Bro, I'm not an Undead!

...!

'Am I... underwater?' Skullius questioned himself as he felt himself getting swept up this way and that by the waves of violent water current.

The waters which had spontaneously appeared with the glow of the purple eye on the forehead of the man-carp were tinged with a dark hue that was hard to see through.

Such a visual detail wouldn't normally oppose the efficacy of optical sight for someone like Skullius, but there seemed to be thick jets of mana infused within the water, making it unnaturally dark in the waters.

Skullius sought for his mental link to Red Rage and found the Apostle to be behind him.

No. That wasn't right.

He was sinking, behind him, probably because of the armour that he was wearing.

'What the heck happened? Were we transported some place else?'

Skullius wiggled his limbs, feeling the powerful currents wrestle against his attempt to direct his body to another trajectory.

What was with these currents?!

They were just too powerful and unusual!

WHOOSH!

A wave blasted through, smacking Skullius in the face and as it did, the Discount Human felt turbulent disturbance in his core, a disorientation he wasn't used to experiencing diaallowing him to properly hone his mana!

His [Elevated Mana Manipulation] could vaguely sense that he wasn't alone and that was just about all he could do.

Nothing else.

The Discount Human wasn't used to being underwater, or worse yet, battling underwater.

Thankfully, he wasn't used to breathing consciously either, so he didn't start inhaling water like it was a Friday.

Twinkles of lights shone only to be extinguished by the dark waters in the distance, flickering in the dark while producing muffled booms!

Skullius didn't know what that was, but it gave him an idea.

Around him, spots of light began to appear, like small stars in the evening light.

They began to move around him in every direction from which he sensed the slight bursts of activity with his [Elevated Mana Manipulation].

This was his use of [Just Light] which he still hadn't made much progress with even when he tried spamming [Basic Light Production].

The skill hadn't even reached level 5 after his constant attempts, let alone advance a rank in his affinity towards it.

Fortunately, the light produced was just enough for him to be able to see clearly the figures of Tulnas, Gertreld, Ginie and Natalika that were moving around the water.

Natalika was sweeping her feet as she sought to get away from one of the large carp that swam quickly towards her.

Around her, a bright encirclement of mana could be seen as she would ward off the attacks from the carp with it and not with her sword.

Skullius noticed how Natalika was having quite some difficulty manoeuvring in the water and this seemed to be a trait of the water itself rather than Natalika's own impediment.

Ginie was also facing the same along with Gertreld as they seemed to be trying to swim away from the fish while passively attacking and focusing on defence.

Far off into the distance, the luminous lights showed the figure of Tulnas as he floated in the water while starring down the carp which had the purple eye on its forehead as well as two others that swam around his lone armoured figure which looked imposing.

The other eyes of the creature remained on Tulnas who didn't seem fazed at all and it was obvious that it really took him seriously, considering him a genuine threat.

Skullius looked closely as the carp that the Guild leader was facing and wondered.

'Did that thing use some form of teleportation? Or did it summon some kind of Territory? No, that can't be it. It can't be able to,' Skullius thought.

The lights that Skullius spread caused the giant fish to turn their eyes towards him menacingly.

His presence had been largely ignored because in terms of presence, he was vastly weaker than the others, this including Red Rage as well.

The two that were swimming around Tulnas suddenly stopped and pierced through the waters as they rushed towards him!

...!

Skullius tried to skim through his arsenal to find the best way to defeat these things but unfortunately, because of the mass of mana embroiled in this water, constantly disturbing his cognitive abilities, Skullius found that skill activation was difficult as the currents constantly broke his concentration.

For the others, it wasn't that difficult as Skullius could see for himself but even harnessing mana around himself was no small task under these conditions!

BAM!

A muffled smash echoed in the waters as Skullius spun for quite a bit against the deadly currents!

He had barely seen anything before he was struck!

Worst of all, the carp wasn't done!

This time Skullius was smashed and flew away so quickly that he couldn't even tell how he had beaten!

'Dammit! I thought I'd evolved [Elevated Mana Manipulation] to not get into situations like this anymore!' Skullius thought as he spun and whirled in the water.

BAAM! BAM!

The carp swam with glee as it rushed up to him and toyed with its prey!

It darted back again, seeking to bash Skullius once more but a fast, shiny figure smashed into it, slightly pushing it away.

What appeared before the carp was an armoured figure holding onto a double-edged sword which had a white blade and blackish red hilt.

Skullius opened his eyes to see his Apostle floating between him and the carp.

'Red bro...'

Red Rage had a blue light around his body and as he floated, he got into a sword stance.

'He's using Null Life Essence instead of mana! Brilliant!' Skullius thought as he watched his Apostle daringly defend him.

The effect of mana disturbance was probably the same with the Pelvis Boar-Man and it seemed he had opted to switch to Null Life Essence!

At the same time, Skullius sensed the essence that covered his spatial storage ring vanish.

He couldn't complain about it. In fact, he began trying to overcome this hurdle to access his vast pool of tricks.

The carp that was facing Red Rage suddenly shook in the water.

Explosions of mana resounded in the water as other battles were echoing in the distance, Skullius not diverting his attention to anything but the battle about to happen before him.

The over-confident zeal of the giant carp that had been bashing him consistently vanished as it started to grow a bit bigger, its scales turning into a darker shade of grey, while its gills and fins released concentrated mana!

Its head bulged as the mysterious purple eye appeared on its forehead, gazing menacingly at Red Rage!

The water bubbled and danced as if it was boiling around the three meter long carp, a whirlpool starting to rage behind the fish in a terrifying manner!

The Apostle didn't shy away from the display, its armoured mass darting forward to the bubbling and whirling dark waters...