The sisters, adept swimmers, rescued the drowning boy with iron teeth.
The two who dove in skillfully rode the muddy stream, avoiding the logs and other debris flowing in. It made one wonder if spirits could influence one’s special skills. Even a Dark Elf wouldn’t be able to match this.
“Big Sis, this way!”
The one wearing animal hide, holding the iron teeth, shouted for her to throw him. Hearing this, she passed him to her sister, who was closer to the bank.
“Take him and get out of here first!”
“Got it.”
The younger sister approached, clutching the iron teeth. It must be difficult to prevent a person who’s fainted from drowning. I signaled to Philiana to get as close as possible.
“This way, I’ll pull both of you up.”
The woman in animal hide momentarily looked like she was wondering who I was, but resignedly moved towards me. She seemed to want to say she could get out on her own, but that wasn’t the case.
I gripped Philiana’s torso with my legs and leaned my body sideways, reaching out a hand. She held onto my other arm.
“Jump over here quickly! Hurry!”
“You don’t need to help me…”
“Just do it!”
With a sigh, the woman leaped out of the water. I leaned out as far as I could and grabbed the animal hide.
“Pull, pull!”
“Hey! What are you doing?”
As she leaped out, a wolf’s head emerged from the river, trying to bite her tail to prevent her escape. I swung the two I held to move them away from its fangs. This pose was incredibly difficult, and I felt like I was going to fall.
“Wha, what?!”
“Don’t you dare let go! We’re escaping like this.”
“Eeeh, y-you’ll fall, Hiii!”
Because the weight of two people was on one of my arms, I couldn’t return my body to its previous position. Philiana, supporting me, couldn’t move at speed. Even if they were light, two people were still considerably heavy. My grip strength was at its limit.
“Climb up my arm.”
“That’s impossible! I’m holding this person.”
“I will pull, so please try your best to return.”
Philiana pulled on the arm she was supporting. I put force into my legs and used my abdominal muscles to return my body to its original position.
“Hang in there, outsider, hang in there.”
“Gugh, guooo, as if it’s any of your business!”
Somehow, with Philiana’s help, I managed to sit back up. Then, the animal hide I was holding slipped off.
“Whoa, s-sorry.”
“Hoo, don’t grip so tightly. It hurts.”
The slipped animal hide writhed and regained its shape. What I thought was a suit was actually a seal spirit. It let out a squeaking cry. The spirit, looking grumpy, detached itself from my hand. So this was what the prankster boy meant by spirits having different abilities.
“Right, there was one more person, wasn’t there?”
“Huh? You mean my Big Sis? Don’t worry, she already escaped long ago, see, but… huh?”
Her older sister was still swimming in the river. Or rather, it was more accurate to say she was escaping from something.
“What are you doing, Big Sis!”
The river water changed shape and attacked the lone sister, trying to capture her. The muddy stream swirled, and a pack of wolves opened their mouths to swallow her.
“Wh, what? The river water! What’s going on?”
“That person using magic is the cause of this flood.”
What should I do? I can’t reach her from here. It’s difficult to save her, who’s in the middle of the river, while holding these two. She was swimming at an incredible speed, dodging fragments of flowing logs. The school of fish she was enveloped in must be giving her power. She had considerable strength, but it was only a matter of time before she’d be caught.
A small Harpy, along with fish, leaped out of the murky water. A water wolf, drawing an arc, pursued it.
“Big Sis, be careful! I have to save her.”
“Wait, it won’t help if you go.”
“Hah?! Then are you going to let her die? I can swim there.”
If this child jumped in, she’d suffer the same fate. She had impressive jumping power, so I decided to have her jump towards us.
“Heeeeeey, this way! Jump towards the bank!”
I shouted loudly so as not to be drowned out by the sound of the river. Noticing my voice, she changed direction and headed towards me.
“Big Sis, this way!”
“Jump towards me!”
Like a skipping stone, she flew across the water’s surface, evading attacks from an unseen enemy. Leap high into the air, she crashed into me.
“Ugh, o-okay!”
“Big Sis, are you okay?”
“Haa, haa, I thought I was going to die… I don’t even know what’s happening anymore.”
My whole body was soaked, but it seemed I had managed to rescue her. Philiana quickly moved away from the river. Once away from the bank, the enemy was water, so it couldn’t pursue.
“Hey, behind you, water!”
No way! At her words, I turned around, and the muddy stream had overflowed the riverbank and was flowing towards us. This time, it had taken the form of a horse and was chasing us into the forest. Philiana, who had been carrying me, was starting to get tired. In contrast, water had no stamina; it would pursue endlessly as long as the controlling enemy didn’t tire.
“They’re catching up, we have to run faster.”
“I know that. More importantly, don’t fall off.”
Easier said than done. The rescued sisters climbed onto my shoulders and started looking behind them. It was already difficult to maintain balance, so I wished they would stay still.
