Ryder kept plucking the petals while Kyle dragged me and swam to the surface. It seemed they weren't talking because of that something at the bottom.
Hands rained down from above water and pulled us up.
Eva came to me with a worried look on her face, then she knelt and hovered her hands on my right leg, "Sir, you're bleeding!"
No need to state the obvious, kid. I folded my pants up to the knee to have a better look. Damn, the wound was still bleeding.
[Skill
The paled and watery blood that dripped from the wound stopped trickling.
"You can stop the bleeding, but can you close your wound?"
I answered Kyle, "I'm no healer."
He folded his arms and replied, "Now we know. We should always take a healer with us, to avoid these kinds of situations."
We should have. But I was glad we didn't. With only five people required to enter that door, a healer, in that kind of setting, will only be a burden we need to protect. Right now, everyone is doing well in their role.
Ryder and Kyle can pluck and defeat stems with their strength. What better way to kill plants than to use your hands and uproot them? Eva's sound bubbles allow us to breathe underwater, and she can protect herself as well. Ethan already had a grasp on what to do, and his quick thinking and skillful use of ice magic was a big help.
I guess, among us five, I'm the least needed.
Ryder ripped his shirt and knelt beside me, then he started wrapping my wound with the cloth, "Hang in there."
"Don't worry about me, I still can move my other leg. However, I might be stuck here above water as I can't move the other one properly," I patted his shoulder and went serious, "More importantly, how are we going to defeat that thing underwater?"
Kyle, "We just need to avoid waking it up. Why do we need to defeat it?"
"How can we claim victory if the boss remains alive? Don't you remember the information about the door? We need to win within seven days—
Ethan, "What will happen if we didn't win and the seven days were up?"
Kyle answered while looking up at one monstrous stem that just danced in the air. It seemed they were being considerate and letting us talk for a while. I was being sarcastic.
That lotus flytrap noticed the commander glaring at it, so it dived down at an incredible speed. Kyle balled his fist and answered Ethan, "Let's think of surviving for seven days first!"
Then, he jumped and met the flytrap mid-air. His fist gathered a strong force of wind that surrounded his arm. It hit the obconical receptacle of the flower. The yellow stamens shook and scattered, and the petals were blown by the force.
The sharp teeth-like of the flower closed into Kyle, but Ethan froze the whole stem. Then, Ryder leaped and threw a powerful kick on it. The frozen stem cracked and exploded, and the bits of the broken iced particles fell into the water.
Because of that, the remaining flytraps attacked us. There were still so many even after we killed plenty of them already. I couldn't use the sword because my leg was still numb, so I just slit my palm and control my blood instead.
I'm not sure if the same strategy will work against the monsters, but if Kyle, who can now single-handedly kill one monstrous plant, can't break off the web-like blood formation I weaved, then I might as well give it a try.
Blood fibers shot out from the wound. They struck one that was about to attack Eva behind. Those fibers are then separated into many fibers again and wrapped around the stem of the plant. Then, I closed my hand tightly into my fist. The fibers tightened and I groaned and gaped in shock as I didn't expect the lotus flytrap can scream in agony.
Then, with a hard pull, the stem got sliced like a potato you put on the slicer machine. The fibers were so many and scattered that the stems were sliced ready to fry as potato chips.
However, the disadvantage was, that because they were as thin as cotton threads, I easily lost control over them as soon as I lost my grasp. I have to summon another clot of blood. I might die of blood loss if I continue this for seven days.
"Eva! Behind you!"
Ethan shouted. Eva turned around and screamed like that princess who was singing on a fjord, and then the flowers jerked back and folded their petals inwardly as if it was shielding their ears from that ear-tearing shriek.
Kyle and Ryder used that opportunity and threw powerful and sharp punches, while Ethan froze the water where they would land.
I looked up at Eva and asked, "I'm surprised we didn't turn deaf from that scream."
Eva giggled, "I can now control which path my sound waves can go, sir, don't worry."
Kyle landed safely on the ice block and stared at the water, "It went back to sleep after Sterne stirred its slumber and opened its eyes, but now, I'm not sure if it'll remain sleeping."
Ethan, "What are we fighting then?"
Ryder looked at the commander worriedly, "It's a huge monster whose eyes alone are already bigger than those flowers."
I stood, using my sword as support, and jokingly replied, "Have you finished writing your wills?"
Eva frowned at me, "Sir, don't talk like that."
Ethan, "I told Alexis I'll be back."
Ryder, "I have no one to read my will anyway, so I just slipped a blank paper on the envelope and gave it back. How about you, Atlas?"
I chuckled, "I wrote my will of course. Like erecting me a statue if I ever didn't make it alive."
Kyle snickered, "You think we have funds to do that? Roan will be saving more money if you just go back alive."
What is he saying? Are we not getting paid for this? Is this just a nationwide volunteering program?
The water stirs and slowly rises. Another heap of monstrous lotuses sprouted up from the water and moved like dancing balloons, surrounding the huge wave that continued rising higher and higher.
Ethan controlled the blocks of ice we were standing upon and pulled us to the far back. The wave poured and washed every dead lotus' head away. Then, a thick and gruff terrifying scream reverberated in the place.
All of us shuddered at the sight of a large tentacled creature with an enormous lotus sitting atop its head. Its pink tentacles slithered and danced in the air and water, while the pinkish petals of its head fluttered as it opened.
Once it finally bloomed completely, the center where the receptacle should be was replaced by a round purplish head with two large eyes glaring down at them. One of the tentacles slapped the water, its ring-shaped suction cups closed and opened like it was breathing through those suckers.
Ethan mumbled while looking aghast, "An…octopus?"
That's no f*cking octopus! Have you ever seen an octopus wearing a lotus headpiece? I wanted to yell out, but even I think it was kind of an octopus.
I was reminded of that creature – the one with the three guardians who looked like a squid bearing one characteristic of every sea creature. The creature before us looked like a being who was born from a mother lotus and father octopus with the inborn blood of a titan!
What the heck is that?! I couldn't even describe it properly!
Then, before that gigantic sore eye of a monster attacked us, a notification appeared.
Ting!
[ NAME: Waterborne Abyss' child 'Cephalumbus'
RANK: E
ORIGIN: Born from the darkness of the depths of the lake. A young cephalopod born with the grace of the Sacred Lotus. Has the head of a flower and the body of an octopus.
STAGE: Infant ]
Are you f*cking kidding us, system?! THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE AN INFANT AT ALL!!
What more will it look like if it grows into an adult?
Kyle moved forward and cursed loudly, then he looked at us grimly, "We have to defeat that thing before it grows."
"How can we know when it grows?"
Kyle, "I'm not sure, but, isn't the rank of this door B? But the boss monster is ranked E. If he's already this big as an E rank, how big will it get if it develops more and reaches the rank B?"