He had already died once before and Liam did not mind it because he had gained so much more because of that death. The profit was much bigger than the loss.
But he was not an idiot to die for nothing!
So he instantly kicked his legs down with as much force as he could muster, propelling his body upwards.
He also used up the mana he had stored and started casting fireballs to warm up the water around him.
If there was a beast in this lake, it had probably noticed him already so there was no point in being subtle about the escape.
He simply threw all caution to the wind and ran away as fast as possible!
Compared to the descent, the return trip was much faster as it only became more and more comfortable the closer he got to the surface.
He was only seconds away from reaching the surface and jumping out of the lake. However, before he could do so, a loud siren-like sound echoed in the waters.
The calm lake became turbulent and Liam could definitely feel something coming at him at top speed!
"Damn it. This is not going to end well. LUNA!"
Liam called out to the white fox and instantly his ride appeared above the lake. Now all he had to do was reach forward and push through that last few inches of water above his head.
Glugg. Glugg. Glugg.
Glugg. Glugg. Glugg.
Liam tried to shoot upwards when suddenly something red came at him.
It looked like a rod made of flesh or at least that's what he saw in the split second as the thing's speed was insane.
"No, I cannot dodge this completely." Liam knew his options. He instantly turned his body at an angle and made sure that he was on the same axis as the rippling waves.
This gave him the additional boost that he needed and he used it to zoom out of the lake waters.
This was enough for the white fox to take action. Luna spotted him the moment he reached the surface of the lake.
She immediately grabbed him just like Liam always did by the scruff of her neck and the two of them flew up, away from the lake.
However, they were still not quite free. The red rod still came after them and almost touched Luna's tail.
Now that they were up in the air, they could clearly see what it was. The red rod was a tongue covered with what looked like a million blisters.
Something oozed out of these blisters and chances were that it was highly poisonous.
But at the last moment, before the tongue could grab onto Luna's tail, Liam slammed a fireball onto the rod.
Flesh sizzled and another loud roar erupted from underneath the lake as the tongue rapidly withdrew like a stretched out rubber band.
Liam and Luna, now both high up in the air, panted loudly taking a breather. It was impossible for another attack to land on them unless the beast inside the lake could fly.
A couple of seconds passed and nothing came after them. So clearly that did not seem to be the case. They were safe at least for now.
However, just as the duo stared at the lake waters, ready to bolt at any instant, a pair of big bulging yellow eyes silently appeared underneath the clear waters.
They finally got a chance to take a look at the beast residing in the lake. It was a giant white-scaled toad!