My heightened reflexes kicked in as I leapt out of the way, just in time. A long, blue tentacle came slamming its way out of the water, sweeping at me in an attempt to grab hold of my torso. Thankfully, my enhanced speed allowed me to dodge out of the way like it was nothing, firing four flaming arrows into the long, rubbery arm that was sticking out of the water.
Yet, for all my intense speed, once I was in midair, there was little I could do to change my directions. Another tentacle came out from the waters, this one a shade of blue paler than the first one assaulting me. I could do nothing to dodge this attack, unfortunately, and found my bad leg seized by the L’Gara.
Before I knew what hit me, I was underwater. Pain wracked my entire body while I fought to get free of the beast’s grasp. It wasn’t crushing my armor particularly hard, due to my various protection abilities, but my leg’s injury grew worse with the additional pressure, forcing the arrow within to move around.
I struggled to break free, kicking my good foot against the beast’s tentacle, trying to pull my leg out. But before I could escape this predicament, another tentacle from afar came sailing out of nowhere, catching my arm and yanking me away. It was another L’Gara! Three total! This wasn’t a random coincidence, this was a damned trap set by the Shadow Titan. And what do you know? I fell right into it, headfirst.
Chapter 35
I was in a gruesome game of tug-of-war between two very agitated L’Gara. Both of them were cognizant enough to know that I would be coming in their direction, but that was the extent of their intelligence. Now, they mostly focused on fighting over me, both of them trying to pull me towards their large, open mouths.
Being underwater would be distressing, if not for the fact that my L’Gara charm always carried with it the ability to immediately breathe in the water itself. I had to sacrifice my extra strength for the time being, but that was okay. These L’Gara were big enough to classify as Giants, both of them over 10 feet tall. But even in spite of my Iron Meets Steel strength bonuses, I could not really fight against two of these brutes at the same time. The only thing that kept them from tearing me apart was my armor, dutifully resisting all attempts to separate.
Though I feared my armor was beginning to show signs of breaking, for the mail clinging tightly to my leg began to stretch out, further and further, causing the socket in my hip to pop. More pain surged through me.
Sooner is better than later, my bow warned as I struggled to figure out a plan. Josiah’s Storm was right. I needed to figure out some way to get free, but what? Being caught between these immense beasts was a deathtrap. I had no tools at my disposal…maybe a crossbow?
I grabbed my hand crossbow at my side and fired a shot at the beast holding my leg, but the arrow did little to bother it. More tearing in my leg. More pain shooting down my hip and at the joint of my knee where the arrow rested. Pulling back only caused more pain, giving me the sensation of the leg tearing off…tearing off! Damn it, why didn’t I think of this before? I could regrow my limb instead of waiting to surgically fix the arrow stuck in there!
I focused on my armor, giving it the command to retract from my bad leg. Instantly, the chainmail wrapped around my skin rolled upwards from my ankle all the way up to my thigh, just like a pantleg made out of cloth. My armor relaxed considerably, now that it no longer had to account for the extra force.
Gritting my teeth and praying that this would work, I began to pull my leg back as hard as I could. This caused the L’Gara holding me to yank even more. My little limbs were nothing in comparison to that creature once I relaxed, no longer actively resisting the attack. I felt a tear, a pop and then a sudden shock go through my entire system. A shock strong enough to kill a lesser person. My health immediately dropped to 50%, but I merely took a deep breath and shrugged the pain off. I only had precious few seconds to act now that I was free.
With my leg torn off at the knee, the L’Gara retracted its tentacle, pleased to bring a morsel of food to its mouth. It would only have a few bites at the most before it would want more, so I sprang into action. I forced my free hand into the space where the pale L’Gara was holding my wrist, inhaling deeply and switching my L’Gara charm from the underwater breathing aspect to the +6 Strength when underwater aspect.
Immediately, power surged through my arms and I was able to pry myself free, pushing outwards as hard as I could. The tentacle wrapped around both hands became like nothing more than a mere clump of moss, doing nothing to stop me from spreading my arms. But the beast tried to resist, doubling down on its squeezing effort. I felt resistance only for a mere moment, followed by a burst of warmth as my hands actually broke the skin of the beast’s tentacle on both sides.
The L’Gara whipped its tentacle back and let out an agonized shriek, blood spraying everywhere in the water. And then, something interesting hit me. I could see underwater. Despite the fact that I had no light source with me, because my torches had gone out immediately, this lake was illuminated as if the day were burning upon it.
