Shortly after they had killed the great shark the area was swarmed by scavengers of all sorts, which included darkeels. None were of sufficient size that their liver would be potent enough for Aydan’s medicine. However, they did get to see how they fought while they competed with other creatures in the area. For the most part they avoided direct aggression, as there was sufficient food for the local creatures. However, a few creatures seemed to think the squirming darkeels looked tasty.

One smaller shark decided it would take a bite out of one, and in the span of a second it went from closing its jaws to being completely surrounded by a black cloud. Not ink like a squid, but something vaguely more solid. To John’s spiritual energy senses it felt something like a jelly, though further investigation revealed it to be a large number of threads… some of which had found their way inside the gills of the shark and some unlucky nearby fish.

The darkeel itself was likewise surrounded by the threads, but by squirming around its body it found itself free. There were a few gashes on its wrinkled skin, but it didn’t seem particularly concerned about them.

John made his way closer, wanting to feel the strange gooey threads. The nearby creatures watched him warily, but they seemed smart enough to be content with the feast of shark or smaller and weaker things.

It was clear that the goop was formed from darkness energy as well as some natural chemical processes, much the same way as the gorgons petrified people. He thought about how he might adapt it for his own use, as the most interesting part about the whole incident was how quickly the cloud of goopy fibers had been deployed. It also appeared quite debilitating to anything with gills that could be infiltrated… and disruptive for anything else. John was pretty sure a human would be able to disentangle themselves better with the use of their arms and careful use of energy, but for aquatic creatures it was extremely problematic.

After watching for another hour and finding no darkeels of sufficient size while the larger shark was quickly devoured, they returned to the nearby island for some rest and to talk strategy.

“We’ll need to do something to lure a larger one out,” John said. “On the assumption there actually is one in the area.”

“Perhaps not precisely there,” Matayal commented. “We should try to kill some other larger creatures to provide bait and look at what comes out. Though whether we want an area with more larger darkeels or fewer is another question. They didn’t seem territorial, but it’s possible one of greater size might be.”

“There’s also the problem of finding any appropriate bait,” John frowned. “I can’t imagine there are that many creatures the same size as that shark nearby. It’s not terribly deep near the island, though the darkeels aren’t supposed to live deeper than a few hundred meters. But that means other creatures will be a bit harder to find.”

“We can just drag something in,” Matayal said. “It deepens pretty quickly as we leave the island.”

“I suppose we could try that,” John nodded. “And in the worst case… we might be able to find some darkeels that are closer to the right size and make something… tolerable.” It would be better to have something than nothing, after all- though it had been made clear by the one who would be making the medicine that it was far better to have one particularly good liver.

-----

If they had all the time in the world then properly studying the darkeels would have eventually gotten them what they needed. However, while the cultivator world sometimes moved slowly, being away for more than a couple weeks was two much for both sect heads. And the both of them being away from the triplets for longer than that was something they wanted to avoid. Thus, they hunted large creatures at various points around the island, looking for darkeels and fighting some of the smaller ones.

Along with the slime they released- which was difficult to react to- they were hard to kill. Stabbing or cutting them was only half as effective as it should have been, with their skin seeming to be loose around their flesh. The skin itself was tough, and if it was penetrated getting to anything important was difficult. Of course the stronger cultivators still wouldn’t have trouble with the average darkeels, but against something bigger they needed to be ready for such oddities.

Currently, John was leading the group as they worked together to haul a whale carcass close to another area where they hoped to find a larger darkeel. They had killed it further out to sea, but they had been keeping its blood contained inside it as well as they could, and traveled under a cloak of darkness to conceal their forms and the lingering smell of blood.

Now they had arrived and they carefully let the carcass fall away. It began to attract attention almost immediately as it started to sink to the ocean floor. Eventually it might begin to bloat up and float to the surface, but they guided it downward, the loss of air in its lungs decreasing its density.

They watched carefully as local life began to take note of its presence. Creatures of all sizes began to show up, taking bites out of the whale- though most were within the range that John would have considered normal on Earth. There weren’t any oversized sharks at the moment, and the feeding process could take quite some time. Yet the fact that it didn’t attract the attention of any notable darkeels within the first hour meant they might have another dud.

Even so they stayed to watch for a while longer, after which John noticed something approaching. Though it was actively attempting to avoid notice, the skill of a beast controlling spiritual energy would be lower than a human… in most cases. Either way, he was able to pick it out. Finally, a worthy darkeel. It had to be at least five meters long, though its proportionately skinny body was no more than half a meter thick at any point.

As it started to burrow its way into the whale, the group descended. If they could catch it half buried, their jobs would be much simpler. As they crept closer, it seemed they would get their wish… until something suddenly reached up from the sandy floor, instantly clutching a claw around the darkeel. It was a crab claw, large enough for a human to fit comfortably inside of. As quickly as it rose, it pulled back, dragging the darkeel downward.

In the same instant, the eel’s natural defenses activated. A cloud surrounded the group that had been carefully surrounding it, and the claw dragged both the eel and everyone surrounding its closer to the crab, which had to be at least twenty meters wide for just its main body.

John was glad that he- as well as everyone else- had been prepared for the cloud of slimy strands. Not at that exact instant, but they had kept their mouth and nose well sealed. They weren’t actually breathing in the water, after all, so it was a simple precaution. Even so, being suddenly surrounded by the substance required more than a bit of discipline to keep from panicking.

He felt the crab that had just risen from the sand getting closer rapidly, but it wasn’t directly targeting any of them just yet. He swirled his sword, intentionally gathering the threads around it to pull them away from himself. A little bit of spiritual energy and he could slice through some of it, beginning to clear his way out.

As he got out, the crab was already ripping apart the darkeel. If they could simply snag the liver for themselves and leave that would be great, but a creature of that size would no doubt consume the whole thing. John managed to catch Matayal’s eye as she freed herself. His ability to talk underwater was decent enough. “I’ll help to free the others while you begin to deal with that.”

Matayal nodded, swimming above and past the crab to get a better angle. Meanwhile, John began to slice and use his darkness energy to dissolve the tangled mess around some of the others. It seemed that it had been torn in half so the crab could get to the darkeel, but some were still a bit stunned by how things had happened.

It only took a few moments before enough were free and the last few were being taken care of by others. John quickly turned his attention back to the crab. It had attacked quickly in its initial assault, but it clearly hadn’t been factoring in the humans. They were too small to be food or predators, so why would it concern itself with them?

It wasn’t entirely wrong, either. Even a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator like Matayal was having trouble causing damage to it, but at least she was staying safe. She and the others were focusing on attacking it from behind and below, near its rear legs where it couldn’t really attack them. The crab itself had realized they were some sort of danger and was constantly attempting to turn to reach them, but though its claws were quick, its body was large enough that it found it difficult.

The remains of the darkeel were strewn about the area, and John would have liked to scoop them up into a storage bag but he didn’t know which parts to take… and wasn’t particularly keen on filling his bag with saltwater.

Analyzing the situation, he thought he could do the most good where he was, vaguely to the side of the crab. Several other members of the Tenebach clan remained with him, providing their support.

The first thing he did was create a quick bolt of lightning targeting the crab’s face. The electricity would have preferred to go in all directions in the water, and John wasn’t sure he could do real damage to the creature with such an attack… but it got its attention. It snapped its claws towards the group… or at least where it thought they were. With them creating a shroud of darkness it could only focus on the concentrations of energy it felt, which were a significant distance in front of their actual positions. John was fairly certain he could survive getting grabbed by the claws with his cultivation, but he really didn’t want to have to find out.

With the crab briefly focused away from them, Matayal and the Brandle clan cultivators found an opportunity to stab between joints, to various levels of success. Even at its weaker points the creature had some level of water element energy providing a barrier, but it didn’t have precise control to stop Matayal’s focused spear. It took quite a bit of dragging her spear about in one of the creature’s ‘knees’ before it even seemed to notice, but the water began to be tinged with blood.

As it continued to snap at projected bundles of energy, John realized that one of the claws hadn’t fully removed itself from the slimy threads. It didn’t stop something so large, but it slowed its movements through the water. He hadn’t developed a real technique yet, but he had enough control over his own energy to attempt something.

His energy swirled, elements feeding into each other in sequence before he created a large net. As he urged it towards the crab it sensed some sort of danger and snapped its claws, tearing apart the middle of the web of energy. However, that simply allowed the rest of it to continue forward, latching onto the arm of the crab. The net didn’t have the force to entangle the crab directly, but it did create a larger drag force as it tried to move around. By the time it realized its legs were actually in danger and tried to squash the people beneath and around it, it was too late. It was already bleeding and slow, and soon enough someone managed a crack in its main shell, into which they thrust an entire spear… which was just enough to hit something important.

As the crab began to attempt a retreat, Matayal let it. Though they had caused some damage, there was the danger of the spiked protrusions on its legs catching them or them simply exhausting themselves and being attacked by something else. The crab wasn’t their target, but rather the floating pieces of darkeel. They snatched up everything they could… and were glad to find the crab hadn’t managed to eat much. The liver was intact, and it had to be sufficient for Aydan’s spiritual healing pill.