The whirlpool’s damage was negligible, but that wasn't its primary function. Its main purpose was to reposition players and, more importantly, completely reset the aggro table.

  The effect only lasted for three seconds, but that was all it took. With their tank gone, squishies like Rena and Lunara were left completely exposed. The moment the turtle stopped spinning, it locked onto them and charged. The massive creature closed the distance at a terrifying speed of over ten yards per second.

  Glytter, the druid, was still in her humanoid form. Seeing the monster bearing down on her friends, she began her shapeshifting cast. But the transformation into Bear Form had a two-second channel time—far too long to save Rena.

  The others could only scramble out of the way, hoping Rena’s level 25 gear would be enough to survive at least one hit, giving Glytter the time she needed.

  Deep down, none of them believed it was possible. Rena was a priest wearing cloth armor, which offered next to nothing in terms of physical defense. Against a monster with 6,000+ attack power, surviving even one blow was a long shot; surviving two was a fantasy.

  The turtle was nearly on her, its beak-like maw ready to strike, when a figure suddenly materialized in front of Rena.

  -4375

  It was Kael. The instant he saw Hazel get swept away, he knew what would happen next and had started swimming as fast as he could. At the last possible second, he’d used Blink to intercept the devastating blow.

  Kael gritted his teeth in frustration. Since the fight began, his Galeharrow bow’s Silkbind Shot passive had only triggered once. He never could have predicted his best weapon would be so heavily nerfed underwater. No wonder the system had warned him about the difficulty. He was glad he’d listened and brought a full team. If he’d tried to solo this place like the Blackheart cavern, he’d be turtle food by now.

  As Kael held the turtle’s aggro, Rena backed away, spamming heals on him. It would be at least another four or five seconds before Hazel could get back into position. Kael couldn't move; all he could do was stand there and take the hits. His high health and defense would hold for a while, but it was agonizing. As the party's main source of damage, being forced to act as a meat shield was crippling their output.

  I have to get some clones out.

  "Mirror Image!"

  Kael’s form shimmered and split into four identical figures. The real Kael held his ground while commanding the three clones to backpedal while firing their bows. But less than two minutes later, the clones simply vanished.

  He was confused for a second, then the horrifying realization hit him. They don't have water-breathing. The clones hadn't been dispelled. They had drowned.

  A surge of anger flared within him. The slow movement and attack speed were bad enough, but having his clones and Silkbind Shot rendered useless, on top of his crit chance being nerfed to less than ten percent… This wasn't underwater combat; it was his own personal hell.

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  Just then, Hazel and IronShell finally returned and took over tanking duties. Having learned their lesson, the two tanks made sure not to stand too close to each other. The turtle used its whirlpool a few more times, but with the team prepared, they easily avoided any further danger.

  The only problem was their dramatically reduced kill speed. Normally, a mob with 800,000 HP would have been dead in under a minute. Now, it took the ten of them a full three minutes of sustained attacks to finally bring it down.

  To make matters worse, Kael didn’t land the final blow, so his Luck stat never triggered.

  [System: You have slain the Enraged Snapping Turtle. You receive 40,000 EXP.]

  "Finally," Hazel gasped, looking exhausted. The whirlpool had left her totally disoriented.

  "Let's see what the turtle dropped!" Orion swam forward excitedly to inspect the loot.

  The turtle had dropped two pieces of level 25 blue(rare) gear, an essence, and a handful of crafting materials.

  "Hey, two blues! Not bad," someone cheered.

  The gear was useless to Kael, so he let the others roll for it. Afterward, the group continued their descent. They soon reached the bottom of the pool but found no sign of a cavern. They began to spread out, clearing mobs as they searched. After killing five more elites and over thirty regular monsters, they finally found it: a cave entrance, roughly ten feet wide.

  It was a black maw, its depths impossible to pierce with their vision. Every so often, a pair of eerie, lantern-sized green lights would blink open deep within, then vanish. They looked like the eyes of some colossal aquatic beast, sending a shiver down everyone's spine.

  Hazel, who had been leading the way, hesitated at the sight of the dark opening. She turned back to Kael. "Sir Dawnbreaker… I'm… a little scared."

  Before Kael could answer, Orion swam up beside her. "Don't be scared, Hazel! You're the number one tank on the server! You'll be fine."

  He reached out as if to pat her on the head.

  "Aah! Don't come near me!" Hazel yelped, quickly hiding behind Kael. The dark cave was scary enough, but having this creepy dude rush up behind her made it a hundred times worse.

  Kael shot Orion a dirty look. "Does that look like she's being comforted? Back off."

  "As the archives foretold…" Orion muttered dejectedly, drifting to the side.

  Kael approached the cave mouth and peered inside. His vision, enhanced by the Tidal Glow, stopped dead at the 40-yard mark, beyond which lay only absolute blackness. He checked the duration on his Gills Potion. Less than twenty minutes remaining. They couldn't afford any more delays.

  He turned and beckoned to Orion. "Get over here."

  "Oh." Orion cautiously swam to Kael's side.

  "Can you divine if there's an ambush waiting for us up ahead?" Kael asked.

  Orion shook his head. "Doesn't work underwater."

  Kael nodded. "Okay. That revival sigil you used before—can you cast it on other people?"

  "Yeah," Orion said. "But it has to be cast beforehand. The sigil can't bring back someone who's already dead."

  Kael paused, surprised. So it wasn't like a priest's resurrection. "Alright then. Put one on me. I'll go scout ahead."

  "Okay."

  Orion produced a green, paper-like glyph and pressed it against Kael's forehead. It dissolved in a flash of light, leaving a faint, shimmering mark in its place. Kael checked his status and saw a new buff icon.

  [Revival Sigil]: Upon taking fatal damage, you will not die. You may choose to resurrect within 30 seconds. Upon resurrection, you will have 1 HP and be invincible for 3 seconds.

  Duration: 24 hours.

  Cooldown: 1 hour.

  Kael stared at the buff's description. Holy crap, this thing is broken.

  Suddenly, he turned his head and stared directly at Orion. The intensity of his gaze made Orion flinch.

  "W-what do you want?"

  A wide grin spread across Kael's face. "This thing is too good to keep to myself. How about you give one to everyone?"