CHAPTER 226: MANA POOL (2)

The twin exclamations from Serena and Karl, echoed in their minds. The abyss, which had been silent moments before, was now a cauldron of predatory intent.

The five sharks didn’t mindlessly charge in as they would have expected. Instead, their colossal forms cutting through the water with silent grace, began to circle their small bubble of light.

Their crimson eyes, glowing with a malevolent intelligence, watched them, assessing them. The pressure in the water intensified, not just from the depth, but from the sheer weight of five distinct, Transcendent-level auras pressing in on them from all sides.

’Hold your ground!’ Adrian’s voice was a sharp, clear command in their minds, a steel anchor in the swirling chaos.

’They’re pack hunters. We break their coordination, and we win.’ He issued his orders with the speed of thought. ’Karl, your job is to draw their attention. Serena, control the water currents, give us a defensible arena. Your light is our only anchor here. Nyra, you are our primary damage dealer. Lightning is our best weapon in this environment. Karl, be the unbreakable wall!’

’With pleasure!’ Karl roared back, his thought a wave of pure, competitive fire.

He shot forward, a one-man vanguard against the horrors of the deep.

Three of the Sharks immediately converged on him, their massive jaws, filled with teeth like jagged obsidian, snapping shut.

Karl was a force of nature in his own right. He met their charge, his spear a blur of kinetic energy.

~CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!~

He parried a devastating bite, the impact sending a shockwave through the water that vibrated in their bones.

He was a living Juggernaut, his Transcendent aura a bulwark against the crushing pressure as he single-handedly engaged three of the five monsters, a glorious and insane act of pure valor.

But he was surely losing momentum.

’My turn,’ Serena’s determined thought followed. She became the heart of their formation, her face a mask of intense concentration.

She thrust her hands out, and the water around them answered her call. It wasn’t a violent attack, but an act of absolute control.

The chaotic currents of the abyss were tamed, forced into a massive, stable, and powerful whirlpool that trapped the three sharks engaging Karl, forcing them into a chaotic dogfight and preventing them from flanking or escaping. Her light spell remained a brilliant sun at the center of it all. She had created their arena.

Inside Serena’s swirling vortex, Nyra unleashed her power. Adrian’s directive was clear in her mind.

Fire and Earth were less effective here, but Lightning... Lightning was perfect.

She raised her hands, and her penta-affinity, now in a state of perfect Harmony, came to life. She didn’t just cast a lightning bolt; she wove the lightning into the water itself.

~KRAA-KOOOM!~

Massive, arcing bolts of chain lightning erupted within the whirlpool, leaping from one shark to another. The water itself became a conductor for her wrath. The beasts roared in pain and fury as the electricity bypassed their armored hides, shocking their internal organs.

While the trio worked in perfect synergy to contain the main group, Adrian faced his own two targets: the pack leader and its second-in-command.

In the water, even a Transcendent’s speed was greatly reduced by the immense drag. But Adrian had the Power Suit. To him, the water was as thin as air.

The two sharks, recognizing him as the greatest threat, charged.

Adrian executed Phantom Steps. As the two great sharks lunged, their massive jaws preparing to snap him in two, he vanished.

They bit down on empty water, their own momentum causing them to nearly collide. He reappeared above them immediately.

He used Vortex Counter to catch the force of one shark’s furious tail whip, redirecting the immense kinetic energy into a concussive blast that slammed into its partner, sending it tumbling through the water.

His [Omnisense] allowed him to predict their every move, while highlighting every fractional weakness in their armored hides.

He systematically dismantled them. A precise shot from his mana gun struck the second shark’s pectoral fin, the armor-piercing bolt shattering the joint and crippling its ability to turn.

With its partner now wounded and struggling, Adrian focused all his attention on the pack leader.

It was a terrifying beast. But to Adrian, it was just a complex system, and every system had a flaw.

He engaged it in a high-speed duel, a blur of blue and black against the crimson-eyed monster. After a tense exchange, he feinted, drawing out the shark’s lunging bite.

That was the opening. Adrian dodged under the massive jaw, his fist already glowing with the contained, vibrational power of a Resonant Fist, and struck a single, precise blow to the beast’s soft underbelly, a spot he had identified as the thinnest point in its armor.

The resonant pulse bypassed the hide entirely, detonating within the creature’s core and shattering its heart.

[Congratulations! You have killed a magical beast!]

The light in its crimson eyes died, and it began its silent descent into the eternal darkness. He then dispatched the remaining, injured shark with a single, clean shot to the head.

[Congratulations! You have killed a magical beast!]

His fight was over. He turned back to his companions just in time to see their own battle reach its climax. Nyra had trapped the final shark in a cage of solid, jagged earth pulled from the seabed, while Serena unleashed a final, devastating beam of light to finish it off.

The final shark, seeing its entire pack destroyed, tried to flee into the darkness. But it could not escape Karl. With a final, mighty roar, he hurled his spear. The weapon shot through the water like a torpedo, piercing the weakened beast clean through.

The battle was over.

The four of them floated together in the now-silent battlefield. The only light was the gentle, warm glow from Serena’s spell, illuminating the massive corpses of three Transcendent beasts.

’Well, that was fun,’ Karl projected through the mind link. ’Surely more can’t come now. I’m certain the entire abyss is completely empty of any other terrifying, multi-headed sea serpents or giant krakens.’

He immediately received two pairs of icy glares that made him flinch back and throw his hands up in surrender.

’Alright, alright! A guy can’t even make a joke?’ he sighed dramatically. ’Fine, I take it back! May our journey from here on be peaceful and monster-free! Happy now?’

’There will be no more beasts. These five were likely all of them.’

Nyra was surprised. ’That’s strange. How can you be so sure?’

’Creatures this powerful are fiercely territorial,’ Adrian explained. ’A pack of five Transcendent predators would have killed or driven off any other creature that dared to get closer to a prize like this mana pool. They were the apex predators of this entire region.’ He then added, ’On the bright side, we’ve now got five Transcendent-grade magic crystals. They’ll come in handy for the others.’

He gestured, and the three remaining massive corpses they had dispatched vanished into his [Inventory].

With the threat gone, they made their final descent into the chasm. The moment they entered the cavern at the bottom, the change was instantaneous.

The water grew warm and impossibly clear, and the sheer density of the mana was like swimming through liquid light. Before them was a breathtaking sight: a vast, underwater grotto filled with glowing crystals, and at its center, a shimmering blue lake of pure mana.

After a long moment of admiring the sight, Karl’s eager nature took over. ’So, what now?’

Adrian looked at the incredible prize before them, a small, satisfied smile on his face.

’What else? Let’s start cultivating.’