The night was dark and the breeze was crisp. With the latter being a constant in Lagia. The hot days expected of the Florida sun, and very cool crispy nights that being right next to the ocean got you.

  Especially now that electricity had gone away, any fumes that were clouding the night sky had gone with it. It was beautiful to look at.

  It was underneath this sky, that my family and I were waiting for our turn to act. We had already met up with the group in outside of our family compound and kicked things off. I expected a decent showing of course but seeing a lot of people show up was reassuring to say the least.

  Especially when one glance at everyone was enough to show that a good number of them had received decent rewards in the form of weapons and armor from the Dungeons.

  Now I was a little worried about the meet up and if there would be any friction due to how Grandpa left the meeting a couple days ago, but thankfully nothing like that happened. James took control of the situation for the most part and gathered the central group.

  He kind of let Grandpa do his own and the rest of the family followed him south along with a few other groups. I didn’t really need any input from any of them so I left with my squad after verifying that everything was alright .

  We were currently on the north side of the town, and just like the scouting report said, there really was a lot more water on this side. It was mostly small ponds and such but there was a decently sized river that led into the heart of the town. That will my way in. For now, we were currently up river for the sounds of battle to reach us.

  There was no talking happening and we were all focused on the battle ahead.

  Once we settled into our waiting position, it probably took about 20 minutes to pass before the sounds of yelling reached our ears. It all blended together for the most part but I was sure I could hear the familiar sounds of a language I didn’t quite understand as well.

  Alright.

  It’s time.

  “I’ll be heading ahead. Follow but stay hidden.”

  They all nodded at me, and I took that as my que to slip into the river.

  Ah. This feels good.

  At some point I’d reach a stage where instead of feeling cold in the water especially after that first dip, I now felt refreshed. With the Soaked Pulse Membrane and my Hydro Adapted Muscles Traits my body was getting closer and closer to being fully adapted to being in water.

  So with my spear gripped tightly, I took a deep breath and dove under the surface of the water. I activated Water Cloak shortly thereafter and to the naked eye I essentially became one with the water. It would be very hard to spot me, especially since I barely made a ripple as I moved through the river.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Water Cloak would eat through my mana the longer I kept it active, but since being in water helped me to replenish it at an almost even rate, the loss itself was negligible.

  And like that I continued down the river for about 5 minutes before coming to a stop and raising my head out of the water slowly. I then deactivated Water Cloak as I took a look around the area.

  Maybe it was more accurate to say I took a listen, as I didn’t see anyone for the most part but I could hear a lot more shouting and the chaotic sounds of fighting in the distance. Turning around I could see my family members slowly creeping along river bank towards me.

  Let’s keep going then.

  A few minutes later and I didn’t even need to surface to hear the sounds of footsteps near me. This was it.

  Once again I deactivated Water Cloak since it was easy to see when I was out of water and surfaced. Hm. I was near one of their camps. A good amount of them were in the distance running towards the sounds of fighting.

  Let’s begin.

  I calmly swam to the river bank and very carefully got out of the water. No one seemed to notice me as of yet so let’s use that too my advantage. Using the cover of night, I managed to successfully circle around to the back of the camp.

  Now I was behind all of them.

  I steadied my heart and then activated Surging Step.

  The head of the closet red person went flying as my spear flashed across its neck. Then before the head even touched the ground I was already stabbing it towards the back of another.

  In this fashion I managed to kill three of them before they noticed my presence and a few of them broke off from the group and turned around to face me.

  No one in black armor was among them.

  I made quick work of the group that chased after me before jumping back into the river and swimming away before I was ganged up on by the rest of the group that were now fully alert to my presence.

  Although I was stronger than them now, I wasn’t equipped to deal with a large amount by myself without risk of a major injury. So while my family members made their way towards me, I would simply play cat and mouse.

  After swimming around for some time, I exited the river at a different point and began wreaking havoc on the red people nearby.

  I managed to do this one more time before the group grew too large for just me. Now a few of them in black armor had joined the fun as well.

  Woosh!

  But the members of my family were finally here and Aunt Renee didn’t waste any time introducing herself to the enemy. Arrows flew out rapidly and unlike the first time she picked up the bow, every single arrow met their target. One arrow for one life.

  They started shooting back in her direction and they had to reposition but that was more than enough of a distraction for me.

  I activated Water Cloak and became the reaper that Grandpa asked for.

  Uncle Terrance stayed with Aunt Renee to help in case she got rushed, but Uncle Robert eventually made his way into the thick of it with me. By now he had truly embraced the sword as his weapon of choice and the Gauntlet Dungeon had rewarded him with something special.

  A two handed great sword.

  It was almost as big as him and since he’s been placing most of his points into strength, the man had grown truly massive. Which just goes to show just how big the sword was.

  Anyway, with Aunt Renee’s arrows and Uncle Robert swinging around the massive sword like it was a baseball bat, I was allowed far more room to maneuver. I went after all the ranged attackers first which freed up Aunt Renee even more, and then I turned my attention to those wearing black armor.

  I won’t forget the uselessness I felt that day when I almost lost my right arm to one of these dudes, so every time I face one, it always brings me just a small amount of satisfaction when they’re the one who can’t handle one swing of my spear.

  Needless to say there was nothing that really stopped us from completing the task we were given. That wasn’t to say the red people didn’t fight hard. In fact I think they were fighting harder than in any battle we’ve been in before.

  There was a sort of desperation present in their eyes that wasn’t apparent previously.

  I suppose that’s what happens when you suddenly go from being the predator to becoming prey.