"Help!" Chelsie cried out in panic, waving her hands above the surface of the swamp. "I can’t..."
"Elsie, grab my hand!"
Chelsie tried to grab Nalira’s hand, but her hands were too slippery and she couldn’t touch Nalira’s hand at all. Slowly, Chelsie’s body sank into the swamp until she finally disappeared from the surface. "Oh my god, hang on, Chelsie. I’ll help you right away."
Shaan immediately jumped into the swamp and started looking for Chelsie. However, he forgot that it was very dark inside the swamp. It was so dark that he couldn’t see anything around him.
"Damn, what should I do? How can I find Chelsie?"
As Shaan stood in the darkness, he suddenly saw a golden orange light above the surface of the swamp, coming from the boat. At first, the light seemed very small, but gradually it grew larger until he could finally see the situation in the swamp, although it was still vague.
"Good, now it’s my chance to find Chelsie."
Shaan scanned the area around him, but strangely, he couldn’t see anything. Slowly, he shifted his gaze lower, and his face immediately tensed when he saw that Chelsie was at the bottom of the swamp. Her body was completely motionless, and it looked like she had lost consciousness. Realizing this, Shaan immediately swam towards Chelsie as fast as he could.
"Hang in there, Chelsie. I’ll help you right away."
With all his strength, Shaan immediately brought Chelsie to the surface of the swamp as quickly as possible. However, a rumbling sound suddenly came from beneath Shaan, and just a few seconds later, something shot out from the bottom of the swamp.
A burst of water appeared right in front of Shaan’s eyes, turning his face pale like a living corpse. Damn. Luckily, he managed to dodge it just in time. If he had been even a little late in moving, they would both have died instantly from the water blast.
’Now, I have to get to the surface as quickly as possible.’
After swimming for a while, Shaan successfully brought Chelsie to the surface. Nalira, who saw them quickly put out the fire in her hands, rushed to pull Chelsie out of the swamp so she could get on the boat.
"Elsie, stay with me."
She immediately laid Chelsie down on the floor of the boat and checked her pulse. She then tilted Chelsie’s head back slightly and performed simple CPR until Chelsie finally regained consciousness.
"Thank the gods..." She let out a long sigh. "You’re awake, Elsie."
"W-what happened?" Chelsie looked confused. "Shouldn’t I be in..."
"We’ll talk about that later. Right now, the most important thing is to get away from this swamp as quickly as possible before something bad happens again," Nalira said firmly. "Shaan... get back on the ship. We need to treat Chelsie."
But as Shaan tried to climb aboard, something strange wrapped around his leg tightly and cold, like a living rope. He strained with all his strength, but strangely, the grip grew tighter, causing him to scream in pain and rendering him unable to climb onto the boat.
"... Shaan, what’s wrong?" She wrinkled her brow when she heard Shaan’s groans. "Hurry up, we can’t stay here long and must leave this swamp as soon as possible."
She was silent for a moment. "What do you mean you can’t? Why are you saying that?"
"Something’s down there... It’s wrapped around my leg."
"Elsie, you should go to the control room and tell the courier about this," she said. "I will help Shaan get on board."
"O-okay," said Chelsie, immediately running to the control room.
Nalira stepped closer to Shaan and grabbed him with both hands, pulling as hard as she could. Slowly, inch by inch, Shaan’s body began to rise from the swamp. Then she saw it. There was something black and sticky wrapped around Shaan’s leg.
"I’ll get rid of whatever is wrapped around your leg, Shaan." She took out her sword and pointed it at the strange black thing. "Hold on."
She aimed the blade at the black coil and moved in to strike. But the moment her sword touched it, the thing writhed and shifted. It wasn’t just a coil. It was a giant eel. Nalira quickly swung her sword and tried to slash the creature, but it was too late. The creature immediately pulled Shaan’s body away, causing Nalira to lose her grip.
"Shaan!" ’Damn it, I have to get to the surface as quickly as possible.’
Shaan tried with all his might to grab his dual short swords and slash at the giant eel wrapped around his legs, but unfortunately, the giant eel moved so fast that he couldn’t grab it at all.
Shaan’s chest tightened more with every second. It felt like something crushed his ribs, squeezing the air out of his lungs. His limbs weakened. Even his fingers stiffened, barely responding.
"Ro-Robin Hood... I... I..."
His vision started to blur. He tried to speak, but it was useless; no one could help him. Now, he could only wait... waiting for a miracle to come and save him.
However, in his moment of despair, a light in the shape of an arrow suddenly shot out from nowhere. The arrow landed directly on the giant eel’s body, causing the creature to weaken.
"What... what’s happening?"
A mysterious silhouette suddenly appeared in the swamp, and the figure quickly pulled Shaan’s body up to the surface of the swamp before the giant eel could launch another attack.
"Robin Hood! Shaan!" the courier shouted. He grabbed a lifebuoy nearby and threw it into the swamp.
"Hold onto it, and ’ll pull you in. Hurry!"
Robin Hood held onto the life buoy with all his might, and then the courier with Nalira hauled them in with every ounce of strength they had. Finally, they dragged both Robin Hood and Shaan onto the ship breathless, soaked, and alive.
"Shaan, thank the stars you’re alright." The courier immediately wrapped a thick blanket around Shaan’s trembling body. "We panicked when you disappeared in the swamp for so long."
"Th-thank you... R-Robin Hood," Shaan said, clutching the blanket tightly.
[You’re welcome, Shaan. You are my master—and I must protect you.]
"...Mr. Courier, we need to leave this place right now, before—" Nalira’s eyes widened when several pairs of red eyes appeared in the swamp. "Oh no... they’re back."