章 71: Underwater
Ling and Maga never had much experience being underwatera, except for that time when Ling was just three and met Shaman Matnaad for the first time, and just recently, when the two were sailing to Kanan Island with this same crew.
That didn't mean they couldn't swim though. They had frequently played in the murky lava back in their village since they were young.
Still, it was a different experience swimming in the sea. Ling could clearly see the small school of fish swimming around. Their mouths were opening and closing, showing those pointed teeth that could probably tear through flesh and bones.
Fortunately, Ling and Maga's presence were hidden inside the 'mist' bubbles covering their whole body. They needed these to at least have sufficient oxygen underwater, since they didn't know how long they had to fight the creature detaining their ship.
As for that creature, Ling and Maga saw it as soon as they averted their stare from those fishes. Those fishes were in front of the ship, while the ship as well as the creature was behind them.
Actually, they wouldn't have noticed it even if they turned in circles if its color was brown or black instead of white. As it moved its fins below the ship, it actually looked like the ship had those fins, extending past the ship's oars to help the ship move. However, it looked like it was actually preventing those oars to move the ship.
Although it was encompassing only a third of the bottom of the ship, which was around forty meters long, it was wide enough to reach the oars on both sides.
The creature was something the two had never seen before. It has tentacles like the octopus blocking the ship above. However, this one had two extending from its face, together with shorter arms. Ling thought that the creature looked like an old man and those arms were its beard, likening it to someone like Shaman Matnaad, only that its face was as big as Maga's whole body. How should they deal with this then?
The creature noticed the children at the same time the two noticed it. Despite Ling and Maga's shields, it was able to detect their presence unlike the small fishes earlier. The two increased their vigilance as they faced the creature.
However, the creature just ignored them. It only snorted a puff of black ink-like 'mist', then continued fluttering its fins to stop the ship's movement. The 'mist' didn't even reached the position of the two before dissipating among the waves.
Ling and Maga stared at each other. The 'mist' didn't bother them, but their idea of just luring the creature away was not proceeding as planned. The creature didn't care for these two children.
When they were hunting back in their village, they could easily provoke the beasts by stepping on their territory. However, this one was different.
Thereupon, Maga inhaled a huge breath, its nostrils releasing smoke, before it blew out a column of fire together with a loud roar.
Roar!
It wasn't afraid of the water extinguishing the fire since it had already practiced to always have a 'mist' shield surrounding the fire. Still from the dragon's experience during hunts, the rain was always a hindrance when it fought, therefore it thought of such a solution.
Before the fire could reach the creature, it was alerted by the dragon's roar. It felt like the roar was familar. It had heard it before in that big sea it was planning to go to where the food was abundant. There were many other predators there however, same as that one that just roared, albeit that one was smaller.
The fire hit one of the creature's tentacle before it could dodge. It was only a small wound but the creature still thrashed, moving the ship above it.
Inside the ship, the people felt the quake. Several shouts resounded, asking what was happening. Of course, nobody in the ship could tell.
Captain Yati raised his voice again to get the crew's attention. Another tentacle from above was about to go down. With that incoming, he didn't have time to worry about the shaking ship. It wasn't damaging his ship anyway.
This was a really stressful start to his usual day of lying in bed from his drinking of the night before. After they had passed this ordeal, he would drink that whole cask of spirits he had bought from the merchant from Gitna.
Back to the fight underwater, the creature finally gave notice to the two children. However, before it could strike back, another column of fire hit its tentacle, then an explosion came from one of its fins. The smaller one had actually got near it without the creature noticing.
Soon, the shaking of the ship stopped. Still, the crew was worried about the octopus in front. It was getting madder and its tentacles were becoming more manic.
Meanwhile, the crew was more afraid of their captain. Their ears were becoming numb from shouts of 'Row, idiots! Row harder!' at the top of the captain's lungs.
Suddenly, one push of the oars moved the ship forward, evading a tentacle going down. There was a pause from the people before the same shouts resounded, and it was actually even louder than the last.
The crew never let their arms stop from moving. Even when their upper arms were throbbing, they still rowed. Until they couldn't see the octopus on that protruding rock anymore, were they able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Thereupon, before their inhaled breaths were released, the scout on top of the sail shouted, "Move! There's something following us!"
Just then, he saw a tentacle on the water surface, following their ship. It was different from the octopus's tentacle earlier but something that big should be attached to something bigger.
Then, to his surprise, the tentacle rose slowly. The whole crew also noticed the movements in the water, hence, they started to row again. However, their arms were still tingling so they were not moving as fast as before.
The tentacle was only a few meters away when it suddenly flew up. The water splashes that touched their skin were like a hot brand of the incoming disaster.
Soon, the water revealed a black creature with the white tentacle hanging on its head. Before they could react, the creature whizzed, then dropped on the ship's deck. The creature shook off the load on its neck with a loud bang, then a tall boy with windblown, slightly wet hair got off the back of the creature too.
The boy stared back at the men looking at him, then said, "If we still don't have any dinner, can we cook this?" This was followed by a low rumbling sound from the dragon.
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