Falcons can indeed temporarily dive into water, but they are not aquatic creatures, yet this did not bother Takatsuki.
After all, he wasn't a real falcon.
After diving into the water at high speed, Takatsuki's body shimmered, and he transformed back into a carp.
However, Takatsuki had forgotten.
He had plunged into the water at high speed. A falcon's normal flight speed is around 100 kilometers per hour, and it can reach over 300 kilometers per hour during a dive.
In anime, perhaps for plot reasons, after plunging into water, characters are either unharmed or it's not shown.
But Takatsuki had a real, firsthand experience of hitting the water at over 300 kilometers per hour.
Fortunately, he was in his falcon body when he entered the water, so the impact area was relatively small, and he didn't suffer too severe injuries.
But this couldn't be considered good luck, after all, if this injury had been fatal, it would have been directly immunized.
Just like when Takatsuki was corroded by Honkai Energy, if he had a certain degree of resistance, causing the Honkai Energy to only corrode his bodily functions but not be fatal, then he would have lost his ability to move.
However, he had no resistance at all, which meant that the moment the Honkai Energy erupted, he should have turned to dust like cannon fodder. The Honkai Energy instantly filled his entire body, but this lethal power directly immunized him from the damage caused by the Honkai Energy, although the pain still remained.
At this moment, Takatsuki suffered severe internal injuries due to the violent impact.
Pfft...
Although there was no sound, Takatsuki truly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Fortunately, the monsters in the air didn't seem to pursue him into the water, perhaps because they couldn't observe what was happening underwater, or for some other reason.
But for now, he was safe.
It's just that there were other monsters underwater. Although they were much weaker than the monsters above that were faster than bullets, Takatsuki was injured, and he wasn't in human form, so many methods couldn't be used.
No choice, I can only use my Stand.
Watching the horde of monsters swimming wildly towards him from a distance, Takatsuki summoned Heaven's Stairway to guard him.
Due to the Stand's unique properties, even the monsters of the Dungeon couldn't see it. When a group of snake-like monsters surged forward, Heaven's Stairway's fists swiftly swung out, striking the head of the first monster.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted underwater. This explosion was not the power of Dragon blast, but originated from Killer Queen's ability.
He detonated a monster as an explosive. Although it was described as detonating the monster, the monster itself only suffered damage from the explosion, rather than its body exploding.
Killer Queen's ability didn't seem to be what Takatsuki initially thought, turning objects and creatures into bombs, but rather injecting a special psychic energy into the opponent's body and detonating it.
When the opponent's flesh was tough enough, they could withstand the explosion.
It didn't explode to death?
Whether it was because of his own body or the opponent's true strength, Heaven's Stairway immediately sensed that the monster he had detonated hadn't died, but was severely wounded.
Then how about this!
Grabbing the tail of the severely wounded monster, Heaven's Stairway swung it like a long whip, knocking back the monsters surging from the rear and throwing it onto them.
He made a motion with his hand as if pressing a detonator switch.
The violent explosion caused continuous tremors in the water flow, and Takatsuki used this current to temporarily distance himself from the monsters.
Damn it, ordinary fish can't outswim these monsters.
Before he had swum far, Takatsuki noticed that the monsters had again closed the distance between them, and Takatsuki was also injured.
Although he wanted to use Heaven's Stairway to trigger another explosion to escape, the monsters on the other side were not fools. Upon seeing a companion inexplicably grabbed out of thin air, they immediately scattered.
Damn it, should I use King Crimson?
When King Crimson is activated, everything except Takatsuki maintains its original trajectory. In combat, the opponent would maintain their combat movements, while Takatsuki could seize the opportunity to change position, strategy, or even escape.
But even if King Crimson was activated now, those monsters would still pursue him in a straight line, without slowing down in the slightest.
As Takatsuki swam forward, pondering a solution, a green figure suddenly darted out from a crack in the underwater wall beside him.
It grabbed him and quickly swam into the distance.
Takatsuki subconsciously wanted to use Heaven's Stairway to attack, but ultimately stopped.
He noticed that the one holding him seemed to have no hostility towards him, but rather was helping him escape from those monsters.
And through Heaven's Stairway's eyes, he saw clearly that the one holding him was actually a mermaid girl with greenish-blue hair and a tail.
At this moment, Takatsuki, who had transformed into a carp, was being held in her arms as she rapidly escaped the monsters' encirclement.
Mermaids, rare monsters in the Dungeon, are very few in number. They rarely actively attack adventurers; most mermaids use their singing to lure adventurers into other monsters' ambushes.
As elite monsters, mermaid flesh and blood have very powerful healing properties; they can even reattach severed limbs.
Takatsuki originally didn't know this, but among the ingredients for the potion Fu Hua needed, one optional ingredient was mermaid blood. If available, the effect would be very strong.
So Takatsuki had specifically looked into it at the time, as rare monsters are hard to encounter.
But monsters are, well, normal monsters wouldn't perform rescue actions, and this mermaid's behavior was very strange compared to a monster.
A term appeared in Takatsuki's mind.
Xenos.
Dungeon monsters with sentience.
Takatsuki's understanding of this world originally came from the three seasons of the anime, and the third season happened to be about the Xenos incident.
Although he couldn't remember which other Xenos there were, after recognizing the mermaid girl in front of him as a Xenos, Takatsuki naturally didn't attack her, but let her take him to escape from here.
Unfortunately, Takatsuki had turned into a carp, and his fish scales naturally didn't have the same texture as human skin.
The little mermaid was very fast, swimming upstream all the way. Even when encountering a one-meter high broken current area, she easily leaped over it.
Soon, they arrived at a place where no monsters were gathered.