Getting dropped into a pot on fire was diabolical, no doubt, but getting dropped right in the midst of sharks was worse. The reason why the orc chieftain didn’t jump into the river after Silas and Gromda was because of the Devourer Sharks. They were C-Rank monsters with a B-Rank leader, mostly, and sometimes an A-Rank leader. These creatures were as huge as normal sharks, but with glowing fins and razor-sharp teeth. They were predators in water. They could hide in the water and could travel very fast in water. But what made them more dangerous was their appetite and their ability to copy a trait of what they devour and use it for a couple of minutes. A C-Rank Devourer Shark could copy and use a trait for two minutes. It might not seem much, but it was a C-Rank monster. It operated in seconds, not minutes.

These were the creatures Silas and Gromda encountered after jumping into the glowing river. The moment he surfaced from the glowing river, the system practically screamed at him.

[WARNING!]

[Devourer Sharks Detected!] 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

[Threat Level: HIGH!]

[Recommendation: GET OUT OF THE WATER!]

"Way ahead of you!"

Silas spat out water as he grabbed Gromda’s wrist. The river had widened dramatically. Ahead of them lay a vast lake illuminated by the same blue glow flowing through the water. The lake looked peaceful, but it wasn’t. Not in the least bit. A massive dorsal fin cut through the surface, followed by several dozen others. Silas’s face changed.

"Oh, come on..."

The water around them began moving fast, like torpedoes had been launched beneath the surface.

"Devourers!" Gromda’s eyes widened.

"Yeah, I figured!"

A huge shape shot under them. The sheer size of it made Silas’s stomach drop. The creature was nearly twenty feet long, its glowing fins slicing through the water effortlessly. Rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth briefly became visible before the monster vanished under the surface again. The bank wasn’t far, perhaps a hundred meters. Normally, that would be easy. Unfortunately, they were swimming against monsters that had evolved specifically to hunt in water. The lake suddenly lit up, and a shark burst upward, its jaws opened wide enough to swallow a person whole.

Silas’s eyes flashed: Thread Sight.

The world changed as thousands of threads appeared, showing water currents, movement patterns, life threads, and intentions. For a split second, he saw exactly where the shark was going to emerge. He just thought of using his ability, and it worked. This was why S-Ranks were respected and feared. They didn’t need to spend hours and days learning about their ability, no matter how new it was. It was already a part of them, like an extension.

"DOWN!"

He pulled Gromda underwater, and the shark flew past above them, its jaws snapping shut where their heads had been.

CRACK!

The sound echoed through the water as the two resurfaced.

"What was that?!" Gromda shouted.

"My ability!"

"Good ability!"

"I know!"

Another warning appeared in his vision. This time, dozens of crimson threads surged upward, and he understood them immediately: hostility, predatory intent, murderous hunger. Every single one pointed toward them. Silas looked down.

"We have a problem."

The water under them was moving a lot. At least twenty sharks were approaching, maybe more. And he was right as the lake suddenly exploded. Three Devourer Sharks launched themselves out of the water simultaneously. Silas activated Thread Perception again, and the structural threads of their bodies became visible. Weak points, movement paths, and attack angles.

He twisted his body, dodged one, and pulled Gromda away from another. The third nearly grazed his leg as the creature splashed back into the lake.

The bank was getting closer. Eighty meters, seventy, then sixty. Another shark burst upward. Silas saw the weak point: a cluster of structural threads beneath its jaw. Without thinking, he punched.

BAM!

The shark spun away, stunned by the attack. Silas immediately regretted it. His hand hurt.

"Agh!"

"Why punch shark?!"

"It seemed like a good idea!"

"It was bad idea!"

"THANK YOU, GROMDA!"

"It was very bad idea," The orc lady actually nodded.

The sharks continued closing in. Thankfully, so did the shoreline. Forty meters, thirty, twenty. The monsters became more aggressive, perhaps after sensing their prey was escaping. Several dorsal fins broke the surface, and the water churned violently. One enormous shadow emerged under them, much larger than the others.

Silas’s instincts screamed. That was the leader, and the system confirmed it.

[B-Rank Devourer Shark Detected!]

"Oh, that’s not good."

The lake erupted as a gigantic shark exploded from the water. Its body dwarfed every other shark, and its glowing fins shone like blades. Its mouth looked large enough to swallow both of them together. Silas immediately saw countless structural threads showing its weak points, openings, and predicted movements, but none of that mattered.

He wasn’t strong enough to fight it physically. So he did the next best thing. He ran, or rather, he swam as if his life depended on it, because it did. The shoreline arrived, and Silas practically threw himself onto land. Gromda followed immediately after. The two rolled across the muddy bank. Behind them, the giant shark crashed onto the shore.

BOOM!

The ground shook, while its jaws snapped inches from Silas’s foot. Then it stopped. The monster thrashed violently, unable to move properly on land. After several furious moments, it retreated into the lake, and the rest followed.

Silas lay on the ground, completely exhausted. Gromda lay beside him, also exhausted. For nearly a minute, neither spoke. Then Gromda looked toward the glowing lake.

"Father’s village safer," Silas stared at her, then at the lake, then at the gigantic fin still circling near the shore.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"For the first time since entering this world..." Silas sat up. "I completely agree with you."

Somewhere in the distance, an unknown creature released a roar powerful enough to shake the forest. Both immediately went silent. The rift clearly wasn’t done trying to kill them yet.