'Here we go...'
There were a total of six dogs I had to handle. I cautiously came out of the water. If I were to wait in the water, I would only be at a disadvantage when the dogs figured out water was harmless.
I moved forward until the water was again at my ankle level and took my stance against the dogs. The silver blade of my daggers shined as the sun reflected across its surface. Seeing they were still shying away from the water, I decided to make the first move and catch them off guard.
I pressed my foot against the sand and lunged myself at the nearest dog. The boost in my agility stat was showing itself off as I swiftly appeared in front of the dog. Without having any time to react, I swung my dagger with great force. My dagger cut through the air, leaving a swish sound behind. It found its way into the dog's neck, separating it from the body in an instant.
The other dogs growled even deeper witnessing yet another death of one of their brothers by my hands. Now that I had used up my surprise attack card, I was left with five more.
The others jumped on me with their mouths open. I couldn't defend myself against all of them at once. I retreated step by step and waited for the perfect opportunity to isolate one of them. Soon the opportunity was presented to me.
As they rushed at me all at once again, one of the dogs was a little ahead of the others. I ordered Earth to rise right away. A rigid sand wall was constructed between that one dog and the rest of the pack. Now that one of them was separated from the others even if it was for a few seconds, it was enough time to finish it off.
I plunged my dagger towards the dog. But it was able to seize it with its mouth. I tried to pull it back but the dogs' jaw strength was too great. The crack across the surface of the sand wall reminded me I had to be quick. Giving up on my dagger, I coated my shin with divine energy and kicked the dog on its chin. The impact forced its neck to turn a full circle, killing him.
I tried to take back my dagger out of its mouth but the wall couldn't withstand the constant assault of the other dogs and crumbled into pieces. I was defenseless as four dogs attacked me. One of them went for my head which I blocked it with my arm out of instinct. The dog dug its fangs deep into my forearm.
The pain numbed my brain for a split second and the air forced its way out of my lungs. Forcing myself to pull through the pain, I saw the other three were aiming for my legs. If they were to successfully bite my legs, that would be the end of me. Falling onto the ground and lying down vulnerable with four bloodthirsty dogs chewing on me wasn't something I wanted to experience.
Ignoring the stinging pain, I thrusted my dagger towards the dog pressing its teeth against my forearm. The blade penetrated through the middle of the dog's forehead, extinguishing the two red lights. The dog fell to the ground lifeless. The dagger was stuck in its forehead so now I had lost both of my daggers.
'Great...'
After dealing with the dog biting down on my forearm, I turned my attention back to the last three. But I was late to do anything about them but to watch the dogs' jaws clenching down on my legs. The time slowed down as the dogs' fangs came closer and closer to my flesh. I bit my tongue and expected an unimaginable pain to course through my body.
*Swoosh!*
*Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!*
However, to my surprise, the dog's head was pierced by spikes of water. They died before they even realized what killed them. The three dogs turned into liquid and were washed away by the waves. I snapped my head towards where the water spikes came from although I knew the answer.
There stood a girl submerged in waves up to her waist. She was completely soaked in water. Her wet black hair cascaded down just above her waist. Her wet clothes clung to her body, revealing her tan skin while also complementing her womanly features.
Out of exhaustion, I let myself fall onto my butt. Eleanor began running towards me, splashing water everywhere in the process. Some of it reached the wound on my forehand. The salty water made me feel a burning sensation, worsening the already painful experience.
"Arghh!"
"Ahh..! I am so sorry!"
With a worried expression, she wriggled herself next to me. She examined my wound for a few seconds. She looked nervous that the wound was quite deep. Then as if an idea had come to her mind, her face brightened up a little with hope.
"Give me your hand!"
"Sure..."
I extended my hand to her, which she grasped with her own hand. She interlocked her fingers with mine. She closed her eyes and concentrated all her attention on her divine energy.
As I glanced between our hands and her face, I could see her furrowing her brows and biting onto her cherry lips gently. After a while, she finally opened her eyes with the excitement of success.
"Yes! I did it!"
As I tried to comprehend what she did, I felt a cold sensation of water on my hand against her warm skin. Then it dawned on me what she had done. The water drifted up towards my forearm and poured into the wound on my forearm. However, instead of the burning sensation, what I felt was a fresh and relieving one. The bleeding stopped and the wound had begun healing slowly.
'She can pull this off at this point of the story...? She really is a monster.'
Children of Poseidon, other than having authority over water, had also another ability, more like a passive one. This allowed them to utilize the water's unique powers as the essence of life. When they were in physical contact with a mass of water such as a sea, they would get buffed in all stats considerably while also gaining regenerative abilities. It was quite OP, to be honest.
That's why I had dropped Eleanor into the sea as soon as possible, to let her recover quickly. What was happening with my forearm was that she was using her regenerative abilities to heal my wound. She was able to connect our bodies and make the water flow through our hands.
"Thank you... Would you mind?"
Snapping out of her daze, she came eye-to-eye with me. Then she realized she was still holding onto my hand tightly. She released her grip and drew her hand away. While averting her eyes out of embarrassment, she mumbled silently.
"It's nothing. Take it as a payment for carrying me to the sea..."
However, our small talk was interrupted by Amelia's scream. We both diverted our sight towards the distance where Adriel and the giant humanoid monster were having a 1 versus 1.
But things weren't going in Adriel's favor at the moment as the giant had landed a hit on Adriel. The force of the impact had broken Adirel's a few ribs, reducing his agility as a result. Now he was having a hard time holding his ground against the monster.
We both stood up and ran to help Adriel defeat the boss monster. However, while Eleanor and I were dealing with the dogs, the boss monster had dragged Adriel and others away from us. Adriel's moves were getting heavier and the boss was becoming more overwhelming for him as the fight carried on. So I knew we wouldn't be able to come to the rescue in time.
Having no other choice, I shouted at Amelia. Even if she were to stall the monster for a second, that would be enough.
"Amelia! Shoot an arrow! Now!"
"Hii..!"
She flinched at my loud shouting. Her fear was getting ahead of her. Seeing Adriel getting beaten by the giant monster and hearing his painful cries must have been too much for her mind. But right now I couldn't care less. I didn't have any sympathy for her, instead, I was just annoyed at how useless she was.
'Tsk. It can't be helped then. Don't blame me...'
"Amelia! Get a grip on yourself! What the fuck do you think you are doing watching Adriel die before your eyes! Don't just stand there like a good-for-nothing! Or is it that you want Adriel DEAD!"
"N-Noo! I just... I just can't do it! I want to save him b-but... my hands don't stop trembling!"
The bow slipped out of her hand and she fell to her knees. As if trying to disappear from the world, she closed her face with her hands and began crying.
'Tsk. Of course it had to backfire in such a critical moment.'
I turned my eyes back onto Adriel, who was in a worse situation than before. Not being able to dodge anymore, Adriel got hit by the monster's kick. He was sent rolling on the sand. As he was lying unable to move, the monster lifted both of its arms up in the sky and locked his hands with each other, readying itself to bring it down with all its strength to crush Adriel into a mash of meat.
'Fuck! This is really bad!'