"Kekeke, Sucker!"

A mocking snicker left Everlearn's lips as he quietly swam forward through the stream.

The fool had led him forward, thinking he could capture him next, but he had failed, and Everlearn had slipped away.

The current carried him effortlessly until, moments later, he found himself approaching a waterfall.

It wasn't violently gushing or particularly wide, so he followed its descent, allowing the water to lower him steadily.

What Everlearn didn't know was that midway through the ten-meter drop, a blue mist, twisting like a soft vortex, waited.

The moment he drifted into it, he vanished, never reaching the pool below.

Yet to his senses, the sensation of falling simply continued, uninterrupted and disorienting.

More water lay at the bottom, and he continued until he found land.

Quickly rushing forward, his head burst out as he placed his hands on it, trying to push himself out, but in that moment, his face changed.

The floor that he placed his hands on suddenly sank in, and Everlearn's eyes widened when he realised,

'This is no land.'

Immediately, he shot back with speed, dipping back into the water, and his eyes widened when he saw it.

It was a gigantic fish tail, almost resembling that of a massive serpent, stretching well over ten meters.

As he stared, the tail shifted, and from its far end, a shape emerged, swimming directly toward Everlearn.

The sight of it petrified him.

It was a woman!

A woman with purple hair and eyes, with skin as smooth as glass and white as snow, but she was no woman.

Her beautiful face was ruined by the maw that opened to her ears, and the snake-fish tail that trailed from beneath her waist.

"What the!? A mermaid!?"

A muted scream tore from his throat, reduced to nothing but a rush of bubbles.

The creature halted, startled for a moment at his sudden appearance, before a slow, wicked smile curled across her face as she watched him desperately flee through the water.

She didn't chase him, never needed to.

Instead of chasing him, she opened her maw wide.

A monstrous suction burst forth, dragging the entire mass of water toward her throat, along with the helpless Everlearn.

'Devoured just after finally getting my shop!? Hell nah!'

He determined, and in the next moment, a cube appeared in his grasp.

He tightened his grip, nanotech rippling across his right palm in an instant.

It was his NanoPhoton Blaster.

Holding it downward, his palm expanded as the nanotech unfolded.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

A heavy explosion erupted as the photon detonated, the shockwave instantly launching Everlearn out of the sea.

The second he was out, his eyes swivelled, flashing around, and quickly sighted an island at the far end.

In the next moment,

BOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOM!

Three more explosions followed, and Everlearn used each one to propel himself forward through the air at high speed.

The blaster exhausted its energy, and he landed back into the water, but the island was already close.

He didn't look back, swimming at full speed before launching himself onto the shore, where he collapsed, panting heavily.

He looked at the sea, but there was nothing.

Not even a single ripple on the sea.

The fact that the monster didn't follow should have calmed him, yet it only heightened his caution.

Such a monster ought to have followed.

Still,

"Phewwwww," he exhaled in relief.

"FUUUUU!"

The sound of someone breathing air into his ear rang out, and Everlearn immediately jerked back.

Turning to look, his eyes widened when he saw her.

A woman on all fours, fully naked, with a mocking grin.

"You! Stay away!" he shouted, his hands reaching for something, but all he got was sand.

"Tehehehe," the woman rose, giggling weirdly, but the sight of her made Everlearn unconsciously snap his eyes shut.

She was naked.

|| But she could be the monster ||

The panel flashed, and his eyes immediately opened right back, only to close again.

And in that, he stayed with his hands over his face while seeing through the little cracks.

"Huh?"

The sight of that made the woman raise an eyebrow.

"Can you… Put on something?" he said, as she turned down to look at herself.

A wicked grin crossed her face, understanding why, but she still waved her hand to the side, and a light purple robe hid her features.

"You're an inferior?" she spoke after, stepping forward to Everlearn, who quickly rose, backing off in a flash, but he paused, his back suddenly slamming into something soft behind him.

He quickly turned around, just to find the eyes behind him.

"What the!?"

He cursed in disbelief, quickly rushing back.

Turning, all he saw was an afterimage of hers turning into motes of purple lights.

'Fast. She's insanely fast.'

He thought, eyeing the woman cautiously.

She didn't say anything, just staring at him with that half-amusing and half-predatory sight.

"Hey, uh, did you see the creature in the water?" he asked, pointing to the sea.

She turned to look at it before turning back to him.

"You mean the monster?"

She asked, and Everlearn paused.

"It's a woman with a fish tail," she said, and her face displayed confusion.

"Or a snake tail. I wasn't sure. But she's very huge!"

"A wo—man?" she mused under her breath, eyes lit in confusion.

'Do they have a different way of calling the feminine gender in this world?'

He mused in quiet disbelief, but then he watched as she suddenly puffed into a purple cloud, and in the next moment, a gigantic creature wallowed out.

It was the creature he had seen in the water.

Before Everlearn could move a muscle, her eyes were right above, looking down at him as her gigantic snake tail curled around in the sand.

"You… you really are the one."

He mused in disbelief.

Even after using the Nano Photon Blaster and swimming at full speed, she was on the shore before him, as if she had somehow swum faster.

"Surprised?" she asked, amused.

"I…" he said, but he had yet to find those words when he felt something lurk around his legs, and in the next moment, he was lifted into the air, hanging upside down with the tail locking around his ankles.

He tried to react frantically, but every single one of his motions paused when he found those eyes right before him.

He looked into them, only them.

They were purple with pitch-black serpentine slits.

It felt like looking into a void of purple with stars of black, and unconsciously, he whispered,

"So beautiful…"

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