Chapter 148: Three-Way Chaos

Cindy raised both hands, her silver glow flaring as she gathered her mana for another Glacial Lance. The Guardian was still stunned, its body rigid, its destroyed crystal leaking residual light into the water.

But the Guardian wasn’t done.

Its body convulsed, and the flesh around the destroyed crystal split open. From within, a second crystal emerged smaller, darker, pulsing with a deep, violent crimson.

[SECOND CORE — ACTIVATED]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — BERSERK]

[HP: 2378 / 3600]

[ATK: +50% | DEF: -30%]

The shark exploded out of the stun, faster and more savage than before. Its jaws snapped shut on Cindy’s Glacial Lance before she could fire it, shattering the spell mid-cast. The backlash sent her tumbling through the water.

[-88 HP]

[CINDY — HP: 420 / 560]

"Cindy!" Gray shouted.

Gray quickly braced himself to defend, thinking the creature would attack him. But the Guardian wasn’t coming for him. It turned toward the Noblesse Bloom.

Its jaws opened wide, and it lunged at the flower, its second crystal pulsing with desperate, ravenous light.

’It’s going to eat the nectar,’ Gray realized. ’If it consumes the Bloom, it’ll regenerate its crystal and get even stronger.’

He activated Current Dash, dissolving and reforming directly between the Guardian and the Bloom.

’You’re not touching that flower.’

The Guardian roared and lunged. Gray met it head-on, Void Reaper’s Lance driving into its open mouth.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 198 DAMAGE]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 2180 / 3600]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

The shark recoiled, its mouth bleeding. But instead of retreating, it did something new.

Its second core pulsed, and its body began to glow with a deep, crimson light. The water around it started to churn, superheating in a wide sphere.

[CRIMSON AURA — ACTIVATED]

[Effect: Continuous heat damage within 12 meters. Melee range is lethal.]

Gray pulsed backward on instinct, the heat washing over his carapace even at the edge of the field.

[-120 HP]

[BURN — 6 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 720 / 1350]

’Another aura?!’

But the Guardian wasn’t done.

Its jaws opened again, and from its throat, a volley of crystalline spines shot outward in every direction, a radial barrage that filled the basin with deadly shrapnel.

[CRYSTAL BARRAGE — FIRED]

Gray twisted through the spines, Flow State bending the currents around him as he dodged. Two spines grazed his carapace, cracking plates but not penetrating.

[-64 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 656 / 1350]

’It has more tricks now!’

Cindy’s voice rang out. "Gray! Its second core is unstable! If we can damage it, the berserk state might break!"

’Okay! we hit it together!’

But before either of them could move, the water above them shifted.

A shadow passed overhead.

Something massive was descending from the dark above the basin. Its body was long and armored, easily thirty feet from head to tail, its hide covered in overlapping plates of dark violet chitin. Dozens of legs, each one ending in a hooked claw, lined its flanks. Its head was a nightmare of mandibles and sensory tendrils, and its eyes twelve of them arranged in a crown, glowed with a sickly green light.

[MACROCARID COLOSSUS — Level 47]

HP: 5200 / 5200

Threat Level: EXTREME

« Analysis »

An apex scavenger-predator of the deep abyssal zone. The Macrocari d Colossus is drawn to concentrated mana signatures and will consume anything it can catch. Its armored body is highly resistant to physical and magical attacks. It prioritizes the strongest mana source in its territory.

[TARGET PRIORITY: NOBLESSE BLOOM — MANA SIGNATURE — HIGHEST]

The Colossus descended toward the basin, its mandibles clicking with hunger. Its twelve eyes were fixed on the Noblesse Bloom.

’Oh no,’ Cindy breathed. ’It’s coming for the nectar too.’

The Guardian turned, its second core flaring. It saw the Colossus and roared but instead of charging it, the Guardian did something unexpected.

It attacked both.

A beam of concentrated heat shot from its second core, aimed directly at Gray. At the same time, its tail whipped toward Cindy, the bladed tip slicing through the water.

[CRIMSON BEAM — TARGET: GRAY]

[TAIL SLASH — TARGET: CINDY]

Gray activated Current Dash on pure instinct, dissolving and reforming ten meters to the left. The beam carved through the space where he’d been, boiling the water in its wake.

Cindy raised an Ice Wall just in time. The tail blade shattered against it, but the impact sent her tumbling backward.

[-42 HP]

[CINDY — HP: 378 / 560]

’It’s targeting both of us now!’ Gray shouted. ’It’s not just defending the flower anymore, it’s trying to kill us before the Colossus gets here!’

The Colossus reached the basin floor. Its twelve eyes swept the scene and its mandibles clicked with what might have been amusement.

Then it attacked.

A volley of hooked tendrils shot from its mouth, spreading through the water in every direction.

[HOOKED TENDRIL VOLLEY — MULTI-TARGET]

Gray twisted through the tendrils, Flow State screaming around him. One hooked his blade-tentacle, and he severed it with a quick slash. Another grazed his bell.

[-48 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 608 / 1350]

Cindy’s Ice Wall shattered under the tendrils, and she barely dodged the follow-up. Her glow was dimming, her mana nearly spent.

"I can’t keep this up!" she called. "They’re both attacking us!"

The Guardian lunged at the Colossus, jaws clamping onto its armored leg. The Colossus shrieked and tore at the Guardian’s flank with its mandibles, but even as it did, it swung its massive tail toward Gray, forcing him to dodge again.

[CINEMATIC CHAOS — THREE-WAY BATTLE]

Gray hovered at the edge of the basin, his mind racing. The Guardian was berserk, attacking everything. The Colossus was a tank, shrugging off damage and lashing out at all targets. Cindy was almost out of mana. And the Noblesse Bloom sat in the center of it all, waiting to be consumed by whoever survived.

’This is insane,’ he thought.

The Guardian fired another Crimson Beam at the Colossus. The beam carved into its armored flank, and the Colossus roared, its twelve eyes flashing with rage. It turned and slammed its full weight into the Guardian, pinning it against the seafloor.

[-620 HP]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 1560 / 3600]

But even pinned, the Guardian’s aura was still burning. The Colossus’s armor began to crack, the heat eating through its chitin.

[-180 HP]

[MACROCARID COLOSSUS — HP: 5020 / 5200]

[BURN — 8 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

Gray saw his opening. Both monsters were locked together, distracted by each other. He activated Phantom Cloak and vanished, circling wide around the basin, positioning himself directly above the Noblesse Bloom.

’Cindy,’ he said quietly. ’Can you create a vortex around the Bloom? Something to protect it?’

"I... I think so. But it won’t last long."

’Do it. I’m going to take the nectar.’

Cindy raised her hands, her silver glow flickering as she gathered the last of her mana. A vortex formed around the Noblesse Bloom, tight and fast, shielding the flower from the battle.