As Kain glided through the water, propelled by the Aqua-Fin Bands, he was struck by the surreal beauty surrounding him.
Luminescent plants in shades of blue, green, and violet swayed gently in the currents, their glow casting an ethereal light over the underwater terrain.
Long, ribbon-like plants—perhaps algae— spiraled upward from the lakebed, their tips adorned with shimring orbs that pulsed like heartbeats.
Tower-like structures made of coral ford intricate patterns that looked almost deliberate, as if crafted by so unseen hand.
Tiny glowing particles emitted from so bioluminescent plants floated lazily in the water, adding to the dreamlike ambiance.
However, despite the beautiful environnt, it was completely devoid of aquatic spiritual creatures making the surroundings quite dead. The eerie silence broken only by the faint hum of his bands cutting through the water.
The chaos he'd left behind with the lurefruit seed to have drawn away most of the spiritual creatures in the lake, especially now that it had practically devolved into a battle of pride between the spiritual creatures in the sky and those in the water.
or a brief mont, Kain allowed himself to relax, his focus fixed on the center of the lake in the distance that marked his destination.
Halfway to his goal, the tranquillity shattered. A sudden, oppressive presence surged through the water, sending a chill down Kain's spine.
He stopped abruptly, his light brown eyes darting around for the source of the disturbance. The Threads of Destiny at the edge of his vision pulsed weakly, but their dim light offered little comfort. However, they weren't completely pitch-black, indicating that this wasn't a sure-death situation.
The creature appeared as a shadow at first, erging slowly from behind a towering coral spire. It was massive, its serpentine body covered in dark, purple scales that shimred faintly in the dim light.
Its head was elongated and angular, with six glowing cyan eyes arranged symtrically, each one radiating an eerie intelligence. Tendrils extended from its jawline, tipped with glowing light blue orbs.
Its fins were tattered and torn, trailing ribbons of flesh, but the sharp, jagged spines along its back with chunks of blood and tissue caught between them showed that it didn't passively take a beating from whatever hurt it.
Despite its injuries, the sheer pressure of its aura was suffocating.
'Definitely indigo-grade and based on the feedback from Bea, it also is of the ntal-attribute!' Kain thought depressedly while glaring at the thread he'd been using to guide himself. It still had weak flickers of light despite the desperate situation, like it wasn't caring about the horrible enemy before him at all!
However, Kain quickly realized that the pressure it emitted wasn't as sharp or overbearing as other indigo-grade creatures he had encountered. The creature's movents were slower, its body carrying a distinct stiffness. It was heavily injured, and likely starving—a dangerous combination.
Kain's heart sank as he pieced together its intent. This intelligent predator had likely avoided the chaos of the lurefruit due to its injuries and higher intelligence from the ntal-attribute, conserving its strength while waiting for easier prey. And now, it had found Kain, who it clearly saw as a al that had conveniently delivered itself right to its door.
"Great. Just my luck," Kain muttered under his breath, the water distorting his voice. His mind raced as the beast moved closer, its unblinking eyes locking onto him.
Most of his spiritual creatures weren't effective combatants under the water, and so he'd recalled all of them, except for Bea. However, the two-level gap in strength between the two sides was enormous, not to ntion that the target also having the ntal-attribute would make it much more resistant to anything Bea attempted.
The serpentine creature's six glowing cyan eyes locked onto Kain, the very water undulated as it it unleashed a pulse of ntal energy.
The attack struck with the force of a tidal wave, bypassing the physical defences Kain could muster and targeting his mind directly. A searing pain lanced through his skull, his vision montarily blurring as disorienting whispers filled his ears.
He was practically incapacitated imdiately, despite the fact that he has a strong resistance to ntal-attribute skills due to the feedback he's received from Bea over the years. If it were soone without a ntal-attribute contract or suitable equipnt, they may have beco instantly braindead.
His instincts scread at him to retreat, but the creature lunged forward, its jagged fins slicing through the water with deceptive speed. Kain barely managed to regain enough of his consciousness to twist out of its path, the sharp edges of its spines grazing his armor and sending him spiralling through the water.
Thankfully, he wasn't alone.
Hundreds, if not thousands of ntal energy threads, practically invisible under the water surged from Bea, attempting to influence the creature's mind in an attempt to slow it down.
The predator recoiled, its glowing eyes narrowing in annoyance, but the resistance was imdiate and intense. Its ntal energy surged through its body and surroundings like a tidal wave, cutting through Bea's threads with ease and also crushing all of the splits that had managed to gain entry into its body.
Seeing the gap in strength, Kain made a snap decision. He activated his spiritual skill, channelling every drop of his remaining energy into Bea, plus the complete spiritual from the one-and-a-half instant refills he had remaining from his enchanted equipnt.
This was the first ti he'd attempted to send over more than a refill's worth of spiritual energy into Bea to boost her abilities, and the effect was imdiate.
Bea's presence flared with newfound power, making her microscopic presence even faintly detectable by others other than Kain, due to her not being able to restrain all of the energy. Even Bea seed overwheld by the sudden influx.
Through their bond, Kain was able to detect that while she felt strained and bloated, it was manageable, with no signs of her exploding or suffering permanent irreparable harm.
'Ga on!' Kain thought. He'd long wanted to test himself against an indigo-grade spiritual creature, and a heavily injured one would make the perfect opponent.
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