[Potato Block has died.]

[Chaosgraphy has died.]

The notifications struck Martin before the water did.

His chest locked, cold spreading through him even though he had not entered the lake yet. Potato Block and Chaosgraphy had died at Raze Dawg’s hands, and neither death had been ordinary. Only moments earlier, a massive explosion and a violent tremor had torn across the battlefield. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Potato Block had bought the first opening. Chaos had widened it with her last move.

A few seconds. That was all she had stolen from Raze Dawg, and she had paid for every one of them.

Martin’s grip tightened around his weapon until his knuckles ached beneath the gauntlet. Looking back would have been easy. Part of him wanted to see whether Chaos had vanished cleanly or left something behind in that broken battlefield.

But they had bought him time, not permission to waste it grieving.

Thanks, girl. Leave the rest to me. I won’t waste this chance. And I’ll spoil you after this. All of you.

The submerged tunnel was finally within reach.

It waited beneath cracked shell and broken stone, half-hidden by black-green water. Bubbles rose from its mouth in uneven bursts, and a cold current tugged downward hard enough to bite through armor and swallow sound.

Martin lunged for the tunnel and threw himself in.

The lake closed around him. Poisoned water scraped across his armor, but his body adjusted at once. His aquatic gear answered the pressure, sharpening his movements as he cut through the flooded nest and headed straight for the vast basin beneath the meeting waterfalls.

A strange calm settled over him. Being in his element helped, but the real reason was simpler.

He was not alone.

Outside, Raze Dawg followed Martin’s shadow.

Is he trying to drag me underwater? Keep me there and make me run out of air?! Haha! Yeah, that’s all you can do, you underleveled mutt. Use this game’s realism against me!

"BUT WHY WOULD I EVEN FOLLOW YOU THERE?!" Raze Dawg shouted, still laughing.

The water beneath him darkened.

It pulled inward around the tunnel mouth, twisting into a tight, dark spiral before something massive surged up from the poisoned current.

[You have used Kraken’s Tentacle.]

A black tentacle shot straight toward him, slick with dark water and lined with a faint venom-blue glow. Instead of thrashing, it aimed straight for Raze Dawg like the tunnel had already chosen its target.

Raze Dawg’s eyes snapped wide. A skill flared around him, granting full crowd-control immunity, and gold-black aura wrapped his body as he planted himself like a wall against the tentacle.

The tentacle slammed into him and latched on. The immunity stopped the drag, but it did not break the hold.

Raze Dawg’s grin twitched. His boots gouged into the stone as the skill strained against him, but his immunity held him in place. Poisoned water splashed over his legs and boiled against his aura. At first, even Kraken’s Tentacle could only keep its grip and wait.

Then the immunity ended.

The tentacle snapped taut.

Both of Raze Dawg’s swords stabbed into the ground, carving deep scars through stone as he fought the pull. His arms bulged. His aura flared brighter, and the ground cracked before his stance did.

The tunnel pulled harder.

Raze Dawg’s boots slid.

His blades screamed through the ground, peeling up stone, shell, and poison-slick mud. Every inch he lost dragged him closer to the tunnel mouth.

Every face except those of Martin’s friends went slack with shock.

"He... he actually did it?"

"What was that tentacle?"

"Is that Emperoar’s pet?"

Raze Dawg heard none of the answers.

The lake swallowed him into its depths. His vision blurred as the surface broke over his head, but through the poisoned water, he could still make out another person wrapped in unique aquatic armor.

[Hostile Underwater Zone entered.]

[You cannot breathe.]

[Movement speed reduced.]

[Action delay increased.]

Raze Dawg’s eyes flicked across the warnings, but his grin only sharpened.

There you are, bastard. I won’t die first, you know. My stats are much higher than yours. Constitution, stamina, resistance—whatever this game checks underwater, I beat you in all of it.

Then the water exploded.

A low-damage hit struck with enough force to snap Raze Dawg’s head to the side.

...Did he just punch me?

Raze Dawg knew immediately that it was not the flash of a sword or the heavy crash of Shield Bash.

It was flesh and bone.

A fist.

The impact landed straight on his cheek with a feeling he recognized at once. Raze Dawg had boxed in real life.

It’s true that my face is exposed, but wouldn’t you do much more damage with a sword or shield? Why punch me, you...

Then he saw Martin’s eyes.

That stare cut through the murk, calm and furious at the same time, and it made Raze Dawg’s cheek burn more than the actual damage.

Ahhh, I see. You’re mad.

Plenty of people had glared at him. Plenty had shouted back. None of them had looked as furious as Martin did now.

So you want to punch me to death before I drown, huh?! Who the hell do you think you are?!

Raze Dawg shoved his swords into his inventory and raised his fists.

Martin answered by driving forward with another punch.

It landed cleanly. Water resistance dragged at Raze Dawg’s body despite his level, pressing against every motion until even simple footwork turned sluggish. Martin moved differently. The water carried him instead of slowing him.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Martin did not throw clean arena punches. He rode the current, let it push his shoulder forward, and struck from angles that should not have worked on land. A hook came from below. A short punch slipped past Raze Dawg’s guard. Another fist crashed into the same cheek, almost deliberately.

Raze Dawg snarled through a burst of bubbles.

That’s street boxing. Cassandra got herself a freaking delinquent!

The low damage numbers had made the style look harmless at first. That mistake cost him. Martin was not chasing one decisive blow. He kept forcing Raze Dawg to defend the same exposed spot while the water ruined every step, turn, and counter.

Raze Dawg adjusted.

The next counter came shorter, tighter, and meaner. Rather than moving as if he were still on land, he waited until Martin committed his shoulder, then snapped his fist forward. The punch slipped past Martin’s guard and struck him squarely in the helmet.

CRACK!

Half the helmet broke away, revealing Martin’s face, twisted with a cold desire to beat the shit out of Raze Dawg.

Goosebumps crawled over Raze Dawg’s skin.

"You’ll die..."

He can speak underwater?! Then... he can breathe too?!

"...only after I’m done pummeling your face."

Instinct drove Raze Dawg to react, but the water betrayed him again. Slowed and caught at an awkward angle, his guard opened just as Martin drove straight toward him and punched him in the face, sending him deeper into the basin.

Countless Dark Aquatic Ants skittered across the lower levels, watching the two players duke it out. Their eyes shone menacingly at the bottom of the lake, waiting for the first prey to sink low enough for them to tear apart and devour.

The fight stopped looking like a duel.