Book 1: Chapter 87

Aqua I swim around barely avoiding attacks by the shark over and over again, only occasionally getting hit by a fin as I try to devise a plan to deal with the shark. But not many things actually come to mind that might work. That said, one thing does come to mind. So without hesitation, I rush through the water in the direction of the horde of monsters with the massive shark quickly chasing after me and only barely missing when I fling myself to the side with a tentacle. And after doing that several times, using up a good amount of mana just to avoid the shark’s charges, I finally make it to the horde of monsters where I find the Guildmaster fighting against the monsters in the horde. “Guildmaster!” I shout at her before suddenly dodging the shark again. “Can you avoid killing all the monsters and leave most of them just barely alive for me?!” She looks incredibly confused at my request even as she kills monsters with a longsword, using some sort of slashing skill to send out arcs of light through the water. But after looking around at the horde near the city that is already getting close to breaking the dome around the city. Pushing through the soldiers defending it in the process. Then she looks at me and asks, “Will it help you kill their leader?” I nod my head while keeping an eye on the shark that had just plowed through a bunch of its own horde as it begins turning to face me again. “I’ll relay the order,” the Guildmaster says without any further hesitation. With that dealt with, I avoid another charge by the shark before rushing around the horde to kill some of the monsters in it myself. Only for the shark to suddenly stop moving and open its maw wide before letting out a loud ringing sound, making all the other monsters near us avoid us like the Abyss. While they all glow at that. Almost like the sharks are all being empowered by the massive shark. And on top of that, I begin to glow as well with a dark blue light. Meanwhile my body grows sluggish. Thanks to all this, I find myself too slow and the monsters too fast, making it so they all escape to rush to the other side of the city while still fighting the monsters. Damnit. There goes the other idea. That of killing the monsters in the horde to level up to level seventy-five while avoiding the boss. I guess I’ll just have to rely on the first safety net plan I made. On the bright side, the massive shark doesn’t seem to be able to move much while it’s using this buff and debuff skill. So it doesn’t attack me while I’m slowed. I quickly check on my mana to find it at a little over five hundred fifty now. Which is a decent amount, but not as much as I’d like. Mostly because I’ve been burning mana like firewood to summon tentacles to move around. I tighten my grip on the handle of my pincer harpoon weapon. Just watching the massive shark slowly stop making that ringing sound as my body stops glowing. Marking the end of its skill. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. After that the shark and I stare at each other for several seconds before the shark’s entire body begins to glow. Except this time it glows with a purple light as a purple liquid begins to fill the water around it. Shit, is that poison?! Why the abyss does a shark have poison?! Before I can even come to a decision about the poison though, the shark suddenly spews out a large beam of purple liquid from its mouth. One that moves too quickly for me to completely dodge. I cry out in pain as the poison completely devours half of my left arm split down the middle from the elbow to the fingers. Leaving me with just two and a half fingers, half a hand, and half a forearm. And it doesn’t just stop there as the poison ever so slowly begins to spread up my arm. Only to be stopped and move back just as quickly as it starts to spread. Following which it starts moving forwards again. Bouncing back and forth no doubt due to my trait and REGEN stat. I don’t hold back and do the one thing I know can counter this poison. I activate the skill Maw of the Abyssal Kraken, making an enormous maw spanning over a hundred meters in diameter appear beneath the shark. And almost immediately after appearing, the maw begins drawing in all the poison around the shark. Devouring it all without trouble and clearing up the water. Good. I wasn’t sure if that would work, but I’m glad it did. Especially since the poison seems to have acidic qualities. Qualities that aren’t harming the tentacles or the maw at all. The shark’s attention turns fully to the maw beneath it as it gets gradually pulled down towards it. Meanwhile I push through the pain in my arm to swim straight towards the shark. And right as the shark is beginning to pull away from the maw, I activate Abyssal Reversal on it. Unfortunately though, that doesn’t really do much other than make it slip up a little and fall down into the maw a bit. Just inches away from the maw’s fangs. [This is so close!] [But what will she do when she runs out of mana?! It looks like that skill costs a lot!] [Didn’t she have a mana restoration item?] I ignore the chat flashing by in the corner of my vision as I get close enough to the maw and activate Pressure of the Abyss on top of Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace numerous times, summoning several tentacles around it. Tentacles that begin pushing the shark back down again along with the tentacles from the maw itself. The shark tries to spew poison out at the maw, but the poison just goes down into its mouth without doing anything. Other than pushing it back a little bit through the propulsion. I feel hope when the shark’s left side enters the maw and starts getting torn into by the fangs. Even if the fangs do far less damage than they do to other monsters. To the point that the fangs only end up tearing apart the shark’s scales and ripping off the large fin on one side before the shark lets out a loud ringing sound again. Except that this time it shoots out purple spikes all across its body that stretch for dozens of meters. Piercing through and even shattering the fangs of the maw in the process. My eyes widen at the sight of the maw actually taking damage for a first. And to top that off, the shark suddenly shoots itself forward to chomp through several of the tentacles the moment the suction force of the maw ceases. But I can’t help but notice that the shark is moving oddly now. Not in a straight line anymore. No doubt due to its missing fin unbalancing its movements. I grimace as the shark quickly begins to tear apart the maw bit by bit. All the way until the entire maw is destroyed. That’s not all that’s happening though as the shark completely ignores the tentacles I summoned through Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace along with the Pressure of the Abyss that I activated along with them. Allowing the tentacles to attack the shark over and over again while it’s destroying the maw. Clearly prioritizing the more dangerous target. And while the tentacles don’t do a single thing to the areas on the shark’s body covered in scales, they do damage the shark where the maw managed to rip its scales and fin to shreds. A faint smile spreads across my face at the sight. I can work with this. When I try to fire off pressurized bullets at the maw shark, it completely blocks all the bullets that hit its scales while the ones that hit its bare flesh make tiny scratches. Proving that while it won’t do much, it will damage it. So long as I attack it where it’s wounded, I should be able to kill it. The shark finally finishes dealing with all the tentacles, including the ones from Abyssal Kraken’s Embrace, before finally turning towards me. I glance at my mana before frowning a little at the sight of it being at around halfway full. If only Maw of the Abyssal Kraken didn’t have a cooldown, this would be a lot easier...