novelraw Chapter 97: Died
Chapter 97: Died
"That thing is going to kill us all!"
The scream broke the mounting tension, filled with genuine fear, not just a simple warning.
However, Adam ignored it completely; his gaze was fixed on the monster, which, based on its rank, appeared to be a Level III... but he wasn’t sure of that because the mana it emitted was too chaotic to be certain.
It didn’t fit. It didn’t follow the normal rules.
The creature moved again. It didn’t attack immediately this time.
That delay... was worse than a direct attack.
Its enormous body slid onto the shore, dragging thick, dark water with it, while its many eyes remained fixed on Adam, neither blinking nor looking away, as if nothing else caught its attention.
Adam frowned; that... wasn’t the behavior of a monster; it seemed like something different, or something worse.
There was no impulsiveness in its movements, nor immediate aggression... just a heavy, conscious presence.
Even so, he held the rod steady as the Rainbow Fish continued to pull hard; the tension on the line remained constant.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the mercenaries trying to regroup. His attention was completely focused on that precise, subtle sensation... the right tug.
He wasn’t ignoring the danger... he was gauging it.
The creature took another step forward.
The movement was slow... but heavy.
The ground gave way under his weight and cracked into deep fissures that spread all the way to the mercenaries’ feet. One of them tried to step back, but it was too late; his boot got caught in the cracks, and panic spread across his face.
"Get me out of here...!"
The scream was heart-wrenching, filled with pure panic.
He couldn’t finish his sentence because of a tentacle whipping out at an absurd speed, which exploded his body as if it were a rotten apple.
The impact was instantaneous... flesh, bone, and blood scattered in a single moment, leaving no time to react.
Claire clenched her teeth, her eyes scanning the battlefield for a way to contain the situation, but with every passing second, she was forced to face the same conclusion: they couldn’t win.
It wasn’t a matter of strategy... it was a vast power disparity.
"Retreat! Don’t let them close in!"
Her voice was firm, cutting through the chaos with clarity.
The mercenaries began to scatter, not fleeing, but breaking formation, seeking angles, distance... survival.
Synes wore a small smile as she watched. Her expression showed no fear... only interest.
It wasn’t a typical reaction to something like that... it was genuine curiosity.
"Strange..."
She murmured, tilting her head slightly, her eyes following both the creature and Adam.
Her attention wasn’t divided... she was comparing.
As if she were seeing something others couldn’t.
Something that didn’t quite add up yet.
"It’s not attacking you..."
The monster, despite having multiple eyes fixed on Adam, didn’t attack him... but instead circled him, as if it wanted to keep its distance, which was strange.
It wasn’t fear... it was caution.
Adam narrowed his eyes and began reeling in the rod as the line tightened even more than before, causing several veins to bulge in his arms.
The effort was no small feat... but he didn’t hesitate either.
The water reacted immediately, but not like before; it wasn’t an explosion, nor a violent rupture, but a deeper, more concentrated disturbance, as if something beneath had been forced to respond.
As if whatever lay at the bottom... wasn’t passive.
The lake... stirred.
It wasn’t a superficial movement, but something deeper, as if the disturbance were coming from the bottom itself.
The monster that had been advancing stopped, and its many eyes trembled; there was a slight change, for the first time since it emerged from the multicolored lake.
Its body, which had previously advanced with confidence, now seemed to hesitate... or react.
Claire noticed it too.
The difference was too obvious to ignore.
"...What’s happening?"
Her voice wasn’t one of panic... it was one of incomprehension.
Adam didn’t answer; he clenched his teeth and began to stomp even harder as he channeled his mana throughout his body.
He had no time for explanations... only for action.
The ground beneath his feet gave way, sinking slightly and pulling him toward the lake. He could hardly believe that coming out fishing would land him in such a predicament.
The water began to swirl, forming a small eddy right where the fishing line disappeared into the depths. The colors reappeared, but this time they weren’t soft or beautiful... they were intense, unstable, as if they were being forcibly torn from something deeper.
As if something... were responding from below.
"Back up further..."
Adam finally spoke, without taking his eyes off the lake.
Claire hesitated for just a second... and then shouted:
"EVERYONE BACK!"
The mercenaries obeyed and quickly backed away; they didn’t hesitate for a single second.
Their instincts screamed that staying... meant certain death.
The surface collapsed inward.
Not like a wave... but as if something had been pulled away from below.
And then, this time, the fish emerged, but it wasn’t small; yet it wasn’t fragile or merely beautiful.
It didn’t fit into any category they knew.
Its body didn’t swim.
It didn’t need to.
It simply existed.
With a presence that could not be ignored.
The colors weren’t moving across him... they were emerging from him, spreading out in patterns that defied all natural logic, reflecting fragments of something that didn’t belong there... or in this world.
As if what they were seeing... were only a part of it.
Adam pulled with all his might.
The water exploded upward, not as a chaotic mass, but as if something invisible had been torn from its place, shattering a structure no one could see.
Something that... should never have been disturbed.
The fish leaped completely out of the lake.
It didn’t emerge as a creature... it appeared as something that had always been there, waiting.
And in that instant...
Everything stopped.
It wasn’t a sensation... it was an imposition.
The monster froze, its many eyes lost focus, and its body began to crumble.
Not in flesh, but in form, as if it had never been a complete entity. As if its existence depended on something that had just vanished.
Claire took a step back, unable to look away.
"...What... is that?"
The question wasn’t seeking an answer... it was seeking meaning.
Adam held the rod.
The fish hung there.
Moving slowly.
Illuminating everything.
The light wasn’t warm... it was revealing.
"That."
He said calmly,
Without looking away.
"It’s the only thing that’s real in this lake."
Synes laughed softly. As if she had confirmed something she had already suspected.
"How interesting..."
The creature’s body collapsed completely, dissolving into the water, as if it had never existed, as if it had all been an illusion... or a defense mechanism.
It left no trace.
The lake returned to calm.
Too quickly... as if nothing had happened.
The mercenaries who had "died" lay unconscious in the grass, fast asleep, but with their eyes wide open.
Trapped in something they still didn’t understand.
It was as if everything they had seen was nothing more than an illusion.
But not just a simple illusion... but something that had replaced reality itself for a moment.
Claire looked at Adam; disbelief was evident in her eyes. Not just because of what had happened... but because of how he had handled it.
"Did you know this was going to happen?"
The question carried more weight than it appeared to.
"Of course not."
But noticing Claire’s look, Adam assumed she hadn’t believed him, despite his having been completely honest, and he didn’t feel like explaining it either.
It wasn’t worth clarifying... it wouldn’t change anything.
"Let’s go back; it’s time to return and save their leader."
And with that, he brought the subject to a close, as if what had happened were just one more step in something much bigger.
....
After two and a half hours, they returned to the place where the nameless bar was located. Upon entering, Adam noticed that the atmosphere remained exactly the same: noise and the strong smell of beer.
Nothing had changed in appearance; the tables were still occupied, the mugs clattered against the wood, and the air was thick with that heavy atmosphere that defined the place.
But with their arrival, all the noise vanished as if something had stolen it away; it wasn’t the time to think about that, and he could sense it in Claire.
The voices died down one by one, and eyes fixed on them with a mixture of tension, curiosity... and something else harder to define.
"All right, let’s go take out their leader."
Adam didn’t stop; he headed straight for the stairs, setting the pace without leaving any room for doubt.
The creaking of the wood beneath their footsteps broke the silence as they climbed, with several pairs of eyes following them until they were out of sight.
The contrast was immediate.
The second floor welcomed them back with that uncomfortable, clean, almost clinical silence compared to the chaos below.