Chapter Thirty-Eight

Ione swam off, pumping excitement through their bond, leaving Elysia alone in the dark waters. Suddenly, a flash of movement to her right drew her attention, only for something else to move in her peripheral vision on her left. Her head jerked back as a narrow jaw filled with razor-sharp teeth opened right in front of her face.

Nope, not dealing with this.

Lightning arced off her as she activated electrify self, then she spammed lightning bolt unsure if she could release a smite in time. However, contrary to her expectations, nothing hit as the shapes barely visible in the purple lit waters retreated far faster than she thought possible. Still, just in case she kept electrify itself active the barely noticeable when she had over 8000 charge left.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark waters, she picked out dozens of finned creatures with almost dolphin like properties if one discounted the scales glistening under her violet lightning even from over a dozen meters away.

Where the hell was Ione? Weren’t we supposed to be a team? She was the one who could swim super-fast.

Any further thoughts vanished as she dove the moment she sensed movement behind her, but she was far too slow. A jaw full of razor-sharp teeth clamped onto her calf only to spasm from the lightning and failed to puncture her scaled armor. Unfortunately, that spasming didn’t include releasing her leg, causing her to dangle from the floating creature as its friends circled, ready to pounce.

With a growl, she released a smite on the offending creature, boiling the water surrounding them. Exposed skin blistered from the heat, ripping a scream from her throat. The creature, on the other hand, smoked and twitched before releasing her leg and sinking into the depths. A ding sounded in her mind but she ignored it in favor of the surrounding pod dolphin like creatures as she fought off the steadily lessening pain helped by the cooling water.

Knowing she had no chance of escape, Elysia palmed a throwing knife in her left hand as lightning sparked from her right, ready to attack the next challenger. However, yet again, they didn’t act like she expected. Instead of trying to avenge their fallen companion, they circled cautiously, looking for any opening. As if learning a direct attack wouldn’t work even from behind, they made no move to attack but instead released a chorus of weird, echoing calls.

Crap, were they calling in backup? What to do? There were too many even for Ione to take out, no matter how fast she moved. Could she grab onto Ione and retreat? She had no doubt Ione was faster than these things, but they would probably surround them again if they stopped. It wasn’t like there was anywhere to hide while floating here.

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up in her mind. She sent images to Ione demanding for her to return along with showing her current situation.

Anger flooded through their bond, not directed at her but at the creatures who dared to hurt her mother. Faster than what should be possible, a silvery purple streak shot through the water, scoring deep cuts on several of the creatures as she passed before arriving in front of Elysia, hackles raised, eyes promising death.

However, before she could strike, Elysia koala’d her by wrapping both her arms and legs around Ione’s torso and sent images directing them downward. She ordered them to escape, taking advantage of the distraction caused by Ione’s sudden arrival and injuries.

Elysia’s plan received a sharp refusal as Ione geared up to attack once more, but Elysia insisted while adding on images of her forming plan if they found an advantageous position. They weren’t running away but performing a tactical retreat.

There were too many of these things surrounding them. Even Ione’s surprise attack didn’t hamper them enough. They needed to find somewhere they wouldn’t get surrounded to have a chance. Even if that meant allowing them to live for now.

As extra impact, Elysia added a bit of scolding images, telling Ione she shouldn’t have run off on her. They wouldn’t be in the situation if she stayed. Worst case, they could have retreated sooner before getting surrounded.

Successfully cowed Ione shot downward while ensuring Elysia stayed latched to her. Somehow despite their mind blowing speeds that should rip her off Ione especially with her meager strength she remained planted without effort. With her enhanced perception she spotted several creatures as they shot past.

A pattern soon presented itself causing her to rethink her plan. The deeper they went the creatures grew larger some of which could probably swallow them both without even noticing. Fortunately, those creatures were far too slow to react as they buzzed by, but the mere fact it took longer than a few seconds to reach the bottom with their current pace compounded her worries.

Yet another problem presented itself in the form of pressure compressing her body but contrary to what it would be like as a human several kilometers down it was far from debilitating and being an elemental she doubted she had to deal with the bends. Though none of that would matter if they got eaten.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the sooty bottom came into view. However, because of the extreme depths, her hopes of facing off against the creatures in a bottleneck appeared to have failed. The only monsters this deep were absolutely massive, at least on par with a fully grown sauropod, if not bigger.

One thing that became abundantly clear was this wasn’t some small dungeon like the others, but instead an entirely different section of Mezo or something else entirely. But considering she didn’t receive any notifications about leaving the island, it was probably just a different section.

There was no way they could clear this place on their own or even with dozens of people. There were simply too many creatures to kill within a week’s timeframe, some of which she wasn’t even sure she was capable of killing unless she used unusual tactics like with the serpent.

She definitely didn’t want to risk getting eaten again. That was an impulsive decision that she hit the lottery just surviving, let alone killing the creature.

The only advantage she had with that tactic against some of these massive beings was she was so small compared to them she would probably just slip through, not that she had any plans of testing that theory.

While squinting her eyes trying to see as far as she could, her mind settled on a decision, one that Ione wouldn’t like. They were much better off hunting on land. Sure, she was immune to her own lightning, but the heat generated was just too much.

Most of these creatures even Ione couldn’t hunt. She could probably pick off a few of those dolphin like creatures, but they were on the smaller side compared to pretty much everything else down here. Probably the only reason they survived was because of their numbers and the fact they stayed near the surface.

She sent images of leaving to Ione sweetened up by promising many hunts on land.

Ione pushed back pouty feelings but complied, as even she knew many of the creatures were beyond her. An impossible hunt was no fun, even if she was sure they would be tasty. She just had to grow bigger. Then she and her mother could have an all-you-can-eat buffet to themselves. No way would anyone else find her hunting grounds.

The scaly treats and disgusting fake elementals were searching for those portal things. Little did they know under their feet there was a perfect hunting ground, especially for the scaly treats. They had no chance to match her glorious tail fin, but as much as she hated to admit it, their finger webbing and scales gave them excellent swimming ability. Far better than her mother, but her mother was supreme in all other things compared to the scaly treats.

After letting several massive creatures pass, all large enough to eat both of them whole, Ione shot upwards, preferring speed over stealth. The quicker they left, the quicker they could find a worthy hunt and possibly return here when they were a little stronger. At least she hoped they would return.

Thanks to her unparalleled swimming, they reached the surface untouched, though those annoying treats who dared to attack her mother tried to ambush them. Of course, as expected, they failed. If only she wasn’t carrying her precious mother. She would have taught them a lesson, but sometimes she had to make concessions for future gains. They would get their just deserve it was only a matter of time. Even if she had to come down herself on a scouting break, they would not live much longer.

A dangerous glint appeared in her feline eyes. No one who tried to hurt her mother would survive her wrath.

With built up momentum Ione breached the surface like a whale shooting airborne, claws extended. She latched onto the porous cave wall at the peak of her flight, pausing for only a moment to ensure her mother remained secure before scaling the wall toward the light far above.

Compared to the many kilometer swim to the bottom, the couple hundred meter distance to the cave entrance took several times longer. Her claws were unmatched in sharpness and strength, but even she had to admit, climbing the cave wall was difficult. Sections were annoyingly slippery, forcing her to take detours. She couldn’t risk her mother, so she had to take safer routes, even if it delayed their hunt. Once they reached the surface, they would make up for lost time.

Elysia found it almost unnaturally easy to keep herself planted on her bond. The soft and sleek fur should have caused her to slip off, especially while they were climbing, but it was like some force assisted her. Suspicion sparked, tempting her to check the several notifications waiting for her attention, but she decided to wait until they were safer. She didn’t want to risk slipping off her bond and fall into the water.

Whatever it was, she was thankful. It would’ve taken her ages. If it was even possible to swim back to the surface and climb this cave wall. Her father took them on a few rock climbing trips, but those were rock walls with clearly defined hand and foot holes, here not so much.

By the time they reached the entrance, eyes blinking from the light, they were dry, though the backpack that fortunately stayed strapped to Elysia’s back was a bit soggy. Thankfully, she doubted water would damage anything in there. Neither paper nor electronics had a large part of her post merge life. Though, hopefully, when she return to Umbra, Eva had most of Umbra’s systems up and running. If she didn’t get flung into the ocean for her shopping tendencies. At least, even if she broke into her safe, just her short time on Mezo boosted her wealth nicely.

A shudder ran through Elysia. Would she be on the hook for Eva’s debt? Was she an automatic cosign being the owner of Umbra? She hoped not, but she didn’t know the laws of Urus.

All the more reason to hunt. It wouldn’t hurt to bolster her finances to the point she didn’t have to worry about it. If anything, she could spend a bunch of crystals to have Umbra enchanted. Despite how majestic Umbra was, she was still a mundane luxury cruiser. She had no doubt there were many magical ways to improve her. Another idea for later. First, she needed to hunt to grow stronger, then reunite with Sereia.

Elysia remained perched on Ione as they exited the cave. Temptation to get off manifested, but like the unknown force keeping her balanced on her bond’s back, she felt quite comfortable and Ione didn’t appear to mind her riding. On the contrary, Ione appeared extra chipper, ears perked, tail excitedly flicking as they trotted down a path. Well, not really trotting as they were moving far faster than a pre-system Olympic sprinter, but it felt like a casual stroll with how effortless Ione made it seem.

Suddenly Ione halted and sniffed the ground before veering off the path forcing Elysia to duck several tree branches.

A mental prod to their bond earned her a sequence of images showing dozens of changed within a hundred meters of them. They all seem to be converging on where they were, though the following images showed they changed direction to follow them.

Were they tracking them? But how? They probably just noticed something nearby she doubted they were tracking them specifically. At least she hoped that was the case.