Book 1: Chapter 86

Aqua I’m woken up by the sound of a blaring alarm, making me instantly jump straight to my feet before getting dressed and looking out the window at the dome around the city. Only to find a small figure moving in the distance within the waters. A figure I recognize from when I was first heading towards this particular city. The level ninety shark is heading this way. And it’s not alone as it has its migration horde following all around and behind it. When I shapeshift my eyes, I can even see it seemingly attacking some sort of glimmering shark monster and chasing something in the water. Why is the shark here? What happened to the emergency where it was heading to the other Hunter’s City? The alarm continues to blare as I quickly put on my armor and begin to eat my breakfast while heading out. Deciding to skip my work this morning due to the emergency. There are systems in place for this after all. Pioneers facing emergencies. So I’ll let Rhett deal with that as I figure out what the abyss is going on. Instead of heading to the Guild building though, I find myself being stopped right outside of the inn when the Guildmaster runs right up to me. Startling me for a moment. “Aqua!” the Guildmaster shouts amidst the rather empty street. “We need your help!” Well that isn’t a surprise. There’s a level ninety monster with level seventy to eighty subordinates along with a swarm of lower level shards in the forties outside. And the highest level person here aside from me is only in the level thirties range. I’d have to be stupid to not expect this. “What happened?” I ask with a slight frown while glancing at the massive shark that is still rapidly making its way here. “I thought the migration was moving towards a different Hunter’s City?” “It was,” the Guildmaster says while turning to look out at the approaching migration as well. “But it suddenly changed direction and started rushing here instead while chasing an object.” My eyes narrow at that before focusing on the item I can see summoning sharks. Items don’t just activate on their own. Which means someone did this on purpose. Someone is leading the migration here. It’s impossible for any person who isn’t a native of this planet to be on the planet without the System teleporting them away, and there can only be one Pioneer per planet. So it has to be a native of the planet doing this. But if it’s a native who knows nothing about the Alliance, why would they do something like this? I’m not sure. Regardless, there’s a more pressing matter at hand than that. It’s a good thing I haven’t used that amulet. The one that restores my mana completely after use. Because I get the feeling I’ll probably need it today. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. “Are the other cities sending their forces here?” I ask without taking my gaze from the shark. “Yes, but it will take at least half the day for them to arrive from the Fortal Hunter’s City,” the Guildmaster says, sounding trepidatious. And I don’t blame her. I stare at the shark for a few seconds before stating, “I’ll try to fight the leader, but the rest of them will be up to you to take on until I finish my fight.” Assuming I don’t die or have to flee. Because I will flee if I think I don’t stand a chance. Not that I think this shark will let me do that. Considering how it’s almost like the thing is staring at me as it begins to ignore the summoned sharks and rush straight towards us. And I get the feeling I might struggle to escape from this thing. It is nineteen levels above me after all. With an entire trait ahead of me on top of that. The Guildmaster begins to rush off, only to pause and then hand me something I very much recognize from yesterday’s haul before rushing off to direct the soldiers still in the city. And after glancing at it and understanding, I tightly grip onto the weapon she handed me as I charge straight to the edge of the city before jumping out of the city into the water. Then I begin swimming in the direction of the sharks with my eyes narrowed. But when I get close to the horde, thinking that I’ll try to kill a bunch of them before attacking the boss just to level up to level seventy-five, they all begin moving around me at rapid speeds. Avoiding me like the Abyss. I glare at them and the big shark while trying a few times to attack them, but all the monsters avoid me as quickly as they can without pausing in their charge towards the city. And soon enough I find the massive shark being the only one left in front of me as the others continue towards the city. Damnit. It’s like the sharks are trying to separate me from the city. [It’s boss time!] [Yeeeaaaahhhh!!! Booosss timmmmeee!!!] [This is gonna be good!] [How is she going to survive this time?! I can’t wait to see!] Great. They don’t even suspect I might lose despite the massive level gap. Just peachy. I identify the shark again just to make sure its level hasn’t changed. Which I doubt it would since there aren’t really that many monsters at this depth or even almost a thousand meters deeper that can match its level. [Maw Shark – Level 90] A maw shark. And when the thing opens its mouth, I instantly realize why it’s called that. Considering that its mouth opens so wide its jaws practically look unhinged. As for what I see inside? It’s just a black hole with rows of razor sharp teeth around it. Then the shark suddenly moves towards me at a speed I can only barely trace with my eyes. And if it weren’t for the distance between us along with me summoning a tentacle to fling me away, I’m pretty sure I would’ve died in the first attack as its jaws chomp straight down on the tentacle as it shoots straight through said tentacle. Not even struggling in the least to chomp right through it. The shark doesn’t even stop or slow down in the process. It just keeps moving before seemingly struggling with turning as it slows down. Right. Sharks are known for burst speed and jaw strength. Even if their jaw strength is nowhere near that of an orca. I grit my teeth as I see the shark slowly turning around to face me again. And as I watch it, I try to figure out just what skills will be helpful against it. There’s no way my trident will be of any help here. At all. So with that in mind, I glance at the new weapon she handed me. One made from the pincer of the zeal. It’s made from a monster at level seventy-six. Which is far better than a weapon at level thirty. Even if it’s a little crude in design with just the handle in the shape of a long harpoon instead of a trident. Meaning I’ll probably have to get a little used to it. But it’s similar enough to a trident that it shouldn’t be too big of an issue. Not like the scythe was. The instant I see the shark’s muscles begin to twitch, implying another charge, I summon another tentacle and throw myself to the side again. Making the shark turn into a blur before rushing straight past where I was just at. But unlike the last time, I don’t just sit back. Instead I summon another two tentacles and use them to launch me straight at the shark with the new weapon raised with both hands before stabbing it straight down on the shark’s back while it’s beginning to turn around. I grimace at the sight of the weapon barely piercing its scales even with my Bloodline’s added strength. Well, shit. The shark hits me with a massive fin, sending me flying through the water for several dozen meters before I finally slow down with quite a few bruises covering me. Which I’m sure would be far worse if it had charged at me instead of just slapping me with a fin. This isn’t going to be fun.