Chapter 181: Big Needle, Clinging Clothes
The whale-thing opens its mouth.
I take control of the pitiful shrapnel remnants of the boat, turning them into more lances, then tossing the entire swarm of them into the giant fish’s eye. Opal blinks in, ready to fight, and I see little lances of air piercing the water as Sylves provides support.
But it all pales in comparison to Thatch. Somehow, he manages to manifest fins from his rage, rapidly spinning towards the whale-thing and sinking facsimile of teeth into its thick hide.
Which is when it hits me how both monstrously big the fish is, and how much we can kill it. I recall my lances, then begin to move my arms, heading for the surface. The salt water burns in my eyes and I hate it. But still, I keep tight control of my mana, even as my clothes cling to me and weigh me down. Even as I struggle to swim with a single hand and start to get that fear of drowning, I focus.
My needles, lances, and the remnants of my boat all come together. It’s a mess of mana-shrapnel, broken bits of it clinging to each other. I look at them and focus properly, giving up my poor attempts at surfacing and instead staring at my mana.
With an exertion of willpower that makes the shrapnel screech, it all melds into one, larger piece of solidified mana. A giant piece, dare I say. I furrow my brows against the salt water, and focus, turning the entire thing tapered. It takes a few seconds, during which Opal blinks next to me and drags me out of the way of a water-drill that would have pierced my heart, but eventually, my mana relents and becomes a giant needle.
Using a monumental amount of effort, I then move it through the water, dragging it in front of Inu. She looks at the construct with surprise, then turns to me, and I just kinda helplessly shrug. Instantly, she nods, then punches the back of the mega-needle.
It’s more of a glorified cone, but when her fist hits it, there’s a pause. Then, a cavitation bubble opens in the water. There’s a horrible snap, and the water crashes inwards. Cracks splinter across the length of my construct - but it also launches.
My shitty, monster-killing cone tears through the water at an exorbitant speed, only accelerated by my own will. It’s about as long as a car, and as thick as my head at its wide end. And it stabs into the whale thing. It sinks in two thirds of its length, making the fish open its mouth in a silent scream, the water dampening it all.
Then I lose focus, and the entire thing explodes.
That’s enough to make the flesh-eating whale turn around finally. With one enormous turn, it flips around, tearing back into the darkness below. I, of course, go back undeterred to my poor attempts at swimming, until Thatch and Opal gracefully drag me upwards. Then, I take a long breath of air.
“Did I mention I have a fear of drowning?” I deadpan.
I don’t get any laughs, just a couple empathetic glances. We swim the rest of the way to the staircases, then head up into the safe room.
- - -
The coconut pacifies me somewhat. Even as the others occasionally shoot me worried looks, and I use the water from my refilling phial to wash out my eyes, I eat it. There’s a long silence, until Sylves plops down next to me in the sand.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
And I smile, because that’s all I needed. “Apology accepted,” I say. “You did the right thing. But I was pretty scared, y’know? Swimming with one arm is pretty hard. Though from the outside it must have looked pretty funny.”
The faerie shakes her head, slowly. “It was scary from the surface, too,” she says.
“Can I ruffle your hair?” I ask.
Sylves smiles. “I’d like that,” she says. With her permission, I reach out, and mess her hair up. My hand is wet, and catches in her hair a bit, but that’s okay. She giggles, and I think it finally gets my feelings across to her.
“You did the right thing,” I repeat to her.
Then she looks at me. “It’s okay to cry,” she says.
And at that, I smile. “I’m okay,” I say. Then I take a deep breath, and repeat it properly. Meaning it. Honestly. “I’m okay.”
She nods softly. “So, you alright to be teased again?” she asks smugly.
I tilt my head. “Wasn’t I this entire time? Surely, I’ve been funny enough to signal that.”
“You mostly sounded upset,” Sylves said.
“Fricken tonal mismatches,” I reply, instilling as much emotion as I can into my voice.
She snickers at that, then ruffles my hair in return. Her hand is soft and dry, entirely unlike my wet hair. “You know,” she says, tilting her head, cupping my cheek. “As much as we complain about how unfair Thatch is, you look rather nice, Snow.”
I look over to see our barbarian-slash-scout blushing at the comment, and smile. His face is almost as red as Anna’s. But I also know Sylves means it. I just snicker in response, anyway. “Thanks, Sylves.”
Of course, my approval gives Opal the courage to jump in. “Seriously Snow, maybe we ought to dunk you in water more often.”
“The clinging clothes don’t suit me,” I complain half-heartedly. Knowing it’s a lie. Anna blushes and looks away, while Tatch blushes and keeps looking at me, same as Opal.
Inu smiles, then chides me. “You fricken rectangle,” she says. “You look lovely.”
“You do!” Sylves confirms, smiling brightly.
“Yeah, gorgeous,” Thatch adds, pulling together his confidence and suaveness. The fact that he can just hide his nervousness and say things like that confidently… I envy his people-powers.
Okay, no, I don’t. I would never make use of them as much as he does. But that’s okay. Smiling softly, I summon more shadows, hiding myself in a cloak, before people continue staring. That’s enough attention for me for now. Instead of that, I turn to Richard.
“Hey, is the meal gonna be ready soon?” I ask. Slowly, I shuffle closer to the campfire, letting the heat deal with the dampness of my hair. If only Jess were here. Truly, my quality of life goes down without the rest of our little group.
For her part, Richard just nods. She’s frying some seaweed in a pan, turning it crunchy, combining it with a few more plants she apparently foraged while we were on the last floor, as well as a few regular fish she caught into a fried-fish salad. I wait another little while by the campfire, letting the sun dry the water off me and my clothes, and then we all eat. Only a little bit of chatter later, it’s time to check out the next set of doors.