Some tried to resist the monsters. Colours of every common affinity flashed beneath the surface as the distraught men fired their spells at their hunters. Micky guessed that a couple of blasts might have even landed, though he failed to spot any carcasses. The dead creatures were probably devoured by their kin almost immediately.
The water foamed and roiled as pools of blood blossomed like flowers all over the aquatic battlefield, the thick scent of iron mixing with the salty breeze. It was strangely quiet, however, as nobody dared to so much as let a whisper out, probably afraid to attract the beasts’ attention.
The sailors were at too much of a disadvantage against the monsters. There were too many beasts, and they were fighting in their element. If there was one thing that worked in the sapients’ favour, it was the fact that each of their dead companions bought the survivors a couple of extra seconds.
Micky had counted over a hundred men originally, though their numbers had already been cut down to the low dozens by the time they approached land, and they weren’t even there yet. Meanwhile, Micky and his host were still stuck watching the horror show atop the sinking ship.
‘Damn it… we’ve fallen too far behind. Swimming by ourselves would be suicide at this point,’ Micky said.
Not only did they have nobody to split the monsters’ focus with, the commotion must’ve drawn even more creatures to the area. Getting through the blockade without help wouldn’t be easy.
Then again, they couldn’t afford to stay on the shipwreck much longer. Looking back, Micky realized that the vessel had sunk a couple of metres deeper, the surface of the water having already swallowed the hole they’d just climbed through.
Swiftly running out of options, he pulled up his Status, skimming through the information quickly in search of anything he could work with.
___
Marnok Du Vent-Noir (The Lone Wanderer’s clone)
Mana cores:
- [Mana core 1 – Yellow – Air]
- [Mana core 2 – Seed – ???]
Domain:
- [Pulse – Dormant]
Spectral traits:
- [Weaving] – Boosts one’s proclivity in manipulating one-dimensional structures.
- [Insomnia] – Eliminates the need for sleep.
- [Scribing] – Boosts one’s proclivity in expressing meaning onto any written medium.
Spells:
- [Spectral Art: Parasitic Connection – Refined]
- [Spectral Art: Cauldron of a Thousand Whispers – Masterful]
- [Spectral Art: Instantaneous Formation – Masterful]
Alchemic principles:
- [Extraction] – Separate and condense an ingredient’s essence.
- [Pacification] – Delay an ingredient’s activation rate.
- [Redirection] – Adjust an ingredient’s effect.
- [Deattunement] – Prevent multiple conflicting ingredients from reacting with one another.
- [Bonding] – Enrich an ingredient with crystallized pure mana.
- [Restructuring] – Alter an ingredient's phase.
- [Scaling] – Brew a greater volume of ingredients at once.
- [Compression] – Elevate an ingredient to the next grade.
Decrees:
- [Phoebe’s Decree] – Grants access to your Status.
- [Moirais’ Decree (Incomplete)] – Grants the seed of a second mana core. Requires potent life mana to germinate.
- [Metatron’s Decree] – Open a one-way portal to the Vault of Magic at will.
- [Ea’s Decree (Modified)] – Augments and enhances your Status.
- [Obatala’s Decree (Modified)] – Augments and enhances your Status. Allows you to effortlessly deploy your domain in its strongest state.
___
This wasn’t the time to memorize his host’s full name, nor to dwell on the fact that Marnok was apparently considered the Lone Wanderer’s clone. Focusing on the details that mattered, Micky realized – to his great dismay – that the man didn’t have much going for him.
‘An air affinity. Not the best, but at least it’s one I’m skilled with…’
Sadly, even if he poured enough life mana into the sailor’s second core, he wouldn’t be able to clear enough channels to fully activate it in the next few minutes. Preparing his body for Circulation would be even harder, and the domain was back to being dormant again – an inevitable consequence of changing bodies. Awakening it with a single Yellow core would be extremely difficult, and the weak pulses wouldn’t help that much even if he somehow succeeded.
Even worse, he’d already consumed some of his stashed phantom mana to stitch up Marnok’s injuries. Micky still had plenty left, but its best use would be to fuel the Harvester’s enchantments, allowing him to wield the deadly weapon for as long as possible.
The sharpened scythe could be used to slaughter dozens of Yellow beasts and even a bunch of Greens with ease – assuming that the creatures took turns attacking them. Sadly, the hungry monsters were far more likely to swarm them from every direction. Micky didn’t have enough mana to replicate the scythe, and there was only so much that he’d be able to do with a single weapon.
‘Any brilliant ideas?’ Marnok pressed, his heart beating wildly. The poor guy was clearly frightened, and Micky couldn’t exactly blame him. Getting eaten alive was a terrible way to go and, unlike him, the Yellow didn’t have another body to return to.
Scanning the area in front of him carefully, Micky measured the distance to shore, estimating roughly how long their reserves would last if they used them sparingly.
‘About three kilometres to go. Using air mana to attack the beasts would be a waste. We’re better off propelling ourselves forward whenever they’re about to catch us. But it still won’t be enough to get us even halfway there.’
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If he used a couple more tricks, they might make it a bit farther, though whether it would be enough remained to be seen. Either way, the water had almost reached the ship’s figurehead where Marnok was standing, indicating that they were almost out of time.
The resurrected sailor was about to speak again, when Micky made a move. Drawing some air mana to his hand, he played with it for a second or two, trying to fashion it into a rune to test an idea.
The concept behind it was similar to his Instantaneous Imprint spell, though air mana was much harder to force into a fixed shape than metal mana, and Micky didn’t have Kassorith’s Blue core right now, nor a domain to help him.
“Come on, just stay put already,” he spat through gritted teeth, stirring the Scribing trait slumbering inside his soul.
Almost immediately, the green motes snapped into place, forming a small, circular symbol in Marnok’s palm. It was a concealment rune, blocking everything behind it from Micky’s Mana Sense. Sadly, the rune didn’t last long, the unruly resource simply refusing to remain still. The very next second, the shape fell apart, robbing the enchantment of its effect.
Sighing, Micky realized that this wasn’t going to work.
He’d wanted to try and mask his host’s core, to reduce the number of attacking monsters. He wouldn’t be able to hide from the rest of their senses, but if he could just lessen the pressure slightly, he’d have an easier time killing the rest or escaping.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Even if he managed to keep the rune from crumbling for a prolonged period of time – and while swimming – he’d need multiple enchantments to conceal their core from every direction.
‘Damn it!’ he swore. ‘I should start equipping my clones with concealment bandages!’
Then again, hindsight was twenty-twenty. The reality was that his spatial seals had a limited capacity, and he couldn’t possibly carry every single tool that he might need in his adventures.
Suddenly, a tall wave rose a little higher than the rest of the sea, licking Marnok’s heels. Under other circumstances, the water’s cold touch would have felt refreshing – a welcome break from the burning sunlight drying the sweat on their forehead, caking their scalp in a salty crown. Right now, it only served as a grim reminder that their time was up.
Gathering all the strength that he could muster, Micky leapt off the tip of the figurehead, trying to cover as much distance as he could before splashing into the ocean.
By the time he found himself submerged, he had summoned his scythe again and hurled it downwards. The spectral weapon phased soundlessly through the water, flying in a wide circle beneath his host’s body – spinning and invisible. Micky might not be able to hide his host’s core under these circumstances, but at least the greedy beasts wouldn’t be able to sense the deadly construct.
‘Swim as fast as you can,’ he said, giving Marnok control of his body back. He figured that his host would be able to handle his limbs better than him anyway.
At the same time, Micky allowed his senses to unfold outwards, locking onto several mana signatures closing in rapidly. He couldn’t make their shapes out, but their grades were obvious enough. Over thirty Orange creatures and a dozen Yellows were about to reach them. No Greens had appeared yet, but this was still a lot of beasts to fend off at once.
The weapon worked overtime, flying rapidly through the cold abyss, splitting a creature’s soul in half with each violent revolution. The poor fuckers never stood a chance – this was a weapon that had claimed the lives of multiple Blues and even a Violet, after all.
Still, more beasts took notice of the swimming sailor soon enough. At least, Micky had made sure not to inflict any physical wounds on his victims, unwilling to spill even more blood into the water. Even so, he doubted that it would take long for the surviving monsters to realize what a sumptuous feast he had laid before them.
Marnok’s limbs burned from the effort as he swam as fast as he could, the water failing to cool his muscles down. Micky, too, poured everything he had into his weapon, slaughtering the aquatic horrors by the dozens as their numbers kept increasing.
The first Greens arrived, the scythe still managing to carve through their souls like a hot knife through butter. However, Micky knew that this wasn’t without cost. The more he used the construct, the more it would degrade, forcing him to sacrifice some of his phantom mana to fuel the self-repairs. This wasn’t a problem back on Remior, as he could always rely on an endless supply of ambient mana thanks to the Dance. Here, every single drop was priceless.
Sure enough, the weapon began to slow down about a minute later, indicating that its edge had dulled. Gritting his borrowed teeth, Micky extracted a hefty chunk of phantom mana from his stash, letting the scythe fly through the grey blob to repair itself.
The school of monstrous fish seized the opportunity to draw closer, faster than he could kill them. Micky was forced to consume some air mana too, the momentary burst propelling him several metres ahead – just enough to break out of the encirclement.
He wasn’t in the mood to celebrate, however, fully aware that both of his mana pools had shrunk noticeably in the past few minutes. And they’d covered less than half of the distance to their destination.
A similar situation played out a few seconds later. The other sailors must’ve reached the island already – or perished entirely – Micky didn’t know which. Either way, they had freed up more of the monsters, putting pressure on Marnok.
The sailor tried to refill his core with every strained breath, though he was clearly approaching his limits. Noticing this, Micky emptied a few healing potions in the man’s stomach to relieve his fatigue. The life mana barely lingered for a fraction of a second in the Yellow’s muscles before the seed in his abdomen gobbled it up.
More beasts attacked, and more died, as Micky and Marnok used everything at their disposal to survive for as long as possible. They drained their reserves at a scary rate, their expenditure vastly exceeding their pitiful intake as the situation grew more dire by the second.
Even so, they persisted, covering about two-thirds of the journey by the time Micky’s phantom mana ran out completely. Marnok’s air mana lasted a little longer because he’d kept trying to replenish it, though he eventually emptied his core too – another five hundred metres later. Losing the ability to repair the scythe, Micky watched it dull again, giving the monsters a chance to draw nearer once more.
Left with no other choice, he discarded the scythe’s shaft entirely, breaking the blade into three fragments, and using them to kill the creatures thrice as fast. It worked for a while, buying him and his host a few more precious breaths, though the pieces only degraded faster when wielded separately like this.
Thankfully, they’d already drawn close enough to the island that the sea had grown shallower. Micky estimated that the seabed was only four or five metres below the swimming sailor, greatly limiting the number and sizes of creatures that could encircle them at once.
By the time Micky felt the sweet feeling of sand beneath his feet, what remained of his weapon was entirely useless, and his host was making wheezing noises with every exhausted heave.
The creatures chasing them hadn’t given up yet, however.
Some kind of giant crocodile lunged at the tired sailor, its colossal maw about to snap shut around his body, its curved fangs glinting beneath the bright sunlight. The monster’s enormous head disappeared, falling inside a circular portal, metallic surfaces covered in pulsing runes visible on the other side.
Micky promptly deactivated the Decree, giving the Green creature the Syrreneth treatment, and the rest of the monsters a nice little distraction. The smaller beasts were more than happy to fight each other over the bloody feast, devouring the elephant-sized reptile in seconds as they dug through its flesh in search for its nutritious core.
By the time they were done, Marnok had already walked out of the water. Even so, the man clearly didn’t dare to stop moving until he was over thirty metres from the edge of the sea. Only then did he allow himself to plop down weakly, hugging the scorching sand as if it was his long-lost lover.
Micky shared the sentiment, though his attention was inevitably drawn to the other survivors slowly surrounding him and his host, their mouths agape.
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