Cursed Draw

Chapter 32: Last Hunt Of The Abyss Walker

Alabaster

The waters of the Silver Sea were cold, dark, and familiar. Diving below the surface, Alley opened his eyes despite the salt sting of it. It was too dark to make anything out in detail but he could at least keep track of the shark or anything else Manifested in the water by the glow of their Power, Vitality, and Resonance runes floating above the creatures.

With a kick of his legs, Alley kept the dive going, driving himself further under the water. It might seem counterintuitive to have done this but it wasn’t a real shark. It was a Manifestation, there was nothing stopping the enormous fish from swimming through the air and attacking Alley atop the pier. That meant as strange as it seemed the safest path to the galley was one where the pirate captain couldn’t see him and thus couldn’t target him. Of course, the man’s Manifested creatures would still actively try to defend him but they would be far less effective without direct commands.

It was down there circling the pier in the dark, a monstrous dark shape surging through the water with appalling speed despite its bulk. ‘6500 power, 4 Vitality,’ This thing was a monster in every sense of the word. It could sink ships, it could shatter structures and it could easily bite Alley’s skip in half. It…was turning towards him. Alley raised both eyebrows and swam harder.

It occurred to him that perhaps being under the water was not the best way to sneak up on a rank nine with a Water Deck. They were called ‘greater imbued’ for a reason they were imbued with not just Life Essence but Resonance as well. The man on the galley likely had some special connection to the water that allowed him to easily track Alley’s movements.

Alley was a good swimmer, exceptional even by some standards. Human standards, those were human standards. The huge and oddly fat shark closed the gap between them with such speed that Alley knew for certain there was no chance he could get out of the water in time, to dodge effectively.

‘Maybe if I time this just right, I can surge for the surface and make it miss me.’ Alley glanced over his shoulder to see the monster opening its impossibly wide jaws.

‘Oh fuck it.’ Alley twisted in the water to face his onrushing doom.

“Bughhlllerrrr Riiggnnn!”

It cost him a chunk of the breath in his lungs and he swallowed a mouthful of saltwater but the ring appeared on Alley’s finger. Followed a fraction of a second later by the red dome the ring projected. Between the light of the monster’s stats and that of the energy Alley got his first good look at the enormous shark monster, or at least its teeth as the creature’s attempt to swallow Alley was foiled by the Buckler Ring’s barrier.

The dark-haired boy didn’t have time to inspect the monster even if he wanted to. He needed to make use of the brief disorientation caused by slamming into a sudden barrier that could neither hurt you nor be broken no matter how hard the collision.

Getting away from the shark really wasn’t on the cards so Alley’s best option would be to get past the Manifested Creature’s mouth, hook onto somewhere it couldn’t twist to reach, and then hope he could somehow inflict four Vitality damage against something that’s diet probably included Krakens.

It wasn’t much of a plan, especially with the way his lungs were beginning to burn. Still, Alley felt it had better odds than simply trying to swim away, and with a little bit of luck maybe further resources he could explore might present themselves-

“GET AWAY FROM THAT APPETIZER YOU POPINJAY” Boomed a familiar voice that was somehow less distorted under the water. A loud thrum passed through the water followed by something small and traveling at extreme speed.

“IT'S TIME FOR THE MAIN COURSE”

One of the Pressure launched spears plunged into the shark’s side. It wasn’t enough damage to actually take away one of the creature’s vitality. It certainly got the thing’s attention though. Displaying a strange amount of autonomy the gigantic monster turned towards this new threat. Not expecting to get another chance, Alley headed for the surface. As he did he caught a lingering view of Stradivarius.

Alley felt his eyes go wide at the sight. This was not a slow old man in strange clunky armor. What he was looking at was an angel with a shining halo of resonance crystals that flew through the water with astounding speed and grace. It was now very clear what the strange armor was for.

Another thrum of Pressure passed through the water as a second spear from the launcher drove into the shark monster. This one did manage to take a VItality off of the creature bringing it down to three.

Alley broke the surface, he took a quick gasping breath and immediately dived again. The teen boy was torn. His first instinct was to grab his hook and try to help the old Deep Hunter somehow. The thing was that it just wasn’t a logical move. Stradivarius had a real chance to defeat the Manifested creature, but not if he was trying to protect Alley. Even worse was if Alley helped he wouldn’t be keeping up his end of the plan.

‘Got to get to the galley’ He reminded himself. All he had to do was get a single finger on the Pirate Captain and the trio had essentially won. Even if Alley couldn't defeat the man, while he was trapped in a Challenge Darius and hopefully Stradivarius could get the remaining townsfolk free without resistance.

Alley kept himself a few feet below the surface of the water so he could keep an eye on the conflict below. For one horrific moment, Alley thought the man was about to be swallowed whole but he activated a Card which….Increased his weight? Or the downward force on himself at least.

“CRUSH OF THE INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN!”

The Deep Hunter plummeted away from the shark so suddenly it didn’t seem to notice. Chomping down on nothing but empty water and being hit with another Pressure launched spear in the stomach for its troubles. Alley almost cheered when the monster’s Vitality dropped to two. Of course, he didn’t have time for that so he just kept pumping his arms and legs swimming for the ship with ferocious gusto.

Whether another example of the unique Card’s strange autonomy or under a command Alley couldn’t hear the shark did something very unexpected. It twisted away from Stradivarius and retreated straight up. Dismissing the increased weight effect the old hunter surged after the monster, reloading his Pressure launcher as he did.

For the first time since it was Manifested the enormous monster took advantage of not being a real fish and exploded out of the water. Not wanting to have a giant flying shark descend on him by surprise, Alley switched to a backstroke to keep track of the creature. Swimming through the air as though it had never left the water the oddly fat shark opened its enormous jaws, turned sideways, and tore into one of the cages full of people.

If the blood and death weren’t terrifying enough the monster’s Vitality instantly reset to four.

‘Oh shit!’ Alley thought to himself. ‘I really need to get to that pirate.’

With a shake of its head to clear the cage remnants off its maw, the shark dove back down into the water. With supernatural accuracy, it descended jaws wide onto the Deep Hunter. In the midst of pursuing the monster he had overextended himself and had no time to react. Shortsword-sized teeth closing to pin the man half inside its mouth the shark continued its dive into the depths and out of Alley’s view.

Approaching the stern of the galley he hoped the old man’s water armor would hold long enough for him to get aboard and start the Challenge. On some level, though Alley knew it wasn’t true, this was the last hunt of The Silver Sea Deep Hunters League. Righting himself so his upper half was above the water Alley grabbed his hook and chain off his belt.

There was a trick for what Alley was about to do and he quickly reviewed it in his mind. ‘Hips and legs out wide, and in front of him almost like he was sitting pump the legs in an alternating rhythm.’

Rising up the technique kept him surprisingly stable as Alley swung the chain over his head. A few seconds of that to build up momentum and he sent it flashing toward the back of the huge wooden ship. The ‘Slaughter Maiden’ If the name embossed in bronze on the back was anything to go by.

Alley heard the hook strike him and began to pull. After a few handlengths of dragging the chain, he felt it snag on the railing above him. Pulling harder Alley brought his legs to the wood of the ship’s hull and began his award vertical walk towards the deck.