The Idol Prince noticed the water fly everywhere and his heart pumped out razor blades as he closed his eyes and clung on to Joaquin desperately trying not to worsen the situation they already found themselves in. His eyes remained closed for more than a few seconds until he started to wonder if he was dead already.
"Go easy on the threads now will you?" He heard a familiar calm sounding voice whispering in his ear. As he slowly opened his eyes he felt a shift in the atmosphere he was no longer standing nor was he in the water.
In front of him was his tiny hand gripping tightly on a white fabric underneath which was a black one. He geared his head upward and was met with someone's chin, it was a much darker skin tone than what he was used to so he quickly deduced that it was Joaquin.
Nervous and with a stomach full of butterflies he tried to escape upward but ended up feeling a tight grip holding him in place. "L… Let go of me," he stammered out.
"You might wanna look up before you try that again."
The Idol Prince did just that and realized that the same spears that mutilated those four other students was overhead. His heart raced and he clenched harder, Joaquin growled and the Idol Prince noticed that he had dug his nails into his chest.
He quickly removed it and apologized in a worried, slow, stuttering voice. Joaquin told him that it was no problem and they should just wait for the spear to retract back into the water. He nervously tugged on Joaquin's coat again making some whimpering sounds. Joaquin let out a tedious sigh and yanked the Idol Prince over to the side.
He smiled to himself and crawled out from underneath the bone spear, he was happy and whaling in anticipation to see what he had just survived. As he slowly approached the exit from underneath he heard some students talking amongst one another. They weren't at all subtle in their discussions.
They were arguing over whether Idol Prince and the others had survived or not, from this discussion emerged other talks of escape without confirmation versus waiting to see. Still, he pushed forward, his enthusiasm not at all dampened by their taunts.
As soon as his hand peeked outside he heard a welcoming scream, "YOUNG MASTER! YOUNG MASTER!" Luo went over to pull him out from underneath the bone spear. "Young master are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Dizzy, bruised, blind? Please tell…"
The Idol Prince silenced him by raising his hand, once he finally looked up he noticed that it wasn't just one bone spear but tens on tens of them. He gasped and stumbled back into Luo's hands.
"Hey, hey, is master okay?" A cute and playful voice called from high up on top of the bone spear cave. Because of the blinding rays of sunlight crashing down on them, he could see clearly who it was or what they were standing on. It was Ains and she was barely affected by the attack at all.
The Idol Prince turned to Luo and asked him if he had seen what had happened. Luo nodded while glaring at the entrance of the bone spear cave. He started to tell the Idol Prince exactly what had happened as soon as the water started splashing all over the place.
The spears did come out, but they emerged from those splashed by the water, when they retracted no one was hurt but the running kid was scared into falling into the water. The blood goblin puppet chased after Joaquin first, but he smirked and pulled out a talisman. It lept into the air and exploded.
Enraged by its creation having been destroyed the shark cried out and scared everyone into activating their abilities, including the Idol Prince. An array of bright explosions were followed by a sudden appearance of the bone spear cave here, everyone thought the Idol Prince and the others had died because before the violent explosion Joaquin dragged him forward as if he was blocking something with him.
He looked down at his young master and sighed out, "but I'm glad to see that you're okay. That boy who almost got you killed, he is over there." Luo said as he pointed to the side.
The boy had curled himself into a little ball and shook at every gust of air passing by, his body vibrated uncontrollably and he was no longer able to cry. His eyes were bloodshot, and there were veins bulging out at every visible part of his body. He had been deserted by all the other students who were now praising the Idol Prince in unison.
"Alder, can you come out now?" He called out to Joaquin after watching the bone spears slowly wither away instead of retracting. "Did the goblin shark die?" The Idol Prince asked as he looked up curiously to Luo.
Some sweat formed on the side of his head and he said unwillingly while nodding yes. Shortly after the bones were reduced to pebbles, Ains crashlanded in front of the Idol Prince and waved hi. From the rubbled Joaquin emerged with a coat riddled with holes, he flexed and stretched for a while until Beipan hitched in.
"So, Mr. Alder the bleach, are you planning on keeping the rewards gained from slaying the C class monstrosity to yourself even though we are a…." He was stopped when threw the head of the hideous creature in front of him along with its core.
"Wait for four hours the shark's energy to leave the swamp before attempting to head back, there will be smaller ones to deal with then but I trust that at least 6 of you will make it out." He said with a much more relaxed tone as he helped Ains to her feet.
"Wait where do you think you are going?" Luo said as he grabbed hold of Joaquin's arm.
"Again, you're in no position to treat me as a peer," Joaquin said without even looking back to face him.
Not wanting to fall victim to the same feeling of inferiority again Luo tightened his grip on Joaquin's arm and repeated his question. "I said where are you going? Don't forget that here your image doesn't matter, you're just another student."
Joaquin's eyes almost fell victim to the rapid blinking reflex again he swallowed all the curses that were about to escape into the world. "Hypocrite," he snarled as he broke free of his grip forcefully.
"Will take me with you?" The Idol Prince asked. Everyone instantly mounted all their eyes on him and gasped, Luo tried to convince to take back his plea but the Idol Prince was stubborn. It did not matter because Joaquin did not even look back to answer, he had almost disappeared into the forest when the Idol Prince noticed and chased after him.