It turns out that swimming in the sea was way harder than I thought.

  I'd swum a few times in pools, a couple of times in rivers, and one terrible time I had to swim in… oh god, I didn’t want to remember that awful day, so I shoved the memory away and ducked beneath another forming wave.

  I surfaced, breathing deeply and noticing I was finally in a calmer area of the sea. The waves were forming a few feet away from me, and if I kept pushing myself farther out, I’d catch the right currents.

  I accessed the minimap and turned until I was in the right position. It would take three minutes for the shard to drop, and I’d already swum one-quarter of the way.

  “Keep going,” I told myself and started swimming again. With each stroke, my chest grew heavier, and it became harder to breathe. I forced myself to keep swimming, trying not to think about it. I’d deal with it when I was closer.

  A few more strokes against the water, and I realized I was putting too much force into my movements. I stopped to catch my breath several times, trying to see what was happening on the beach.

  It was hard to discern with all the water on my face and the waves crashing, but I caught a glimpse of chaos and people pointing toward me. More and more individual gathered at the edge of the beach, I even saw someone jumping into the waves.

  Time to rest is over, I told myself and resumed swimming. My mind switched between numbness, determination and a deep fear of the unknown. I felt brave for doing this for me and my companions, yet stupid for not considering what might be swimming below me.

  Like someone who can’t control their fear of heights and always looks down, I sank into the sea and opened my eyes.

  I wish I hadn’t.

  Below the waves, two massive eyes stared at me. They gleamed—black, oily, and attached to the body of what seemed to be a sea snake.

  The creature was bulkier and about the size of a white shark, its body moving in a way that seemed unnatural. The beast stayed close to the seabed and swam without a care in the world. It kept looking at me but didn’t attack or even twitch in my direction.

  I surfaced and contemplated the idea of swimming back to the beach , but for what? I was already more than halfway there, and if the beast wanted to attack me, it would’ve done it by now.

  I sank back below the waves, swimming while watching the snake, which kept following me, staring at me as if in strange awe. Maybe it’s docile, I thought and surfaced again. Just in case, I summoned my wand and swam with it in my hand.

  Lightning would, with almost one hundred percent certainty, not hurt me, but with all the water and salt, it’d fry anything else around. At least I had a solid option if things got heated.

  Turning my head back toward the beach, I noticed three figures approaching me at high speed. Whatever—or whoever—they were, they’d definitely swum in the ocean before.

  “Fuck,” I muttered and kept going.

  I arrived at the location with thirty seconds left on the clock.

  “C’mon, c’mon,” I hissed, alternating between glancing at the sky to see the box falling and looking beneath the water to check on the snake, which had stopped below me, its body relaxing against the sandy ground.

  There was a lot of life in the ocean—small fish, corals, and some starfish with colors I’d never seen before. The place didn’t look like a simulated environment. I wondered if we were actually on a different planet, one similar to Earth but slightly different, or if this was just an incredibly well-crafted simulation.

  I didn’t have time to wonder further, though. The box fell from the sky right in front of me, splashing water into my eyes. I closed them tightly, the salt stinging painfully. Wasting no time, I grabbed the box with both hands, and it entered my inventory the next second.

  I opened my eyes and scanned the surroundings.

  The trio was still heading my way, and they were fast. I breathed deeply and prepared to swim away. However, before I could take my first stroke, one of the three competitors disappeared beneath the waves, followed quickly by the second.

  In the next moment, it was just me and a black man several feet away. We locked eyes, sharing a knowing look. The water beneath me churned violently, and I knew what was coming.

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  [Lightning Momentum]!

  I activated the skill, and the water swirled beneath my feet, foaming violently as lightning propelled me into the air.

  As I soared, I noticed a pool of blood forming where the other three competitors had been just seconds ago.

  Damn, I managed to think before my back crashed against a wall of water. The pain was immense, but I quickly summoned another [Lightning Momentum] to drive me away from the spot. I couldn’t risk another snake—or whatever it was—finding me.

  This time, as I flew through the air, I caught a glimpse of the black man rising above the waves, holding a blood-covered dagger. He had an enormous grin on his face and waved me goodbye as I soared higher into the sky.

  That moment was... something else.

  I hit the water again, this time landing on my side.

  The underwater world churned violently, and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted three snakes charging toward me at full speed. Electricity coursed through their bodies—they weren’t snakes at all but giant eels.

  My powers wouldn’t do anything against them.

  This time, my [Lightning Momentum] wasn’t calculated—I just needed to get away. I shot high into the sky, twisting my body upright as I ascended.

  I was halfway to the rock where my companions waited. I just needed to keep going, but if I kept crashing into the water walls, I’d end up unconscious before I made it to the beach.

  An idea flashed through my mind. It was completely idiotic, but it might work.

  I let myself fall, forcing down the panic of falling feet-first toward the water and resisting the urge to flail my legs frantically. Just before hitting the surface, I summoned a new [Lightning Momentum]. The lightning threw me into the air again, with only the soles of my feet making the briefest connection with the water.

  This time, I didn’t pour much energy into the skill, just a controlled amount—enough to propel me two feet up and forward. I did it again, placing one foot in front of the other.

  It was actually working. I couldn’t believe it, but I kept using the skill, over and over.

  To a curious onlooker, it must’ve looked like I was walking on water. The irony wasn’t lost on me, and I grinned from ear to ear as I sprinted across the waves.

  The man who had fought and won against the eel was still in the water, pointing and grinning at me, while the rest of the groups watched in stunned silence, their expressions unreadable.

  As I neared the beach, I let myself sink into the shallow water and ran the rest of the way on foot. I glanced back but couldn’t see the monsters in the sea. However, looking toward the far end of the beach, I noticed some of the other competitors moving in our direction.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I muttered, rushing toward the rock.

  “What the hell was that, Zach?” Mary asked, grabbing both my shoulders and grinning broadly. “You pulled a fucking biblical run!”

  “You saw it?” I replied, grinning but shaking myself out of the moment. “They’re coming our way. We need to go.”

  I didn’t need to repeat myself. The others patted me on the shoulder and congratulated me as we ran like crazy through the woods. The exhaustion from using [Lightning Momentum] so many times gnawed at me, but I couldn’t afford the luxury of stopping running.

  We had a good distance on the others, so we kept up the pace for about an hour until we saw them slowing down.

  Some kept moving toward us at a slow pace, while most returned to their previous trails.

  After another hour of walking, we found a ravine and decided to stop and rest for a while before moving again. We couldn’t really stop for long since they might still be searching for us, but even that didn’t make much sense. We’d use the shard, and once we did, there’d be no way for them to get it.

  Was that true? I had no idea what actually happened when someone died. I’d been in more than one fight to the death since I joined the integration, but I’d never tried to take shards from the dead, and they didn’t seem to drop from people’s inventories when they died.

  As I caught my breath, I watched the nine yellow points still moving toward us on the minimap, though much slower now. I couldn’t help but ask out loud, “Why are they still following us?”

  “Maybe they aren’t,” Mary shrugged.

  Tress remained silent, arms crossed, leaning her back against a tree.

  “Did you hear anything in the wind?” I asked her.

  “Yes. Trouble. Big trouble,” she replied, her face twitching slightly, a rare crack in her usual stoic expression.

  “Avoidable?” I pressed.

  “I don’t think so,” she said, sliding down to sit against the tree trunk.

  “It’s Max, Zach,” Elk said, his voice tinged with pain. “I saw him with my illusion’s eyes. He was on the beach, and he recognized me.”

  Hearing Max’s name pushed all the wrong buttons, but I forced myself to stay calm.

  “We’ll just keep doing the same thing, right? We’ll get stronger and move toward the city stone. If the fucker wants a fight, we’ll prepare one for him—but a smart one,” I said, trying to reassure everyone. I sat on the ground beside Elk and let myself relax. “Now, we’re only four, and they’re nine. We can’t fight them in the open.”

  “Right,” Tress said, her gaze distant, seemingly lost in calculation.

  “Right,” Elk echoed, appearing to come to terms with the inevitable.

  “Right,” Mary added, leaving no room for protest or questions.

  “Let’s rest for ten minutes, then keep moving until we find a better spot. We’ll rest when they rest, and we’ll move when they move. Sound good?”

  They all nodded in agreement, and I sighed in relief, reaching into my inventory and pulling out the shard box. It was time to check what we’d earned.

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