Lixue noticed it in time and managed to maneuver his way to avoid being crashed into. He didn't bother waiting for the shark's next attack. He flattened his palm and sent consecutive flaming slash attacks to it.
The shark nimbly dodged them before tensing its body. Purple sparks appeared from it and soon after, a wave of electricity blasted in the water. Lixue formed a barrier around him to avoid the water around him being electrified.
He couldn't move from his spot as long as the water was still electric, but he didn't need to move to attack. In reply to the shark's offense, Lixue erupted his demonic force. It created a blast of water current, and the shark was thrown back.
Taking the chance that the shark was intimidated and lost its focus, Lixue formed tentacles with his demonic energy and quickly swooped into the shark. Although the shark sensed there was danger coming to it, it couldn't see the physical form of the weapon. Lixue's tentacles successfully caught the shark. It wrapped around it until not even a tip of its tail could move.
After it was caught, it still persistently emitted electricity, causing the whole lake and the river connected to it to be electrified. The candidates here and there were electrocuted one after another when they wanted to walk through it or even when they just wanted to wash their hands. The drone that was sent to find Lixue and Thirteen was also affected and immediately shut down.
Lixue watched the shark's desperate attempt to escape from his confinement. It felt like it was very determined to kill him even if it costs its life. Rather than a beast, it was like a brainless Irregular. But no matter how you look at it, it was definitely a beast.
He grinned maliciously as he approached the helpless shark. With a loving gaze, he stroked its head, "I assume you must be one of the guardians of this door."
The shark replied with another wave of electricity much stronger than its previous one. Unfortunately, it didn't even cause a jolt from Lixue as his hand still softly traveled along its body, bringing a cold sensation that made its skin flinched like it was affected by its own electricity.
"If you give me the 2 keys to this door, I promise not to kill your partner. I know he or she is nearby." Lixue whispered as he glanced to where the other shark was hiding. It was probably waiting for a time to ambush him.
It bared its teeth in threat. Lixue raised an eyebrow before forming another tentacle and whipped it towards the other shark. It didn't know what happened, but its body was suddenly gripped and yanked towards where its partner was.
Lixue swam over to it as he ignited his flame on his palm. When he arrived next to it, he held one of the shark's pectoral fins with his other hand and spread it open. Slowly, he moved the fire closer while still looking over at the first shark.
"Where are the keys?"
The shark he held struggled to shake him off, but it couldn't. It also tried to attack but it didn't affect the demon at all. The water's voltage now was doubled from the second shark that if one was to drown, they would immediately die from the shock.
Even before the fire got into contact with the fin, there were already signs of burning that the second shark's movement became more aggressive from the pain. The flame finally touched the fin as Lixue directly grabbed it fully with his blazing palm.
He let go of the shark from his demonic energy just as it tried jerking away with all its strength. Lixue also pulled the fin with the right momentum and the shark's fin was completely ripped off.
The red color trailed down and filled the water with the smell of iron as the shark weakly fell from the pain. It try to regain itself and tried to point its head up to where Lixue was. Because he lost one of his fins, it was hard for him to balance his body. But he still managed to make 2 electric bolts appeared on each of its sides and quickly shot them towards his enemy.
Lixue also made 2 fireballs in return. He precisely shot them to the 2 incoming electric bolts. They were easily neutralized.
He moved again towards the first shark. Now, he spoke to the other one under them.
"Give me the keys and I'll spare this guy for you. At least only one of you will be disabled," He grabbed the shark's tail, "This time, I'll make sure your partner will never be able to swim again."
Lixue could feel the fear from the creature he held in his palm. The trembling on its body coursed through his fingertips. But it still loyally shut its mouth not giving any answer.
On the other hand, the other shark stopped trying to attack him. It seemed swayed by Lixue's words. It already lost one of its fins and know how horrible the pain was. Not to mention, it couldn't swim properly anymore because it couldn't control its balance.
It finally decided to give in and ceased emitting electricity from its body to show that it surrendered. Its partner clearly didn't agree. Its body suddenly glowed purple all over and became brighter and brighter in a matter of seconds.
"If you self-destruct, you'll kill your partner who wanted to save you while I won't die from your mere little firework. I can also continue to open the door with my own strength. Wasn't that why you stopped me so hastily? In short, I'm giving both of you a chance to live, but you'll kill that guy for nothing. In the first place, it's your fault for confronting me recklessly like that." Lixue flatly said.
The shark halted and after a while, it gradually dimmed until its electricity also stopped. It opened its mouth with resentment. A pure white orb slowly came out. Its size was a perfect fit with the circular spot on the door.
The other one also followed suit and another pure white orb came out from its mouth. They both were whiter than the door and glowed brighter than the corals on the wall.
Lixue gathered them in front of him before moving them to the door. When they were attached to the door, the light instantly spread into the other pearls and after all the pearls were lit, the inscription also glowed with a light blue hue. There was a rumbling sound from the walls and not long after, the door slowly opened.
"Thank you for your cooperation. You're dismissed."
In a blink, flaming tentacles appeared out of thin air and pierced the pair simultaneously. The tentacles squirmed and coiled around the sharks. The flames danced mystically under the water giving a strange scene no human could explain. It didn't take a minute for the sharks to be fully turned into ashes.
While waiting for the door to fully opened, Lixue checked on Thirteen who was exploring the cave. Though there wasn't any report from him until now, it wasn't likely that he got into some trouble.
But when his vision shifted, what he saw was only the back of Thirteen's head while everything around him was in total darkness. He must've turned off his light and the only light source was from his butterfly.
'Thirteen, I managed to open the door. Did you find anything up there?'
'I expect nothing less from you. As for me,' he turned around and Lixue was met with his emerald eyes with the flaming butterfly dancing inside, 'I found where the beasts He Ruiqi mentioned were.'
From Lixue's point of view, this was the closest he ever saw Thirteen's face. He was a bit taken aback by the abruptness and his body jerked back involuntarily. The butterfly also fluttered back and flew unstably from his shock. Forcing his memories back down, he quickly stabilized his mood reminding himself it was just Thirteen in front of him.
'If I don't call back in 20 minutes, come up and help.' Thirteen spoke again.
'If I'm in a good mood.' Lixue answered before cutting the connection off.
"Not cute at all." Thirteen shook his head helplessly.
He cracked his neck and stretched himself before standing up from his crouching position. His surroundings were very dark and normal people would only be able to vaguely see the outline of everything. But Thirteen had set his eyes to its infrared function, so his vision was similar as if he was wearing a night vision goggle but clearer.
He drew his gun and, without any warning, shot the beast nearest to him. The other beasts were alarmed by the sudden light from the plasma bullet and noticed the figure standing in the mouth of one of the cave's pathways.
Thirteen sneered and shot a few more beasts before turning on his light in flickering mode and ran away.