Chapter 217: Horrors Of The Night
’That is regeneration. Is it using Life Mana? No, since it is a monster, it must be using Origin Energy attuned to something similar to Life Mana, just like the Wild Orcs.’
For a moment, Alex wanted to study the creature and its usage of Origin Energy. If he could understand how it was using its Origin Energy to regenerate, he might learn something that could improve his own Life Mana usage.
Alex could heal small wounds, but even his healing carried the danger of abnormal growth and cancerous tissue if he compressed the mana incorrectly. Watching a monster regenerate injuries this severe could have been an incredible learning opportunity, but the creature gave him no time to observe it further.
The monster fired.
The eight glowing Water Bullets accelerated toward the raft, and Alex immediately poured an insane amount of mana into his soul and head. His mana control skyrocketed, making everything around him seem dull as his attention focused almost entirely on the incoming attacks.
Five Fire Bullets formed before him, each containing an enormous amount of Fire Element Mana. His improved stats and mana control allowed him to maintain all five without losing control of their structures, despite the tremendous amount of mana compressed inside them.
Alex fired them.
The Fire Bullets struck the Water Bullets and punched through them, but Alex did not allow them to continue traveling. He immediately pulled the Will out of the Fire Bullets, causing the compressed mana inside them to become unstable and explode.
The resulting blasts were enormous, burning through the water and producing powerful shockwaves that illuminated the flooded forest. Most of the incoming Water Bullets were disrupted, but three continued moving toward the raft.
Alex watched as the three remaining projectiles flew past the explosions and struck the water near them. The impacts created gigantic explosions that immediately overturned the raft and sent everyone flying into the water.
Fortunately, the group had not been scattered too far from one another. Joseph’s Kinetic Mana reached several members of the group and absorbed most of their kinetic energy as they fell, preventing them from being carried away too quickly by the violent currents.
Alex had no time to think about anything else. He plunged into the water and continued sinking until his feet struck the submerged ground with considerable force, but the current immediately tried to drag him away.
Then he noticed Petra. The little girl was being carried away by the current, and Alex immediately fired a Mana Cable from his hand. It wrapped around Petra’s body and pulled her toward him before the current could carry her farther away.
By the time Alex managed to twist his body and plant both feet against the underwater ground, the current had already dragged him a considerable distance from the others. He could barely see anything through the dark water, even with the light created by his fire sphere, but he did not waste time trying to determine where everyone else had gone.
Alex shot several Mana Threads toward the ground, forcing them deep into the submerged earth before anchoring himself firmly. The current continued pulling against his body, but the threads held, allowing Alex to remain in place while keeping Petra secured in his arms.
He turned his head and saw the little girl coughing and struggling underwater, immediately realizing that he had forgotten an important problem due to how focused he was.
Alex could survive without breathing because of his Sustained Breathing Spell, but Petra did not have the same ability. He needed to get her above the water before the lack of oxygen became fatal.
He swiftly walked toward a nearby tree, using Mana Threads as anchors whenever the current became too strong. Once he reached the trunk, several Mana Cables shot from his body and wrapped around the tree, allowing him to pull himself upward while keeping Petra close to him.
Alex was almost at the surface when something enormous grabbed the lower trunk of the tree. He immediately sensed the tentacle wrapping around the submerged trunk, and before he could react further, the tree shook violently and was ripped out of the ground.
Alex released his Mana Cables and jumped toward another tree before the tentacle could drag him away with it. He broke through the surface and landed against the new trunk, securing himself with Mana Threads while keeping Petra in his arms.
Petra was still coughing violently, her face red from the water she had swallowed. Alex immediately poured mana into her body, using his Will to disengage her protective Will, and carefully forced the water out of her lungs and through her mouth.
Petra coughed several more times before finally managing to breathe properly. Alex relaxed slightly after confirming that she was no longer in immediate danger, although the situation around them remained terrible.
Emma seemed to have been lucky enough to land on a tree during the earlier explosion. She was firing Mana Arrows at the Voltserpents that had not been thrown away from the earlier Water Bullets.
The rest of the group was scattered among the trees, and most of them appeared injured, bloodied and exhausted. They were still alive, but the repeated attacks and violent current had clearly taken a toll on them.
Joseph was missing.
Alex immediately increased the radius of his Mana Sense and sent several pulses at different angles. He carefully examined the disturbances he detected, trying to locate Joseph while also keeping track of the monsters approaching them.
He eventually found him. The old man had apparently jumped away to catch the raft and was now using Kinetic Mana to pull it back toward the group, although the current was making his movement difficult.
Alex barely had time to process this before he sensed something approaching. Two massive tentacles were moving rapidly toward his location.
Alex immediately created several Fire Bullets and fired them toward the approaching tentacles. The projectiles crossed the distance quickly, but this time the monster seemed prepared for his attack.
One tentacle rose from the water and blocked the Fire Bullets before they could reach the second one. The explosions spread across its surface, damaging it, but while the first tentacle remained in place, the second continued moving directly toward Alex.
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