Zombie Queen transmigration into a book-Chapter 138: my powers aren’t gone, right?

They were unafraid of the water and eagerly wanted to hunt their prey.

Water splashed as their massive hinge legs entered the stream. The others’ hearts hammered in their chests, but Caiden stayed calm, signaling everyone to hold their breath and let themselves sink.

The blue-haired man loosened the globe holding them afloat, and they began to sink deeper—one of them panicked, feeling like he was truly drowning and almost ruining Caiden’s plans.

He flailed about, sending huge splashes everywhere and catching the monster’s attention. The monster above them hurled rocks straight into the water, using boulders from the mountain behind.

Caiden frowned and quickly pulled the man down as a rock shot where he had been a moment ago.

The man let out a muffled sound and started to struggle, but when he felt his beast nuzzling his face to calm him, his mind cleared.

The blue-haired man felt a wave of relief and swiftly placed them all into a water globe to prevent further sinking.

But a new danger emerged: above them, countless rocks rained into the water, and they could no longer hold their breath.

The blue-haired man barely dodged as all their weight pressed down on the water globe; some rocks brushed past them, with Caiden blocking the ones they couldn’t dodge, but his action caused him to lose breath faster—luckily, the water absorbed most of the impact from the falling rocks.

Caiden’s face flickered with a hint of worry as his eyes locked on the monster shadow above the water, and he signaled to the blue-haired man.

The man nodded and made a miniature globe, and Caiden placed his beetle on it; it floated upward steadily and quickly because the beetle’s weight was very light.

The beetle flew directly into the monster’s mouth, and the moment it surfaced, the creature died—just like its previous companion. However, this time, its body was being controlled from inside.

The monster’s dead hinge legs tapped the water, signaling the plan had worked. Hearing the three heavy splashes above, relief surged through them—yet they could no longer hold their breath.

Sharp pain tore through their throats. Caiden kicked frantically, straining for air. The blue-haired man’s adrenaline spiked, and with a burst of energy, he propelled the water globe upward.

Fortunately, they weren’t submerged too deeply and broke the surface within a few seconds.

"Hhh... ahh..." They gasped greedily for air from beneath the dead monster.

They couldn’t fully resurface, or another monster might spot them, so only the tops of their faces broke the water. They clutched the monster’s surprisingly soft flesh as Caiden’s beetle drifted toward the other side.

To the other monsters they passed, they didn’t notice anything strange about their dead drifting kind and were focused on sniffing out their prey.

Occasionally, they could catch whiffs of their scent, but the monster they hid under had its smell overpower theirs, confusing the other monsters and making it safer to cross the stream.

Safely reaching the other shore, they shivered violently, their blue fingers and toes trembling, teeth chattering, and breath misting in the cold air as they scrambled out of the water and dashed into the cave.

"W-W-We made it..." the blue-haired man gasped, lips quivering as he slumped against the wall. Pain shot through every muscle, and his body shivered uncontrollably from the icy chill.

The others weren’t much better, and they could only huddle against each other. They dared not use fire to chase away their chill, or it would alert the monsters, and their thrilling escape would be for nothing.

Caiden pressed close to the others, too cold to be disgusted by stranger’s touch. His lips were tinged blue as he watched the roaring stream, the hail pounding down, and the rock monsters drifting across it. Now he truly understood the tower test.

The surface was filled with dangers; if one wasn’t careful or strong enough, they could die instantly. ’I need to get stronger; my power level isn’t enough. I can’t die without fulfilling my wish of adding Ethan’s hands to my collection.’

⸙⸙⸙⸙

The acid rain raged on relentlessly. Ethan’s ice had been destroyed seven times, but he didn’t stop forming ice domes to shield Aaron’s shadow dome.

Sweat slid down his chin and fell onto Eva’s shoulder, and her eyelashes fluttered open.

Her green pupil was dull as she stared at the dark surroundings in a daze. ’Where’s this? Where did those flying monsters go? What happened...?’

Her mind raced with countless questions. Gradually, her memory of what had happened flooded back, and she suddenly jerked away from Ethan’s hold.

Her hand reached for the tattoo on her back, a mix of fear and curiosity flickering in her eyes as she traced the now-inactive mark—she could still remember the feeling of losing control of her powers as her tattoo drained the life force from those flying monsters.

"You’re awake!" Ethan exclaimed, surprised. A relieved smile spread across his lips as he scanned her face, checking that she was truly alright.

His voice pulled her from her thoughts. She looked up at Ethan’s exhausted face, yet his eyes glimmered with joy at seeing her awake.

"What... happened?" Eva croaked, her voice weak. She cleared her throat and asked again, more clearly.

Aaron’s tense heart eased as he saw her awake. His powers were completely drained from holding the dome without rest, and tiredly, he offered a weak smile in her direction.

She noticed Aaron out of the corner of her eye, then realized she was inside his shadow dome and could hear the faint patter of rain outside.

Aaron’s face looked just as exhausted as Ethan’s, prompting her to wonder if they had encountered a tougher monster in the dungeon.

"Take us to your space first," Ethan muttered, and Eva quickly led everyone into her space.

Ethan and Aaron slumped onto the grassy ground without care, their breath coming out in short pants.

Eva sat across from them and stretched her fingers to send energy into them, but suddenly, a fist-sized water droplet burst from her hand.

Eva froze in shock, blinking at the sight of the water. She shook her head, trying to clear her fuzzy mind, but the water remained unchanged.

Then...

"Ahhh!!! (ﾟДﾟ;) My powers are gone!" Eva shouted in full panic, spreading her palms and desperately trying to summon the green hue she was used to.

Aaron and Ethan stared, speechless, as water droplets hovered around Eva.

Ethan rubbed his brows, feeling like his headache was making him hallucinate. He could understand the sudden cloud appearing above her head, but not this.

"Did your clouds evolve into this?" Ethan asked hopefully—at least he could accept that rather than her losing her powers completely.

"NO! I don’t know... my powers aren’t gone, right? ⊙⁠﹏⁠⊙" Eva’s heart thumped loudly in her chest. All her days of training and adjusting to her energy powers suddenly vanished into the air like smoke, replaced by water.

’This can’t be happening! (⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠˙̫̮⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠) Tattoo San, please give me back my powers. I promise to give you all the life force you could possibly want.’

Eva silently begged in her mind as she reached for the tattoo on her back.

"Why don’t you try feeling the energy in the air and see if it would respond?" Aaron suggested from the side, an incredulous thought popping into his mind, and he only needed Eva to confirm it.

At these words, Ethan’s eyes flickered with realization, and his face lit up as he looked at Eva—he didn’t want to see her sad and hoped it was what they were thinking.

She stopped pacing after his words and sat on the ground, taking deep breaths to calm her turbulent emotions. She tried to sense the energy in the air.

Minutes passed, and nothing happened. Sweat covered her forehead, but she didn’t give up and kept trying to sense the energy around her.

Luckily, her patience paid off, and suddenly Eva could sense faint hums in the air. From her mind’s eye, she saw wisps of green, flickering light floating around her.

A broad smile curved her lips, and seeing this, Aaron and Ethan relaxed, knowing she hadn’t lost her powers but gained another.