Gray’s mind raced as the serpent’s tail blade sliced through the water where the barrier had been. The silver-blue light shattered like glass, fragments scattering into the dark.
’Damn it. I’m thinking, I’m thinking!’
The Synthwing Serpent was already turning, its fins rippling with that same terrible grace. It had seen him lose his only cover. Its pale eyes burned with cold, certain intent — the look of a predator that knew its prey was running out of time.
Then Cindy’s barrier shattered completely.
CRACK!
The serpent’s tail-blade caught him full across the bell. Pain exploded through his body as the force hurled him backward, his crystalline armor shrieking against the jagged rock that broke his fall.
[-58 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 389 / 730]
[CRITICAL CONDITION — STRUCTURAL DAMAGE DETECTED]
He bounced off the stone, his crystalline armor cracking in thin, hairline fractures along his side. Pain blurred his thoughts into a single, screaming note. His tentacles dragged limp through the water, twitching with residual nerve fire.
"GRAY!!" Cindy’s voice ripped through his head, sharp with panic.
The serpent was already coming.
It cut through the darkness like a spear thrown by the abyss itself, its fins folded tight against its flanks, its bladed tail raised to deliver the killing stroke.
’MOVE!!’
He twisted.
The tail-blade carved past him so close that the displaced water tore a second line across his bell margin.
The serpent shot past, carried by its own momentum.
’CINDY!’
"[PHYSICAL BARRIER!]"
Cindy’s voice rang out, and a barrier flared to life directly in the serpent’s path. The Synthwing slammed into it at full speed.
CRACK!
The impact stunned the creature. It slammed into the glowing wall, its fins splaying wide as the shock rippled through its body. The serpent twisted, thrashed, and for one precious moment, it hung motionless in the water.
Gray saw his opening.
’Let’s see how you like this.’
[OVERCHARGE — ACTIVATED]
Blue-white lightning erupted from his shattered bell. The electricity arced through the water and struck the serpent along its lateral ridge, exactly where the analysis had said its sensory organs were clustered.
[OVERCHARGE — 88 DAMAGE]
[SYNTHWING SERPENT — HP: 432 / 520]
[SENSORY OVERLOAD — 6 SECONDS]
The serpent convulsed, its fins seizing mid-ripple. The pale silver light in its eyes flickered erratically, and its body twisted into a confused spiral. For six seconds, it was blind, deaf, and drowning in static.
Gray didn’t waste a single moment. He pushed through the pain and closed the distance.
’Cindy, one more barrier behind me.’
"What?! But I only have—"
’Do it!’
"[PHYSICAL BARRIER!]"
The barrier materialized at his back, sealing off the serpent’s escape route.
Gray ignored the cracks spreading through his armor. He pulled himself inward, forcing his body to align despite the pain screaming through every fracture. The crystalline barbs clicked into place with a sound like breaking ice. Then he shot forward, a dark spear tearing through the water, aimed directly at the serpent’s exposed flank.
The barbs tore through scale and muscle like glass through silk. The serpent’s body arched, a thin shriek escaping its throat as Gray drove it backward into the glowing barrier. It thrashed against the wall, impaled and pinned, its tail-blade scraping uselessly against the glowing barrier.
[ABYSSAL LANCE — 104 DAMAGE]
[SYNTHWING SERPENT — HP: 328 / 520]
[50% DEF PENETRATION — APPLIED]
KREEEEEEEEHHH!!
A horrible, vibrating cry rattled through his bell and made his tentacles twitch. Its tail lashed blindly, but Gray was already inside its reach, pressed against its body, his tentacles wrapping around its throat.
[GRIP JAW — ACTIVATED]
[GRIP JAW — 30 DAMAGE]
[GRIP JAW — 28 DAMAGE]
[SYNTHWING SERPENT — HP: 270 / 520]
The creature thrashed, its wing-like fins beating against him, but Gray held on. Neurotoxic Drift bled from his tentacles, flooding the water between them. The venom seeped into the wounds Abyssal Lance had carved, spreading through the serpent’s bloodstream.
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 20 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
The serpent’s struggles began to weaken. Its tail-blade still twitched, still slashed at the water, but the strikes were uncoordinated now.
’It’s almost over,’ Gray thought. ’Just a little more—’
But the serpent wasn’t finished.
Its tail whipped around in one final, convulsive arc. The blade caught Gray across the bell, slicing through his already-cracked armor and into the soft tissue beneath.
[-62 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 327 / 730]
[CRITICAL CONDITION]
Pain detonated through his entire body. His grip faltered, and before he could tighten it again, the serpent tore free and twisted away.
But it was too slow.
Gray raised himself, his bell flickering with unstable light, and fired Cavitation Pulse at the creature’s exposed spine.
[CAVITATION PULSE — 52 DAMAGE]
[SYNTHWING SERPENT — HP: 147 / 520]
The blast struck true. The serpent’s body arched, its fins going rigid. Gray followed with one final Overcharge, the electricity screaming through the water and into the wound.
[OVERCHARGE — 90 DAMAGE]
[SYNTHWING SERPENT — HP: 57 / 520]
The serpent’s thrashing stopped.
It hung there, suspended in the dark, its pale eyes still glowing faintly. Then Gray wrapped his tentacles around its head and squeezed.
[GRIP JAW — 28 DAMAGE]
[SYNTHWING SERPENT — HP: 29 / 520]
’Taste my poison.’
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[SYNTHWING SERPENT — HP: 10 / 520]
The serpent twitched once. Then the light in its pale eyes guttered out, and its body went slack, drifting weightless in the dark water.
[SYNTHWING SERPENT DEFEATED — 1220 EXP]
[LEVEL UP!]
[You are now Level 30.]
[20 Stat Points available for distribution.]
[2 Skill Points available.]
[EVOLUTION AVAILABLE]
Gray hung in the black water, too exhausted to move. His bell flickered weakly, the last sparks of electricity fading from his tentacles like dying embers. Beside him, the serpent’s corpse drifted past, its long body already sinking into the abyss below.
’...We did it.’
Cindy’s voice came, faint and shaking.
"You’re insane. You’re absolutely insane."
’Haha, maybe.’
He reached out and absorbed the serpent’s dissolving remains. The familiar warmth of biomass spread through him, easing the worst of the pain.
[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Hydrodynamic Frame" (1/5)]
[New Trait Discovered!]
[HYDRODYNAMIC FRAME — Preview]
« Analysis »
A mobility trait derived from creatures built for high-speed pursuit in dense water. Reduces water resistance and increases swimming efficiency.
Effect at Completion: +15% movement speed. +10% evasion. Passive.
Gray stared at the notification, then at his status screen.
[EVOLUTION AVAILABLE]
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