The pond was gross.

  It had taken Jack a full hour just to reach it, with most of that time taken to exit the town itself. He’d needed to wait until a knight could verify from the western gate that he had been permitted entry from the major himself. It had taken even longer to find the overgrown path that led to the alleged base of the river that powered the six mills he’d spotted lining the bank of the gurgling river that bordered the town.

  But now he was here, and he was not impressed.

  He stood at the edge, studying the locale for his first sidequest. The pond was less than one hundred yards from the border of the shroud. It dominated the horizon in that direction, and this close, he could see a slight curve to its structure.

  The pond had cattail plants lining its bank, except the bulbous heads were a rotten purple rather than the autumnal brown he was used to. They reeked of sulfur for some accursed reason, but he forced himself to brave through it.

  The body of water itself was stagnant save for the steady stream that widened into the river at the southern tip of the pond. Leaves, sticks, and algae floated in lazy clumps along the surface, and it was all so murky he could barely peer into its depths. His boots sank into the soft mud by the bank as he leaned over, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the fish.

  He didn’t spot so much as a mosquito, much less a trout or bass or whatever passed for river fish in this world.

  Is it the shroud? He wondered. Is that what’s making even the insects run away in terror from this place?

  Jack placed both hands on his hips and scowled at the river. How did it even have enough water to generate flow? This pond wasn’t some vast lake fed by snowdrift! Was some weird sort of magic at work here?

  “Where are your fish?” Jack asked the pond in frustration.

  A thought suddenly struck him.

  “Oh, crap… Can the system give an unsolvable quest?” The moment he posed the question, he felt all of the fledgling hope that had been building in his chest sour. “No, that can’t be. Whatever operates the system wouldn’t do that… right?”

  He had no way of knowing.

  Then he thought of Steward, and his opinion of the world’s magical infrastructure lowered considerably. If that arrogant prick was meant to watch over this planet’s magic and quests, they were all doomed. No way that poisoned jerk was going to waste any of his time optimizing a small town like this in order to prevent tiny sidequest mishaps.

  “Okay, Jack,” he said to himself. “Assume the sidequests are automated and based on stimuli, just like Olric explained. That means that some part of the world knows there are at least ten fish I can collect here, even if it’s just Felix. Come on. You can fix this. You can get that precious EXP, turn in the quest, and get to level 10 in no time. You can do this!”

  Hyping himself up barely helped, but it still felt good to name the problem and offer a solution, even if it was ten shades past conjecture.

  He leaned over further, bending at the hips to see if the new position could pierce the pond’s veil of murkiness.

  There!

  He’d seen a ripple.

  It had been subtle, but it kind of looked like a dark-scaled trout!

  Feeling emboldened, he stepped into the murky water and raised his right hand.

  You can do this! Just ten fish. The quest didn’t specify size, so catch what you can! Jack reminded himself.

  He flexed his fingers until they resembled pincers, and he hovered them just above the surface of the water. A northern breeze cast fresh ripples across the entirety of the lake, and he glanced up to see the storm looming above him.

  How did it move so fast?

  It had been a few miles out just an hour ago!

  “Okay, fishies. Come on out,” Jack cooed.

  The mud settled, and he could just barely make out the shallow bottom near where he stood ankle-deep in the disgusting liquid. It smelled like rotten fish, but he supposed all ponds probably smelled like that.

  He waited.

  There!

  He’d definitely seen one this time. It had to be a fin. It dashed between two of the disgusting cattails. Jack followed, his excitement burying the revulsion he felt at wading through this water.

  Two this time!

  “Yes!” Jack exclaimed, catching quite a bit of movement beneath the surface now.

  He’d just had to get into the deeper water to find all the fish! That was all! Even now, he could make out what had to be a whole school of fish shifting and dancing beneath the surface. He was down to his hips now, but that hardly mattered. He’d probably get wet in the rain soon anyway.

  This was fine.

  Jack prepared his grip again, ready for whichever unlucky fish came into his grasp first.

  Something warm and oily wrapped both of his legs, and he was instantly dragged beneath the surface.

  He was the unlucky fish.

  Jack’s world went from overcast and gray to a world of yellows and greens that had no business getting inside his lungs. Water flooded his eyes, his nose, his mouth. He instinctively tried to take in a breath and regretted it immediately. He was dragged ever deeper, and soon what little light that punctured the surface was drowned by the hazy liquid. And with it came all sense of direction.

  Whatever the ungodly limbs were, they climbed up his legs until they encircled his hips. They were nauseatingly warm against the water’s cold touch and felt like snakes or vines. His lungs screamed for air. He bent over despite the speed at which he was getting dragged, and dug his fingernails into the monster’s appendages.

  They barely punctured, but it was enough. His new strength was apparently up to the task of suffocating whatever passed for circulation in this foul thing, and after a moment of squeezing for all his worth, he felt a soft snap beneath his grip, and one of the oily tendrils slipped down his leg. He kicked with all his remaining might, shoving the second one off and propelling himself for the surface.

  His head exited the water, and he gasped, instantly spotting the bank surrounding him. He was in the center of this God-forsaken pond. Jack started to swim wildly for the shallow water, but six more limbs shot up from beneath him and ensnared his legs and torso.

  “No!” he yelled, but his exclamation was lost beneath the water.

  His descent this time was so fast, he could feel his hair and portions of his shirt slide up his body. He was taken impossibly deep—deeper than this pond had any right to be.

  There, in the darkness, Jack spotted a single light.

  It came from a large crystal set in the bedrock of this ugly pit, turning the environment an eerie shade of blue so pale it was nearly white.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  And thanks to this lone gemstone piercing the eternal night of this place, Jack saw his murderer.

  [Corrupted River Kraken - Level 16]

  [Once guardian to the water crystal that fueled this river, it has turned mad with the voidland’s corrupting touch.]

  [New world quest unlocked: Release the River]

  ╔══════════════════════════════╗

  ║      QUEST OBJECTIVES     ║

  ╠══════════════════════════════╣

  ║                    ║

  ║ ? Slay the once-guardian of the river,    ║

  ║  the River Kraken, and free it from    ║

  ║  its corruption.         [0/1]  ║

  ║                    ║

  ║ ? Free the water crystal to resume     ║

  ║  producing uncorrupted water.   [0/1] ║

  ║                    ║

  ╚══════════════════════════════╝

  [Quest Difficulty: VETERAN]

  ╔══════════════════════════════╗

  ║      QUEST REWARDS      ║

  ╠══════════════════════════════╣

  ║                    ║

  ║ ? Rare Alchemical Ingredients       ║

  ║                    ║

  ║ ? Sliver of Water Crystal         ║

  ║                    ║

  ║ ? 15,000 EXP             ║

  ║                    ║

  ╚══════════════════════════════╝

  [Notice: As you are already engaged with the quest, you have implicitly agreed to accept it.]

  Jack cursed inwardly. Sure, he was getting two quests for the price of one, and the rewards were awesome, but it wasn’t like he was going to live long enough to enjoy either quest’s rewards, now was he?

  He could almost hear Steward laughing on that horrible throne of his.

  ‘Oh, did Number Twenty-One die in some unnamed pond because he was too stupid to ask why there were no other fishermen around? Typical! Maybe Number Twenty-Two will have better luck!’ Jack could practically hear the powerful entity saying.

  Well, screw him. And screw his luck, too.

  Jack didn’t need it.

  He was going to kill this abomination, even if he had to die to do it.

  [Congratulations! Through effort, your skill, Relentless Spirit, has leveled up!]

  [Relentless Spirit: Level 2?3. Rank: Novice]

  Jack wasn’t sure what he’d done to upgrade that skill, as he wasn’t mortally wounded, but he wasn’t about to complain. Any help right now was welcome.

  The kraken’s dark limbs dragged him to the bottom of the pond, and his ears popped violently. Here, he could finally get a good look at the monster.

  Its body was easily ten feet long and pockmarked with green and brown rotting flesh. One eye was milky white, while the other oddly resembled the color of the crystal it hovered over protectively. Each of its tentacles whipped and swirled around its bulbous form, and Jack thought he saw genuine hatred glint out of its single good eye.

  He glared right on back. He wasn’t about to just let it eat him or whatever the monster had planned.

  The kraken flicked the six limbs holding Jack, and he shot through the water, his chest getting squeezed so tight he felt his ribs grind in their joints. It whipped him around and then shifted directions on a dime, causing most of Jack’s precious air to flee his lungs in a single whoosh. He flew in the other direction, dust and pebbles raking his face.

  His body was slammed into the bottom of the pond, and Jack saw red as pain lanced down his skull and into his spine. Dazed, his hands clawed at the sandy ground, grasping for anything—anything he could use as a weapon.

  Darkness followed the red that crept over his vision. He knew he didn’t have long. His lungs were filling with water again.

  Still, he searched. The bandages on his left hand snagged on something, and he curled his four remaining fingers around it with all the strength he had left. He was lifted again, but managed to keep ahold of the jagged stone. It raised him again to its eye-level, then slammed against the ground again.

  Then again.

  Then again.

  The kraken screeched its victory.

  It was a haunting, multivocal sound that grated against Jack’s nerves and filled him with despair. He could feel coldness spread down his fingers and up his arms as death approached. Jack could no longer tell if he even held onto the river stone he’d found.

  Everything hurt.

  The only reason he was still alive at all was his high Resilience, but even that was proving insufficient against the kraken’s strength and sheer time underwater.

  No.

  The thought came as it had before. It was a single coal stoked in the dead of a starless night. Yet with it came the beginning of a bonfire of anger and purpose.

  I’m not going to die here.

  I refuse.

  That one sentiment pounded in his chest with the fury of a wardrum, and he felt fresh strength and resilience flood through his body.

  Relentless Spirit had activated!

  Growling somewhere deep in his chest, Jack returned the dead gaze of the kraken with an inferno blazing just behind his eyes. Unconcerned with his wounds and his pain, he squeezed the jagged edge of the stone he’d plucked from this dark basin and stabbed it into one of the creature’s restraints around him.

  Dark pus exploded from the wound, but Jack didn’t let up. His strength was unreal, and, emboldened, he stabbed down again. And again. By the fourth tentacle Jack gouged into, the creature relinquished its hold on him.

  The darkness of unconsciousness continued to creep into his vision, but Jack no longer cared. If he was going to die down here, he was going to take this monster with him.

  [Congratulations! Through effort, your skill, Relentless Spirit, has leveled up!]

  [Relentless Spirit: Level 3?4. Rank: Novice]

  More power surged through his veins, giving his beaten and battered limbs just enough strength to propel him forward. Not up.

  Forward.

  He let his pain fuel the flames of his anger. With each herculean kick and pump of his legs, the water gave way to his relentless pursuit.

  More tentacles speared toward him, but he welcomed them. Now that his mind was clear of unhelpful distractions like mortal fear, his whole reality shifted into crystalline focus. He could feel his level 10 Pugilism skill activate as all the flailing limbs were reduced to strikes, feints, and cuts.

  He knew what to do with those.

  Jack twisted out of two of their arcs, but was clipped by a third. He stabbed out with his rock, and managed to graze over a dozen feet of the same limb, causing even more dark pus to flood his immediate vicinity.

  His lungs were screaming at him to surface, but he gave one last mighty kick with his legs. He shot forward with the speed of a torpedo. Two more tentacles lanced at his face. He stabbed at one, but the second managed to grip around his neck.

  It squeezed.

  The darkness’s approach sped up exponentially, but that was fine. He was already suffocating. What more could it do besides suffocate him more?

  Besides, he’d made it to his target.

  Jack’s momentum carried him directly over the kraken’s good eye, and he didn’t hesitate to stab his rock into its slimy flesh. It was more durable than he’d expected, but that didn’t matter. He just pushed harder, twisting the rock right as the kraken’s limb around his neck yanked him back. That worked in his favor, as it just expanded the jagged wound he’d started.

  It screeched again, this time in unmistakable pain, and launched him through the water in its panic and misery. He rocketed upward and barely slowed down when his body punctured the surface. He coughed and choked as his lungs expelled all the water they’d collected, and he landed hard against the soft mud of the pond’s edge.

  He gasped in lungful after lungful, feeling all manner of wounds previously unobserved across his form begin to yell in protest. Dozens of lacerations laced his body, and at least one rib was broken.

  Worst was the hand clutching the stone. The bandages on his left hand were painted black and red from the pus and his own blood.

  That’s totally going to get infected, a surly part of himself thought.

  An ungodly howl of agony and rage exploded out of the pond, and the kraken surfaced near the back beside Jack. Its limbs whipped wildly through the air, and Jack could see that its one good eye was almost entirely out of its socket, bleeding freely into the dark pond.

  The mechanic sniffed and wiped at his nose with his free hand.

  “Let’s finish this,” he promised and raised his fists into a tight guard.

  The kraken screamed and rushed forward awkwardly, clearly locking onto his voice.

  Relentless Spirit kept his strength from flagging, but he knew this burst of power wasn’t going to last. He was dying, and he knew it. If he wanted to end this at all, it had to be now.

  Ten limbs—most injured in various places—all shot forward at various speeds and angles. He pushed his mind past its limits as he danced and wove through each of them. He took one step back, then two, leading the creature farther from the water with every additional call and challenge.

  “COME ON!” Jack bellowed, rolling under a horizontal slash. “COME ON!”