“Pfff!!!”
“…Good job.”
The leading fish slowly floated to the surface as the arrow protruded out of the side of its main body –was what I was hoping for, but sadly, nothing floated up. The arrow lay pierced at the bottom of a thick mangrove’s root on the opposite side’s bank. The arrow’s feathered end mocked me as I knocked another arrow. It had flown unexpectedly straight with nearly no drop and along with the diffraction of light through water, had made my miss seem especially big. I snatched another arrow from my quiver, fumbling a bit, before I quickly sighted and launched my next arrow.
SPLASH!!
“Ooh, that’s more like it!” The arrow had flown just over the top of the fish, nicking the dorsal fin, catching its attention. The school of fish stagnated, as they bunched up to face the shore. Looking at them closely, I noticed their slightly bigger fins and uniquely structured scales. They possessed blue oval scales that reflected the dying rays of the sun and shone, illuminating the patch of water creating a mystical atmosphere.
“…Wow, that’s somehow so mesmerising and beautiful…”
“I can see why you think that, but this is just like the peace before a war, fragile and temporary. Sarratina, rip up some of your cloth that’s got blood on it, tie it to a rock and then chuck it about three meters from the bank.” Sarratina gave me a questioning look, before proceeding to tear up a part of the hem of her dress. The originally long dress had already been torn up so much; it resembled a short skirt. She might start getting cold in this jungle; I would need to watch out for her shivering. I turned my attention to Shiara, who seemed a bit flustered. She must have caught on to at least some of my plan.
I wiped my sweaty hands on my rag before casually nocking another arrow. This shot wouldn’t matter too much, but would rather be used to further incite the fish, so I didn’t focus too much and instead looked towards Sarratina.
“You ready?”
She gave me a curt nod.
“…Then chuck it.” I watched her do an underarm lob at the same time as I released my arrow. The rock and cloth landed about four meters from the edge, before starting to roll towards the river at the same times as my arrow made a small splash somewhere in the middle of the school. Judging from how no blood came out, it must have just missed them all.
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“…”
“…”
“…”
The rock finally stopped its slow rolling as it bumped into a fern.
“…Is something meant to happ-“
KABOOM!!!
“-AHHH?!”
“…”
Even though I had seen this before, the sudden surge of a large volume of water flying vertically upwards was still quite the spectacle. It was about three times the size of the fountain in Frankfurt. And from out of the spray, a flock of Flying-Piranha’s came at us. The reflective scale created a dazzling glare while their jaws unhinged, and their oily mouths opened into a round circle, even bigger then Shiara’s. Inside their mouth, a row of serrated razor sharp teeth, occasionally glinting inside the maw, threatened us menacingly. Their pectoral fins already extended outward and touching their neighbour, retracted into a double fold. *1
The fishes were launching towards us, and I could feel the tension in the air. The large mass of open jaws aimed towards us was a frightening sight to behold. I glanced towards the other two again. Shiara was still in shock, but Sarra had started to nervously twitch a bit, her hand seeming to do small circular motions.
“Hey Sarra, calm down and just watch. Remember, don’t absorb any mana in the jungle, so no magic.”
“Y..y-yeah, s..sure. I know that already” I stared at the fish again. As if following my expectations, the fish start to lose height, before rapidly plummeting towards the ground.
KATHUNK! KATHUNK! KATHUNK, KATHUNK!!
Ah, finally we can have some nice meat. The sun had already dipped behind the slope, and the river no longer reflected light from the sun, allowing the bright moon to create a pale blue ambience. The fish landed in a huge cluster around the rock, with about four to five fishes chomping on the ground immediately next to the rock, their mouth half digging into the ground. The rest lay on their sides flapping their tails, trying to return to the river. A few tried to propel themselves with newly formed water, moving gradually back towards the river. We should quickly fetch them. *2
“Hey, wake up you two, time to work. Grab a fish by the tail, and kill it. Grab about two each, that’s all we can handle. Also, careful of their mouth. They’ll swing their head around to bite you, or even squirt some water into your eyes.” It would be a bit of a waste of a harvest, but there wasn’t too much we could do about it. Besides, we probably could only eat that much before it went bad. Checking that the two had woken up out of their trances, I quickly strode towards the cluster of fish. I could hear the two cautiously treading behind me. The Flying-Piranha’s were slowly migrating back to the water having failed their attack and finding no target on landing, so the longer we took, the more dangerous it would be, and the longer we would have to walk.
Reaching the fish that had managed to get within three meters from the river, I pulled out the dagger we had previous pillaged. I reached down, grabbing one of them by their tails before slitting it at the gill and doing the same for a second one.
“Ouch!”
“So sorry, didn’t realise you were so close.” I turned around. Shiara had a Flying-Piranha in her hand, but somehow, it had flapped sideways and managed to scrape Sarra’s elbow before being quickly killed by Shiara. “I’m really sorry. Here let me heal you-“
“Hey! No magic. Unless you want your body to explode, don’t use any magic. Just stop her bleeding manually-“
“Uhhhh-Vixen, what are those?” With a sinking feeling I quickly turned around towards the river and Shiara did the same.
And what lay before my eyes were a dozen lances made of water floating above the river.