Rita was yanked upward, dragged several meters before she forced another Debone·Lightchaser toward the second bait. The fishing line snapped taut, the hook tearing open the half-healed wound in her mouth, but the pain didn’t matter. The thought of losing her bait to another player drowned it all out. This one was... Scratch Card. And no invisible hook this time. The area had already erupted into chaos. Fish streaked through the water like torpedoes, currents roiling with their clashes. Some had clearly swallowed baits that weren’t theirs. Enduring the pull from above and the turbulence of nearby skills, Rita popped Nebula Bubble and drove straight toward the third bait. At the same time, she spared a glance at the others around her. The third bait was Frost Armor, a B-rank defensive spell from her Moonlight Marsh classes. She abandoned it instantly. Not worth wasting stomach space. She would save her strength for higher-tier baits once the essentials were secured. She angled toward the fourth bait. But just before she reached it, a Glitter Strawberry Fish darted in and swallowed it whole, then sneered at her. "Nice skill. Mine now." Rita didn’t waste time trying to kill it. Instead, she triggered the Blue-striped Bluru’s trait, slipped the line through its body, and strung it along with her. Fighting would only slow her down. Better to pack it onto the line and drag it along, maybe snare a few more on the way to help resist the anglers. With the line growing heavier, she shot toward the fifth bait, the third-to-last one that still belonged to her. There had been seven glowing baits at the start. Two were already gone. That left this one, plus one more whose whereabouts were unknown, and the last glowing bubble floating near... another Blue-striped Bluru. Was it another fish disguising itself? No need. Was it her, using Temporal Stroll? She shut it out. Focused only on the one in front of her. A fish had already opened its mouth, O-shaped and aimed at her bait. The seabed went black, then lit again. The fish was gone. Dark Side of the Moon. Rita’s attack blasted the interloper out of the fight. She barely made it in time, snapping up Mystic Force for herself. Only then did she spare a thought for the Glitter Strawberry Fish that had stolen her fourth bait. The problem was obvious. Chasing it meant dragging herself straight toward the anglers’ side. Worse still, the strung-together fish were thrashing everywhere, pulling in half a dozen directions. Unlike earlier, when everyone’s goal was survival, now they were all lunging for bait, and Rita could only keep a rough heading. After another searing Debone strike through the depths, Rita spotted something farther ahead. Another Blue-striped Bluru, locked in pursuit of Ghost Fish Tanuki. Her gut tightened. She knew herself too well. Efficiency and profit always outweighed pride. This melee had a time limit. If Tanuki had snatched a bait Rita wanted, even something as precious as Crime Simulation, she wouldn’t waste minutes fighting an opponent she couldn’t realistically kill. She would let it go and chase something else. So if she was still chasing... Tanuki must have eaten one of her baits. Was it a crucial one, or just a shot in the dark? But Tanuki wasn’t looking at her. Tanuki was focused on another fish. Rita instantly swerved, charging not at Tanuki but at Tanuki’s prey. It had been fifty-five seconds since she’d last used the Bluru’s trait. Cooldown done. She melted into water again, this time passing through more fish on purpose. If their directions didn’t align, so what? Numbers would do the work. With enough bodies on the line, the force would tear or snap it free. Even though the lines didn’t tangle each other, she avoided the ones clearly hooked already. No sense weighing herself down too much. Above, at the edge of the temporary ice ring that had formed around the whirlpool, Puppetlord, Ashveil, and Ironclaw were locked in a tug-of-war, all three gripping the same rod. Deceitful Bloom eyed them. "Is that... who I think it is?" Puppetlord, sweating, grunted, "Almost certainly her." "She netting fish down there again?" Deceitful Bloom asked flatly. Foolishness muttered, "Doesn’t matter. Even if she makes us look bad, Captain and Barista already looked worse." Across the ring, Cup of Bitterness had just landed a catch when she overheard that. She bristled, turning to Captain. "There’s no rule against anglers fighting each other, right?" Captain, still straining against his rod, answered quickly, "They’re fishing BS-Rita." Barista’s frown smoothed instantly. She even called over sweetly, "Want some coffee while you’re at it?" Deceitful Bloom, Foolishness, Captain: ... "I didn’t know BS-Rita could have this effect," Deceitful Bloom admitted. "Magnificent," Foolishness said. "Magnificent," Captain echoed. Puppetlord shrieked, "Since I’ve been with Deceitful Bloom and Foolishness, I never dreamed I’d get to taste Barista’s coffee again!" Ironclaw shrieked back, "Wait, is that what we’re calling alliances now, ’being with’ someone?!" Ashveil blinked. "What else would you call it?" Foolishness and Deceitful Bloom quietly shuffled a few steps away. Barista leaned toward Captain. "Last time I saw them, their condition wasn’t this bad." "You mean before BS-Rita logged in? Yeah," Captain replied. And just like that, the blame was planted squarely on BS-Rita’s head. Not far off, Puppetlord’s whole body burned with determination. "Even if it kills me, I’m hauling that Blue-striped Bluru up today!" The fire of resolve might have burned brighter if he hadn’t been dragged a few feet across the ice mid-sentence. Perhaps fate turned. The fish Tanuki was chasing suddenly veered toward Rita’s path. With her in front and Tanuki behind, the poor creature was shredded in seconds. Two bubbles popped free. What a waste. All that effort for just two. But working with herself didn’t require words. The instant the bubbles appeared, present-time Rita slammed straight into Tanuki, knocking her aside. Tanuki probably didn’t even see the names, just the glow that marked them as hers. Future Rita surged in and snapped up both. Follow current novels on novel·fiɾe·net