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The shark tried to flinch away in pain, but Matt reactivated his gravity gauntlets and kept it from retreating.
As the shark wiggled, sending them tumbling through the air, Matt cast [Firebolt]. The Tier 14 spell punched through the monster’s weakened mouth and carved a hole through its entire body.
The shark fell as whatever spell that allowed it to fly in the air ended, along with its life. The rush of Genesis Energy was substantial, and more than paid for what he had spent in killing it.
He turned to fight the eel, but Liz came in like a wrecking ball of blood in her golem form.
Seeing that she had the eel well in hand, Matt turned to Aster and saw that she was currently tearing the Fishman apart with a volley of ice shards.
Susanne seemed to be having the hardest time, as the minnows darted in near-instant movements.
One of their bodies lay on the ground, cut in half, but the other two seem to have learned from their companions’ mistakes.
Matt landed next to her and spent the Genesis Energy to message her, “I’ll block. You hit.” They both still had busted eardrums, after all.
She nodded her understanding, and he sent a strand of Genesis Energy into his gloves while staying ready to max out his energy throughput to his armor.
The minnows paused and oriented themselves opposite of him, and then disappeared.
Matt felt both impacts breaking [Cracked Phantom Armor] before he could register anything else. He didn’t let that pain stop him, and he flared his gauntlet’s power.
That increase in gravity stopped the fish’s movements long enough for Susanna’s two swords to cut them apart.
As the bodies fell to the ground, Matt was amazed by the fact they broke [Cracked Phantom Armor]. At first, he had thought they only broke the skill, but they had bored holes straight through his body.
They hadn’t hit anything vital, but he now needed to spend Genesis Energy on healing.
He and Susanne flew over to where Liz fought the giant eel with Aster’s help. The two of them were there in an instant, and the four against one bout quickly spelled the end of the monster’s life.
The Genesis Energy they got was like a wave, and easily reimbursed them for their troubles.
Matt, with his channels, spent more than the others during each fight, but even he was able to earn back his investment.
When they landed, he deactivated [Cracked Phantom Armor] and cast [Ranged Heal] to close up the wounds on his chest where the minnows had punched through his body.
[Lesser Regeneration] was efficient, but to prevent himself from bleeding more, he’d need to spend Genesis Energy to keep either [Cracked Phantom Armor] going or cast [Bandage]. Either way, he needed to spend Genesis Energy, and preferred to heal.
[Lesser Regeneration] was more efficient with a slow trickle of energy, so healing the external wounds put him ahead.
It also helped heal his burst eardrums from the Fishman’s attack.
Susanne walked over and picked up the minnow’s corpse and inspected it. He saw what she did almost immediately.
Now that the fish weren’t flickering all over the place, they could see a bone ridge that ran up their heads like a blade. It explained how they were able to punch through both his magical and physical armor without seeming to even slow down.
Matt wasn’t sure that even the second layer of [Cracked Phantom Armor] would have stopped the fish’s charge after inspecting the other two bodies.
The monsters seemed built around the ability to punch through armor and thick skin, which was probably how they fed in the ocean.
Liz came over with Aster, who had grabbed the two giant tuna with her Concept and gave Matt a pleading look.
He knew exactly what she wanted and rolled his eyes.
They had nearly been fish food, and she wanted him to make her a tuna sandwich with the half-disappeared monsters.
Still, some good food sounded nice, so Matt inspected the cuts that Liz had made, and after determining that the monster’s flesh wasn’t poisoned or anything, he filleted it before throwing it in his spatial ring. The ring wasn’t able to completely stop time like the higher Tier rings could, but the fish would keep for the few hours it would take them to find a safe place to set down.
They were all wounded and needed a break sooner rather than later.
With the monsters dead and the Fishman also torn apart, they brought their chest of goods off the beach and onto the rocky area they could hide in.
There wasn’t enough room for their house, but Matt was able to purify the fish for himself and Susanne so it was palatable to eat for their human bodies, before cooking everyone a small feast.
Aster kept stealing bits of the tuna, so he tossed her a strip with a glare.
She knew better than to steal too many scraps from the chef. He had uses for them, after all.
By the time they were munching on food, their ears were all healed thanks to a combination of healing spells and potions, predominantly provided by Liz.
Potions may not have been boosted by the floor any more than Matt’s talismans were, but some kinds of healing required more sophistication than simply supercharging a healing spell. Susanne was fine thanks to her [Cracked Second Wind], but as none of them had anything more robust than a [Ranged Heal], the rest of them had to make do with the potions.
With their ears healed, they started reviewing the last fight.
“I think it was a tamer, not a summoner,” Liz said between mouthfuls of grilled fish.
Matt didn’t disagree, but he wasn’t quite sure that it was the answer. “I think it was a skill, yes, but notice that it wasn’t able to actually control the fish. If it had been able to tame them, we wouldn’t have been able to block them from defending the Fishman.” Matt ran his fish through a sauce he had made before, saying, “If it’s not a skill, but rather some innate ability, it’s probably much more limited than we would normally plan around.”
Susanne and Aster said nothing as Liz and Matt tried to dissect the Fishman’s ability, but that discussion only lasted so long.
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