Chương 34

The Roaring Serpent River was loud. Really loud. Rudra stood on the muddy bank, adjusting his heavy brown cloak. The water was violently churning, rushing past at crazy speeds. It was easily a mile wide.

"Well, I'm definitely not swimming across that," Rudra muttered. He looked upriver and spotted a massive stone bridge. It was the only crossing in sight. Perfect. He started walking toward it, his stomach already rumbling. He was dreaming about finding a quiet inland tavern to finally roast some meat. But as he got closer, he stopped. The bridge was completely blocked. A group of about twenty players wearing matching red capes had set up a line of wooden barricades right across the entrance.

A crowd of annoyed, low-level players was stuck on the dirt path, arguing loudly.

"Five silver to cross!" a guy in heavy iron armor yelled from behind the barricade.

"The Blood Iron Guild controls this route! Pay up or find a boat!"

"Five silver? I only have ten coppers!" a beginner complained.

"Then start swimming, noob!" the guild guy laughed. Rudra let out a long, exhausted sigh. I really hate gamers, he thought. He wanted to stay off the radar. He wanted to be a quiet, boring NPC. But more than anything, he wanted to cross that bridge and find a kitchen. Walking miles down the river to find another crossing was out of the question. He was way too hungry for that. Rudra pulled his dark leather mask up a little higher over his nose and walked straight toward the barricade.

He didn't stop at the back of the crowd. He pushed right to the front.

"Hey, halt!" the armored leader shouted, pointing a thick iron broadsword at him.

"Can't you hear? Five silver!"

"Look, guys," Rudra said politely, his voice muffled by the leather mask.

"I don't care about your toll. I just need to get to the other side to buy some groceries. Excuse me." Rudra stepped forward, walking right toward a gap in the wooden fence.

"I said stop!" the leader roared. Annoyed that a guy in a ragged brown cloak was ignoring him, he swung the flat of his broadsword right at Rudra's chest to knock him down. To a normal player, the sword was fast. To Rudra, with his Agility over 250, it looked like the guy was swinging a pool noodle through thick mud. Rudra didn't even take his heavy oak staff off his shoulder. He simply tilted his body to the left. The iron sword sliced through empty air, completely missing him.

Before the leader could even blink, Rudra stepped directly into his personal space. He pulled his empty left hand out of his cloak pocket, raised it high, and brought it down hard. SMACK! The sharp, echoing crack of an open-handed slap rang out over the roaring river. Rudra's massive Strength flared. The force of the hit lifted the heavily armored leader completely off his feet. He spun through the air and crashed hard into his own wooden barricade, shattering it to pieces. [Critical Hit!] The leader's health bar instantly plummeted into the red. He groaned, completely stunned. The entire bridge went dead silent. The other nineteen guild members froze, their eyes wide with terror. Their boss had just been practically one-shotted by a bare-handed slap. Rudra slowly lowered his hand. He looked at the remaining red-caped players, his red eyes glowing faintly from the shadows of his hood.

"Like I said," Rudra muttered.

"I'm just passing through." Nobody moved a muscle. The guild members actually scrambled backward, clearing the path completely. Rudra casually stepped over the broken wood and started walking across the massive stone bridge. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Holy crap," a beginner whispered from the crowd.

"Did he just slap him?" Rudra ignored the whispers. He kept his head down, enjoying the easy walk across the bridge. But as he reached the halfway point, a weird, magical tug pulled at his chest. He stopped and leaned over the stone railing, looking down at the raging river below. Right in the middle of the riverbed, the water was swirling differently. It was pulling down into a massive, dark trench. Faint blue light pulsed from the bottom of the trench. A familiar translucent window popped up in his vision.

[The Legacy of the Submerged God] [You have discovered the 11th Temple of Asterion.] Rudra blinked. He looked down at the violently churning water, then back at the road ahead.

"Well," Rudra grinned behind his mask.

"That saves me a lot of walking." He didn't think twice. He hopped onto the stone railing. The terrified guild members watching him from afar gasped.

"Wait, what is he doing?!" one of them yelled.

"Is he jumping?!" Rudra casually stepped off the edge. He plummeted toward the raging river and hit the water with a massive splash. He sank straight like a rock. Down at the bottom of the river, Rudra took a deep breath. Cool, fresh air filled his lungs. It didn't feel like he was underwater at all. Thanks to Asterion's Blessing, the crushing water pressure completely vanished. The violent current above didn't affect him down here. The mud under his boots felt perfectly solid.

He landed right in front of the glowing trench and dropped into it. This temple looked completely different from the ones on the coast. The walls were made of polished, dark river stones. Thick patches of bright green kelp glowed softly in the dark.

"Not bad," Rudra muttered, finally pulling his new Abyssal Ironwood Staff off his back. Before he could take another step, the water in front of him started to spin. The current whipped into a violent mini-tornado. Three tall, humanoid figures formed entirely out of fast-moving water. They didn't have faces or weapons. They were just pure, pressurized river currents. [Slipstream Elemental - Lv. 75]"Level 75?" Rudra raised an eyebrow.

"Guess we're skipping the warm-up." The closest elemental lunged forward, throwing a watery punch right at his head. Rudra sidestepped smoothly, gripped his staff with both hands, and swung as hard as he could at the monster's ribs. Splash. The heavy ironwood staff passed cleanly through the elemental's body. There was zero impact. The water just parted around the wood and instantly snapped back together. Before Rudra could pull his weapon back, the elemental's fist slammed into his chest.

It felt like getting hit point-blank with a fire hose. The impact shoved him backward, his boots skidding across the slippery stone floor.

"Okay, that was annoying," Rudra grunted, rubbing his new Epic leather vest.

"Hitting water with a stick. Not my smartest move." The other two elementals glided across the floor, rushing him from both sides. Rudra dodged backward, narrowly avoiding a sweeping kick that sent a blast of pressurized water past his nose. He couldn't just punch them. Brute force was useless here. If I can't break them with a heavy hit, Rudra thought, I just have to mess up their flow. He stopped backing up. As the lead elemental lunged at him again, Rudra didn't swing his staff.

He dropped his left hand and pointed his palm straight at the monster's chest.

"[Minor Tidal Push]!" A sudden, violent burst of pressurized water shot from his hand. It slammed directly into the elemental. Because the monster was made of flowing water, the sudden blast of opposing pressure completely ruined its internal current. The elemental staggered wildly. For a split second, the water slowed down and turned solid, trying to reform its shape.

"Gotcha," Rudra grinned. He gripped his staff tight.

"[Crushing Strike]!" With the monster temporarily solid, the heavy epic-grade staff hit like a truck. CRACK! The impact shattered the elemental's dense core. The monster exploded into a harmless shower of bubbles and normal river water.

"Oh, that is a fun combo," Rudra laughed. He didn't wait for the other two to recover. He dashed forward, sliding smoothly across the wet stone. He fired another [Minor Tidal Push] at the second elemental, staggering it instantly. He followed up with a quick, brutal overhead swing, popping it like a water balloon. The third one tried to retreat, but Rudra was too fast. He closed the gap, blasted it with his left hand, and swatted it away with his right. Within a minute, the hallway was completely clear.

[You have defeated a Slipstream Elemental.] [Experience has been acquired.] Rudra rested his staff on his shoulder and walked over to where the first monster had popped. Sitting on the stone floor was a thick, glowing green leaf. He picked it up. [Item Acquired: Sweet River-Kelp] [A rare, edible kelp that only grows in highly pressurized, mana-rich freshwater. It has a surprisingly sweet, crisp flavor. Can be used in cooking.] Rudra's red eyes lit up behind his mask.

"Sweet kelp?" he muttered, his mouth already starting to water.

"If I dry this out, I could make candied seaweed snacks. Or a really good soup base." He looked down the long, glowing hallway of the temple. Suddenly, the creepy, underwater dungeon didn't look like a dangerous trial at all. It looked like a massive, untapped grocery store.

"Alright, you watery jerks," Rudra smiled, tossing the kelp into his inventory.

"Let's see what else you're hiding."