Wolf

A few hours later

“At this point, I’m not sure if I should be happy or just plain worried that I haven’t even seen the event boss’s icon show up on my map yet,” I mutter with a hand covering my mouth to block any of the rain to get in.

Crystal chuckles slightly in a tense way, showcasing how worried she actually is for me at the moment from the System Call screen next to me.

Either that, or just how tense she is with her situation at the moment, considering how she’s on the sixtieth floor, trying to make it through some puzzle at the moment.

Why she decided to call me now, I have no idea. But it does let me relieve some of my tension from the event boss, so it’s fine.

I continue making my way across the water’s surface, calmly freezing portions of the water underneath each of my steps on the way for several silent minutes as Crystal quietly focuses on her puzzle. It isn’t until I hear fireworks exploding from her screen that I begin to talk again.

“You should be careful of the boss once you find one,” I warn her, some of my tenseness leaking through my tone, “it packs one mean punch.”

As I say this, I rub my arm slightly where it was severed before turning my head and waving my hand, causing a spear of ice to shoot out and pierce a large squid that was entering my life sense range.

Crystal lets out a short grunt as she jumps down from a ledge in the puzzle room she’s in before saying, “Don’t worry, I saw your fight.” She then turns to look at the screen while I continue making my way through the ocean and asks, “By the way, about that, are you okay?”

I simply nod my head before focusing on my dungeon map. The map only shows up to about one kilometer in complete blackout away from any uncovered places I have been to, and despite that, there still haven’t been any signs of the event boss.

“I’m fine,” I answer her, turning away from the map again to focus directly ahead of me, only to pause slightly as something catches my eye.

Is that a hurricane?

As I’m squinting my eyes and freezing a little cover to block the rain around me so I can get a better look at it, Crystal hums before wondering out loud, “Actually, I wonder where that chicken went?”

This comment makes my eyebrow twitch, but the reaction doesn’t last long as I confirm that it is indeed a hurricane.

“Sorry, but I’m gonna have to go. There appears to be a hurricane a couple of kilometers ahead, and I would rather not be caught unawares by-”

My sentence is interrupted as I see an enormous splash near the hurricane, followed by something large coming out and smashing against the hurricane, literally brutalizing it, and making it slowly deform.

“Wolf?” Crystal asks as I stand frozen, staring at the distance, where the large amount of water provides a cover for whatever it was that had swatted the hurricane. “You okay?”

“I…” I begin before pausing as the water continues falling slowly to the ground, with the rain in between me and the… whatever it is making it difficult to see it clearly. Or at all, if it weren’t for my enhanced vision from being a lycanthrope.

“I think I might have found the event boss,” I mutter with a frown, only briefly noting the worried expression that covers Crystal’s face after hearing me before I add, “Yeah… I think I’m gonna have to go.”

I then hang up on the call before she can say anything so as to focus on the… thing nearly two kilometers ahead of me.

At this thought, the water in that area suddenly splashes again, followed by an enormous wave beginning to rush in my direction.

Okay, what the hell is happening?

The wave continues rushing towards me, traveling nearly half the distance between me and it within less than a minute as I begin to run in the opposite direction.

Yeah, I don’t want to try my luck against a monster strong enough to swat a hurricane and create a tsunami.

Not to mention can apparently travel about a kilometer in just less than a minute of swimming…

I hear Sapphire’s worried screeching from my shadow, but I don’t stop running across the water as I say, “Stay in my shadow.”

She just makes a sound somewhere between a screech, hiss, and purr all at the same time, which I’ve learned to mean reluctant agreement over the time she’s been with me. Meanwhile, I continue running away from the tsunami in the hopes that I can find a mini boss somewhere along the way.

Unfortunately, however, this is a hazardous floor. Which makes mini bosses pretty damn scarce here.

And if that’s not bad enough, I notice the event boss’s icon appear on my dungeon map.

At this point, I switch from running to sliding and making a very long path of ice beneath me that allows me to easily slide along when combined with the downpouring rain around me.

Suddenly, as I’m trying to get away from the event boss, a loud splash echoes throughout the rain. When I turn around to look, I find the tsunami having been cut in half, with the top half falling down to the surface of the water. Meanwhile, the monster seems to pause for a second, only to suddenly begin moving in my direction again, except without a tsunami following it this time.

Okay, what the hell is it? All I can see are large, dark forms moving, with most of the monster seemingly under water!

At this rate, if I can’t find a mini boss, then I don’t think I’ll be able to get away from it without a fight. Not with it’s speed being so much faster than-

My thoughts are interrupted as a loud noise echoes throughout the ocean around me. The noise sounds somewhere between the echoing whine of a whale, and the roar of some sort of monster.

“What the hell?!” I exclaim, jerking my head to look behind me as I slide on the ice, only to find the monster within half a kilometer of me now.

Close enough to let me see parts of it as it swims.

Parts that look eerily similar to tentacles.

I clench my teeth slightly at finally being able to see it before identifying the creature. Only to end up narrowing my eyes at the result.

_-| Ruler of the Maren – Deepsea Kraken – Level 861 |-_

That… is not something I can take.

I’m not even sure I’d be able to take it with Crystal’s and Sapphire’s help, much less solo.

It’s ninety-nine freaking levels above me after all. Which is by far above the level for my eternal ice effect to work and is just way too overpowered.

Especially since I’m in an ocean.

I focus on getting away from the beast as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, thoughts of why it started targeting me from about two thousand meters away continuously run through my head.

Did it smell me? Sense me through the water? Hear me?

Deciding that I’m getting nowhere speculating, I glance backwards once more to find it still pretty far away – albeit not far enough for my liking – I turn forwards again while opening the System Forums.

There’s no way I’m getting out of this alive without some knowledge on the creature.