38 The Jaws of Death

SheShellsSheaShells: Congrats on the rank up, mom, I knew you'd get it fast!

DarkLadyLights: So this is the merwhore that you were touching yourself in the cave to?

SheShellsSheaShells: Mother! That's not true at all!

-Conversation between Odd and Melisandra Meirvere, 2109 FE

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Sophia brought her palm to her face, "Pones, ya know? Mah mullah, bling bling, cur-ren-C, Ptones, Stower Pones, blue..."

"I got it the first time!" Odd reprimanded as he took stock of his surroundings.

"Are we really committed to, 'Pones,' as a society though?" Odd stalled. "Over two millennia, and that's the best we have as shorthand?"

"Enough!" the bandit roared. "Does this look like a joke to you?"

The speaker had some kind of giant, shark body. On land, he easily would be ten feet long, but the girth of his lower body seemed to be as wide as Odd was tall! His upper body didn't look particularly fat or muscular in any sense, but it had he had a strange, grotesque feeling just looking at it. The feeling was particularly strong when the living ghoul looked at his odd, boxlike head. The bandit's only humanoid-esque parts were his body and arms.

[Eyes of Providence] activated

Name: Chaws

Race: Gob Fishman (Shark), T3

Paths: [Predator], [Aquatic], [Gluttony]

[Stats]

Body: High T3

Mind: High T2

Soul: Low T3

Shark Affinity: Mid T3

Water Affinity: High T2

"We could have done this the easy way, but not anymore," the large fishman cracked his neck. "Now!"

As the fishman slapped his arms down on the surface of the water and five wakes of water started heading towards the group from his direction. Some were underwater and a couple jumped above the surface, but they were all headed to the noncombatants that were travelling with the group.

Odd got a better look with his [Eyes of Providence] and saw that all the newcomers were fishman with [Shark Affinity]s. Whatever the hell THAT was supposed to be, Odd had no idea. Only recently had he learned that affinities could be more than just physical skills or elemental magics. Thinking back, he should have realized that sooner. Its not like his first affinity was natural.

The head bandit had an affinity as high as Sophia's [Water Affinity] while the rest of them all were high T2 or low T3 in power.

"I got the fatty!" Sophia yelled as she smacked her back fin on the surface of the water and dove under. Above her, tendrils of water formed and spiraled towards the bandit leader.

If Odd could form attacks out of water, he would either but shape them at all or force them to barrel forward with the heads of dragons.

Sophia's attack, however, had the ends of her water constructs take the shapes of dolphins.

At least their noses were sharp.

Odd wanted to join their fight, but he knew he was way too weak to interfere. At least he could kill the others, so he pushed his water affinity into his feet and started swimming as hard as he could.

An onlooker would have seen a 4.5 foot humanoid swimming fairly fast, but not compared to the others in the water.

Odd kicked as fast as he could, but could do nothing as Trafaul darted back and forth, intercepting shark teeth thrown towards the noncombatants as well as blows on the unprotected areas of his body.

The living ghoul tried to reach him, but it wasn't like he had fins or a proper source of propulsion. Odd almost exploded his feet to get there faster, but what if they moved out of the way? He would be stuck in the open water, limbless.

That plan was too stupid and reckless, even for him.

[Water Affinity] rose from 2.3 to 2.4

Ya, even a small raise when facing death did nothing. He was strong enough to push himself forward or slightly ignore water resistance, but it wasn't like he could use it with any impressive amount of propulsion.

He took a moment to spare a glance at the two in this fight that actually mattered as he swam.

Odd could barely believe his eyes when the head bandit formed an ethereal head of a great white shark over his arms to block blades of water thrown at him with enough force to cut steel.

The space around the two formed whirlpools all over the place as the attacks from each fighter were brushed aside.

[Speed Affinity] rose from 2.2 to 2.3

He drained most of his mana with sharp kicks of his speed affinity and had nearly reached the group that was huddled in a corner. They were using their combined, paltry water affinities to make some sort of barrier when Odd felt a pain in his shoulder left shoulder.

Odd looked above him and saw one of the fishman puff up his cheeks and spit a tooth at him. Obviously, he had already taken a tooth and didn't want to feel another one. Who knew what diseases it carried?

With a speed he didn't think he was capable of, Odd whipped out one of his daggers and hit the projectile with the flat of his blade, diverting it's path.

The pain in his other shoulder hurt like a bitch, but Odd had no intention of getting further harming when he could divert it, thanks to his latest parrying skill.

"One last chance, you're better than this, you can still be Enlightened!"

Odd almost bit his tongue off. Fucking Trafaul! He had regularly preached about how Gobs should be educated in civility instead of hunted and killed. Previously, Odd had agreed with some of his points.

Now though? In a battle of life and death he tries to turn the bad guy?

The fishman above him roared and the water around him was pushed backwards as he torpedoed towards Odd's helpless form.

He pulled out his other dagger with his injured arm, channeled his yin lightning through both of them, and braced himself for the impact. At least he had a better chance close up then having teeth spat at him from above.

"If you must be like this, then I am sorry, friend," Trafaul solemnly said as he whiplashed his neck from his left to right side.

Odd was gobsmacked when he saw his aquaintance's ear detach from his head and fly through the water through the other fishman's skull.

It was that easy to kill and you waited that long?

He couldn't think further on it and could barely register the fact that Trafaul screamed, "You there," at his next target when a corpse flew into him.

Odd cursed Newton's laws and momentum as he felt his body crunch against the rocky bottom of the river.

Naturally, he landed on a jagged surface and was missing part of a kidney.

So, naturally, he stopped for a meal as Trafaul was trying to convert the other marauderous bandits.

As he chewed the fishy texture of his enemy's torso, Odd got another look at Sophia's confrontation.

It was amazing.

Shards of debris flew from impacts, ethereal sharks charged forward, constructs of hard water blocked some, while others made it inside his guard, chipping flesh from the giant leader's body.

The water temperature, Odd noticed, was steadily rising. He hadn't seen anyone using hot techniques and if Myyx was helping out, she didn't have near enough power to heat up an entire river!

Odd pushed it to the back of his mind and focused on the encounter. There were fishman to kill!

Shoving the corpse aside, Odd crouched against the bottom of the river, and used his speed affinity to leap against the side of the river at a steep incline.

His feet dug into the underwater surface and stopped against hard earth. Odd took a moment to look around and saw Trafaul squared off against two of the remaining fishmen, so he struck with his presence absorbed by his yin lighting.

Daggers pointed forward, the living ghoul catapulted into the back of one of them and took a bite from his neck as he heard Trafaul yell out at him.

"They were going to leave the life, they lived in fear of Chaws and we're taking a way out!"

"Just like your girlfriend in the Pitt?" Odd snarled. "Don't be naive!"

Trafaul claimed he had a girlfriend when he was used as a rape slave. Of course, "she," didn't help him out during the chaos of the escape and riots, but Trafaul refused to see reason.

"Odd, we cannot be judge, jurry, and executioner!" he yelled back at him.

While they were verbally sparring, Odd felt the last lackey take a bite out of his side with a roar.

"This is what you call on our side?" he yelled as he started stabbing the fishman that was crunching his bones.

"You killed his friend, so he's mad, just let him be and he'll stop!"

Odd refused to reply as he continued stabbing his assailant. The riverwater was starting to get uncomfortably hot, but he had bugger problems at the moment. He already stabbed this bastard nearly 15 times and he wasnt dying!

"Please, Odd, my friend, stop and he'll calm down!"

"Shut the hell up, you're not the one he's eating!" he decided to stop being an idiot and channeled his yin lighting through his body parts that were being removed and crunched on.

[Yin Lightning Affinity] rose from 3.0 to 3.1

Thankfully, Odd's body started to heal with his damage before he elongated his jaws to eat the offenders brain as well. Finally knitted back together, he glared at Trafaul, who did nothing but watch during the fight.

[Mana] 1/26

"Tis a sad day when blood is unnecessarily spilled."

If they were above water, Odd could have determine if his puffy eyes were from tears, but he couldn't be sure while they were wet.

He chose to ignore the idiot and look back to the fight.

Both Sophia and the enemy's leader were bleeding and panting hard. The fight was coming to a conclusion but Odd thought that his spikey acquaintance could help the mermaid get out alive.

"Trafaul," Odd stated calmly, interupting his morose tirade.

He was about to order him to help out, but the water was far hotter than just uncomfortably warm. He could have sworn it felt like he was burning a little.