Kaelen followed the Nightmare Creature, his eyes gliding along with it as it circled; while doing so, he calmed his beating heart down.
Who knows? That thing could have the ability to sense the sound of his panic.
'That thing is the trial's objective, isn't it?'
He, of course, knew the answer, and that was 'yes'.
It was far too big not to be and on the line with the size. How in the world could that thing move that fast even if it was an aquatic nightmare creature?
Reaching his hand back, Kaelen grabbed his wooden mini spear and gripped it far too tightly in his left hand as he stabbed the wooden dagger into his pant pocket to keep it close. There was this dreadful feeling that he was going to need it close.
Having 2 sharp weapons would usually be an amazing thing and impose a great feeling of safety and power, but looking at only the dorsal fin cutting the water, he felt a cold chill in his bones – his spear and dagger were only made of wood; yes, they were sharp, but this was most likely an Awakened Nightmare Creature, and not only that...
His spear was only half the size of the fin.
He was not looking forward to this fight.
He turned his body slowly, watching as it circled the lifeboat, moving slowly and methodically, but the moment that he turned his body to look at it, the moment that his foot stepped back onto the deck and that small insignificant THUMP came
The slow swim of the creature causing ripples in the water suddenly exploded into a rage of splashes and a roar as something jumped out of the water.
Kaelen's eyes widened as he instantly dropped to his knees, avoiding the bite aimed at his head by less than a ruler's length.
Thinking back on it, the Nightmare Creature – Broken Earth of the earth trial seemed to be like a regular animal, but this thing, this thing was a nightmare of nature itself.
He could not see it well enough in that split second, but that freaking thing... that thing was biology's biggest screw you.
It was large, incredibly large, a little larger than a fully grown great white shark but with the frame of a deformed dolphin with a mix of blue, black and grey that stretched over its body, and as if that was not enough, the bastard had limbs!
Where the pectoral fins should have been sprouted 2 arms, a bit longer than a human's and significantly more muscular but also somehow deformed and equipped with claws.
How this horror could move this fast, leap this fast and snap its jaws so fast was not something he could understand.
Well... enough gushing over its looks.
The big bastard landed on the half of the boat behind Kaelen, breaking it in half and catapulting him into the air and into the water. He was not prepared for the fight to escalate this quickly, and now he was being assaulted by the cold and had already got some of the water into his nose.
'A little bit of courtesy...'
He gritted his teeth and swam up to the surface. As he moved up, the sight of the shattered boat filled his eyes, and the cold suddenly felt so much worse.
There was nothing he could do, though; the only viable option was to go to the half that remained, but then again, what use was that going to be? The Nightmare Creature would easily dispose of that too.
'No! Focus. First, I need air.
All those thoughts were null and void if he drowned here, so he swam like hell and made it to the surface, sucking in a deep breath and pushing his hair out of his face as it moved into his mouth.
'I should have got a haircut...'
He was trying to make a joke, trying to keep his mind distracted because right now, that freaking abomination was gone again, and for all he knew, it was probably swimming directly up to swallow him whole, and he knew it was below because the hunter's mark was not picking up anything.
He was not waiting to find out where it was.
Kaelen charged through the water towards the half boat; perhaps the creature was sensitive to movement, or it had already been on his trail – he felt the water behind him move, and though he was unable to see the beast, he knew it was on his trail.
He calmed his mind and tried to think of a solution.
The creature was built for the ocean, for the water. While he was a terrestrial animal and while he knew how to swim, the difference between him and the creature would always be like heaven and earth.
He gritted his teeth and turned in the water, sticking his hand out.
'Note to self, thank all the shows that said to never let go of your weapon.'
Through the entire ordeal his hands had been wrapped around the crude spear and refused to let go, and thankfully the dagger was still stabbed into his pocket.
The beast's jaws opened and crashed straight into the spear. Thankfully it was long enough to create a barrier against both the upper and lower jaws; he may have gotten the wind knocked out of him and been sent several metres back in pain – in other words, he was safe from the creature for the next few seconds.
Unfortunately the spear was now just splinters, just like half of the boat.
Flipping in the air, he angled his body to fall onto the half boat.
He was not waiting to get attacked again, and now that he had the high ground and the creature was still actively hunting him, the hunter's mark made it easy to notice it.
Just as it leapt out again to bite, he jumped and used its snout as a leapboard. He came down on its back, a little behind its dorsal fin. There was a smile on his face as he reached down to his pocket. The dagger was raised and stabbed straight into its back.
Kaelen tried to use his free hand to ground himself, but the oozing black blood from the wound prevented him from getting a grounding.
Before he had the chance to celebrate, he realised he had made a tiny little mistake, a tiny little thing he hadn't taken into account. The arms latched onto his leg, and the nails dug into his flesh, and it pulled, trying to pry him off.
It swam into the ocean while pulling him off; his own hand burned as it tried to keep latched on, but it was a failure of sorts.
Before it was able to pull him off, the dagger got loose and he was let loose.
Unfortunately he was still in its grip; he had a limited amount of air down here, and he needed to get free, but he sincerely doubted that the creature would let him move up.
He did what he could with the situation; crunching his body, he grabbed his own leg and brought down the dagger onto the creature's wrist, over and over again. The creature clearly felt the pain as it began to flail around, but it seemed that he had maybe stabbed its nerve because it couldn't or wouldn't let go.
He kept on digging the dagger into it, and eventually the arm came loose from the wrist downwards.
The creature moved again, clearly angry or mad, maybe both. But as it charged at him from below, Kaelen grabbed the detached arm and, in a desperate gamble, crouched in the water.
He watched the creature charge upwards, and the moment it opened its jaws, its own hand was stabbed into its snout.
Pulling on it, he moved to its side as it moved upwards, avoiding its teeth by an inch.
It was so unfortunate the dagger was wood and not steel because it would have definitely glinted in some sort of cinematic way as it found its place into its eye.
He gritted his teeth and shoved it deeper.
The creature and he had just breached the water and were in the air.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Shattered Sea.]
[You have received a memory: Swift Sea]
They both crashed into the water, splashes sounding around.
Kaelen lay there just floating in the water for a few moments.
'Awakened Monster...'
That would make the memory he received a tier 2 awakened memory; he was a bit too tired to check on it now.
But it was not just that; he rested in the water and watched as a blue mist of sorts flowed from the dead monster besides him into his body.
His wounds healed, but as they did, he noticed the blood leaking from his leg change colours; it was a light colour, almost like the water around him...
'Something similar happened the last time...'
He hadn't seen it happen the last round, but he did feel the changes, and he could feel it now too. His body felt... better?
It was that feeling of waking up in the middle of the night and drinking a cool glass of water combined with the feeling of chugging water after a long while of exercise.
He let out a sigh; he knew the reason that this was happening.
'Void sprite, my aspect ability here is allowing me to assimilate through killing and absorbing "essence".'
He was smiling; Sunny had become a slave in his first nightmare, and he had become an assimilating machine. There was just a problem with this too.
There was a light that shone from below him, deep in the waters.
'The door...'
The door was sitting at the bottom of the sea.
He lifted his hand and looked at his palm and let the thought he just pushed away rise again.
'This isn't the last trial, is it...'
Not only that, this was likely one of the easier ones.
It was a guess for now, and it was not a guess he liked.
What was Shadow Slave known for other than the suffering and hardships?
'Everything in this damn world comes in 7, so am I going to have 7 trials?'
It made sense, but it also had a terrifying implication.
"Beast, Monster, Demon, Devil, Tyrant, Terror and Titan... The broken earth was first, and it was an awakened beast... This shattered sea was an awakened monster... So the next would be... a demon."
An intelligent nightmare creature.
And then there would be the devil with powers... then the tyrant with minions, then the terror and titans.
How the hell is he going to face all those horrors when he barely made it with a mad monster that had no intelligence or powers?
'It's not like I have another choice other than to face them.'
Kaelen had a blank expression on his face; of course everything was a guess, but it also made sense, and he felt he was spot on.
And if he was right, he was likely going to experience a lot more horrors and a lot more pain.
'Let's get it over with then.'
He moved in the water towards the floating corpse and yanked out his dagger.
'Give me your shards.'
He stabbed the dagger in and dragged the blade down; the flesh of the creature parted with difficulty, but he got it out. The meat was taken out, and he shoved it into the seafarer's sack.
'I feel I'm going to need this."
Every piece of available meat was harvested and stored; the shards were found and crushed too.
'I wonder what my count is by now?'
It was probably around 30, maybe higher?
He moved towards the half boat that floated there. Sitting on it, he summoned the runes to figure out his new memory's contents.
Memories: [Hunters Mark], [Seafarers Satchel], [Swift Sea]
Memory: [Swift Sea]
Memory Rank: Awakened
'Well, no duh.'
Memory Tier: 2
'As I thought'
Memory Type: Armour
'Oh nice, an armour will definitely help, especially if I'm going to have to fight stronger nightmare creatures...'
Memory Description: ["Water is our life and our death. It hydrates us, it drowns us, and it creates a barrier for us, or it can crush us, freeze us or cool us down. What can water not do? ... It couldn't save us from its wrath... it could not hydrate those with a thirst for blood; it could not act as a barrier for that which attacks the being itself.
'How ominous.'
He rolled his eyes; the lore and backstory were cool, but he wanted to know its enchantments.
Summoning the armour, he watched as the sparks coalesced around him and formed a neat armour that fitted tightly; the sides of the legs and arms were equipped with fins, and the armour had gills at the neck.
'Neat...'
The appearance gave its abilities away.
Getting back into the water, he swam through, feeling the ease of it as the water accommodated him now; even the gills provided him with oxygen.
Moving downwards, he hovered in front of the door.
'I wonder what this trial will be like.'
He placed his hand on the handle, and the moment he turned it, he was somewhere else.
There was no transition, no tunnel of light. One moment, Kaelen was surrounded by the cold ocean, and the next, he was slammed face-first onto a surface of cracked, blistering earth.
He pushed himself off the ground, feeling the heat around him; the lack of moisture in the air was more than apparent.
The element of this trial was made very apparent.
jagged obsidian peaks and rivers of flowing magma that cut through the landscape like veins of fire. The sky was a bruised, suffocating red, choked with falling ash that settled on his pale, salt-crusted skin like grey snow.
'It's hot.'