While Tom was being interrogated Ajax was already on his way towards the pond. With his recent showing in the middle of the camp he had nothing to hide so he was using his mana at a conservative rate to go faster.

Unlike with the bear, finding the fish was not something he could do. Sure he knew that it was somewhere in the pond but the exact place wasn’t something he could point to even if he was less than three feet from him standing on the shore.

A small plan did start to form on how to solve that problem as he slowly got closer and closer to the pond however. If everything worked out the way he thought it would, this fight would be a lot easier than the bear one.

Ajax P.O.V

The pond opened up in front of me. But I was still busy looking behind. It had only been a week since I took out the bear but it seems the message had gotten across to well… everybody. I almost ran face first into a wolf pack, there were herds of deer and boars everywhere all moving closer and closer to the pond. This would probably prove to be a good training section for any of the guards that come to clear it out and secure it.

Unlike the rest of the forest the shore of the pond was free from any and all animals, though many it was heavily stained here and there by decently fresh blood as well as marks from where the fish must have used his powerful tail to ambush the first newcomers to the area.

Before approaching the edge myself I took out two arrows and started infusing large portions of my mana in both . In total I spent around one thousand split into a seven hundred and three hundred arrow, each with their own element. Once the infusion was complete I approached the edge and carefully looked at the water for any indication that the fish was approaching.

The water’s surface didn’t give anything away but one of the small shallow waves just reached about two inches higher that the ground was wet. I didn’t even fire the first heavily infused arrow, just tossed it towards the water as I pulled the second one back and waited while making sure I wasn’t standing in the lake.

As soon as the arrow hit the water it shattered while releasing an electric current from all the lightning mana I had pumped into it. The electricity had the desired effect as it not only broke the fish’s camouflage but also sent it into an uncontrollable spasm.

The initial plan was to use the second void arrow and go for the brain, after all a fish’s skull was thin enough that I could kill it despite the reinforced scales it had there. That plan fell through quickly as despite it spasming around ten feet in front of me it was doing so underwater. I forgot to take into account that water messed with my perception of position because of how light enters and leaves it.

This was made abundantly apparent by the odd looking angle that the tail had as it thrashed about the surface. Thinking about it I fired the arrow towards the base of the tail, knowing I had no more than a moment or two before it would regain control of its body. As the arrow connected with the base of the tail a horrible amalgamation of a roar and squeal resounded from the fish.

With the spams finishing I could see the tail hang limply in the water, my arrow most likely succeeding in severing the connection of the spine and rendering it useless.

I approached the fish with my shield covering me and my hammer infused with both metal and ice. Void was most likely the best mana aspect to use with the hammer if I wanted to deal damage as it bypassed reinforced skin or in this case scales. The problem was fish had their organs towards their bellies, meaning I would have to make contact from below if I wanted a non massive amount of void mana to reach them.

The idea was now to use ice and freeze a few of the scales in order to slow it down before going with a void blow to the head for the kill. Once I was within striking distance of the enraged fish he made it clear to me I underestimated how much water would be a factor. Its mana filled the surrounding water and wrestled whatever small control I had away before using it to both speed itself up and slow me down.

To make matters worse I could already see the teeth marks on the shield where I blocked its first charge attempt. If I took too many of those it would simply chew through it and on my arm. All my hammer managed to get was a few glancing blows but that was enough for the ice to start coating the slick scales.

As with all cold blooded creatures the fish also started to move sluggishly as its core temperature dropped. It was clearly affected when it latched onto my shield. I used the moment to switch over to void mana and used both the shield and hammer to land a blow on its head. The power of the impact was big enough that it caused it to take a big chunk out of the shield as its mouth was forced to snap closed.

The battle barely lasted for half a minute to be honest, nothing like the twenty minute chase with the bear. My stamina and health reflected this as both were damn near close to full at 1700/1730 health and 1000/1360 stamina. Mana was another story altogether, between the opening arrows, my [Mana Syphon] to both get here and during the fight as well as the infusion into the shield hammer and surrounding water left me with only one hundred.

Breathing a sigh of relief I grabbed the fish and made for the small stubble of land in the center of the pond to take a look at the tree there. The tree was massive, easily over one hundred feet taller than the rest of the trees in the forest. The only reason why it wasn’t seen as such was the way the pond dipped.

I gently plucked one of the ripe fruits and looked at it. When I had first spotted them from afar three months ago they were unripe and small, little bigger than a pea. Now they were the size of a plum and smelled heavenly as I took a bite.

I realized my mistake instantly as foreign mana exploded inside me. I didn’t even have a moment to berate myself for thinking that the fruit would be a treasure like in all the fantasy novels I had read before the pain set in. The sensation was similar to when I drank the water but a thousand times worse.

Having experienced it once already I did the only thing I could think would help and used [Mana Syphon] to isolate the piece in my mouth from releasing any more as well as strengthen my body.

To say that it hurt would be an understatement. I even now still wonder how Fluffy had managed to look so peaceful curled up in a ball for an entire night as she probably suffered something comparable to this when she ate the bear’s core. A few seconds later I lost consciousness.

I came to as the sounds of flesh rearing rang out. Despite the headache and the way every muscle in my body protested I sat up to see a few crowlike birds tearing into the fish. They used the same entry point I made to take out the mana stone to bypass its scales. Seeing I was in no immediate danger I spent the next ten minutes in pain crawling over to have my back lean on the trunk of the tree.

Now that I could look out for anyone looking to do the same to me as the crows were doing to the fish I turned my attention to the blinking icon in the bottom of my vision that had been bugging me for the last ten minutes.

Notice : Mana Poisoning

Due to deep foreign mana infusion Vitality is permanently reduced by 5 points.

Resistance to future mana poisoning decreased, future exposure will be more costly.

Seeing as how that was all it told me and how it didn’t mention anything about the pain I was in I hoped that it would be temporary. I also lamented how stupid I was and how I had just wasted five stat points because I thought I was in one of those xianxia novels.

My bad mood was quelled by the next notice however.

Achievement : Survive mana overload

Increased all stats by 10.

Warning : any future mana overloads will result in Punishments!