Playing Waterbending (Avatar: Last Aibender SI)

The Fire Soldiers were confused as the footsteps had halted.

They had lost the track of the man who had just assassinated their captain and one of their friends.

To say that they were frustrated was an understatement.

For many hours, they had been working hard to defrost the ice that had trapped their ship. And just when they were about to succeed, they were faced with despair. Their ship had been ruined. The food and the coal had vanished, leaving them with no choice but to travel a long distance on foot, with little to no food.

And when they finally had food, they were ambushed.

Their stomachs hadn't even finished digesting the food when they were attacked.

They hadn't been trained for a situation like this, and with no captain around, they didn't know what to do other than to kill the waterbender and punish him.

Before he could even escape, they traced him here.

"Be careful, guys. The trace ends here. He led us here and erased his footsteps on purpose. Don't go astray."

"Shouldn't we divide up? If we stay in the same place, we'd be an easy target."

"But if we don't stay together, we could be easily ambushed. Together, we can watch each other's backs."

"Man, this idea sucks."

"What do you know? You've only been serving on the battlefield for a year now."

"Excuse you! I was an honor student, unlike you."

"Everyone, shut up! We have a bastard to kill."

The soldiers' morale was low. With no one to lead them, their formation was a mess.

And while some argued, the sound of a projectile cutting through the air echoed.

An ice spear pierced through the neck of one of them. Just as the soldiers realized it, another spear hit one of them.

Luckily, it landed in the middle of his chest plate. But unfortunately for the soldier, taking it in the armor didn't negate the impact, and he felt unbearable pain.

"What kind of throwing power is that?" said the soldier, blood dripping from his chin.

The soldiers raised their swords, and the firebenders ignited flames above their hands. Several meters away, Ryuk had many spears on the ground. Using Chi Bending the moment he threw the spears increased his power dramatically, and switching it off helped conserve energy.

'I had no idea,' he thought, watching the soldiers assume a defensive posture.

One of the ice spears floated and came to his hand. He threw it. The soldier he aimed at noticed and raised his sword to protect his head.

Ryuk, anticipating this, took a bending stance and lowered his hand.

The ice spear changed its trajectory, and instead of hitting the head, it went past the sword and pierced through the neck.

[Killing a soldier]

[+500 XP]

'Non-benders are worthless compared to firebenders, and firebenders are worthless compared to captains. I guess I should look for the vice captain or something.'

With that thought in mind, Ryuk began sniping the soldiers.

But it seemed that killing a couple of them had given away his location… or at least, the general direction. They divided and ran toward him.

'It makes it easier to hunt them down if they get closer,' he thought. And luckily, he didn't lack any ammo. Being in an icy terrain was his biggest advantage.

He threw another ice spear, and playfully made it change direction to catch someone off guard, killing him on the spot.

He repeated this a few more times until they caught up to him.

[Hunting up to level 6]

And when they were close enough to shoot at him, his genius gave him an idea: to get further away.

He used his waterbending to slide away. Being in the South Pole, especially during the sunless season, gave him a huge advantage over the firebenders. They were nerfed by the cold, and the weather wasn't in their favor. On the other hand, he had water all around him.

On land, firebenders had an advantage over waterbenders, who usually kept their ammo in bottles. But here, it was a different story.

As the Fire Nation soldiers were about 10 meters away, Ryuk didn't run away immediately. Instead, he took a risk. What made him take it was the fact that his waterbending skill had leveled up, and he was more comfortable using it in combat.

He slammed his hand on the ground, raising a small wave of water and pushing it forward with momentum. A few soldiers tried to avoid it, but fewer succeeded, and the water froze around them. He twisted his hand, twisting the ice and breaking the bones of those trapped inside it.

The others caught up to me, and a couple of fire streams rose, which I easily blocked with the help of the ice.

--------------

"See you later, losers," I mocked them before gliding across the ice, flickering away. On my way, I saw a few wild animals and smirked. The scent of blood must have attracted them. To these animals, blood wasn't just blood; it indicated the existence of a nearby food source.

After crossing a considerable distance, I took my time to wisely use my points. Thanks to the sniping, defense, and playing with the water, I had gained a massive amount of experience in waterbending, which wasn't enough to level up. But with the points I had earned from killing the soldiers, I now had just enough to level it up.

I poured all of my experience points into waterbending, leaving me with zero points.

[- Skill Trees:

Waterbending - 8 (200/12000)

Chi Bending - 5 (100/400)

- Skills:

Hunting - 6

Fishing - 4

Freeze - 4

Accumulated experience: 0]

It had been a stressful day, but it had earned me an honest paycheck. I had gained a massive increase in my waterbending skill. If I had trained for months, I might have reached this level. Just to test how skilled I had become, I waved my hands, and I could move the water with ease. Even mental effort played a role along with the body motions.

The water flowed around my arms, taking the shape of an octopus arm. When I moved it, it was easy to control. It was easy to stretch and bind. I felt that with more practice, I could create a second hand. I would no longer have to stand up to grab a bottle of water or food nearby. But on second thought, I had a storage, so this new skill couldn't make my life much easier.

'Okay, later, I'll practice turning the tip into a blade. Or better yet, I could make arms around my shoulders and back and learn how to use them. But fighting in that style would require a high level of agility. Man, I wish the system could increase my physical stats. But I guess I'll work with what I have.'

I started bending the ice beneath me, creating several ice spears. At the same time, I wondered if I had to use the Hunting skill only with a spear. Couldn't I use it with a boomerang like Sokka? But again, the battlefield wasn't a place for testing.

Anyways, the firebenders didn't catch up to me. I could hear their footsteps, and their numbers seemed to be reducing. I smirked, thinking that I knew what they were planning. Instead of being an easy target, they decided to disperse and try to catch me off guard from all directions, cutting off my escape routes. But unbeknownst to them, I was now ready to fight, thanks to my increased waterbending skills.

I took a step forward and thrust both of my arms. Two spears shot up from the ground, hitting two of the soldiers who had gotten closer. They surely had their guards up, but because I was super focused, I could change the direction of the spears to hit them where their guard was lowered. One of them had a good reaction speed and managed to dodge, but the other wasn't so lucky. I didn't run away but instead charged at them, water wrapping around my arms and turning into whips. I swung the whips at the nearest soldier. Just as I gained high momentum, I controlled the water at the tip, freezing it and reshaping it into a blade. Unfortunately, the blade wasn't very sharp, but it was effective as it left a deep cut on the soldier's neck.

At the same time, I felt heat on my face. Without thinking, I made the whips wrap around my face, welcoming a fire stream that hit me there. The force of the fire made me take a couple of steps back.

The soldier who had shot me was above me, raising his leg to perform an axe kick while fire surrounded his calf.

I raised my arms, and water rose from the ground, surrounding the firebender before freezing around him.

'Idiot. Never fight a waterbender on the ocean or icy ground.'

Somehow, whenever someone stepped on the ice, I felt something, like a ripple. It wasn't hearing, but it was some information my waterbending gave to my brain. It alerted me that someone was behind me.

When I turned, I saw a spear being thrust at me. My heart skipped a beat as I channeled my Chi and moved my hand to catch the spear. I pulled the weapon along with the wielder. As the soldier came into view, I gave him a head-butt to the chin while pouring my Chi into my forehead, causing his bones to break. As the soldier fell, I panted and quickly turned my head left and right.

Those soldiers were dispersed in every direction, and I needed to guard my back.

'According to my calculations, only around ten remain,' I thought to myself, rubbing my chin. I had taken down half the unit by myself, and now, I wasn't backing down.

Stretching my arm, I snapped my fingers, creating a barrier of water around me before freezing it, leaving only a small opening for my head. I looked left and right. A few fireballs rained on the barrier, giving away the location of the firebenders.

Seeing that I had a few points to spare, I opened my system and leveled up my Hunting skill.

[Hunting up to level 7]

I created an opening in the barrier. As I formed a few other water spears, I increased my strength with Chi bending and threw them in the direction the fire came from, adding my waterbending to enhance the thrust power of the spears.

[Freeze up to level 5]

I ignored the notification and focused on the notifications for dead soldiers. I kept throwing the spears, and sure enough, I killed three more.

The battle continued like this until another four soldiers were gone. I had gained around 5000 accumulated points, given that I had mostly killed benders. Other than that, I had been waiting for the survivors, hiding in my little shell, promising myself that as soon as they appeared, I would use the ground advantage and freeze them.

But as I waited, I found myself losing track of time. Minutes, hours, several of them passed. The ice dome wasn't attacked.

I didn't know if they were waiting for me to come out, if they had escaped, or if they wanted me to think they had escaped toward the tribe, only to lure me there.

Anyways, what should I do? If they had somehow escaped, I should hunt them down before a word of a waterbender gets out.