More Reavers

Ayaan watched as all the trembling reefs finally stopped and separated.

Each reef is divided into multiple reavers. None of them turned to Marauders, which could be considered a slight relief. Ayaan held onto the knife tightly. Just from a quick glance, he counted thirty-six reavers.

Instead of waiting for them to arrive and surround him, he made the first move.

As he swam forward, his body suddenly disappeared. The reavers that were charging at him suddenly stopped.

'Hydro Veil'

Even though much description wasn't given to him about this armor, the previous usage helped him get a gist of it. He could hide himself for approximately two minutes and it is consuming around 5 MP.

It wasn't a bad deal.

The reavers that halted suddenly sensed something. Ayaan already closed in on the nearest reaver. He was careful to not alert them. He put the tip of the spike, point blank in its neck, and shot a 3 MP bullet.

*POOF*

The head got separated with most of its upper body destroyed.

Level up 4--> 5

Ayaan felt his whole body recover. He went back to his optimum state. He didn't even bother to check the system. Anyway, there won't be much change. He would have just gotten five more stat points that he could allocate.

Instead, the full recovery itself came in handy.

Even though the battle has been relatively easy so far, the fatigue was indeed accumulating a bit. Now, that it was gone. So, Ayaan ignored the level-up and focused on the reavers.

He moved faster. He wanted to kill as many as he could before the Hydro veil was over and he succeeded.

Six reavers were dead, opening a path for him. By the time the Hydro veil disappeared, he was completely out of the encirclement. The reavers shot out their harpoons. Ayaan dodged the incoming attacks and used a similar tactic as before.

He swam to a building and hid behind it. He didn't want to go for a reef nearby. The reavers surrounded the building, completely blocking the paths. Then two of them entered the building through a hole to find Ayaan.

Ayaan who was hiding right next to the wall, made his move. He stabbed the monster in the side with the spike. He took out the combat knife and stabbed it under the arm.

'Water bullet'

The execution was instant. Since he didn't hit a vital, it actually retained 5 percent health even with a point-blank shot. But with a single hit, it died. The second reaver, of course, didn't just hover there.

It stabbed Ayaan with the harpoon. He deflected the attack with the forearm shield and slipped forward. He japed into the arm and used a water bullet.

The arm collapsed, and Ayaan swiftly turned and stabbed the harpoon in its neck. The shell cracked and the harpoon went a couple of inches deep into its flesh.

'Water bullet'

The reaver died.

Maybe the other reavers outside sensed his presence or the death of the other reavers, they charged from all the entry points. That's twenty-eight reavers inside the large concrete box, submerged underwater.

Ayaan didn't panic, instead, he relaxed.

'Aqua Respite'

He activated the skill and charged at the incoming reaver. He blocked its attack, stopped its motion, climbed on its shoulder, and kicked it. He swam up reaching the ceiling of the room. He flipped it upside down and kicked it.

'Frog King's Stomp'

The skill activated.

*CRACK*

There was a faint crack on the concrete roof, while he torpedoed down towards the reaver. He caught hold of it and turned, using it as a meat shield against the incoming harpoons.

The harpoon even lodged into its body, and then Ayaan turned once more and placed it between him and the concrete floor that they were reaching at an incredible speed.

*BAM* *CRACK*

The harpoon which was impaled in the back took the brunt of the collision. Like a nail hit by the hammer, it penetrated the reaver and came from this side. Ayaan pulled it out and pressed the weak reaver against the floor. He also caught a hold of the reaver's harpoon turned up. The reavers already gathered and got ready to attack him.

A smirk appeared on his face.

'Frog King's Stomp'

*BAM* *CRACK*

[Exp+1000]

The reaver got crushed as it took the brunt of the force. Ayaan held the two harpoons in front of him, impaling the closest reaver in the chest. The reaver acted as a shield as he charged through the group.

This time, he didn't reach the roof like he wanted to. The reaver also had around ten points of health left. He held the harpoons by their handles and forcefully pulled them apart.

The body of the reaver split into two.

*SWOOSH*

Ayaan dodged an incoming harpoon and swam to the side, he used the Frog King's stomp again against the ceiling. This time, he couldn't catch the reaver easily though. The reaver dodged, but the harpoon still struck it, leaving a vertical gash from its chest to the crotch.

Ayaan turned in the middle and blocked the attack of another reaver. But the third reaver interjected his path. Both of their harpoons are locked in a clash. Ayaan forcefully turned around, exchanging their positions, to block the incoming harpoon attacks.

He inclined the harpoon, letting the opponent slip across its surface, he punched it in the neck with the spike and used a water bullet.

[Exp +1000]

…

For the next five minutes, the building reverberated and trembled with the sounds of Ayaan using Frog King's stomp.

Visible cracks appeared on all its surfaces…

After the five minutes.

*BAM* *CRASH*

One of the walls broke open and from within a reaver charged out face first as Ayaan held it by its shell helmet and a harpoon stabbed in its back. Its health rapidly dropped and went to zero, when he used the water bullet from the back of its neck.

As the reaver disappeared, Ayaan was still moving towards the reef not too far away and his gaze turned colder.

The moment he came out, he already noticed that the reef was trembling and this one was a lot bigger than the ones before. Previously, it was just a random reef, but now it's the origin of around a dozen killers.

And it wasn't alone in that.

The surrounding reefs all trembled and birthed dozens of reavers.

However, Ayaan didn't resist his movement. As the group freshly came out of the reef, he closed in on it. He stabbed the closest one with the harpoon and used that as leverage to put his feet on its chest.

*BAM*

He blocked the harpoon of another reaver with his forearm while dodging the third one.

'Frog King's Stomp'

The reaver died, but that wasn't the major achievement here. The stomp sent huge shockwaves that dispersed all the surrounding reavers into disarray at the same time, sending Ayaan far away from them.

He came to a relatively closer distance to the island and then he saw it to get a better view of the reavers' movements. Then he saw it. The radius increased to a hundred meters. Every reef in that radius has come to life giving birth to dozens of reavers. This time, he couldn't even calculate that easily.

All of them charged towards him.

Ayaan thought of all the possibilities. If it was a battle on land, then he would have much more versatility. He can use water bullets to keep them at bay while he fights them. But now, in the water, the reavers were a lot more versatile with their movements while his ranged attacks were limited.

At least, if he just stuck to the water bullets. He looked at his right forearm. The collapsable enhancement on the right forearm guard. The shard launcher.

He had yet to test the efficiency of this. The only thing he knew about it was that the water around him wouldn't have any effect on the shards.

In fact, it has a positive effect.

Hydro-Charge: When used underwater, the launcher gains extra velocity, making the shards strike with even more force.

Ayaan extended his hand and with just a thought, the forearm guard opened up a bit. It was very similar to its transformation into a shield, but this time, it was not that complete or elaborate. A small slit opened up in the front.

He aimed his hand forward and with a thought, shot.

A chakram shot out of the guard, it appeared the like water in the surroundings knew not to obstruct its path. The chakram moved fast, almost as far as a bullet and it hit the reaver before it could react.

Ayaan raised an eyebrow in intrigue as the Chakram hit the reaver on its chest and came out of its back.

[████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░] 30%

One hit and the health dropped by seventy percent. The reaver slowed down. Ayaan moved the arm slightly, aiming it at the next reaver. However, this time…

*SWOOSH*

The chakram hit the reaver on its neck. The chakram was smooth in its cut. So smooth to the point, the reaver's head didn't even fall off after it was cut and the reaver had disappeared dropping its loot.

And that was all Ayaan needed to confirm.

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

The chakrams cut through the water and were launched at the huge swarm of creatures coming at him. One reaver after another was taken down. He shot thirty of them, including the test one. Apart from the first reaver, the rest of them are all dead.

When they were close enough, Ayaan swam forward charging at the incoming reavers. Just when they were five feet away, a trident appeared in his hands. The reaver was caught off guard. Ayaan stabbed the trident in its chest and forced the reaver down.

The trident is now vertical. With its head facing down and the reaver stuck in it. Ayaan kicked the reaver's body.

'Frog King's Stomp'

He broke the reaver into pieces and held the trident as he flew up. A few harpoons barely missed him and as he flew away, he caught one of the reavers along with it.

'Water Bullet'

He offed it at point blank. By the time, his momentum halted there was once again a good distance between himself and the reaver group.

Chakrams flew out again.

For the next thirty seconds, all Ayaan heard was the 30 Exp notifications from the thirty kills.

Just like that, he used up sixty chakrams and the result… he got 62 kills.

There were still 46 reavers left. However, Ayaan didn't waste the Chakrams on them. He was confident enough to deal with them himself and thus another round of gritty battle started.

.

.

.

Fifteen minutes later.

Ayaan came up to the water's surface and took deep breaths. The fatigue mounted up. He was done with the aqua respite skill a while back and had to hold his breath by himself in the middle of the battle.

He pushed it, killed them, and now came back, without even caring what the next thing is going to be.

As he took deep breaths and calmed down, he suddenly had an inkling of what it was. The feeling he had just when he started this quest. The feeling of extreme danger… it came back again and it intensified.

Ayaan felt like he was surrounded by an army of soldiers ready to kill him at a moment's notice, he could almost feel all of their gun barrels on his flesh, point blank. Cold and threatening.

*RUMBLE*

That image was then replaced by what was happening in front of him. All the reefs as far as he could see are trembling.

Ayaan dove back into the sea to get a good look and he was stunned. All the reefs that spread halfway through the city are all trembling and they are turning into crimson tide reavers.

He watched for a second as they all charged at him.

He didn't even hesitate, his eyes turned colder and his aura turned sharper.

He decisively turned back and swam towards the island at the fastest speed possible.