So I’m a Fish, So What?

Finally, it’s done!

Conducting a final inspection of my work, a feeling of pride washes over me.

Although it took a lot more time than expected, the tactical tunnel has been finally completed!

In fact, I had already finished a tunnel that stretched for 200 meters, but I quickly discovered that it won’t be enough.

I had planned to let the tunnel end in another area in case I needed to exit the tunnel and escape at full speed, though that turned out to be a flaw in my plan instead.

My enemies are nearly one thousand Polhza turtles with an average body size that’s double my own.

A mere 200 meters ain’t enough for my delicate control plan, they might even corner me from both sides.

So, I had to give up the first tunnel and started working on another one branching from its deepest point.

Now that I think about it, the average length of those turtles is actually higher than humans...

Anyways, it did take me a while, but as you can see, there’s now an entrance to a completed one-kilometer-long downwards parabolic tunnel right in front of me.

Guess it’s time to start operation Green-Tide then...

 

Twenty meters away from the tunnel’s entrance and fifty from the mushroom stem, you’d be able to see my shimmering violet body if not for my always-active Stealth skill.

My target is a section of the mushroom where the concentration of the turtle is the lowest.

While targeting this area can certainly weaken their first charge, it won’t really help much during the fight.

You won’t see me dismissing any advantage I could get though.

Ever seen anyone dismiss those last five minutes of sleep because they don’t amount to much? Never.

This fight has a single assassin fish on one side against a thousand turtles with incredible teamwork built into their skillset.

Any feelings of overconfidence or complacency on my side might just lead to my death, so I’ve already extinguished all of my emotions and flipped on my ruthless switch.

Right now, I’m trying to line up my first barrage in a way that can at least hit one enemy per spike. Efficiency is key to my plan.

Every kill counts.

After all, I’m pretty sure those guys function similarly to the angry monkeys from the Elroe labyrinth with the only difference being that they start as passive.

Trust me though, it doesn’t matter what differences they have, as long as a monster has some sort of chain-linked aggro or revenge mechanism, the fight isn’t over until one side is fully annihilated.

Don’t let their quiet neutral appearance fool you though as, in exchange for the loss of aggressiveness, their numbers are a couple of times higher, and magic practically has no effect on them.

I mean, look at their freaking main skill!!

 

{Magic Barrier: Consume MP to conjure a spherical barrier around the caster. Negates 10x skill level percent of all incoming magic damage.}

 

Like, what the actual fuck?!

Even if it goes through MP like water, this skill is still the literal definition of a magician’s nemesis!

Yet each turtle has the skill with a level 8 at the minimum!

As a mage, you could attempt a war of attrition against an enemy that has this skill, but it’s fucking impossible in this situation.

One turtle blocks your attacks until its MP is fully consumed, then it switches places with another turtle that does the same, and so on.

By the time you consume the MP of the entire tide, the first couple of turtles would’ve already recovered, trapping you into an endless loop!

I can totally understand why the eels never come down from their mushroom caps.

If I was in their shoes, I’d probably migrate to another biome.

I might respect them, yeah. But am I fine with being in their place? Hell no!

Fortunately, my skillset is a hard counter to the turtles, otherwise I would never risk this fight.

Physical spikes loaded with Deadly Poison Attack, supported by both Poison and Piercing Enhancement guarantee a rate of one kill per spike.

Since the spikes are physical, the barrier does nothing to stop them.

And with the turtles’ non-existent Poison Resistance, a tiny bit of my poison is overkill.

As for the Greed’s skill plunder? I’m definitely getting a max-level Magic barrier outta this fight!

Then, I’m totally gonna bully those eels and steal the prerequisite magic skills from them.

Ahh, I can already see my magical girl career beckoning me from the other side, wahahaha!

 

Thump x25.

Kicking off the operation, I team up with Manager-san to accurately shoot my spikes from different angles.

Although I instantly turned tails after firing, I observed the results through my sphere.

As the ten-time shooting world champion (self-proclaimed), each of my shots easily hit a distinct enemy without mistakes.

The fact that I don’t even need to hit fatal areas drastically reduces the difficulty, to be honest.

My poison makes short work of any enemy it touches in a maximum of ten seconds as long as it’s injected, no matter what the afflicted area is.

The synergy between my skills raises my DPS to a ridiculous number.

During those ten seconds, I successfully escaped into my tunnel opening right as the first of the non-injured turtles finally realized what had happened.

A goosebump-inducing clicking sound suddenly echoes through the surroundings as every single turtle on that mushroom stem simultaneously pops its head out from its shell and starts chasing me.

Let me just pause here for a moment.

I know this probably isn’t the right time, but I’ve gotta say, the sight of a turtle swarm moving in synchronization is just magnificent.

Even if that green tide consists of nothing but rabid murderous monsters that would stop at nothing but killing and devouring me, I’d absolutely love to see it again at another time.

Anyways, the green tide’s attention is now fully focused on my little figure at the entrance of my tunnel.

Despite their speed being nearly double my own, it still takes them a couple of seconds to reach the tunnel.

Seconds that I’d definitely not waste as I sent another barrage of spikes at them.

Although I don’t really have the freedom to aim without any distractions like the beginning, it’s practically impossible to miss under such circumstances.

I would’ve really loved to destroy their formation or something, but it’s impossible with their max-level Cooperation skill...

Not even a second after the second barrage lands, a deafening and continuous impact sound is heard throughout the entire tunnel.

As I said before, those turtles will stop at nothing but killing me. This includes the tunnel and the earth around it as well.

In fact, if Burrow didn’t include fortifying the walls, the tunnel would’ve probably collapsed at first contact.

Well, it’s not as if the charge was fully tanked anyways...

The first two meters of fortification have already been destroyed, leaving me no choice but to retreat further inside.

Luckily, the first charge actually deals the highest damage overall since they have momentum and all.

But the fact that only two meters collapsed means that Burrow is even better than I thought. I had expected at least ten meters would be gone in that charge.

A head suddenly pops in from the tunnel opening.

Crimson red mad eyes, obsidian black beak, emerald green scales, and two tiny gem-like horns jutting from the top.

Even if this mixture shows a terrifying monster, each one on its own is breathtaking.

Should I store some of this battle’s spoils and make accessories with them...? Bah, Tomoko, eyes on target!

Since I’m now inside a tunnel that barely fits my own body, spike barrages don’t work anymore.

So, I promptly switched to a semi-automatic firing mode and this poor guy just happens to be my first target.

Even if the number of enemies killed at one time decreases, the overall rate is still the same.

I don’t have to worry about corpses blocking my shots as their defense sharply drops after death anyways.

Unfortunately for the other turtles though, those corpses block them from attacking the tunnel.

 

{Acquired skill [Magic Barrier LV 1].}

{Experience has reached the required level. Individual laethoul ramae has increased from LV 6 to LV 7}

{All basic attributes have increased.}

{Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Deadly Poison Attack LV 4] has become [Deadly Poison Attack LV 5].}

{Conditions satisfied. Skill [Poison Enhancement LV 10] has evolved into [Poison Super-Enhancement LV 1].}

{Skill points acquired.}

 

The first level-up comes in by the time I get my sixtieth kill.

I didn’t actually hear the notification itself as I had let Manager-san turn off notifications before the fight.

Distractions are certainly not allowed in such a situation!

The reason why I knew about the level-up is that I had previously asked Manager-san to put my resource bars and a kill counter at the corner of my vision.

My resources refreshed as soon as the counter hit the 60 kills mark, so it’s pretty easy to keep tabs on my situation.

I don’t know what level my species evolves at, but I should be able to get at least 10 levels out of this fight!

 

{Condition satisfied. Acquired title [Monster Slaughterer].}

{Acquired skills [Herculean Strength LV 1] [Sturdy LV 1] as a result of title [Monster Slaughterer].}

{Skill [Strength LV 5] has been integrated into skill [Herculean Strength LV 1].}

{Skill [Solidity LV 4] has been integrated into skill [Sturdy LV 1].}

 

Are those turtles really gonna keep throwing themselves at me like idiots?

This fight is gonna take forever...

Sadly, while Greed’s plundered skill points and skills are added to my status right away, the stats are accumulated and added after I’m ‘out of combat’.

My killing efficiency would’ve increased exponentially otherwise.

Huh? Something’s changed.

Let me see, hmmm...

Woah! They guys have gotten a whole lot smarter and more aggressive all of a sudden!

Looking at their status, I quickly locate two new skills I had hoped I would never see.

Anger and Revenge.

Fuck. I’ll be chased till the ends of the earth now, huh?

Any retreat plans can just be thrown out of the window, escape is impossible now.

Through my sphere, I could see that the turtles stopped crowding in front of the entrance and began regularly surrounding the tunnel.

The corpses that previously blocked the turtles’ access to the tunnel are now being placed by the opening in order to block my shots.

Things just got a lot trickier...