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    Zdeska swam through the water. She grabbed onto the giant stems and leaves to pull herself along. Something latched onto one of her wrists and she crushed it without pausing. She emerged into the next air bubble and slapped a songbird out of the air. The other bandits emerged from the water as Zdeska stalked forward. She left most of the monsters for the others to deal with, but she destroyed anything that attacked her directly. There was not much room to hide, even on such a large vine branch, and the group cleared the air bubble quickly. Without discussion, Zdeska plunged into the water again, following the left branch of the vine.


    The distance to the next air bubble was slightly longer. Zdeska frowned as one of the bandits emerged from the water dragging another who was choking and coughing up water. "Pathetic." She said. The bandit queen crossed the vine, crushing monsters as she went. The next left branch of the vine didn''t have an air bubble, it just drifted in the water. The group followed the branching vine, returning back to take the next path each time they reached the end of a branch with no air bubble. On the fifth terminal branch, the group ran into some blue bats.


    Zdeska stepped out into the water. She saw there was no further air bubble and nearly turned back, but she saw something hanging in the water a little ways past the end of the branch. Several jets of water shoved her to the side into open water. She oriented herself towards her attackers and pushed back towards the branch. She arrived in time to push the thin bandit back into the air bubble and out of the way of the next batch of water jets. Zdeska held onto a leaf stem to resist the push of water, then launched herself towards the source of the water jets. A handful of larger-than-average blue bats scattered as Zdeska snapped a leg out to create her own water jet.


    To Zdeska''s surprise, the bats regrouped and circled around her. She turned to keep them in sight and only sensed the threat behind her at the last moment. Something large streaked past as she yanked her head to the side. A few strands of hair and a drop of blood were carried along in the wake of something fast and blue. It turned and Zdeska got a clear look at it. A blue scaled bat, as large as a small dog, with bladed wings and eyes that glowed with white fire.


    Distracted again, Zdeska growled as the group of smaller bats hit her with a third water jet blast. The mana in the blast scraped uncomfortably against her skin, but it was not powerful enough to cause her any harm. She swam and kicked against the current to get back to the relative shelter of the giant vine branch. The larger bat reached her before she reached the branch. A more powerful water jet pushed her up away from the branch and the air bubble. A second group of small bats was waiting above the air bubble and blasted her even further out into open water.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Zdeska pushed against the water to shed her momentum, then flexed her will. A screen of bubbles hid her from the bats as a vortex of water formed around her. Water swirled towards her and twin jets of water stabbed out above and below her. A few of the bats were pulled into the vortex. Their little bodies were crushed and shredded as they fell towards the center and were ejected in the top and bottom jets. Zdeska was about to drop the skill for something more offensive when hot pain flashed up the side of her leg. Red blood colored the twin water jets. Zdeska didn''t see what had hit her or how it had avoided the crush of the vortex. She grit her teeth against unfamiliar pain as something cut across her back. On the third strike, Zdeska saw the larger bat dive past her face to cut the front of her hip. Unbelieving, Zdeska extrapolated its path in her mind. The bat must have skimmed the outer edge of the jets and threaded between the jets and the inner edge of the vortex. Nothing had managed to get through her Crushing vortex before without suffering some damage, but this bat could apparently do so with impunity. Regardless of how it happened, Zdeska could now anticipate where the bat would enter for the next attack. She caught it with both hands as it tried to cut her neck open.


    Before Zdeska could rip the monster in half, its eyes flashed and its body ignited with white fire. Zdeska screamed and released the bat. Her vortex collapsed. Without air in her lungs, her time before drowning was greatly reduced. The blue bat swam away to create some distance before the white fire went out. Zdeska clenched her fists against the pain, but her mouth turned up into a wicked grin as she saw that the bat had not crossed through her Crushing vortex unharmed. Blue scales glittered in the water around her and blue blood drifted off the bat from several places.


    A group of red jellyfish drifted out from below the closest air bubble. Zdeska noted that they were being herded by more of the smaller bats but didn''t bother worrying about it. At the speed it was going, she would either escape or drown before it reached her. Zdeska aimed her palms and flexed her will to send a Mana lance towards the boss monster. The bat responded with a mana-infused water jet and the two streams collided in a burst of sparks and bubbles. Zdeska pushed hard against the water, aiming straight for the air bubble.


    A terrible sound disrupted her ability to swim. She felt as though her bones would shake apart and her eyes would burst. Stunned, she drifted in the water for two heartbeats before regaining control of her body. The boss bat sliced through the water towards her, clearly expecting the stun to last longer. Zdeska threw a punch that connected with the shoulder join of the bat''s left wing. The bat squeaked loudly, startling Zdeska into bracing against another sonic attack and ruining her follow through, but the bat swam away, struggling to use its left wing. The bat headed for the air bubble and Zdeska followed.