On the other side of the islet, a luxurious boat swayed gently on the dark water. A tall man stood at the tiller, guiding the boat with one hand while the other held a map covered with various markings. From time to time he lifted his head and looked at the sky, seemingly checking the position of the stars before comparing them with the map. After a moment he adjusted the boat's direction and studied the markings again.
"We should have brought Barry with us until we found the underground path. It has already been half an hour and we still can't locate it. Worse, we didn't even know there was supposed to be a path leading to the inner islet," a vexed female voice complained from the boat.
"Don't talk nonsense," another girl replied coldly. "That fat pig demanded thirty percent of the Achievement Points just because he had some secret intel. We should have beaten him even more. Ugh… I was already disgusted by that guy. Don't ever say his name again."
Suddenly a splash erupted a few feet away from the boat. A young man surfaced from the water, breathing heavily after staying underwater for too long. He swam toward the boat with tired strokes and climbed aboard.
"I couldn't see any path at that location either," the man said after catching his breath.
"Maybe we should go back and bring that fatty here again. Or maybe he was lying about the secret path the whole time. Either way, if we beat him harder he'll spit out the truth eventually," he added in frustration. He had already dived several times and searched nearly fifty meters deep, trying to locate the underground passage that supposedly connected to the inner lake, but he had found nothing.
"That's what I suggested earlier," the irritated girl said. "We should have kept him with us until we found the path. After that we could have kicked him out of the team."
While the three of them argued among themselves, the tall man quietly steered the boat a little farther to the right, abandoning the previous search location. Another man stood nearby with his arms folded across his chest.
"Should we come back tomorrow and bring that fatty along?" he asked while looking at the tall man. Even though they had extracted all the information from Barry, they couldn't find the exact location of this secret path.
However, the tall man didn't respond. His attention remained fixed on the map and the stars above. After comparing the two for a while, he slowly turned the boat again.
"Here," he suddenly said.
The diver let out a long sigh. He had already dived seven times into the lake, searching desperately for the tunnel that supposedly led to the inner lake. With an exhausted expression, he moved toward the edge of the boat and sat down with his legs hanging over the water, preparing to dive once again.
But just as he leaned forward, he noticed something strange.
The water beneath the boat was beginning to churn.
At first it was subtle, but within seconds the movement became stronger.
"What's happening?" he muttered.
The others felt it too. The water around the boat suddenly began to surge violently, forcing them to grab the sides of the vessel to steady themselves. The turbulence grew stronger, pushing the boat sideways as it drifted dangerously toward the rock wall of the islet.
Before anyone could understand what was happening, the lake suddenly exploded.
Water erupted upward like a volcanic blast. Massive waves surged outward in every direction, violently pushing nearby boats away from their positions.
For the boats closest to the islet, the force smashed them directly against the rock wall.
The boat of the group broke apart instantly, splitting in half and throwing everyone into the water as the wreckage slowly sank beneath the surface.
For a brief moment the erupting water formed two towering walls.
And between those walls something enormous moved.
Something coated in gold and orange.
The group who had fallen into the water quickly steadied themselves by gripping cracks in the rock wall of the islet. But the surroundings were pitch-black and they could barely see anything clearly.
The tall man quickly retrieved a small object from his pocket dimension and threw it far into the water where the eruption occurred. Once the object landed on the water, it suddenly shot upward like a firework before bursting into glowing particles that illuminated the entire lake.
Under that sudden light he saw it clearly.
A massive fish hung in the air between the parted walls of water.
A moment later the enormous creature crashed back into the lake with tremendous force, sending another wave rushing across the water.
After witnessing the sheer size of the creature, the tall man's eyes widened in shock. He immediately began searching for a crack in the rock wall so he could climb out of the water.
"Everyone, quick! Climb the rock. It's the Golden Orange Snakehead!" he shouted.
Even as the glowing particles slowly faded and darkness returned to the lake, his gaze remained fixed on the place where the colossal fish had disappeared beneath the water.
———
On the opposite side of the islet, Barry continued watching the rock wall as Jasper climbed upward.
While he was truly mesmerized by his strength, suddenly he noticed that Jasper had stopped moving. Instead of climbing higher, he appeared to be doing something at the same spot.
The sound of the debris hitting the water also increased compared to while he was climbing. Barry narrowed his eyes and realized that half of Jasper's body had disappeared into a hole in the rock wall. Moments later, Jasper completely vanished inside it.
Barry swallowed nervously and quickly looked around, checking if anyone else had noticed what had happened.
"He found it… It's actually real. There really is a secret path in the rock wall," Barry muttered quietly.
His palms became damp as agitation filled his chest. He stared at the hole for a moment before glancing toward the small cubic boxes he had scattered across the water.
Will the secret path really lure the fish out?
Barry clenched his fists slightly as anticipation began building inside him.
"It's about time."
He slowly stood up in the boat. His heart was beating faster with every passing second, and he struggled to contain his excitement as he waited.
Time seemed to move painfully slow.
One minute passed.
Then another.
Soon five minutes had gone by.
Boom!
A thunderous sound echoed across the lake.
Barry's head snapped toward the noise. The water near his boat had begun shifting strangely, moving away from its natural flow.
Moments later large waves began rocking the boat violently.
Barry stared at the moving water as realization dawned on him. A nervous smile slowly spread across his face.
"The fish is out."