It took them hours before they returned. They had combed the whole room but saw no animals or fruit.

They looked more tired and hungry when they returned to the clearing and saw Azaroth still harvesting.

"You had better harvest too," he told them as he took a pause.

Since they had nothing better to do, they did as he asked and started harvesting. Azaroth was done before them and was training his mind on how to call his skill faster and easier.

Kael Hound told them that most fights are won by the one who casts his skill the fastest. That is why one doesn’t just learn how to use a skill—one must learn how to use it faster.

So he kept practicing after his two cores were full.

"So, we look for water and what? Eat it?" Alex asked.

Azaroth turned to him and smirked. "You have a better option?"

He didn’t, so he looked away from Azaroth’s red eyes.

"Stop complaining, Alex," Stallus stood up and stretched. "We actually saw a lake when we were looking for any animal."

At first, they waited for Catena to stand from his harvesting, but the tall boy sat there, eyes closed and breath even. How long did he want to harvest?

Stallus didn’t want to wait and find out, so she kicked him in the leg until he woke up. Catena had been sleeping while he pretended to be harvesting.

Stallus sighed and muttered to herself as Catena tried to get himself up. He finally picked himself up, eyes still half-closed, and when Azaroth led the way, he followed.

Azaroth led them a little and then asked Stallus to guide them to the lake. They left everything except their weapons in the clearing. Azaroth didn’t want to risk losing anything.

The lake was big, and the water there was half clear but good enough to drink. Probably. Azaroth walked cautiously to the lake, but the rest didn’t share his caution and rushed to the water.

"Wait!" Azaroth shouted. If his guesses were right, then the water should be trapped. That was why he was being cautious, but the others didn’t care. Their thirst got the better of them, and they rushed to the bank.

Azaroth was right. It was indeed trapped.

At first, he thought it wasn’t, as they drank from it freely. Azaroth thought he had misjudged and was relaxing his tensed muscles, waiting to join them too because he was just as thirsty.

But then he noticed something. The water was rising. Small at first, but it kept growing slowly, and then faster—fast enough that even the others noticed and stopped drinking.

They watched, horrified, as a monster emerged from the waters of the lake. The monster was easily the size of a small castle, with hands like tree trunks that slammed down and smacked them away with a roar like the echo of the sea.

Azaroth looked at the monster, and he swallowed. His fire technique was useless here. The only thing he had was his essence and his sword.

He raised it and watched as the monster climbed onto land. The water in the lake dipped almost to the riverbed. There was no definite feature on it—only an orb-like head, smooth as glass. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"H..how do we fight th..that?" Alex pointed, shaken. He didn’t even know the name of the monster. His brain was frozen, his hand stiff on his sword.

Catena’s eyes were wide open, his gaze on the monster as it ambled toward them. He slowly spun his chain, but he didn’t even know where to attack.

Stallus was just as clueless, but her brain wasn’t as frozen as her body, and she jerked forward as her mind commanded. She danced between its legs and lashed out with her weapon, but it passed through like water.

But when the creature punched her, it didn’t feel like water doing so. It felt as if she had taken a punch to the face from a walking stone. She flew backward and slammed into a tree with enough force to make her gasp, and her weapon flew from her hand.

Azaroth watched all this with a hard face. He was thinking fast. They had to defeat this monster—but how? It was resistant to physical attacks. Should they use skills? As of now, Azaroth had two skills.

One that sent fire in waves, and another that required him to get physically close to use. The first one wouldn’t work on it since the water would naturally suppress the fire, but the second one could cause some damage if timed right.

He ignored Stallus and the others, who were trying to fight the monster with their weapons, and ran to its legs. He chose the right leg and slammed his open palm against it.

As soon as his hand touched the water, he sent mana into the formation in his mind, and fire forcibly blasted out of his right hand with compressed force.

Water splashed back, and the monster stumbled, steadying itself with its right hand. The monster turned to Azaroth and growled.

Its left hand swung like a metal hammer, and Azaroth twisted sharply to avoid it, but it still caught him in the side and sent him spinning.

He thought the monster would follow, but instead, it stayed by the lake, waiting for more water to be added—to heal where Azaroth had struck.

When it stood fully again, the monster was angry. It shuddered and boiled as if on fire. It headed toward Azaroth, and he quickly scrambled to his feet and faced it. He held his sword and calculated how he could fight this monster.

His mind came up blank. He stared at the monster as it bore down on him. He could almost imagine it smirking as it lifted its palm, ready to crush him.

Azaroth readied his chaos core for his chaos skill, but then something like a snap sounded, and a white light flashed.