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Kernstalion 56: Bottom Crawlers
🕑 Added 2021-04-01 07:43:33 +0000 UTCWithout any hesitation, I swam back up towards the bow of the ship. How do I get up? I shouted in my mind.
The water around me surged, and a tentacle crashed by me, causing a cyclone in the water, shoving me aside. When I regained my bearings, I found myself dozens of meters away from the ship while tentacles pummeled its hull, and two massive shadows moved up towards it.
Get me aboard! I screamed, feeling an onset of panic like I hadn't felt in a very long time. Images of surfers and sharks played through my head as I swam forward.
There wasn't any reply, but the ship began creaking dangerously from the battering. Cracks appeared in the side, then it shuddered. A massive glow appeared above, and the ship shot forward.
Hey, wait for us, I tried again, swimming as fast as my three arms allowed, after the quickly retreating shape. Something moved to the side, and I saw the two remaining Grablon mercenaries swim after the ship, a man and woman, both leaving a trail of blood in the water.
I am sorry- but we can't stay there! A few more hits, and my hull will crumble!
The Foul Breath's mental voice was cracked and strained, and then I felt its presence do something to me. A ping came from my status, followed by the presence receding from my mind.
This is the only thing I can do to help. I hope it's enough, good luck… came a final, soft message. Then the Foul Mouth's presence was gone, and I slowed my swimming as the shadow of the ship disappeared in the distance.
For a moment, I couldn't believe what was going on. How had I gone from running through a lost deity's domain to being marooned in the sea? Luckily I wasn't alone.
I turned to the two mercenaries and saw the same looks on their faces as what I felt—barely restrained panic. The two massive shadows below were speeding after the ship, their shapes disappearing in the distance. Both were wounded from their previous battle, and they left behind a trail of small slivers of meat and droplets of blood. The blood behaved oddly, quickly congealing into round shapes ranging from marble to soccer ball size.
When the last shadow of the massive demons disappeared, I sighed. At least that's something.
The panic receded with unprecedented speed leaving me blinking and clear-minded once more.
The hell was that? I thought, trying to pinpoint why I felt so calm now. A soft clicking sound came from behind and below me, and I whirled around to see.
A dozen of the smaller demon squids rushed up and after us. I remembered how they had attacked the mercenaries, splitting them up and then entangling them. We needed to stay close together, I thought as I turned to the mercenaries.
"We-" I tried to speak, but water filled my mouth, and all that came out was a garbled muffle.
Shit! I tried letting air from my lungs move into my mouth so I could try, but as soon as I tried, my gills began acting up. I quickly stopped when I felt myself go woozy and turned my attention back to the two grablons.
The two mercenaries looked at the demons, then began swimming towards me. Praying they would do better than before, I did the same.
As we moved closer together, one of the demon squids caught up with the mercenaries and shot towards the male. The two mercenaries hadn't seen it, and I pushed myself forward as the demon squid spread its tentacles, ready to entangle its hapless victim.
I managed to jab my ax in the demon squid's path, feeling the water-resistance slow my movement. It was barely enough to cause the demon to swerve around the blade. The mercenary's eyes widened, and he swirled around in the water. He jabbed at the retreating demon, piercing its side, causing a trickle of dark blood to flow into the water. The demon barely slowed as it shot back to the others, and then we tread water, paddling to stay in one place as eleven of the small demons circled around us.
"We need to kill them fast and flee, or more will be attracted," a muted voice said. I didn't have time to turn, but I presumed it was the man who had spoken.
"How-" I tried, again barely producing any sound.
"Not now! Drop that ridiculous thing. You are better off using your hands!" He said, moving to wack at my ax. I pulled it back and glared at him.
"Fool!" he hissed, turning his attention back to the circling squids.
"La-...sister, we won't make it out of here like that. Try and get away while I distract it!" the male said.
"Stop being such a stuck-up Gliat, brother," a drawling voice replied. "You heard the rumors. This guy's a Prime! He must have some tricks left!"
I couldn't believe the retarded conversation they were having while we were being circled by hungry monsters. Like steam from a kettle, a loud hissing came from one of the squids, and the others copied it.
"Here they come," the woman said.
The demon-squids shot forward, showing more intelligence than I had expected. Split into almost equal groups, a group of three surged my way. Wishing I had some way of creating aquatic Vengeful Spirits, I suddenly remembered the Wirgs. My hands twirled around as I cast befriend at the squids moments before they reached me.
The glow from my three free hands drew the attention of the squids, but they didn't slow down. I didn't get time to rue the failure, as I slashed the ax through the water in their path. It felt like I was moving in slow motion. As the three squids rushed past the slow-moving blade, I saw something move far below, and I winced.
More squids? I thought, taking a quick look while holding the squids at bay with my waving ax.
Fish in many different sizes were slowly swimming up from the depths, snapping at the slivers of meat and gobbling up the congealed balls of blood.
Fish! I thought, my mind moving into overdrive as an idea sprouted. I quickly looked around for a big one while keeping half an eye on the three squids.
From my side came a garbled cry, quickly cut short, and I turned. Two demons were wrapped around the male mercenary, who was using his hands to hold their middle mouths away from his torso. His eyes were round as saucers, but he couldn't scream. One of the tentacles had wrapped partially around his neck and mouth, almost as if to silence him.
A movement from the edge of my vision made me slash my ax upward. One of the demons swirled away, but the other two slammed into me, pushing me back. Tentacles slammed into my back and side. I felt the skin rip and burn with pain. I shoved with two hands, and one of them was pushed back to the maximum of his tentacle length. I felt him resist, but it wasn't that difficult, and I suddenly realized they were fast, but were they strong?
Holding two demon-squid at bay with one arm, I grabbed at the base of a tentacle with my third arm, holding it in place. Then I hacked down with my ax. Although the movement was slow, the blade sliced easily through the rubbery flesh, and a wave of blood came from the sliced tentacle. The sound of hissing teapots came again, and I saw the third demon-squid rush around to my back. In a hurry, I sliced at the remaining tentacles holding me, at the same time trying to turn and keep the third demon-squid in sight. As I did, I got a few chaotic images of the two mercenaries.
The man was still resisting but was obviously weakened. The woman had four of the beasts on her, and in a feat of strength, was holding all four back. She had three tentacles wrapped around her head, covering her mouth and preventing her from shouting.
I mercilessly hacked away at the tentacles of the demon-squid on my left shoulder, trying to work as fast as I could. Its struggles began weakening, and I felt its tentacles loosen. When it had only one tentacle left, I felt its body stop moving. I held it for a moment, using it as a shield so that the third one couldn't reach me, and hacked away at the other one's tentacles. Having a little more breathing room, I saw the man was looking at me with pleading eyes. When he saw me look, he nudged his head to the side, where his sister was. She was still struggling with the four squids, her eyes blazing and the muscles on her body bulging and rippling.
A soft scream came as the man couldn't hold on, and the squids slammed their center mouths into his body. He struggled and flailed for a few moments, then was still. The woman had seen, and she began struggling even more, using her legs to kick at the demon-squids at the risk of being bitten.
I had finally chopped the last of the tentacles binding me, and swinging around for the last one, I almost yelped. A red, six-eyed shark with two massive dorsal fins was gobbling up the arms I had cut off while smaller fish nibbled at others.
My shock lasted for less than a second, and then I shoved the two bodies away and began casting Befriend again. As soon as my three hands glowed, the shark and the fish below me looked up. I stared right at the shark, trying to focus the power of all three spells on him, and for a moment, he hovered perfectly still in the water. Then he shook his head and shot forward, right at me.
Didn't work! I thought while scrambling to get my ax in between us. Being in the middle of the water, I suddenly felt immensely exposed, and I hurriedly began casting Befriend again.
Something slammed into my back, and I felt a bite into my shoulder blade while tentacles wrapped around my chest. My health bar popped up, dropping from green to yellow. Pain flared up from my shoulder, and then a tentacle wrapped around my neck, quickly moving towards my mouth. I grabbed the tentacle and tried ripping the demon-squid from my back, but its arms were like a rubber band, stretching as I pulled on it.
A shadow blurred past me, and then I felt something slam into me - no, into the squid. A hissing like a steam kettle again, and a big cloud of blood came from behind me. I felt like I was caught in a storm. My body was dragged left and right. The demon-squid was forcefully ripped from my back, the tentacles growing taut but holding. A sudden fear of the monster's mouth slamming into my back made me slice at the tentacle at my chest without restraint. I cut myself a dozen times, but then the first tentacle dropped, and the other two snapped off, leaving gashes across my chest where they were ripped free.
I swam forward, quickly turning and holding the ax in front of me. Behind me, the red shark was wrenching its head from side to side, its rows of teeth grinding into the demon-squid. The squid was trying to turn around, its tentacles slapping the shark's skin, carving long bloody gashes.
Feeling weak, I tried feeling with one hand behind my back and felt a massive open wound. I shuddered and looked at my health bar. It was yellow still but slowly moving towards the halfway point. I was bleeding!
I looked around and saw the woman was still fighting, her arms trembling as they held the four demon-squids at bay. Her eyes were closed as if she was praying. I swam forward as fast as I could, and one of the squids noticed. It began releasing its tentacles, and the woman's eyes snapped open. When she saw me moving towards her, her mouth opened in a nasty grin, and I saw something metallic shine between her teeth. She grabbed the demon-squid that was trying to get away, holding it in place.
I swam around it, ignoring the flailing tentacles, and put my ax against its back. Grabbing the base of a tentacle, I began pulling, and with a wet plop, my ax blade pierced the back of it. A jet of blood flowed out as the demon squid began thrashing, but I just continued shoving the ax in until my hand touched the wound. The thrashing stopped almost immediately, and I yanked the demon-squid away, causing both of us to twirl in the water.
The woman was grinning savagely, and I saw she was actively holding all three of the remaining squids on her in place now. They were slashing at her, drawing long lines of blood, but she seemed not to care. I grabbed the nearest squid and struck it with my ax again until it died.
Ten seconds later, I released the last one, my health now in the yellow and my back a burning mass of pain. Despite my gills I was starting to have difficulty breathing.
The woman hovered silently before me. Her eyes were on the spot where the other four demon-squids were gnawing on her brother's body.
"We need to get to him and retrieve his air piece," she said, her voice sounded strangled and strained.
I looked at her, and she opened her mouth, showing me what looked like a boxer's mouthguard. With a sad grin, she swam forward. I looked around and saw the red shark gorge itself on the dead demon-squid not too far away.
We need to get more of them if we want to survive, I knew immediately.
"You coming?" the woman hissed, and I turned to follow her.
The demon-squids seemed unwilling to release the body, which made killing them surprisingly easy. When I ripped the last one away, what remained was a partially consumed body. It was almost impossible to recognize the man it had been before, and the woman turned away. For a moment, I thought she was crying, then she made a horrible noise and threw up.
If you've never seen someone throw up in the water, I can tell you, it's not a pretty sight.
I removed the man's air-piece with some difficulty, then looked at the bloody slimy thing in disgust.
"Don't be a baby, just use it!" the woman said, and looking up, I saw her wipe her mouth and face in a futile effort to wipe away bits of food and yellow bile.
The idea of putting the disgusting metal in my mouth made me almost as nauseous as the vomit slowly dispersing to the side. I could taste part of it through my gills. I blinked as I felt my stomach heave and quickly put the air-piece in my mouth. As soon as it was there, I felt my teeth tingle a bit, and then a stream of air-filled my mouth. I almost swallowed it, and it took a few minutes before I figured out the trick to breathing with it. When I finally succeeded, and the air slowly filled my lungs, my gills stopped drawing in water, only expelling the air.
Taking a deep breath, I tried speaking.
"Hello?"
My voice was dull and muted, but it was mine.
"Yes, it works. Now let's get out of here. We need to reach the bottom and begin our journey to the coast."
I nodded and turned to look at the depths below. It was dark, but more fish were still pouring up, eating from the mass of congealed blood orbs.
"Shit, incoming!"
The woman pointed to something to my left, and I saw the shark slowly swim our way. Looking at it, I saw its mouth was closed, and only two of its eyes were focused on us. The others were looking around as if scanning for trouble.
"Don't worry, he's a friend," I said, hoping I was right. I held my ax ready just in case. It was a shark, after all, and we were bleeding.
When the shark reached us, it hovered beside me, one eye inspecting me curiously. There was far more intelligence in it than I had expected.
"Do you understand me?" I asked.
The shark blinked at me.
"We need to get to the bottom. Can you bring us?"
The shark blinked again and slowly moved closer. It had dozens of long wounds on its body, but they were already healing, many closing up.
"What is going on?"
I looked over and grinned. "Redtooth over here is going to help us get to the bottom fast." My hp bar blinked and dropped another bit, turning my grin over the impromptu name, ugly.
"And there we need to find a place to heal up. I am slowly dying."
She quickly inspected my wounds before grimacing. "You're bleeding? I don't have any potions on me. The deep one on your back isn't going to heal by itself." The way she looked at me indicated she didn't like my chances.
I knew she was right, but my hope was that some plants were on the bottom of the sea. That way, I could use Share Lifeforce on them. I grabbed the fin of Redtooth and motioned her to grab the other side.
She looked at me, then the shark for a while, uncertainty written on her face. Then she took a quick look around, shrugged, and clung to the other side.
"Let's go," I said, and Redtooth began swimming down immediately.
