by Mills, H. C.
Jacob, whose gear helps pull him down a little, swims only with his legs so he can keep his sword and shield ready at all times.
As we continue, five more axolotls appear from side caves, most of them between us and the froggos. Two stay to fight the invading froggos, but three of them start chasing us.
Shit, this doesn’t look too good.
I’m pretty sure we were supposed to flee the froggos, but maybe not after pissing them off so badly they’d chase us.
If we could’ve taken our time to pass through here, maybe picked our way through the tunnels and fought these things one or two at a time, things would’ve been much easier.
But what’s done is done.
One of Dave’s arrows embeds itself in the thick white flesh of one of the axolotls, but though it flinches and backs off for a moment, the projectile doesn’t appear to have done much damage.
Kaitlynn fires off a wave of Vibration Energy at another of them. This one hits, and the beast thrashes around violently. Its inner light dims and it swims off, spooked.
Mmm. If Electric Energy inside of my spear can halt the flow of Toxic Energy, then I bet the opposite is also true. Though I’m pretty keen on not sticking my spear into what’s essentially a living, charged capacitor again, I can’t just sit on my laurels.
Determined to do my part, I pour 4 Onkh of Qi into my Focus Crystal and swim towards the third axolotl, which is rapidly approaching Alec. Alec seems very hesitant about whether or not to put his new toy to good use, but thankfully sees me coming in time, and lays off.
The last thing we need is him charging the beast up!
I approach the axolotl from the side, fast. I’m not sure how, but it notices and rolls in the Hydrum in an attempt to dodge.
Although my charge now passes it by, my spear doesn’t. I unleash a stream of Toxic Energy through my spear right as I use it to rake open the creature’s soft flesh. An electric current makes its way back through my spear, but it’s not nearly as potent as last time.
I grit my teeth to withstand the pain. As soon as I break contact, I glance at my Status Bar again.
Only 7 Onkh of Lavi lost or so. Much better. It still hurt like hell though.
With its internal lightning dimmed and tendrils of purple energy spreading from the cut in its belly, the creature unleashes one last arc of lightning at Alec, then flees.
Two more axolotls show up and join the one that Dave shot earlier in chasing us down. Above them, about half a dozen froggos appear, but they wait patiently, not willing to antagonise these axolotls who are currently focused on us.
Just when I’m about to curse up a storm, a powerful shockwave hits me from behind.
CHAPTER 22
In too deep
THE SHOCKWAVE HITS ME like a truck, and kinda sounds like one too. It’s a loud metallic clang that momentarily freezes up my diaphragm like a punch to the stomach. Hydrum rushes past my face as I turn. Below me, I find a monstrosity.
It’s a giant, translucent red shrimp with two claws, one of which seems far bigger than practical and has a strange hammer-like protrusion. As I watch, the claw snaps shut and the hammer slips into a corresponding hole in the claw.
A bubble forms in front of it. After a split second, the bubble collapses with a red flash and a visible disturbance in the Hydrum rolls out towards me.
Seeing the shockwave coming this time, I instinctively tense up my muscles.
It helps only a little.
The monstrosity swims closer to me and snaps its smaller, sharper claw threateningly.
I decide on a tactical retreat. To be precise, I reform my tail and duck aside so the overgrown axolotl approaching me from above can slam full-speed into the giant shrimp. They immediately devolve into clawing, electrocuting, and blasting each other with shockwaves.
A shiver runs down my back. I was almost stuck between that.
As more shrimp approach from below, and more axolotls and froggos from above, we do the only sensible thing. We dive deeper, trying to avoid the engagements.
And engage each other they do. Flashes of lightning and loud clangs stir up the Hydrum. The axolotls and shrimp really seem to have it out for each other. The good news is that they’re mostly leaving us alone now.
The bad news is, they also mostly ignore the eight or so froggos that were waiting for an opportunity to chase us down.
Though I could outswim them, my friends cannot, so it’s only a matter of time before they reach us.
My fingers twitch around my spear. I want to charge off like I did last time, but the cave we’re descending in is slowly narrowing, and swimming large circles would take me dangerously close to the fights around us.
Unfortunately, my tail is kinda useless in close combat, as it lacks manoeuvrability. Like, I can’t even swim backwards.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Breath Control is useless.
Next to me, Kaitlynn uses her third level in Respiration to expel a jet of Hydrum through her nose. The short burst of speed this generates allows her to dart in close to a froggo about to assault Dave and stab it in the neck.
Atta girl.
Of course, the jets she produces aren’t half as strong as mine. I expel my own jet of Hydrum which sends me lurching forward to catch an unfortunate froggo on the business end of my weapon.
A female Hoplite rushes me from the side with her two-pronged spear.
Her first stab nearly catches me full in the neck, but I jerk my head back just in time. Her spear scrapes the skin of my throat, leaving a small nick that stings like a bitch.
I barely deflect her follow-up stab towards my abdomen, and the next one towards my thigh leaves a scratch on my armour.
Damn, she’s not leaving me any room to counter!
While I frantically defend, another froggo approaches me from above.
Kaitlynn intercepts it with a short burst of speed.
Nice! But I can’t let this fight drag on.
Normally I would use my Toxic Breath right about now, but I can’t under-Hydrum, and Infusing the froggo bitch through my spear would require me to first actually hit her.
I could push her or myself away, but that wouldn’t hinder her very much.
Wait, that’s it!
After I fend off another dangerous stab towards my heart, I expel the Hydrum I’ve built up towards her with a new purpose.
Using a technique much like when I form my tail, I make it cling around her upper body like a straitjacket, hoping to hinder the movement of her arms for a moment.
Unfortunately, as the Hydrum isn’t in touch with my skin anymore, the binding force is a lot weaker than when I form my tail.
Still, the move is unexpected, and the moment she goes for another attack and realises her plight is the moment I strike.
I aim for her heart, but she kicks upwards at the last moment, in a desperate attempt to evade, and I end up plunging my spear deep into her stomach.
Good enough.
The Hydrum binding her arms disperses, but the damage is done.
Against all my expectations, she actually clenches her abs to keep my spear in place and attempts to stab me. However, her heroic efforts are for nought because—perhaps because of the pain—her stab is slow and clearly telegraphed, and I brush it aside one-handed with little difficulty.
I yank back my spear and finish the job with a stab to the heart.
Glancing around, I find Jacob in trouble.
He’s dealing with two froggos simultaneously, one of whom is slamming his club repeatedly into Jacob’s shield, while the other tries to get behind him.
I form a tail, but as I’m about to rush the froggo behind Jacob, it suddenly flinches and flees.
Am I that scary?
Turns out I’m not. An overgrown shrimp approaches Jacob’s backside and fires off a shockwave. Jacob freezes when it hits him, a painful grimace on his face, but luckily with his shield still raised towards the froggo in front of him.
With a single
kick of my tail, I rush the overgrown shrimp and attempt to stab it in the eye. It’s surprisingly fast for its size however and fends off my blow with the smaller of its two claws. Which, by the way, still big enough to snap my head off, given the opportunity.
My brows rise in surprise before I quickly charge my own Focus Crystal with 4 Onkh worth of Qi. Should be enough for a Yang creature like this. At least, I’m assuming it’s Yang since it uses Vibration Energy.
The creature aims its larger, shockwave-producing pincer at me, but Alec is true to his word. A bolt of lightning from the trident in his hand slams into the creature and paralyses it.
I immediately capitalise on this opportunity by jamming my spear into its eye socket, turning the 4 Onkh of Yin Qi in my crystal into 20 Onkh of Toxic Energy, and pouring it in.
It shrieks horrifically, then dashes away. I doubt it’ll get far though.
I swivel my head to the right and spot the dark, gaping, totally-not-scary-looking hole. Reflexively swallowing some Hydrum, I stick up a thumb.
I reform my tail, sweep over to Jacob, and unceremoniously plunge my spear into the back of the Croaker still facing him.
Above me, Kaitlynn, Alec and Dave are headed the same way, chased by some plucky froggos and an annoyed axolotl with an arrow sticking out of its shoulder.
Shit, it’s too far. Do I continue dragging Jacob or do I run interference?
I anxiously watch a rather large froggo near Kaitlynn. However, when I’m about to let go of Jacob, an ominous low rumble reverberates all around us.
I do not like the sound of that.
The froggos and the axolotl appear to like it even less. They all hesitate, giving us the opportunity to widen the distance until I feel myself start to get dragged into the tunnel by a flow. The Hydrum is as thick as marmalade by now, so escaping from the pull wouldn’t be easy.
Our pursuers seem to realise so as well. One of the froggos lets loose a final dart towards Alec—which misses—then starts swimming away with the rest.
I breathe a thick sigh of relief, releasing Jacob as we swirl into the tunnel. He scowls at me a little, adjusting the collar of his armour at his throat. I stick out my tongue.
Then Dave has to ruin it.
Of course. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. No wonder the froggos were scared off, even after chasing us into the territory of the electric axolotls and the heavy-metal shrimp.
That’s actually a pretty good band name.
I turn to face the rest and whip a tether towards Dave.
He nods at me.
I glance at my Status Bar.
Though my wounds haven’t healed, I’ve recovered quite a bit of Lavi, so I turn the second mode of Boost Physical back on. The burn in my chest barely elicits a twitch. I might actually need it, with how dense the Hydrum is getting down here.
Mmm, I’m running low on Qi though. I finger the Qi Pearl in my left front pocket. 10 Trial Points isn’t that much, but still... Let’s hope I won’t need it.
I restlessly tighten the grip on my spear. Actually, why should I wait?
Well, it’s a little less ‘shooting,’ and more ‘moving swiftly.’ Although the denser Hydrum actually strengthens my tail, I also have to use even more force to swim, and the drag is a lot stronger as well, so I’m noticeably slower down here.
After two more turns, I emerge from the tunnel into a small chamber, with an opening that leads to a large cavern. Said cavern is the first one that doesn’t lead further down. It actually has a floor. A floor littered with all kinds of items, most of which are piled up in the centre. There’s shells, rocks, crystals, bones...
Behind the pile, there’s a clearly artificial, flat wall that features five stone doors.
My heart skips a beat when I spot them.
A pop-up appears.
A guardian? What—
A large shadow moves in my periphery. I turn and watch a bright orange octopus the size of a bus crawl out of a side tunnel.
Holy shit.
The creature moves protectively over his pile of junk. There’s a sizable Lavi Crystal on the very top of its orange head. It’s also covered in scars and seems to be missing an eye and several limbs. Not voluntarily either, judging by the ragged stumps.
The others come drifting down beside me.
A tense peace settles. We stare at the creature and it stares back at us, one-eyed and angry, coiling and undulating its remaining limbs around its ‘treasure.’ I count three stumps and five limbs.
One for each of us.
I glance at the doors, some still visible past the beast.
[You know you could probably slip by this thing with little trouble, right?] Suri chimes, catching me off guard. [If you decide to go solo, that is.]
My brows rise slightly. I won’t claim the thought hadn’t occurred, but that’s never going to happen.
‘And you know I won’t, so why even bring it up?’ I subvocalise back. ‘Do you really care so little for my friends?’
[My job is to keep you alive, Emma,] Suri chimes. [Oh well, I suppose they have their uses to that end, even if it’s only to keep you sane. I sometimes forget how fragile the human psyche can be. Fine, see if you can keep them alive a little longer, but do me a favour and don’t foolishly risk your life if the odds are too stacked against them, all right?]
Wordlessly, I shake my head. Keep them alive ‘a little longer’? I can do better than that. I need to do better than that.
But how? Could I pull them to the doors one by one? Would I still be fast enough to dodge that thing while I do?
No, not in Hydrum this thick. Damnit.
Also, getting past this thing isn’t ‘doing better.’
I bet there’s a reward for killing it, and perhaps even some actual treasure in that pile of junk beneath it. We need every advantage we can get.
Jacob—who no longer really sinks down, as the Hydrum is much denser down here—turns towards us and starts signing. ‘I say we kill it. There’s no way we’re all getting past that thing if we rush it, even with lightning and vibrations. The Hydrum here is like jelly, even abandoning my gear I wouldn’t be fast enough.’
‘How would we kill it though?’ Alec signs doubtfully.
I nod thoughtfully. ‘Toxic Energy would be the way to do it,’ I sign, ‘but since Hydrum is also Toxic Energy resistant, that’ll only work if I can get close enough to Infuse it without being grabbed somehow.’
Dave looks at me apologetically.
‘I’m low on Qi though,’ Kaitl
ynn signs worriedly. ‘Got one more shot in me at most, and not my most powerful one.’
‘For me about the same,’ Alec signs. ‘I’ve been saving up my last shot for an emergency.’
So we’ve got two shots at a stun. It’ll have to be enough. It needs to be enough.
They all stare at me tensely, Jacob perhaps most of all. He has the least to offer and the most to lose in this case. He’d have to abandon his gear just for a chance to make it past this thing. Increase Momentum might still help him evade capture once or twice, but it’ll be pretty useless in this fight.
He really should’ve taken the full Skilldream for Increase Momentum level 2. Well, what’s done is done.
I guess the question is, am I going to leave their survival to chance, or risk myself?
My gaze can’t help but drift to Kaitlynn. My hand unconsciously clenches around my spear.
‘Frig, let’s do it,’ I sign. ‘Let’s bring this sucker down.’
CHAPTER 23
Battling a cyclopto... cyclopentapus?
Jacob signs ‘Aye’ with a raised thumb and Kaitlynn punches forward, meaning ‘Yeah!’
‘Let’s fry this overgrown calamari,’ Alec enthuses with his middle finger.
‘Wrong animal, I believe,’ I add with a wiggle of my pinkie, unable to resist the dig, ‘but yeah, let’s kill the ugly bastard.’
Suddenly, the beast lets loose a low, rumbling, anger-filled roar that shakes my entire body and leaves my muscles momentarily paralyzed.
It’s at this moment that I belatedly realise something rather important: it’s actually very easy to eavesdrop on a conversation performed mostly in hand-signs, in a Realm where meaning is conveyed objectively.
Even for a giant octopus with only one eye.
Before I can even fully process our mistake, the beast heaves its massive body forward with three of its thick tentacles and stretches the remaining two out into the small connected chamber we’re in, specifically towards me and Alec.