System of the Beast Slayer [litrpg Adventure]
Copyright© 1999 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 168
“Glug, glug...”
A vast bubble, like a glass dome, swelled up from the water’s surface. Then a faint bloom of blood spread out, like red ink bleeding through water, dispersing in all directions.
“Blood! Why is there blood?!”
The people aboard the barge watched, hearts lurching. Suddenly, a pallid arm, thick with coarse hair, burst from the water. It seized the rope along the barge’s side. The burly man who had gone overboard surfaced.
“Adonis, you’re hurt?!”
“There’s ... something in the water...” The man tilted his head back, speaking in broken gasps. “ ... Take him ... get him out first.” His face twisted in agony. Then his other hand struggled up through the water.
“Brugge!” In that hand, he clutched the thin boy around the waist.
The boy’s face was deathly pale, his body tangled in green waterweed, curled up like a boiled shrimp.
At the sight, the mother, who had been on the verge of despair, leaned half her body over the rail without hesitation. With everyone working together, they dragged the boy aboard. “A doctor! Is there a doctor?! Save my child! He’s not breathing!”
...
“Pull! All of you, haul Adonis up!”
The sailors seized the rope tied around the man’s waist, straining with all their strength. Another grabbed his arms, slowly dragging the exhausted man out of the water. Soon, his body hung suspended between the barge and the river. Several dark red welts crisscrossed his waist and back, and a circular bite mark stood out starkly.
“What in the hell is in the water?”
“Quit talking, pull!”
Without warning.
The river erupted.
Two long tentacles, thick as a grown man’s arm and lined with suckers, shot out of the water.
Before the sailors’ horrified eyes, the tentacles wrapped around the man’s shoulders and dragged him downward.
At the same time, a faint sound rose from beneath the surface, like an infant sobbing. White spray churned across the river, as though some unseen pump were hammering the water again and again.
The Witcher fixed his gaze on the tentacles. His dark gold pupils deepened.
[Entity Identified: Octopus Aberration]
Vital Status Health: 80 Age: 5 Sex: Female
Attributes Strength: 9 Agility: 5 Constitution: 8 Perception: 7 Willpower: 6 Charisma: 3 Spirit: 4
Skills Regeneration LV2 Subject possesses accelerated regenerative capability. All wounds exhibit rapid hemostasis. Severed tentacles can be fully restored within several hours.
“Linus Pitt, this thing is tied to that slumbering Kraken at the floating harbor, no doubt about it.”
Roy exhaled inwardly and drew Aerondight.
By now, nearly every onlooker had been stunned senseless by the sudden turn.
The sailors were no exception. Their grip faltered for an instant, and the man’s body was dragged halfway back into the water.
But long years on the river had forged their nerves. They snapped back to themselves and hauled hard again, stopping his descent, pitting all their strength against the Monster below.
The poor man hung caught between both sides, the focus of their struggle. Pulled in opposite directions, his face flushed red, breath locked in his chest.
Still, he did not cry out. His eyes burned wide with fury, teeth clenched until blood seeped from his gums.
The Witcher no longer cared about hiding his identity. He seized a rope at the ship’s edge, swung out over the water like a pendulum. Aerondight trailed a beautiful crimson arc as it sliced past the Monster’s forelimbs.
The sailors suddenly felt the resistance vanish from their hands. The two tentacles grappling with them had been severed and dropped into the river.
Dark red blood sprayed from the stumps. The Monster let out a shrill, keening wail and plunged back beneath the surface.
The sailors hauled the man aboard at last.
“Cough ... cough...” He lay sprawled on the deck, gulped down a mouthful of harsh liquor, then managed a grateful smile at the Witcher. “Sir ... who are you?”
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