'!'
My first reaction when submerged in the ice cold sea wasn't that I was under attack, no that reaction came when I felt blood seep out of my wound and into the water.
Strangely enough, my first reaction was to think that this was an ice bath right before I tried to grab the newly crafted item that I hadn't yet grabbed.
An illogical decision at the time, but in the end the human mind was everything but rational.
So once I grabbed the item, the next thing I knew I was being assaulted by a spiky stick being shoved straight through my outstretched arm and yanking me even deeper into the water.
Which safe to say was shocking.
Eyes widening to my not liked instinct, salt water stung at my eyes repeatedly followed by several things attacking me in the next moment.
'God damn I feel like a pinata'
Quickly feeling as if candy was spilling out of me, I quickly tried to react by freezing my surroundings and briefly giving myself some breathing room.
Hand clutched around my wound which just... wasn't bleeding? I looked at the wound much to the pain of my eyes.
'Infuse malaise into your eyes you dumbass'
Slapping myself in the head, orange light filled my eyes as the surrounding sea area suddenly became crystal clear and I was able to see everything I wasn't able to before.
First of all, I should cover the rest of the surroundings in more ice so that I wouldn't get stabbed again.
Second of all, why wasn't I bleeding?
'I should've really discovered this earlier but why?'
Looking at my stomach where I had clearly felt a long spike go through my stomach, I was treated to the visceral sight of flesh fixing itself like a reversed video of someone breaking glass.
And now that I think about it, why hadn't I noticed this already?
'I really should look more into everything I can do when I get the time.'
Forming that small goal into my mind, I was interrupted by the enemies who had been the ones who had dragged me into the cold sea.
And unlike what I had thought, what greeted me wasn't the flailing body of the monster which had dragged me down into the sea in the first place but instead a series of glaring white eyes staring at my bod.
'????'
And before I could react to the strange sight, burning hot spots appeared on my skin as I felt my skin tear apart.
'!'
Biting my tongue in surprise, I let out a stream of bubbles which were followed by me instinctively using the shield charging technique to get out of the way.
Following it up by several kicks which sent me to the side, I looked back to see what had attacked me in the first place and was taken aback by how there was nothing near me.
'Huh?! How?'
Knowing all to well how projectiles and water didn't mix well due to the increased resistance the projectiles faced in the water, I wondered how in the hell did they hit me.
Even bullets could only travel around one meter in the water before loosing all of their lethal power.
Quickly glaring at the monsters who were no doubt the cause of the pain assaulting my body in hot spots without leaving a mark, I looked over their entire appearance.
And I'll say it again, I was taken aback by their rather grotesue appearance.
Like a cyclops, these fish like beings had only one large eye which was roughly the size of my fist followed by a large bloated body covered in orange spikes which was proppeled by a rather thin but long tail.
If anything, these fish guys looked like God had just decided to make a mace have a large eye and just slapped on fish like parts.
But anyways.
If they weren't shooting their spikes like harpoons then how were they hitting me?
Well I found out really quickly when a swirl of bubbles locked onto my body.
And now I found out how they were hitting me from a distance in the projectile stopping water.
Through the use of non physical projectiles.
Or in laymans terms, lasers.
Yeah.
These one eyed monsters were shooting lasers.
Like cyclops from the movies and not Cyclops from the myths.
I would much rather prefer the cyclops from the myths though if it meant that I didn't have to suffer the lasers striking at my bodies at speeds I couldn't dodge.
Quickly charging to the side with the shield of cthulhu, I briskly twirled through the water so that I could land a hit on the sea monsters.
And when I looked at their name which said Guardian, I must say.
I really do not like the fact that this is reality.
Gritting my teeth, I brought up my shield which soaked up the majority of lasers aimed at my torso right before getting flung right back to square one.
Glaring at the Guardian which had swam away from me when I was coming towards it, I quickly turned to swim at another Guardian and tried to attack it only to face the same problem.
A primarily land based animal cannot hope to reach the same speeds as a sea based animal in water.
Gritting my teeth, lasers battered my body as at the edge of my vision the red bar representing my health in the form of bright red and dark black hearts fluctuated intensely.
Thankfully I was holding on through the regenerative effects of the malaise coursing through my body all the while transforming it into some sort of puppet like form, but in the end it was futile.
It was like someone draining out the water instead of patching up the hole in the dam, it was just treating the sypmtoms and not the source.
Something I really wish I could do before I ran out of malaise to heal my body through an iffy source of health.
I was on the edge of my body becoming something inhuman, but right now, if I didn't want to respawn I was going to have sacrifice some things.
And ever since that time on the beach where I resolved myself to do the best I could before I did, I think I should try and find out how to fight in the water in case I had to do something similar next time.
So in favor of fighting in a completely new fighting style where I was completely unfamiliar with everything I had to quickly find out how to move myself in the sea lest I became these guys living punching bag.
Shield of Cthulhuing to the side was a definite strategy but the cool down wasn't great.
*BYing!
'HOT HOT AND VERY HOT'
Freezing my surroundings with ice shards, fragments of ice clung to my back right as more lasers landed on that very area.
Thinking quickly, my eyes which viewed the surrounding area in full view saw how I was now surrounded on all six axis of space.
Up down, left right and front back.
It was not a good experience.
Kicking my feet quickly, my lungs which still needed air constricted my throat as pressure built up in my chest.
'That reminds me that I actually have lungs instead of gills'
Gritting my teeth, I resisted the urge to breath and instead supplemented that urge with the fear of monsters climbing up from behind me and giving me the prison treatment.
Only this time its incredibly orange carrot sticks with an edge to them.
Really makes me remember the time I stabbed my brother with a carrot.
Anyways.
'How to get up to the surface quickly without getting back stabbed?'
Shield charging was out of the question.
Normal swimming was to slow.
Double jumping in water? An incredibly d... Smart idea actually.
Blinking out how that idea suddenly popped out of nowhere, I instantly put that idea into action since my lungs were on the verge of rebelling against my body.
---
"Aye, Little Sea mate!" Barking loudly, Gunpowder Garry took a swig of booze as he leaned against the main mast of the ship.
"Yes captain!" Shouting in response, a small boy who looked not older than ten quickly scurried over covered in the dredges of the ocean.
Rolling his one eye not covered by the eye patch, the captain swatted his hair to get rid of the kelp that somehow stuck to his head and continued.
"Remind me again why we're gonna head to the Ocean Monument?"
"Um..." Mulling over the question, the scruffy haired boy quickly turned over his mind for the answers right before settling on the simplest one. "To discover something everyone forgot cap'n?"
"Hmm..." Rubbing his nose he took another swig of the metal flask and wiped his beard which was smoking at its ends.
"A good answer fer sure, but yer missing the point of finding the ocean monument."
"For bragging rights?"
"HAHAHAHA"
Instantly bursting into laughter, the man chortled as the sailors who passed by in that same moment simultaneously burst into hooting laughter which spread like a disease across the boat.
"Why are we laughing!?"
"The kid made a joke!"
"What joke!?"
"I dunno! The Captain found it funny though!"
"Okay then! HAHAHA!"
Wiping the tear that squeezed out of his eye, the sea worn face that had been exposed to the salty winds of the sea looked at the Little Mate who's job had been specifically created for this moment.
"Hahah, that a good answer, but no, its a part of it, but the real reason for why we're going to the ocean monument is for this shiny little trinket."
Rummaging through his coat, he produced a small golden coin imprinted with a pair of cutlasses surrounded by a ring of thorns and adorned with a grinning skull face.
"Gold."
Speaking as if it was some sort of venerated treasure Garry continued.
"We spend our whole lives looking for trinkets like these so that we can live gret ole lives worth living without them government basterds breathing down our necks."
"And that's why kid." He flicked the coin up before snatching it out of the air and pocketing it in the same bosom where he took it out from.
"We're going to the ocean monument, now are you ready kid?"
"...Yeah!"
Grinning a wide smile which showed the one missing tooth in his yellowed smile, Gunpowder grinned as well showing teeth inlaid with gold.
"Great! Grahahaha!"
Patting his stomach, the captain moved towards the captains quarters where the first mate was plotting the course of their trip.
+++
Tree