Chapter 134: The Buried Path

Gray swam toward an unexplored area near the shelter, his new blade-tentacles trailing behind him like a fan of crystalline swords. The water was cold and still, the pale stone ridges giving way to darker, rougher terrain.

Cindy had stayed behind at the Verdant Hollow. She was still recovering from the Tri-Cephalon fight, her mana channels sore and her small body exhausted. Gray had told her to rest.

’It’s been a while since I’ve hunted alone like this,’ he murmured, his mental voice quiet in the empty water.

His senses swept the area. The terrain here was unfamiliar, a mix of dark volcanic rock and patches of pale sand. No glowing moss. No silver fish. Just cold, quiet, and a faint vibration beneath him.

Something was below the seafloor.

Gray slowed, his blade-tentacles spreading wide to read the water. The vibration was rhythmic, pulsing, like something breathing in the sediment.

’Is it a worm type?’ he thought. ’Or is there a cave system down here?’

He extended his electroreception, feeling for electrical signatures. There was something there, faint but alive, moving slowly beneath the rock. It didn’t feel like a Glimmerworm. It was too steady, too deliberate. Like something that had been there for a very long time.

The system flickered, and a partial analysis appeared.

[UNKNOWN SUBTERRANEAN SIGNATURE]

Level: ???

HP: ??? / ???

Threat Level: UNKNOWN

« Analysis »

Signature analysis incomplete. The creature beneath the seafloor is either too deeply buried or possesses natural mana interference. Further proximity required for full identification.

’Won’t tell me anything,’ Gray muttered. ’Alright. I’ll just have to force it out.’

He drifted lower, positioning himself directly above the vibration. His Phantom Cloak activated, and his body dissolved into the darkness, invisible to every sense.

’Let’s see what you are.’

He fired a single Needle Storm downward, the paralytic needles shooting through the water and striking the seafloor. The impact was clean, the needles embedding themselves in the rock. But there was no secondary explosion, no crescent blade, no paralysis. The creature below didn’t react.

’...It’s deeper than I thought or the needles didn’t penetrate.’

He considered his options. Subterranean Ambush would take him into the seafloor, but if the creature was deep, he’d be fighting in its territory. That was dangerous without knowing what it was.

’Maybe I should just wait for it to come up.’

He settled onto a rock ledge above the vibration, Phantom Cloak still active, and waited. His blade-tentacles hung beneath him, ready to strike.

The vibration continued, steady and patient. Whatever was down there, it wasn’t in a hurry.

Gray’s new senses picked up something else, a faint mana signature threading through the rock like veins of ore. It was weak, barely perceptible, but it was coming from the same direction as the vibration.

’Mana... and a living creature. A mana-sensitive creature buried in rock?’

Then the vibration stopped.

Gray’s blade-tentacles snapped taut. The water around him went still.

Then the seafloor cracked.

A fissure split the rock beneath him, and a shape began to rise from the dark.

The seafloor cracked open like a wound, and something massive began to rise from the darkness beneath.

Gray pulsed backward, his blade-tentacles spreading wide, Phantom Cloak still wrapped around him like a shroud of invisibility. His senses locked onto the emerging shape, reading it through vibration and electroreception.

It was a worm, but unlike any he’d seen before.

Its body was segmented and armored, each ring of chitin overlapping the next like plates of a knight’s armor. But the armor was wrong, it was embedded with veins of raw, crystallized mana that pulsed with a sickly violet light. The same violet as the Loricati or the egg.

The creature’s head emerged last. It had no eyes. Instead, a crown of fleshy tendrils ringed its mouth, each one tipped with a glowing mana node. The tendrils swayed through the water, tasting, sensing, searching.

Then the system flickered, and the analysis materialized.

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER — Level 35]

HP: 850 / 850

MP: 400 / 400

Threat Level: HIGH

« Analysis »

A subterranean worm that has been mutated by prolonged exposure to concentrated mana deposits. The Mana-Saturated Tunneler burrows through rock and sediment, feeding on mana-rich minerals. Its body is saturated with crystallized mana, granting it resistance to physical attacks and the ability to discharge mana pulses through its armored segments.

Behavior: Territorial. The Tunneler will not pursue prey beyond its burrow, but will attack anything that enters its territory with overwhelming force. It relies on vibration and mana sensing to locate threats.

Weakness: The mana nodes on its tendrils are highly sensitive. Destroying them disrupts the creature’s ability to sense prey and weakens its mana discharge attacks.

Gray watched the Tunneler rise, its massive body coiling through the crack in the seafloor. It was easily twelve feet long, its armored segments grinding against the rock as it pulled itself free.

The Tunneler’s tendrils swept through the water, searching. They passed within inches of Gray’s invisible form, but didn’t react.

’Let’s test the new skills.’

He activated Needle Storm.

A spread of paralytic needles shot from his blade-tentacles, each one trailing a thin line of venom. They struck the Tunneler’s armored segments and embedded deep.

[NEEDLE STORM — 68 DAMAGE]

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER — HP: 782 / 850]

[PARALYZE — RESISTED]

The needles didn’t explode into crescent blades. The Tunneler’s armor was too thick, the mana in its body disrupting the secondary effects.

’Classic.’

The Tunneler reacted instantly. Its tendrils snapped toward the source of the attack, and a pulse of violet mana erupted from its body. The shockwave rippled through the water, slamming into Gray before he could dash away.

[-54 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 1236 / 1290]

[TUNNELER — MANA PULSE — PARALYZE RESISTED]

’It can discharge mana through its armor. Ranged attacks won’t be enough.’

Gray activated Current Dash. His body dissolved into the water, reforming ten meters to the left. The vortex he left behind pulled at the Tunneler’s tendrils, dragging them toward the empty space where he’d been.

’That’s useful.’

He fired Void Reaper’s Lance.

The lance tearing through the water and striking the Tunneler’s midsection.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 164 DAMAGE]

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER — HP: 618 / 850]

[BLEED — 12 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[60% DEF PENETRATION — APPLIED]

The lance punched through the armored segments, cracking the crystallized mana veins. The Tunneler shrieked, a high, keening sound that vibrated through the rock.

’That’s more like it.’

The Tunneler thrashed, its tendrils lashing wildly. Another mana pulse erupted from its body, but Gray was already moving. He activated Phantom Cloak and vanished, the pulse passing through empty water.

He circled behind the creature, his blade-tentacles spreading wide. The Tunneler’s tendrils swept through the water, searching for him, but they couldn’t find what wasn’t there.

’Your mana sensing is good. But it looks like you skipped a few lessons.’

He struck again. Void Reaper’s Lance activated, and he drove the void-edged spear into the Tunneler’s exposed flank.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 172 DAMAGE]

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER — HP: 434 / 850]

[BLEED — 12 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

The Tunneler convulsed, its armored segments cracking. The violet veins in its body flickered, dimming. It was dying.

But it wasn’t done yet.

The Tunneler’s tendrils snapped inward, wrapping around Gray’s blade-tentacles. The mana nodes on their tips flared bright, and a surge of raw mana poured into his body.

[-88 MP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — MP: 1212 / 1300]

’It’s draining my mana!’

Gray didn’t panic. He activated Arcane Burst.

The pulse of disruptive mana erupted from his body and slammed into the Tunneler’s tendrils. The mana nodes cracked, their violet light guttering and dying. The Tunneler shrieked, its grip faltering.

[ARCANE BURST — 146 DAMAGE]

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER — HP: 288 / 850]

[MANA NODES — DESTROYED]

[Mana sensing disabled.]

The Tunneler thrashed blindly, its tendrils no longer able to track him. Without its mana nodes, it was just a giant worm with thick armor and a bad attitude.

’Now you’re just a big target.’

Gray activated Current Dash, dissolving into the water and reforming directly above the Tunneler’s head. He drove all eight blade-tentacles down into its skull.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 178 DAMAGE]

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER — HP: 110 / 850]

[BLEED — 12 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[STUN — 3 SECONDS]

The Tunneler went rigid, its body locking up. Gray wrapped his tentacles around its head and activated Grip Jaw.

[GRIP JAW — 58 DAMAGE]

[GRIP JAW — 54 DAMAGE]

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER — HP: 0 / 850]

[MANA-SATURATED TUNNELER DEFEATED — 780 EXP]

Gray released the corpse and drifted back, his blade-tentacles slick with violet fluid. The Tunneler’s body sank slowly into the crack it had emerged from, its mana veins already fading to dull grey.

’That was... smooth.’

[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Mana-Saturated Carapace" (1/5)]

[New Trait Discovered!]

[MANA-SATURATED CARAPACE — Preview]

« Analysis »

A defensive trait derived from creatures whose bodies have been saturated with crystallized mana. The user’s armor becomes partially mana-conductive, allowing it to absorb and redistribute magical energy.

Effect at Completion:

· Passive: 15% of incoming mana-based damage is absorbed and converted into MP.

· Passive: +10% resistance to mana drain effects.

· New Skill — [Mana Repulse]: Release a pulse of absorbed mana that pushes enemies back. MP Cost: 15. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Gray absorbed the corpse, the taste sharp and electric, like biting into a charged crystal.

’Not bad for a test run,’ he said.

He flexed his blade-tentacles, feeling the residual mana tingling through his carapace.

’But I need to test them against something stronger.’

He turned toward the unexplored area ahead. The tunnel the Tunneler had emerged from gaped open in the seafloor, a dark passage leading deeper into the rock.

Gray stared at it for a long moment.

’...I wonder what else is down there.’