Third Circle

Ayaan dodged the incoming Marauder by a hair's breadth.

But still he tackled into his shoulder and was thrown to the side. Even though he stumbled a bit, it did put some distance between him and the pursuers. He swam faster to reach the building. But just as he was about to swim up and get on the rooftop.

'Down'

His instinct screamed, he let his body descend a bit. A harpoon came from the side. It came at a speed, that seemed like the water resistance didn't even apply to it. The harpoon went past Ayaan and disappeared into the dark waters.

'Move left'

Another harpoon came and this time from the back. It lodged into the building. It penetrated the wall and got stuck there.

*BAM*

Then came a punch from the side. The reaver that threw the first harpoon caught and almost hit him. Ayaan dodged to the side, kicked on the harpoon impaled into the wall and swam up.

He caught a hold of the railing of the roof. He then kicked the reaver on its head and used the recoil to climb up. He landed on the rooftop and got ready.

*SPLASH*

The reaver climbed up, only to meet Ayaan's axe kick squarely on its head.

*CRACK*

[Exp+1000]

His heel penetrated its skull and entered its head. The head with an uneven crack split into two, killing reaver smoothly. Even Ayaan is surprised by the force generated by the kick. Seemed like all the hidden quests really did add up. In the last two quests, he got nine stat points increase in the strength. That's eighteen points.

Compared to the actual gain that he should have gotten, which was around seven points, it was a big increase and its showing.

The reaver disappeared. Ayaan stepped back and welcomed the enemies. The reavers and marauders climbed up the rooftop and they started fighting.

There are three reavers, and two marauders.

The two marauders in the center while the three marauders were standing behind them. The marauders led the charge.

The trident came at him.

'Side step, deflect' He blocked it with the forearm guard and deflected the attack. The second marauder's trident came with a swing, instead of a stab.

'Duck. Slip to the right, liver blow'

The punch landed on the right side of the marauder. The shell cracked and his fist penetrated it. Continuing that fluid motion, Ayaan weaved to the side and gave a calf kick to the reaver.

It stumbled forward along with its harpoon.

'Spinning heel kick. Aim at the head'

The kick landed on the back of its head.

*CRACK*

[██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░] 10%

It fell face first, with most of its health lost.

Ayaan stomped on it, leveraging the small height and delivered a spinning head kick to the marauder. Surprisingly, it blocked the kick with the staff of the trident, Ayaan felt a slight pain in his leg. It felt like he kicked a pole, but not too strongly.

To continue the surprise, it swept the long shaft of the trident very low, aiming at Ayaan's leg's.

He was caught off guard and lost his balance, almost falling back. Ayaan put his hands on the floor and did a backflip.

But that large movement became a bit of a problem, as soon as he landed, the two marauders caught up with him. He dodged one stab of the trident and deflected the other. But the three reavers, one with barely any strength also got up.

Two of them still had their harpoons and they threw them at him.

'Duck'

Ayaan crouched down. The tridents and harpoons went past his head. He elbowed the knee of one of the marauders. It stumbled a bit.

The reavers charged and the second marauder tried to use the butt of the trident to sweep his freaking head off.

*BANG*

He caught the butt of the trident and pulled it forcefully. The marauder, not expecting this, came in between Ayaan and the reavers. The other marauder already stabilized, turned around and was about to attack.

Ayaan rolled back, dodged its trident and landed a punch straight to its face.

*CRACK*

The shell helmet cracked. He didn't stop there and threw another job at close range, but this time, the spike from the armor guard opened up, stabbing it in the face.

'Water bullet'

Before it could explode, the Marauder hurriedly pushed Ayaan away with the trident.

*POOF*

The water bullet still hit it, in the close range, but not point blank.

*CRACK*

The sea shell helmet cracked open completely and the marauder fell back.

[████████████████░░░░] 80%

Twenty percent, drop. Not too bad, but not good either.

Ayaan let it fall and didn't follow up. He shifted to the side and blocked the trident of the other marauder. He caught it under his arm and his palm is placed perfectly on its elbow. He dragged to the side forcefully bringing it between him and reavers.

His fingers dug into its elbow.

'Water bullet'

The shell cracked and the arm fell off. The trident came into his hands.

Ayaan used that momentum and pushed it forward, aiming the trident at the face of the other marauder that just came up.

*SWOOSH*

IT stepped back and swung its trident, blocking the attack.

The trident heads locked. Ayaan didn't pursue the attack, instead he pulled back and used the butt of the trident to stab in the head of one of the marauders. That happened to be the one with least health.

[Exp+1000]

The marauder that lost its arm dashed at him. Ayaan still kept the tridents locked, keeping the other marauder in the distance, he used the shaft and slammed it against the one-armed opponent.

At that distance, he dropped a calf kick, reducing its balance further more and punched it in the face.

*CRACK*

The marauder landed on the floor.

Ayaan pulled the trident back and one swing hit one of the reavers in the head. He turned around, blocked the marauder's attack. The one-armed marauder, once again got up. Its health dropped to fifty percent.

Ayaan used the same tactic as before. He slammed the shaft of the trident in its face. But this time, he closed the distance and gave it an oblique kick to the knee.

*CRACK*

His leg went through the knee and it fell down.

Then next kick went to its neck with full force. His leg went through the neck and the head fell off.

[Exp+10000]

Ayaan pushed the standing marauder forward with their tridents locked. He forcefully pulled it to stand in between him and the reavers.

He then twisted the trident and pushed forward. The marauder slipped past it and tried to stab him. Ayaan while still holding the trident in his hand, blocked the attack and slipped past it. He stepped forward and stabbed the incoming reaver with the trident.

Aiming at its neck.

'Water bullet'

The water bullet exploded from the tip of the trident and blew its head off. He swept the trident and hit the second reaver in the knee. The trident hit it at the joint, making it crouch. He pushed the trident back and used its butt to stab at the marauder. It dodged and tried to sweep his legs with it.

Ayaan jumped up and kicked the trident down. He pressed it onto the ground, not letting the marauder pull it back.

He swept the trident in his hand and aimed at its hands.

*CRACK*

The trident head got stuck in the coral armor on the marauder's arm.

'Water Bullet'

The bullet pierced through the armor and tore up its arm. Ayaan didn't miss this chance. As the arm broke, the trident fell.

He stepped forward and stabbed the trident in the chest of the marauder.

'Water Bullet'

The chest cracked open and exploded.

[Exp+10000]

With the two marauders gone, only the reavers are left and he finished them off in the same flow.

*Sigh*

Ayaan breathed out and calmed down. That was a close combat fight. Everything happened quickly. It was only around three minutes, but the fight was intense. He stored the drops and dove into the water again.

He swam towards the third coral in the second circle.

He lured them to the nearest neutral reef and a similar close combat battle ensured.

By the time he was done with the second reef, his fatigue was upped by 20 points and his health dropped by 10 points.

Even the constant blocking was taking some toll on him.

The second circle was completed. He swam towards the third circle. He noticed that the circle had become much smaller. It is basically a small arc at this point.

Just from one spot, he can see all three of the crimson reeves and even see the patches with the blue algae or in other words, the locations of the marauders.

Ayaan observed the surroundings and noticed that there were no neutral reefs or building surfaces nearby.

He was already out of the city and was swimming in the sea.

He checked the quest progress.

In the first circle, he killed 30 reavers and there were no marauders.

In the second circle, he killed 12 reavers and 6 marauders.

That's a total of 42 reavers and the 6 marauders. According to the quest, the minimum required was to kill 60 reavers and 10 marauders.

That was a guaranteed 160000 Exp. With his current 89000 points that he had, that would be a guaranteed level up to the next one. Maybe after the first level-up, this could be the easiest level-up that he will have.

But something felt odd.

The 'at least' part of the quest bothered him.

He thought for a moment and compared the size of the crimson reefs from the first circle, a second circle with the reefs of the third circle.

The first circle had big reefs. They each produced 10 reavers each. Comparing the size to the second one which had four and comparing it to the third, his estimation was that each reef would have 6 reavers, making the count 18.

There are also only four patches of the marauders that he identified.

That exactly cuts the minimum requirement for the quest. He didn't like this at all. However, he didn't think too much about this.

He might as well fight them as they come and think about hidden requirements later.

However, this time, the three reefs are almost together. They are just a few meters apart and this will be an underwater battle.