Sam and Varien didn't waste too much time as they just started their journey once again.
While they are in the middle of their journey, Sam asked.
"If you don't mind me asking? Why didn't you stay until the coronation? I am pretty sure it would have been done in the next three days."
"We don't need to stay actually. Not all of the Sirens returned. I am only there for the discussions and meetings with the elders and officials to think of ways to improve our relationship. There is still a group of sirens left there to fulfill the superficial diplomatic duties.
They have higher ranks, so they don't do much work."
"Oh? That is good."
The conversation halted once again and after some time Varien himself spoke.
"We are near that location. I would just give you a brief estimation of the problem.
This area is the shallow waters nearest to our location and there is an island nearby which is used by us to train our young sirens for on-ground combat.
This is the largest island of the seas nearby and it is also the largest producer of the natural resources that are available on the land to us.
But currently, the shallow waters all around the island are occupied by special creatures. They are some kind of sea urchins."
"Sea urchins?"
"Yes, they are giant sea urchins, but they are not as passive as the sea urchins of regular types. These things started shooting spikes at anything that came into their ecosystem. But their spikes are weird and they are not using water as their attacking element."
"Really? That's strange."
"You will see what I am talking about. Those attacks are sneaky and not defendable easily and I have never seen a better advantageous situation for the sheer numbers in a species. Of course other than the sea folks."
"Do sea folks inhabit this sea too?"
"They are actually. But they are not the biggest enemy. The main problem with the sea folks is their breeding capacity. They don't have gender. Every sea folk can reproduce by themselves. In Planet 2, the sea folks are hidden within an undersea valley that was protected by a strong creature.
If that creature knew that sea folks are inside, it might have been the first one that killed them. But they managed to conceal themselves after our ancestors' attempt to clear them off. And that one mistake cost the elves dearly.
The sea folks are bad at learning. They don't learn fast. But once they learned they wouldn't forget the lesson. That day they learned the value of being able to hide and they started breeding once again.
The very creature that acted as cover for them became their dinner and they started growing rapidly and at the same time carefully.
The sea was slowly occupied and elves didn't even have a chance at them in the water. After that, you can guess what happened. They expanded too much that the creatures in sea will one wouldn't be sufficient for their development.
So, they needed the creatures from the land."
"Seems like a giant pain in the ass."
"It is actually. BE CAREFUL."
Varien yelled and Sam became alert, he suddenly felt something zooming towards him and he dodged to the side. A forearm-sized spike zoomed past him. But that is not the only thing that surprised Sam.
The thing that surprised him the most is the propulsion boost of the spike. It is not only fast and sneaky but gas is propelling it. It is almost like a rocket in the water.
Sam took a step back and looked at the rock in front of this. There is nothing he could see. At least with normal eyes.
He activated the energy vision and he finally the same something. A circular piece of 'rock' is moving on that larger rock with extreme stealth. And Sam saw another spike coming out of this piece of 'rock'. There is no sound, there are no energy waves, If not for the small gas bubble that emerged in the water, no one would even care for that gas bubble normally and as for the water ripples they are not that big of an indication because of the speed. Before the ripple can propagate the spike is already reaching the target.
Sam dodged the second spike. He wanted to catch it, but he couldn't. It is too fast. With his normal body in the water, it is impossible for him to catch it.
Sam swam back and waited there for a second before he noticed the 'rock' stopped moving.
Varien looked at Sam ready to interfere anytime.
"This really is a lot of work. It is undetectable in the normal case. But is it really that big of a deal? The spike can be taken care of with an armor right?"
"No there is poison in them. If it really stuck, the area would be swollen out of proportion and after it was swollen, it would explode easily with a single touch. And no matter what armor was used. The youngsters couldn't stop it. It is penetrating.
Only Transcendent or higher managed to even have any chance at blocking it."
Sam looked at it carefully for a while. The water elemental energy concentrated in his hand and he created a water fish full of spiritual energy and made it move towards the rock just like a fish would.
The spike came and penetrated through the fish easily and it didn't stop. Sam tried his best to halt the spike within that fish's body, but it didn't work.
"Anything with the water element is not working on the spikes. It is working on the urchin itself, but for that, we have to find its location first. But for the spikes themselves, they have this water elemental energy negation which is the major trouble for us."
"You said they move in numbers, why is there only one?"
"How do you know there is only one?"
"I can see it moving on the rock."
"You can?" Varien was surprised. But he held back and answered.
"This is the outskirts of the area and the rock is small, so it can only be occupied by one. There is a cliff for this island. You must see it there. It is an underwater hell."
Sam thought for a moment and swam towards the seafloor before collecting the sand and started creating a fish with his earth element.
And once again he sent it towards the rock. This time, the spike once again penetrated and went through, but it was not as brutal and damaging as it was but the spike still didn't hold. It floated away in the water.
Sam increased the next target in size and this time, the spike stayed like that. He recalled this sand lump back and took the spike out carefully.
His arm turned into a rock with partial fusion and he held it by the tail end as he examined.
He used the observation ability to check the structure of the spike.
There is only one thing Sam could describe the internal structure of this thing as, complex and precise.
The spike is not at all completely solid. In fact, it is mostly hollow and there is some small hall on the surface near the pointy end. This is to inject the poison, and the internal structure of the spike has many small and narrow channels that seem to have to channel some liquid. This liquid is the poison that is being injected. But that is not all, this liquid is also the propellant for the spike.
The intricate structure of this spike created a natural formation that converts this liquid into a gas at a low temperature.
This gas is propelling this spike.
Sam was more than surprised at this point. He never thought such a thing could exist. He knew of some sea-urchin type beasts from his database that could throw the spikes, but he is sure that there is nothing the bestiary that described a sea-urchin like this.
This thing must be a mixed species or a mutant, or this never appeared anywhere out of this planet.
"Interesting thing."
"Really? Interesting? This has been a living night mare for us. Just imagine what happens if a Pre-transcendent or even lower person falls into the water full of these things? They are going to make him a sieve in a second."
"I know, that is what makes this interesting. How did they manage to survive without you guys seeing it?"
"Actually, they lived under a large enclosed cave under the island. Some kids opened the cave accidentally."
"Then why don't you guys move some high-level people and kill them all."
"That is not possible. There are high-level creatures deep inside. The higher level sirens can take them on, but that would be a lot of damage, in fact, the main problem is their numbers. Even if they are low level, due to the water elemental negation, they are causing harm to even the elders. A sea urchin at the Pre-transcendent stage is not doing anything to a transcendent normally. But a fifty of them is hard for him to bear. Even if he wouldn't explode after swelling. The sting itself is unbearable.
And if there are three hundred of them, a consummate level cultivator is also going to be in trouble and the worst part is, we couldn't even attack from a very long range. We are mostly specialized in mid-range combat and these sea urchins' elders are also the same. A high-level cultivator will be sensed and be tackled by an equal and with the support of the extras, he would definitely die here."
