A flurry of curses was let out my mouth, I was not willing to die here after what I had just gone through. I felt like this moment was much more deadly than when I faced the snake.
My right arm finally slipped passed the tentacles of the seaweed, still, it was the only limb I could move at the moment but it was enough.
My mind was at its peak. All its gears moved and I did what I thought would get me out of this situation without second thoughts.
My eyes shone with decisiveness, I quickly soaked my hand in the water.
"Lightning Discharge!"
Lightning spewed from my fingertips to the surface of the water, it crackled and hissed. What I used was no spell, it was the crudest and most inefficient way of using my element. It depleted more mana than what a normal spell would - after all, it didn't really have any sort of principle behind it, with only the one goal of outburst.
It was chaotic but also dangerous. Mana was drained from my whole body from what was left of little drops of mana in my Anchor.
It did its job though.
I could feel the grip of the seaweed loosen up till it was no more. The lightning had spread through the whole pond, whatever it was, it no doubt gained damage and got what it deserved.
My body plunged into the pond with a splash, logically, I should have been electrocuted as well but it seemed that lightning released by me didn't do much to me either - which was good and relieving.
The seaweeds slowly retreated to the depths of the water. I on the other hand almost drowned and with great effort, I managed to grab the edges of the pond and hoised my body out of the waters.
I could barely feel my feet so I had to rely on only my arms which still felt a bit sore. Dragging my body away from the waters by crawling with my arms, I finally breathed in a sigh of relief.
'It can't reach me from this far right?' I looked back and allowed my nerves to calm down.
Now that the whole thing was over...more or less.
My body ached and felt like it weighed a mountain. I groaned barely able to move now. It was much worse than the aftermath of facing the snake beast, back then I could still move, but now, I could do so barely, only being able to use my arms - and that was with great effort and will.
It felt sore all over but I was glad that I managed to get out of that cursed pond. I would have never expected something like that - there was actually some sort of beast inside the waters.
Why couldn't I have thought of that? Instead, like a fool I jumped into the pond taking its bait. Thankfully I managed to wake up just in time before it was too late.
Now my whole mana was depleted without even a single drop. Not only was my body sore, my mind throbbed in pain - it was the backlash for expending your mana to the last drops.
Still, it would recover if I could rest albeit slowly compared to if I actively seek out mana and restore my own. However, after that situation, I was not at ease to just rest everywhere. I learned my lesson.
I panned my eyes around and saw a sufficiently good resting place. I crawled my way there with all I had whilst gritting my teeth.
When I arrived, I finally sighed in relief. The spot was in a corner and it was safely hidden by a boulder, it was good enough for me and I did confirm that there weren't any suspicious things around.
It might not have been as relaxing and soothing as when I soaked in the pond's water - on the contrary, it was rough and uncomfortable but at least no seaweeds were sucking my strength right?
______
After maybe a few hours of rest, I opened my eyes. I quickly stood up on instinct, my eyes darted everywhere.
I sighed as I saw that no danger was lurking around. I grudgingly glared at the pond blaming it for this new trauma I got. Still, seeing that I was safe and the surroundings clear, I sat back down and checked my Anchor.
The thunder crackled and hissed dangerously, it was releasing a radiant purple light that would captivate any audience. Its shine though was not as prominent as it would usually be, it only contained around 2/5 of the usual mana after all.
However, if I were to restore my mana to the fullest, it would shine so bright it would blind those who laid eyes on it.