Re: Elf Prince—A Degenerate's Second Chance-Chapter 54. Underwater Battle

54. Underwater Battle

As his head was submerged into the water, his body was first devoured by the cold before he got a grasp of his situation. His leg was stuck in a small crack in the shallow end of the water and the huge black creature was still swimming at him.

It had four short legs it’s packed together as it swam in a snake-like manner which made it seem faster and more terrifying than it actually was. Eryndor was faced with a predicament, let go of his weapon and stick to pull his leg out or fight off the creature underwater.

No matter what he chose he would be at a disadvantage, his mana was too low to do any real damage. And fire magic under icy water was not a smart choice, relying on sword technique was a bust is his one of his legs was locked away.

Eryndor greatly despised being in situations where he would need to improvise, no matter how he saw it there was no way out. Unless— feeling an idea bloom in his desperate money he struck the stick in-between the space where his leg was stuck in and the hole. If he could use the stick as a lever and pry out his leg, if that worked he would only have at most three seconds to evade the black sea creature before it would ask him for rent.

Committing totally to his escape he pulled on the stick and felt his leg giving way, he could pull it out a bit. His sights never left the beast at it came for him as a much faster speed.

"Why did it have to be a murderous beast? It could have been a goldfish or a ducky." He panicked in his head just before another problem arose.

When he had called into the hole it was unexpected to he had not received the privilege of taking in air and he was running out. It was always one problem after another in the accursed world.

The strange underwater creature was now much closer and it appeared to be cover in black leather armour and the size of a full grown man and he was still unfortunately an eight year old elf. Now that he though about this, wasn’t this a form of child abuse? What was a kid doing in the wild anyway.

Trying to control his strength was hard with the weight of cold water pressing down on him, his eyes were starting to freeze and things got slightly blurry before he used the flame body tempering art on it. The most important thing would be to not lose sight of the creature.

His leg was half free when when the sea creature appeared before him, it opened a it’s mouth which was a long funnel of whiter inners and long tongue and a few dozen teeth, it was big enough to cut him in half. Eryndor failed to pry his leg so he ducked just as the creature zoomed by and took away more than half the stick, the impact causing the stick to pry his leg free finally.

The moment of relief was soon washed away by the familiar feeling of dread as he looked around for the black creature. It was gone, how had he lost sight of it. He did not want this to be a costly mistake. The only weapon he had was his sword and the ice fang dagger he had in the legacy, wherever the creature was it was bidding it’s time.

Eryndor wondered if it wanted him to come up for air before it attacked, surely he wasn’t that stupid. He started to swim for the shore, his eyes darting in every direction only slowed by the weight of the water. A second later there was an explosion of water bubbles up ahead as something started to move, it was hard to follow it because the stream was also moving. Whatever the creature was, it was experienced at hunting creatures that came to the stream for a drink.

"Sorry but I’m your worst match." Eryndor thought as he ignited the flame in his flame seeking eye and started to see through the cold waters. The creature shone like a bright red ember zipping like a bullet and coming at him from the side, Eryndor knew he could never outrun ir so he pretended to lure it in and change hus direction at the last moment. It was a risky play but his best yet.

When the creature shot forward from the side he pretended not to notice it and wait for it to get close before dropping down to the bottom of the stream. The creature missed him by a little margin, the trick was efficient because the creature was swimming against the current.

With all he had left in his battered body Eryndor swam for the shore, ignoring the bursts of water bubbles behind him. Swimming was surprisingly one of the only useful skills he brought with him to this world but that did not mean his new body was used to it.

The creature opened its mouth as it reached the foot of its prey, despite the small gap between them it had closed it in a matter of seconds. Eryndor made another risky move as he kicked the water and changed his direction slightly putting more distance between them. It worked but he still had one more problem.

If he got to land he would take a while for him to be able to crawl away but the creature would only have to shoot out of the water. Eryndor was not sure why he thought this through since he was usually an absent minded person. Another idea beamed in his mind this one more riskier than the last. As he reached the shore and crawled into shore he turned around so he would be facing the water, his lungs gasped for air on reflex.

His concentration threatened to break as his box started to shiver but he forced it to stay together even for a moment longer. The creature seemed pleased by the foolishness of it’s prey as it shot out of the water with its mouth flung open ready to devour it’s prey from the leg up.

Instead of meeting the juicy surface of meat it’s throat was greeted by the cold embrace of steel. It’s white eyes widened with shock, what had transpired a mystery to it.

In the light Eryndor saw it as a huge alligator with unusually black leather back, it would have been impossible for the current him ti hurt it from there. He twisted the blade and watched it trembled, it threatened to shut its mouth and retreat into the water but he summoned the ice fang dagger and threw it into its throat. He would leave it to the paralysis to do it’s job.

In that moment his body gave way and dropped to the ground, he started to shiver uncontrollably.m barely using the sliver of mana within him to warm parts of his body. The alligator-like creature crawled back into the water but collapsed shortly after. Eryndor layed there on the shore and cursed his luck. Maybe he was really cursed.