Thrilling Ride

Dark, slimy tentacles erupted from the depths of the murky lake with a gloomy squelch, flailing wildly as they made their way towards the small boat. Azalea's heart pounded in her chest as she scrambled to grab Han Peipei's body and flung her unceremoniously onto the boat's floor.

"Quick!" she shouted, her voice trembling with fear. "Row faster, Ren Haoyu! We have to get out of here!"

Ren Haoyu's arms were a blur as he rowed with all his might, the muscles in his back and arms straining with effort. The tentacles were closing in on them, each one thicker than a man's arm, and they seemed to be multiplying by the second.

Azalea's breathing was shallow as she summoned the vortex. The vortex hovered above the boat, pulsating with dark energy that sent shivers down her spine.

With a fierce determination, Azalea aimed the vortex's mouth at the writhing mass of tentacles, and the ominous runes flared to life as fire arrows shot out of its captivity. The arrows struck the tentacles with a sickening squish, causing them to writhe and thrash in agony.

Despite their efforts, the tentacles were closing in on the boat, and the atmosphere was thick with a sense of impending doom. The sound of the squelching tentacles echoed through the air, mingling with the frantic beating of Azalea's heart and the sound of Ren Haoyu's labored breathing.

The boat rocked violently as one of the tentacles grazed the side, and Ren Haoyu cried out in terror.

"Bloody hell! What's with these damn tentacles? Why won't they just give up already? And why is your vortex getting farther away from us?" Ren Haoyu couldn't help but shout in frustration as he rowed the boat with all his might.

Azalea gritted her teeth in annoyance. "My vortex can't be moved from the location it was summoned,"

She knew all too well that the vortex's biggest flaw was its lack of mobility. While it possessed immense destructive power, it was practically useless in a prolonged fight or one where the enemy constantly forced them to move around. It was a flaw she had long acknowledged, and one that was now coming back to haunt them.

That's why her frustration doesn't necessarily less than Ren Haoyu's.

"What?" Ren Haoyu turned to look at Azalea in horror. "Then, how about your Vengeance Pit or whatever its name?"

"That ability requires soil." Azalea sighed in a grimace. Naval battles would be her biggest enemy starting from today.

"No way..." Ren Haoyu's complexion drained and went pale immediately. It seemed like their situation was hopeless.

Azalea furiously scanned her mind for a solution when a sudden idea dawned on her. With a deadly serious expression, she barked orders, "Cease rowing and get down, hold on tight!"

Ren Haoyu obeyed Azalea's command without a second thought, quickly lowering himself to the boat's floor and holding on tightly to the wooden planks.

Suddenly, Azalea ordered her vortex, which had been firing fire arrows at the tentacles from a distance, to aim directly at their boat. More specifically, at the tentacles that were creeping up from behind.

The vortex responded immediately, its mouth turning towards the boat and unleashing a barrage of fiery arrows at the tentacles.

However, the density of the tentacles was impenetrable, creating an almost insurmountable obstacle. Despite the potency and destructive power of Azalea's imbued infernal arrows, the dark tentacles continued to pile up, seemingly endless in number. As soon as one tentacle fell, another would join, making it seem like an unending cycle.

However, Azalea had a different plan in mind. She was not trying to exterminate the tentacles, but instead, she was aiming to accumulate the infernal force inside them. With each fiery arrow hitting the tentacles, the infernal force imbued within them grew stronger and more concentrated. It was as if she was building up a ticking time bomb, waiting for the right moment to set it off.

Just then, she saw the tentacles were a couple of inches away from grazing the boat.

She immediately clenched her fist and cried out. "Explode!"

Boom!

A deafening blast erupted from beneath the water, sending shockwaves across the lake.

The shockwave surged beneath the boat, lifting it up and hurling it forward. Azalea held onto the railing with all her might as the boat soared through the air, propelled by the massive force of the blast. Ren Haoyu clung to the deck, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to steady himself.

"Hold on tight! We're riding this wave to the land!"

For a moment, it felt like the boat was going to be thrown off course and crash. But Azalea's expert steering and quick thinking saved them. With a deft flick of the rudder, she guided the boat down the slope of the wave, riding it like a surfer.

The boat soared over the crest of the wave and hurtled towards the lake bank at breakneck speed. Azalea's eyes were fixed on the approaching landmass, calculating their trajectory and adjusting the boat's course as needed.

Ren Haoyu looked up, his stomach churning with equal parts fear and excitement. The wind whipped through his hair as the boat flew across the water, propelled by the energy of the shockwave.

As they neared the lake bank, Azalea braced herself and gave a final push, using the last of the wave's energy to propel the boat onto the land. The vessel scraped against the soil, sending a shower of dirt and pebbles flying.

Azalea and Ren Haoyu were thrown from the boat and onto the land, tumbling and rolling until they finally came to a stop.

Gasping for air and covered in dirt, Ren Haoyu looked up at Azalea with a mixture of shock and exhilaration. "That...was insane!" he managed to say between breaths.

In his eighteen years of life, Ren Haoyu had never experienced such an intense rush of adrenaline. Even the most thrilling amusement park rides paled in comparison to the danger he now faced.

He marveled at how quickly his life had been transformed from the mundane to the extraordinary, a mere day ago.

Azalea's voice pulled Ren Haoyu back to reality. "Hey, where's Han Peipei?" he realized that he had completely forgotten about her during the chaotic ride. His heart started racing as he wondered if she had fallen off the boat during the tumultuous wave.

Thankfully, his worries were soon laid to rest as they spotted Han Peipei lying on the ground not far from them. She seemed to have been thrown from the boat during the wild ride, but her condition was worse than theirs as it was her face first that landed in the dirt.

Azalea quickly checked on Han Peipei's condition before lifting her up in a piggyback position.

Ren Haoyu, feeling guilty for being a burden, offered to carry Han Peipei instead. "Why don't I carry her for a change? You've been carrying me this whole time," he said, feeling a bit ashamed.

"Since when did I carry you?" Azalea asked in confusion.

"Yesterday and just now." Ren Haoyu sighed.

Azalea remained puzzled until the realization finally dawned on her: Ren Haoyu was referring to how she had helped him all the way.

"It's fine, as an Aether, we also somehow obliged to protect civilian from supernatural-related incident." Azalea waved her hands dismissively. "Just lead the way to the cabin." she added.

During their ride on the wave, they were solely focused on reaching the land and didn't pay much attention to their surroundings.

Hence, they land on a pretty much unfamiliar section of Lenying Lake.

"Alright," Ren Haoyu didn't insist on his request and followed Azalea's order. He fished out his phone from his bag, which thankfully was still secure, and used it as a flashlight. If not for the bag, it would have been lost in the lake's depths.