Orion''s body fell rapidly toward the seafloor.


    He watched as the head of the giant eel approached him, and right before it ate him, Orion warped back to the ground.


    The eel turned around frantically while pulling its long body with it. When it looked down, it noticed Orion and one again lunged at him.


    ''You won''t get me like this.''


    He smiled and turned around. Using the power of the Fourth Gear, Orion began to rush away at an incredible speed.


    The eel turned, inches from the seafloor, and pursued him at a slightly faster speed.


    ''Follow me, stupid fish.''


    He turned around, jumped, and fired another bolt.


    With its big eye always opened, the giant easily avoided it and gulped Orion.


    "You''ve missed me."


    Its red eye moved to the right and saw Orion run away from it. In its mind, it was questioning what was happening, as it was certain to have eaten the man.


    Nevertheless, it kept the chase on. Orion pulled the giant away from the abyss, into a more open and less dangerous area.


    After running a kilometer away from the slope, he stopped. The eel looked very angry, as this running man was the first to escape its doom until now.


    It lunged one last time at Orion and stuck its head into the sand, destroying rocks at the same time.


    *BOOM*


    Sand flew in every direction, with pieces of stones slowly falling down into the water. Orion warped once again and looked around him.


    ''This place seems right enough. Olivia and Senia should have followed closely too, so let''s start.''


    Covered in a white light, Orion aimed Alcyone at the end of its body. He fired a bolt that pierced the tail and stayed strongly plunged in its flesh.


    This was the indication for the two that remained hidden until now.


    The giant removed its head from the sand and looked at Orion. It completely ignored the arrow stuck in its tail, and probably didn''t even realize it had been attacked.


    ''Does it not feel pain?''


    Orion fired another bolt straight at its face. Seeing the bright white bolt flying toward it, the eel opened its mouth wide and gulped the arrow.


    *Crunch*


    From inside the giant, a loud crunching sound echoed, as if it had another mouth somewhere inside.


    "Disgusting. Miasma sure has fun creating monstrosities."


    With a frown, Orion waited for the eel''s next move. A second later, it turned away and made some distance with him.


    Its body formed a spring under its head, and did the same as Orion. It waited.


    ''This creature''s smarter than I was expecting. I thought it would be mindless like other beasts, but it''s definitely not the case.''


    ''We need to be careful...''


    *VRRRR*


    The first one to move ended up being the giant corrupted. A whirling sphere of water formed above its head that gradually grew in size. It pulled large amounts of the surrounding water into it, before being thrown at him.


    ''Something like this...''


    Orion aimed at the sphere with both hands on Alcyone, and pulled the trigger.


    The next bolt flew into the sphere and destroyed it. Not only did it broke the attack, it also flew straight toward the eel. The bolt lodged itself into the side of the eel that writhed under it.


    As expected, it felt no pain at all, and even ignored it.


    Noticing something interesting, Orion watched with caution.


    ''It''s not protecting its body at all. The only moments it dodged or swallowed my bolt was when I aimed at its head. Particularly its eye.''


    ''Seems like we''ve got a weakness. Now, how am I going to make the most out of it?''


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Just then, a jet of water came out of the right of the giant. It ripped parts of its flesh and moved above it, cutting even more flesh as it moved toward its left.


    The eel''s massive red eye followed the jet closely, and moved only when it approached its head, making it even more obvious that its head was its weak point.


    Senia, who suddenly attacked the giant, returned to the shadows and hid herself.


    Then, from under it, many spikes made of water erupted from the ground and pierced parts of the giant''s body. The water rapidly mixed with the seawater, but not before making the enemy bleed.


    Right after Senia, Olivia attacked out of sight, making it look like only Orion was attacking it.


    Yet, still no reaction from the eel. It watched the spikes pierced parts of its tail with a disinterested look.


    Orion took advantage of its inattention and jumped, before firing toward its eye.


    *FUSH*


    The beast looked frantically toward the bright bolt and writhed its body backward, before swimming around it and lunging at the source of the attack.


    He was about to take this chance to fire at its eye while it approached, but couldn''t. Because of its high perception of the eel''s movement thanks to the ''Calm Analysis'' ability, Orion noticed a little change that ticked him off.


    Small bubbles formed around the beast''s mouth as it began to open.


    ''Bubbles?''


    Right before making contact with Orion, the bubble formed a large, teeth-like trap that closed instantly on him.


    "Shit!"


    Reacting a little too late, Orion barely warped away from being bitten by the two closing jaws.


    The warp was a little too sudden, as it forced him to rapidly transfer where he could see. He slid on the seafloor and glared at the eel.


    It turned and once again followed him, but this time, it swam above Orion and continued.


    ''What is it doing now-''


    *BAM*


    Orion protected his body before being suddenly smacked by the tail of the giant, which made him fly a few meters above ground.


    The eel turned around and returned for a bite now that its prey had been brought in a perfect spot. Its movement created rough current that made it difficult for Orion to stay stable.


    Battered by the current, Orion warped once again.


    *CLACK*


    The sound of teeth hitting echoed in the water, before the assault continued.


    Without waiting, Orion fired five bolts that pierced the giant''s underside, and ran to the left to avoid being swiped again by the tail.


    As he avoided the tail, a sphere of swirling water appeared above him and crashed where he was.


    *Slide*


    The giant corrupted wasn''t letting a single breathing moment for Orion. He slid under the sphere before it crashed and used the shockwave to force some distance between him and his target.


    When he turned around, he quickly scanned his enemy.


    ''This is intense... Being the target of a corrupted giant is no joke. I''m glad Olivia and Senia remained as support.''


    ''I need to be more aggressive. We won''t be able to deal enough damage to it if I stay on the defensive forever.''


    As he prepared himself to face the eel once again, both Senia and Olivia were relentlessly attacking the beast.


    Staying out of its sight, they punctured and sliced parts of its body again and again. The corrupted seemed too focused on Orion to care about the small attacks directed at it.


    ''We have to cut off its head.''


    He wanted to tell his friends, but he couldn''t, so he fired a volley of bolts toward the eye.


    The attacks stopped, and they watched as the eel writhed around the bolts to avoid being hit. It mocked Orion''s attempts by lunging at him, making the fight start again.


    On the other side, Senia joined Olivia.


    "Did you see?"


    Senia swam in a circle around Olivia while keeping an eye on Orion''s state.


    "I did. Orion made sure we would understand."


    "If that monster hadn''t moved its head out of the way, I wouldn''t have understood. He sure is smart."


    They both nodded.


    "We''ll focus on its head from now on."


    "Yes!"


    While pushing on her tail to rapidly swim away, Senia returned to the assault, while Olivia thought of ways to bring this massive corrupted down.


    ...


    The fight had been going on for more than half-an-hour by now.


    Orion dodged, fired at the eyes, and warped around. Olivia launched various attacks at the eel''s head, and Senia fired a jet of cutting water in order to decapitate it.


    Sadly, none of it worked.


    It avoided every attack fired at its head swiftly, and even if they landed near the base of its head, this area was the toughest to puncture. It was the toughest corrupted Orion faced so far, and it kept on making it harder for him.


    What was fortunate was that Orion hadn''t sustained any injuries, and that his angel form was still holding fine. He wasn''t tired and was completely focused on his enemy, not letting its faints and hail of attacks take him by surprise anymore.


    The other fortunate happening was Senia and Olivia still being undiscovered, but this was about to change.


    As Orion dodged a tail swipe by bending his body backward, Senia attacked from above.


    ''Wait!''


    Orion noticed her, but the corrupted also did. Its red eye, who was focused on Orion until now, ended up falling on Senia.


    -ROOOOAR-


    An ear-piercing roar made her froze on the spot as she was attacking. The eel sprung backward, and like a spring, launched itself toward the siren.


    "Ah-"


    The giant jaws of the corrupted opened, with Senia too shaken up to react in time.


    "Forget about it!"


    A warping sound and a bright light forced her to look at her right side, and there, she saw Orion with a terrible expression on his face.


    He had warped next to the eel, and punched it with everything he had in himself.


    *Boom*


    Under the ocean, a very faint shockwave traveled from the shock.


    "Fuck... off!"


    Orion focused everything in his arm, activating the second Arm Lock at the same time.


    The red eel''s bloodshot eye glared as Orion felt for the first time ''pain''.


    *BOOOOOOM*


    Using all of his strength, Orion pushed the giant with a shockwave that brought forth a small tsunami above sea level.


    Senia watched the giant get thrown a hundred meters away, unable to stop itself. She looked at Orion, who looked unscathed, even after punching such a creature.


    His body began to fall toward the ground, but he warped near the seafloor before that.


    Now that she was out of danger, Senia hurriedly swam away and hid herself.


    ''I''ve messed up! It''s going to be harder to hid now...''


    -ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR-


    A roar similar to the one the giant released when Senia saved the kelpies echoed in the sea. It also reached the shores of Noctelagia and even the shores of the continent next to Triazils, bringing panic to its citizens.


    Orion smiled and looked at his left arm, used to punch the giant corrupted.


    "I should have known it wouldn''t be enough."


    Angered, the eel returned faster and eager to kill him. Now that it had tasted true pain, it was about to go serious.


    It was no more a fight to kill a prey.


    It became a fight to survive.