[Third POV]
The first few hours in the sea were calm, nothing out of the ordinary took place although black clouds had started to cover the sky. The soldiers noticed it and started making preparations by tying their supplies with rocks to increase their weight and protect them.
"You there. Tying the supplies that way would lead to them getting thrown off the boat. Tie them tighter and lower. We want most weight to be as near the floor as possible, otherwise the wind will play with them like toys." The leader said as he reprimanded a young soldier that tied some supplies in a tall rock.
Solon as calm as ever sat on top of a rock that had a lot of supplies tied on it and calmly read his book.
'Raava is the most hated spirit among the concept-level due to her asking for a lot of favors to save the human race and never repaying them back, due to that you want to be careful how you interact with her during the council otherwise ancient spirit s would have an unfavourable first impresion of you.' Solon read what Thanatos had noted at the last 2 pages of the book.
'On the other hand Zoi is one of the most loved spirits that exist due to her lively, honorable and kind nature. Your close relationship with her could become a powerful detterent for the first few days. Use it wisely.'
'Interesting, so that's how Raava managed to keep humans alive for so long. However it seems that it has come to bite her. It seems I must limit my interactions with any spirit in the council to the minimum to avoud such situation. I need tham to obtain new knowledge after all.' He though as he made some notes and updated some plans in his mind.
While thinking a new sensation in his hand awakened him from his trance.
Once he looked over to the root of said sensation he saw a small water droplet running down his arm until it touched his robe and got absorbed.
'It seems it's time for my entertainment.' He thought as he stored his book inside his small bag which was connected to his dimension.
He got up from the rock and started using his senses to understand the current situation.
'The storm is starting and the spirit is already tailing the boat.'
'If they can't adapt fast enough, I would be dissapointed.' He though as he looked at the soldiers that were running around the boat and making last minute preparations.
*zzzzzzzzzzzzz*
The sound of electricity lead to everyone including Solon to look at the sky, only to see lightning gathering right above the boat.
The wind suddenly picked up as the soldier's armor started to weight them down due to their large surface which led to the humans becoming sluggish.
The leader of the team immediately threw away his armor staying in the light clothes that he had on under it.
"Throw away your armor. Losing our speed in this kind of weather would be fatal."
"YES, SIR!" x18
Answered the men as they started throwing their armor overboard as well.
Their bodies started shivering instictively due to the cold but the soldiers ignored it and started running around once again.
The rain intensified as a gigantic shadow started appearing in the sea which was ignored by everyone. Mosty because they had their attention in the sky.
The electricity in the sky had already gathered for a while and the sky started to light up lightly as if the wrath of the world would befall upon the small boat that was fighting against it.
*BOOM*
Lighting struck before the soldiers could react.
Thankfully it it didn't hit the boat but the sea right next to it.
Yet, that didn't help the soldiers relax, on the other hand they paled while looking at the place the thunder struck.
The thunder didn't hit the boat. What it did was lighting up it's surroundings.
The light however, unlike the rest of the time that symbolised safety and peace, brought with it terror itself.
"W-What is that?" A soldier asked shivering.
The only differnce from before was that he was trembling due to fear not the cold.
A gigantinc eye was under the boat. An eye so big that the lens alone was larger that the boat itself.
"..."
Absolute silence followed as if the world itself held it's breath due to the eye contact between the humans and the beast they would have to face.
The only answer to the soldier's question was a slow yet fast blink from the eye.
A blink so fast that raised waves in the sea.
Yet one so slow that it took several seconds to be completed.
The leader of the team was the first to snap out of his trance and he immediately started shouting loudly.
"Wake up! Use the stones to push the boat towards the shore. We need to get out of the water as fast as possible."
The man himself bend one of the stones to create some kind of propeller to increase the speed at which they were moving.
The soldiers snapped out of their fear and started running around as fast as their legs could carry them.
Even Solon helped although he used way less power that the time he killed that spirit in the forest.
"Why aren't you using more power? We have nothing to lose right now. If we get attacked by that thing we are toast." The medic screamed at him as he looked at Solon's 'weakened' bending.
"I can't use as much power as back then because it's not the same situation. The earth we have is limited, I can't waste it like back then, we are in the middle of the sea so my connection to the earth is weakened and if you haven't noticed I am not facing a normal spirit but one so big any kind of damage I inflict on it would at most scratch it. If whatever I do to it can even be considered an injury." Solon said as he used his powers to make his body vibrate in a similar way to the rest of the soldiers.
"Look! It's leaving." A soldier's voice stopped the arguement as both Solon and the medic turned to look at the sea, only to see the eye moving away from the boat heading towards the depth of the lake.
After a full minute of tense silence they relaxed slightly as the eyes finally vanished.
They ignored the still bad weather that was slowly torturing their bodies as some of them collapsed to the ground breathing heavily.
"It must have thought of us as insignificant and left. Right?" A random soldier asked as he looked at the rest of the team.
'That sounds familiar.' Solon thought as he remembered some old stories he had read in Wan Shi Tong's library.
~~~~{chapter end}~~~~