[Chapter 66. Skills and Formation]

  The travel drone accelerated with a powerful hum that resonated through the misty air, its smooth dark surface cutting cleanly through the thick humidity as it carried him toward the left side of the cavern. In the distance, crimson and violet beams cut through the oppressive gloom like surgical instruments, marking the location of his drone squadron as they engaged the enemy. As he drew closer, the distinctive shapes of Murky Gill-folk became visible. Their forms engaged in a brutal melee with his mechanical forces that seemed unusually desperate. Something was wrong. These Gill-folk were larger than the ones he'd encountered before, their frames bulkier with corded muscle. Their movements more deliberate and coordinated rather than the shambling aggression he'd observed earlier.

  Before he could analyze the discrepancy further, another mental connection was severed from his consciousness with a sharp, jarring sensation—like a nerve being suddenly cut. His third drone was gone.

  The thought was sharp, devoid of admiration. Minutes prior, a single assault and offensive drone had dismantled six of the lesser variants with clinical efficiency. Their beams striking with perfect precision. This was different. A more potent threat had revealed itself, one that could actually threaten his advanced technology.

  He reacted instantly. Two new assault drones materialized in a flash of blue light, their weapons hot as they immediately joined the fray. Their beams intersecting at key targets. But even as they deployed with mechanical perfection, another connection vanished—his last offensive drone consumed by the swarm in a flurry of wet sounds and metallic screams.

  The words were a curse, a bitter acknowledgment of an unexpected challenge that pushed him beyond his comfort zone of calculated superiority.

  He summoned an offensive drone and for good measure, a defensive one whose shields immediately shimmered to life. Their forms materialized just as his transport reached the edge of the platform. The travel drone settled with a soft hiss against the wet stone, its weight slightly depressing the slippery surface. From this vantage point, his initial assessment was confirmed. These weren't the same scrawny creatures he'd examined earlier. These Gill-folk stood a head taller, their green-grey skin stretched taut over more defined muscle. But the most telling detail was in their hands. Some gripped crude but functional-looking tridents, the three-pronged tips glinting with a wet oily sheen that caught and reflected his drones' energy beams with brief flashes of deadly light.

  Half a dozen greater Gill-folk. Their green-grey skin slick with the cavern's perpetual spray, advanced across the treacherously wet stone with a coordinated purpose that sent a chill down Searanox's spine. Two held crude but undeniably effective tridents, while the others clutched unusual turtle-like shields against their chests.

  The defensive drone glowed a soft ethereal green, projecting a hexagonal barrier that shimmered like disturbed water as it absorbed the full force of a trident's vicious thrust. The impact sending ripples of energy across its surface. Searanox raised his rifle. the familiar weight settling against his shoulder as its violet energy beam lanced out, aiming to punch through the chest of the nearest trident-wielder.

  But with a speed that belied their bulky frames, one of the shield bearers dashed forward, pushing the shell-like shield between the beam and its target. The shield hissed, steam rising from its surface as it absorbed the impact with a sound like cooling metal. It looked almost like the shell of a regular turtle, but the way it had taken the beam of his magitech rifle head-on without even a scratch told a different story. The shield lowered just as the other Gill-folk thrust forward, their coordinated attack a testament to their growing intelligence.

  Every time one of his drones or he himself took a shot, one of the shield bearers darted in front of it. Their movements almost a blur, absorbing the impact with an unnerving consistency. With every shot, Searanox's focus narrowed on the shell-like shield, his enhanced perception catching minute details. Every single time, right before the impact. There was a shimmer, a subtle distortion in the air that seemed to ripple across the shield's surface.

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  The thought was not fully formed when one of the tridents glowed a sickly purple, a deeper more vibrant color than the trident itself. The energy crackling ominously along its length. It impacted the barrier, which flickered softly. Its blue light dimming for a split second before stabilizing, the strain visible in the wavering pattern of the hexagons. Searanox didn't plan on playing around, his patience wearing thin in the face of this unexpected challenge. He dismissed the travel drone he was sitting on, its form dissolving into blue motes of light as he summoned two more assault drones in its place.

  With the maximum number of drones active, his TP was now draining almost twice as fast as he had initially planned. The numbers ticking down at an alarming rate in his vision. But there was no way around it; the tactical advantage was too crucial to ignore. The drones immediately surrounded the enemies. Their metallic forms flitting between the cascading waterfalls, attacking from all sides at once in a coordinated assault.

  He himself focused on the ones that were blocking the shots of his drones, his rifle spitting death with cold precision. The violet beams finding their marks despite the shield bearers' desperate attempts to intercept. The moment the first shield bearer fell dead to the floor, its body collapsing with a wet thud. Their formation was broken, their coordinated defense crumbling without the crucial element. From then on, it took less than a minute before they were all dead. Their bodies floating in the shallow water.

  He walked through the shallow water, the cold liquid sloshing around his boots. Towards the bodies of the shield wielders. The shield was not magical it was just a regular shell, its surface smooth and unadorned, its weight surprisingly light. There was nothing else besides their weapons and armor to loot, the disappointing spoils a bitter reminder of the grinding reality of this world even in the face of victory.

  He walked to the edge and looked down, his gaze sweeping across the massive expanse below. The next level was a wide platform dotted with several small islands, each connected by narrow walkways of wet treacherous rock that glistened ominously in the faint light. The whole chamber was illuminated by brilliant shafts of sunlight that pierced the darkness from holes high above, their beams shifting as mist drifted through them. The waterfalls that cascaded from one platform to the next were smaller, creating delicate clouds of mist that floated lazily through the air. While the massive waterfalls falling directly from the ceiling were far more impressive—broader and louder, their constant roar a physical presence. Their spray reached all the way to the bottom, creating a thick swirling fog that clung to the lowest level of the chamber. Obscuring what lay beneath.

  He cut down the drone count by dismissing all but two of them, their blue lights fading into nothingness as he reallocated the energy. The remaining offensive and assault drones were sent ahead, their dark forms nearly invisible against the misty backdrop as they skimmed low over the water's surface. Not long after, they reached the mist spray of one of the large waterfalls and began firing into it with crimson beams. From within the churning mist emerged a body made of brackish water, with strands of seaweed and other algae tangled within its translucent form. Its outline resembled a human, but without any discernible details—a featureless specter of the deep.

  The figure lunged forward with surprising speed, its watery form coalescing into a semi-solid mass as it struck the assault drone. The drone's metallic frame shuddered violently under the impact, its red lens flickering erratically as it struggled to maintain balance against the unnatural weight of the creature. Searanox's second drone fired a focused violet beam that punched through the creature's chest, causing it to momentarily disperse into a spray of water and algae before rapidly reforming. As the floating form continued its relentless assault, slowly crushing his two drones with the sheer force of its aqueous body. He read the system window that appeared beside it, its text glowing against the cavern's shifting light.

  The thought crystallized in his mind as he slowly backed away from the precipice, his boots making soft squelching sounds on the damp stone. He retreated to the layer where the faceless creature had emerged from the mist. The cool spray from the waterfall clinging to his coat like a shroud. The water that lapped at his ankles felt unnaturally cold.

  He looked toward the other side of the chamber, where his remaining two drones were still engaged in their methodical dance of destruction. Their crimson beams cut through the shifting mist with precision, their movements almost graceful as they picked off the lesser enemies that dared to challenge them.

  "Seems like they don't have any problems whatsoever over there." The words were a low murmur, barely audible against the constant roar of water that filled the cavern like a living entity.

  His gaze swept across the cavern, taking in the shifting play of light and shadow as sunlight filtered through holes high above, creating ethereal beams that illuminated the mist in shifting patterns. He found a fairly dry spot beneath the slope leading to the upper layer, a small outcropping of stone that offered minimal protection from the relentless spray. After settling down, he checked his remaining Tech Points. He was already down to two hundred fifty-three TP; this fight alone had cost him close to a hundred TP in summon costs, a steep price for a single engagement that underscored the dungeon's unforgiving nature.

  He sat there and let his TP slowly recover, the blue numbers in his vision climbing at a glacial pace as the remaining two drones continued their systematic clearing of the right side of the chamber. Their crimson beams occasional flashes of light in the swirling mist.