[We lost.]
[Damn right we did, why didn't you use the "Echoes of a storm you used when fighting me".]
[I ... I don't know.]
Cord and Maru were busy arguing about what had happened when they tried to execute the plan Maru had.
Maru's skinsuit had undergone a complete makeover, the part that covered his upper body was gone, displaying the patches of skin that made up Maru's body, the lower body was covered with a tattered black knicker that was dripping drops of water.
But all that was no where near how worse Maru felt inside, he felt like a complete failure not only because he lost the fight with the giant squid but also because whenever he looked at Cord he felt Cord could never remain the same again.
Cord's armor clung to his upper body and although it didn't vanish from existence it was visible mangled the same way a dog bites a can of tuna in order to get the last piece of fish stuck in the corner.
Cord's silver breastplate was squeezed, pressed, mangled and moulded stiffly into his bones, even his strong bones were showing cracks but that was not the worst thing that happened to Cord.
A few meters from Cord was his hand, torn violently from his arm, the bony joint visible severed and it also looked as if it could never be repaired, his shin guards and knee pads were squeezed into his bone joints while his metal boots were destroyed.
The bones in his torso were cracked so much that they rivaled the cracks on the bones of his upper body. Floki was the only one of the two who was looking normal and less stressed, although his leather waistcoat and blue knickers were not in anyway torn or mangled, his face had no emotion, he looked ... dead. Floki's face was faint and pale devoid of happiness or sadness only a bleak expression of gloominess.
Maru shook his head several times trying to remember how it all went wrong so fast.
***
[What is the plan?]Floki asked.
Maru replied, saying:
[You yourself said he can't come up to the land.]
Floki had subtle smile as he asked:
[Hmm, yeah, so how does that work?]
Maru continued by saying:
[Why don't we lure him into a battleground of our choosing.]
Floki finally understood what Maru was hinting at, he paused for a while before saying:
[Hmmm... That could work.]
[I just have one question.]
[Who would be the bait.]
Immediately Floki asked that question he glanced straight at Cord, coincidentally Maru did the same thing at the same time as he said:
[I wouldn't call him the bait, Cord would just go there to "invite the squid" for "a quick spar". ]
Cord had a bleak expression and was about to dissuade Maru from putting him in such a terrible situation. When he realized that even if he tried persuading Maru or tried talking his way out of the situation he wouldn't win the argument.
One reason was that if the decision was cast out to a vote, Floki would eagerly take the side of Maru, because that stupid geeking jerk was always looking for new ways to make Cord feel squirmish and discombobulated.
Another reason was that no other soul being could shoulder the responsibility, Maru was guile and cunning but also wasn't that much of a straight forward attacker, moreover even if he could, a strike from such an immense beast would knock Maru down for the count and even if he could evade one of its strikes the next barrage of strikes would undoubtedly hit him.
Meanwhile, Floki wasn't even a fighter, he could best be described as a scholar and his combat experience was in the realm of that of noob adventurer. He wouldn't even last a second as bait.
After weighing his options for a while, Cord replied, saying:
[Ugh, whatever would you guys do without me?]
Maru had a beaming smile while Floki said mockingly:
[A lot apparently.]
Cord glanced at Floki with an expression full of disdain but he didn't react to what he heard, instead, he proceeded to the river bank.
Before arriving at the river bank, Cord began to topple trees that looked like the variant of pine trees from earth, only that the tree leaves had a deep purple hue while the trunk was golden brown.
He began cutting the pine trees with utmost finesse. Even if an experienced lumberjack examined his work he would be at awe with the skillful use of the axe, his perfect aim on the tree trunk, his graceful movement that seemed to conserve his energy while reducing the amount of energy he expended on cutting the wood and the way the woods were swiftly cut and arranged.
Cord was very good at handling his axes, he had training using them for the better part of many years, although he didn't particularly use them for cutting woods, he mostly aimed for the weak points of his enemies and slammed it on the head of most of them also.
Anyway, Cord finished felling the trees and adorning their ends with sharp, wooden cones, he then hoisted the newly found tree trunks into the riverbank, he gasped softly, not because he was tired, since doing such menial jobs wasn't something that made transcendents like him tired, instead, he gasped softly to signal the start of the battle.
Cord threw one wooden javelin after another from the bundle of sharp wooden pine woods he had with him, despite the fact that he was throwing the wooden javelins into the water and was aiming for the squid, there was no movement coming from within the water body, just the splashes and ripples that were made when the javelin sank deep into the water.
Nevertheless, Cord continued throwing the wooden javelins, when the tenth javelin, was thrown, the large body of water finally made a reaction, immediately Cord noticed this, he began running forward into an hiding place in order to take cover from whatever was coming from within the deep river.
However a split second later, a large tentacle moved so fast, it seemed the speed of sound could not keep up with the crashing of waves that appeared, and before Cord could take cover he was grabbed.