[h2][center]Geralt of Rivia[/center][/h2]
[center]Edge of the Blue- Open Ocean[/center]
[center]Lvl 6 (28/60) -> Lvl 6 (29/60) [/center]
[center]Word Count: 426 words[/center]

Geralt pushed through the water, collecting Spirits as he went. Anything he could grab without slowing himself down too much, he did. The disparity in power between himself and the others, especially when it came to long-ranged encounters, was beginning to grow. Hopefully his newest acquisitions would help bridge that gap, but Geralt wasn't one to rest on his laurels, or to wait and see if things would work themselves out. 

They rarely ever did, anyway. Take, for example, this underwater current dragging the Spirits out to the Bottomless Sea. Sure, he now had an explanation for just how the Abyssal Fleet seemed to be endless, but it would just be a war of attrition for the Lominscuttle Fleet to stop the flow of Spirits and prevent themselves from being slaughtered while doing so. The Abyssals had the advantage of their lack of care for their individual minions- a hundred to kill a single Shipgirl would be a worthy price, since most if not all of them would just float back if not grabbed. And trawling the depths for Spirits would make whomever was doing it a prime target, after all.

However, one thing [i]did[/i] seem to work out for him: one of the Spirits that drifted close to him was from one of the Ship girls. He snatched that Spirit up without any delay, knowing that the Spirits of these...sailors...would be much stronger than anything else he'd find here. 

Tempted as he was to absorb it then and there, his experience with the Enderman spirit gave him pause. There would be downsides associated with absorbing the essence of another into himself, and in the middle of a fight like this, it might be unwise to do so without some knowledge of what those downsides would be. 

Stashing away the Shpigirl's Spirit in a pouch with the others, Geralt stopped when he saw the...creature...in front of him, guiding the Spirits through the currents. He watched the thing dance through the current, almost mesmerized for a moment, before turning away from it and swimming on a more roundabout course towards the fight between Sakura and the Pale Shipgirl monster. He did not want to fight that thing too, especially not underwater. What he grabbed would have to be enough- they had their evidence, anyway. The Abyssal Fleet was recovering the Spirits of their dead, and presumably reviving them. He wouldn't be surprised if they were turning the Shipgirls into the stronger members of their army, as well. 

He hoped that wasn't the case, for their sake.