SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

Nobody had an answer.

Before anyone could say anything else, a crackling sound came from the distance. A Voltserpent appeared through the darkness, its body illuminated by the blue lightning running across its scales as it rushed toward them.

Then something moved beneath the water, and a huge shape suddenly wrapped itself around the Voltserpent. The creature’s lightning disappeared almost instantly, and after struggling for only a moment, the Voltserpent was gone.

The group fell silent as they stared at the dark water. Sarah’s expression became pale, while even Emma seemed unsure of what they had just witnessed.

"What was that?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling.

"It looked like a tentacle," Emma said, staring toward the place where the creature had disappeared. "A giant one—"

"Brace for impact!" Alex shouted, cutting her off.

Something slammed into the raft from below with tremendous force. The entire raft was launched into the air, sending everyone flying upward with it, while someone screamed as the flaming torch in Sarah’s hand was extinguished.

Fortunately, Alex had been protecting his fireball with a thin sphere of mana. The sphere was thick enough to prevent the water from extinguishing it while remaining thin enough to allow the light to pass through, but they had been thrown so high that Alex still could not see what had attacked them.

"Joseph! Grab everyone!" Alex shouted.

Alex immediately created a Fire Bullet, and the process was much smoother than before. His improved stats had already increased his compression limit, while the new Fire Element Rune allowed him to compress the Fire Element Mana even further without making the spell unstable.

A split second later, Alex fired.

The Fire Bullet shot downward like a blazing streak and illuminated the water below. Alex finally saw the part of the creature responsible for their attack, revealing a gigantic tentacle that had emerged from beneath the surface.

The Fire Bullet struck the ground beside it, and the compressed Fire Element Mana suddenly expanded. The stored mana ruptured first, releasing the fire element in every direction, while the rapid expansion created an intense burst of heat and force.

The surrounding water instantly turned into steam, and the explosion threw mud, broken trees, and water outward. The blast also illuminated the surrounding forest for several seconds, revealing more of the enormous tentacle beneath the waters.

Alex did not have time to examine it further because the group was still falling. Joseph had already reacted, using kinetic mana to shoot himself toward one person, grab them, and then redirect the combined momentum toward another member of the group before repeating the process.

Even Alex could tell that this was not a normal use of kinetic mana. Joseph was probably doing insanely difficulty mana control, but there was no time to understand how exactly he was doing it as they continued falling toward the flooded forest.

Everyone reacted as quickly as they could. Joseph continued keeping the group together, while Yulia pulled Petra into her arms, and Alex reached out and grabbed Emma before they crashed through the branches.

They fell through several trees, breaking branches along the way before finally hitting the water. Groans and painful cries came from the others, but everyone immediately grabbed nearby trees to prevent the current from carrying them away.

Alex held onto the tree and looked toward Emma. "How are you?"

"I-I am fine," Emma answered, although her lips were trembling. She tried to smile at him, but blood was already beginning to seep from her body, and Alex could tell that she had broken several bones during the fall.

Fortunately, the injuries did not appear to be too serious. She could still move, and Alex had managed to protect most of her body during the fall, but the pain was clearly affecting her.

Alex quickly created a crutch from hardened mana and helped her climb higher into the tree, while the others also pulled themselves onto nearby branches to escape the water.

"What do we do now?" Yulia shouted from another tree, where she was holding Petra securely.

Alex’s mind was already working through their options. They could build another raft, but the water had stopped rising for the moment, which made him wonder whether leaving the trees was actually the right decision, especially when there were still unknown monsters moving beneath the surface.

While he was considering their choices, he suddenly heard Sarah and Joseph shout at almost the same time.

"Raft!"

Two splashes followed, and Alex immediately turned toward the sound. To his surprise, both Sarah and Joseph had jumped into the water, so he quickly fired several weakened Fire Bullets toward the noise to brighten the area.

The light revealed the two of them grabbing onto the raft they had been using earlier. They quickly pulled themselves up while Alex watched in surprise.

"Ha-ha! We are lucky!" Joseph shouted with a grin.

"How did they sense the raft in this area?" Alex muttered, still surprised that they had managed to find it in the darkness.

"It must have been their aura and mana. You talked about Will before, right? We didn’t know what to call it, but Joseph could use it somewhat. He also taught us. They probably hardened mana and aura onto the raft, which allowed them to sense where it was," Emma answered while leaning against him.

Alex nodded after hearing her explanation. It made sense, especially considering how difficult it was to see anything outside the small area illuminated by his Fire Bullets.

The group quickly climbed back onto the raft, and this time they moved with much more urgency. Nobody knew when the giant tentacle might appear again, and staying in the water any longer than necessary seemed like an unnecessary risk.

Alex had already fired his strongest Fire Bullet at the creature, but he had not received a kill notification. That meant the attack had either failed to hit its main body or had simply been insufficient to kill it, which was concerning considering how powerful the explosion had been.

No Voltserpents appeared anymore. It was unsettling.

Petra was now treating Emma while the others focused on keeping the raft moving. Alex remained alert as he watched the dark water around them, knowing that something much stronger than the Voltserpents could be hiding below.

"Alex, can you help me? You can create runes, so I thought you might be able to create kinetic rune and help move the raft," Joseph said, breathing hard.

Alex was about to answer when he suddenly felt that something was wrong. He stopped and immediately sent a pulse of Mana Sense beneath the raft, trying to examine the water below them.

His expression froze.

The tentacle was following them.

It remained just outside Joseph’s sensory range, moving beneath the raft without making enough disturbance for anyone else to notice.

..

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