CalCroissant
patreon
Undersea Reincarnation - 2.16: Unyielding destruction
🕑 Added 2024-10-02 13:54:20 +0000 UTC
Henry couldn’t see from one eye, while the second was seeing things he couldn’t… interpret.
Something was very wrong. The worst of the pain had passed, but it only left a dreadful confusion in its place, and Henry couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. Or what was happening.
What had he been doing? What—
A prodigious amount of mana flashed toward his stomach and brains. His flesh knitted and repaired instantly, a burning and reinvigorating feeling. As it healed he got an idea of what had happened, and somehow, that made everything even more confusing.
It was as if a giant had caught him, then tried to tear him in half along his middle.
Henry’s sight returned. Below him, the dolphin was preparing another attack, just like the one which had reduced his brains to mush. The two green walls would each pull half of his body in different directions and frankly, Henry didn’t have the kind of mana to afford for that to happen once more.
Plus, he didn’t want to sense that dreadful state of mind again. If he could even call it that.
With the arm that was still holding the dolphin he sent a Lightning Discharge, hoping it would delay the attack, while he channeled mana into the leviathan tooth. He plunged down, accelerating his attack with Evershifting Strike as he did.
The dolphin seized for a second, but it wasn’t enough to allow for Henry’s followup attack to land. At the last second, a green hue appeared near the dolphin’s skin that reminded Henry of Stormsong’s defensive ability, and his attack was thrown to the side, unable to maintain its trajectory. Even the grip he had on the dolphin was being challenged. And then a new green current was trying to throw Henry away, but he couldn’t allow that.
If he lost his grip, his plan would fail. He didn’t have the mana for another Blink, and the dolphin wouldn’t allow the kraken to land another arm on him ever again.
Henry’s mind screamed with pain as the wall of green tried to rip him away from the dolphin’s back. The two arms he was using to grab on were threatening to tear as he channeled more electricity down them. The dolphin twitched and seized, but it was more of an annoyance to Sundots than an actual threat.
The green magic continued pulling at him, so Henry changed tactics. With the suckers still making contact along Sundot’s skin, he began unloading every venom he had at his disposal. Paralytics, relaxants and especially his anti-coagulants. He couldn’t dump them all at once because his suckers’ bite was barely cutting into the dolphin’s skin, but at this point, every little thing helped. He even got a couple of notifications from Magic Mimic, but he couldn’t pay them attention at the moment.
“[Filth. Let go of me.]”
Henry didn’t respond—instead, he redoubled his efforts. Channeling more mana into the dark leviathan tooth, Henry stabbed down once more. This time, he activated all of the effects of Evershifting Strike. All but [Whipping].
[Accelerated]. [Unimpeded]. [Cavitational]. [Heavy]. And finally, [Cutting].
The strike flashed down in the blink of an eye, and his Octominds were the only reason Henry was able to make sense of everything that happened next.
The dolphin dropped his magic, trying to pull Henry off of his back while the flowing barrier surrounding his body flared to life. A moment later the magic corona grew more vibrant, and Henry perceived conceptual impressions coming off of it. The unstoppable power of waves. The inescapable pull of the currents.
The unyielding push of the ocean.
Henry’s heart dropped for a moment. He wasn’t going to be able to break through. He hadn’t empowered his own attack with a concept. But then, he saw the leviathan tooth reach the green hue. He expected it to be flung aside, and in a way, it did. He felt the tooth be pushed away slightly. But it still hungrily tore through the concept-empowered barrier with its own thirst for destruction.
The eerie, black leviathan fang bit deep into the dolphin’s lower flank. The strike had been at an angle, so it created a deep groove in the dolphin’s flesh. The impact detonated, but that part of the strike didn’t do much damage to the empowered dolphin.
Still, red blood surged in a cloud out of the nasty injury. Instantly, far above, a shimmer of stormy green and blue surrounded the Otodus Giant Shark before it dove.
Henry let go of the dolphin and began rushing toward the algae stalks while a hail of pressurized bullets followed in his wake. He winced with pain as the bullets tore into his flesh and into the two arms he was using to cover the back of his stomach and brains. The shark was about to show up at any moment—
The sense of dread heralding the arrival of the monster cut through his chest. The hail of projectiles stopped, and Henry stole a glance backward as his arms pumped to get him far away from the dolphin.
The shark came down from above like a falling rocket. Its jaw was wide open, pointed teeth gleaming while its dead-black eyes showed some white around the edges. The dolphin barely managed to deflect the charge, summoning a wall of current that slightly nudged the shark away before glancing toward Henry.
But glancing was all Sundots could do. Barely a second later, the shark was back on the charge. Henry was curious to see how this fight would go, but he couldn’t stay. And so he dove, deeper and deeper into this new area while his clones trailed behind. Maybe he could watch the fight through them.
Henry left the air of dread behind and faced a new one as he camouflaged himself to match the stalk of algae and swam down alongside it. He didn’t know what he would find in the depths he was heading toward, but he couldn’t stay up there. He had to move for a while still before he could bring Maurice and Stormsong out.
He had to find a safe spot.
***
It took nearly twenty minutes for Henry to find the bottom. When he took in the stretch of sea floor that stretched in front of him, coupled with the overgrown and lush cliff that stretched behind him, Henry felt a shiver down his back.
The seabed was oddly flat. Not that it was empty, or anything of the sort. No. The seabed was crawling with life in all of its forms. Coral reefs, schools of fish, giant algae stalks and much more.
What drew Henry's attention and made him uncomfortable was how geologically flat everything looked. He’d expected trenches. Some sort of unevenness, especially considering the sheer rock behind him, but all he could see was flat and rolling plains in every direction, while the cliff kept going ahead and behind him. Some rocks had detached. Some holes were dug into it, but from afar, when he looked into the distance, he could see the slight angle. It all said one thing to Henry: this area didn’t look like it had occurred naturally.
He didn’t know how long it stretched. He didn’t know if the odd energy that permeated the Current had anything to do with it, but this all looked artificial. On a scale he couldn’t even fathom.
“One more mystery added to the list.”
Henry broke himself out of the line of thoughts and glanced above him. He saw nothing following him, and he couldn’t hear any clicks, either.
It seemed like he had successfully evaded the dolphin. Which was fine and all. But as he eyed one of the many roaming shapes, he could only gulp.
A carpet shark was somewhere below him. It was significantly larger than the specimen Henry had tried to attack a few days ago, and just like him, it was hiding from the dominant species in the area. As Henry looked at the conical shapes swimming and dancing around in this small stretch of the ocean, he could help but feel awed.
[Orthoceras Squid (C) - Lvl ???]
“Nautiloids…”
The squid was massive, easily as large as he was if not more. Its soft body was hidden in a tall, conical shell that somehow looked like black and white witch’s hat. Most were high C-rank, with a handful of early B-Ranks. The school of squid was swimming around, playfully exploring and interacting with each other.
Were they intelligent? Peaceful? He had no clue, and he wasn’t willing to test it out with so many of them being in the area.
Still, this would be a huge opportunity. Strong monsters would keep the dolphins away, while this would become a whole new hunting field. But once again, just as when his adventure had started, Henry would have to be careful.
Once more, he was now one small fish in a big, dangerous sea.
Comments
Ekko
Thr classic: The MC thinks he is strong so let's teach him his place in the food chain
Sammael
I think he's a dictator dolphin maybe 🐬🛂
Roombot
I’m a bit confused why Sunspot is getting violent to retrieve a dolphin who voluntarily left the pod?
