Henry held his breath as he looked at the swarm hovering above the river, the water was so muddy that he could barely see anything above it, but, the sheer size of the swarm made it hard for anyone to miss it.
He quickly looked at Peter, who was staring down at the depths of the river with a worried face. Henry had a sensation that their worries wouldn't end so easily and gazed in the same direction as Peter.
The river's calm waters shook as a pair of glowing yellow eyes suddenly appeared at the bottom of the river.
Henry cursed as he felt that this trip was a serious mistake, he already expected some danger, but, the sheer size of the monsters on the bottom of the lake was something unbelievable.
Peter exchanged looks with Henry and gazed up, only to find the swarm still flying around the river's water. It was likely that he could escape alone, but, he was the one who dragged Henry here, and would never leave him.
Peter's eyes flashed with resolve as he eyed the titanic beast approaching them, he could only count on the strength of his body as fire was his only elemental affinity.
His muscle swelled up as he finally recognized the monster, a gigantic turtle with silver colored maw: Titanium Maw Turtle, a monster that boosted enormous physical capabilities due to its earth elemental energy, and unparalleled control over the water element that made the beast innate water abilities to cause incredible damage.
Peter knew that going head-to-head against the monster wasn't a good idea, so when the beast dashed in his direction, he used all his strength to dodge it.
Fighting below the water wasn't something Peter was adept at, so his dodge was barely successful, evading the turtle gaping maw by a hair-breath distance.
Peter observed the turtle's body, a hard shell that resembled a rugged mountain covered the entirety of this upper parts, leaving only the turtle's belly exposed, however, Peter had suspicions that the turtle would never let anyone close to its weakness.
Still, Peter had to try something, if the battle progressed this way, he and Henry would surely perish.
Peter wait until the monster began his dash once again, and he patiently waited for it to get closer, and only at the last moment, he dived down.
Peter's eyes shone as he finally gazed at the underbelly of the turtle and was about to strike it when the turtle swirled his body, creating a small whirlpool.
The whirlpool currents were so strong that Peter was thrown around like a rag doll.
Henry watched as Peter struggled against the whirlpool with a panic-stricken face, and he only grew more terrified as he saw the turtle swirling around again and dashing toward Peter again.
Henry took out one of the Star Tainted Swords from the system inventory, and gathered every last bit of energy that the sword could muster, he knew that the chances of his attack being useful were slim to none, but, he nonetheless acted.
Henry had put his whole into this attack, and even with a middle-grade sword as he lost the last high-grade he had in the robbery, the attack power still was something to behold.
A streak of blue aura pierce the murky water and hit the titanic turtle right in the maw, however, just as Henry expected his attack barely left a scratch on the tough skin of the monster.
The turtle shook as he felt the insignificant attack, and looked at Henry in disdain. The monster had ignored Henry not because Peter was a bigger threat, but, because Henry wasn't anything more than a single insect to the beast, Henry wasn't even worth being looked at as food to the Titanium Maw Turtle
Henry closed his eyes as he saw his attack barely causing the turtle to stop and resigned himself to defeat, but, what he didn't notice was that the split second he had given Peter was enough for him to free himself and began to cast his spell.
Peter's body shone with a bright orange hue, he didn't want to waste the small opportunity that Henry gave him. The orange hue in Peter's body began to gather in his right arm.
The water of the river began to bubble, almost as if the whole river had turned into a boiling pot.
Peter gazed deep inside the hideous maw of the turtle and punched the water in front of him. A burst of red energy flew out of Peter's first and entered the turtle maw.
The gigantic beast let out a bellow of pain as he felt the scorching energy and the boiling water enter his stomach, the pain that the monster felt was so great that it stopped his attack and dived to the deep ends of the river.
Henry was relieved as he saw the turtle retreat and swim in Peter's direction, who looked to be in dire straits. Peter's face was pale, and he had lost all strength to hold his breath.
Henry quickly held Peter's body and began to take him to the surface when he felt currents tugging him back.
Henry froze in shock as he saw an evergrowing blue sphere on the bottom of the river. He kept trying to swim up, but, no matter how much he tried, the currents kept dragging him down.
Henry worriedly looked at Peter and returned his focus to the water sphere just in time to see the sphere exploding and sending a beam of water toward them.
Henry grinned as he saw the attack, if the turtle had just used the sphere to suck them to the bottom of the river, Henry would likely died without ever having a chance to fight, but, to his luck, the turtle had launched an attack.
Henry retrieved the metal door from the system inventory and hide himself and Peter behind it. The water beam made the entire section of the river tremble, and Henry quickly grabbed the door as the water began to rocket around frenetically.
To Henry's surprise, the door remained still and wasn't moved at all by the fierce currents, and after a few seconds the river calmed down once again.
This lull only lasted a short while as the door had finally reflected the attack back to the turtle.
F
Henry's eyes widened as he felt the door shake aggressively, the aftershock of the attack was so great that the door was sent flying with the water around it.
Henry yelled in despair as he flew out of the river and smashed into the shores of the river. -" Fuck! What was that!" Henry coughed blood as he felt his back aching.
He let out a deep breath as he saw Peter and the metal door lying not far from him, and drank a small potion he took out from the system inventory.
-" I won't ever go inside another lake again." Henry breathed in relief as he felt the pain in his body slowly wash away due to the potion's effects. " I hope Peter is still alive." Henry wanted to continue lying around, but, he was too worried about Peter.
Henry's body ached as he got up and walked to the metal door. " Thank you, dear friend." He store the metal door in the system's inventory and went to check Peter's situation.
Henry grinned as he saw Peter's body, his right arm was completely scorched and thin, almost as if in decomposition. He quickly took out a bunch of potions and made Peter drink them.
-" What happened? Where is the Titanium Maw Turtle?" Peter woke up in confusion as he looked around, the last thing he remembered was facing the powerful monster.
Henry was relieved that Peter didn't see the metal door, he trusted the man as he was Thomas's father, but, being careful was still a good thing.
-" The turtle retreated after your attack." Henry quickly gave Peter all the credit as he couldn't think of any other excuse. " Is your arm fine?"
-" Just the aftereffects of my spell." Peter sighed as he looked at his now crippled arm, but, at least the dammed spell was enough to scare the turtle away.
-" Aftereffects?" Henry thought back to Peter's spell, it was truly powerful as even the turtle retreated after taking it, but, he didn't think it was worth sacrificing an arm for it. " Is your arm done or does this get better?"
-" With time and the right medical aid I can recover most of its function." Peter's face darkened as he continued. " But, it's better if we forget this, we are too far away to do anything." He hadn't brought any higher-level potion as his funds were quite low, and he was too far away from a city to find a healer.
-" Oh? What type of potion do you need?" Henry took out a few more potions and showed them to Peter. " I have some here, I just don't know if they are useful."
Peter was emotional as he saw Henry offering the potion to him, adventures generally never gave away their potions and supplies as they were considered too important in an emergency case.
-" Are you sure about this? Peter felt guilty, the man had helped him so much and he couldn't offer anything to him.
-" Of course! Don't tell me that you want to continue the search like this?" Henry smiled as he passed the potion to Peter;
-" Continue the search?" Peter was shocked that Henry still wanted to look for his daughter. " Forget about this... It's best if we go back."
-" Tsk! We are already here, and we even almost died two times." Henry didn't feel comfortable continuing in the forest, but, he knew how important closure was for the man. " We can't return without an answer, can we?"