Chapter 18

Is that really a turtle…?!!! Internally screaming, Yongno immediately left the spot.

Then, one side of the cliff collapsed entirely with a loud thud in the water. Yongno could hardly believe how fast and mighty the turtle was. If Yongno couldn’t swim at the speed faster than a dolphin, he would have never avoided the attack.

Shortly after he caught his breath…

Pow!

The sea turtle plowed into Yongno. He bounced off the turtle’s shell, but thankfully, Yongno didn’t receive much damage since the attack was less forceful and he was performing Body Strengthening. Still, the turtle was surprisingly fast. It seemed to control the water absorption through its stomach and launch a massive continuous attack.

What the heck? This isn’t an [animal], is it?

Yongno was aware that he was currently in a [world] for newbies where life-threatening monsters didn’t exist. However, there was something that Yongno, Mari, and even the developer of D.I.O. didn’t realize.

Yongno was currently at the Kaylow’s Fault, which was 1,000 meters under the ocean. This land of death was underwater and had monsters with an average level of 11. Even animals that existed as prey here had the deadliest combat abilities since they were overall living and sustaining the super-high water pressure.

Crack!

Oh my god…!!

Instead of avoiding the attack, this time, Yongno retaliated against the turtle by using the Great Strength Vajra Hand, but it was a serious misjudgment since his entire right arm was broken. Unfortunately, Yongno’s Hand Skill wasn’t forceful enough, so he should have avoided the head-on collision and struck the animal on its weak part instead.

Gosh, my left hand is broken; so is my right arm!

/You are seriously injured and unable to recover with rest! You can’t recover unless you use a healing skill or log out for over an hour!/

Yongno’s left wrist was already swollen from the turtle’s bite. Meanwhile, his right elbow and wrist that had directly smacked into the turtle were unable to move an inch as if they were crushed. Considering that Hand Skill was Yongno’s sole ammunition, he had lost his ability to attack.

THUD!

At that moment, the sea turtle pounced on Yongno again. Yongno narrowly escaped by kicking the water to move through. Still, the sea turtle swam so fiercely that it caused strong water currents. Yongno ended up bumping into the cliff.

Ugh, that turtle is gonna kill me!

He tried to escape from the gigantic animal but soon came to a halt. No matter how fast Yongno swam, he couldn’t beat the sea turtle who shot himself at him like a cannonball. Yongno could defend himself from the attack since he observed the turtle’s movement and moved perpendicularly. However, if he had chosen to escape horizontally, which was moving backward, he would have been struck powerlessly.

What should I do? I will die if I keep wasting time like this.

After Yongno reached a higher level in Swimming and 50% mastery of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, his diving ability also improved to the point where he could stay underwater almost semi-permanently. Still, it wasn’t perfect enough to operate without using internal martial arts during combat.

While in battle, Yongno should perform the Golden Pill Immortal Technique mainly for Body Strengthening or Hand Skill rather than internal martial arts recovery. When Yongno felt mentally unstable, his Diving skill also consumed a critical amount of internal martial arts. Like running, his body required a lot more energy than usual.

My right arm doesn’t work; I can move my left hand, but it won’t endure the fierce combat. In the end, I have to knock the turtle down with internal martial arts…

It was nonsense. Performing his best Hand Skill with uninjured hands didn’t even work since his attack was less forceful than the sea turtle’s defensive power. However, Yongno stretched out his relatively non-severe left hand.

I must avoid any collisions. That bastard’s body is tough like armor; even the head isn’t its weak point.

Yongno began to utilize Aura Vision. He channeled internal force into his eyes and enhanced his eyesight. Everything around him came into view; the sea turtle was in the middle, absorbing water into its stomach.

That’s it.

Yongno found a glowing light orb inside the sea turtle’s shell. It was like Yongno’s Gold Core, a cultivation base that gathered spiritual energy. Although it only had about a decade worth of force, the sea turtle itself was already extraordinary and the innate spiritual force made it unbelievably fast and strong.

PFOOM!

The sea turtle fired himself at Yongno. Yongno slid horizontally to avoid the attack, which had been the same pattern of their battle so far. But when the turtle passed him, Yongno got close to its stomach.

It’s useless to strike the turtle on its stomach. That part of the body will be softer than the shell, but that bastard has already survived from the explosion in its mouth, so it won’t work.

The gigantic turtle in front of Yongno was called the waterdrop turtle because of his cute-looking shell, but indeed it was the highest predator in the ocean that even preyed on sharks. Besides, its shell was as hard as a diamond under the effect of spiritual force, so even if the turtle didn’t launch any attacks, Yongno could hardly find a way to damage the animal.

However, Yongno placed his hand on its stomach before the turtle turned around and prepared to shoot itself at him.

Think simple. Penetration Power––I read it many times in martial arts novels, didn’t I? I can do it. It’s simple.

It wasn’t simple at all. Penetration Power was a martial arts skill that used palm or fist strike to cause damage to an object. Only the masters with a high understanding of martial arts could perform this technique. However, Yongno moved his internal force fearlessly.

Delivering power… delivering power…

His four years’ worth of internal martial arts began to move; it doubled in the first realm Mercury and collided with the waterdrop turtle’s stomach.

Tsuuuuunng.

There wasn’t a loud crashing sound since the strike didn’t take place on the outside. The knockdown blow was sucked into the waterdrop turtle’s stomach smoothly and seamlessly.

/You have reached Rank 3 in Hand Skill!/

/You have gained the title of Break Spirit Hand!/

/You have gained a special ability – Penetration!/

But I already know about Penetration Power.

Yongno had no idea that users acquired a special ability when they actually knew ‘how to use it’ and not just be aware of it. As a result, he previously gained the Water-friendly skill since he had already been using a tiny part of it.

There was another thing Yongno didn’t realize. The level of mastery in his Hand Skill was close to Rank 2, so he could reach Rank 3 from Rank 4 by just one Hand Skill performance. Besides, since his level of mastery was one rank higher than his current Hand Skill, he could go up to Rank 2 if he used the same level of Hand Skill ten times.

Wooong.

The waterdrop turtle’s body scattered into clouds of dust; a shielded turtle shell and blue marble appeared.

Nice rewards, huh? Plus, they gave me 100 EXP Spirits.

But Yongno had a lot of damage too. He couldn’t use his right hand; his left wrist was broken. He also consumed approximately 73% of his 15 years’ worth of internal martial arts by performing continuous Hand Skill and Body Strengthening. He still had ten years’ worth of internal martial arts left in Mercury, but it was unavailable for use.

No Living World, i.e. the first realm Mercury, had an advanced mechanism, which was close to magic rather than a martial power, and amplified the power of internal force. Thus, it couldn’t be used alone. If Yongno extinguished Mercury and returned it to internal martial arts, he could use it by some means, but he wouldn’t do such a crazy thing no matter how ignorant he was of martial power commonsense.

VRRRR.

Eh?

Putting the turtle shell and blue marble in his inventory, Yongno felt the sudden vibration around him, then he found dozens of fish surrounding him.

What the heck? Why are the creatures here so hostile?

This world was created for users to clear basic missions; therefore, all the animal-type of NPCs here were sort of non-aggressive monsters. As long as the users didn’t attack them first, they wouldn’t pounce on the players at all. However, if the users provoked the animals, they could be aggressive enough to attack their enemies.

And in that sense, Yongno was so unlucky. In fact, the first giant fish he caught without much thought was the waterdrop turtle’s game. Yongno’s thoughtless behavior irritated the turtle, and therefore, he got bitten on the hand. To make matters worse, Yongno attacked the turtle, so the animal became completely hostile against him and started the combat.

Eh… why are they forming a larger group…?!

Unfortunately, the waterdrop turtle he barely knocked down was the game of the Blade fish, the school surrounding him.

Splash.

The group of fish moving rapidly around the water looked very bizarre. This fifty-centimeters long fish had a long blade-like nose and steel-like body, which didn’t look like a living creature. Besides, the part in the middle of the tail was absorbing water. It reminded him…

Eh? Eh? Eh…?!

Yongno was too disconcerted to react fast. Before he could defend himself, the school of blade fish swam toward him like arrows.

Sphhhlt!

Yongno frowned at the stabbing sensation. Thanks to D.I.O.’s pain control system, he didn’t feel any pain, but it was still unpleasant to face blades penetrating into his body. He raised his right arm to defend him against the attack. Since that part of the body was numb from a fatal attack, he could use it as a shield and buy time to counterattack.

It’s indeed solid.

Yongno grabbed one of the blade fish. Surprisingly, it felt like he was holding an iron bar. The creature was definitely unnatural. The blade-like nose was sharper than spears and swords; the fish body even seemed tolerable to a hammer strike. This fish even had its own propulsion system and could swim at the speed of an arrow. If users met it underwater, that was literally a disaster.

Splat!

When the blade fish pushed its nose into Yongno’s right arm and wriggled, his wound opened and clouds of gold smoke spread to all directions. Yongno’s status was still ‘serious injury’ and nothing turned worse, but his right arm looked like it was almost destroyed.

Using his left hand, Yongno channeled Penetration Power into the blade fish embedded in his arm.

Boom.

There was indeed no sound; it was just a feeling, but the wriggling blade fish disappeared with clouds of gold dust. There was only the Drop [Blade fish’s nose] left. It’s a unique item, but unfortunately, Yongno had no time to read any manuals.