"What are those things?!"
Delilah screamed as the water-made monsters attacked. They flew toward Avic faster than any of them could anticipate. Even the water beneath them was split in two as they moved across its surface.
Simultaneously, they jammed the tips of their sharp lances forward. Avic's eyes broadened. His breath froze in his lungs. Instinctively, he threw his sword before his chest to defend himself. With a screeching bang, the water monsters clashed with him.
The sword absorbed most of the damage, saving him from fatal injury. However, the force was enough to lift him from his feet, sending him crashing into the wall with another heavy bang. A cloud of dust immediately formed around him. Bits of concrete even fell into the shallow water below with a splash.
"Hey! Are you okay?!" Shouted Delilah.
This proved to be a dangerous mistake. The water monsters immediately turned their attention to her. They attacked with the ferocity of a charging elephant and the speed of a hungry cheetah. Trying to defend herself, Delilah pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back. She then quickly placed it into the bow before shooting it at them.
However, to her horrific surprise, the arrow simply passed through their bodies as if they were intangible.
"No..!"
The water monsters brought their lances back before thrusting forward. Their attack whistled as it closed in on Delilah's chest. It was surely over.
"Bloodline Art: Ice Field!!"
Temperatures rivaling that of a snowstorm wrapped the entire room in its clutches. The water around them froze and sharp spikes of ice shot from the ground. The water monsters groaned as they were forced to retreat, saving Delilah's life.
Bubbling with rage, the water monsters looked around to see Avic. He was covered in bruises and water pitter-pattered from his hair to the frozen ground beneath him. He breathed heavily and frowned upon them.
"Tsk! What a massive pain in the ass... Not only are these things fast but they hit like a couple of charging rhinos..!"
Not giving Avic time to think, the water monsters attacked again. Just like before, they moved faster than he could track. However, this time, their attack pattern was different.
The first water monster thrust the sharp edge of its lance. Just like last time, Avic caught the attack on the blunt of his sword. But he was much smarter this time. Instead of standing still, he shifted his body to the side to prevent the force from throwing him into the wall again.
Regrettably, this wasn't enough. The second water monster came to the aid of its ally. Avic's eyes broadened with shock. It thrust its lance at him from the side. He couldn't block with his sword again. He still hadn't properly recovered from blocking the first water monster's attack. It was improvise or die.
Pushing his body to the limit, Avic forced himself to evade the attack with everything he had. The lance delivered a vertical slash to the side of his cheek and clipped a few strands of hair from his head.
Avic groaned in pain. He couldn't allow himself to flinch. He had to beat their reaction time. Now at the point of straining his body, Avic swung the sword at the monsters' heads. Whistling through the air like a heat-seeking mistle, the sword swiftly sliced through the base of their necks.
"There we go!" He grinned with a sense of victory.
However, his sense of victory immediately dissipated when he felt the watery boot of one of the monsters connect with his chin. The force clamped his teeth shut for an excruciating uppercut. This caused him to backflip at least ten times through the air before falling back into the water below with a heavy splash.
Water splashed through the air like rainfall. Delilah could do nothing but watch in terror.
"Hey! Avic! You can't lose! You have to fight!"
Avic coughed as he tried to regain his bearings. He felt dizzy and his head throbbed with pain.
"Shit... I need to think of a way to beat these things... To make things worse, I'm not very good at fighting with a sword. But I think I know something else that might work..."
Avic then looked up to see Delilah standing above him with fear in her eyes. It slightly annoyed him how she was depending on him to do everything but there was no time to complain. The water monsters were about to commence their next attack.
To Delilah's surprise, Avic tossed his sword to the side as if he no longer needed it. This confused her significantly.
"What are you doing? Don't you need that to fight?!"
"It doesn't work against them. I need to improvise and I think I know how. Just get back for now if you don't plan on helping! They're coming!" He warned.
The water monsters commenced their attack one last time. This would be the final clash. But this was also when another cold chill ran through the air like a dangerous snowstorm. Avic was about to put his plan into action.
"Bloodline Art: Freeze!!"
The water monsters groaned as they detected the sudden shift in temperature. To their surprise, the sound of ice came into play as every single drop of water in the room was immediately frozen. This forced the water monsters to jump high into the air to prevent themselves from being frozen as well. Avic had frozen the entire room with his Bloodline Art.
"Brrr!!! You froze the room! Isn't that going to make it difficult to move around?" Trembled Delilah.
Avic didn't answer. Instead, he prepared for the water monsters' next attack. This was when Delilah noticed something strange. The water monsters were moving a lot slower than before. Their speed had nearly been cut in half, making them a lot easier to keep up with.
"I see! By freezing the water, you made it a lot colder in here! Since those things are made of water as well, their bodies become a lot denser due to the cold air. That makes it harder for them to move around as fast!"
"Yup. And if they move too fast then they'll start to freeze as well. They'll become solid ice, giving us the win."
Delilah was shocked to see how intelligent Avic was. He didn't look like a very smart person, nor had he ever acted as if was before. Truthfully, she had believed him to be quite dumb. But his intelligence in a fight rivaled that of a seasoned Sicarius. He analyzed his enemies and used strategy to win over raw power.
"This is a good plan and all but how are you going to kill them? Running around in this cold will tire us out as well!"
"Who said we're going to run?"
Just then, Avic began concentrating. He pumped Hemo Energy into the palm of his hands before using his Ice Affinity to mold two daggers made of ice.
A second after, he went on the offensive, clashing with the water monsters one last time. Skillfully twirling his daggers around his fingers, Avic slid across the icy surface on his knees, dodging the water monsters' lances. He then quickly summoned a wall of ice to stop himself from sliding away.
Faster than the water monsters could move, Avic ricocheted himself back toward them, simultaneously jamming the daggers into their backs. The monsters immediately turned into blocks of ice. Avic had won.