These Sharks Want To Steal My Sho

Arlo knew the rope wouldn't be enough, he had always been good at eyeballing distances. This was one of the few times when he wished he could have been wrong. Six meters down still.

Arlo untied the rope and held it with one hand while dropping down another foot. He then made the mistake of looking at the water. Thankfully the sharks hadn't seemed to notice him yet, they were still off minding their own business.

Oh man letting go of the rope, he really, really, really did not want to. Finally at the very tip unable to move anymore down, Arlo let go of the rope. It swung to the side slightly then waited obediently, but it also seemed to say, 'what relying on a rope? I'm just a few feet away.'

Arlo was definitely going to purchase some more rope after this. Forget one or two, he'd stuff the jade bead full of them. He gulped and very carefully moved one foot a down making sure it was stable before moving his left hand down after it. He was moving a lot slower now, who could blame him.

Before had been a cake walk compared to this. He edged sideways then down again. He glanced over at the sharks again considering he was probably now within biting range. Good they were still underwater a ways away.

Two meters until Sho's cave. Arlo was basically at the sea level, mist from the waves soaked through his clothes. One meter, Arlo reached the edge of the cave and wrapped his hand around the entrance searching for a handhold. One of the broken bars sticking out that Blacky had destroyed, perfect. He wrapped his fist around it and swung into the cave. He glanced at the sharks again, still good.

Arlo went over to Sho and gently picked him up. Gosh darn it, this demon weighed a ton. Sure Arlo was a bit on the small side. Why did Sho have to be on the tall side though? That chain around his foot also weighed quite a bit. He looked at its lock.

Hope leapt through him, this was a lock he could pick, and would mean ten less pounds to carry up. Arlo quickly set to work on it. a minute later the lock clicked and it fell off.

Arlo got up and looked as his left hand which he had been leaning against the wall with, it was covered in the green glowing rock stuff. Ick, he reached out the window and washed it off in the ocean spray.

"Okay Sho, let's go." Arlo murmured as he took off his soaked shirt and used it to tie Sho to his back. There was no way he'd be able to carry him without both hands free.

He turned to the window and froze. Five pairs of eyes stared hungrily back at him. Ah shoot don't tell me that weird green stuff actually attracts these things! "Nice sharkys" Arlo whispered.

They stood at a standstill for a few minutes. Was their eyesight not good? Arlo wondered if he could slip by them. Very closely he moved closer, closer..... SNAP

[Sharotko level 47 Good (C)]

Arlo shot backwards as a giant mouth of fangs smashed into part of the rock window. A fang caught the edge of Arlo's arm tearing into it. He hissed as his HP dropped.

HP: 2500/3100

Oh for once he was glad they were large, too large to jump inside. That said they were still a giant roadblock. Shoot he was bleeding pretty good though.

"Nope, nope, nope, I refuse to be your dinner." Arlo whispered. The five sets of eyes were watching him again. He tried searching through his bead for anything of use..... Nothing. Wait why did he still have a camelto? An elite camelto, bead must have sorted it different from the others. Eh not important.

Okay time to try again. Two of the sharks had lost interest leaving only three sets of eyes. Could he just wait until they all lost interest? No bad idea, he didn't know how long the purple pills effect would still last. He couldn't waste time.

Arlo slipped out keeping his eyes on the sharks. This time they weren't jumping at the window. Yeah but it was just a waiting game of wack-a-mole except it was a smack-an-Arlo. He reached out grabbing the broken cell bar again. Man why did Sho have to be so big. Arlo shifted him slightly then began climbing. One foot, two, maybe this would work..... CRASH!

A shark head landed just to the left where he had been a second ago. As the shark fell away the rocks beneath Arlo crumbled and he was hanging on by one hand hold. He didn't have time to regain himself or go higher. He watched another of the sharks leap toward him, its aim was perfect. Arlo felt like time slowed down.

The shark was just a meter from him and he let go of the rock dropping into the sea. The shark hit where he had been and sent a wave of rocks down after him.

Sure Arlo was a good swimmer, but he was nowhere close to out swimming a shark. The wave of rocks seemed to briefly confuse the sharks. Oh so they were chasing motion not specifically Arlo. Poor eyesight, so he needed to keep still.

Arlo slipped behind a large rock between it and the wall. He used it to pause and catch his breath for a second. Swimming with a full grown demon on your back was hard. Five sets of eyes were once again looking for him. Arlo kept his feet against the rock and his back and Sho against the wall.

Moving targets, moving how to stop making it look like he was moving, stealth! But that would only work for a few seconds.

EXP 980/3100

Mana: 1100/3100

Energy 35/35

HP: 1900/3100

He somehow had to get the attention away from them….. oh a camelto? Arlo felt bad about it, but it seemed the best way.

He pulled the camelto from his bead letting it fall into the water. It yelped at the sudden change in environment and immediately started paddling forward.

Five sets of mouths crashed toward it, the poor camelto was torn to pieces within seconds. The sharks then swam a little ways out fighting over the remaining scraps. The whole area had turned into a legit bloodbath.

The poor camelto was meeting its early grave, Arlo felt bad for killing a monster in such a brutal way. Sure he didn't feel bad for hunting monsters but he always gave them a quick death. However he was also more than happy to be off using stealth to climb his way toward the rope.

Careful watch each foothold, no way do I want to play with sharks again.

Mana: 800/3100

Just a bit further,

Mana 600/3100

Shoot my hands won't stop shaking.

Manag 400/3100

Great the rope. Arlo grabbed it and started tying it around himself and Sho.

Mana 200/3100.

Great rope is secure.

Mana 0/3100 stealth deactivated.

Arlo gulped looking toward the sharks who of course saw the sudden appearance of food. One started to stalk hungrily forward. It opened its mouth ready to leap.

The rope yanked firm and Arlo and Sho began moving up much faster than before. The shark landed below them in the wall, but they were now out of their range of attacks.

Up and up, away from certain death. Oh Arlo was totally letting Blacky have all the food he wanted for dinner tonight. Forget just normal food Arlo would find and fry up the best tasting monsters into some steaks.

Huh, I wonder if sharks taste good? But absolutely no way am I going to try hunting them. Blacky pulled them over the edge of the cliff and back onto solid ground.

Arlo would have immediately hugged the wolf except for the fact that lying on the ground felt amazing at the moment. He didn't want to move for awhile.

Kai was checking Sho over. Then he lifted Sho over Blacky's back and also helped Arlo up. Once the three were on, Blacky grew and started trotting off toward the sand, leaving the black rocks behind. Arlo never wanted to see this place again. He lay against Blacky's fur the wolf was warm and soft like a fluffy bed. Surely he couldn't fall asleep on a wolf moving at 60 miles per hour... right?

Before he knew it he was taking a nap on the back of the moving wolf. Blacky was just way to comfortable, or maybe he was just far too tired. Besides they needed to try to find a doctor at a town for Sho, so until then, he'd just sleep.