Chapter 149: Off the Map

Gray shot toward the vortex, Phantom Cloak still wrapped around him like a shroud of darkness. The Guardian and the Colossus were still locked in their brutal struggle, the Guardian’s crimson aura burning through the Colossus’s armor while the Colossus’s mandibles tore chunks from the Guardian’s flank.

Neither of them noticed him.

He slipped through Cindy’s vortex, the churning water parting around him as he passed. The Noblesse Bloom stood at the center, its translucent leaves shimmering with every color of the spectrum, its single flower pulsing with soft, steady light.

At the heart of the bloom, a single drop of liquid mana hung suspended, glowing with pure, concentrated radiance.

Noblesse Nectar.

Gray reached out with one blade-tentacle and carefully plucked the nectar from the flower. It clung to his tentacle like a droplet of liquid starlight, warm and impossibly smooth.

[ITEM ACQUIRED: NOBLESSE NECTAR]

He tucked it carefully against his bell, shielding it with his carapace.

’Got it.’

But the moment the nectar left the flower, the Noblesse Bloom’s light dimmed. The petals curled inward, the translucent leaves losing their shimmer. The mana signature that had drawn both monsters to the basin vanished.

The Colossus’s twelve eyes snapped toward Gray.

[MANA SIGNATURE LOST]

[TARGET PRIORITY SHIFTED — NEW SOURCE DETECTED: GRAY ASHFORD]

The Guardian’s second core also flared, its crimson light locking onto him with fury.

’Oh no.’

Both monsters turned toward him at once, their battle forgotten. The Guardian lunged from beneath the Colossus, its jaws gaping wide. The Colossus slammed its massive body forward, its mandibles clicking with hunger.

Gray activated Current Dash, dissolving and reforming at the edge of the basin. The Guardian’s jaws snapped shut on empty water. The Colossus’s tendrils shot through the space where he’d been.

[-0 HP]

[CURRENT DASH — EVASION SUCCESSFUL]

’Cindy! We need to go! NOW!’

Cindy was already moving, her small body darting toward him. Her glow was faint, her mana nearly spent, but she didn’t hesitate.

"I’m coming!"

Gray scooped her up with two blade-tentacles, tucking her against his bell beside the nectar. Then he shot toward the edge of the basin, his body cutting through the water with desperate speed.

Behind him, the Guardian and the Colossus gave chase.

The Guardian was faster, its sleek body slicing through the water with predatory grace. The Colossus lumbered behind, its massive legs propelling it forward with surprising speed for something so large.

’They’re both coming!’

"Can you outrun them?" Cindy asked, her voice tight.

’With the nectar weighing me down? Maybe. But not for long.’

He wove through the jagged rock spires, using the terrain to slow his pursuers. The Guardian followed, its crystal-less forehead still leaking residual light, its jaws snapping at his trailing tentacles.

[GUARDIAN LUNGE — MISSED]

The Colossus crashed through the spires behind it, shattering rock and stone. Its tendrils shot forward, reaching for Gray’s bell.

Gray twisted, letting the tendrils graze his carapace, and fired Void Reaper’s Lance backward without looking. The void-edged spear struck the Guardian’s face, driving it back.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 218 DAMAGE]

[NOBLESSE BLOOM GUARDIAN — HP: 1342 / 3600]

The Guardian shrieked, recoiling. The Colossus surged forward, taking its place.

Gray fired Needle Storm into the Colossus’s eyes. The paralytic needles struck true, and the Colossus stumbled, its twelve eyes flickering.

[NEEDLE STORM — 168 DAMAGE]

[MACROCARID COLOSSUS — HP: 4852 / 5200]

[PARALYZE — 2 SECONDS]

Gray activated Current Dash, dissolving and reforming a hundred meters away, near the edge of the pale stone ridges. He kept moving, not looking back, his senses tracking the two monsters as they struggled to follow.

The Guardian recovered first, its second core pulsing with rage. It lunged after him, but the Colossus, still recovering from the paralytic, crashed into it from behind.

The two monsters tumbled together, their bodies tangling in the narrow ravine.

Gray shot through the pale stone ridges, weaving between spires and boulders, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the basin.

They kept moving until the sounds of the Guardian and the Colossus faded into distant echoes. Gray slowed, his breathing heavy, his body throbbing with exhaustion.

’I think we’re far enough,’ he said.

He stopped at the edge of a pale stone ridge, trying to remember the way back to the Verdant Hollow. But all he saw was unfamiliar ravines, dark spires, and terrain he didn’t recognize.

’...Damn.’

Cindy straightened in the curl of his tentacles.

"We’re lost, aren’t we?"

’Not lost,’ Gray insisted. ’I just... haven’t found the right path yet.’

Cindy stared at him with flat silver eyes.

"We’re lost."

Gray let out a slow pulse.

’...Yeah. We’re lost.’

Cindy sighed, her small body sinking deeper into his grip.

"We’ve been moving in the wrong direction for a while now."

’Maybe we should find a new place to rest,’ Gray said. ’We’re both exhausted. You’re almost out of mana. I’m... well, I’m not in great shape either.’

Cindy nodded slowly.

"That’s a good idea. But be careful. This area isn’t mapped."

Gray began moving again, slower now, his senses sweeping every shadow. He found a crevice hidden behind an outcropping of twisted stone — a small chamber, sheltered from the current. Before he could examine it, a vibration touched his senses.

Something was approaching.

It emerged from the dark slowly, its body low and rounded, covered in thick, leathery hide the color of wet slate. Along its back, a row of translucent sacs bulged outward, each one filled with a faintly glowing gas that pulsed with a sickly green light. Its legs were short and muscular, its claws digging into the seafloor with each step. Its head was broad and flat, with four eyes arranged in a horizontal line, all of them fixed on Gray.

[GASBLOAT CRAWLER — Level 38]

HP: 900 / 900

Threat Level: HIGH

« Analysis »

A territorial bottom-feeder that stores volatile gases in the sacs along its back. The Gasbloat Crawler can expel these gases as a defensive cloud, causing disorientation and poison damage to anything within range. It is highly aggressive when it detects valuable mana sources.

Behavior: Territorial and aggressive. The Gasbloat Crawler will pursue anything carrying concentrated mana, driven by an instinctive hunger for magical energy.

Weakness: The gas sacs are fragile. Piercing them causes a chain reaction that damages the Crawler and neutralizes its gas attacks.

Gray stared at the creature, his blade-tentacles curling.

’We picked up a follower.’

Cindy’s frills tightened as she studied the creature.

"It’s fixated on what we’re carrying. It can probably smell the mana."

The Gasbloat Crawler took another step forward, its four eyes never leaving Gray. The sacs on its back pulsed faster, the green light brightening.

’It’s going to attack,’ Gray said.

"Then kill it before it gets more aggressive," Cindy said. "We can’t afford a prolonged fight right now."

Gray didn’t argue. He activated Phantom Cloak and vanished, circling wide around the Crawler. The creature’s eyes swiveled, tracking the faint mana drain, but it couldn’t pinpoint him.

He positioned himself behind it and fired Void Reaper’s Lance directly into the gas sacs.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 224 DAMAGE]

[GASBLOAT CRAWLER — HP: 676 / 900]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

[GAS SACS — DAMAGED]

The sacs ruptured, spewing green gas into the water. The Crawler shrieked and thrashed, its own defensive cloud choking it as much as it would have choked Gray.

[GAS CLOUD — SELF-DAMAGE — 48 DAMAGE]

[GASBLOAT CRAWLER — HP: 628 / 900]

Gray fired Needle Storm into the Crawler’s exposed flank, the crescent blades carving through its leathery hide.

[NEEDLE STORM — 172 DAMAGE]

[GASBLOAT CRAWLER — HP: 456 / 900]

[PARALYZE — 2 SECONDS]

The Crawler froze. Gray drove all eight blade-tentacles into its back, targeting the remaining sacs.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 236 DAMAGE]

[GASBLOAT CRAWLER — HP: 220 / 900]

The sacs exploded in a chain reaction, the green gas igniting in a burst of sickly light. The Crawler convulsed, its body going limp.

Gray wrapped his tentacles around its head and activated Grip Jaw.

[GRIP JAW — 68 DAMAGE]

[GRIP JAW — 64 DAMAGE]

[GASBLOAT CRAWLER — HP: 88 / 900]

’Goodnight,’ he said, and let Overcharge speak for him.

[OVERCHARGE — 218 DAMAGE]

[GASBLOAT CRAWLER DEFEATED — 1,100 EXP]