Barry's chubby body could barely keep its balance on the violently swaying boat as he struggled to steady himself. Suddenly he stored the lantern inside his Pocket Dimension, leaving the surroundings engulfed in darkness. His eyes quickly turned toward the cubic boxes floating steadily on the water, even though the waves were becoming harsher.
Soon he noticed that the cubics, which had been floating calmly earlier, were now rising higher as the waves grew larger.
"It's nearing," Barry muttered as he scrutinized the faint lights on those cubics.
Boom!
In the next second, a deafening explosion erupted from the far left side of the islet.
Boom!
Another explosion followed, and then more detonations erupted at steady intervals. Each blast sent towering waves crashing violently against the boat.
As the explosions continued, Barry's face darkened.
"God dang it… the Grade 4 Beast Space Pocket Dimension isn't strong enough to capture the creature," Barry muttered as sweat began forming on his forehead.
He had spent a fortune on those dimensional pockets designed to capture beasts. Yet every time the cubic boxes attempted to trap the fish, they were destroyed almost instantly.
His heart ached as he watched the expensive traps shatter one after another. At the same time, dread slowly crept into his mind.
What kind of fish did we lure out? Can we really capture it?
He quickly took the lantern out again while crouching low as the boat rocked violently. Once a faint light returned, he noticed that the boat had begun drifting away from the islet's rock wall.
Without hesitation, he pulled another cubic box from his bracelet and hurled it toward the rock wall as high as he could. When the box struck the rock, it immediately attached itself firmly to the surface.
Soon it began illuminating the surrounding water. A bright glow spread across more than two hundred meters of the lake.
Under that light, Barry could clearly see the disturbance approaching from the outer edge of the area covered by the cubics.
"Is it targeting me?"
Barry watched as the fish repeatedly rushed into the cubic traps. Each time the Beast Space Pocket Dimension attempted to capture it, the fish shattered the cube and continued forward toward the next one.
"What should I do now? If these cubic dimensional pockets fail, there's nothing else I can do," Barry muttered anxiously.
He could already see that almost all the cubics on the left side had been destroyed. He quickly moved toward the remaining traps on the right side, hoping Jasper would come down and knock the fish unconscious.
But even he doubted that was possible.
As he hurried toward the remaining cubics, the explosions began occurring closer and closer.
Barry narrowed his eyes toward the flashes of destruction.
What he saw next made his knees weaken.
Under the bright illumination from the rock wall, he saw an enormous fish coated in golden-orange scales.
Its mouth was wide enough to devour a war horse whole, and rows of sharp teeth resembling short knives lined its jaws. As it broke free from another Beast Space Pocket, Barry saw the full length of its body.
Nearly ten meters long.
"Did we mess with the wrong fish?" Barry whispered as he stared at the enormous creature.
Before despair could fully settle in, the corner of his eye suddenly noticed movement on the rock wall above the illuminated area.
Hope instantly lit up his face.
Without waiting another second, he shouted toward Jasper.
"The fish is out! You need to knock the fish out!"
Barry's voice echoed across the lake, spreading in all directions. Even the people who were sightseeing at the edge of the lake faintly heard his scream.
———-
Jasper, who was crawling out of the hole, froze when he heard the sudden scream.
As his head emerged from the opening, he saw a bright light illuminating a large portion of the lake. His eyes immediately landed on an enormous creature not far from the islet's rock wall.
The moment he saw it, he knew it was the fish they had come to capture.
But the sheer size of the creature, seen from above, nearly made him piss his pants.
He forced himself to stay calm and quickly looked toward the boat to his right. There he saw Barry crouching low inside the vessel.
Before Jasper could fully climb out of the hole, he noticed a sudden change in the creature's movement.
It began moving directly toward Barry's boat.
Barry's scream had not only alerted Jasper—it had also alerted everyone else around the islet.
And more importantly, the Snakehead fish itself.
Previously it had been destroying the cubic traps while moving forward blindly. But now, after hearing the shout, it had locked onto Barry's boat as its target.
—————————
Barry's former teammates, whose boat had sunk earlier, were still struggling in the water while clinging to cracks in the rock wall.
Suddenly they heard Barry's shout echo across the lake.
"Is that Barry's voice?" the girl who had suggested bringing him earlier asked in surprise.
"It sounds like him. Was he the reason the fish came out of the inner lake?" another girl said.
"Oh, I'm going to beat that guy to death for this," the diver shouted angrily while gripping the rock wall.
The tall guy, however, fell into deep thought after hearing Barry's words.
You need to knock the fish out.
He was certain that was what he had heard.
But it made absolutely no sense.
Who in the world could knock out that monster? The enormous creature he had seen under the firework's light still lingered vividly in his mind.
———-
Not only this group, but many other people sailing near the islet had also heard Barry's shout.
They were already confused by the violent waves and explosions, and now someone was shouting something completely absurd across the lake.
————
Meanwhile, Barry quickly realized that the fish had begun targeting him after his shout.
While the creature continued smashing through the remaining cubic traps, Barry steered his boat toward the last few cubes, desperately hoping Jasper would come down and save him.
————
Jasper, however, had no idea how he was supposed to knock out the fish, especially since he couldn't even swim.
He quickly began climbing down the same path he had created earlier while repeatedly glancing toward the creature chasing Barry's boat.
But as he watched more carefully, he noticed something strange.
Each time the creature rushed forward and touched one of the glowing lights floating on the water, the fish would disappear for a brief moment.
Then, in the next instant, it would reappear in the same spot with a violent explosion.
Jasper had no idea what those floating lights were, and the phenomenon confused him.
When he had climbed halfway down the wall, he suddenly heard Barry scream again.
Turning toward the sound, he saw that the creature was now almost beside the boat.
Barry had steered farther to the right, and only a few glowing lights remained on the water's surface.
Jasper immediately quickened his descent.
But before he could climb much farther down, Barry screamed again.
Jasper suddenly panicked.
If he delayed any longer, the fish would devour the entire boat—including Barry.
So in the next second, Jasper released his grip on the wall and jumped into the water.
Splash!