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The Exalt - Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 292: Great Sharkara Assault
🕑 Added 2023-02-09 18:49:34 +0000 UTCThree sharp armored fins torpedoed toward Oscar, and the sands parted away in great tides, scattering to obscure his vision like Orden's sandstorms. Not wanting to become shark food, Oscar leaped up high, but again, the sharks responded with large splashes out of the sand. Their large bodies impossibly exited the sands down to the ends of their tailfins, whipping freely in the air.
The three sharks surrounded Oscar as they descended back down to the ground. He winced slightly at the sight of the three large mouths opening up, reaching closer to him. Oscar nodded to his deer anima and swung his bulwark, wrapping the thread around its antlers.
With a gentle push from his palm, the deer anima sped faster to the side. Once it reached the full distance of the thread, it swung its antler, pulling Oscar toward it. Oscar's black figure zoomed through the air until he reached his deer antler and grabbed onto it, placing himself to ride on its back.
This sequence of events managed to get Oscar out of the range of the large sharks, who couldn't control their large bodies fast enough to reach his speeding figure. The angered sharks fell to the sands, causing great sand waves and clouds, blocking the sun and casting a dark shadow over the area.
"Faster!" Oscar willed his deer anima to run with all its might, pouring Ein into its hooves to escape the shadow of the sands. He enjoyed the brief respite from the cruel sun and its harsh light, but he didn't want to be buried. Away his deer anima carried him until they finally got out of the looming shadow.
The sands fell, and everywhere became geysers of sand, imploding with the force of hundreds of tons. But from all this destruction, a wave of good fortune came in the sands' movements, a low wave spreading from the epicenter of the crash site. Oscar and his deer anima jumped up, riding the resulting waves of sand, a fast way to traverse through the harsh desert.
His guard did not loosen because from behind him, he saw the three fins of sharks giving chase. They withstood the pounding force of the sands by diving deep and resurfaced. Oscar rode his deer anima, trying to find a place to hide, but saw only the desert of golden sand.
"If it were one-on-one, I would be more willing to fight, but I just advanced, and these sharks aren't weak at all," Oscar murmured to himself. He tried to find a weak point to exploit. His previous enemies all had a weakness from which he found a way to victory.
The Grovekeepers were weak and only focused on entrapment except for the large ones, and the rusted knights were tough but slow. Maia was too rash and unprepared for his onslaught. Only Orden remained the one he could not win against.
Another factor he considered was his powers at the peak Lower Elite Exalt realm meant he was powerful in conjunction with Reis against everyone else in the same realm except for Orden with his Meld Stage. But now he had reset back to the starting line as a Middle Elite Exalt and needed to grow his power.
"Hah," Oscar's breathing matched with the timing of his deer anima's struts. The sound of its hooves kicking off the sand was drowned out by the rumbling behind him. "If they had any specialized abilities, they would have used them by now, or maybe they're waiting."
The lack of knowledge irritated him, and he pulled out an encyclopedia of Exalt Beasts from his bad, Creature Report Volume Six, borrowed from the library. Hastily, his fingers turned the worn yellow pages to the desert section, and he speed-read through the pages, flicking one page to the next. The sharks were fast, but Oscar turned around in circles to have their large bodies impede each other, buying him time to read.
"Ah, here is it," Oscar's eyes shined at the drawing of a large shark resembling the ones chasing him.
"The Great Sharaka, hunters of the great deserts, known for their incredible jumping abilities, capable of pulling their entire body out of the sands. The hard exterior of their armored gold skin keeps most of the heat from entering their body. The sharp fangs and jagged fins are a menace to many who traverse the desert."
"They travel fast in straight lines but are notoriously slow in turning. A weakness lies in the hole near the top fin on their backs, used for breathing while swimming the sands. This hole remains shut until they need to breathe. Be wary because they feel steps in the sand forward from their noses. Once they are locked on, they will never stop until the prey is gone or eaten."
"However, they lack abilities and rely on their large bodies. Only if they were Knight Exalts and more would they become a greater threat."
Oscar closed the book and put it away. He had already taken notice of their slow turning, but the blowhole was a great piece of information. The only issue was how he could get there and do enough damage to the sharks.
"The sharks are following our footsteps, hmmm." He glanced at his deer anima and rubbed its head tenderly. With a sigh, he could only smile helplessly. "I'm sorry for putting this on you again, but I have to use you as bait again."
The deer anima groaned, shaking off the sand that built on its antlers, splattering it on Oscar's face, an act of teasing and understanding.
"Shame I was wearing my helmet. Good try, though." Oscar laughed and swung his legs over, crouching on his deer anima. He turned to face the chaotic sands and three golden fins at the centers of the upheaval. A trace of hesitation stilled his hands, but he clenched them and knocked on his helmet to gather himself.
"Keep running, no matter what."
In the next moment, his deer anima ran alone, and he was high in the high with his arms spread wide. The winds of the fall scraped the grains of sand against his uniform, but his helmet kept his vision open and sharp.
Ready, knock, and loose.
Oscar threw his bulwark to one of the protruding fins. The thread wrapped around it several times until it was firmly grasped, and Oscar pulled himself to it. To the Great Sharkara, with its thick armor skin, Oscar's movements were concealed, lost within the rustling of the sands.
Clinging tightly to the large golden fin, Oscar was bombarded with endless waves of heavy sand as the Great Sharakas continued to chase his deer anima.
"Where is it?" Oscar could barely see through all the sand. He needed to find the blowhole. Then after scrutinizing every part of his vicinity, he found it.
Air gushed out from it in a great gale, blowing away the residual sands. Oscar drew close to it, invoked his silver lance, and focused on his Ein. But he did not attack because a protective layer of gold covered the blowhole even as it opened, a fine sieve that allowed the air to pass in and out but nothing else.
Seeing the contracting and expanding of the blowhole safely under this gold sieve, Oscar lowered his silver lance. He had one other card left to play, and he resummoned his deer anima to his side. The Great Sharakas stopped and swam around in confused circles at the sudden loss of their prey.
'Treble Lance'
'Shattering Wave'
He and his deer anima fought as one, their sharp lances piercing through the gold sieve, lunging deep inside. Cracks spread until the gold shattered into fragments, exposing the soft flesh within, pulsing and veiny. Suddenly, Oscar heard a loud shriek come from the Great Sharaka, and his feet became unsteady as the Great Sharaka began to move deeper in the sands.
Another incredible sight was the golden sieve regrowing in an attempt to cover up the blowhole. Oscar did not hesitate and jumped inside, for it was large enough for him to enter. He and his deer anima stabbed into the fleshy walls of the blowhole, spewing out blood.
Another loud shriek of pain came from the Great Sharaka, and Oscar held on tight. The winds whistled from below until it became a sudden forceful push. Oscar's brain rattled around as the exhaust of air from the Great Sharaka battered and shook his body.
Once it was over, Oscar gasped and coughed from how the air had squeezed his body. He let go and dropped further down into the Great Sharaka. His feet touched a moist, beating area with walls that contracted in and out, and the air was thick, then thin, then thick again.
He knew he was in the lungs. His feet were uneven and squished on the flesh-ridden floor as he approached the balloon-like walls. "In a beast world, you would have been safe as not many would approach your weakness, but that is death against humans."
With a single silver lance, he punctured the lungs. With the sound of a balloon being popped, the lung collapsed, air exiting its wound like a fierce hurricane, and blood seeped in and began to flood the deflated organ. Oscar could hear the chokes and cries of the Great Sharaka as it suffered and writhed in the sands.
Without a hint of mercy, Oscar and his deer anima went on a rampage, destroying its insides.
