Part 24 (1/2)
I glanced over to the golden-haired thief and copied her as I mused. ”You have no idea.”
Twenty-Four.
Sizzling Salamanders ”What do we do?” Goldie screamed at me as salamanders crawled toward us in every direction except the sh.o.r.eline.
”Get in the water!” I yelled as I turned my back half-way to the elementals. Ashe was already jumping into the shallow waves. I followed after her just as one of the fiery lizards landed at the edge of the tide.
I heard it screech in pain at trying to move in closer, when my head broke the surface of the waves.
My eyes settled on the blazing inferno set with the starry night and the smoke furling in strange angles and designs. It was both a horrifying and stunning sight at the same time. The same could be said for the salamanders surrounding us as they burned different brilliant colors of fire.
All three of us were bobbing in the ocean waves with our weapons drawn.
”Now what?” Goldie roared over the crackle of the fire and crash of the water. ”Magic?”
I shook my head. ”I need rest, I told you that. I have enough for a few spells but not to handle hundreds of these like I did the Ondine.”
”Then we just need to be selective with the spell, right Gnidori?” Ashe smiled to me like she had an idea.
”You have something in mind?” I grinned back at her.
Goldie groaned. ”Save the foreplay for later and focus on the giant flaming beasts.”
Ashe ignored the thief; thankfully, as she asked me, ”Think you could manage weapons made of water?”
My grin grew. ”I can do one better than that.”
I reached my hand into the water. As I slowly pulled it back out, waves rolled up my hand and gathered around it, swirling and illuminating, as it took the shape of a sword which I then tossed to Goldie. I swiped the water again and pulled out another swirling colored-water sword, which I threw to Ashe.
Once that was finished I slotted a hatchet on my belt and reached into the water to form a ma.s.sive battle-axe of s.h.i.+fting waves and colors. I tossed it over my shoulder as I turned to glance at the girls. ”Get ready, it's going to feel a little weird.”
”What is?” Goldie asked before she shrieked.
”That.” I laughed while the water around us crept up our skin, giving me the strangest feeling of spiders or ants crawling all over me. It rolled along our clothing and finished finally with just our faces exposed.
”Suits of water.” Ashe giggled, not at all sounding distressed from the odd feeling.
”Exactly.” I beamed while stepping closer to the sh.o.r.e. I didn't even have to turn back as Ashe stood up right next to me on the sh.o.r.eline. ”Stay at the sh.o.r.e and be careful they can still burn you through the water, or with the water.”
”You really think we can do this?” Ashe asked as she swallowed hard.
”You really think I'd let you burn to death?”
She shook her head and I smiled at her. ”Then we can do this.”
I stopped at the sand and yanked my battle axe in a large sweep across roughly five salamanders crowded around. They all hissed and gave off steam like it was blood as they were severed horizontally.
Stepping past those, I dropped my body low before sweeping my axe in a circle around me. Some of the water unleashed from the blade of the axe to produce a wave that pushed the recovering severed elementals into the sea and drenched the ones encroaching toward me.
My eyes briefly shot to Ashe who had blocked and launched away one fiery beast before leaning across and stabbing one of the creatures I drenched. Skewered as it was, she just twisted her foot and tossed it out to the ocean.
A smile shot across my lips, before I noticed some of the fiery lizards were jumping and crawling over each other to get to us. Even with the water around me I was feeling the heat from that many.
I had to thin the numbers and in a large way or they would just swarm over each other until they were a wall of fire trapping us in.
Slas.h.i.+ng across one of the flaming beings, I took one step toward the fire decorated forest before dropping some energy into my legs and spinning my axe around me. As the axe came back around my body, I launched forward with one foot, hurdling through and over the salamanders.
When I landed, on a fire salamander no less, I sprung again through the air, slicing across the creatures in my way until I touched down on the edge of the burning woods and turned to face the creatures behind me.
Some of them turned to face me as I prepped my axe. There was a way I could do this, with a duplicating spell.
I pulled my battle axe back then swept it in front of me, releasing and duplicating as much of the water in the axe as I could surrender to produce a wave of aquatic destruction. The water gushed and crashed over the salamanders and washed them toward the sea.
Fizzling and the hissing of steam could be heard everywhere on the sh.o.r.eline. I couldn't see much though, since the combination of smoke and heated water made visibility poor. I could still see somewhere around half of them left, most fuming with small puffs of heat like they were p.i.s.sed they had just been doused with some water.
And me with no water weapon now.
Two of the nearest ones jumped me after they recovered and I punched the first across the sandy field with a water-encrusted fist while the other one took my elbow as I spun to thrust back at it.
I had to get back to the sh.o.r.e. I settled for jumping again but after the first leap into a mob of the beasts I didn't have the juice left in me to make another super jump.
”Faerie Fudge...” I cried as twenty salamanders hopped at me all in a single, coordinated tackle. I managed to throw an axe through one and punch two or three more before they knocked me down and piled on top of me.
The one directly on my chest bit my shoulder, most likely just trying to bear through the pain of touching my water armor. It ripped its mouth away when it tasted more water, but the burns and heat of all the fiery beings were starting to make me antsy with overheating and pain.
I would feel this later. If I even survive.
My chest heaved against the weight on me while I pulled an axe from my belt and slashed into the side of the one on top of me, then the next one after that. My other hand grabbed another hatchet and helped with ripping away at them. But it was doing no good.
So I settled for one last push, and took all the water gathered around my body and released it upwards with another duplicating spell. It burst like a geyser, sending salamanders in every direction through the air.
The beasts rained down everywhere as I stood back up, dropped an axe and gripped my shoulder. Most of my body felt burnt but I couldn't let that get to me, there was still a lot more of these things left.
I lowered my axe and looked around. The area near me had been cleared back by Goldie and Ashe. Both of whom were at my flanks now.
”How many do you think are left?” I groaned and shuffled in pain before jumping to stab one of the fiery beings with my hatchet when it tried to storm Ashe from behind. I sliced its head and kicked it to the sh.o.r.e. Slowly we were moving back to the safety of the sea.
”Twenty or forty or eighty or hundreds? I don't know. They just keep coming even when I've slashed them ten times.” Goldie ranted as she sliced perfectly through four of the fiery b.a.s.t.a.r.ds with a swipe from each of her swords. I ducked under her and punted two of the salamanders to the water before slas.h.i.+ng one more trying to drop on both of us.
I should have been working together from the beginning.
”There's not many left compared to before.” Ashe grunted as she shouldered her water sword into a stab at one of the salamanders launching at her. It almost looked like she was going to roast it for a meal before she flung it toward the sea.
I sighed and kicked away another just as we reached the sand where the tide ran over our feet. I turned just in time to catch Ashe stepping in front of me and slas.h.i.+ng through an elemental to cause its halves to fly past me and fizzle in the water.