Two Worlds: Clash of the Guardians (Completed)

XXV - The Crazy Whirlpool - Part I

Marko gawked with his binoculars. It was the notorious whirlpool, feared by all mankind. The wind wafted them straight towards the whirlpool. Panicking, they rowed harder towards the Turtle Island. But no one could escape the Hexa-Serpent once it fixed an eye on its prey, not even a magician. The wind and the waves were like hooligans. Their situation worsened when these two villains combined forces. The resulting hurricane chucked their boats to the whirlpool. They rocked like pebbles trapped in a gargantuan cart wheel. The sky darkened and lightning challenged each other as if it was a contest.

Elli saw a pillar of water in the shape of a giant hand rising from the whirlpool. Where the fingers should be, six blue serpent heads sprang out. Their bloody jaws opened wide, snapping ferociously at their food, as if saying, “Good morrow, and now you shall die!” The thorns spiked out of the serpent’s heads were like helms, and their scales were like chainmail. The glossy scales glistened under the sunrays, piercing the nonet's eyes. The fangs of the serpents were as long as the swords in their hands, and their black forked tongues whorled out, licking the edge of the boats.

The nonet was almost thrown overboard as the tongues clasped onto their boats, pulling them down towards the whirlpool. Sitting up front, it was hard not to panic. Nervously, Marko tossed his paddle towards a serpent's head. A blue tongue snapped at the paddle, murdering it to shards of wood.

“Paddle backwards! Fast!” Marko yelled at Elli, trying to win over the ominous roar.

“Tell me how to do it with one paddle!” Elli shouted back.

Marko had no time to feel embarrassed. The tongues had grabbed hold of their entire boats and were quickly pulling them down. Freda stretched her fingers and five blades shot out of her palms. She flung the blades towards the serpent and one slashed a wound in the middle head. Blue blood sloshed out and turned to icicle scythes. The scythes dropped to the floor of the boats and blue steam hissed.

“Don’t let their blood touch you. It'll burn your skin away and no magic can heal it. Aim at the point between their eyes. That's their weakest spot!” Maxim roared.

Marko cast a fiery rune without needed to be told twice. The rune hit the second head, causing it to burst apart. Two down, four more to go. He was about to cast more runes when the boat he rode in with Elli was pulled further into the whirlpool. Cursing, he changed position with her. He leaped to the back of the boat, trying to use his elementalist skill to change the tide that revolved around their boats.

Elli swung her sword and parried away the head targeting her. More blood sloshed out and one of the icicle scythes missed her eye by inches, almost blinding her. In the midst of confusion, she managed to slice off a tongue. Black steam smoked out of the stumps and slimy tentacles sprouted, clasping at her heels. She yowled in fright and Marko cast another fiery rune. The tentacles screeched at the touch of the flame and disintegrated into clouds of ashes. The serpent head retreated and aimed at another prey.

The biggest serpent head charged at Lukas, throwing him off his feet and causing him to slip across the wet deck. The misfortune gave him more time to adjust his wand-hand. The head lunged forward, and he aimed his wand at the point between its eyes. A screech infiltrated the air and the head retreated into its core. Roxy wasn't the one who could let a golden chance slip by. Lifting her scythe, she cast a lightning and it hit right at the weak spot of the third head.

The retreat of the heads didn't diminish the ferocity of the serpent. Instead, the remaining three serpent heads charged even more aggressively. The head on the right swallowed Benedict’s scimitar and spit the hilt back at him. Infuriated by the insult, Benedict grasped the neck of the serpent and strangled it. Rooney retrieved his dagger, climbed up the giant's body, and stabbed hard at the head.