With the river aiding his movement Henry was able to tackle Emily, as her unconscious body began flowing down the river. While still holding onto her Henry pushed off of the water, with force so great it sent the two of them flying through the air in an ark.
Aware of the impending impact Henry proceeded to change their position so that he would take on the brunt of the impact. His body impacted the ground harshly before sliding a short distance. He proceeded to let out a slight groan of pain as he regained his bearing. As while the impact was somewhat harsh It was still far within the limits of what Henry could handle.
As gently as he could he proceeded to roll the unconscious Emily off of him. Henry proceeded to kneel down close to her face. Through the use of elemental magic, he removed the water from her lungs. While Emily no longer had water filling her lungs, she would still remain unconscious as a result of her impact against the large rock. Henry was aware of the fact that she likely had injuries as a result of that, however he did not have time to deal with that at the moment.
As Henry rushed back to the river, it became rather obvious how he was able to perform so well underwater despite not being amphibious. A thin layer of water incased his entire body, it resembles a swimmer as they broke the surface tension of water. This was due to an incantation he had used earlier, the effects of which were extremely useful for traversing water.
Henry stopped at edge at of the riverbank. With his keen observation he began observing the intense rushing water. He spotted a rather large shape attempting to move further downstream.
Upon witnessing this Henry acted immediately as he did not wish for that to happen. He outstretched both his arms before performing a pulling motion, in the opposite direction of where the river was flowing. He was attempting to use basic elemental magic to force a portion of the river to move in the opposite direction. Henry's facial expression was serious and somewhat strained as he attempted to do so. While he had the capability to control a large body of water there were factors present which made this more difficult, such as the currents intensity. Along with the fact that Henry was moving it in the opposite direction of its original course.
Regardless of the difficulty Henry was able to pull it off. The large moving shape which was presumably the creature was unable to move further downstream. This allowed Henry the opportunity to reengage with his target. He proceeded to dive back into the water using the current to help him build momentum before pushing off of the water. Which was one of the effects of the incantation [Embrace of the Depths]
Henry was brought face to face with his inhuman adversary.
The creature itself was far larger than most animals. The main portion of its body was similar to that of a caterpillar, it's skin possessing strange colors and patterns which never stayed the same for too long. It had black spine like protrusions running down its back, it also had backward facing horns which resembled a crown. The creature's most unnatural traits were its large mouth with was humanoid, its large singular eye with multiple pupils which was a bioluminescent yellow color, and a dozen humanoid arms which seem to be its legs.
Henry was unfazed by the creature's unnatural form, as this was not the first time he had faced off Against such things.
The creature did not sit idle as Henry made his swift approach. The creature began working with its hands in order to produce silk like threads, which seemed to be its primary tool. Those same threats were rapidly fashioned into three long ropes
The creature struck out with all three ropes simultaneously although they were not directly aiming for Henry. One of these silken ropes attached itself to a dead tree, the creature proceeded to pull the rope back with tremendous force, it then struck out with that same silken rope a second time. This sent the dead tree hurdling at Henry, even with the opposing river current the tree was approaching remarkably fast.
The rapidly approaching tree was Henry's immediate concern, meaning he could not focus on what the other silken ropes were striking out at. Henry did not choose to evade the oncoming projectile instead he decided to simply breakthrough it. He drew his arm back while reciting inwardly [Whip of The Rushing Current] thereafter the whip made from constantly flowing water emerged. It seemed the whips very nature was being amplified by the river's current. Has Henry lashed at the incoming tree it did not simply cut it in half, Instead the impact which was like a powerful wave simply reduced the tree to nothing but splinters.
Henry had managed to clear a path he was even ready for other projectiles, but what came flying at him next caught him off guard.
One of the creature's silken ropes seemed to have fanned out in a net like fashion, with destroyed rocks acting as weights. It moved faster than what Henry was expecting, which gave him no time to react. The net wrapped around him while the rocks weighed him down. While escaping this would be rather simple the creature did not seem interested in giving up its opening.
It swiftly crawled across the riverbed on its humanoid hands reaching Henry in a matter of mere moments. Its humanoid hands wrapped around Henry's body less in a constrictor manner, and more in a restraining one as to ensure he could not escape. The creature then proceeded to lift him up, before quickly crawling to a large nearby rock.
It slammed Henry's body against the rock with such force that cracks began to form on its surface. Henry did not bother resisting as he knew he cand not escape the creature's grip with pure physical strength alone, so he simply endured the blinding flash of pain along with what he knew would come next.
The creature slammed his body against the rock again and again, increasing in speed and force with each slam. Larger cracks began to form on the large piece of rock, and with one final slam the creature shattered the rock with Henry's body. It attempted to swiftly crawl to another nearby rock in order to repeat what had just happened. Even with his mind reeling from pain Henry was able to capitalize on the creature's momentary pause.
Yellow and black electricity began to build up along his arms, he then proceeded to release that stored energy in an indiscriminate blast.
The creature's body seized and convulsed as it was forced to take a large amount of the blast. Unfortunately, Henry had to suffer the brunt of his own attack as he was surrounded by water. He screamed out in intense pain. Water would have rushed in to his lungs if not for the effects of the [Embrace of the Depths]
Henry knew that would be his best option for breaking free of the creature's hold, he also knew he would not be exempt from the attack. So, to ensure he did as much damage to the creature as possible he performed a concentrated blast rather than a highly precise strike.
Both Henry and the creature were convulsing as a result of the electrical blast, with the both of them seeming to recover relatively quickly. Although Henry was able to recover faster than the creature.
He proceeded to use basic elemental magic to create a makeshift smoke screen by displacing the river sediment. The creature had been able to recover in that time however it had lost track of Henry, confusion and rage gripped its strange face.
Meanwhile Henry was determined to go back on the offensive. He pushed off the water which propelled him in the direction of a nearby rock, which he used as a platform to jump off of. His jump had so much power behind it that a net of cracks spread throughout the rock. The jump sent Henry far higher in the air than his previous one. The improvised smokescreen seemed to have dissipated, which allowed the creature to regain sight on Henry. The creature created more silken ropes which were far longer than the ones it had previously made, in order to attack Henry from his new position. The creature lashed out with these ropes in an attempt to drag Henry back down. However, it was in vain as Henry created the opportunity, he needed in order to perform a decisive action.
Henry preceded to use two forms of magic simultaneously, and while they were basic applications their effects would be rather potent.
While still ascending Henry drew his arm back charging up electricity. The speed at which the electricity was generated along with the power it seemed to possess, was far greater than normal.
Henry sent a powerful bolt of electricity at the creature, he did so with an expression which was cold and without mercy. The bolt itself did not strike the water directly, Instead, it traveled through the creature's silken rope delivering all that electrical energy straight into its body.
...
Hello everybody hope you've been enjoying the story thus far. There will be a slight change to when I will be releasing chapters. It will be on the weekends rather than the weekdays. This change is temporary and should not last for too long.