Viktor clenched his jaws as a window popped up before his eyes, glowing faintly even in the murky underwater darkness.

[Ability Activated: Water Spirit]

[Holds breath for impossible lengths, swims faster than most run, dives to dangerous depths with ease, navigates any current effortlessly, moves through water like a mythical creature]

His eyes snapped open wide—sharp, clear, unaffected by the freezing water. This ability, the one he'd gotten from fucking Mira before, surged through his body like electricity lighting up dead circuits.

The stream was taking all of them, pulling them deeper into the underground river system with vicious speed. But Viktor didn't fight it.

He moved.

Not swimming. Not paddling.

Hurtling.

His body cut through the water faster than he'd ever run on solid ground, his limbs moving with inhuman precision. He twisted mid-current, spotting Bella's small form tumbling helplessly a few feet away, her eyes wide with terror, bubbles streaming from her nose and mouth.

He reached her in half a second.

His arms wrapped around her waist, yanking her against his chest. Her body was limp, her cat ears plastered flat against her skull, her tail floating uselessly behind her.

Then he spotted Kaida.

She was further down, struggling against the current, her arms flailing, her red eyes bulging as she tried to swim upward. Her mouth was open in a silent scream, water rushing in.

Viktor shot toward her like a jet ski, his speed creating a wake that pushed against the current itself. He grabbed her arm with his free hand and pulled her close, now holding both women against him.

Both their eyes widened in shock as they registered his speed. It was inhuman. Impossible.

But there was no time to explain.

The current took them again, and Viktor let it, using the flow to propel them even faster. They entered a tunnel—narrow, claustrophobic, the stone walls rushing past in a blur. Then another tunnel, faster, tighter.

CRACK.

Viktor's shoulder slammed into the wall. Pain flared, but he gritted his teeth and kept moving, adjusting his angle to avoid the next impact.

They hit another wall. Then another.

He was moving so fast the collisions felt like hammer blows, each one rattling his bones.

Bella and Kaida were goggling now, their faces twisted in panic, their mouths opening and closing as they tried desperately not to breathe in water. But it was getting harder. Their lungs were burning.

Viktor noticed it immediately.

'They're suffocating.'

He scanned the tunnel walls, searching for an air pocket, a hollow space, anything—but there was nothing. Just endless water, rushing faster and faster.

And then the tunnel opened up.

His eyes widened.

They weren't in a tunnel anymore.

They were in an enormous underground waterfall.

The water around them was falling—no, plummeting—into a massive vertical shaft that seemed to go on forever. The roar of the waterfall was deafening, the pressure crushing.

If he didn't act now, Bella and Kaida would be in serious danger.

Hell, he was only safe because of the Water Spirit ability, which made him nearly a water beast.

His speed increased again, his body moving so fast through the falling water that Bella and Kaida had to cover their faces with their hands. The water was entering their noses forcefully, making them gargle and choke.

Viktor's jaw clenched.

'I need to get them air. Now.'

He tried to swim upward, angling toward the surface, but as soon as he neared the top, his head collided with solid rock.

The water level hit the ceiling completely.

They were trapped. Sealed in like rats in a drowning cage.

'Shit.'

His hands moved on instinct, clawing at the stone above him. His fingers found something—tree roots, scattered throughout the rock, thin and fibrous.

He grabbed a fistful and pulled.

The roots came free with a wet snap.

And then another window appeared.

[Ability Activated: Craftsman Genius]

[Hands create anything imaginable from raw materials, problem-solving through pure creation, builds working items from trash, quality rivals legendary smiths, speed tripled without loss of quality]

Viktor's hands moved faster than thought.

He clenched the roots in his fist, his fingers twisting and molding them like clay. The roots bent, folded, reshaped themselves under his touch, responding to his will as if they were made of soft wax instead of rigid plant fiber.

In three seconds, he'd formed a mask.

He pressed it over Kaida's face first, fitting it snugly over her nose and mouth. The roots tightened on their own, sealing against her skin.

Her eyes widened in shock as the tree roots absorbed the water between her lips, creating a small pocket of air inside the mask. It wasn't perfect—but it gave her a few precious seconds to breathe.

He did the same for Bella, molding another mask and pressing it over her face.

Both women's eyes were losing focus, their movements sluggish. Bella had been paralyzed just moments ago, her body still weak. Kaida's lungs were burning, her consciousness fading.

But the masks gave them hope.

Just a few more seconds.

That was enough.

Viktor turned and moved.

His body blurred through the water like a bullet, faster than he'd ever moved before. He wasn't swimming anymore—he was teleporting, his form vanishing and reappearing several feet ahead with each stroke.

Bella and Kaida's eyes widened in shock, their minds struggling to process what they were seeing.

'What the hell is his speed?!'

And then Viktor saw it.

Light.

A faint glow ahead, filtering through the water.

The exit.

He kicked harder, his body rocketing forward, and then—

SPLASH.

They burst out of the water like a dolphin breaching the surface, all three of them soaring through the air.

For a split second, Viktor felt weightless.

And then gravity kicked in.

CRACK.

They hit the ground.

Hard.

Viktor landed flat on his back, Bella and Kaida crashing down on top of him.

"KHURCHKK—!" The impact drove the air from his lungs in a violent gasp. His ribs snapped—he felt them break, felt the sharp, white-hot pain lance through his chest.

Blood filled his mouth, hot and metallic.

"Cough!" He coughed, sputtering, red droplets spraying from his lips.

The recoil had been too much. Even with the Water Spirit ability, his human body couldn't handle moving that fast and then slamming into solid ground from that height.

The added weight of Bella and Kaida on top of him had only made it worse.

They were both thrown apart away from him as Kaida rolled and fell.

Her vision swam.

"...."

The silence hit first.

Not the peaceful kind-the suffocating kind. The kind that pressed down on the chest and made breathing feel like swallowing glass.

"Haah... Haah...!" Kaida gasped, her lungs burning as she dragged in air that tasted like copper and earth. Water dripped from her hair, plastering red strands to her face and neck. Her body trembled-not from cold, though she was freezing-but from the sheer shock of being alive.

Her vision swam as she blinked hard, forcing her eyes to focus.

Stone. Gray stone beneath her palms. Rough, cold, solid.

She was on the ground.

'How-?'

Her breath came in ragged bursts, each inhale sharp and painful like her lungs had forgotten how to work properly. Her fingers clawed at the stone, nails scraping as she tried to push herself up.

And then she saw him.

Viktor.

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