The howling wind that had been raging suddenly went silent. Even the lightning tearing across the horizon ceased in an instant. The world fell into a strange, eerie stillness.
"What the hell is going on?" Kairav's eyes darted around, searching for the source of the sudden anomaly.
Beside him, Casildo didn't look the least bit concerned.
Instead, the burly youth was busy stretching his muscles.
"Bro, why are you stretching? You planning to do zumba right now? Don't you realize how weird this is?!" Kairav asked, staring at him in disbelief and irritation.
But Casildo only crouched slightly, bracing himself like a bull about to charge.
"For what else... if not to fight?!" he roared.
With a fiery look in his eyes, Casildo sprinted straight toward the water, which still looked deceptively calm.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the sea stirred to life.
A massive wave, like a towering wall of water, surged upward and crashed toward him. Casildo's feet slammed against the surface, propelling him into a powerful leap.
"Casildo! Watch out!" Kairav shouted.
Growl!!!
Ping!
[ System: Scanning Entity... ]
Scanning: 85%... 95%... 100% Complete!
Monster: Blue Jellyfish Monster / Euntei Iek
Creature Type: Depths Abomination
Origin: Deepshadow Realm (Mystic Tides Strait)
Special Skill: Liquid Body
[ Additional Info: Highly aggressive. Attacks in groups. Extremely dangerous to Astral Conjurers who don't know its weakness. Proceed with caution! ]
Kairav's eyes widened as the massive wave split apart like a curtain of water.
Two giant hands reached out, followed by the looming form of a ten-foot-tall creature.
Its body resembled a human, yet it was entirely made of glowing, translucent blue water.
The monster lunged forward, mouth gaping wide as if to devour Casildo's head in one bite.
In midair, Casildo swung a massive fist.
Smack! Splash!
His punch went straight through.
The monster dissolved into nothing, melting back into the sea like a huge spill of water.
"Casildo! That thing—" Kairav shouted, rushing toward him in shock.
"How many jellyfish did we see earlier?" Casildo cut him off, scanning the water with sharp, wary eyes.
"Ten!" Kairav answered quickly. "Why?"
Casildo's usually cocky face tightened with alarm.
"Because we've got ten of these bastards to fight!" he snapped. "Get away from the water!"
Without hesitation, he grabbed Kairav and pulled him back.
But luck wasn't on their side.
Before they could reach the sand, ten watery monsters burst out of the ocean, surrounding them with gaping maws.
Growl! Growl!
Kairav froze in terror.
In the split second before one of the creatures could clamp down on his head, Casildo's strong hand yanked his collar and hurled him back onto the beach.
Kairav's skinny frame slammed hard into the sand, pain flaring up his spine.
"Damn it, Casildo! Couldn't you be a little gentler?!" he cursed.
"I just saved your ass! And you're still complaining?!" Casildo barked, already overwhelmed as the ten monsters lunged at him from every direction.
Slamming his foot into the ground, Casildo sent massive boulders levitating into the air. His fists clenched, cracking loudly as his power surged.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The rocks fractured into jagged chunks, then shot forward at blistering speed, bombarding the jellyfish monsters.
Rock Rupture Assault!
But his attack did nothing.
The stones pierced clean through the watery bodies, leaving no damage behind.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Kairav's mind raced. "Their bodies are pure liquid… They must inherit the properties of water itself. No solid attacks can hold or crush them…"
Casildo clenched his jaw, furious at the uselessness of his strikes.
He stomped again and leapt toward Kairav.
Kairav's stomach twisted as he saw the monsters advancing in unison, mouths yawning wide as they left the water, moving straight toward them.
His eyes flicked back to the holographic display, scanning the system's description again.
He dug through his memory, recalling every cryptid and aquatic beast he'd studied.
Then it clicked. Snapping his fingers, Kairav remembered the old folklore.
Blue Jellyfish Monsters, or Euntei Iek, were said to haunt the Mystic Tides Strait.
To sailors, they appeared like harmless jellyfish drifting in the waves, climbing aboard via anchor ropes.
Once aboard, they slithered across the decks, scaling the masts… then collapsed into massive torrents of water, sinking entire ships.
But in rarer, deadlier cases, they manifested as humanoid water giants, like the ones now hunting them.
Exactly what he and Casildo were facing.
Casildo lunged again, throwing himself into battle. "Failed Product! Instead of daydreaming, how about making yourself useful?!" he cursed.
"Bro! Pee on them!" Kairav shouted.
Casildo nearly tripped mid-step, turning to glare at him. "What the hell?! Have you lost your mind?!"
Kairav yelled with absolute conviction, "My friend researched these creatures! In the legends, sailors who survived used their own piss to drive the monsters away!"
Casildo stared at him like he'd just confessed to eating sand for breakfast. "...You've gotta be kidding me...."
"You're telling me piss is stronger than my terra element?!"
"Look around! Even my punches aren't working! I can't touch them at all!" Casildo cried.
He struck again, fists slamming into watery bodies.
Smack! Smack! Splash!
But every hit passed harmlessly through. His kicks, too, found no purchase.
Meanwhile, the monsters' blows landed solidly, their watery arms crashing against him like real, physical force.
Each strike shoved him back, and the burly youth forced into frantic dodges. But there were too many of them.
Growl!!
"Shit!" Casildo cursed as one monster caught him, its giant hand closing around his throat. His body was hoisted off the ground, legs kicking as the creature squeezed.
"Casildo!" Kairav sprinted toward him.
But Casildo barked through clenched teeth, straining for breath.
"Stop! Don't… make this harder!"
Veins bulged across his face as air scraped from his lungs.