Chapter 167: Stabbed

Even after he died, the strange humanoid-shaped, fish-headed creatures continued to hack and stab Jack's dead body. Only after his carcass turned into a mangled mess did they stop their relentless assault. Two of them picked up the shredded remains, and pulled it back into the watery surface, soon descending into its depths.

With that, the remaining four suddenly turned towards Aiden and Cole, looking at the youths with their large, black eyes. As they had no eyelids to blink, nor sclera to discern where their pupils would point at, it just made their gazes all the more uncomfortable.

Cole shivered in fright looking at the horrendous creatures and instinctively took a step back while he continued to nervously hold and grip the hilt of his shortsword. Feeling his fright, Aiden looked at Cole with a gentle smile on his face and spoke in his usual calm tone. This time, however, there was no cold undertone. 

"Don't worry, as long as I am here, they will not harm you. If you want, you can stay behind and I will deal with them." 

As he spoke, he began his slow-paced march towards the creatures. His fingers were contorted to a weird claw-like poise, ready to pounce and rip once he gets the chance or reaches melee range.

"Wait! I-I…" Seeing Aiden walking towards the enemy, he felt ashamed at his own inability to stand against the enemy like his friend. How could he let this newly made friend of his face the enemy alone? 

He took a deep breath, storing it in his diaphragm for a bit, he slowly began to exhale. Although his nerves couldn't really calm down, and he couldn't relax like he would have preferred to, he still managed to gather enough willpower to take that important first step and follow behind Aiden.

"I… I will not let you do this alone Aiden! I will help you, we are a team after all!" He spoke with a shaky but determined tone.

"Uhm." Aiden nodded, his gaze did not leave the weary enemy that until this point did not make any sudden movements. Still, based on their posture and stance, they were ready to pounce if the duo continued their approach.

"By the way… Do you know what do we need to gather from these, to prove that we completed the quest? I never checked the Quest Details, and we can't check the leader's possessions any more…" Aiden asked, as they continued to slowly, but steadily pace closer and closer to the humanoid fish creatures.

"Uhm… Judging from their appearance, these creatures should be Fish Heads. Sorry, Sahuagin! They are primitive monsters… Strange thing is that they shouldn't appear in a river like this, and this close to a human settlement…." Cole answered with a hesitant tone. 

Sahuagins was an aquatic, predatory race that usually took residence in the depths of oceans, seas, and larger mostly underground lakes. While sunlight didn't hurt them, they preferred the dark. Their large black eyeballs gave them Night Vision, something slightly similar to Aiden's [Dark Sense] skill with the main difference being is that it was a sight skill and not a sensing ability. They could see in the dark, and not sense presences, it was something similar to a sort of echolocation. 

While the official term for them was Sahuagin, they were usually referred to as Sea Devils or Fish Heads.

Their bodies had varied sizes, with most of them being on a similar height as the common goblins, small, shorter than the average human, although their species had a wider range in terms of height, with some stronger subspecies reaching almost 2 meters. They had dark bluish or dark green colored skins, that were usually darker on the back and a shade lighter around their bellies. Their hands and feet were not too surprisingly webbed as they spent most of their time underwater. 

Variations of the species could have additional webbing over their back, elbows or some could even sport a fin-like tail. Judging from the group, it seemed that the number of variations had a correlation with their spot in their hierarchy.

They were evil, vicious predators and savage fighters. Inside their wide and powerful jaws sat long, sharp fangs they often used in battle. While they weren't overly strong, they knew no fear and would fight until the very end. They often used some sort of poison on their weapon to give them that required edge to overcome much larger and stronger foes.

As the duo reached a sufficient distance, the middle Sahuagin raised his spear that seemed to be made out of some aquatic beasts bones, and let out a gurgling battle cry towards the sky. Following his shout, the water surface bubbled again and the two that left just a few moments ago walked out looking at Aiden and Cole with their unreadable, emotionless eyeballs.

"Well… We can figure out what to gather for the credit later, right now, we have to fight them!" Cole continued as he raised his sword in front of him, entering a defensive posture. 

The golden luster returned to Aiden's eyes as he scanned through the group of 6 fish-like humanoids. As Cole was behind him, he decided to not transform, at least for now, and instead of holding his hands in a clawing gesture, he clenched them into fists. 

He did not respond to Cole's remark, but instead, he activated his [Mystic Martial Arts] skill. He suddenly felt the flow of his own inner energy more intensely. Guiding some of it towards his fists, Cole noticed as Aiden's fists began to emit a faint, colorless light. The light gradually intensified, soon surrounding Aiden's bare fists akin to a glove made out of energy.

The Sahuagin didn't back down, instead, the leader pointed the boney head of its spear towards Aiden and released another loud gurgling shout. In the next moment, all six of them pounced forward, lounging themselves against the bronze-skinned boy.

The abrupt change in their status quo startled the inexperienced Cole, who could only raise the sword slightly forward ready to deflect the incoming attack.

Aiden did not back down despite having five of the 6 focusing on him. His figure suddenly blurred, as he flickered. In the next instant, his right fist collided with the closest creature releasing a loud blustering sound in the form of a sonic shockwave, thwarting the trajectory of the other four airborne creatures and throwing them slightly off-course. 

His arms tore through the creature's scaled body, leaving a large gaping hole on its chest as it was thrown on the ground. Despite its scales being slightly stronger and sturdier than the most commonly used leather breastplates, his chest was shattered without offering any meaningful resistance. It wriggled on the ground for a bit more before its soul shortly left its body, leaving behind a dead carcass.

Although one of their companions was instantly killed, that didn't seem to affect the remaining creatures at all, it seemed to even drive them into a maddened frenzy. 

Cole was already struggling to keep up with the single opponent and defend against its relentless blows, but now as the speed and even power of its swings and blows increased by a substantial margin, he could barely hold on. He felt the aching pain all over his body, his arms began to go numb. He used all of his willpower, and gritted his teeth, not letting out any sound. He continued to hold on, and hoped that somehow, they could overcome this hellish situation.

Back to Aiden who was now surrounded by the four remaining creatures, with the one in front of him being the supposed leader. Adding to the webbed feet and legs, he was seemingly almost a full head taller than the rest of its companions, with a small, webbed protrusion on its elbows signaling its higher social standing. Even its weapon, the spear had a slight variation in color. While the rest had bone-white weapons, the tip of its spear was of a more natural, slightly yellowish color. 

Not waiting for their second charge, Aiden charged against the creature, and launched himself in the air, pouncing towards the leader. His right arm cocked slightly back, he was ready to punch when he suddenly felt a stinging pain coming from both of his sides. Gritting his teeth, he continued with his movement, and punched forward, although with less power and momentum than he initially planned.

With the power behind the strike significantly lowered, it was no longer threatening to the Sahuagin. It raised its spear sideways accepting the blow head-on. As the fist and the hilt of the spear collided, the attack still released a ring of energy that pushed both sides slightly back.

As they separated, Aiden looked down, noticing as the tips of two bone-white spears were pushed even deeper inside his body. 

A stinging pain, followed by some searing pain rang through his body. He felt some sizzling reaction coming from the tip of the spears that seemed to quickly die down. 

Suddenly notifications began to ring and pop up, one after another, causing him to smirk when he quickly glanced at the contents of the first message.

[Unknown poison has entered the body that had been neutralized by your [Poison Resistance].

50 XP has been granted to the skill: [Poison Resistance]]