Chapter 211: Hell Difficulty Team [GOLDEN TICKET BONUS]

Alex was happy about gaining two levels from a single fight, especially since Mana Blade had jumped from Level 6 to Level 8, and was now close to evolution. But there was no time to celebrate. His body was still partially paralyzed from the lightning, while the water currents around him were becoming increasingly violent.

A powerful current struck the Voltserpent’s corpse and sent it tumbling through the water, dragging Alex along with it because he was still inside its mouth. Alex quickly shot a mana cable toward the corpse and grabbed its Gene Potential before storing it in his Inventory.

He then created several more mana cables and controlled them like extra limbs. Two cables forced the monster’s mouth open while the others pushed against its body, helping Alex pull himself free before another current could carry him away.

The current struck him anyway. Alex was thrown through the water and crashed into a tree, but he immediately latched several mana cables into the trunk. The cables held firmly, and he began pulling himself upward with them, using them almost like the tentacles of that octopus villain from the spider hero movies. The thought made Alex smile slightly despite the situation. At least there was something amusing in the dangerous situation.

He continued pulling himself upward until he reached a thick branch that was strong enough to support his weight. The water was already several meters below him, but it was still rising. Alex quickly loosened the mana threads holding Frank against his back.

Alex’s own body had started recovering from the paralysis, although his movements were still somewhat jerky. He placed one hand against Frank’s chest and pushed his mana into the man’s body.

Frank’s Will resisted the intrusion, but the resistance was weak, probably because Frank was only an Initiate and was unconscious. Alex forced his mana through the resistance and carefully pushed it into Frank’s lungs before slowly semi-hardening it.

He used the hardened mana to flush the water out of Frank’s lungs.

Frank’s body suddenly coughed, and water came out of his mouth as he began breathing again. He remained unconscious, but his breathing was steady enough that Alex knew he had survived.

Alex checked his own body and found that he was mostly fine, since the hardened mana around his body had protected him from the Voltserpent’s bite.

Frank, however, was in worse condition than Alex had expected. There were no cuts or visible bleeding, and Alex realized that Frank seemed to be wearing some kind of monster fur beneath his clothes, which had probably protected his body from the creature’s teeth, but several of his bones were broken.

Alex considered using Minor Heal Spell to repair them, but quickly decided against it. He was not yet skilled with the spell, and trying to heal several broken bones could create more problems than it solved.

Instead, Alex created two crutches from compressed mana and adjusted them to support Frank properly. He then hardened them permanently with his Will, although they would only last around ten minutes because their thickness made them difficult to maintain for long.

It was only emergency treatment, but it was enough for now. Alex sighed and looked around as the sound of rushing water continued to grow louder, making the entire situation feel increasingly dangerous.

His fireball was still floating nearby and provided enough light to see the area around the tree, but beyond that small radius, the forest was almost completely hidden in darkness. Then Alex heard a strange crackling sound, and the water around him suddenly lit up as several long figures moved beneath the surface.

"They must have been attracted by the fireball’s light," Alex said as he watched them carefully.

He could not remove the fireball, however, because doing so would leave him completely blind. With no other light source nearby, he would have to rely entirely on his Mana Sense, which was not enough to properly track creatures moving through the dark water.

More lightning began crackling beneath the surface, and Alex’s expression became serious. These monsters were much weaker than the Wild Orcs, but that did not make them harmless. In fact, they were much more dangerous. He could not fight them properly in close combat as they could paralyze him.

Even long-range attacks were difficult because Alex could not accurately locate the monsters outside the fireball’s limited range. He could only wait for them to reveal themselves whenever lightning flashed across their bodies.

The sound of electricity mixed with the rushing water as several nearby trees began to shake. Alex heard wood cracking and branches breaking, making it clear that the rising water and the monsters were gradually destroying the forest around them.

Just as Alex began preparing himself for another fight, he suddenly heard someone shouting from ahead. He immediately turned toward the voice and saw a raft moving through the darkness with the rest of the group on it.

Sarah was standing near the front with a flaming torch in her hand, while Joseph appeared to be controlling the raft with kinetic mana. His face was red from the effort, and Alex suspected that he was constantly manipulating the movement of the water to keep the raft on course.

"Be careful! There are monsters in the water!" Alex shouted.

Only a split second later, three streams of crackling lightning rushed toward the raft at high speed. Alex expected the creatures to crash into the raft and attack everyone before they could react.

Instead, the monsters suddenly slowed down as they approached, as though they were trying to move through thick mud. Emma immediately took advantage of the opening and fired a Mana Arrow, which flew through the darkness and struck the first Voltserpent directly in the head.

The creature died instantly.

The second Voltserpent stopped almost completely, and Alex immediately realized that Joseph was probably manipulating the kinetic energy and preventing it from moving forward. The third one continued toward the raft, but Yulia simply grinned as she watched it approach.

"Not now, and definitely not today, you damned snake!" she shouted before punching the raft.

Alex raised an eyebrow when he saw what happened next. The raft did not break, and instead, the force of Yulia’s punch traveled through the wooden structure and into the water beneath them.

..

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