Chương 35

Rudra tossed the glowing green kelp into his inventory. He jogged down the dark, polished stone hallway of the 11th Temple, whistling a terrible, off-key tune. He was in a fantastic mood. His heavy brown cloak was completely dry, the underwater air felt crisp in his lungs, and his inventory was slowly filling up with high-grade, edible seaweed.

"If there are any giant freshwater shrimp down here," Rudra muttered to himself, "I am going to build a house on this riverbank." Before the hallway opened up into the next room, he decided to do a quick check. He swiped his hand through the cool air.

"Status window." Status Window [Name]: Rudra [Level]: 60 [Class]: Apprentice Staffman [Titles]: [Forerunner of the Twin Paths] + 3 [Health]: 3, 450 / 3, 450 | [Mana]: 1, 180 / 1, 180 [Strength]: 253 | [Stamina]: 253 [Agility]: 256 | [Intelligence]: 221 [Persistence]: 192 | [Dexterity]: 145 [Stat Points]: 0 Rudra stared at the blue panel and smiled behind his leather mask.

Hiking across the continent for the last few days grinding stats through training had totally paid off especially with the effects of [Forerunner of the Twin Paths] title. Add in the permanent stats from cooking forest boars every night by the campfire, and his numbers were looking incredibly solid.

"All that walking was definitely worth it," he said, swiping the window away. As the corridor opened up into a wider, sunken courtyard, the water currents instantly grew violent. A dozen swirling vortexes formed along the stone floor. Six more Slipstream Elementals rose from the rushing water. Along with them came something new: three massive, jagged turtles made entirely of compressed water and smooth river rocks. [Slipstream Elemental - Lv. 75] [River-Bed Jet Turtle - Lv. 77]"Okay, a bit crowded," Rudra noted, spinning his Epic-grade staff.

"Let's make this quick." The elementals didn't charge him this time. Instead, they raised their watery arms and fired high-pressure liquid bullets straight at his chest. He didn't even use a defensive skill. He just casually tilted his head, stepped lightly to the right, and swayed his hips. The water bullets whizzed past his ears and splashed harmlessly against the stone wall behind him.

"I'm fast as fuck boi," Rudra laughed, his voice echoing in the dry underwater bubble. He kicked off the stone floor, his boots launching him forward like a cannonball. He closed the fifty-foot gap in the blink of an eye. He dropped his left hand, ready to fire off [Minor Tidal Push] to stagger the nearest elemental, but he stopped himself. He quickly glanced at his mana bar. Wait a minute, Rudra thought, skidding to a halt right in front of the monsters. Using that spell costs fifteen mana.

If I use it to stagger every single monster in this dungeon, I'm going to run completely dry before I even reach the boss. The elementals didn't care about his internal math. Two of them lunged at him, throwing heavy watery punches. Rudra ducked under the first punch and casually swatted the second one away with the blunt end of his staff. His weapon passed right through the water harmlessly.

"I need a cheaper way to mess up your currents," Rudra grumbled, easily dodging a snapping bite from one of the Jet Turtles.

"Something that doesn't burn my mana." He looked at his heavy Abyssal Ironwood Staff. Then he looked at the violently swirling water making up the elementals' bodies. If they are just flowing water, Rudra thought, a wild grin spreading across his face, then I just need to act like a blender. He didn't use a skill. He planted his feet firmly on the riverbed and gripped the exact center of his staff with his right hand. Tapping into his high Dexterity and Agility, he spun the staff in front of him.

He didn't swing it at the monsters; he just twirled it like a baton. But he spun it incredibly fast. The heavy ironwood blurred into a dark grey circle. Because he was underwater, the insanely fast spinning motion caught the surrounding water. It created a violent, localized whirlpool right in front of him. The two elementals that were trying to punch him suddenly lost their shape. The whirlpool hijacked their internal currents, sucking their watery bodies into the chaotic spin.

They staggered wildly, entirely losing their solid forms.

"Oh, that is brilliant!" Rudra cheered. He didn't waste the opening. While they were staggered by pure physical momentum, he gripped the staff with both hands to stop the spin and brought it crashing down. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"[Crushing Strike]!" CRACK! His Epic staff smashed through their destabilized cores. Both elementals exploded into harmless bubbles. Zero mana spent for the setup.

"Who's next?" he grinned, looking at the remaining monsters. The three Jet Turtles suddenly tucked into their rocky shells. Jets of pressurized water blasted from the back of their shells, rocketing them across the courtyard directly at Rudra's shins like massive, heavy bowling balls. Rudra didn't panic. He waited until the exact last second, tapped into his crazy speed, and cleanly jumped over the first turtle. While he was in the air, he brought his staff down like a golf club. He didn't use a skill.

He just used his raw Strength. The heavy ironwood slammed into the back of the turtle's shell, completely throwing off its trajectory and sending it crashing wildly into a stone pillar. He landed smoothly on his feet, immediately spinning his staff again to create another localized vortex. It caught the remaining elementals, ripping their watery forms apart just enough for him to crush them with standard, heavy swings. Within three minutes, the courtyard was totally silent.

Piles of smooth river rocks and glowing green kelp littered the floor. Rudra rested his staff on his shoulder, barely even out of breath.

"High stats are great," Rudra laughed, walking over to pick up his groceries.

"But finding cheap loopholes is definitely better." Rudra finished sweeping the courtyard floor, tossing the smooth river rocks and handfuls of sweet kelp into his inventory. He even managed to carve a few thick slabs of meat off the Jet Turtles before they turned to ash.

"Turtle soup could be good," he mumbled, wiping his carving knife on his pants.

"I just need some wild onions." He swung his heavy ironwood staff over his shoulder and marched toward the massive, dark stone doors at the back of the courtyard. The water here was freezing, but with his high stats and Asterion's Blessing, it just felt like a cool breeze. He pushed his hands against the heavy doors. They groaned loudly, scraping across the stone floor as they opened. The final room was a massive, dome-shaped cavern.

A faint shaft of actual sunlight filtered down from a tiny crack in the ceiling high above, illuminating a raised stone altar in the back. But Rudra wasn't looking at the altar. Resting right in the middle of the room, casually chewing on a massive pile of glowing green kelp, was a monster straight out of his wildest culinary dreams. It was fifteen feet long, covered in thick blue-and-orange armor plating, and had two massive, tightly coiled front claws. [Armored River-Mantis Shrimp - Lv. 80 Boss] Rudra stopped walking. He slowly lowered his staff, his eyes completely wide behind his dark leather mask.

"No freaking way," Rudra whispered, his stomach giving a violent, excited rumble.

"I was just joking earlier. The system actually listened to me." The giant shrimp noticed him. It dropped its kelp, clicked its mandibles aggressively, and locked its bulbous black eyes on the intruder.

"Don't look at me like that," Rudra grinned, gripping his staff with both hands.

"You're the one made of premium seafood." The shrimp didn't waste time. It completely ignored the water resistance, lunging forward with terrifying speed. It uncoiled its right claw, snapping it forward like a loaded spring. Rudra stepped to the side, easily dodging the physical claw. But he completely forgot how mantis shrimps actually fought. The claw missed him, but the sheer speed of the punch created a highly pressurized underwater shockwave. It exploded right next to Rudra's head like a shotgun blast. BOOM.

The shockwave slammed into Rudra's side. He was thrown off his feet, tumbling backward through the water and crashing hard into a stone pillar. [-310 HP] Rudra coughed, rubbing his ribs as he stood back up. His Epic-grade leather vest absorbed most of the blunt force, but it still hurt.

"Okay, you're strong," Rudra complained.

"But you're still going in the frying pan." The boss scuttled sideways, winding up both of its massive claws for a double punch. Rudra didn't wait for the shockwaves. He dropped his left hand and pointed his palm at the stone floor behind him.

"[Minor Tidal Push]!" The blast of water propelled him violently forward. He used the recoil to shoot right under the shrimp's double punch. The twin shockwaves exploded above his head, violently shaking the cavern, but Rudra was already in the boss's blind spot. He didn't swing at the thick armor plating on its back. He jammed the blunt end of his heavy oak staff right into the soft, unarmored joint behind its left leg. The shrimp shrieked, buckling slightly. It wildly bucked its body, trying to throw him off.

Rudra just laughed. He treated the fight like a messy bar brawl. He grabbed onto the edge of the monster's shell with his free hand, hauled himself up onto its back, and locked his boots against the slippery armor. The shrimp panicked. It wildly snapped its claws backward, trying to punch him off its own back.

"[Iron Guard]!" Rudra raised his staff, bracing it with both hands. The heavy claw smashed into the ironwood. The skill absorbed the massive impact, keeping Rudra perfectly anchored to the shell.

"Stay still!" Rudra yelled. Using the momentum from the blocked punch, he spun his staff around, raised it high over his head, and brought it down with everything he had.

"[Crushing Strike]!" The heavy Abyssal Ironwood Staff smashed directly into the gap between the shrimp's neck and its main body armor. The sheer blunt force cracked the shell wide open. The boss let out one final, bubbly shriek before its legs gave out. It collapsed onto the riverbed, entirely motionless, before slowly turning into a pile of grey ash. [You have defeated the Armored River-Mantis Shrimp.] [The dungeon has been cleared!] [Experience has been acquired.] Rudra completely ignored the system messages.

He immediately dropped to his knees and started digging through the ash pile. He pulled out two massive, pristine chunks of white, tender meat. [Item Acquired: Premium Mantis Shrimp Tail Meat x2]"Oh, it's beautiful," Rudra practically cried, hugging the giant slabs of meat to his chest before carefully storing them in his inventory.

"I am going to deep-fry you so hard." With his main priority handled, he finally looked toward the back of the room. The stone altar of Asterion was glowing with a calm, blue light. Rudra walked up the steps and placed his hands flat on the cold stone. A golden system prompt descended in front of him. [The Hidden Quest 'The Legacy of the Submerged God' has been updated!] [Progress: 11 / 113 Temples Cleared] Sitting right in the center of the altar was a familiar, tightly rolled piece of weathered parchment.

It pulsed with a faint, old magic. [Item Acquired: Forgotten Skill Fragment (Parchment) x1] Rudra grabbed the fragment and tossed it into his inventory. That brought his total back up to six fragments. He was officially halfway to unlocking another Unique-tier skill, which was a nice bonus on top of the giant shrimp. His stomach let out a long, demanding growl.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Rudra sighed, patting his belly. He looked up toward the crack in the ceiling. The sunlight was starting to fade. It was probably late afternoon up on the surface.

"Time to leave the river," Rudra muttered, stretching his arms.

"This shrimp isn't going to cook itself." He turned his back on the glowing altar and happily jogged out of the temple, already planning his dinner menu.