Chapter 141: Cerulean Doom

The Cerulean Doom drifted forward, its cold pale eyes locked onto Gray. Its body moved with the unhurried confidence of a predator that had never needed to rush. The iridescent patterns on its scales shifted as it advanced, spirals and jagged lines pulsing with a slow, hypnotic rhythm.

Gray couldn’t move because he had a job to do.

Behind him, Cindy was still lost in her trance, her silver glow steady, her frills splayed wide. She couldn’t defend herself and she couldn’t even see what was coming.

’You’re not getting past me.’

The Cerulean Doom’s tail twitched. Gray saw the motion, read the muscle tension, and activated Current Dash.

He dissolved into the water just as three barbed harpoons shot through the space where he’d been. The spines embedded themselves in the rock behind him, quivering with the force of the launch.

[TAIL HARPOON VOLLEY — MISSED]

Gray reformed directly above the Doom and fired Void Reaper’s Lance. The void-edged spear tore through the water and struck the creature’s flank.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 214 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 2986 / 3200]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[60% DEF PENETRATION — APPLIED]

The Doom didn’t flinch. It twisted mid-swim, its bladed pectoral fins slicing toward him. Gray pulsed backward, but one fin caught his carapace, shattering a plate.

[-82 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 830 / 1290]

’Its fins are as sharp as mine.’

Gray fired Needle Storm, the paralytic needles shooting toward the Doom’s face. The creature’s bladed fins swept forward, deflecting most of them, but two embedded in its flank.

[NEEDLE STORM — 68 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 2918 / 3200]

[PARALYZE — RESISTED]

The Doom’s dorsal spines flared. A cloud of venomous droplets sprayed from the tips, spreading through the water in a wide, smoking arc. Gray activated Current Dash, dissolving and reforming behind the creature.

[-0 HP]

[VENOM CLOUD — AVOIDED]

He fired Void Reaper’s Lance into the Doom’s spine, targeting the venomous dorsal spines.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 218 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 2700 / 3200]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[DORSAL SPINES — DAMAGED]

The spines cracked under the impact, venom leaking from the fractures. The Doom shrieked, a sound like tearing metal, and whipped around faster than Gray expected.

Then it stopped.

Its body went still, its cold eyes locking onto him with terrible focus. The iridescent patterns on its scales began to pulse faster, brighter, the spirals and jagged lines writhing across its hide like living things.

The water around the Doom began to churn.

Gray felt it before he saw it, a pressure, a heat, a distortion in the current. The Doom’s body was radiating something, a field of superheated water that spread outward in a perfect sphere. The temperature spiked, the water shimmering with heat haze.

[SCALDING AURA — ACTIVATED]

[Effect: Continuous heat damage to all creatures within 15 meters. Melee range is lethal.]

Gray pulsed backward on instinct, the heat washing over his carapace even at the edge of the field.

[-142 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 688 / 1290]

[BURN — 6 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

’It’s boiling the water around itself! I can’t get close without cooking!’

He retreated further, putting distance between himself and the Doom’s aura. The creature didn’t pursue. It simply hovered in the center of its scalding sphere, its cold eyes tracking him, waiting.

’It knows I can’t reach it. It’s daring me to try.’

He fired Void Reaper’s Lance from range. The void-edged spear shot through the scalding aura, weakening as it passed through the superheated water. It struck the Doom’s flank but with reduced force.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 124 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 2576 / 3200]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[ATTACK WEAKENED BY SCALDING AURA]

’The heat is disrupting my attacks! Everything I throw at it loses power before it lands!’

He tried Needle Storm. The paralytic needles dissolved in the superheated water before they could reach the Doom.

[NEEDLE STORM — NULLIFIED]

’Ranged attacks are weakened. Melee is suicide. What else do I have?’

He checked his MP, and the golden text flickered in his vision.

[MP: 892 / 1300]

Still plenty, yet none of his skills were built for this.

Except one... Arcane Burst.

’It’s a mana-based ability. The heat might not affect it the same way.’

He waited for the Doom to drift closer, its scalding aura still pulsing. Then he fired Arcane Burst directly into the field.

The pulse of disruptive mana shot through the superheated water, unaffected by the heat. It struck the Doom’s body and destabilized the mana sustaining its aura.

[ARCANE BURST — 186 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 2390 / 3200]

[SCALDING AURA — DISRUPTED]

The heat field flickered, the temperature dropping sharply as the mana feeding it destabilized. The Doom convulsed, its eyes widening with shock.

’Now!’

Gray activated Current Dash, dissolving and reforming directly above the Doom. The scalding aura was still sputtering, not fully gone, but weakened enough that the heat was bearable.

[-18 HP]

[BURN — 3 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 770 / 1290]

He drove all eight blade-tentacles into the Doom’s skull.

[NEEDLE STORM — 162 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 2228 / 3200]

[PARALYZE — 2 SECONDS]

The Doom locked up. Gray coiled his tentacles around its skull and triggered Grip Jaw.

[GRIP JAW — 66 DAMAGE]

[GRIP JAW — 62 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 2100 / 3200]

Overcharge unleashed a burst of lightning deep into its skull.

[OVERCHARGE — 208 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 1892 / 3200]

[STUN — 5 SECONDS]

Gray released it and dashed backward, putting distance between himself and the creature before the aura could reactivate.

’It’s at 1892. The bleed is still ticking. I need to keep hitting it with Arcane Burst to keep the aura down.’

The Doom recovered from the stun, its eyes blazing. The scalding aura flickered back to life, the temperature spiking again.

But Gray was already charging another Arcane Burst.

’You have one trick. I have a counter for it.’

The pulse of disruptive mana erupted from his body, a rippling sphere of silver-white energy that carved a tunnel through the scalding aura, hissing and spitting as it destabilized the superheated field.

[ARCANE BURST — 184 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 1708 / 3200]

[SCALDING AURA — DISRUPTED]

The aura stuttered and died again. Gray closed the gap, drove Void Reaper’s Lance into its flank, and withdrew before the aura could recover.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 218 DAMAGE]

[CERULEAN DOOM — HP: 1490 / 3200]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]