Henry cursed. With the woman coming down from above, and the man waiting for him below, he changed direction once more and hoped he wasn’t about to find a third person waiting to get the drop on him. This time, he just swam in a direct line to his recently appointed true north: the straight path away from where they’d entered the Current.

  The man realized he’d been made, so he began swimming up at an angle while the woman swam down from above. They wanted to sandwich him in, Henry realized. Then both of them suddenly accelerated.

  Leave me alone, you dicks.

  Henry Blinked forward, barely escaping a spear thrust while both humans joined up before they separated and continued their pursuit, and followed it by summoning a massive cloud of ink. But this time, he didn’t waste mana making it disorienting. Instead, he turned his own skin to the familiar inky black of his clones and, after pulling some Misdirection-aspected mana, he summoned ten ink clones.

  “Make half of them move realistically. The rest in a straight line. Send one back up the trees and the rest in all directions,” Henry ordered his free Octominds

  With the different behaviors and with the one heading back up, he hoped to confuse his pursuers and throw them off his scent. The conceptual mana should help give the clones some heft, and it was the only way to make them display the same level as his own to another user’s Identify. Well. That and Shiftiness. But he’d rather save that one for later. For when he was far enough from their territory and he still needed to lay low. He doubted they’d be willing to get too far from their home.

  Henry burst out of the inky cloud at the same time as ten other very realistic clones surged in all directions. Behind him, the two humans slowed for a fraction of a second before the woman’s eye shone blue, and Henry’s heart dropped.

  Wait a second…

  She kept looking from one clone to the next. Her frown deepened, and Henry realized she couldn’t tell them apart. Not fast enough, at least, which was why the man decided to get aggressive while his partner continued scanning the dispersing clones.

  While Henry swam away, an invisible clone he left behind continued watching. The glow in the woman’s eyes grew sharper, while the man shot ocean-green rays at Henry’s many clones. The projectiles homed in on the ink-clones, destroying them all in one shot.

  Even the invisible blood clone he’d been watching from got shot. But that was alright.

  Henry was nearing the end of this underwater forest. The last of the giant tree-trunks was already in sight. Unfortunately, the woman managed to see through his trick, and the duo were back on his trail once more. And they were gaining.

  The kraken kept relentlessly pushing forward, zipping between trunks and ignoring the occasional fly-by attacks, though he still kept some clone-eyes on the homing shots. Arms and siphon pumping, Henry kept Riptide Rush going, even went so far as to feed it some Swiftness-mana for an extra kick. He would be a lot more visible once he was out of the territory, but at that point, they’d hopefully be in less familiar territory.

  The concept-empowered clones barely gave me five seconds of a headstart. B-ranks are such bullshit. And how are they still down here? I get that Stormsong’s species managed to evolve and stay permanently deep below, but what’s their excuse?

  The two humans were gaining on him even more, their shots getting dangerously close to hitting him, so Henry channeled mana into his defensive skills. Between the toughened flesh and the deflective properties of his skin, he should be able to tank a few hits safely.

  A bone shell or cover would be nice, but I’m yet to figure out a way to do it without killing my speed.

  Henry shot from behind the last tree trunk into a stone and sand covered flat stretch. The usual plant life and reefs were present as always, and as he took in the few swimming specimens in the area, the kraken had a few ideas of how he could make himself scarce. He summoned one more massive cloud of ink, and this time he sent twenty different clones in all directions while he activated the next part of his escape plan.

  Activating Mimicry’s new ability, Henry shoved half of his remaining Shiftiness mana into it and, with the help of his free Octominds, quickly fashioned himself a new form. Out of the screen of ink came a panicked black and gray trigger-fish.

  The clones spread out in all directions while Henry, after the quick “panicked” dart, slowed down to a leisurely but still intent speed and watched the scene through his many clones.

  Please work.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Henry was running low on mana. He still had plenty of hoarded charges, but they’d put him at most back to half.

  The two humans came out of the submerged woods and the woman scanned the scrambling, inky forms of his clones with glowing eyes. Bubbles escaped from her lips and she signed to the man, pointing a finger upward then closed it to a fist.

  Henry had no clue what that meant, but he hoped they were running out of air and had to leave. In the meantime, he continued swimming away, low to the ground, occasionally biting at small crabs or shellfish that he could find, blowing over the sand and picking up scrap. Classic trigger-fish behavior. And thankfully, this new form allowed him to do mundane actions without much effort. But nothing more. Not yet.

  Skills disturbed the camouflage. In fact, anything too forceful disturbed the shell he was now wearing. The skill created a body around his own, and then it would transfer control of this new body to his own through magic. He could see and sense through the shell, but any strong movement could disturb the fake layer. He still had control of his clones, his Octominds, and all of that, but nearly anything else could dispel it.

  For now, it was fine. He had to just be patient. Even if someone used Identify, they should see nothing but a C-rank trigger-fish.

  After all, the skill mimicked the mana signature of creatures as well as their appearance.

  Seconds ticked by as the two humans shot at his inky forms, and then, finally, they began swimming up. With another invisible blood clone, Henry watched them disappear above, and after taking another gander around, he dismissed his clones. All of them, just in case they could be traced back to him. Finally, he expended the last dredges of Shiftiness mana and pushed them into Invisibility. With the skill now part of his class, it could channel the special mana much better, and as he disappeared into the clear golden waters, he just kept swimming.

  Around ten minutes later, Henry came upon a nice stretch of sandy underwater dunes, and right before them, he found a nice large rock to hide under. After spending a few minutes making sure nothing was hiding within by peeking at it from afar, he slipped under it and shed the trigger-fish form.

  But that didn’t mean he could relax.

  Henry matched the colors of his surroundings and stayed still.

  With how both of them had snuck up on me and how hard they were to detect, I can’t be safe enough.

  Henry resolved to hold still for an hour or two. Without summoning clones and without expenditures of mana. Not as if he had that much left, anyway. Instead, he calmed his mind and breathed slowly, letting his recovery skill kick in as he reviewed the events and as he stared out into the lights of the Current.

  Giant trees in the middle of the ocean… with human settlements on the branches. Who would have thought?

  It could have been paranoia, but Henry was happy he’d managed to get away from them. He hoped to be able to visit someday, but for now, the thought of multiple B-ranks and C-rank humans all around him made him sweat. What if they try to make him into a pet or imprison him somehow?

  Henry couldn’t wait to learn what was going on in this world and how it came to be, but it had to be on his terms. It had to be done in a way that won’t risk his capture or death, and unfortunately, that meant he had to be strong or slippery. Preferably both.

  If this settlement had been only D-ranks and C-ranks, he could have sent a clone in. Talked and learned and explored. But this place?

  I’d have to be mid B-rank. At the least. Or have a way to teleport a lot farther than what Blink allows.

  Still, it was incredibly impressive how these people managed to leave out here.

  And how do the trees survive?

  This area wasn’t as deep as others, but it was still close to a mile in depth.

  Considering how high those trees were… That puts them at least at a mile in height.

  Henry wished he had a camera. Seeing the tree tops, even though he’d been tense and on edge, had been an amazing experience..

  “[I’m glad my home impressed you.]”

  Henry’s mind screamed at him and he instantly triggered Blink, only to realize a hand was on top of his head. When the mana rushed to his spirit, a pulse came through the hand and undid his action. Next, a smothering presence fell on him, locking his thoughts and limbs, like a spiritual fist had wrapped itself around his soul.

  “[Breathe. Relax. I’m not here to hurt you.]”

  Henry’s eyes moved to the right as the grip on his insides slightly relaxed. He didn’t dare move anything other than his eyes.

  Next to him, seated on the sand, was a monkey. No, a humanoid monkey. His face was clear of fur, but everything else was covered by a mesmerizing short golden coat that rippled and reflected the lights. His face was relaxed, and he was sitting a bit hunched. With fur-covered digits, he scooped up a bit of sand and let it gently flow out.

  [Earthtender Ape of Myth and Wonder (?) - Lvl ?]

  The much smaller humanoid gave the kraken a sidelong wink and a sharp-toothed smile before tapping his temple. “[See. I don’t mean you any harm. So, let’s have a little chat. Human.]”

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