Dark water rippled beneath him as Lloyd walked across the roots of the mangroves, reliving the experience that had prompted him to evolve electrify into supercharge. A myriad of native species bustled about in the light, but he knew it wouldn’t last long.

  The sun was low in the sky, and Lloyd knew what was to come, but this time, he wasn’t afraid. They could, come, but Lloyd wasn’t the same person he was back then. Cerulean lightning danced across his fingers as he thought about what would come tonight, oh how the tables had turned.

  Lloyd sat in wait, pondering on what he was to do, the ‘murky abyss’ had been revealed to him, but what of the beast that dwelled in it. It was now clear to him that the beast referred to in the poem was one of the profundi crocodiles, but it didn’t make sense.

  For the beast he had to target to be in the F-grade after discovering it through a chamber that needed you to have evolved to unlock was simply illogical. The only solution Lloyd could come up with was that there must be some of them deeper in the swamp that had evolved, or that was what he was going with anyway.

  Perhaps it was deep underwater, but that was also a distinct impossibility as he had seen herons stalking even the deepest parts of the water, so it had to be something else. Ultimately, Lloyd just decided to go with the idea of there being more powerful crocodiles further into the swamp, as this was one of the narrowest parts, judging by his view from the forest.

  A sudden screen dragged Lloyd from his thought. Dark had fallen, it was here.

  Lloyd heard the splashing of water down below as the crocodile attacked, dragging a heron from its nest amongst the treetops. The beast was larger than he remembered seeing before, but a quick identify informed him there was nothing to worry about.

  Profundi crocodile -lvl 19

  Lloyd shot forward with devastating force, his fist flooding with electricity as he struck down on the beast. Lightning jumped across the beast’s body as Lloyd watched his arm tear straight through the beasts’ flesh followed by his body as he left a person shaped hole in its side.

  Blood and viscera burst out in all directions but disappeared instantly as the leftover energy from supercharge turned it to ash. It wasn’t even given a chance, lighting ravaged its body and in one second flat, Lloyd had turned an apex predator into a red stain on the water.

  As he looked down at what he had done, Lloyd though two things. One, he had come a long way since he had last been here. And two, he was a lot stronger than he remembered. It was as if his stats were more efficacious than before, providing more benefit for each one, but Lloyd felt it was something deeper.

  Lloyd closed his eyes and did a punching motion, using the motion of his mana as a guide, Lloyd began to notice differences. First and foremost, things were moving that hadn’t been there before, nothing big, but Lloyd could feel his mana infusing into at least three different muscles that he was ninety percent sure weren’t meant to be there.

  The culprit was clear, the bodily evolution that had reformed him must have improved on his body more than he realised, and Lloyd loved it. It felt like his body was moving more naturally than before, like his old body was somehow incorrect when faced with his current form.

  The next thing Lloyd noticed was how his mana was forming, it was just better. There was nothing else to say, it was purer, denser and seemingly more effective than before. It was still mana, and at a glance nothing was off, but saying it was the same was like calling coal and diamonds different colours of the same stone.

  Sure, they were both carbon, but one was structurally superior in most every way, it was just wrong to compare them like that. In the same way, Lloyd could feel the difference in how his mana operated, and it was a great feeling suddenly having his main method of attack made so much stronger.

  Sending a mana bolt, not even a supercharged one, flying towards a tree, Lloyd watched in astonishment as punched a hole straight through it. And then the next one, and the next, and it just kept going until Lloyd finally demanifested it, leaving a basketball sized hole in every tree it hit.

  Lloyd wasn’t kidding himself, he knew that these trees were far weaker than the ones in the forest, he would be lucky if smite left a burn mark on them let alone a mana bolt, but it was still impressive. He just hoped it would be enough to bring down his first E-Grade.

  Going by the logic that the beasts he faced would be getting similar quantities of stats to what he got, Lloyd knew he would be in for one tough battle. Whilst his stat page clearly displayed that he was an E-Grade, Lloyd was yet to receive any of the stats from his evolved occupations.

  Because of how extreme the stat boost from E-Grade was, Lloyd would effectively be facing an enemy that was five levels above him. That was nearly as big a jump in power as there was between him and the crocodile he just turned into paste.

  It was certainly a daunting task, and Lloyd would be lying if he said the idea of facing such a foe didn’t make him sweat, but he believed he could do it. All it would require was that he took advantage of his one major advantage against these beasts.

  Intelligence, not the stat, but rather physical cognitive intelligence that let you plan and deceive, something that his foes sorely lacked. With the right planning, Lloyd believed it was possible, he could take down a level twenty-six.

  If he could find one that is, Lloyd still had no idea how to actually encounter such a beast. All he had to guide him was the knowledge that they came from the north and that they would probably get stronger the further that way he went.

  His plan might have been held together with hopes, prayers and duct tape, but Lloyd was confident in its chance of success. As he had proven when he took down a crocodile for the first time with the aid of some electrified plasma mines, you could take down a superior enemy with superior planning.

  As long as he kept his wits about him and avoided any serious damage, Lloyd should be able to take down a level twenty=six. Lloyd was doing himself a favour by planning ahead, coming up with a strategy for how to take such an encounter, but he could only do so much when he’d never actually encountered the beast.

  With only a half-baked plan and a vague hint of a location to go off, Lloyd set out, launching himself across the sky with the enchants on his armour. Lloyd shot through the sky like a gravity defying deity as he flew above the mangroves with the power of titan stride and boundless leap.

  Throwing supercharge into the mix seemed truly excessive, but Lloyd was quickly proven wrong when he started losing altitude at a rapid pace before slamming into the canopy. Dense sharp leaves and branches bent around him as he was sliced open by the devastating force hidden within his momentum.

  Every bit of exposed flesh on his body was flayed and cut open from the impact at what must’ve been close if not over a hundred kilometres an hour. The impact shook him silly and made him heavily consider the prospect of a helmet as he felt blood stream into his mouth from his now mostly missing cheeks.

  For the next few kilometres Lloyd just walked across the dense web of roots whilst channelling mana to regenerate his wounds. It felt almost alien how much the swamp here differed from where he’d entered.

  This was no longer just a marsh full of overgrown fauna, this was a humid jungle of monsters. The water rippled as fish the size of elephants with jaws that looked like bear traps shot past, occasionally being torn out by the giant carnivorous plants hanging from the canopy.

  Venus fly traps as big as helicopters encompassed the fish to be dissolved in a slow and painful process whilst massive sundews ensnared their prey like alien octopi. Putrid smelling acid liquified the pour beasts in seconds before absorbing them like a sponge, and somehow all of this was well within the confines of F-Grade.

  Somehow, even the plants weren’t safe, as bear sized salamanders with a dental plan similar to a broken jar of rusted nails ripped them from the canopy. From what he could tell, the amphibious skin was too slippery for the fly traps to grab or the sundews to dissolve thanks to a thick layer of indigo mucus.

  Clear trails of this substance littered the mangroves as the beasts made their way from plant to plant, leaving only the roots in an effort to keep them alive only to be eaten again. All of this was very interesting, but the one thing Lloyd couldn’t find was the apex predator of the region.

  Something was definitely hunting the salamanders, as he frequently saw patches of slime and blood smeared across the ground, but never the predator itself. Lloyd started to be more observant, seeing exactly where the salamanders went missing and finding similarities.

  Unfortunately, the only things Lloyd could frequently find were the smears of blood and a few broken branches. Clearly whatever was responsible for this was being very careful to avoid detection, but Lloyd couldn’t imagine why.

  There was simply nothing else in the area that could even hope to challenge it. As Lloyd was strolling across the roots, he spotted a salamander, and quite a large one at that, most likely stronger that the average one you’d find around here.

  Just as it was about to chew down on the shredded husk of a pitcher plant, something leapt out of the water with deadly force behind it. Lloyd rushed over to see what it was, as it was difficult to make anything out in the gloom that permeated the swamp, but was too slow.

  The salamander and its assailant disappeared beneath the water’s surface before he got a chance to investigate. Lloyd walked over to where the salamander had been, some blood yes, but not much, if anything it was just the blood from the plants acidic trap that was leaking everywhere.

  This happened a few more times, with Lloyd beginning to catch glimpses of the predators, but never actually getting a good look. Eventually, Lloyd found himself a situation where he should be able to see what went down.

  Nestled amongst a wall of foliage with branches all around him, Lloyd was looking across a small clearing to an unnaturally big salamander, its purple skin glistening in the moonlight. Lloyd waited for a few minutes, his focus beginning to waver as time dragged on, but suddenly it was dragged back.

  A dark shape pierced the water’s surface and shot toward the salamander like a bullet, but before it could arrive, the salamander started writhing. In an instant the salamanders hide broke in half as it was revealed to be a massive bat, grasping its assailant by the neck with its oversized claws.

  Lloyd looked forward in shock, even he had been fooled by the expert camouflage demonstrated by the bat, and clearly its serpentine attacker had too. The python was writhing around aggressively, smashing its body around to try and loosen the bats grip, but to no avail.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A flash of mana and the python’s skull was crushed, turned into a bony mass of flesh as the bat took to the sky. Its deep purple wings beat with heavy strokes as it soared into the sky with great speed, but not fast enough to escape.

  The water exploded upwards as a massive shape broke the surface, snatching the bat from the sky before landing on the roots across from him. Lloyd looked on with horror, he didn’t need identify to know, this was a Bonafide E-Grade.

  It was almost double the size of any crocodile he’d seen before, and its dark, inscription like markings gave off an aura of power that made his hairs stand on end. As it gulped down the bat like it was a grape, Lloyd began to rethink whether he really could do this, but it seemed like he had no choice.

  The crocodile turned its head towards him, its piercing green eyes blinking with their overlapping eyelids as it stared straight at him. Lloyd didn’t give it the chance to act first, he burst through the wall of foliage and into the clearing, summoning a field of mana bolts and plasma mines that all slammed into the crocodile simultaneously.

  Blood spurted out from the beast’s scales for a moment, but the wounds were just as quickly healed. Lloyd kept running, trying to make some distance between himself and the monster before him, but it seemed hopeless.

  The thundering steps of the crocodile echoed behind him, sending shockwaves through the mangroves as it moved towards him. Lloyd panicked and activated titan stride, hoping to escape this fight he wasn’t ready for, but his expression dropped when he was met with a familiar skill.

  A barrier of mana sprung up in front of him as the crocodile homed in, its jaws ready to spring open at a moments notice. Lloyd knew this was bad, this skill had almost been his undoing once, and this time it was a lot stronger, he wouldn’t be able to escape through a crack this time.

  Careful to stay out of the water, Lloyd darted around the chamber, carefully avoiding the massive beast as he peppered it with mana bolts. Even if they were about as damaging as paper towels, they did serve as a good distraction, since the crocodile was evidently struggling to spot him.

  Turning round and round in circles, the crocodile was clearly getting agitated, and eventually this agitation prompted it to unleash its second skill. two paper thin layers of water shot out from the crocodile’s midsection, one horizontally, and one vertically, both carrying the power to bisect him in an instant.

  Lloyd had been ready for this kind response to his obnoxious barrage, but even so, he wasn’t able to fully prepare himself for the speed the wave moved at. Activating titan stride just barely allowed him to escape the deadly water disc, well, mostly.

  Half of Lloyd’s false leg was completely severed by the attack, sending it into the murky darkness below. Now unable to properly stand, Lloyd was even more disadvantaged than before, and against his best wishes, the barrier showed no signs of destabilisation.

  The only good to come from this sudden skill activation was that Lloyd was suddenly presented with an opening. Lloyd brought his arm back as far as it could go before summoning a supercharged plasma mine ensnared in mana strings.

  Lightning rippled behind it was Lloyd hurled the projectile forth with all his might, sending it for the crocodile’s front-right arm. An ear ringing explosion emanated from the plasma mine as Lloyd was briefly blinded by a white flash, knocking him off the branch he was standing on and into the water.

  Panic immediately set in as Lloyd realised the mistake he’d made, the number one rule of the hunt was clear, never fight on your enemy’s home turf. Lloyd had failed to do so, and now the crocodile had the homefield advantage.

  Despite having a car sized hole blown into its side, the crocodile was suddenly preoccupied, as the moment Lloyd entered the water, it was like it suddenly knew exactly where he was. Branches cracked, and blood flowed freely from the beast’s arm as the crocodile pushed itself into the water.

  The crocodile’s truck sized tail swung from side to side rapidly, pushing it forth with the momentum of a moving train. Lloyd knew that he had no hope of possibly outrunning this threat in the water, so he did the only thing he could think of.

  Since his evolution to E-grade Lloyd was still yet to utilise one of his skills during the delirious state he had chosen Plasma beam in, Lloyd had simply not stored it to memory, and it had completely escaped his mind so far. But now, with impending doom barrelling towards him, it was about time he gave it a try.

  Lloyd pushed his arms forward as if to move an invisible object as mana begun to flood into his hands, coalescing into plasma in front of his palms. At first nothing happened and Lloyd started to panic, but then something changed, it was as if someone had flicked a switch as a beam of plasma two feet wide exploded outwards from his hands.

  Even he was getting burned from the sheer heat of the lightning within, and that was despite him being almost completely covered in inch thick leather. On the receiving end of the beam, a much more grisly scene was unfolding.

  As the ray of lighting filled energy bolted across the surface of the water, the exposed top half of the crocodile experienced the devastating power within. Scales and blood flew into the air before being vaporized as the crocodile had a meter wide indention was bored down the crocodile’s spine, exposing bone and artery alike.

  This was above and beyond Lloyd’s expectations, and judging by the insane results, Lloyd had a feeling that despite selecting it whilst in F-Grade plasma beam was intact a E-Grade skill. otherwise, the damage it dealt to the crocodile would have been impossible.

  The only problem Lloyd found with the skill so far was the sheer mana cost, as just the few seconds he ran it for had managed to drain over a third of his mana pool. Hastily deactivating the skill, Lloyd watched as the effects of supercharge kicked in as a lightning filled shockwave sent the crocodile reeling backwards.

  To his shock and horror, Lloyd watched as the crocodile turned to face him again, its grievous wounds healing hastily. Leaping out of the water, Lloyd made an attempt to bring the fight back onto land, but his opponent was having none of it.

  For the first time during the fight, the crocodile opened its mouth to the extents of its ability, revealing the soft tissue withing, but Lloyd wouldn’t have a chance to take advantage. Seven beams of water over a metre thick each shot out from its mouth, six to the sides and one straight at Lloyd.

  Dodging to the side, Lloyd thought he was safe, as the beast didn’t seem capable of turning with the skill running, but he was wrong, he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Lloyd watched in horror as the beams began rebounding off of the mana dome, forming an interconnecting web of deadly attacks with many shooting straight for him.

  Remembering how he had escaped a devastating blow last time he fought one of the profundi crocodiles, Lloyd summoned the lizard jaw for protection, though he wasn’t sure it would be enough. His feet dug into the roots he stood upon as he was pushed back by the monstrous force, fragments of bone splintering from the jaw.

  In moments, water began to break through, coming out on the other side in small jets, cutting his arms and almost reaching bone. Realising his gambit wouldn’t work this time, Lloyd dropped the jawbone, leaping to the side with titan stride before taking advantage of the crocodile being stationary.

  His body flooded with mana and lightning arc up his arms as he struggled to contain the power coursing through his veins. Supercharge added to the chaos, increasing the lightnings intensity and making it more volatile, but that was better for him, not so much for the crocodile though.

  Lloyd could see it trying to move, but its water jet skill had it locked in place, leaving it completely unable to dodge as smite struck down with heavenly wrath. With its spine still largely exposed, the creature would be in for a world of hurt, and as the meter wide lightning bolt slammed down with the power of a raging deity, Lloyd found himself blown backwards by his own attack.

  Without any major changes to his skills or stat pool, Lloyd isolated the culprit immediately. Lloyd had instinctively infused a fifth of his mana into the attack, but he had failed to consider just how much that was now, and because of the absurd amount of mana going in, Lloyd had made it more powerful than expected.

  With what equated to almost half of his old mana pool in the equation, the bolt had been insanely powerful, and even Lloyd had suffered some burns in the process. But that was nothing compared to the horror that had befell the crocodile.

  Its body was covered in charred black scars and missing bits of flesh, and yet, even after all that, it hadn’t been enough to kill it. Not showing any signs of giving in, the beast began channelling a skill, mana condensing around it as its body began to regenerate the parts that had been lost.

  Lloyd was not ready to give up either, and he started running around the area at top speed, launching supercharged mana bolts and plasma mines at the beast haphazardly. Explosions dotted the beasts back as more and more wounds were opened with previous ones opened further, spilling blood across the floor.

  It was impossible to say just how much damage this was really doing to the crocodile, but it still hadn’t stopped charging the skill, clearly it was something big. Lloyd knew this was bad, anything that took an E-Grade that long to charge would have to be devastating, and Lloyd sincerely doubted he would come out unscathed.

  With a plasma bolt already forming in his hand, Lloyd positioned himself to aim for the head before flooding it with mana. The crackling beam of electricity in his hands sparkled with deadly power, but Lloyd wasn’t sure if it would be able to finish the job, even with supercharge in the mix.

  Lloyd launched it forward with all his might, almost dislocating his shoulder in the process. The bolts soared forward faster than anything prior, and Lloyd started to feel like he might be able to finish the job after all.

  Then it exploded, with metres left before it even came close to the monster it was targeting, the bolt burst into a cloud of electric destruction. Lloyd could barely see what had happened before his arm swung back uncontrollably and a burst of pain shot up into his brain.

  In a motion to fast for him to even notice, the crocodile had sent out a blade of water affinity mana that had cut down to the bone on his unprotected forearm. As much as it hurt, Lloyd knew that it wasn’t severed so he would be able to regenerate it, but more so he couldn’t afford to stop moving.

  All around him, Lloyd could see trees getting cut straight in half by the deadly water blades, and he was completely unable to notice them, especially with the canopy collapsing all around him. Lloyd kept running, his legs on fire as he tried to dodge something he couldn’t even see, but naturally, this couldn’t last forever.

  Lloyd was sent reeling into the water as an unseen blade smashed into his thigh, failing to penetrate the armour but not in transferring its monstrous momentum. Pushing through the pain and dragging himself to the surface, Lloyd could see the monstrously deformed crocodile turn its head as it sensed him entering its territory.

  It was only now that Lloyd realised the only reason he hadn’t been turned into Swiss cheese yet was because of the fact its eyes were gone. This only made him more uneasy as it illustrated how truly dangerous his foe was, and now he was at a significant advantage again.

  With little left he could do, Lloyd readied his two remaining options for a final hail Mary attempt at brining it down once and for all. Mana coursed through his veins like power through wires as Lloyd hastily erected a custom construct he was yet to see other than within his mind.

  Chaotic masses of destructive lightning stored in a tiny package, ready to release hell upon whatever they struck. Even with a new weapon in his arsenal, Lloyd was not ready to attack, this was just to give him an opening.

  Lloyds body was shaking, sweat pooled across his hands and forehead, the mere idea of facing this beast stirring him to the core. But Lloyd had no choice, even with its creator looking like a burnt steak, the barrier still held strong, and until it was dead, Lloyd was trapped in here with it.

  Dragging himself onto a giant lily pad Lloyd stabilised himself, watching intently as the crocodile swum over at a relaxed pace. With his body shaking like sticks in the wind, Lloyd decided now was the time, and struck.

  A ten -foot mana rope coated in hand made plasma mines glistened with the power of supercharge, its devastating payload secured behind the glass like barrier of the mana construct. Lloyd hurled the weapon forward with all his might, supercharging his arm to add just a tiny bit more force to the impact.

  Not that it was necessary, the rope and its payload of twenty-six plasma mines slammed into the crocodile’s head, or what was left of it anyway, blowing away everything down to the bone. With its skull exposed and its vital organs surely compromised, the crocodile looked like it had been dead for weeks, but even after all it had endured, it still lived.

  Having expected this to happen, Lloyd continued with his plan, hesitation going to the wind as Lloyd leapt toward the crocodile. Sky piercer appeared in his hands, his body spinning as a raging tempest kicked up around him, strands of lightning as thick as his arm licking the clouds as supercharge kicked in.

  Lloyd felt the monstrous power held within the strike he was unleashing, but even as he redirected the swing into a downwards slam, condensing all of the energy into a single point Lloyd had his doubts. The true durability of this beast was utterly terrifying, but even it couldn’t survive tornado round slash landing directly on its exposed cranium.

  Ragged breaths escaped his lips as Lloyd slammed onto the crocodile’s skull, but he was still scared shitless, it wasn’t dead. He had notification, and therefore no reason to let his guard down.

  Even with its brain exposed and severely damaged this thing was still alive and kicking, already charging another skill to try and take him down. But as Lloyd pushed Sky piercer deep into the beast’s brain, it finally died, its body floating still on the waters surface, the mana barrier beginning to decay at last.

  He had actually done it, he had put in his all, and it had paid off. This beast— no, this monster was dead, he had actually managed to take down an E-Grade.