Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (24 page)

'Nah, not this one.'
He could feel the water coming out of the opening, which meant that this was the lake's tributary.
About fifteen seconds later later, he felt a different surge of water. This time, the water was pouring into a hole.
His scan of the lake bottom detected a tunnel that was barely two meters wide in diameter. The entrance was about sixty meters behind them. He tried sensing if there was an end to this tunnel, but he couldn't feel how deep it went.
'This is it!' Smoke concluded.
Smoke picked up speed and proceeded to the area where the underground river was located. As their rowboat moved, so did the colossal squid.
Calamar chased after them with much gusto. It playfully did random attacks to Saru's concave Manatl barrier.
CHINK CHINK CHINK CHINK CHINK CHINK CHINK CHINK!
Saru's white Manatl barrier was showing signs of losing power. Once Smoke was directly above the tunnel's entrance, he stopped the rowboat. Smoke then raised both of his palms over the lake.
CHINK CHINK CHINK CHINK!
Calamar's sadistic barrage kept hitting the white Manatl barrier. Smoke tried to remain calm and focused on the mouth of the tunnel. He noticed that it had signs of being crudely excavated.
This unnatural expansion only reached to about five meters in, before the tunnel would continue with the width of about a meter and a half. However, the tunnel expanded naturally after a while, as it went further in.
He used his Earth Manipulation ability and concentrated on the tunnel's mouth.
As the colossal squid got closer, he guessed that Calamar's three-meter head could probably only shrink to about two meters.
Steadily, Smoke concentrated all of his ability into the opening. He expanded it to three meters, but the actual tunnel itself was still at a meter and a half.
The DarkElf pushed himself further and started working on the first meter of the tunnel.
"Smoke? Why are we stopping and why aren't you rowing towards the protective rocks?" Saru asked in a worried and exhausted voice.
Smoke couldn't reply and he got even more distracted after hearing a strange noise.
"GLUG GLUG GLUG GLUUUUUG?"
Calamar made a sound which Smoke hadn't heard before. He could only guess what the colossal squid meant.
The colossal squid stopped attacking Saru's white Manatl barrier and instantly disappeared into the lake as it dove in fast.
Smoke assumed that it was able to feel the slight change in the nearby flow of water, considering Calamar had been stuck here for so long..
"How did you do that?" Saru asked with an astonished face.
"I didn't do anything to Calamar. I'm just making the underwater tunnel larger."
"Underwater tunnel?"
"Honestly, it was just a wild gamble. In fact, I'm not even sure if I can make it large enough for Calamar."
Smoke saw Saru's puzzled face as the tired gorilla Simiavulg sat across from him.
It wasn't noticeable on the surface at all, but as Smoke kept expanding the tunnel, he could feel the water surge towards it gradually increase.
It had already been ten minutes, but Smoke was only six meters in on his expansion of the underground river. His focus on it made him forget about Saru.
"Smoke, it's been awhile already. I think we should try to make a run for the protective rocks."
"I don't think Calamar would allow that. Let me try something first."
Smoke lowered his hands and cancelled Earth Manipulation. A few seconds later, Calamar's angry head emerged from the lake's surface.
The colossal squid surrounded their rowboat with its tentacles. Maddeningly, it thrashed the water around them. As a result, high waves appeared and rocked their boat around.
Immediately, Smoke went back to work. Calamar's tantrum lasted a full minute before it realized that the tunnel's expansion resumed. The colossal squid dove back into the water afterwards.
Steadily, Smoke kept on widening the tunnel. Little by little, he worked his way deeper into the tunnel.
His Manaception ability picked up Calamar swimming in front of the underground river's opening.
Saru remained seated on the boat. Smoke watched the albino Simiavulg meditate. "You know, I think you can return to the shore with your floating method."
"I could do that, but I don't know if you'll be safe from Calamar." Saru answered.
"I'll be fine as long as I keep expanding this tunnel."
"So, how did you know about this underwater tunnel anyway?"
"I read about it in a book from the Pillar temple's library. The one entitled 'The Bullied Fish'."
Saru assertively shook his head. "Huh? No, no, no. That book is supposed to teach kids to stand up against bullies, but at the same time not become bullies themselves. That's why the bullied fish got caught in the lake."
"Yeah, I understood that, but the way Calamar was letting us beat up the sharks and swinging them around reminded me of the fishes from the book."
Smoke saw Saru raise his eyebrow, clearly unconvinced of what he said.
"Coincidentally, Calamar and the twin bull sharks are also the three monsters that stand out in this lake, just like the three fishes who came to the lake from the sea."
The DarkElf checked on the colossal squid before he went on.
"So when it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to take down Calamar, I decided to test this theory, hoping we could somehow use that information in our favor." Smoke sheepishly answered.
"Well, based on what I'm seeing now. I think you might be right. Who would have thought that the children's storybook was actually a history book."
Smoke nodded all-knowingly.
Saru looked over the lake's surface. "To be honest. No one dared to challenge Calamar. I'm sure Grandmaster Indignus or any of the great masters could handle him, but to us Simiavulgs he is more like a lake deity that had always been there."
"Do you think I should stop expanding the tunnel?" Smoke's expression changed as he didn't even think about Simiavulgs' reaction to him freeing Calamar.
"No, I think this is a good thing you are doing."
Thirty minutes into his tunnel expansion and Smoke had depleted his entire Mana pool. In order to fully recover his Mana, Smoke tried to rest for thirty minutes, but Calamar rose up immediately after a minute and angrily thrashed around with its tentacles.
Smoke resumed his work with the Mana he had regenerated, but he could only last another forty seconds before he was forced to stop once more.
He tried to rest again, and again Calamar rose up angrily to the surface. This same process repeated two more times. Yet on the fifth break, as Smoke hurriedly resumed his work, Calamar did not submerge. Smoke saw it watching him carefully until his Mana was fully depleted once more.
Smoke raised his right hand to Calamar as he tried to make the colossal squid understand that he needed to rest. He rested for five minutes and Calamar began to angrily thrash the lake's surface. He raised his hand again to ask for more time.
The Colossal squid would not calm down, so Smoke resumed his work on the expansion. Calamar remained on the surface as well. Smoke would raise his hand to take a break and slowly extended his resting periods. The longer breaks and slow pace appeared to be satisfactory to the colossal squid, as it no longer thrashed the water and eventually returned underwater.
Used to these cruel grinding situations, Smoke proceeded without complaining as he repeated his expansion process. Three hours went by in a flash. The only noteworthy event that happened in the past few hours was the increase of Smoke's Earth Manipulation ability to Intermediate level 9.
His ability's level increase improved the rate of his work on the underground river. Smoke had expanded a total of sixty meters into the tunnel when his Manaception felt a change from inside the lake.
From the mouth of the underground river, Calamar swam fast up to the surface of the water. Its colossal head rose up and the lake's water flowed down its face.
'I'm almost done. Please don't tell me it lost its patience.'
The colossal squid stared straight into the DarkElf's eyes. Smoke and Calamar shared a moment of silence that couldn't be described with human words.
Calamar gave Smoke a wink before it dove back down. It took the two fully-recovered bull sharks with it as both of them remained wrapped around its feelers.
The colossal squid swam fast into the underground river and travelled through it much like how a bullet would pass through a barrel.
Smoke used his Manaception and noticed that Calamar managed to use its momentum to barely squeeze through the last couple of meters of the narrow part of the tunnel. It soon went out of Smoke's range, as it continued on its journey back to the sea.
With the lake's three strongest monsters gone, Smoke took a deep breath as he exhaustedly slumped down to his seat. After confirming that they were in the clear, Saru took the oars and started rowing towards the shore.

* * * * * * 

The setting sun limited the view from the rowboat. Smoke couldn't clearly see the brown-staff wielders on the shore of Simiavulg Island.
As Smoke and Saru got past the protective rock formations, he could see the silhouettes of not four but nine Simiavulgs waiting for them. The brown-staff wielders were joined by Grandmaster Indignus, Doctus, Castas, Meras and Tenvis.
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP.
A slow clap greeted Smoke and Saru when they reached the shore. The one doing the clapping was none other than the Grandmaster himself.
Indignus greeted Smoke with a forced smile. "Well done. I couldn't believe that you triumphed over Requin and Cornu. Let me also congratulate you on surviving the encounter with Calamar. I've never seen anyone below a black staff escape from that colossal squid before."
"Thank you, Grandmaster Indignus. It wasn't easy, but thankfully Saru was there in time to save me." Smoke said as he pointed to the albino gorilla.
Indignus' smile disappeared. The Grandmaster's angry eyes gazed upon his servant. "Yes, Saru...How thoughtful of you to save him. I saw that as well." The red-staff wielder said in a snarky voice.
A clearly-displeased Indignus clicked his tongue and cleared his throat before he spoke again.
"As you've shown a suitable level of proficiency with your Manatl and succeeded in killing a hundred kappas, you have passed your test. I hereby award you with this sigil, which allows you to stay in Saruras."

Smoke smiled when he saw the massive experience reward. He guessed that another notification would pop up.

He excitedly watched the two Level Up windows pop up one after another. He could have leveled up more if he had been hunting monsters all this time, but Smoke was confident that gaining the Manatl ability was worth the trade-off.
"Now, you see, I had placed a sensor on the shore that would detect if any Simiavulgs stepped into the lake. I used my Lightning Dash to get here as soon as Saru triggered it."
Indignus nodded his head towards Tenvis and Meras. The two temple masters walked towards Saru and tied the albino Simiavulg's hands.
Smoke did not notice what was happening, as his focus was on the results of his quest. His eyes widened when he realized that Indignus had been watching them for more than four hours.
"You mean to tell me that you saw everything?"
Indignus happily nodded. "Yes. I saw...
everything
!"
'No wonder why no one else came to help us against Calamar and the sharks.' thought Smoke.
Smoke was confident that Indignus' remark served to emphasize that fact. He didn't realize that it wasn't aimed at him until the Grandmaster's gaze landed on Saru.
"As per our sacred rules, no one may interfere with a test in progress. Yet, Saru, you helped the DarkElf anyway. As such, you will be banned from Saruras until all of the current temple masters retire."
"What? No!" Smoke shouted.
He looked at the great masters and pleaded. "You can't do that. He was just helping me. Saru was just being a good Cuezaltzinian. How can he be punished for doing what is right?"
On the other hand, Saru remained stoic. Smoke wondered if Saru already knew that this would happen once he got off the shore to help.
Doctus answered with a sad voice. "What is right is to follow the rules. We cannot disregard our sacred laws." Two of the brown-staff wielders approached Saru, grabbed him by his arms and started leading him away, making his tied hands apparent.
"Please, stop this now. Please, Indignus, he..."
Indignus raised his hand and gave Smoke no chance to properly defend Saru.
"Do not try to sway me with your words, DarkElf. We must uphold the law. The fact remains that Saru broke the rules and he will be held responsible for his actions."
Indignus looked to the other Simiavulgs present and spoke.
"Saru shall spend the night in the Prison House while his belongings are gathered. He will be escorted out of the village tomorrow morning."
"Doctus, you and the others could talk to Indignus. You could make him reconsider, right?." Smoke desperately asked the orangutan Simiavulg to back up his claims as he used the Beggary ability on him, but got a warning notification instead.