Chapter 180: I don't want any more seafood

Qin Hua stomped her paw and the fragmented bones of the skeleton turned to dust. [These guys aren't that strong. Purple, you lead the way. Growl!] She instructed Coco to walk behind her and the clone to lead their path.

In that formation, they moved down the winding tunnels of the cave as more and more skeletal soldiers started popping out. [Hmm… a lot of ants but they are still ants. Growl!]

[Get them purple! Growl!]

The pitch-black shadow clone with its eerie purple eyes pounced on the skeletons not caring about anything else.

Qin Hua watched in amusement as another being that looked just like her mauled the skeletons left and right. 

Its strength and damage output were definitely different and moreover, it looked like the clone was unable to use any magic attacks, but still, it was quite skilled and dealt with the multitude of enemies.

Qin Hua used this chance to practice her dark element manipulation further and started sending out elemental attacks in various shapes and sizes.

Balls, spheres, small swords, big swords, sticks, stones, tridents… She let her imagination run wild and manipulated the energy under her command to do her bidding.

As they moved deeper into the caves, more soldiers began appearing and this only helped her continue her training. 

Originally, Qin Hua had wanted to at least reach the next level in [Darkness Manipulation] before she used the item given by the creepy ghost, but now it looked like she would be able to upgrade both her skills and her overall level!

<Ding. 1 Skeletal soldier killed>

<50 Experience points have been rewarded>

<Ding. 1 Skeletal soldier killed>

<50 Experience points have been rewarded>

…

…

…

As the experience points rained down, the wolf's face was full of smiles, revealing all her sharp teeth. Coco caught this scary sight and quickly looked towards the undead skeletons as they were less scary.

The three continued smashing through the cave tunnels in this way until finally, they came to a halt in front of a steep drop.

[Huh? What is this? Growl.]

Qin Hua peered ahead curiously only to see a huge clear blue lake in front of her. There was a small hole at the top of the cave through which moonlight slipped in and danced on the tranquil lake.

The sight itself was simply breathtaking and the water looked even more inviting. However, Qin Hua stood still without moving forward as she gazed at the beautiful scenery in front of her.

[Ah! Damn it! Why did I not learn swimming!]

[Wait do dogs know how to swim? Maybe I will just jump in and I will know what to do?]

Several ideas flashed past her mind as she tried to think about what to do. There wasn't any path on or around the lake and there were only a few small rocks here and there.

Maybe if she braved herself to step into the water a couple of times, she would probably be able to navigate through the lake? Qin Hua eyed the lake warily but the rewards were far too generous for her to not go forward at this point.

[Coco, do you know to swim?] She cocked her head to the side and asked, but the cat was already backing out as if she was going to turn back and run away.

[Growl? Sorry, buddy. No go! We are going to take a dip today!]

[JUMP!!!]

She caught the fleeing feline and jumped into the lake. Her clone as well followed suit and did the same thing.

Plop. Plop. Plop. Three loud splashing noises echoed in the otherwise silent cavern. 

While the clone calmly paddled its paws and swam ahead, the other two struggled for a few seconds before getting the grasp of things, but the lake did not remain idle in the meantime.

The new movement in the previously calm lake triggered waves far and wide and dozens of water snakes swam towards the three.

Qin Hua shrieked and jumped up and Coco tried to swim in the other direction, but there seemed to be movements from both sides.

[Ah! Alright! Time to get my paws dirty. Coco, stay in the middle. Purple, you take this side, I will take that side.]

Qin Hua suddenly wished she had brought Lu Chen, Guan Ye, and Alex with her as the incoming beasts had the advantage of numbers. 

Not that they were going to lose, but they hadn't spotted any crystal core yet and the difficulty seemed to have suddenly gone up by several levels.

Qin Hua even contemplated returning back here along with a few others but then decided to pin this thought for later. She could still press on until things became too much to handle.

Of course, this was to be expected just judging from the generous rewards of the quest.

Growl!

[Majestic Roar]

Qin Hua instantly cast [Black Rain], followed by [Chaos Ball]. 

The water snakes had a green body and when she looked closely there seemed to be something sizzling around them. 

They also looked a bit different from the normal appearance of a snake. [Inspect]

<Ding. Striped Eel; Level 32>

<Ding. Striped Eel; Level 38>

<Ding. Striped Eel; Level 35>

<Ding. Striped Eel; Level 33>

[Oh!] Qin Hua's eyes widened, but even if they were different beasts, her end goal was still the same. She dug her canines into the flesh of the eels and a tasty juicy flavor filled her mouth.

Along with it, a small shock as well traveled down her spine, giving her a jolt. 

Moreover, every time an eel crackled all three of them received a shock, and the effect intensified when multiple eels crackled at the same time. The fact that they were in a water body right now proved to be a huge disadvantage.

Qin Hua immediately realized that they were in a deadly situation and did not hold back at all. 

Though the strength of the eels wasn't that much different from the undead skeletons, these were far more dangerous and posed a much bigger threat.

[Purple! Move fast. Kill as many as possible. Growl!] Qin Hua's paws danced in the water and swimming was no longer her biggest concern.

As if they had been deprived of food and starving for a long time, more and more eels started swimming towards them. 

The few drops of blood which some eels managed to draw by biting into her fur and the black blood oozing from the dead eels made this matter worse and attracted even more beasts.

At least the skeletons only came at them one or three at a time but at this rate, all the eels and possibly other beasts in the entire lake were coming at them at the same time.

They smelled the blood and commotion and rushed towards the source of the disturbance.

Glug. Glug. Glug. Qin Hua dipped her head underwater to take a look and the sight was nothing short of terrifying. So many colorful things were rushing towards her.

Any moment now, she could be possibly shocked to death! She was just a single attack away from being completely burnt to a crisp.

This was not a horde of beasts that she could manage, so without hesitating for another moment, she quickly picked Coco and tossed the cat back into the cave.

Meow!

The cat yelped in pain as the landing was probably rough, but still, that pain was nothing when compared to being electrocuted by a million eels at the same time.

<Ding. 1 Striped Eel killed>

<60 Experience points have been rewarded>

<Ding. 1 Striped Eel killed>

<60 Experience points have been rewarded>

<Ding. 1 Striped Eel killed>

<60 Experience points have been rewarded>

....

…

…

Qin Hua clawed as many eels as she could with experience points filling up and jumped onto a small rock that was nearby.

But how could she balance her huge body on that small rock? Only one of her paws was able to land on it.

However, despite that awkward position, she frantically started casting spells left and right, her core rotating in her body at top speed, pumping out more and more mana.

On the other side of the lake, the shadow of a dog dangling mid-air resting on a single paw and shooting out black bullets could be seen.

Some even jumped out of the lake water, which she directly snapped in her canines and swallowed whole, replenishing her mana at the same time.

And luckily for Qin Hua, these beasts unexpectedly had small mana cores studded within their bodies, unlike the undead skeletons. So she was also able to replenish some of her mana reserves as well.

More importantly, though the size of their mana core was very small, every time she absorbed one, thick wisps of mana circulated in her body. 

These were at least a dozen times better than the zombie mana cores of the same size. Qin Hua smacked her mouth and pushed in one more eel as she pondered about this.

Not all mana cores were the same!

[Woof! I will think about this later! I need to kill more now!]

The fight became more and more chaotic as she somehow tried to stay on the few inches of dry land and tackle the hundreds of eels coming at her.