ushernet Chapter 556 - 546: Skirmish
Chapter 556 - 546: Skirmish
It was the first time in the water, and both Norris and Ming appeared uncomfortable.
Despite being equipped with the ability [Underwater Adaptation] and having Puki nearby for emergency oxygen supply, at the moment when the body was completely submerged, Norris instinctively flailed his limbs wildly, like a startled land animal, thrashing around until he barely managed to control himself and stopped spinning in place.
Ming wasn’t adapted to the feeling of weightlessness in the water.
He was used to exerting force firmly on the ground, but at this moment he felt light all over with nowhere to exert strength, awkwardly trying to stand steadily, but his body was swaying slightingly with the water current.
Little Pig didn’t have these issues. She seemed professionally trained and naturally relaxed after entering the water, swaying her body gently with the rhythm of the currents, moving effortlessly and composedly.
As for Xiao Hai, she was incredibly fast!
Her sharp claws easily hooked into the hard wall, rapidly climbing up like a large cockroach, her pair of wings still able to flap to provide explosive power.
While the others were still adapting to the environment in the room at the rift entrance, Xiao Hai had already turned into a blurry black shadow, "whoosh," rushing into the passage ahead.
About ten seconds later, Xiao Hai returned.
Her claws grasped a hapless Fishman that was constantly twisting and struggling.
The Fishman was clearly terrified by this sudden attack, his bulging fish eyes rounded with pure fear, his mouth releasing a string of panicked bubbles.
"Shell?" Xiao Hai’s eager inquiry sounded from the Fungal Network.
The boss had told her that inside a shell was a shiny thing called a pearl, but she obviously didn’t recognize what a shell was.
"Uh... this is a Fishman, a friend."
Hearing it’s a "friend," Xiao Hai disappointedly released her claws.
The Fishman, having regained its freedom, still frightened, swam away hurriedly, covering his back, marked with white scratches from the claws with one hand, while "gulu gulu" saying something unknown.
This Fishman was originally sent by Wise Man Gugu Lu, to meet Lin Jun’s dispatched team, but didn’t expect to first suffer an undeserved calamity.
However, after a long period of frightened "gulu gulu" complaints, it still swam obediently to the front of the team, taking on the guide’s duties.
Following Norris, Ming, Little Pig, and Xiao Hai, there was also a three hundred member Fungus Castle soldier team.
They were painstakingly selected, most having part aquatic bloodlines, and possessed a certain level of underwater activity ability.
And accompanying them, the Puki proved to be utterly bizarre.
Lin Jun had almost attempted to combine every skill that seemed relevant to underwater environments, concocting a plethora of experimental Puki with varying shapes and functions.
Intending to seize this live-action opportunity, to see which combinations were genuinely practical for subsequent selection and mass production.
Encountered a bit of trouble when passing through the dark path, Jida was a bit too large.
Luckily, Jida was essentially a cluster of Puki, just needed to dismantle along the joints.
A team of this size certainly couldn’t quietly sneak like previous few Puki Fish.
The water flow and movement inevitably attracted unwelcome guests.
Two giant bone-claw wielding shell monsters followed the water flow disturbance and found the team’s rear.
Upon seeing the three Fungus Castle soldiers and dozens of Puki, these two monsters hesitated not a bit, muscle beneath the shell suddenly contracted, swinging their arthropods, initiating a fierce charge!
The soldiers naturally wouldn’t panic due to the attack of two enemies, decisively directed the Puki to retaliate.
Some Puki, fully covered with Rock Armor, stood at the very front.
Though the Rock Armor greatly slowed down Puki’s mobility, it rendered them as stable as a rock in the water, each Puki resembling a stone pillar.
One Rock Armor Puki stood at the forefront, skill activated, an invisible force field spread out.
[Gravity Field Level 6]
A skill that shouldn’t appear underwater.
After all, the original holder of this skill, the Earth Bear, could never end up running into the sea in its lifetime.
The two shell monsters charging aggressively suddenly sank.
They were never known for agility, and under the suddenly doubled gravitational pull, their swimming posture was completely out of control, moving their arthropods futilely, yet uncontrollably falling to the channel bottom.
Aura skills don’t differentiate between friend or foe, even the three Fungus Castle soldiers behind felt their bodies suddenly heavy, had to hold onto the wall to stabilize themselves.
Only those Rock Armor Puki were practically unaffected. Puki themselves have very lightweight, covered with heavy Rock Armor instead providing solid support for their bodies, in a stationary state, [Gravity Field]’s impact on them could be practically ignored.
While the Gravity Puki maintained the aura, other Rock Armor Puki were ready.
The tip of their mycelium tendrils wasn’t ordinary whip blade structuring, instead, one sharp awl after another.
Facing the enemy still struggling to approach under gravitational influence, these awl started to compress inward slowly, reaching the limit then abruptly launching!
Over twenty awls simultaneously burst forth!
The awls of [Sharpness Level 10] easily pierced through the shell monsters’ prized hard shell.
Apart from some missing, each shell monster was pierced by seven to eight tendrils, light blue blood seeped out from the punctured holes, muddying the surrounding seawater.
Awls penetrated through the enemies’ bodies, momentum unabated, directly nailed into the rear stone wall, hanging the two shell monsters up.
One had its head pierced, hitting its vitals, killing it instantly.
The other was pierced through the chest, abdomen, and joints by several awls, for a moment not dead, still frantically struggling and twisting, attempting to shake off the shackles.
Its pair of gigantic pincers swung wildly, trying to sever the mycelium tendrils piercing its body.
However, these were [Resilience LV9] mycelium tendrils, even though its claws wield great force, it takes multiple maximum exertions to wear down a single piece.
And evidently, it doesn’t have this time.
A seemingly ordinary Puki Fish already swam to its side.
Two specialized mycelium tendrils quietly elevated from the cap top, slightly glowing at the end.
[Electric Arc Lv7]
A blinding blue-white electric arc flashed in the water, striking the shell monster’s torso.
The monster’s body instantly became straight as a rod, shell seams vented a string of bubbles, all struggle ceased.
Though the exterior shell showed minimal change, its internal tissue had been charred under the high voltage shock.
However, the matter didn’t end here.
Yet the arc didn’t stop upon striking the shell monster, but automatically linked onto the nearest Rock Armor Puki, then jumped towards the rear!
One stone pillar after another extended mycelium tendrils turned charred black, lost all vitality, broke or drooped lifelessly.
"Ughh!"
Three people simultaneously shocked, hairs pricked up, though relatively distanced, current was weak, not lethal, yet the pain of paralysis and burns they fully experienced.
"Which... idiot... released... electricity..." a soldier shakily squeezed out broken curses in the Fungal Network.
Thus, in the inaugural underwater encounter, the expedition team achieved a remarkable three-for-two combat exchange.
...
Indeed, underwater isn’t suitable for electrical skills, at least requires corresponding insulative or resistant measures.
Lin Jun the team’s advantage lies in extremely rapid information transmission.
Even when leaving the coverage area of the Fungal Mat, members of the Fungal Network at a certain distance can automatically form a temporary "local Fungal Network."
Therefore, Little Pig walking at the very front of the team quickly became aware of the incident at the back.
Under her prompt arrangement, three injured soldiers mistakenly struck were transported back by comrades along the original path, returned to Fungus Castle.
Yet, when this unit transporting the injured returned to the departure point rift room, surprisingly found something never seen before.
It was a band-like object woven from milky-white mycelium, resembling giant seaweed, swaying gently with the flow of water.
On either side of this mycelium seaweed grew clusters of mushrooms emitting a soft pale green fluorescence, in a pitch-black underwater world, like stars attractive to behold.
This led them to overlook that above the water surface floated a layer of algae-like mycelium.
This was Lin Jun experimenting which form is suitable for spreading the Fungal Mat underwater.