Power, Defence, and Speed

"Vikram, get the Gharial and stay underwater, only act when necessary," Prakash said as Ugly Shaggy entered the head of the pigeon they used to fly down.

"Alright," Vikram nodded as he dived into the reddish-brown waters below and materialised his mini Shaggy. His mini Shaggy hurriedly entered into the head of the Gharial and wriggled its humongous reptilian body into the water.

Due to its streamlined body structure, the Gharial entered the reddish-brown waters without making any splashing sounds, completely disappearing into it.

'Tap' 'Tap'

The sounds of something hard and sharp hitting the floor continued to echo in a rhythmic manner as Prakash gazed with bated breath towards his front that was almost pitch black. Since it was night time and they lacked a source of electricity, they had only brought a flashlight with them. All the other sources of illumination were left at the base.

"Since it seems to be heading this way, it means it has already locked onto our aroma." Prakash thought as he switched on his flashlights and focused it towards the source of the sounds.

"Damn it," Prakash couldn't help but curse when the focused beam from the flashlight was reflected back towards him. He hurriedly shielded his eyes while purple smoke rushed towards his eyes and transformed them into that of a dog's, in order to give him better night vision.

He then used his enhanced strength to tilt the tiny flashlight towards the water surface. The murky water surface dispersed the condensed beam and reflected most of them back into the air. A faint mellow light that was a mixture between yellow and red permeated through the surroundings, lighting it up enough for his dog eyes to see perfectly for a dozen metres around him.

Though, some of the stray cans that floated on the waters occasionally came into contact with the light beam and reflected it with higher intensities that strained his eyes. The reflected light was also sharp and visually disturbing as compared to the mellow reflection by the water.

There are two types of photoreceptors in the retina: Cones and Rods. The Cones are active at higher light intensities and are capable of colour vision and high spatial acuity. Meanwhile, the Rods are responsible for providing vision at low light intensities.

Among all the transformations he currently possessed, the eyes of the Dog had the highest amount of Rods, not to mention it having the cheapest Karma expenditure, making it the most optimal option for him.

A figure seemed to be descending the flight of steps a dozen metres in front of him in a calm manner as its heels first came into view, followed by its legs, etc.

For a moment, Prakash forgot to breathe as the approaching bipedal figure came into view. It spanned a height of one metre while its entire body seemed to be covered by a thick layer of armour. Its armour looked similar to the back of the turtles he had seen plenty of times before. Moreover, a thin layer of shell like structure also covered its limbs, leaving no open areas that were unprotected.

But, it was the head region that sent a chill to his spine. Its appearance, the way it moved, the sound it produced, and lastly, the way its eyes and head were shaped, all of them were chill-inducing. They also made his fears sprang up into full bloom. The size difference further increased its scary features.

It was a snake head!

If he had to name one creature that always scared him, it was the snake. When he lived in his hometown, he almost had an encounter with a snake every week. During summers, he would always pray to not witness a snake at least for a single day. There were plenty of people in his hometown that could catch snakes as easy as picking up a rock from the ground, but he was always fearful of them, to the extent that he would run away at the mere mention of its name.

"Gah" Before he could come to his senses, his legs reflexively began sprinting in the opposite direction. Prakash hurriedly climbed atop the pigeon and urged it to fly.

The puppet pigeon took off in a hurry and began escaping towards a hole in the wall that he had used to enter the shopping mall in the first place. On a closer look, the head of the creature looked to be that of a cobra, a snake possessing highly potent venom. Moreover, the trace amount of blue radiance around the creature signified that it was a zombie.

"No way in hell am I fighting against that thing. One hit and I will be done for." Prakash thought as he urged his pigeon to fly faster. He left all the control to Ugly Shaggy while he kept an eye on the approaching creature.

<Karma: Dog-201 (11.48%)>

He would have at least tried to fight against it had he possessed 2000 Dog Karma. He could have shot 2 bolts of Karmic Lightning at the creature and then tried to overwhelm it somehow. But, with his current pitiful reserves, he couldn't dare to so much as fart at it.

A bolt of Karmic Lightning consumed about 1000 Dog Karma which he clearly lacked at present. With his strongest attack out of the picture, he didn't have many facilities to injure the creature. He didn't have enough comprehension of the Gharial Karma to transform into its adult form. So, the biggest transformation he could currently execute was that of a Dog, a puppy version of the German Shepherd.

The puppy wouldn't be able to do much against the armoured creature, not to mention the unique trait of zombies that could attack his main body even through his transformation. Moreover, their attacks could directly decrease the attainment levels of his Karmic Art, something he didn't wish to witness.

'Splash'

The eyes of the snakehead gazed in his direction as it bent its legs until its buttocks almost touched the floor. It then performed a jump and entered the murky waters, using its streamlined body that was meant for water movement to catch up to the fleeing prey.

"Faster!" Prakash screamed as he urged Ugly shaggy to fly faster. The pigeon flapped its wings at a higher frequency in response to his shouts and further increased its speed. But, the swimming speed of the Turtle Zombie was faster.

18 metres, 15 metres, 5 metres… the distance between the two was rapidly decreasing as the Turtle Zombie continued to swim faster and faster.

When the distance between the two had decreased to 3 metres, Prakash could clearly observe the features of the Turtle Zombie that chased him, especially its snakehead that made his bladder ready to leak at any moment.

For a moment, the eyes of Prakash made eye contact with the Turtle Zombie. Suddenly, faint purple bolts of lightning coursed through his body, shocking him back to his senses when he noticed an opened snake mouth in front of his face.

It was the unique property of the snakes, especially the cobras. Their breathing and moving patterns were so attuned with nature that the human brain would gloss over them, assuming them to be as an unfocused backdrop.

"Gaah," Using the body of the pigeon as a foothold, Prakash jumped up, barely missing the teeth of the snake that lunged at him.

'Chiii'

The pigeon cried in pain as the snake bit into its body, lodging its fangs deep into its flesh. The bird struggled to free itself and flapped its wings, flying this way and that, all in order to create some distance so that the snake will lose its grip. But, the snake continued to grow longer and longer, meanwhile, its body swam in waters, keeping up with the movements of the bird.

Seeing that its struggles turned out to be futile, Ugly Shaggy emerged out of its body and flew back towards Prakash. The eyes of the snake traced its movements while Ugly Shaggy sent a hatred filled glare towards it in response.

Purple smoke gushed out of the pores on his skin and coagulated to form a cocoon that wrapped around him and shattered to reveal a baby pigeon from within. Ugly Shaggy hovered next to its body as the baby pigeon continued to escape.

"As long as Vikram doesn't make an appearance, that zombie wouldn't be able to sense him due to the various auras mixed in the water." Prakash thought as he neared the hole in the wall, intending to slip through it.

"I too should have hid in the waters. This is way beyond what I could handle." Prakash lamented. He didn't feel the need to hide due to the presence of the Gharial, thinking that they could handle whatever creature came their way. As an apex predator, it could probably handle anything that nature threw at them.

But, now that the Gharial hadn't made an appearance even when he was getting cornered, Prakash felt that something was amiss.

"Did Vikram betray me? No, thinking of his character, that possibility is nil. Then, had we overlooked something important? Damn." Prakash thought as he focused on escaping.

Within the reddish-brown waters, a figure was desperately urging his Minor art manifestation to materialise.

"Damn it, why is it not materialising?" Vikram thought as he continued to urge his mini Shaggy to appear. Every time he willed for it to materialise, purple smoke would gush out of his body but when it was in the process of condensing, it would look in the direction of the Turtle Zombie and involuntarily dissipate back into purple smoke.

When he used it to control the Gharial to enter the reddish-brown waters, it behaved normally. But, the moment the Turtle Zombie made an appearance, it suddenly dissipated and would no longer materialise.

Only Victoris could materialise beside him, but even it appeared to be apprehensive about confronting the Turtle Zombie. It could clearly sense the fallen aura of one of its own within the body of the Turtle Zombie, meaning that it had already devoured a Karmic Art.

Victoris gazed at the Turtle Zombie as the tiny image fragments in its body melted and a stream of purple smoke gushed into Vikram's body. The purple smoke rapidly rushed towards his head region and dissipated. A message then appeared in his thoughts.

"Tha..t…zombie….has devoured…a..Karmic Art.....Dangerous." The eyes of Vikram widened in response when he received such a message from Victoris.

"Dangerous? Of course, I know that." Vikram raged as he struggled to untie himself from his bonds. He had wanted to help his brother from the start, but Victoris had coiled its body around him and tied him to the body of the Gharial that had managed to sink to the floor bed by now.

They were also obscured by layers of dirt and debris that Victoris had hurriedly piled upon them.

"Brother!" Vikram despaired as he saw his brother getting overwhelmed through the vision of Victoris. He hadn't expected his Karmic Art manifestation to turn against him at such a precarious moment. To it, only the safety of his life mattered. But to him, the safety of his brother also mattered as much as his own life.

The snake widened its jaws and swallowed the bird. The bird was actually flooded with that human aroma that made it addicting to the Turtle Zombie. It didn't want to waste even a single drop of its blood. Even while it was swallowing the pigeon, its snake eyes never lost sight of the baby pigeon that Prakash had transformed into.

"Another...Karmic...Art….. user....Delicious…." The eyes of the Turtle Zombie closed for an instant to relish the taste of the pigeon while its anticipation further heightened for the heavenly taste that a Karmic Art manifestation would possess. Moreover, it knew from its instincts; after consuming another Karmic art manifestation, it would become strong enough to fight against that accursed crocodile, the one that had devoured its family.

The baby pigeon continued to fly forward while Ugly Shaggy relayed the position of the Turtle Zombie from the back through their shared vision. He could see how the pigeon became a lump in its throat that proceeded to flow along its long body that spanned many metres in length by now until it entered the humanoid body that was swimming through the waters. It was a frightening sight to see.