Thunderclouds gathered, and crimson lightning tore through the sky, as torrential rain poured down with the thunder.
"Boom!"
The lightning struck as if the gods were punishing sinners.
Qin Jie pulled up the hood of his coat. The Fountainhead Palace had already become a vast expanse of water, and the Source Water had already risen past his shins.
And in this Source Water, a large number of Magikarp Derivatives were swimming. These Magikarp Derivatives were now in a state of extreme hunger.
In such an environment, swinging a greatsword would also absorb a large amount of water due to gravity. Even with Qin Jie's 20 Strength, swinging the greatsword was a bit strenuous.
To poison the Magikarp, he needed to ring the bell that summoned it. Only then could Qin Jie summon the Magikarp, feed it the poisoned bait, and then infiltrate its body to kill it.
The heavy rain in the sky was still falling, and the water level was constantly rising. To reach the great bell, Qin Jie needed to quicken his pace.
Without hesitation, Qin Jie activated his shield.
A transparent membrane appeared ten centimeters from his body, simultaneously isolating the surrounding Source Water, allowing Qin Jie's movement to be unhindered.
The consequence of this was that every time Qin Jie walked in the water, a certain amount of shield value would be consumed. Fortunately, his current shield reserves could withstand the consumption.
In the distance, the outline of the great bell began to emerge. Beside the great bell, a tall, humanoid, blue-skinned monster with fish whiskers stood guard.
He was the Fish King feeder, responsible for feeding the Fish King. Due to his craving for immortality, he was deceived by the nobles of the palace into the Fountainhead Palace and eventually became a zombie-like feeder.
"Tap, tap."
Qin Jie left the water and walked to the great bell on the high platform. He ignored the feeder beside him, simply picking up his greatsword and striking the surface of the bronze bell.
"Dong!"
The bell echoed, and Qin Jie received a notification.
[Activated the great bell. You have summoned the world's overlord creature, Magikarp (Mutated).]
"You, what are you here for?"
The decaying feeder asked.
"To kill the Magikarp."
Upon hearing this, the feeder actually revealed a chilling smile.
"You want to kill the Fish King? That's great! You must succeed! I've been feeding fish for I don't know how many years, and I've long wanted to be free."
Turbid tears welled up in the feeder's eyes. He had indeed gained immortality, but he was forever confined to feeding fish. Such pain was unimaginable to ordinary people.
Just a short while ago, he watched his daughter painfully grow old and die in front of him, yet he could only watch in agony, compelled to keep feeding the fish.
[Triggered side quest: Death of the Fish King.]
Death of the Fish King
Rank: LV18
Quest Introduction: The feeder is permanently trapped in the task of feeding fish. He yearns for release.
Quest Information: Kill the Magikarp.
Quest Deadline: Within 48 hours.
Quest Reward: 20000 paradise coins, 9 attribute points, soul crystal (small) X6.
Failure Penalty: The Source Water submerges the entire Fountainhead Palace.
In the distance, a tsunami swept in, revealing the Magikarp's dark back. Its colossal body made the exposed part resemble a small island.
The Magikarp had arrived.
Rolling giant waves swept in, momentarily obscuring the lightning in the sky. That wall-like tide was the harbinger of the Magikarp's arrival.
Beneath the giant waves was the tiny figure of Qin Jie. The next moment, the giant wave crashed down. The bronze bell and the feeder beside it were almost instantly swept away by the giant wave, leaving only a few small ripples before disappearing without a trace.
After the tide passed, Qin Jie's figure slowly emerged.
All the water slowly parted due to the shield, while he himself plunged his longsword into the ground to resist the impact of the water flow.
As a vortex formed, the Magikarp's head slowly emerged. Although it was far more powerful than before its mutation, the bell still awakened its feeding instinct, and it subconsciously opened its large mouth.
"Eat, eat."
Qin Jie whispered, throwing the poisoned bait into the Magikarp's massive mouth. Although this tiny bait couldn't even fill a gap in the Magikarp's teeth, it still twisted its enormous body as if savoring a delicacy.
After consuming it, the Magikarp's body sank, but Qin Jie didn't act immediately.
The poison needed some time to take effect.
About a quarter of an hour later, the Magikarp's belly floated to the surface. It wasn't dead, but it had fainted under the influence of the poison.
It was time.
Qin Jie leaped into the water.
As soon as he entered the water, Qin Jie immediately saw dense swarms of Magikarp Derivatives without needing to search.
There were an especially large number of Magikarp Derivatives in the water. In this situation, Qin Jie switched the devouring abyss to its han sword form.
Because they were in the water, the corrosive mucus on the bodies of these Magikarp Derivatives was completely diluted, and instead, all the Source Water now had a faint corrosiveness.
However, this corrosiveness posed much less danger to the shield.
Aside from the corrosiveness, another danger emerged.
That was, as fish, the Magikarp Derivatives' flexibility greatly increased, and being around the Magikarp's body, the attributes of these fish were far superior to before, and their mobility was Heaven-Defying.
Previously, Shu Zida had deployed twice the amount of poisoned bait as Qin Jie, causing the Magikarp to be stunned for two hours.
But Qin Jie couldn't simply extrapolate that the Magikarp would be stunned for one hour based on the dosage. Conservatively, the Magikarp was very likely to wake up after half an hour.
However, the sheer number of Magikarp Derivatives guarding the Magikarp at this moment made Qin Jie's scalp tingle. Not only that, but behind these Derivatives, Qin Jie even saw two Red-Eyed Treasure Carp with Red Eyes.
Although they looked slightly smaller than the one in Shuisheng Village, this was in the water.
Swinging a sword in water would consume a large amount of shield value, but turning it off would consume stamina. Qin Jie was in a dilemma.
Yet, he had no time to waste here.
Charging through was almost impossible. These Magikarp Derivatives guarded the Magikarp in three layers, inside and out. If he rushed in, his shield wouldn't be enough.
And using Shadow of Concealment would leave traces in the water. These fish's perception in water was Heaven-Defying, so it would be equally difficult for him to bypass them.
It seemed Qin Jie had to pull out some serious moves now.
Since the greatsword form was unusable in water, Qin Jie was currently using the han sword form.
And his devouring abyss had now accumulated five layers of lightning enchantment within Lightning Cutter.
Not only that, Qin Jie used Headless Divine Descent, and then ate a heng jiang candy.
In the dark water, an intensely brilliant light burst forth. Qin Jie suddenly drew his sword in the water, and the violent, surging lightning attribute erupted completely at this moment.