Ace only gritted his teeth. Thousands of thoughts crossing his mind. But he had to trust his instincts. He leaned to his left, poured all the strength he had into his left leg and rolled to the side while holding Morwen.
"Ace! Your leg!"
Ace covered her mouth.
"Not the time!"
They both hid behind the tree.
'Can she even help me even fight that thing? We won't be able to escape alive. Our only option is to win... But how?'
Ace whispered.
"Morwen, do you have any ideas on how to beat that thing?"
She shook her head. Ace could tell that she was thinking of a way to get out of this too.
"I'm sorry... It's my fault we came here..."
Morwen looked at Ace.
"None of us knew what would've happened. It's fine. Just think about how to get out of this situation.."
Ace was still thinking. He couldn't think straight, not when a possible rank 3 monster was preying on them. The monster was only here because of his damned attribute.
'damned destiny! Why is it always so unfair!?'
Ace looked back at Morwen.
"What are your attributes as an awakened?"
"Flaming heart... Same as my grandpa.. well not that you know of him I suppose."
Ace sneered.
"I wasn't asking the name! What can it do!?"
"I can form an unextinguishable fire that can only leave when my soul commands"
"Well I don't think you can lit something that's on water huh?"
"I'm not strong enough... Yet."
'figured'
Ace kept thinking, his mobility was limited by him calf. He couldn't come up with anything.
"You don't have a weapon right?"
She suddenly took out two daggers she was keeping around her legs, hidden like an assassin.
'great!'
"You keep one" Ace took a dagger.
"We have to attack together if we want to take it down. This is going to be gruesome."
After a pause.
"Can you put the trees on fire? I'll give you a signal"
Morwen nodded.
Physically speaking, or even generally, Ace was way weaker than Morwen, but he took the initiative and planning into his own hand like a hunting expert. Morwen could see the potential Ace held.
With that, Ace clenched his teeth and started limping at full speed, though it wasn't his maximum speed, he was going the same speed as someone from the third level of the Region. The spirit crystal had a really wonderful effect on him. The adrenaline kept the pain away from his calf as he kept going towards the back of the eel, because of its massive size in the water, it had a difficult time turning around.
And then Ace suddenly remembered. The poison ability he got from absorbing that spirit crystal.
He poured some soul essence into the Atherband and scrolled down the hologram to know what the property of that skill he gained.
[Snagtooth Viper core essence: Your affinity for poison has increased, your fangs contain a partial amount of venom]
'This! What does my fangs mean!? Damn it!'
Ace thought as he kept running when suddenly he was wagged away by the eel's tail.
"Grah!"
He flew to a tree, hitting his head, blood pouring down. But he managed to keep his grip on the dagger.
It suddenly came to Ace.
'Fangs! My teeth!'
Ace used his tongue to feel his teeth and he realised that his cuspids were sharper.
He bit into his own lips trying to squeeze out a little venom out. As soon as he succeeded he draped his lips over the dagger covering it with venom.
Ace quickly signaled Morwen to set the trees on fire. But as soon as he did he got the attention of the Eel again, as it wagged its tail once more Ace was ready to face the tremendous force behind it. He held the dagger tightly and as soon the tail hit, he felt that his ribs have been shattered.
He spat out blood.
Ignoring the pain, he forced every ounce of strength into his arm and drove the dagger deeper. As Ace was about to fly away from the tremendous force he kept his grip on the dagger, his shoulder dislocated as the dagger sliced about half of its tail.
And suddenly when Ace rolled away, the trees caught on fire, causing high heat around the lake.
With the enormous chunk Ace managed to cut using the dagger Morwen gave, and the fire caused by her, the high intensity of the heat helped the poison spread through the Eel faster.
Ace laughed to himself thinking that he has won. But the Eel had other plans. It bursted out high voltage trying to burn out the poison when suddenly Morwen threw her dagger into its eye with high precision and rushed to Ace, grabbing the dagger from his hand before throwing it into the creature's other eye.
The Eel let out a beastly yelp before it's blood spread through the whole lake and my poison with it. They managed to come out victorious.
[You have managed to slay a Stormcoil Eel. You have proven your worth to change your destiny. A chain of destiny has been broken. You have absorbed an enormous amount of spiritual energy. Your body will be going to shut itself down to repair itself. Remaining. A minute]
Ace looked at the sky. The sun was about to set and he saw Morwen.
"I'm going to pass out soon. Go before you miss your lift."
Ace mustered the words before all of his adrenaline ran out.
"What about you?! I can't just leave you here!"
"I'll be fine. We'll meet again. Promise. You can contact me through this thing you gave me remember? If you miss that lift, you'll be in trouble will you not? Go now."
Morwen wanted to argue, to stay there. But she knew that if she wait, she will be in a lot of trouble, since she would have to wait another month for the next lift, which could end up involving Ace as well with her grandpa's fury of a lowly third level brat taking his precious granddaughter into the danger.
Morwen was tearing up as she slowly nodded, getting on her two feet weakly, she started limping away as well. Returning back to where she came from.
Ace watched as she left before his consciousness slowly going off to the darkness.