24 Chapter 24 – Struggle
Nick readied himself.
He had to do something!
At that moment, Nick's back began to burn, or at least, it felt like it.
Light appeared around Nick.
And then, something shocking happened.
The Dreamer's eyes burst into flames!
"SCREEEEE!"
The Dreamer screeched, and it did its best to stop its dive.
Nick had no idea what was happening.
"Nick!" someone shouted between coughs.
Nick looked back.
Wyntor!
Wyntor was standing just behind him, his expensive suit drenched in sewer water!
At this moment, a bright fire was burning around Wyntor, and his eyes had turned completely white.
"Get it!" Wyntor shouted before heaving and looking away from Nick.
Immediately, Nick felt his ability become active again.
When the Dreamer's eyes had caught fire, its sight had been robbed from it, which meant that it couldn't perceive Nick anymore!
Nick immediately turned towards the Dreamer, which was about to pass about two meters above him.
Rage appeared in Nick's eyes.
BANG!
Nick jumped with all of his power, the water around him exploding.
And then, he punched.
CRACK!
Nick's fist hit the center of the Dreamer's chest, and Nick swore he felt something break!
And this time, it was not one of his bones!
The Dreamer's body spun in the air, and its flapping became very disorderly.
Nick landed first, and he immediately rushed toward the place where the Dreamer would land.
Splash!
The Dreamer hit the water, and Nick jumped on it.
BANG!
Nick kicked one of the Dreamer's wings, easily breaking it.
The next moment, Nick grabbed the Dreamer's thick neck with both of his arms and squeezed.
Nick's ability deactivated again, but that didn't matter.
Squeezing someone's neck didn't need a huge difference in power.
Right now, Nick and the Dreamer were tumbling in the horrible liquid of the sewers as he tried to strangle it.
Yet, some seconds later, the Dreamer's head spun by 180°.
'Right, it's a fucking owl!' Nick thought in horror.
The Dreamer's beak opened as it tried to tear Nick's neck apart.
Nick quickly let go of the Dreamer's neck.
His left arm pushed the Dreamer away from his neck as his right arm shot towards its head.
The next moment, the Dreamer just saw two fingers become bigger and bigger in its vision.
CRKSH!
The Dreamer screeched as Nick's fingers crushed its eyes.
The Dreamer's screech was cut off as the liquid from the sewers entered its throat.
Nick gnashed his teeth in rage as his two fingers dug deep into the Dreamer's eye sockets.
Nick's thumb grabbed the bottom of the Dreamer's beak, and he grabbed it with all of his power.
The next moment, Nick wrestled with the Dreamer awkwardly until he eventually managed to get behind its back with his fingers still in its eye sockets.
Splash!
A splash appeared beside Nick, and Wyntor appeared beside Nick.
"Keep it like this!" Wyntor shouted.
By now, Nick's legs had also grabbed the Dreamer's body, and he was doing his best not to drown in the sewers.
The Dreamer was still flailing around in panic, and Nick had to do everything in his power to keep it suppressed.
The next moment, Wyntor took out some kind of flexible metallic cable and wrapped it around the Dreamer's neck.
The cable quickly started to shine red, and the Dreamer's struggles intensified.
However, Nick kept it stable.
After around ten seconds, the Dreamer's struggles became weaker, and half a minute later, it completely stopped moving.
"Can I let go?" Nick asked.
"You, huuurgh, can," Wyntor said with a heave.
Nick slowly took his hand out of the Dreamer's eye sockets but still kept hold of the Dreamer.
"Put it in the sack on the shore," Wyntor said quickly before he had to heave again.
Nick nodded and pulled the Dreamer towards the exit.
About a minute later, Nick reached the exit of the sewers, and he pulled the Dreamer onto the land.
Now, Nick could actually take a good look at the Dreamer.
Its chest was caved in.
Both of its wings were broken, the second one having gotten broken in the scuffle.
Black blood was flowing out of its empty eyes.
One of its legs was bent at an unnatural angle.
Many feathers were missing.
Luckily, this was a Specter.
These wounds were not enough to kill a Specter, and it would recover within a week at most.
Nick took a deep breath.
And then, pain assaulted him.
Two of Nick's fingernails were missing on his left hand.
Three of Nick's fingers were broken.
Nick had several cuts on his body.
He had three huge gashes going across his back.
Nick even felt some intense pain coming from his ribs.
He guessed they had gotten bruised or broken during the scuffle in the water.
And to top it all off, his nose was also broken.
Nick was in a world of pain, and he also knew that the wounds were bound to get horribly infected since they had all been washed quite thoroughly in the disgusting liquid of the sewers.
He only hoped that Wyntor had some way to help him recover.
Nick knew if he had to rely on the medicine available in the Dregs, he would die.
His ability gave him some resistance to infections and poisons, but he wasn't sure if that was enough in this case.
"Huuuuurgh!"
Nick heard Wyntor heave as he came out of the sewers.
Nick turned to Wyntor and looked at him.
Right now, Wyntor was on his knees and hands as he coughed and heaved like he was about to die.
'He wasn't able to follow me into the sewers earlier, but when he saw me in danger, he actually jumped in.'
Nick's trust in Wyntor reached new heights.
Wyntor, the fancy heir of the Melfion family, a guy that constantly wiped his hands whenever he touched anything even slightly dirty, had jumped into the sewers to save him.
'Maybe he isn't as stuck up as I had initially thought.'
'When it comes down to it, he is actually trustworthy.'
Nick took a deep breath.
Right now, he felt elated.
The risk had paid off!
He had done it!
"Wyntor," Nick said.
Nick only heard another heave.
"We did it!"
