"Ha!" Krune used his rope as a whip to lash out on one of the worm-like fishes. As it had soaked up the water, it contained enough weight to form a considerable attack. The worm-like fish flinched under the attack, coiling its body as it tried to clamp on Krune.

Krune kicked the back of the worm-like fish he was on and jumped towards his attacker, stretching the rope as much as possible using both his hands as he collided it perpendicularly towards the attacker's jaws, making it unable to latch onto him. The rope was like a bowstring at the ends of its mouth.

Its momentum pushed him back, causing him to plunge into the ocean as it followed through. Krune used the force from the plunge as he let go of the hold on his left, swerving to the side as his hands coiled onto the worm-like fish's head. He grabbed its fins for support while tying up the rope around its neck, holding it with his mouth.

He craned his head to the back, biting into the rope with all his strength as he tried to choke the worm-like fish. In the meantime, his hands tore apart its fins and lodged deep into its flesh.

It wasn't as if he was taken control by anger or anything. After all, the Little Krune fragment inhabiting the Escapist had already appeared inside his subspace. So, what he was doing at the moment was an act of survival.

As he had been dodging continuously, Krune felt like his lungs were on fire while his stomach was bloated, having swallowed a lot of water during the repeated plunges. He had lost all his nails and had suffered from numerous gashes during the skirmish. It was truly a sorry state he encountered himself at the moment.

Moreover, his blood was attracting more and more worm-like fishes to target him, making the current situation even riskier as it pushed him over the edge. If he didn't do something, he was bound to die immediately. Left with no other choice, Krune turned vicious, targeting the worm-like fish that seemed the weakest of the lot and had already sustained some injuries.

It seemed to have been injured while fighting against some other species of fish. All along, Krune had noticed injuries among a lot of the worm-like fishes. Therefore, it implied they were in fights with a lot of fish that had been in their way.

Most probably, it was a hunt.

Therefore, Krune used this to his advantage, finally targeting the worm-like fish that had been injured the most. It was still able to swim like the rest but was slowly losing blood. Seeing how the surrounding fishes didn't react to its blood, Krune determined they didn't have a cannibalistic nature. So, he immediately came up with a plan.

He intended to coat himself with its blood and prevent more worm-like fishes from targeting him. That way, he might at least be able to survive by heading a bit deeper into the ocean and waiting for them to leave.

Krune was unable to see anything in front himself, for all the ejected blood from the worm-like fish blocked his vision. If he kept his eyes open for any longer, then it might enter his eyes and trouble him further. Still, as Krune had wrapped himself around it, he was able to detect the slightest changes in his body.

This way, he was able to avoid all attacks and exerted pressure in his hands, digging deeper into its flesh. He then used its internals to grip firmly as he pulled the rope with his teeth, exerting all his strength into the action.

The worm-like fish struggled as it felt mildly suffocated, wriggling as it collided into a nearby worm-like fish. There was faint disorder as a couple more fishes were lured in after the worm-like fish collided with them.

Upon seeing Krune on its back, they swiped in on him, intending to shred him into pieces and gobble him up. Krune hurriedly pulled out his right hand, holding an organ he had pulled out. He threw it towards one of the attackers, causing it to close its mouth immediately, unwilling to swallow the organ.

Thoughts collided in his mind as Krune noticed a couple of issues with the worm-like fishes. The first thought was the fact that no matter what happened, they didn't stop moving. Despite being injured, they continued to move, not slowing down even once.

Moreover, they were always in perfect sync, only colliding into each other when their flow was disrupted by external factors like himself.

The second issue was the fact they refrained from ingesting anything related to their brethren. It wouldn't have been odd if they didn't have any cannibalistic tendencies. That would have been normal.

But, the fact that they went out of their way to avoid eating the body parts of their brethren was odd, too odd to just gloss over.

In his current state, Krune didn't plan on letting such a chance slip. So, he ripped out small pieces of muscles and organs from the worm-like fish he had injured and tossed them towards his foes whenever they neared him.

Whether they were in the air or within the water, Krune was able to react accordingly.

"Damn!" Krune immediately let go of his hold and jumped behind when they jumped out of the water surface. Surprisingly, three worm-like fishes had aimed it correctly, intending to swipe at him from different directions.

Having observed his actions until now, they had determined his evasive actions and had planned accordingly. As it was difficult to dodge while in the air than in the water due to the momentum behind the leap, they timed themselves accordingly.

Besides, even if they were to miss, when Krune fell into the water, he would be helpless without anything to hide behind. So, they would be able to swiftly eat him up.

And just as they had expected, when they swiped in from all sides, Krune had no other choice but to let go of his hold over the worm-like fish and leap behind, barely managing to dodge while suffering from a couple more scratches.

He collided into the back of another fish and plopped into the water, hurriedly trying to move as the three worm-like fishes that had targeted him made a turn further below water and approached to bite him.

Krune flailed his hands as he noticed their approach, their bodies highlighted by the neon glow they emitted. Considering the sheer numbers present in the place, the area was brightly illuminated and allowed him to see far enough.

This was how he was able to react to all of the attacks. And now, as the three fishes swooped in towards him, one of them took the lead, having started from proximity. It quickly arrived before the flailing Krune, opening its mouth to clamp onto his legs.

Having planned for this all along, Krune waited until the very final moment before retracting his legs as he arced using his hands, throwing a certain organ clutched in his hands. As it was only done using his hands, he was swiftly able to retract it at the very last moment, barely evading the fate of losing his limbs.

He had just prepared himself to dodge again as the other two worm-like fishes stopped, expressing sheer horror in their trembling bodies. But for some reason, they were frozen in place, unable to escape.

The worm-like fish that failed to close its mouth on time swallowed the organ Krune had thrown. It just stopped in place, trembling from time to time as the neon glow it emitted continued to brighten.

A sense of dread filled him as Krune could instinctively sense something was wrong. There was a reason the worm-like fishes didn't wish to swallow the body parts of their brethren. There was a distinct stir up among the school of worm-like fishes.

They began to move at a faster pace. Unexpectedly, their swimming speeds turned deadlier to the extent Krune was unable to latch onto one of them again. Moreover, they no longer seemed intent to swallow him.

He noticed how the worm-like fish—that had swallowed the organ—was twitching as the patches of neon glow on its body continued to spread.

Krune realized that he didn't have any means to dodge or escape from whatever what going to appear next. His position was just too bad. Judging by the reaction of the others, it was definitely scarier.

His heart thumped as Krune was overwhelmed by an adrenaline rush, taking action immediately. He did something he wouldn't have done normally. It was because of his mortal form right now. His mindset was slowly becoming more and more like what a mortal human would think, affected by his current body.

Krune swam and arrived above the trembling worm-like neon fish, noticing how the neon glow was about to fully cover its body. He quickly used the rope to coil around its body, making a specific knot as he prepared himself, feeling difficulty due to running out of air.

Nevertheless, he mustered all the strength he possessed into his arms, tugging the rope with all his might, acting at the exact moment the worm-like fish's body was completely covered by the neon light. Its eyes shot open as it emitted a suffocating presence, causing the school of fishes to tremble and swim even faster as if they were scared for their life.

Sadly, the worm-like fish with the suffocating presence was unable to move, lacking oxygen because its gills had been completely blocked after what happened. Krune had directly targeted its weak point, blocking its gills with the rope.

As he pulled the rope with all his strength, the pathways for the traversal of air in the gills were pressed down until the walls of each pathway touched itself, causing the worm-like fish to suffocate. It did wriggle, intending to escape but noticed its strength fading away rapidly, unable to retaliate.

While it was evolving into a dangerous existence, Krune had worked on blocking its gills. With that, it had already run out of air. Moreover, he had wound the rope with enough strength and had made such a knot that it was only possible for it to become tighter and not looser.

He continued to tug its ends as veins popped all over his arms. Krune was running out of air but gritted his teeth and desperately held on, noticing how no other fish dared to swim near him. He then bellowed with all his might, pulling the rope with enough strength that something within the worm-like neon fish ruptured, causing blood to spurt out of its body like a fountain.