The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 54: Dark Waters

For a while after they dove in, nothing happened. Underneath the surface, everything was dark and quiet, peaceful and serene, even more so than on the shore.

But then, the water stirred.

The monsters were already aware of their presence, having sensed them - or at least Aidan - as soon as they arrived on the beach. They were lurking just below the surface, waiting for their prey to enter the water. The sudden entrance might have startled them a bit, but only momentarily. Soon enough, they stretched their tentacles, extending them in the direction of the two men...

Holding Aidan’s arm tightly, Lane dove deeper, dodging the tentacles. His goal was to expose Aidan to more intense Mana fluctuations, not to get caught.

He scanned his surroundings carefully.

Two tentacled monsters nearby, more lurking in the depths. Luckily, for now, most of them weren’t making their moves.

Lane swam around, continuing to dodge.

It wasn’t all that difficult. He was a good swimmer. Carrying Aidan slowed him down, but he was still at least an S-ranker. Moving around in his real body, when all he had to do was to avoid the tentacles trying to wrap themselves around him, this much wasn’t too difficult to handle.

And the monsters weren’t that fast, at that. They relied primarily on their superior hypnotic abilities to hunt. Aside from that, they had stingers with a fairly potent poison, and long, sharp teeth. And pretty decent strength as well. However, since they could lure their prey to deliver itself to them, their speed left a lot to be desired.

A few minutes of Lane playing cat and mouse with the tentacles passed on. He had to break through the surface from time to time, to ensure that Aidan wouldn’t suffocate. The Mana within the man was growing progressively dense, a clear sign that he was getting closer and closer to his awakening...

Still, Lane couldn’t help but click his tongue. It was too slow.

Perhaps it would be better if they were to enter the Gate... Lane could see it, the crack in the space, faintly shining in the distant part of the lake. Based on the monsters’ abilities, Mana fluctuations there must have been intense...

But Lane was not an idiot. He might not have been the smartest person around, but he wasn’t so stupid as to enter a high-ranking Gate on his own, and without any equipment at that. At least not in his real body. No matter how many powerful abilities he had, he wasn’t invincible. There was no guarantee he would be able to escape... And if he died in his real body, he would be dead for real.

So, it was best to just endure it for a bit longer...

Unfortunately, it was not only Lane who was growing impatient. The monsters also had enough, watching as their prey continued to evade them, and intensified their attacks. frёewebηovel.cѳm

The tentacles shot forward from different directions at the same time. A collaborated attack of three monsters, it seemed. It resembled a tightening cage, with not much space left for Lane to dodge...

Lane tensed up, making a decision in a split of a second. He pulled Aidan behind him, and shot up. The stingers scratched his skin, as he tore through the tentacles blocking his way, injecting him with poison, but Lane didn’t mind. It burned, but it wasn’t the same excruciating pain he experienced as Noah. Rather than a raging fire, it felt more like a tiny flame tickling him from the inside. Nothing he couldn’t bear.

He was a powerful Esper, after all.

He broke through the surface, pulling Aidan up. With one quick glance, he checked up on his condition, and once he was sure that there were no injuries on the man, he tossed him up, high into the air.

And immediately after, he activated his lightning ability.

It was only for a brief moment. He himself was resistant to electric current, since it was one of the abilities he possessed. However, Aidan was still just a civilian. He would soon fall down into the water again, so Lane couldn’t allow it to remain charged. All of his efforts would get wasted if his target ended up dead.

He caught the falling man, and dove back in.

His idea worked out. The monsters backed out a bit, their tentacles twitching. It wasn’t enough to deal them any serious damage, but it discouraged them from pursuing the prey, at least temporarily.

Which was all that Lane wanted. He had no intention to kill the monsters, quite the opposite, he was very glad about their presence outside the Gate. He was only hoping for some peace, to prepare his new target for possession.

He didn’t have to wait for much longer after that. Ten, maybe twenty, minutes later, Aidan’s body started shaking violently, all burning up.

The Awakening had started.

Now that the process had started, there was no need to remain in the lake any longer. Lane swam to the shore, placed Aidan on the sand, and sat nearby, watching the man, as he waited for his skin to get dry, so that he could put on his clothes.

All things considered, Aidan was pretty lucky. He was still under the hypnosis, and therefore, unconscious. He didn’t feel anything, completely unaware of what was happening to him.

Lane stared at his twitching and twisting body blankly, tapping his fingers on his legs.

Unawakened people had this weird idea about the awakening moment. They imagined it as something great and glorious. Perhaps a light shining at you, your body filling with endless power, standing tall as Mana surged through your body, feeling endless elation, as if you were about to ascend to the heavens above...

The reality, however, was far less glorious. The awakening, to put it simply, was often worse than death.

It wasn’t just a figure of speech. Lane had experienced death many times, after all, so he would know. Out of it all, the moment he awakened was definitely the worst, by far.

He still remembered, his fifteen-year-old self, rolling on the ground. He wanted to crawl, but he couldn’t. He wanted to scratch off his skin, to get himself out of his own body, but he couldn’t. His fingers had no strength. Or rather, they had overwhelming strength, but Lane seemed incapable of using even a fraction of it. He wanted to smash his head, to knock himself out, but he couldn’t. Some people passed out on their own, a few minutes in, but he couldn’t even do this. He stayed conscious through the whole thing, that dragged on for hours, wheezing as he tried to gasp for air... And then, once it all ended, when he was lying on the hospital bed...

Lane stood up abruptly, grabbing his clothes and pulling them over his still damp skin.

What was the point of this reminiscing? That was all years ago. Whatever happened back then wasn’t worth getting all hung up on.

Instead, he should just focus on setting up his new possession. It had already taken too much of his time, bringing the man up to this point.

So, he crouched next to Aidan’s shaking body, and pulled his eyelids apart with his fingers, and activated Mana Scan again.