The scenery before them had a depressing and gloomy feel to it. Gray sand, murky waters, and a barren land around them. It was nothing short of a wasteland.

⌈ Are we seriously going in there? ⌋ (Six)

⌈ It's the fastest way to evolve and become stronger. Don't tell me you want to hunt weak creatures forever? ⌋ (Raya)

⌈ . . . ⌋ (Six)

Raya left the silent Six behind as she approached the raging waves with a determined look. The moment she dived into the ocean she felt as if a thick layer of slime had enveloped her body.

Apart from it restricting and slowing her movements a little, there weren't any other problems so she quickly adapted to it.

Now accustomed to the sea's strange characteristics, she noticed that the ocean water was a lot thicker than usual, obscuring the view only 2 meters away from her.

Thankfully she could use her other senses to get a better view of her surroundings and to find some prey while she was at it.

⌈ Still nothing? ⌋

Just like every other time she scanned the area for life, there was nothing. Just dead corals, empty shells, and rocks.

⌈ Let's keep swimming ahead ⌋

The two aliens leisurely swam ahead in the pitch-black sea, discovering many areas previously occupied by sea life. They discovered that the further they swam ahead, the more bones of different creatures appeared.

Some of the larger bone piles had fused together to form odd structures covered in pustules, large and small.

Just the sight of these odd structures sent alarm signals down the spines of the two aliens. Because of the thick murky waters, the range their senses could cover was less than half their normal distance.

Several times did they come very close to these ominous structures but dangerously escaped them at the last moment.

Raya had mentally counted the distance they traveled since entering the sea and figured that the mysterious fog was only another kilometer ahead.

The closer she came to where the mysterious fog was, the more dangers they came across, yet not a single living creature was found,

Just as Six was going to complain and raise doubts about Raya's choice to come here, they both picked up a faint life signature in front of them.

They both glanced at each other before picking up their pace, approaching whatever it was that sent the earlier life signal.

A vague outline of its appearance appeared in the mind of the two at the same time. It was a serpent-shaped creature with sharp needles covering its entire body.

The closer they got to the serpent-shaped creature the stranger it appeared. Near what appeared to be its head was a wide gaping hole, probably its mouth, and sticking out of its mouth were innumerable hair-like feelers.

The moment the two of them got a clear view of the thing, it also noticed them. A pungent smell of decay and rotting meat was released by the ugly creature before it viciously swam towards Six, who was the closest.

[Mutated Parasite 1.1 Bio-energy points]

Raya was a little surprised by the number of points this thing could give. So far, Raya had determined that the more mass a creature the more energy it could give. Things like skills, talents, and other strange abilities could also give additional points, such as an Awakened Human.

⌈ Are the extra points because of its mutation? Six, be careful ⌋

The parasite was a lot faster than the two of them as seen by it effortlessly dodging Six's slow attacks. It was not only its speed the bothered Six, but its size was smaller than one of her fingers.

Eventually, the Parasite managed to pierce its body into Six's arm. What the Parasite didn't expect was for its body that drilled inside Six's arm to start melting. The feelers in its mouth shook crazily but stopped all of sudden, 

Six had ripped it out of her arm and crushed it in her hands then threw it away, watching as the dead creature sank to the ocean floor.

⌈ Let's keep going ⌋ (Raya)

Not even 5 minutes of swimming away from their last spot, thousands to tens of thousands of similar worms swam in schools in the distance.

[1.1 Bio-energy points] ⌈⌋

[1.1 Bio-energy points]

[1.1 Bio-energy points]

[1.1 Bio-energy points]

[1.1 Bio-energy...]

[ . . . ]

Raya tried to suppress the notification spamming inside her head until it fell silent, with only the display appearing. 

⌈ Six, we gotta go now! ⌋

She hissed to her partner before immediately dashing away from the school of worms.

Right now, they were on the edge of entering an underwater cave that was filled with parasites. The same ominous structures they saw earlier were also seen inside, on the walls and ceiling even,

After they left the cave entrance a group of those worms suddenly swarmed out and pursued them. Hundreds upon hundreds of these worms caught up to the two fleeing aliens and surrounded them.

Raya had it easy as her natural hardened skin and bio-armor were strong enough to stop the worms fr0m digging into her flesh. But small cuts and grazes started to accumulate.

Roar!

Six let out an enraged roar and when Raya turned in her direction, she saw many injuries on Six's body, her green blood mixed with the pitch-black water, making it blindingly obvious where they were. More and more parasites started to converge on our location.

We fought back crazily, killing more and more of them while frantically swimming into the distance. Raya also suffered most of the attacks for Six.

Thankfully she had Bio-armor at level 3. Its regeneration speed was fast enough to heal the small holes and cuts.

An hour later, half of the parasites were killed, and a small majority of them were eaten by Raya, leaving behind the few hundred parasites left. However, they didn't have the time to deal with them. Six's injuries, though not lethal or life-threatening, she still lost a lot of blood.

Raya left Six inside a hollow cave they found nearby to recover some strength. Raya on the other hand continued to kill and devour each one of these parasites.

***

⌈ How are your wounds? ⌋ (Raya)

⌈ R-Raya! Help! There's something inside my leg ⌋ (Six)

⌈ What happened? What's going on? ⌋ (Raya)

⌈ I don't know, I was just letting my injuries heal when something shot out from one of those parasites and entered the injury in my leg! ⌋

The leg Six was talking about was convulsing heavily. The injuries would sometimes heal at a rapid speed then suddenly deteriorate back to their original wound or make it even worst. Thankfully Raya managed to catch a glimpse of whatever it was inside and was shocked about his discovery.

[Mutagenic Agent (Weakened) 197 Bio-energy points]

⌈ Mutation? Ah! Six, just try to think about healing yourself. That thing is a... well I don't know, but it's trying to alter your DNA. Resisting it is probably the cause of it violently tearing your leg apart! ⌋ (Raya)

There was no response from Six apart from her hissing and struggling on the ground. After a moment the violent reaction inside her leg became timider until it stopped. The injuries on her rapidly healed and she felt as if her strength was rapidly rising.

⌈ AAAAAAAHHH!!! ⌋

But suddenly. Six screamed as loud as she could as an unbearable pain assaulted her entire body. From her head to her toes, her teeth, tail, claws, blood, brain, heart, bones, everything. It was all torn apart before reconstructing itself down to her DNA its self.