The Thirteenth Night - Part 2 - Excess Energy

The moon rose the thirteenth time and the wind got so much stronger than even the waves of the flood hovered from time to time while tornadoes formed not so afar.

There was nothing like a creature above the flood that could be called mindless birds.

But beneath was still filled with water creatures and the ultimate of them all, the Water Sentinel!

That Water Sentinel was glowing brighter than before and desperately wiggling its huge body because within it was like a parasite, eating away all of its energy and the Water Sentinel had no mechanism to solve this problem except to use the energy inside manually.

Yet, that clearly was not enough since the so-called "parasite" was getting stronger as time passes if not removed.

The Water Sentinel was not created with the countermeasures and preventions against this unexpected and unpredictable danger.

It was so desperate that it was emitting light as if it was the second moon below the waters.

More light means more energy being used.

Time passed and the Water Sentinel seemed to wiggle slower and had lesser light rather than the opposite.

It was weakening...

The moon was atop the sky, being a seer to the chaos happening by the forces of nature.

At this point, the Water Sentinel's mouth closed, however, fingers came out of it and abruptly-

Crack!* the iron gate-like jaws and teeth of the Water Sentinel was forcefully opened with a loud crack.

Renir, glowing in white, surging with power came out of it.

As he was slammed by the water that entered the Water Sentinel's mouth, it was as if it welcomed rather than harming him.

When he made direct contact with the water, he was touched by the enlightenment after almost absorbing all of the Water Sentinel's concentrated energy of the water element.

He came out as a new man, filled with power.

With a thought, the water dragged him out of the Water Sentinel's mouth.

As if confused, not programmed to deal with the sudden outcome, the Water Sentinel stopped moving and stared at Renir.

The glow which was supposed to be from the Water Sentinel was now from Renir.

He is now the second source of light in the dark.

Renir breathed as if water was now air, he didn't feel any discomfort.

He felt like he ascended godhood.

The big fish in front of him was just harmless to him. He thought.

Renir left the Water Sentinel's stomach with less than a quarter of the concentrated energy within it.

When his water affinity reached the level of [250], it stopped increasing afterward. Renir thought that the glow he was emitting was just excess energy not being able to be converted to his own.

This is proving his theory of energy conversion, but still, not enough.

Currently, he had to use this excess of power somehow so at the same time, get his body customized to this new power.

If he could somehow teach his body to handle this energy, maybe the level of water affinity may increase once more and Renir will be able to absorb all of the Water Sentinel's concentrated energy within it.

But as he looked up the surface, he saw the moon in the middle of the nightsky.

Renir knew that he did not take that long inside the Water Sentinel for a night to pass, but as he looked at the wavering sight of the moonlight, he knew it wasn't just because of the waves.

Turning his back on the Water Sentinel, Renir resurfaced to meet the tornadoes that run amok the Gantlet.

It was worse than he had imagined...

In the instant he resurfaced, he met wind that seemingly and purposively harming him.

It was like the water spears created by the Water Sentinel but marginally weaker if compared.

And now, Renir was stronger than before by tenfold or so. There was no way it could harm him. But if he was still like before, it will become pretty troublesome for him.

So what about Sceke and the others?

Worriedly, Renir left the Water Sentinel on standby with a large boom that created a wave that stopped the chaotic wind on its path.

As soon as Renir left, the Water Sentinel glowed once more and the flood decreased.

It wanted revenge.

For the new king of the water, Renir obviously noticed the changes in the flood but ignored it since around the indestructible mountain, a tornado was raging.

While Renir was coursing through the water, he now understood why he was faster in it. It was not because he got stronger and faster, therefore, applying it to swimming but subconsciously ordering the water to let him pass through which was disobeying the natural laws of physics.

There must be an unknown law that was different in Gantlet from the world he originated, Renir thought.

With his speed, he reached the indestructible mountain within a minute, leaving the water he coursed through split in half.

He looked up and saw the next creatures he had to face, the mindless birds.

Somehow, Renir got a gist why they were called the mindless birds. It might be because they have no form so they literally have no mind.

They were just joint wind in the shape of different birds.

Renir hurried since he was filled with worry...

Inside the tornado, into the mountain was the Pentafive, "enjoying" the wind.

They were below the window where mindless birds relentlessly came in without permission with the intention to kill.

The five of them sat below that window, knowing they were safe there.

They knew the weakness of these mindless birds. These mindless burds needed a foundation of a strong wind before forming, attacking, then disappearing.

And, inside the cave, it was too small for the wind to maneuver and thus, connot for wind strong enough to create these mindless birds.

If they had no countermeasures against these, they wouldn't have survived until the 30th night once.

However...

"We.... messed up....", Sceke then laughed with his trembling lips.

"Yes, we did mess up.", even with the cold wind pushing their skin, Old Ze was sweating in fear while hugging Ye to keep her warm.

They decided to wait for Renir but he tood longer than before. It was stupid for them not to expect that but the gratitude within them didn't let them leave. And, eventually, they subtly regretted their decision.

When Little Ye felt the sweat from her grandpa, she commented, "Disgusting!", but she hugged tighter.

Hanzee shivered, "Ah! I hate this cold!", he was fine with heat a hundred times over.

"Hehehehe.", meanwhile, Veronia was still fine than the rest. When she reached Rank 4, her strength increased "overall" that included her resistance to cold, heat, etc.

Sceke looked at the grandfather-granddaughter pair in his left doing fine so he looked at Veronia in his right and said, "Veronia, won't you hug me too?", he spread his arms while sticking out his lips.

Veronia, in response, took Hanzee in the middle of them while kicking Sceke away.

"That is really sexual harassment now! And why are sticking out your lips?!", she complained.

"Ugh, I forgot that you got a thing for Veronia, Sceke...", Hanzee indifferently said.

"No", Sceke indifferently replied, "I don't."

Hanzee ignored his reply and turned to Veronia, "And could you not carry me as if I'm a child!"

"Tsk!", Veronia clicked her tongue as she looked at Hanzee as if he was a lowly being, "But you're so small."

"Ahhh!!! How did you fall for this vixen!?"

"Why do you keep saying that?", Sceke complained, "I would never fall to such a sexy woman."

Veronia's face darkened, "So just because I'm sexy..."

She kicked Sceke in the face with strength.

"Ack-!", Sceke dropped on the ground and felt the shivers up his skin, "I'm...", but suddenly felt the change of the wind the next moment, "not cold...?", he was puzzled.

At that moment, a white light entered everyone's eyes.

It was obviously not the moonlight... but rather, it was like the white glow of the Water Sentinel, an undulating white light after traversing through the water.

Noticing this, the lax atmosphere became vigilant!

They all turned their head behind to see the window and saw the wall of water behind it. That was the reason for change of wind.

Because of this, the noise of the wind came to a stop and the pulsations covered the cave with its beats.

They all had worried expressions, this is the first time that water reached the cave's window.

Was the Water Sentinel just behind the wall of water?

That couldn't be, right?

Their minds came back to reality after the lax atmosphere as they thought sharply.

'But there was not another thing that emits such a glow other except for the Water Sentinel.'

'What did Renir do?'

They all thought in sync. Because this was both unexpected and unpredicted while the only known cause for this was the only mysterious variable, Renir.

But, at the next moment, they were all thrown to greater confusion.

"Is... everything fine here?", after he jumped out of the wall of water, Renir, glowing in white that lightened up the cave like never before, asked in worry.

Like a benevolent god that descended to look after his creations.

"Are you...", Sceke frowned, his heart sunk, "the spirit of Renir...?"