Chapter 210: Lightning + Water

Joseph quickly moved toward the fallen tree and took a rope from his inventory. Alex suspected that the rope was the one that belonged to Frank and that Frank had given it to the others before leaving for Earth.

Alex immediately began cutting down more trees while Yulia and Sarah helped move the logs. Before coming to the Hell Difficulty, Alex had spent some time learning how to make a basic raft from internet because he had realized that being surrounded by the sea could eventually make such knowledge useful.

Even Joseph, as a former Navy SEAL, probably knew how to build one better than Alex, but having some knowledge himself had still turned out to be helpful. Joseph quickly began tying the logs together while Emma kept watching their surroundings with her bow ready.

The water had reached their chests, and the current was becoming stronger with every passing moment. It pushed against their bodies hard enough that Alex had to use mana threads to anchor himself to the ground so that he would not be swept away.

Emma stabbed a mana arrow into a tree and used it to keep herself in place. Joseph seemed to be using kinetic mana to maintain his position. The water around him would slow down, as he likely absorbed its kinetic energy. However, his face was beginning to turn red from the pressure of using mana while continuing to work.

Yulia and Sarah also seemed to have increased their weight somehow, allowing them to remain stable in the water. Alex wondered whether they were using aura or some other item, but he did not have the time to investigate it.

The first raft was finally completed.

Alex quickly helped Sarah and Petra onto it before placing Emma on the raft as well. The raft was tied to a nearby tree with rope, so it would not immediately be carried away by the current.

The water had now reached Alex’s neck.

Yulia and Joseph were still working on the second raft, trying to finish it before the water rose any further. Alex was about to move toward them when he suddenly heard a strange crackling sound behind him, followed by a bright glow in the darkness.

"Alex! Dodge!" Emma shouted.

Alex immediately reacted and moved to the side, but he was not fast enough. Something struck him from behind with tremendous force, sending him away from the tree and dragging him deeper into the water.

He felt as though something enormous had clamped down around his body. The pressure was so strong that Alex struggled to move, and he could not even determine what had attacked him.

The fireball he had created earlier was pulled underwater with him. It did not explode, but the steam it produced made the surrounding water even harder to see, leaving Alex almost completely blind.

Alex tried to force his body to move, but before he could free himself, another burst of lightning came from whatever was holding him. The lightning was not powerful enough to cause serious damage, but it shocked his entire body and temporarily paralyzed his muscles.

Alex could no longer move properly as the creature continued dragging him through the dark water. He still could not see what had attacked him, but from the force surrounding his body, he knew that whatever was holding him was far stronger than an ordinary monster.

Yet, Alex’s mind remained calm. His Advanced Battle Instinct was working at full power, allowing him to think clearly despite being trapped inside the monster’s mouth and dragged through the dark water.

He immediately began forming thick layers of mana around the parts of his body that were being bitten. He reinforced them enough to prevent the monster from crushing or tearing him apart while simultaneously creating a thin mana mask around his face, which was hard enough to keep the water away from his eyes, nose and mouth while remaining thin enough for him to see through.

Alex then sent several pulses of Mana Sense through the creature’s body. His mana could not enter it, but the pulses still gave him a rough idea of its shape, and he quickly realized that the monster was long and shaped somewhat like a snake.

Several large fins ran along the creature’s spine, and they suddenly began to move as electricity crackled inside them. The creature looked somewhat like an enormous electric eel, except that its body was far thicker, its jaws were filled with sharp teeth, and its dark scales made it look like a massive predator rather than a simple aquatic creature.

Alex finally understood why he had not sensed it earlier. His Mana Sense worked along a single axis, and because the monster had been beneath him, his senses had been passing above its head without detecting its body.

The creature’s throat suddenly began to glow. The crackling sound coming from its body became louder as lightning gathered inside it, and Alex did not wait to find out what attack it was preparing. He immediately created two Fire Bullets and fired them into the monster’s body, with both spells punching straight through its flesh.

However, the monster did not die. Instead, it violently shook its body and threw Alex away with tremendous force. Alex crashed against a thick tree, knocking the air out of his lungs, but his attention immediately went to Frank, who was still secured to his back and had almost certainly swallowed a large amount of water.

The monster shook its head and began moving toward him again, apparently intending to smash Alex against the tree once more. Alex quickly considered using another Fire Bullet, but decided against it. When he had previously fired one underwater, it had been shot upward after passing through the target.

If he fired the bullets downward, they would eventually hit the ground and explode. The explosion might kill the monster, but Alex was almost certain that he would die as well.

He also could not simply fire a Fire Bullet through the monster’s head because he was too close to it and was still partially trapped inside its mouth. His free hand could form a Mana Blade, and although he did not know how thick the creature’s skull or scales were, stabbing it directly in the head was at least an option.

The problem was that the monster kept releasing lightning through its body. Every burst temporarily paralyzed Alex’s muscles, making it difficult for him to move even when he knew exactly what he wanted to do. The only reason the lightning had not seriously injured him was because his body was heavily reinforced with mana, which acted as an insulator against both heat and electricity.

The monster suddenly slammed Alex against the ground.

His body struck the bottom of the flooded forest, and before the creature could attack again, Alex formed a small blade from the toe of his foot. He immediately lengthened it with mana until it became a full Mana Blade, then controlled the mana weapon directly instead of relying on his still-paralyzed muscles.

Since Alex’s body was already inside the monster’s mouth, the blade was positioned deep inside its body. He swung it with all the control he could manage, and the Mana Blade ripped through the creature’s innards.

The monster screeched and violently twisted its body. Its mouth opened enough for Alex to gain some space, and he immediately created three Mana Bullets inside its mouth. He fired them directly toward its skull, and the bullets pierced through its head from the inside.

The creature finally stopped moving.

[Level 14 Voltserpent killed.]

[Mana Blade Spell has leveled up. Level 6 → Level 8.]

..

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