The SSS-Rank Jellyfish's Growth System

Cindy let out a long, defeated sigh. "I hope I don’t faint this time."

Gray was already moving, his body sliding out from behind the volcanic spire. ’Don’t faint yet,’ he said. ’Because this is going to be epic.’

He didn’t approach the serpents directly. That would be suicide. Instead, he angled toward the edge of the Rattle-Leg swarm, where the serpents’ formation was thinnest. One of the serpents had broken off from the group, chasing a small cluster of Rattle-Legs toward a ridge of black stone. Its attention locked on the fleeing prey.

’Perfect.’

Gray gathered his mana and activated Riptide Slash.

The crescent blade cut across the serpent’s path, forcing it to veer. The creature’s pale silver eyes snapped toward him instantly, its long body coiling mid-turn. The Rattle-Legs scattered into the rocks, forgotten.

’That’s right, look at me.’

The serpent’s fins flared. Its bladed tail twitched. Then it let out a low, vibrating hiss that rippled through the water.

The other serpents heard.

One by one, their heads turned. Six pairs of silver eyes locked onto Gray as if looking at an exotic meal.

’Cindy, hold on.’

"Oh gods..."

Gray turned around and quickly swam away.

The serpents followed him swiftly, unwilling to let their prey escape.

His body cut through the water, Flow State bending the current around him as he pushed his speed to the limit. The jagged volcanic plain blurred beneath him. Spires whipped past on either side. The serpents were faster than him, but they were also larger, and the terrain here was his ally.

He dove through a narrow gap between two spires. The lead serpent tried to follow, but its wing-like fins scraped against the rock. It hissed and pulled back, forced to circle around. The others split, fanning out to cut him off.

’They look like they’re still starving.’

"Gray, left!"

He pulsed right, a bladed tail slashing through the space he’d just left. The crescent of displaced water carved a trench in the seafloor.

’Woah! That was close.’

"Faster! The valley’s still too far!"

’I know!’

He pushed harder, his bell burning with effort as the volcanic plain gave way to pale stone and the first violet orbs appeared in the distance, floating like sleeping eyes.

’Almost there.’

Another serpent dove from above. Gray twisted, but the edge of its fin caught his bell, sending him tumbling through the water.

[-38 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 972 / 1010]

He recovered and kept swimming. The Violet Stillness opened before him, its strange floating orbs pulsing faintly in the dark.

’Cindy, get ready. We’re going in.’

"Don’t die, Gray."

’Not today.’

He dove into the valley, weaving between the orbs. The serpents followed without hesitation, their long bodies slicing through the still water.

And the orbs began to stir.

One by one, they peeled open, pale tendrils uncurling from their centers. The serpents paused, their silver eyes flicking toward the new movement. They had never seen the Loricati before. They didn’t know the danger.

’That’s it. Stay curious.’

The first Loricati struck. Its tendril lashed out, catching the nearest serpent across the flank. The serpent shrieked, twisting, but the tendril held fast, pumping neurotoxin into its flesh.

The other serpents turned on the Loricati in an instant, their bladed tails flashing like silver crescents as they carved through the grasping tendrils.

Around them, more orbs peeled open in rapid succession, their pale membranes splitting apart as dozens of new tendrils shot outward, turning the water into a writhing net of violet light and lashing limbs. The valley erupted into chaos with shrieks, flashes of movement, and clouds of pale fluid blurring the darkness.

Gray slipped into a narrow crevice and watched.

’Phase one complete.’

Cindy’s voice came, shaking. "They’re... they’re really fighting each other..."

’Like I said. Epic plan, right?’

The serpents were faster, their bladed tails slicing through tendrils and flesh alike. But the Loricati were everywhere, and every severed tendril was replaced by two more. The water churned with violet light and pale fluid.

Gray waited, watching HP bars drop and status effects spread. The serpents were being worn down, their bodies covered in tiny wounds. But the Loricati were dying too, their fragile central masses no match for the serpents’ fury.

’Four serpents left,’ he said quietly. ’One’s badly poisoned. Another lost an eye.’

"And the Loricati?" Cindy whispered.

’Still too many to count. But they’re dying faster now. The serpents figured out their pattern.’

One of the serpents coiled around a Loricati’s central mass and squeezed until it burst, spraying pale fluid into the water. Another serpent was less lucky. It had strayed too close to a cluster of unopened orbs, and now three tendrils had wrapped around its midsection. It thrashed, its bladed tail cutting one tendril, then another, but the third held, dragging it down toward the waiting maw.

The serpent let out a long, thin shriek as the neurotoxin took hold. Its body went rigid, then limp.

’Five now. Three Loricati down in the same exchange.’

"Should we go now?" Cindy’s voice was tight, thrumming with tension.

’Not yet. Let them bleed each other.’

The fight continued. The remaining serpents had learned caution, staying high above the reach of the Loricati’s tendrils and only diving to strike before retreating. They were faster than the Loricati, but the orbs kept opening, kept reaching, and the water was filled with their floating, grasping tendrils.

Then the largest serpent, the one that had led the pack, let out a deep, vibrating hiss. It coiled above the battlefield, its silver eyes scanning the carnage below, and then it turned toward Gray’s hiding place.

Cindy’s voice caught. "It sees us."

’No. It seems to be searching for traces of me, the traces that lured them here. The ones that lured them here.’

The serpent hovered just outside the crevice, its silver eyes reflecting the faint violet light of the dying Loricati. It let out another hiss, low and questioning.

Then one of the Loricati below exploded.

The serpent whipped around, and in that brief moment of distraction, Gray activated Subterranean Ambush and vanished into the seafloor, leaving the crevice empty.

’Phase two begins now.’