by Aaron Oster
“But?” Roy asked.
“But then I finally found it!” she replied, her excitement bubbling over. “A Full-body technique!”
This seemed to excite her even more than passing the test, though Roy could understand why. She’d been trying and failing to find both a Full-body and Full-area technique for years. The fact that she’d managed to discover one of them now was a good sign of what was to come.
“What does it do?” Roy asked, but Aika just grinned.
“You’ll have to wait and see for yourself,” she replied, making Roy roll his eyes.
“So, are you ready to head down and kill that Beast?”
In answer, Aika slammed one fist into the other, causing a small gust of wind to flutter out from the impact.
“I’m going to rip that fish in half.”
Roy did not doubt her for a second.
Their things were already packed, so they set off immediately, making for the third floor.
It was just as Roy remembered it, like an old stone building filled with water.
“Let me take the lead,” Aika said as Roy moved to step forward.
She splashed down into the water, sinking nearly to her knees. Roy followed, feeling the cold wetness closing in around his legs. They began walking, wading through the water and keeping an eye out for the Beast that had nearly torn his arm off. Just like last time, it didn’t take long for the Beast to show, and unlike Roy, it didn’t contain so much as a hint of the damage they’d inflicted last time.
The tooth-filled maw loomed before them, the Beast’s body already coated in the Armorer technique that had staved off every single one of their attacks the last time around. This time though, they were closer to the creature’s level, or at least Aika was.
Her staff blurred from her back, flashing through the air and slamming into the Beast’s nose. It recoiled with a hiss, its body thrown to one side and smashing into one of the stone pillars lining the room.
Aika followed, her body glowing with white light as she streaked across the water. As she ran, she began to drift upward until she was running on the water. Roy watched in amazement as she smashed into the Beast again, her staff piercing through the Armorer technique and into the monster’s belly.
Black blood sprayed from the open wound as the Beast thrashed, but Aika wasn’t done. Her body flared, rainbow-colored light shimmering in the air around her staff. A loud buzzing became audible, and even as he watched, she sliced her staff to her right, ripping the fish’s belly wide open.
Roy gaped as the Beast thrashed about, the water around its body turning black. Aika leaped nimbly into the air, turning a perfect somersault before landing on its side and driving her staff down once again. The Beast didn’t even have a chance to defend itself before the buzzing staff tore into its brain, finishing it off for good.
The Beast stopped thrashing and lay still, floating near the surface of the water as Aika leaped clear. The glow around her body vanished, and when she landed, the water swallowed her feet again.
“Holy crap!” Roy exclaimed.
He hadn’t even had a chance to help! The entire fight had taken place in a mere handful of seconds.
Aika was breathing hard, though the grin on her face told him what she’d done.
“Don’t go expecting me to do that every time,” she said, wiping a trickle of sweat from her forehead. “I think I’ve got maybe one more left in me today, and that’s if I have a few hours to recover.”
“I take it that that’s you’re Full-body technique, then?” Roy asked, looking to the dead Beast, which was sinking beneath the water.
She nodded.
“Haven’t thought up a name just yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something soon.”
“I’m sure you will,” Roy said, still looking between her and the Beast.
For some reason, he’d thought they were on the same level once he’d reached Blue-Belt. But even at Purple, he very much doubted that he’d have been able to rip that Beast apart as quickly as she had. It seemed that there was no substitute for experience and practice.
Aika collected the Core, the spherical, bloblike orb placed in her bag before they continued onward, sloshing through the water and heading ever deeper into the third level. They ran into two more of the fish Beasts that day, and those fights were far more challenging than the first.
Though Aika managed to wound one of them with her Full-body technique, she couldn’t keep it going long enough to finish it off, leaving Roy to blow a hole through the Beast in the conveniently placed opening Aika had made.
The third fish-Beast was the toughest, as Aika was unable to use her most powerful attack. The fight lasted nearly five minutes, with both Roy and Aika taking several minor injuries and triggering the Beast’s blood frenzy. Once they’d done that, killing the creature had become exponentially harder, and by the time it was dead, they were both completely worn out – Roy more so than Aika.
The safe zone on this floor wasn’t much more than a ten by ten-foot platform raised out of the water. Roy wasn’t thrilled with it, but it at least gave them a dry place to sleep for the night. Over the course of the next four days, he and Aika moved ever deeper, making their way steadily toward the Guardian’s chamber.
They continually ran into the same fish Beasts, all between Base and 4th Dan Purple. To Roy, every one of them was a serious challenge. Despite his increased strength, durability, and solid foundation, his Core remained firmly stuck at Base Blue. No matter how hard he hit, he could still only bring out the true force of a Base Blue-Belt, which meant that Aika was doing the brunt of the fighting.
Although he’d expected as much, it still rankled Roy a bit that he had to keep depending on her to protect him. He liked to feel useful, like he was pulling his weight. Aika never complained. She fought off Beast after Beast with a smile on her face, growing more and more proficient at using her Full-body technique with each passing day.
One worry that Roy had was alleviated within the first day, a worry that now that they were courting, things would change between them. While there were some changes, such as a more familiar touch and the occasional show of affection, everything else pretty much stayed the same, for which he was very grateful.
“I think we might be coming up on the Guardian’s chamber,” Aika said, as they waded through the now waist-deep water.
Roy agreed. It had been growing darker and darker as the day progressed, and the water had been getting colder and deeper as well. The fact that the wide-open room had narrowed to a tunnel just ten feet across was also a pretty good sign that they were coming to the end of this floor.
He dreaded to think of how powerful the Guardian would be, what with how strong the other Beasts on this level had been. Less than an hour later, the two of them entered another room. The area was completely flooded, and as Aika stepped in, she immediately vanished, disappearing beneath the water.
Roy felt a moment of panic before she came to the surface, blowing and spitting water.
“Watch out,” she said, treading water as she turned to face him.
Roy pushed his foot out, feeling where the lip dropped off. He had no idea how deep this water ran. He looked across the room, noticing how there were small protrusions of stone running deeper in and disappearing into the darkness.
“I think we’re supposed to use those to cross,” he said, pointing to the nearest piece of stone, about ten yards from the entrance.
They were small, just large enough for a single person to stand on at a time, and if he wasn’t mistaken, they grew smaller still as they went on.
“I don’t like the idea of having to fight whatever is in here while having to swim,” Aika said. “I say we make for those stone blocks and get across this room as fast as possible. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to make it out without having to fight this Beast.”
“Maybe,” Roy said, though he doubted they would be that lucky.
They both struck out for the nearest st
one outcropping, Aika reaching it first and hauling herself from the water. She immediately leaped to the next one, giving Roy the chance to get up on his own. He could feel a chill in the air as he pulled himself free of the black water, his robes dripping and small goosebumps rising across his exposed skin.
Aika’s body glowed white with the telltale signs of her Movement technique, and Roy followed a moment later. She leaped, jumping the two-foot distance between her and the next block. It was an easy jump, and Roy was right behind. As the two of them began to get into a rhythm and pick up the pace, Roy began to notice that in addition to the blocks growing smaller, they were also starting to be spaced farther apart.
Additionally, the darkness began to grow thicker and heavier until neither of them could see more than a few feet in any direction. The first problem came when there was an abrupt change in the stones’ path, and Aika jumped right into the water. Roy only just managed to stop himself, teetering on the edge of his stone – now only about as long as his foot and maybe half again as wide.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice echoing in the darkness as Aika came thrashing to the surface.
“Fine,” she said, her hair – which had managed to dry over the twenty-some minutes they’d been running – now plastered to her face.
Roy looked to either side as she swam over, grabbing onto the stepping stone.
“The next one is that way,” he said, pointing to his left.
The next stone stood about fix feet away, though from where they were now, neither of them could see where the next one after that was.
Just as he coiled up to jump to the next stone so that Aika could pull herself up, Roy felt an odd rumbling through the stone, and a sound that had previously been in the back of his subconscious suddenly made itself known.
Both he and Aika turned, trying to squint through the darkness. It took Roy’s mind just a few seconds to realize what was happening before the first wave hit them. It was relatively small, washing just past his feet, but making the stone more slippery as a result. A second wave came just a few seconds later, washing over the pedestal, and Roy felt it creep just a bit higher, reaching to his ankle bone.
He and Aika shared a look.
“Run,” Roy said, then coiled up and sprang to the next stone.
He turned, seeing Aika heave herself from the water in a single, fluid motion before turning back to the path ahead and searching for the next stepping stone.
They had yet to run into a Beast in this room, but the danger was extremely apparent. The waves would continue growing bigger and taller until they could no longer remain on the stones. After that, they would be dragged to the depths. No amount of strength could see them out of there after that. Even if they managed to get to the surface, it was so dark that navigating would be all but impossible without the stone path guiding their way.
Their time was limited, and the path had just become erratic. Roy could only think of a single way this could become worse, and he didn’t dare voice it aloud for fear of it coming to pass.
47
A wave crashed into Roy’s lower back, threatening to toss him from his perch. The center of his foot, balanced on the thin spike of stone protruding from the water, slipped to one side. Roy only just managed to catch himself by throwing an arm out and expelling a blast of Power Essence to arrest his momentum.
“How are you holding up?”
Roy half-turned to see Aika, soaked to the bone, her body glowing faintly in the near blackness of their surroundings.
“As well as I can!” Roy yelled back, needing to do so to be heard above the crashing of the waves.
“Do you think we’re close to the end?” she shouted.
Roy turned to the path before him, seeing the next spike, nearly nine feet away now, appearing briefly before being covered by another wave.
He managed to keep his balance this time, then crouched and jumped, Power Qi blasting from his foot and carrying him the extra couple of feet.
Roy landed, his foot slipping sideways and falling into the water. His temple smacked into the thin piece of stone as he fell, and stars flashed before his eyes. Groaning, Roy pulled himself to the surface, just in time to see Aika land neatly on the step he’d leaped from.
She raised an eyebrow, but he just shook his head, trying to ignore the throbbing, and pulled himself up onto the stone, just as another wave hit him. Roy was once again tossed from the tiny platform but managed to propel himself to the next by using his Airstep.
He landed less than gracefully, his stomach catching the brunt and driving the sharp spike into his skin. Roy cursed, slipping and clawing his way to his feet and trying to regain his balance as two more waves crashed over him, submerging him completely and trying to wash him away.
“You are really bad at this,” Geon commented as Roy finally got his balance.
“Shut up,” he muttered, trying to ignore the aching in his head and stomach.
Those falls had hurt more than they should have, which could only mean one of two things — either he was completely exhausted to the point where ordinary objects would hurt, or these stones were not made of just stone.
Another wave came crashing in as Aika made her jump, preventing her from making a clean landing. She struck at an awkward angle, and Roy winced as her neck slammed into the tip of the spike, leaving a small pinprick of blood in its wake.
“Are you okay?” Roy yelled as she hauled herself from the water.
“Peachy!” she called back, sounding anything but.
This room seemed endless, and the water level was rising with each passing minute. Additionally, the waves were growing taller. The water receded, giving him his view of the next spike. He jumped, landing neatly this time and searching for the next one. Water slammed into his back, and Roy was tossed from his perch. Cursing, he used his Airstep again, throwing himself through the air as he desperately looked for the next landing spot.
He finally saw it as he came down and kicked off again. It was nearly twice as far as the last and was so small that Roy was pretty sure the pad on his index finger would cover it completely.
He couldn’t land on his feet this time, so instead, he was forced to land by grabbing onto the spike with his hand. Which, of course, meant that his head was now at the perfect level to be doused by the freezing waves as they slammed into him.
“Roy?” Aika hollered, her voice echoing as she tried to find him.
Spluttering, Roy kicked his foot, ejecting a cloud of Essence into the air and hoping she’d be able to see. He rotated, switching arms as he searched for the next stone spike. The process was made much harder due to the fact that he was upside down and constantly having water thrown in his face. But he finally spotted it, nearly twenty feet away.
It was strange. He couldn’t see a thing, but the stone was clearly outlined as the water receded. Grabbing the stone he was on with both hands, Roy threw himself upward, then used his Airstep once more to throw himself forward. He ejected a burst of Qi from his foot as he felt himself faltering and managed to land on the next, grabbing onto it right as a wave slapped him in the face.
Roy was torn from his moorings and pulled deep into the water. However, as he opened his eyes, preparing to pull himself to the surface, he saw something completely unexpected — a solid stone wall stretching all the way to the bottom of the room nearly a hundred feet below. What held his interest most was the tunnel. It was clearly outlined in the water, sitting right at ground level.
Could this be their way out?
Roy clawed himself up to the surface, spitting the salty water as he inhaled and pulled in a lungful of air.
“Aika! Get over here!” he yelled, immediately slapped in the face by another wave, hanging onto the stone spike for dear life as the riptide tried to drag him away.
There was a flash of white, and Aika landed next to him with a splash, coming to the surface an instant later and looking around for the threat she was sure had to be there.
<
br /> “What is it?” she asked, no longer needing to shout to be heard.
Another wave washed over them, preventing him from answering right away.
“A tunnel,” he said, spitting water to the side. “Underwater. I think it might be our way out.”
Roy pointed down just as another wave hit them, and they both dropped beneath the surface of the water. Aika followed the line of his finger to where the tunnel sat on the bottom. She pointed up as soon as she spotted it, and the two of them broke the surface again, still clinging to the stone spike.
“Are you sure?” Aika asked as they blinked the water from their eyes.
It wasn’t stinging quite yet, but Roy knew it was only a matter of time.
“No,” Roy admitted. “But what are the odds that it’s a trap?”
“Fifty-fifty,” Aika said, spitting out a mouthful of water as another wave washed over them.
The waves were growing taller and more frequent by the minute, so they had to decide quickly. They could either take the dive and risk drowning or stay here and definitely drown. The biggest problem was that neither of them knew how long the tunnel at the bottom would be. Additionally, the longer they were unable to breathe, the less control over their Cores they would have, which would slow them considerably.
“Do you trust me?” Roy asked as a wave pushed them closer.
Aika leaned forward and kissed him, though the moment was ruined by yet another wave.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Roy said, blowing water out of his nose.
He sucked in a big breath, then dove, Aika following a half-second later. Roy kicked, using his Shockwave and blasting down into the depths. Each kick carried him well over ten feet, and despite the resistance of the water and the pressure in his ears, Roy reached the bottom within just a few seconds.
Aika was by his side as they entered the tunnel, both kicking against the water and propelling themselves forward as quickly as they could manage.
Within a minute, Roy felt his technique beginning to falter. Not much at first, only a small drop in speed, but as they continued going, the decrease began to become more drastic. By the two-minute-mark, Aika was dragging him along as she kicked, her lungs holding out better, as she was at a higher Belt.