Chapter 50: Aquarium Shanks (False Alarm)

When Shiraishi rushed in, the robbers were attempting to escape with the money through the exit on the opposite side.

At the same time...

Tomoko Suzuki was thrashing about in the water!

From the direction where the robbers were fleeing, the voices of Kuroki and Kanzaki could also be heard coming closer...

Shiraishi had no time to worry about whether they would catch the kidnappers. Saving lives was of the utmost importance right now. With a forceful tug at his shoulder, he tore off his cumbersome upper garment and plunged directly into the water.

Although Shiraishi's [Swimming] skill was only at Level 5, combined with his formidable physical capabilities, it could easily unleash the effect of Level 5 (+2). He immediately closed in on Tomoko Suzuki.

However...

An orca seemed to have been disturbed as well and was swimming over toward them!

Orcas do not attack humans all that easily, but...

When the kidnappers fled, they had kicked over a bucket of orca feed!

"Ah! Be careful... Don't go over there... Feeding time..."

Staff members were shouting something from above, but Shiraishi had no time to spare a thought for that. He quickly swam right in front of Tomoko Suzuki.

Tomoko Suzuki actually knew how to swim, but she had panicked at first. Afterward... she was completely terror-struck by the approaching orca. After choking down a few mouthfuls of water, knowing how to swim became equivalent to not knowing how to swim at all.

Shiraishi and the orca approached Tomoko from opposite directions almost simultaneously. Realizing that the creature indeed possessed predatory instincts, Shiraishi extended his left arm, pulling Tomoko into his embrace with one motion while using his elbow to block the orca's massive jaws!

Suddenly gaining leverage, Tomoko finally managed to float back up to the surface and put some distance between herself and the orca. When she instinctively looked back, she discovered...

Shiraishi's left arm was clamped firmly within the orca's jaws, and crimson blood instantly bloomed and dispersed through the giant pool of water.

Yet, Shiraishi did not shrink back in the slightest. With a resolute gaze and a stern expression, he kept his left arm fiercely tensed to prevent his muscles from relaxing, while frantically unleashing elbow strikes with his right arm against the orca's head.

After delivering two heavy elbow strikes that caused the orca to loosen its grip slightly...

Baji Pigua!

With a dull, muffled thud, Shiraishi brought his palm smashing down hard against the orca's head.

The next moment, as if knocked completely unconscious, the orca limply let go of its grip...

Shiraishi immediately pulled Tomoko Suzuki into his arms, swam swiftly to the edge of the pool, and hoisted her upward.

Climbing ashore in a disheveled state, Tomoko hurriedly turned her head and shouted to him, "That girl is in the water too... *cough, cough*!"

"What?" Shiraishi hastily looked around left and right, but the surface of the water was completely bare.

Heart tightening, Shiraishi immediately plunged back down beneath the surface and looked down... Sure enough, Ayano Ujihara had already sunk to the bottom!

Her ankles were bound with diving weights. Ever since she was kicked down, she had been continuously sinking. Initially, she had tried to untie them, but there was simply no time. By now, she was suffering from hypoxia and was completely exhausted.

Seeing this, Shiraishi had no time for hesitation. He twisted his body and dove down after her without a second thought!

However...

One could see that Shiraishi was swimming using only one arm, leaving... a trail of "bloodline" drawn through the water.

After swimming down, Shiraishi heard bursts of exclamation from above—right down below was the glass wall where the tourists stood. Seeing a girl sinking down, the tourists were already gasping and crying out in shock.

At that moment, seeing a "little giant" dive down after her instantly gave them the illusion that... "Could this be part of a special performance?"

When Shiraishi reached Ayano's side, she looked utterly in agony, seemingly on the verge of choking on water. Seeing this, Shiraishi immediately located the weights tied to her ankles—this wasn't a matter of raw strength; if he didn't untie them, no matter how strong Shiraishi was, he wouldn't be able to swim back up.

Yet...

Right at this moment, Shiraishi's left arm was completely devoid of strength—though not broken, it was bleeding profusely, and the tendons and bones were undoubtedly injured, rendering him unable to exert any force with it...

With only one hand, it was utterly impossible to untie the knots, and Ayano's condition was clearly turning critical!

Shiraishi had no choice but to share a tenth of his breath with her—given Shiraishi's massive lung capacity, one-tenth was enough for her to take a deep, reviving gasp of air.

That allowed Ayano to calm down just a little...

The tourists outside, witnessing this thrilling scene, became even more suspicious that it was a staged show, and some curious onlookers even took pictures. But... right at that moment, startled by the chaos among the fish, a school of bull sharks was actually drawn right toward the scent of Shiraishi's blood!

Although both the bull sharks and the earlier orca in the aquarium were generally smaller than their normal wild counterparts, still...

Even if the orca from earlier was only three or four meters long, it was still at the level of a "beast" to humans. The current school of bull sharks left no room for doubt that they could tear these two people into pieces!

Shiraishi could hear the muffled sounds conducting through the water; the crowd outside seemed to be panicking even more?

Glancing around slightly, Shiraishi understood the reason for their panic...

Normally, if fed on time, bull sharks do not possess overly strong aggression; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to share the undersea tunnel with other fish for public viewing. However, they hadn't been fed yet, and Shiraishi had been bleeding continuously!

This was getting a bit tricky... But the exposed, jagged teeth of the bull sharks gave Shiraishi an idea. He opened his mouth and bit down firmly onto the binding strap around Ayano's ankle. Using his teeth for leverage and a powerful heave with his right hand, he tore the diving strap completely apart!

That was only because it was Shiraishi's own teeth...

If it had been anyone else's, their teeth would have shattered first!

Immediately afterward, Shiraishi gently cradled Ayano with his incapacitated left arm, preparing to swim upward. But...

The bull sharks had already gathered around them!

Due to being artificially raised in captivity, these bull sharks were generally smaller than wild ones, whereas Shiraishi vastly exceeded human proportions. Thus, at first glance, not a single individual shark appeared larger than Shiraishi.

However...

Amidst the gasps of the onlookers outside the glass, Shiraishi successfully beat back several bull sharks in succession, but the school of sharks now completely surrounded Shiraishi and Ayano in a tight circle.

Needless to say, Ayano was already completely paralyzed by fear...

Shiraishi's condition wasn't optimal either. Firstly, there was the injury to his left arm; secondly... Shiraishi discovered that even with Level 10 [Brawling] and [Grappling], his offensive output in the water was still severely diminished by the resistance!

With the orca earlier, Shiraishi had been able to deliver his strike from above the water surface, but now, completely submerged underwater, every movement and action was restricted by water resistance...

This wouldn't do!

Shiraishi realized this was not a problem that could be solved by brute force alone.

Even if his skills were at Level 11, it made no sense to engage in a brawl with a school of sharks underwater—especially when the opponents came in a "pack"!

Aside from anything else, although Shiraishi's breath capacity was exceptionally long, it wouldn't hold out for long under continuous, strenuous exertion.

At this critical juncture, Shiraishi calmed his mind and assessed that the surrounding sharks didn't seem particularly bold at the moment—after all, they were artificially raised!

And so...

Consuming 3000 points, [Intimidation] was upgraded to Level 8!

Instantly, under the bonus of his [Mental Strength], Shiraishi's intimidation factor reached Level 8 (+2).

"Get lost!"

A stream of bubbles escaped Shiraishi's lips as he nevertheless roared the command underwater.

An invisible wave of pressure swept outward through the water...

The surrounding bull sharks instantly reacted like startled prey, scattering and swimming away in all directions in utter panic!

Ayano felt the impact even more directly. Startled into expelling a breath, she nearly choked on water again, forcing Shiraishi to provide her with yet another breath.

Without delay, Shiraishi wrapped his arms around Ayano and swam straight up to the surface...