Chapter 287: The Sneaky Giant Tentacle
Splash.
A thick column of water burst from the lake, exploding in midair into a dense fog that swallowed half of the Black Lake.
Within the whiteout, deep blue shapes lunged suddenly from every direction, striking at Evans, hidden in the mist.
Each was different in form and fighting style. Evans, though, handled them with ease.
He had been through this kind of drill many times. Apart from the added fog, which slightly hampered his vision, nothing here was new.
He had just smashed aside a water‑formed Swallowtail Hound racing for his face and was about to let the Shield Charm take a giant's club on his flank when his body suddenly tightened, and his movements hitched.
At the moment he went to defend, the mist around him changed. The temperature crashed. The cold bit straight through to his bones. His limbs went numb in an instant and even his wand strokes slowed.
Fortunately, casting Protego was little more than a thought to him now. Even with his arm a fraction sluggish, it made no difference.
A translucent barrier sprang up in front of him. The water‑blue club slammed into it and burst into spray, the blow fully absorbed. Evans immediately pointed his wand at himself and cast Impervius. Warmth flooded back through his muscles as the stiffness melted away.
"Not bad. Someone a little weaker than you would have died a few times over just from that snap freeze."
The words were barely out of his mouth before a girl's scornful voice drifted through the mist in front of him.
"Tch. The fight's not over yet. Don't start celebrating."
At her words, the fog all around him churned. One creature after another boiled out of it, claws and jaws bared as they hurled themselves at him.
"This many?"
Feeling the surge of danger on every side, Evans sobered. The translucent barrier stretched and thickened, wrapping him in a full suit of silver‑white armour.
He was just gathering power for a large‑scale blast to clear the area when a sharp whistling sounded at his back. Something huge was cutting through the air towards him.
He heard the sound, and although the fairy's danger sense did not flare, his instincts still snapped him into motion. His body blurred into a silver arc of light and reappeared several metres to the left.
The instant he moved, the icy fog shredded and blew away. The water‑creatures dissolved back into the lake. Sunlight spilled across the Black Lake once more, leaving the massive tentacle that had risen from the centre of the water utterly exposed.
The tentacle hung frozen in midair. It twitched from side to side, then tried to slink sheepishly back into the depths.
Evans did not give it a chance. He flashed forward and slapped the tip.
"We are in the middle of testing new techniques. What are you sticking your nose into that for?"
The end of the tentacle wobbled guiltily left and right. Then the lake's previously calm surface broke into ripples.
More tentacles rose from below, each one festooned with fish in all shapes and sizes. One particularly unfortunate limb had even snagged a panicked grindylow, its iron‑grey skin and sharp teeth on full display.
Looked like it had grabbed wrong on the way past.
Evans watched, expression dark, as the tentacle holding the grindylow hastily dropped it back into the water. He sighed.
"A few will do. Any more and we will never finish them."
At that, the forest of tentacles slowly sank out of sight. After a pause, a single thick tentacle surfaced again, suckers studded with a handful of fat, gleaming fish, each one large enough to be worth several normal catches.
It lay them neatly on the shore, then dipped down so the tip hovered in front of Evans, gave his shoulder a playful poke, and in the same motion slipped into his pocket. It fished out a small, pale brown sphere and whipped it back into the lake, vanishing completely.
Streams of water shot up around Evans and coalesced into Sothia's form.
"Roast fish for supper," she announced happily.
Her eyes shone as she eyed the fish flopping on the bank. Evans snorted.
"If you ask, he will do this every night."
As a spring nymph, Sothia could speak directly to the creatures of the lake, even command them if she chose. If she really wanted to, she did not need the giant squid's help at all. She could just tell the fish she fancied to jump into the pan.
"If I ate it every day, I would get sick of it. It only tastes good when it is a surprise."
She flicked her hand. A jet of water swept up the fish and wrapped them into a tight ball.
Clapping her hands together, she froze the swirling water into a solid, man‑sized sphere of ice that thumped down in front of Evans.
Once Evans had stowed the iceball in his specially made little icebox, Sothia planted her fists on her hips, looking very pleased with herself.
"So, how was that just now? I worked hard on that one. Not bad, right?"
Evans nodded. "For real combat, it is much better than your old illusion field. With this fog, you do not need to waste focus keeping up a full illusion. You can put everything into controlling your water doubles."
He fell quiet for a few seconds, thinking.
"Although your doubles themselves do not seem that different."
If she could turn water into mist and ice at will, then in theory, her avatars should not still be locked to the flowing liquid form she had always used.
Sothia spread her hands helplessly.
"It is not that simple. Throwing out a big bank of fog or a giant lump of ice is easy. Turning either of them into proper doubles is not."
"I have been using water forms for years. Swapping into something else will feel wrong. I will fight worse, not better."
"I will need time before I get truly comfortable."
"Do your best. Having at least a prototype ready by after Christmas would be ideal."
Evans slipped the little icebox back into his pocket and got to his feet, glancing at the sky.
"You have, what, ten minutes until your next lesson? Want to help me test my new trick?"
Ever since the idea had hit him that night, he had spent days grinding away at nature mimicry. At last, he had turned the concept into a working move.
Now all he needed was a suitable target.
Sothia thought of the way he had described that "new trick" a few days ago and hunched her shoulders, shaking her head hard.
"I am not being your target. Save that thing for when you actually meet an enemy."
She waved cheerfully, her body dissolving into mist that streamed toward the distant castle.
"I have class. See you later."