. There should be plenty of those around.

And yet it was empty.

“The poison fish are near, are they not?” I asked.

Oak stopped walking. “Can you sense them already?”

The men drew their spears, looking around with fear and nervousness on their faces. I stared at them.

“No, I was remarking about our surroundings. There is an excess of food in this place, and yet no fish. That would mean they either left, or were killed. The poison fish you mentioned sounded like something that would do such a thing.”

Oak’s arm tightened on the spear. “The fish was not so close to the city before…but you are right. The poison fish has been here.”

Lifting his spear up, he carefully flattened a seaweed against the lake bed. I could barely make out the difference in the darkness, but there was some. The seaweed was rotting, and it looked very similar to what that boy had gotten.

“Prepare yourselves.” Oak said as he began walking. The pace was slower this time, more careful. The men were ready to fight the fish. I was ready to cast a spell. The lake was silent. That was expected, but it still made the atmosphere scarier than it should be.

Darkness mana was still distant here. But I called on as much as I could. I even had help. Rotting seaweed, the lack of fish and the silence. Three things that seemed aimed at making this scarier with every second. And scary meant that my shield was that much stronger. Darkness mana was nice like that.

The few fish that remained disappeared. That was the first sign. The second was the current growing stronger. Like there was something moving a lot of water around here. I moved in front of them then, calling on my mana to stand in front of me. Oak did not object.

The third sign, though it was more of a sighting, was the fish. Not one. Ten. There were ten fish swimming around at what seemed to be high speeds. Not as fast as the rabbit, but still considerably faster than me.

The lot of us stood at a distance, observing the fish. There were no trees or boulders to cover behind, so we risked the fish noticing us at any moment. I was surprised they hadn’t already. But I suppose they were just beasts.

“I thought there was only one fish.” I observed.

“So did I.”

I looked at Oak, the man gripping his spear as he glared at the fish. There was something there, something that made him so very eager to see them dead. But there was a risk here.

“Do you see that speed?” I asked. “That means they are too fast for us to target at range. The spears you use will be as good as useless.”

A spear’s advantage was the additional reach it gave. I had read that in plenty of books. But a fish like this would cover that range very quickly. And once it was closer, the spear would have a hard time attacking it.

Perhaps it was my inexperience and lack of understanding, but I just couldn’t see the long sticks being used well enough to strike the fish. That wasn’t even all of it. I highly doubted a fish could be this fast without mana. The fish were actual beasts with mana.

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The lake had many of them, I knew. But they weren’t supposed to be this close to the town. The royal knights usually took care of that.

I looked at the fish with my mana sense. Just one of the fish alone had more mana than Oak. With ten of them put together, they had a lot more. I wasn’t sure how much. But if I were to guess, I would say as much as that old man from the Adventurer’s Guild.

That didn’t tell me what rank they were. But it did tell me that I shouldn’t challenge them carelessly.

“Oak, we should leave.” I said. The man looked at me like I had betrayed him.

“The fish are too powerful. This needs to be reported to the Adventurer’s Guild and the city guard. Trying to take care of them alone will just get us killed, and then who would tell them?”

Oak did not respond, but he also didn’t protest. I could see his arm shake as he looked at them. Then he took a deep breath.

“The city is just a ten-minute walk away.” he said. “Perhaps now the City Lord shall take action.”

There were no protests from any of his men. I was a bit surprised by that. I kind of expected to have to argue about it. But they accepted it easily. The lot of us headed back. I turned around, giving the fish one last look.

What I saw surprised me.

The fish were coming for us. The bastards had to have decided to attack the second we turned around. I did not have time to think. Just like the rabbit, the fish was too fast. But I already knew what to do. I still had my mana ready.

“Stop!” I commanded, a near invisible wall appearing between me and the fish. A wall of fear and anger, made to stop them in their tracks. The fish crashed into it, though did not look injured. A pity.

A clacking sound emerged from their mouths, their tails wagging as they shook in anger. I could see their mana cloaks flaring, shapings emerging from their. I gathered my own mana.

“Step back. The fish are about to attack.” The wall transformed into bolts of mana, crashing into the enemy. The fish dodged them, only one of them managed to inflict any injury. Just a little graze, but I could see blood dripping out of it. I could wound them.

That gave me confidence.

The fish burst forward, propelled by mana onto speeds even greater than before. I conjured my wall once more. The fish broke through it. Ten heads collided with one wall, mana cloaks flaring and scratching at it. In seconds, the wall had broken into pieces.

I grunted in annoyance, conjuring more bolts. Not one hit them. The fish were too fast.

“Run!” I commanded, conjuring a shield around me. The fish’s mana cloaks were much reduced. But not enough. The bloody bastards had enough mana to break a couple more of those walls.

The shield around me was more concentrated, and stronger besides. I had poured more mana into it, and I was much more fearful. There was just something about an attack on my body that scared me.

The fish would not break this one so easily. But if they did break it, I would probably be dead. The thought terrified me. And so it empowered me.

A dozen bolts of darkness shot out from around me, and I commanded them to follow the fish, track them down and strike them. The command alone doubled the mana cost. But this time, the bolts did not miss. The fish tried to dodge them.

Three even succeeded. The bolts struck their comrades instead. Seven fish were struck. One died. Three bolts struck a single fish, breaking its skin and exposing its organs to the water. In seconds, it fell down to the ground, its organs spilling onto the floor. The other fish began clacking angrily. A bluish green liquid emerged from the dead fish and spread.

The seaweed began to rot where it struck. That was enough to tell me what it was. The poison. More poison filled the water as the other, living fish began spreading their own. I sent more mana to my shield. I had a feeling I would need it.

And I was right. The poison began to eat at my shield the second it came in contact with it. The rotting effect apparently wasn’t limited to skin. A shield of fear counted too.

That wasn’t even the worst part.

The fish’s mana cloaks had not decreased while producing this poison. The thing was coming from an organ. This was dangerous. The fish had the advantage now.

I conjured more mana bolts, eager to end this battle. And quickly, before I ran out of mana. The fish ran away from the bolts. The water filled with more poison as they ran. The bolts ran behind them, taking even more mana from me. The tactic was easy enough to see.

The fish were experienced with such combat, as much as it pained me to admit. I did not even know how much mana I had left. That irritated me more than I cared to admit. This had turned into a stall battle.

If the fish could keep the bolts off them for long enough for me to run out of mana, then they would win. The poison would kill me.

The situation was unfavorable to me. I needed to change it. The question was how. With every minute, I got in a worse position. At least Oak had managed to run away.

I conjured bolts in the fish’s path, trying to force a collision. A risk. That made me spend even more mana, and could easily lead to me dying if the fish managed to hold on. As I saw it though, there was a good chance I would die anyway.

Now if I could only see my own mana and tell how quickly I was emptying it…but of course. I couldn’t do that right now. So I had to guess and hope I had enough.

The fish evaded them with surprising grace, causing the bolts to collide with each other instead. That wasn’t all fish though. The numbers worked against them now.

There were too many fish and only so much space. One fish crashed into another, and the bolts caught up to them. One ran right into a bolt. What was even more curious was what happened to the bolts that collided with each other. The bolts merged.

The resulting bolt was more powerful and even more importantly, it was faster. I grinned. This would either make this situation worse, or it would solve it. I conjured more bolts, the normal, unguided ones. And I pushed them towards the bolts that remained.

There were five fish still alive. Six bolts. I set about to combine them. Then I conjured even more bolts to make them even stronger. I made them into five bolts thrice as powerful as they were.

And then I set them free at the fish.