Chapter 123: Swarming Koi [2] The hundreds of glowing koi were now pursuing them actively, moving far faster than before now that they had the blood current assisting their speed instead of fighting against it. Moon urged Mirage forward, tightening his grip slightly without causing the horse pain. "Go, Mirage! Faster!" Mirage responded immediately, his new fin-like tail pumping with increased vigor, propelling them forward through the blood with everything he had. Despite Mirage’s incredible aquatic speed, far beyond what he’d possessed before his evolution, he was still carrying two full-grown passengers on his back. The additional weight prevented him from accelerating enough to create meaningful distance from the pursuing swarm. Within seconds, the koi had caught up to Moon’s group entirely and within moments, they’d engulfed them completely. Moon could no longer see anything but brilliant white light in every direction as hundreds of glowing koi surrounded their wind barrier from all sides. The spirit creatures immediately began attacking, ramming themselves against the protective sphere. Bam! Bam! Individually, each koi was relatively weak, perhaps equivalent to a level ten beast in terms of raw power. But their immense numbers transformed weakness into overwhelming strength. Hundreds attacked simultaneously from every angle, and despite the wind barrier’s protection, many impacts landed successfully because of the creatures’ small, fist-sized bodies that could slip through gaps in the defense. It was a terrifying experience for those trapped inside the protective bubble. Even Moon himself felt some fear creeping into his heart, a rare emotion for someone who’d faced two S-rank beasts and survived. There were hundreds of these creatures. Their numbers seemed endless and they were fighting in their natural habitat, adapted perfectly for this environment. Worse, Moon was unable to use his strongest offensive capabilities. His lightning element would conduct through the blood indiscriminately, electrocuting himself, Mirage, and Selene along with the koi. His Ignite skill would create explosions within the confined space, inflicting catastrophic damage on everyone within the blast radius regardless of allegiance. He could only defend using wind manipulation, creating barriers and deflecting attacks. But defense alone wouldn’t save them if the swarm never relented. Moon exchanged a desperate glance with Selene through the chaos of attacking koi. ’We have to keep defending,’ his expression communicated clearly. Selene nodded grimly, sharing the same assessment. They had no choice but to maintain the barrier and hope an opportunity presented itself. But defending grew progressively more difficult as time passed. The koi swarm seemed inexhaustible, and the constant mana expenditure required to maintain their protective sphere was draining Moon and Selene’s reserves at an alarming rate. Moon knew they couldn’t continue at this rate indefinitely. He began frantically thinking through various plans and alternatives. His first idea was creating earth walls between their group and the swarm, attempting to separate the massive school of koi into smaller, more manageable clusters that could be dealt with individually. But that plan failed spectacularly. The incoming blood current combined with the attack from hundreds of koi shattered the temporary earth barriers in mere seconds. After several more failed attempts using different elemental combinations and defensive strategies, Moon’s eyes suddenly brightened with an idea. ’Since the swarm is attacking foreign objects in the bloodstream... I can simply provide them with more targets to attack!’ His mind immediately went to the beast corpses stored in his spatial storage. He’d been collecting bodies from kills throughout his journey, intending to sell them at trading centers for profit. Moon didn’t hesitate, every second counted. He immediately withdrew a beast corpse from his storage ring and released it into the blood. The moment the dead body spawned amongst them, a significant portion of the koi swarm immediately diverted from attacking Moon’s barrier. They swarmed the corpse instead, their glowing bodies converging on the foreign object like dogs did to meat. It was a level fifteen beast corpse, yet the koi devoured it at an insane rate. Moon watched in horrified fascination as the creatures stripped flesh from bone, consumed organs, and dismantled the entire carcass. The efficiency was absolutely terrifying, like watching piranhas reduce prey to skeleton in moments. The swarm split into two distinct groups: one cluster continued devouring the beast corpse while another maintained pursuit of Moon’s group. But the division meant fewer koi attacking their barrier directly. Realising the strategy actually worked, Moon turned to Selene and nodded urgently, gesturing for her to do the same. She understood immediately and gave him a thumbs up before withdrawing her own beast corpses from spatial storage. Both awakeners began releasing beast corpses, creating a trail of distractions for the pursuing swarm. They deployed a total of six beast corpses initially, which the koi swarm immediately began devouring with that same terrifying rate. The number of creatures actively attacking their barrier lessened considerably, allowing Moon and Selene to reduce mana expenditure on maintaining the protective sphere. Excited by the prospect of survival, they continued feeding beast corpses to the swarm at regular intervals, ensuring their inventory didn’t run completely dry while maintaining enough distance to avoid being overwhelmed. Within ten minutes of this desperate strategy, Moon and Selene had each released approximately ten beast bodies into the bloodstream. The rate at which the koi devoured each corpse and then caught back up to them was absolutely insane, each body bought them perhaps thirty to sixty seconds of reduced pressure before the feeding frenzy concluded and the pursuit resumed at full intensity. "How many corpses do you have left?" Moon tried to communicate through hand signals, his lungs beginning to burn from extended breath-holding. He had approximately fifteen to twenty more minutes of breathing time. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖 Selene held up ten fingers, then pointed at him questioningly. Moon counted mentally. Maybe seven or eight bodies remaining in his storage. Not enough to sustain this strategy indefinitely. They needed to reach the gills soon, or their temporary solution would fail and the swarm would overwhelm them completely. Mirage continued swimming with determination despite exhaustion, his evolved body pushing through the blood with everything he had. The vessel ahead curved sharply, and Moon thought he detected a change in the environment—the passage seemed to be widening, the blood flow becoming more turbulent. ’Let that be the gills,’ Moon thought desperately. He released another beast corpse, buying them precious additional seconds as the koi swarm fell upon it with their feeding frenzy. Their desperate flight through the creature’s circulatory system continued, each moment bringing them closer to either freedom or permanent death.