The Oracle Paths

"Aaaaaaaarrrrbblblblblboob!"

Hearing the screams of agony being muffled in their bubbles as quickly as they had formed around him, Jake's expression changed. Upon contact with such pure Lumyst Water, the first baptism had been explosively triggered.

Jake was safe for the moment, but feeling the concentrated flow of vital energy seeping into him through every pore, pressing on his tissues, he could only imagine what the others were enduring. A glance at Hephais and Lysandra told him that they were okay for now, but he couldn't say the same for the rest.

Without further ado, although he had promised to let the others fend for themselves, he emitted a burst of Space Lumyst, slicing through the currents on his path to rejoin the rest of his squad. The mass of water was split for a fraction of a second, a moment he used to cross the distance in one motion.

Just before taking off, however, he caught a glimpse of the enemy general, Corvac, swallowing the lifeforce-pulsing seed in his hand without hesitation, gulping it down whole with an audible gulp. The eyes of the old Radiant Lord then bulged with terror and anger, as if he had been duped, then the curtain of sliced water closed behind him, blocking his view of what followed.

'Whatever, I couldn't care less about what happens to that asshole.' Jake cursed as he shot towards the group of Players, where his cat and Lord Phenix were also present.

Seeing him reappear before them and push back the enveloping waters, Amy and the other alarmed Players gave him a look that was as grateful as it was dumbfounded. Except for Crunch and Lord Phenix: The two had bathed in the river the day before and could hold on for a while.

Alas, before Amy could thank him, Jake had already sliced through the water again after placing them under a dome to go save the other natives and Mumaks who were further back from the trap.

Unlike the Players, Ceythie and the other veteran soldiers, these recruits had far more modest physical abilities. Without him, they wouldn't survive a minute, unless they had luck that could rival Ulfar's.

Indeed, when Jake arrived near them, he discovered without surprise but with a heavy heart that half of the survivors of his company—already severely depleted by previous battles—had already lost exactly half of their numbers. From the roughly 700 barbarians still alive from their original regiment, there were now only 350.

Conversely, as he had anticipated, the Mumaks and their crews had all survived. As expected, the first baptism posed no problem for them.

At least the good news was that Ekho, Thonzo, Claire, and the others in his squad were also in good health when he found them. They owed their salvation to their new equipment, freshly forged by Jake before the battle. The main material of their doubly enchanted armors being Black Lumyst Steel (+14), the water obviously posed no danger to them.

In fact, the real danger was that of asphyxiation or being crushed by the water pressure. Until proven otherwise, Underworld Barbarians couldn't breathe underwater.

While mitting a continuous torrent of clear Water Lumyst from his entire body to take control of the surrounding water and forcefully push it back to form a breathable air dome, Jake calmly inspected their condition before asking somberly,

"Holding up okay?"

"W-what's happening?" Jashuzen stammered, anxiously clutching his battle axe, his brain struggling to grasp the apocalyptic scene he had found himself in.

"A trap made of Life Lumyst Water." Jake responded succinctly before stiffening and then clenching his teeth.

The weight of the water was already taxing on his reserves of Water Lumyst, but there was worse news waiting for them.

[The water's energy level is constantly increasing.] The dark words of Xi echoed with his own thoughts, adding to his pessimism.

"Aaaarrrrrgghblbloob!!"

While Jake saved his friends and other survivors of his company by placing them under a single large dome, the other troops left to their fate continued to succumb one after another. This Lumyst Water was so pure that the Underworld Barbarians had endured 6 consecutive baptisms in less than 10 seconds, reducing their numbers by a factor of 64!

Compared to that, their enemies were faring much better, although he had no way to verify this.

Whooosh!

"What a slaughter..." Hephais tsked as he entered the dome briefly with a few of Ceythie's guards in bad shape before carefully dipping the tip of his hand back into the water.

Jake didn't stop him, aware that this was the assassin's chance to undergo the Life Lumyst baptisms he had originally planned for the next night. Seeing him do this, Amy was tempted to follow suit due to her inferiority complex and thirst to become stronger, but Lee Yoon and Lysandra stopped her just in time.

"Don't do it. The Lumyst is too concentrated." Lysandra warned her with a sorrowful look. She still had the same ethereal elegance, but it was evident she had lost some of her luster compared to earlier.

The elf, though an arrogant Rank 15 Player, had nearly died in those waters just now. Because she had more energy than most natives, her body had only been subjected to three baptisms during this short period, but that was enough to give her an idea of what awaited if she lingered in the water any longer.

Rather than risk her life in these waters for a few early baptisms, she would rather bathe in less pure water where the risk was more manageable.

"If we survive this ambush, I promise to protect you during your next river baths." Jake promised readily to discourage the more stubborn.

This promise didn't soothe Amy's sense of inferiority, but at least it quelled her suicidal urge to throw herself into the water.

"Isn't it dangerous for him?" Lee Yoon raised an eyebrow skeptically towards Hephais, who was chattering his teeth as if the arm in contact with the water had been plunged into a meat grinder.

Jake, clenching his teeth just as much but due to the concentration required to control the tremendous volume of water infused with his Water Lumyst, glanced at the Egaean, then grunted,

"He's using my armor and his Shadow Lumyst as a buffer, so if it becomes too tough, he should be able to stop in time. Worst case, I'll heal him."

Jake wasn't sure if the assassin had other tricks up his sleeve to cheat death, but knowing him, it was more than likely.

Amidst these banalities laden with anxiety, silence soon fell in the dome conjured by Jake, punctuated by increasingly rare howls of agony outside. Now, the baptisms took more time, requiring much more energy, but the number of soldiers on both sides had significantly dwindled.

To make matters worse, the Lumyst Water was so rich in Life Lumyst that their senses struggled to see through it beyond a few meters. They had no idea what was happening outside. Whether Ceythie or the enemy general was still alive was a big mystery.

RRROOOOOARRRR!

An indescribable roar outside, followed by a surge of water that tested the dome created by Jake, startled all the survivors.

"What was that?" Crunch meowed, ostentatiously licking his balls before remembering he was still wearing his ridiculous armor.

Ignoring the annoyance, Jake thought back to the shocked and furious expression of the old enemy general before going to save his friends, and he had a small idea of what had just happened.

'...But we have a more urgent plight...'

"You're almost out of Water Lumyst." Lysandra dropped casually, mirroring his thoughts as she realized the flow of aqueous energy radiating from his body was beginning to dwindle. After all, he'd only been cultivating his Water Lumyst Core for a few hours, up to the mid-Corebearer realm. "Will it be enough to maintain the dome?"

Jake wasn't surprised. He could hide the situation inside his body, but not the Water Lumyst emitted in plain sight. Not only the elf, even Amy and the natives had realized the situation.

Aware that he couldn't hide the situation for long, he hesitated for a moment, then admitted with a wry smile,

"If the mass and purity of the water had remained the same, I could have held on a bit longer...

"You mean..." The realization on his friends' faces forced a bitter grimace from him.

"That's right... This dome is going to collapse in a few seconds."