God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World!

Chapter 571: Fighting Under Water

Gabriel felt the aura grow denser with every step, and the change was clear enough to tell him they were getting close to the core. The pressure did not rise in one sudden burst, but in a steady way that made the tomb feel more alive the deeper they moved, and that was never a good sign in a place built to kill intruders.

The passage finally opened into a large river chamber, and the sight ahead made even the more confident members slow down. A wide bridge stretched across the dark water to the other side, and the distance looked long enough to make a bad fight turn ugly very quickly.

The group tried to move quietly after that, but the silence did not last long. The water below the bridge shifted in a way that was too slow to be random, and a few people noticed it at the same time, which only made the mood worse.

Gabriel looked down once and kept walking. The water moved again, this time near the middle of the river, and the slight ripple was enough to make his eyes narrow behind the mask because experience had already shown him that still water was often the first warning.

IceQueen noticed the change in his face. "What is it?"

"Movement," Gabriel replied, his voice calm while his gaze stayed on the river.

He did not need to explain more. The bridge had wide gaps between its planks, and the river below was deep enough to hide a large creature, which meant anyone standing there was already in a bad position if the thing decided to strike upward.

The next movement was not subtle.

A giant python burst out of the water with enough force to tear through the center of the bridge, and the whole structure lurched hard enough to throw several members off balance. Wood snapped, chains rattled, and the bridge swung back and forth as panic spread through the group in an instant.

BOOM!!!

One section of the bridge gave way completely, leaving half of the planks damaged and hanging over the river. Two members stumbled to their knees, and one barely caught the railing before falling through the gap, while others shouted and drew their weapons too late.

"What the hell is that?" ChaosCleric snapped, his staff rising in both hands.

Gabriel’s eyes stayed on the creature. The python’s body was thick enough to crush people by accident, and the way it moved through the bridge showed it had enough strength to treat the wood like paper.

That would have been bad enough, but the worst part came a second later.

The giant python hissed once, and the sound traveled across the water like a signal. More movement rippled through the river from both sides, and several smaller but still huge serpents began rising around the bridge, surrounding it before anyone could think of retreat.

Another python lunged at the far railing and snapped its jaws at the players near the end.

Panicked voices filled the air. The bridge was no longer just damaged. It was being attacked from below, and every side of it was now under pressure at once.

IceQueen stepped forward and lifted her hands. Her face tightened as cold mana gathered around her palms, and ice spread across the river surface in a wide sheet, but the water beneath was too large and too deep for one person to freeze quickly.

The ice cracked almost at once.

BANG! BANG!

IceQueen’s breathing became rougher as she forced more mana outward. "Hold the bridge! Do not let them break through!"

A few players tried, but the river answered with more movement, and the serpents struck again. One ChaosKnight member was dragged off the broken edge before anyone could grab him, and another was crushed against the railing when the bridge lurched hard a second time.

Gabriel watched the scene for a few seconds before making his judgment. Fighting there would not help them move forward. Every strike on the bridge made the structure weaker, and every second spent trading blows made their path worse.

He turned his head slightly and made a decision.

"Stay off the bridge if you can," he said, and before anyone could ask what he meant, he stepped toward the broken edge and jumped into the river below.

Several voices rose at once, but Gabriel had already vanished beneath the dark water.

The group rushed to the side of the bridge and looked down, only to see the surface moving violently where he had entered. The water churned, something huge shifted underneath, and the sounds below made it clear that Gabriel was not simply drowning or sinking like an ordinary person.

A few seconds passed.

Then the water began to turn red.

It spread slowly at first, then wider, and the sight made the people above go still. Nobody could see what Gabriel was doing under there, but the sound of the river changing and the slow rise of blood were enough to make the whole bridge fall silent for a moment.

IceQueen’s eyes widened slightly. "He jumped into that?"

ChaosCleric swallowed hard. "How is he still alive down there?"

Another long second passed, and the water kept moving. It was hard to tell whether the movement was from the current or from Gabriel fighting something beneath the surface, but the red color spread far enough that several members had to look away.

VV remained at the edge of the bridge without speaking. The armored figure stared at the water with a stillness that made the others around them uneasy, and the slight tilt of the helmet showed clear attention rather than fear.

Five minutes passed, and it felt longer than that to everyone watching above. The bridge had gone quiet except for the distant movement of the remaining snakes, and the water below still carried the dull sounds of fighting that no one could see.

A few people started looking truly uneasy. If Gabriel had been an ordinary man, he would have drowned long ago, and if he had somehow survived the first minute, the river monsters would have finished him by now. Yet the red water kept moving, which made the situation harder to understand.

VV focused on the river the entire time.

The armored figure had seen Gabriel fight before, but this was different. This was not just strength or skill visible on land where everyone could watch it. This was something else, and the longer the water stayed red, the more VV seemed to realize that the masked man was far beyond what they had first assumed.

IceQueen kept her hands lifted, but even she had begun to glance down more often than before. Her mana was strained from trying to hold the river back, and the bridge still shook whenever another snake moved beneath it.

Several more minutes passed before the water finally settled.