Water rushed in my ears and the current pulled at my hairs that came loose from that battle. But the most concerning thing was the eel hound's mouth clamped on my thigh. It ground its teeth painfully, trying to cut through my armor with needle sharp points. My blood spilled into the water, wafting from its mouth. I moaned in pain and my HP dropped another chunk.
I bent over and stabbed the arrow in my hand down. As I did, I manipulated the water so instead of it resisting my movements, it boosted the speed of my attack. Since the eel hound's element was also water, my magic wasn't effective against it. But physical weapons were another matter. The arrow head sank into the eel hound's eye and it popped with a splash of blood that quickly faded away in the dirty water. The monster let go of my leg and swung around, ripping the arrow out of my hand and lashing out with its tail. I thrust my hand out and imagined a shield, and forced the water into that shape. The tail hit the water shield with enough force that it smashed painfully against me, but it didn’t hurt as bad as if the attack actually landed.
The water grabbed hold of my armor, dragging me deeper. Blood leaked from the puncture wounds in my thigh, and the pain made it hard to swim. A part of me was freaking out, but a larger part was calm and collected. And determined. I couldn't die yet. I still had to get home to my family.
The eel hound rushed at me, its powerful tail propelling it through water at an alarming speed. Apparently the arrow sticking out of its eye socket only egged the monster on, instead of deterring it.
Another arrow appeared in my hand. Then another. And another. It didn't matter how many arrows I lost, I always had more. At the same time, I grabbed hold of the water around me and forced it to obey my will. I released the arrows and wrapped water around the feathered ends. When the eel hound was five feet away, I launched the arrows at the monster.
They shot through the water like bullets. One aimed for the eel hound's chest, but the other two swerved around to attack its side. The monster veered to its blind side, just like I expected – which sent it right into the path of the right arrow. The sharp point pierced the monster's rib cage and dug deep. The eel hound jerked in surprise and pain, giving me enough time to stab it with the other arrows and knock its HP down in the red.
When the fight first started, the idea of battling in the water freaked me out. But as I felt the rushing water caressing my skin and saw how easy it was to use the arrows underwater, I realized that my fears were groundless. This was my element. One I could wield however I wanted.
The only downside was, I still breathed air. By the burning in my lungs, I needed it — and soon.
While the eel hound trashed in pain, trying to pull the arrow out, I kicked towards the surface. My armor was heavy, but with Power Swim, it wasn't a problem. Injured thigh or not, I needed air. I burst out of the water and sucked in a huge breath. My lungs barely felt relief before an intense pain radiated from my left calf. The eel hound bit down hard and jerked me back into the water. My HP bar dropped to the low yellow range.
Are you for reals? Don't you know when to give up?! I wanted to scream but didn't dare to, since my head was underwater again.
Irritated, I twisted around and commanded the water I controlled to form into long tentacles coming from my hands, just like the slime monster I faced a couple days ago. I wrapped the water around the monster that was determined to drown me. With a jerk of my hands, I lifted the water up and, consequently, the monster with it. As soon as it lost the ability to control its body, the startled eel hound let go of my leg. It thrashed, trying to break out of the water cage, but I refused to let it go. Our powers were equal and the struggle sent a painful sting in my temple, but I kept the monster locked up.
It was water resistant, but other elements were just fine. Since you want to keep me in the water so much, I'll give you a taste of the air, I thought bitterly and pressed my hands up, like I was lifting a heavy weight.
The eel hound lifted all the way out of the water. It convulsed and wiggled, struggling against the wet layer around its bleeding rib cage and waist. I swam up, poked my head up, glaring at the panicking monster. I swung whips at the end of my hands and flung the eel hound against the slot canyon wall. It smashed into the rock with the wet squish, the arrow still in its side burying deep. Callously, I hurled the monster to the opposite side of the canyon and bashed it again, hard enough the other arrow poked right through its ribcage.
The eel hound sagged like a limp bag of bones.
Ding! [+30 EXP]
As soon as I saw the EXP, I knew the fight was over and adrenaline started to drain from my blood, waking the intense pain in my legs until it was hard to tread the water. God, that monster was determined to either drown me or bite my legs off.
Turbulent water bubbled to my right, breaking me out of my thoughts. Oh shit! How was Levi?
I waved my hand and commanded the water to bring the carcass to me. I quickly reached out and ghosted my hand over its ugly head. The System instantly activated and converted the monster into bright, shimmering magically snowflakes that wafted away in a non-existent breeze. In their wake, were two glowing drop item orbs and my arrows. I touched the drop orbs and was rewarded with an eel hound bladder and dorsal fin, which were automatically put in my Items Bag. Seriously, that's what the System deemed as the most valuable parts of the monster? I didn't have time to argue — the monster was gone anyway, and I couldn't get it back.
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Instead, I wrapped water around the arrows and took a deep breath before I dove back into the water. The bite wound in my thigh burned more than ever, so I wrapped water around my lower half like a mermaid fin and used the water to push me towards the silt cloud that bubbled and muddied the stream. The three arrows rotated around me like death comets.
I didn't know what to expect — but it wasn't this.
Levi was a fourteen inch long blue snake, and thin as a twig. Faced against an eel hound, he obviously had a size disadvantage. Which is why I didn't expect to see him constricted around the eel hound's neck while the monster thrashed, trying to rip him off. Both monsters were covered in wounds and bite marks, but the eel hound was obviously worse off. Levi bit into the eel hound's gills, shredding them to add insult to the injury as he choked the other monster.
My eyes widened, impressed with the little blue snake. His vindictiveness had no end — or size limit. If anything, I could feel through our telepathic bond that it frustrated him that a 'light snack' was now bigger than him. He wanted to swallow the eel hound whole in annoyance, but couldn't. And that burned Levi to no end.
I didn't have all the air in the world — I'd need to breathe soon — and it felt wrong to leave Levi down here fighting alone while I lounged above. I shot the arrows forward and stuck the eel hound like a pin cushion. Levi glared at me for butting in, and retaliated by manipulating the water to squeeze the nick tighter. The eel hound couldn't hold up against our combined attacks.
Ding! [+30 EXP]
I swam over, collected the drop orbs — another bladder and dorsal fin, yippee. That wasn't the only thing that appeared in my Items Bag. My Miao dao sword, that sank to the bottom of the stream, did too. God, I loved the System's perks. If only I knew why I got the System to begin with, I'd love it even more. I mean, for all I knew, it could be a ticking time bomb and I didn't know when it was going to blow.
I grabbed Levi to drag him up with me. He didn't struggle. Instead, he wrapped his tail around my wrist and flopped around in my hand like a limp piece of rope. For all his tantrums, he was tired from the fight.
I burst out of the water and took a deep breath. God, it felt so good to breathe.
"You did good," I muttered to Levi. I could keep swimming, but I was too tired and Regen wouldn't work if I was moving. With that in mind, I made the surface of the water solid and climbed up on it like it was a boat. Instead of letting my ‘boat’ go with the current, I directed it to move up river while I sat down and rested.
Levi glanced at me, taking insult to my compliment. He was a ferocious dragon — he’d never lose to such a puny monster.
I smiled bitterly. What would it be like to be powerful enough to have that kinda confidence? I'd never been in that position before.
Even before I became a Hunter, I didn't have that mentality. Sure, my family had power. A lot more than I acted like. Every Hunter in America was falling over themselves to get one of Uncle Maveric's works. After all, the right armor or weapon could save a Hunter's life. Only I never wielded that power. I could use my Uncle's name to buy favors, or exchange trinkets — even the small, insignificant ones — for things that I wanted. I'm sure that Uncle wouldn't mind, honestly. I was that spoiled. And it was my inheritance. If I started using it before he passed away, it's just what it is.
Only, I never felt comfortable doing it. Because I didn't know if I deserved it. Not until I knew why Mom died. If I really had a hand in tearing apart my family, did I really deserve to be in it and reap the benefits?
The slot canyon turned a sharp corner and revealed a waterfall a short distance off. The water didn't fall from a river above, it actually gushed out from between two layers of rocks. It wasn't a little bit of water, either. No, it was fifteen feet tall with enough water to create the stream that filled up the slot canyon. It fanned out, covering the whole end of the canyon. It was pretty and all, the glow of the dying light on the pale blue water against the reds and browns rock, but it posed a problem too.
My GPS indicated I was still twenty feet from my destination. Only, there was a waterfall with a solid rock wall ten feet ahead.
Not to mention, this waterfall was definitely bigger than a 'spring.' I think. According to what I remember from school, which admittedly could be wrong. But I didn't think so.
"Um, where's my spring?" I wondered. I directed the water boat closer to the waterfall and watched it pound against the stream. It was only a couple decades old, but the power and volume of the water was already eroding the stone around it, creating a plunge basin for the water to fall into.
I pulled up the map and double checked everything. It didn't tell me to go up, it pointed straight ahead.
Levi leaned on my shoulder and peered at the map. He really couldn't get enough of the System screens. Then again, he’d obviously never spent time with humans before we met, so everything I did – like walking on two legs and eating sandwiches – was new to him.
I pointed to the map. "It wants me to keep going. But I can't." I motioned to the waterfall. "There's nowhere to go."
He glanced at the map. For a second, I almost thought he actually understood it from the way he stared. But did he really? He flicked his tongue, then slipped from my shoulder and dove into the water.
"Hey, where are you going?" I bent down and watched him disappear into the turbulent current.
Water at the bottom of a waterfall was no joke. The pressure of the falling water into the basin creates a backwards current that crashed the water — and anything in it — against the basin's back rocks, called a hydraulic. Even a fifteen foot waterfall had enough hydraulic force in the plunge basin to be dangerous, especially with this volume of water.
Levi could breathe underwater, so if he got caught in the undertow, he'd be fine until he got out. I didn't have the option though.
But maybe he was right about searching around the plunge basin. Maybe there was a way forward I couldn't see above the water. I already came this far, I wasn't going to give up now.
"The System really should give me the ability to breathe underwater or superior hold-your-breath ability or something, if it's going to keep giving me all these weird water tasks," I muttered and slipped into the water.