Chapter 139: Guardian

By the time he slipped through the narrow entrance of the grotto, his HP had barely climbed above three hundred.

Cindy was waiting.

She took one look at him and launched into a tirade that lasted nearly ten minutes. Words like "reckless," "idiot," "self-destructive," and "I told you to be careful" blurred together in Gray’s exhausted mind. He nodded along, too tired to argue, too tired to even form a proper response. When she finally paused for breath, he simply drifted to a flat rock near the Spirit Moss Ferns and collapsed.

"Gray? Gray, are you even listening to me? Gray!"

But he was already asleep.

Cindy huffed, her frills quivering with frustration. Then, slowly, she drifted closer and pressed her tiny hands against his cracked carapace. Green light pulsed from her palms, seeping into the fractures, mending what she could. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"...Stupid jellyfish," she muttered. But she didn’t stop healing him until her mana ran dry.

------------×-----------

The next day, Gray woke to the familiar glow of the Spirit Moss Ferns and the soft pulse of Cindy’s silver light.

His HP had recovered significantly. His carapace had sealed. His blade-tentacles felt steady again.

Cindy was already awake, hovering near the grotto entrance, her frills twitching with impatience.

"Finally," she said. "You slept like the dead."

’How long was I out?’

"Long enough." She turned toward him, her silver eyes sharp. "We’re going back to that cavern."

Gray blinked.

’...Why?’

"Because I felt it, Gray." Her voice dropped, serious now. "When you came back, you were covered in residual mana from that place. Even now, I can sense traces of it lingering on your carapace." She paused. "That cavern, even collapsed, has more concentrated mana than anything I’ve ever seen. If I can absorb the remnants, it could push me to Fifth Circle."

Gray was quiet for a moment, remembering the collapsed cavern, the shattered crystal, the Thalassarch’s explosion.

’It’s dangerous. The cavern imploded. There could be unstable pockets, residual mana surges—’

"I know." Cindy crossed her tiny arms. "But you destroyed the source. The mutations will stop. The mana that’s left is just... energy and I can use it."

Gray studied her for a long moment. Her silver eyes were determined, her frills steady. She wasn’t asking. She was telling.

’...Alright,’ he said.

Cindy’s frills lifted with satisfaction.

"Okay, let’s go!!"

They left the Verdant Hollow together, Gray leading the way through the pale stone ridges, Cindy drifting close beside him. The journey took most of the morning, the terrain growing darker and rougher as they approached the collapsed cavern.

When they arrived, Gray stopped at the edge of the devastation.

The cavern entrance was gone, buried under a mountain of shattered rock. But the seafloor around it was warped, glassed smooth in places by the explosion, and faint veins of violet-crimson light still pulsed beneath the stone.

Cindy drifted forward, her frills splaying wide.

"I can feel it," she breathed. "The mana is still here. It’s like... a pool of raw energy trapped under the rock."

’Can you absorb it?’

"Not directly." She circled the collapsed entrance, studying the veins of light. "The mana is too wild. If I try to draw it in all at once, it’ll tear my channels apart." She paused. "But if I can find a stable pocket, a place where the mana has settled and calmed, I can siphon it slowly."

Gray extended his senses, feeling for the mana flow beneath the rock. The deposits were scattered, some pulsing wildly, others dim and steady.

’There,’ he said, pointing with a blade-tentacle. ’Near the western edge. The mana there is calmer. Less erratic.’

Cindy followed his gaze, her silver eyes brightening.

"You’re right. That’s perfect."

She drifted toward the spot, Gray following close behind. The rock here was cracked, a narrow fissure leading down into the collapsed cavern. Faint violet light pulsed from within.

Cindy settled at the edge of the fissure, her small body glowing as she reached into the mana flow.

"I’ll need time," she said. "Maybe hours. Can you keep watch?"

’That’s why I’m here.’

Cindy nodded, then closed her eyes. Her frills splayed wide, her glow steadying as she began to draw the ambient mana into herself, threading it through her channels with careful, deliberate precision.

Gray settled onto a rock nearby and his senses sweeping the surrounding water.

Hours passed in silence.

Cindy’s glow grew brighter, steadier. Her small body trembled occasionally, but she didn’t stop. The mana flowed into her in slow, controlled waves, refining her channels, strengthening her core.

And Gray watched over her, his cracked carapace slowly mending in the ambient mana, his thoughts drifting.

’When she’s quiet like that, she’s actually kind of cute. Especially with her frills moving around like that. Adorable.’

Gray’s senses prickled. Something was approaching from behind, moving through the dark water with slow, deliberate grace.

He turned, his blade-tentacles spreading wide, and saw it.

A Reef Kraken. Larger than the juveniles he’d fought before, its mantle easily four feet across, its eight arms thick and muscular, lined with serrated suckers that glistened in the faint violet light. Its golden eyes were fixed on the fissure where Cindy was absorbing mana, its body drifting closer with predatory curiosity.

’You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Gray muttered.

The Kraken hadn’t noticed him yet. Its attention was locked on the glowing energy that pulsed from the collapsed cavern.

’When I’m not looking for you, you show up on your own.’

Gray drifted forward, positioning himself between the Kraken and Cindy. His Phantom Cloak activated, and his body dissolved into the darkness. The Kraken’s golden eyes flickered, sensing something wrong, but it didn’t stop. It kept drifting toward the mana.

’If you touch her, I’ll tear you apart.’

Gray’s blade-tentacles snapped taut as the Reef Kraken kept advancing, its golden eyes fixed on the mana, on Cindy, on the glowing fissure. It wasn’t stopping. It wasn’t even slowing.

’You’re not listening, are you?’

The Kraken’s arms reached toward the fissure, toward Cindy’s small, glowing body.

Gray activated Void Reaper’s Lance and shot forward, the void-edged spear tearing through the water. The Kraken sensed him at the last second and tried to recoil, but it was too slow. The lance punched through its mantle, driving it backward.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 208 DAMAGE]

[REEF KRAKEN — HP: 512 / 720]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[60% DEF PENETRATION — APPLIED]

The Kraken shrieked, its arms flailing. Gray didn’t give it time to recover. He activated Current Dash, dissolving and reforming directly above it, then drove all eight blade-tentacles into its exposed flesh.

[NEEDLE STORM — 148 DAMAGE]

[REEF KRAKEN — HP: 354 / 720]

[PARALYZE — 2 SECONDS]

The creature froze. Gray wrapped his tentacles around its body and activated Grip Jaw, crushing its mantle while it was helpless.

[GRIP JAW — 64 DAMAGE]

[GRIP JAW — 58 DAMAGE]

[REEF KRAKEN — HP: 232 / 720]

Overcharge detonated point-blank into its core.

[OVERCHARGE — 198 DAMAGE]

[REEF KRAKEN — HP: 34 / 720]

One final Void Reaper’s Lance ended it.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 212 DAMAGE]

[REEF KRAKEN DEFEATED — 880 EXP]

[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Undying Heart" (2/5)]

Gray absorbed the corpse quickly, his feeding surface working through the dense flesh.

’Well,’ he said, glancing back at Cindy. She was still in her trance, undisturbed. ’This works out too.’