The night stretched long and heavy in the infirmary. Distant cannon fire cracked through the darkness every minute or so, each shot punctuated by the guttural screams and roars of dying leviathans—but Marisol heeded the doctor’s orders and stayed put, sitting cross-legged on her bed as she wiped her mouth and tossed the last marbled crayfish claw away.

  It was now eight in the morning. Sunrise. She’d barely slept through the night. Maybe she got a bit of shut-eye here and there, but between the non-stop ripping, eating, and swallowing, neither she nor Reina got more than a few good hours of sleep.

  Now, she felt bloated. Achy. And undeniably victorious. The remains of the Mutant-Classes lay scattered at the foot of her bed like the aftermath of a grotesque feast. The chitin had been the worst part—the texture was like chewing on splintered glass wrapped in rubber—but she’d forced herself through it. Every bite had been a battle of sheer will, but she didn’t care. Points were points, and she needed every last one she could get. She’d even eaten a few Giant-Class crustaceans the Guards and Imperators brought into the infirmary in the middle of the night, because here, at least the bathroom was very close in case she needed to vomit.

  But she didn’t vomit. Not even once. She felt like it now, but with the rising sun throwing a bit of warmth into the infirmary through the high windows, she was sure she’d feel better in no time.

  [Name: Marisol Vellamira]

  [Grade: D-Rank Mutant-Class]

  [Class: Water Strider]

  [Swarmblood Art: Charge Glaives]

  [Aura: 7,627]

  [Points: 1,002]

  [Strength: 7, Speed: 9, Toughness: 6 (+1), Dexterity: 6, Perception: 6 (+1)]

  [// MUTATION TREE]

  [T1 Mutation | Striding Glaives Lvl: 6]

  [T2 Mutations | Filtrating Gills Lvl: 6 | Repelling Hydrospines Lvl: 7]

  [T3 Mutations | Laminar Apiclaws Lvl: 5 | Streamlined Wings Lvl: 5 | Basic Setae Lvl: 2]

  [T4 Mutations | Spraying Discharge Lvl: 5 | Basic Sonar Lvl: 4 | Basic Underchitin Lvl: 4 | Basic Chitin Lvl: 4]

  [T5 Mutations | Surfactant Domain | Basic Vision | Rapid Rehydration | Segmented Flexion | Hydrokinetic Redirection] 1000P

  [// EQUIPPED SYMBIOSTEEL]

  [Ghost Crab Scarf (Grade: F-Rank)(Tou: +1/1)(Aura: -200]

  [Remipede Earrings (Grade: F-Rank)(Per: +1/1)(Aura: -100)]

  … And now I have enough for one tier five mutation.

  While the infirmary had quieted down over the night, the frantic chaos was starting to kick back up again. Medics bustled around, their faces drawn and exhausted, tending to the rows of injured Guards and Imperators who were starting to wake up and groan in pain. Marisol wasn’t stupid. She knew there were going to be more injured people stumbling into the infirmary today, so damn if two of the very few beds were taken up by her and Reina. They were well-enough to stand already.

  Marisol had to pick a mutation to unlock, and fast.

  [All five tier five mutations are rather powerful, but if it is recovery speed and stamina you want, then ‘Rapid Rehydration’ would be the mutation to pick,] the Archive murmured. [As the name suggests, the mutation would allow your skin to passively rehydrate and absorb water, which means—]

  Unlock ‘Rapid Rehydration’.

  [T5 Core Mutation Unlocked: Rapid Rehydration Lvl: 1]

  [Brief Description: You have evolved tiny pores across your skin that allow you to passively absorb moisture from the air, keeping you constantly refreshed and boosting your stamina regeneration. Subsequent levels in this mutation will further increase your absorption rate, and at maximum level, you will no longer need to drink water unless you require immediate rehydration. There are no branch mutation options for this mutation]

  [Aura: 7,627 → 8,627]

  [Points: 1,002 → 2]

  [Grade: D-Rank Mutant-Class → C-Rank Mutant-Class]

  A faint warmth spread through her chest, then faded, leaving her feeling… lighter. Fresher. Like she’d just taken a deep breath of clean air after being suffocated.

  It wasn’t very humid inside the infirmary, but it was snowing outside. If Marisol were to skate outside right now, she’d no doubt be able to feel the effects of her new mutation, so she sat up straight, rolled her shoulders, and swung her glaives off the bed. Just facing the entrance lifted the heaviness in her limbs and dulled the aches in her stomach to a manageable throb. The overstuffed feeling hadn’t disappeared entirely, but… it no longer felt like it was dragging her down.

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  Perfect.

  So this mutation just makes me feel refreshed all the time.

  As she curled her fingers and touched her sides lightly, checking to see if her ribs were still broken—they weren’t—Reina sat up straight next to her as well, watching her with a raised brow.

  “Did you unlock a new mutation?” Reina asked.

  “Do I look different?” she said, turning her arms around and trying to see if her ‘pores’ were visible anywhere. “I unlocked something called ‘Rapid Rehydration’. Supposedly, I ain’t gotta drink water anymore, and it increased my aura by quite a bit.”

  “I feel it.”

  “You feel it?”

  Reina nodded. Marisol was curious. She wasn’t sure what her own aura felt like from another person’s perspective, but before she could ask Reina about it, footsteps shuffling from the front of their beds caught their attention.

  Claudia rubbed her eyes groggily as she walked between the two of their beds, her shrimp antennae twitching faintly, swaying in the cool morning wind blowing into the infirmary.

  "... Good to see ye’ve made a right mess of yer little area.” Her tone was brisk, cutting through the fatigue still weighing on Marisol as she scowled at the remains of the Mutant-Class carcasses. Marisol rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Whatever. I’ll ask someone else to clean up for ye. Andres and the others are at Lighthouse Seven, so head up there and meet with them."

  Reina frowned, tilting her head. "Are you not coming with us?”

  Claudia’s face softened, though her tone remained firm. "Someone’s gotta keep this place runnin’. My medics are stretched thin, and the wounded keep comin’, so I’ll join y’all once the infirmary is stabilised. Until then, yer gonna have to go without me."

  Marisol pressed her glaives into the floor, testing her strength and balance. The soreness in her muscles all over was gone, replaced by a renewed energy—a healthy combination of rapid rehydration making her feel refreshed and Claudia’s healing blood in her veins, most likely. She stood up and felt more solid than ever.

  “Your Swarmblood Art’s incredible,” she mumbled, glancing Claudia’s way as Reina also slid off her bed, wrapping her scorpion tail around her waist like a sash. “As long as I get to you while the wounds are still fresh, you can heal me?”

  “Don’t depend on it,” Claudia said curtly. “I’d rather not see anyone in my infirmary ever again.”

  Marisol shrugged. Then she made her way to the entrance with Reina, quite impatient to get out into the city again. The morning air was far cooler than it’d been last night. Snowflakes drifted lazily from the clear blue sky—‘Black Storm’ had been forcibly deactivated by the Worm God, after all—and she winced the moment she skated outside, arm flying up to brace her eyes from the blinding light.

  Outside, the lower city sprawled before them in ruin. Most buildings still lay in utter shambles, though the main streets were cleared of debris and anything else impeding movement up and down the city. Smoke curled upward from scattered, mostly extinguished fires across the district, mingling with the morning frost and light drizzle. Marisol took a deep breath and counted the number of thrumming wormholes in the vicinity: a hundred or so of them. All relatively small wormholes sealing Giant-Classes.

  Marisol pulled her scarf tighter around her neck, the cold biting at her skin. Then she glanced at Reina and smiled faintly.

  “Race you up to Lighthouse Seven.”

  Reina arched a brow, but Marisol didn’t wait for a countdown. She shot forwards, air sucking into and ejecting from the back of her glaives as she launched herself up the main street. She nearly slipped at first from the snow, water, and rime that’d frosted atop the street overnight, but then she sucked in another deep breath and activated Charge Glaives, running lightning through her blood. Her body instantly warmed up. Her glaives cut through the cobbled ground, slicing through bloody shells as she felt for the nearest upwards-drifting air current.

  … There.

  It didn’t say so in the brief description, but with rapid rehydration opening more pores across her skin, she felt more…. perceptive. She felt a natural air current nearby almost immediately and skated along it, using it to boost her speed.

  She also felt, a few blocks over, a dozen or so wormholes collapsing in a back alley.

  I can afford to make a little detour.

  She rounded the nearest corner, shot through a few narrower streets, and then emerged into the alley where a group of Imperators and Guards were already locked in combat with a small cluster of Giant-Class crabs. A few more were still clawing out of the wormholes, but the biggest ones were already out. She didn’t slow. Her glaives flashed as she leaped over everyone’s heads, and then she let her body move automatically, dashing and leaping between every Giant-Class crab only once to cleave them in half.

  Blinking twice, she landed back on the ground and felt as though she’d barely used any of her stamina.

  She could still keep Charge Glaives activated, no problem.

  I’m… really, really refreshed, huh?

  What’s this clarity of mind rapid rehydration is giving me?

  She didn’t stop. She felt more wormholes collapsing in two, three, four different locations, all nearby, so she immediately formulated a route in her head and skated to each location with utmost speed. The Imperators and Guards she soared over gawked at her as she glided past, but it wasn’t like she was going to rob them of their points or anything—she’d already eaten more than enough of her fill, and if she had to eat any more bug meat for the next few days, she might just actually vomit.

  But she was strong.

  She was fast.

  And as she made her way up the city slowly, skating in zigzags to help deal with collapsing wormholes here and there, the realisation finally struck her: she’d soloed the Mutant-Class crayfish yesterday. For the first time. Without warships or cannon fire softening it up, without another Lighthouse Imperator covering her back. She hadn’t really thought about it during the heat of battle—nor had she really registered it throughout the night while she was devouring it from head to toe—but that was a Mutant-Class she’d killed like it was nothing.

  The Archive chimed in, ever eager.

  [Being able to slay an F-Rank Mutant-Class all by yourself is remarkable progress, considering it has only been eight months since you obtained your class.]

  [At C-Rank Mutant-Class, you are on the same level as the weakest Lighthouse Imperator.]

  [You have come very far since your first day as a bug-slayer.]

  …

  Marisol clenched her jaw and willed the Archive’s voice away. She didn’t need its validation. Not after Depth Five.

  By the time she reached the bottom of Lighthouse Seven, about half an hour had passed, and she screeched to a halt in front of Reina waiting for her by the entrance. There was a small, smug smile on the Imperator’s face—she’d beaten Marisol to the lighthouse, after all—but Marisol was more interested in turning around and looking down at the rest of the city.

  Standing five hundred metres above sea level, she could still very clearly see thousands of wormholes sitting in random sections of the city, as well as the largest wormhole resting smack dab in the middle of the upper city’s residential district. That was Eurypteria’s wormhole. Dozens upon hundreds of Imperators and Guards were already shouting orders at each other early in the morning, constructing emergency barricades, watchtowers, and mounting artillery around the wormhole in preparation of Eurypteria’s reemergence. They definitely didn’t have enough hands to go around dealing with the Giant-Class and Mutant-Class wormholes.

  In that sense, Marisol hoped she managed to help out a little just now, taking down a few dozen Giant-Classes on her way up here.

  “... Come on,” Reina said, beckoning her into the lighthouse. “We have to figure out how to actually deal with the siege.”

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