Why do I keep attracting Villainesses?

Chapter 37: Jacobs POV.

Chapter 37: Jacobs POV.

Fortunately for me, Garin and the others caught up in time. I wasn’t alone anymore.

Just like me, they didn’t just rely on their brute strength, they used their claws to attack the sharks.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Garin lunged at a tiger shark, his fingers digging deep into its gills.

While they weren’t able to slice them in half like me, at least they were able to continue dealing severe damage to the bloodthirsty beasts.

The mermen were like a pack of coordinated hunters.

They moved in pairs, one distracting the shark while the other slashed at its belly or eyes.

The water was becoming a chaotic mess of bubbles, grit, and scaled bodies, but having them there took a massive weight off my shoulders.

I didn’t have to watch every single angle at once.

"No you don’t," I scoffed under my breath, though no sound came out since I was still holding my breath.

I spotted a shark lurking in the shadows of a large brain coral, swimming forward ever so slowly, and aiming to ambush one of the guys from behind.

He didn’t see it coming, but I did.

I increased my speed, my tail kicking with a sudden, violent burst of power.

I closed the distance before the shark could even snap its jaws.

I didn’t use my claws this time; instead, I balled my hand into a fist and delivered a savage right hook straight to the side of its head.

The impact was a blow solid.

I felt the shark’s skull cave in from my punch, the skeleton snapping under the sheer force of my shark-folk strength.

The beast was forced back by the blow, its body jerking sideways.

A dark mist of blood began leaking from its mouth and gills as it turned immobile, floating listlessly in the current. It was dead before it even hit the sand.

Like that, I helped deal with the sharks rather than facing them head-on.

I became a sort of guardian for the group, darting in whenever I saw one of the mermen getting cornered.

I would grab a shark by the tail and fling it into a rock, or punch one in the snout to disorient it so a merman could finish it off.

For the first time in a while, I was liking this teamwork thing.

Back in my old life, I was kinda of an introvert, sitting in a room by myself for hours.

Even in this new world, I had mostly been a servant or a runaway. Who knew having a helping hand could be this fun?

There was a strange rhythm to it, Garin would block, I would strike, and the other mermen would clear the path.

We were actually winning. Or so I thought.

But after a while, I noticed something.

My chest was starting to burn from holding my breath, but that wasn’t the biggest problem.

Even as we fought and killed shark after shark, rather than ending it, it seemed like more sharks were filling up the space.

For every one we put down, two more seemed to emerge from the hazy blue distance.

I was worried by the discovery.

I paused for a second, my eyes darting around.

The water was no longer clear; it was stained a murky, dark red.

The moment I realized that the reason for the endless reinforcements was the thick amount of blood from the dead sharks drawing more of their kind here, I became even more anxious.

We were creating a giant dinner bell. Every kill we made just sent out a stronger signal to every predator in the reef.

If this continued, it wouldn’t be long before we were overwhelmed. We were five people against an ocean of hungry mouths.

’So this is what Artria meant when she said they were difficult to deal with,’ I thought grimly.

I had assumed it was just because they were fast and mean.

I hadn’t realized the sheer numbers of a shark swarm.

They didn’t retreat when their friends died; they just got hungrier.

’Unless we can one-shot a pack at a time, it’ll be difficult to wipe out all of them on our own...’ My face soured when I came up with this conclusion.

If we couldn’t kill them faster than they arrived, we were just spinning our wheels in a pool of blood.

If that was the case, how were we supposed to get rid of these troublesome beasts?

It felt like trying to empty the ocean with a bucket.

If the lot of us continued like this, just how long would it take to finish them all off?

Years? It seemed impossible.

That was to say that such a thing was even possible, because the more I watched and aided Garin and the others, the more I noticed a terrifying trend.

The more blood spread in the water, the stronger and larger the sharks would appear. It was like the scent was calling the "boss" monsters from the deeper parts of the reef.

Right now, the smallest shark in the group was at least 3 to 4.5 meters long! They weren’t just common reef sharks anymore.

These new arrivals were massive, built like tanks with thick skin and an arsenal of deadly, rowed teeth to boot.

Fortunately for us, they weren’t getting more intelligent as they came.

One of the giants lunged at Garin, and it took three of the mermen working together just to push it back.

But just watching the exchange, I noticed they were getting tired.

I could see it in the way their movements were slowing down and how their breathing was becoming ragged.

Unlike me, they had to breathe the water, and the blood in it was probably making them feel sluggish or sick.

"Everyone, I think it’s about time we withdraw!" Garin shouted.

He dodged a snap from a massive tiger shark and signaled to the others.

He had reached the same conclusion I had.

This wasn’t a fight we could win by standing our ground.

’Thank God he said it first,’ I let out a mental breath of relief. My lungs were screaming for air, and my grip on my "no-breathing" rule was slipping.

I was glad Garin wasn’t stubborn in this situation.

Some leaders would have stayed until everyone was dead just out of pride, but Garin was smart.

Fortunately, he understood that we were slowly being pushed into a disadvantage.

"You guys go on ahead, I’ll cover you as you retreat!" I said, raising my voice to be heard over the thrashing water.

This drew all their attention. Garin looked at me with wide eyes, He probably thought I was being suicidal again.

But I knew I was the only one fast enough to pull this off. I was the only one who could outswim these things if it came down to a chase.

"But what about you?" Garin asked, his tone filled with worry, his eyes darting between me and the massive shadows of the sharks that were starting to circle our position.

He looked like he wanted to stay and fight by my side, even though he was clearly exhausted.

"Don’t worry about me, I’ve handled far worse," I told him, trying to keep my voice steady despite the burning sensation in my chest.