Chapter 112: Survival
"ARGHHHHHH!"
Sam had bound each of the six seahorses with his soul string, expanding and thinning it as much as he could to bind it with creatures of their level.
The doctrines of synchronicity were only the basics. Even if one could use all those things, there was a certain human limitation to everything that one was capable of.
It wasn’t perfect.
Sam knew that.
He tried bond expression and other techniques first to get in touch with the creatures, but the seahorses seemed to be hypnotised right now.
[< Retrying... >]
This was a rare effect of encountering a Cloud of Hate, something you don’t see every time. But they just had to be unfortunate enough to be in this situation this time.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO!"
He had to use Bond Resonance with all six of these creatures when expression was futile, and that hurt him tremendously.
"ARGHHHHHHHH...!"
The pain of feeling all six of them simultaneously and feeling the fear and dread and hopelessness born from getting close to an entity as dangerous as that was unimaginable by human standards.
He experienced all of it together, endured it, and somehow, he calmed the beasts just enough to slow down.
"He did it..."
[< Retrying... Ding! >]
[< Necessary conditions met! Deploying the safety protocol: Black. >]
[< Detaching the ship! >]
All the rooms and corridors inside the ship were locked down.
With magic circles all around the ship activated, a jolt of Mana passed through the older gears, kicking them off.
-Zaaaaaaaa...!
In just a few seconds, the golden ropes that connected the six creatures and ship were released.
Those on deck were pulled inside due to the safety spells, and the entire ship, along with whatever necessary, was separated from the six creatures up front!
"Meow!"
However, while that was happening, much like her master, Felix had already climbed atop a seahorse.
The two of them were the only ones left out there, in the open sky.
"Mii...!"
Even Art, who was away from him, could not return back to her bond mark in time.
"Chirp! Chirp...!"
Nyx tried to get off of the ship, but he heard Sam’s voice before they were too far away from each other.
[ "I’ll see you at the academy. Wait for me there." ]
-BHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM...!
The ship fell down into the ocean, while on the other hand, the outermost scouts of the Cloud had already gotten in contact with the frontmost seahorse.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO...!"
"SKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...!"
The moment one of them touched it, it was already over for them. The rest of the cloud moved in the blink of an eye, completely surrounding the first target.
"MEOW...!"
Sam barely managed to disconnect himself from the six of the creatures.
The entire group had become scared and restless.
They were bound by the golden ropes but when the ship opened, they became loose as well.
That almost freed them, though not all of them.
"Felix...!"
Sam used all his remaining strength to jump off to the seahorse where Felix was right now. He knew there was no way to save all of them anymore.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO...!"
The creatures were screaming. They frantically pushed each other and tried to get away from this place as soon as they could, but the golden rope did not allow it.
They were stuck in the back, and in the front, the Cloud had already erased all existence of two of their companions.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO...!"
"GET IN!"
"MEOW!"
"FELIX!"
Sam took out a large scale explosive magic scroll of the highest rank he had on him and ripped it while screaming at Felix.
She was the only one left with him right now. He wasn’t letting her get lost or die on his watch.
-Booooooooooooooooom!
When the explosive spell destroyed the connective areas of the chains and heavily wounded a different horse, the one they were on had been freed.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO...!"
It was still frantic so Sam held on tightly to whatever he could on the creature’s slippery body.
Felix was back inside her bond mark, but the crazed seahorse, after seeing the death of all the other ones right before its eyes, had lost all sense of reality.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO...!"
It ran.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO...!"
It ran randomly, as far away as it could, as fast as it could.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO!!!"
It did everything possible, however...
"SKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...!"
In this vast sky, the cloud only used its abundance of energy when it was eating.
And it was a gourmet that did not waste any food it had obtained a taste of.
Soon enough, the seahorse met the same end as the rest of his companions.
"WOOOOOOUOOOOOOUOOOOO!!!"
The last one screamed the loudest, and to the hunters that succeeded, it tasted the best.
-Swiiiiii... plup!
Sadly, all they tasted in that sky were the elephants of those skies, not the humanoids.
"Ghhhhhh! Aghem! Aghem!"
Sam had managed to jump off into the ocean and, while covered in wounds, he had managed to survive.
"Achem!"
He used too much of his stamina and energy in that last bit. He did not have enough strength left.
Furthermore, he was in deadly waters right now.
-Ooooooooong!
Just in case he would need it, he had packed a bunch of things in his storage ring. And one of those things was a small boat.
So he took out that boat.
"Felix, ahem!"
By the time he spitted out all the water in his mouth and calmed his beating heart a little, he had called his kitten friend back outside.
"Ahem. Protect us, ahem. I’m... sleep..."
He was on the verge of losing consciousness from the excessive use of his golden energy and stamina.
He was barely keeping himself up in those last moments and, just when Felix was out...
{ "Master! Master, wake up!" }
He lost consciousness.
-Oooooong...
And at the same time, he activated the passive healing function of his ring, leaving his kitten friend out in this boat, in the middle of these deep waters, with no instructions or explanations.
"Meow!"
Felix could already sense all the dangerous creatures present here, especially those who were ready to eat them.
And somehow, she now needed to protect her master from all of them...