With billowing, militaristic cloak of dark purple crisscrossed by dark, silver grey metal lines and a matching witch hat that sported now an emblem depicting stylised, three eyes, Threy strode besides Gao Mako.
The shark girl’s shawl skirt was now of a sandy white colouration, a soft blue shimmer mirroring the lagoon’s shallow waters, while blouse had been painted in pastel red and patterned in the likeness of a seashell. A small, high spire seashell was clipped into her now braided, sea green hair.
Beyond just the change in appearance, these clothes had been imbued with one new Skill each for the duo to use.
As far as rewards from an optional boss went, this was pretty dope.
Only… Mako narrowed her eyes at a cheerfully humming Threy. Why could he just… snap his fingers to change while she had to go through all the usual effort that was involved with changing clothes?!
Key wide eyed whipped her head from side to side at her glare with a look that screamed ‘I’m-Even-More-Confused-Than-You!’ as the dragon bean had been on his shoulder when he had changed. And still, she hadn’t noticed when or how it had happened!
But the unfairness of it all aside, those new threads were great and a perfect upgrade before the actual boss guarding the end of the ravine. Seriously, the last section just screamed boss arena even more than the lagoon had.
“So, what type of boss do you think? Water locked or guarding the shore?” Mako turned to Threy with twinkling eyes as they made their way down the slope. The sun shimmering bright and beautifully from above as it was well into afternoon by now.
“Hm… water locked, feels like the boss would be smashing into the lily pads from below.” Threy mused, putting his bet on the table.
“Definitely guarding from the shore. This just feels like a defending position for the boss. Especially with the harbour waiting afterwards.” Mako shot back.
“Whatcha willing to bet?” Threy met her gaze, sparks flying between them as they grinned at each other.
“The next annoying thing we gotta do I’ll take no questions asked!” She declared. “And you have to bake me any cake I want!”
“Ooh, then I…!” Key immediately tried to jump into the betting pool with sparkling eyes only for two hands to plug her drooling mouth before she could even finish. Wide eyed, her voice muffled around them before she spat out in disgust.
“Bleh! What the heck?! Don’t just discriminate me from betting!” Key squawked indignant, looking sick. With a grossed out grimace she desperately tried to spit out the and scrape the taste of their sweaty hands off of her tongue. “Urgh, annh waaah ooh haaans aaahady…!”
So disgusting…! And that right as she was thinking about more delicious cake!
“Well, as our Guide through this world you would’ve had a distinctive advantages which really wouldn’t have been fair.” Threy noted amused, both he and Mako washing their hands in the clear water of the lake. It quickly dropped from shallow waters into a yawning chasm that swallowed the light beneath the floating lily pads. The view gave the peaceful scene an ominous undertone which only strengthened Threy’s confidence in his bet.
“I could’ve been lying…” Key grumbled under her breath, cheeks puffed out into a cute pout.
Yeah, the duo didn’t believe her for a second.
———
They could have easily just skipped the lily pads above the ominous depths, perhaps even the boss entirely, just by hopping along the ravine walls. But where was the fun in that? As tedious and exhausting as the second half of the ravine had been and with a boss just behind them - admittedly it was all self-inflected - neither Mako nor Threy had any intention of actually skipping out on their first, real story boss.
If this had been actual game, there probably would’ve been a cutscene that started as soon as they had reached the shore. Or the middle of the lake as the a rumble disturbed the water the moment they landed on one of the central lily pads.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
The sound of something massive hammering into the ground rapidly approached, accompanied by the clouds above the harbour rushing forwards. More and more of the bright blue sky was swallowed by this darkening storm, clouds turning pitch black. They roiled within the powerful winds that soon could even be felt below by Mako and Threy. The air was still warm from the hot summer beach sun but was quickly starting to cool down, a refreshing breeze that turned icy and wet as the first rain drops began to fall.
*THOOOM!!!*
Lightning flashed followed by a deafening thunder with barely a second delay. And so the spray of rain turned into a tumultuous downpour, soaking Mako and Threy as the lake’s calm surface was shaken by turbulent waves and winds.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Key pulled herself as far into the safety of Threy’s hat as she could, shivering under the cold winds.
Something massive sailed towards them from beyond the ravine’s end point, a pale shadow against the darkened sky, and landed with a loud crack on the crescent shore. Wet sand sprayed to all sides and another flash of lightning illuminated the massive skeleton barring their way.
The brutal fangs of its shark skull shimmered within the light, a pair of beady, red eyes glowed above. It was of wide and solid form, the ribcage thick and heavy, supporting a pair of massive arms. Two large, steel mounted blocks of solid wood crashed into the ground besides it, like giant shields fashioned out of the sides of a long sunken frigate. On both the telltale hinge of a canon trapdoor stood centre, prominent.
A rattling cackle echoed from its skull.
The water began to reflected stormy sky. Lily Pads spun atop roiling water and within the dark below, a evil, dark blue glowed. The surface began to rippled and bulge, pushing lily pads aside, and with a roar broke from the depths the massive body of an undead Great White. The skull glared mindless at all there was, pale grey stretched across its form, covered in uneven, sewed patches and pieces of soldered metal. Eery blots of dirty yellow flared beneath its artificial skin, bulging to an unseen beat, growing in one spot only to reappear elsewhere.
Its massive form struck the chaotic lake again, swimming rapidly around with its fin cutting sharp through the water and plainly visible.
“Well, I’ll take a draw.” Threy grinned cheerfully at the enemies.
“Yeah, I still get my cake at least.” Mako grumbled in agreement, sounding more than just a little bit miffed as she glared balefully at the undead shark. She would’ve won the bet if that dumb thing hadn’t decided to pop up now! “Oh, I’ll show whose the bigger, more dangerous shark in town…!”
Sadly the shark was too dumb to understand that ominous burning feeling directed towards it and so kept swimming instead of diving as far and fast away from this feeling as if its unlife depended on it. Because it really, really did.
“Sure, I’ll take the land lord then.” Threy chuckled and with a fist bump the two parted to utterly crush this boss battle.
Now, the actual intention of this boss battle had been to bait the shark to leap out of the water and then sent it flying against the skeleton to stun them both. Leaping onto the crescent shore was made to be kinda impossible with the massive skeleton guarding it with its giant shields.
All while a stormy lake and the unstable platforms of the lily pads were supposed to make things more difficult.
Neither Double Jump abuse nor a twisted starting Skill had ever been considered.
Left alone on the lily pad, Mako smirked ominously at the undead shark fin cutting through the waves. Closer and closer it came until it was just another second away. Within the storming winds and downpour, the abyssal sphere she had called upon was nearly invisible.
It struck the surface just as the shark’s maw broke through and with a pulse of moonlight rippling across the lake, serenity soothed the roiling waves. Defying rain and storm and darkened sky, the lake turned still and of moonlit glory. The shadows within locked down the undead monster, leaving it unmoving, open and oh so vulnerable.
“Let’s see how good my new Special is… and I’ve been curious about comboing Skills.” Mako idly mused as she walked across the moonlit waters. The rain simply parted above the peaceful surface as if hitting a dome shaped barrier.
She brandished her trident, Energy rippling along its surface, and with a widening smirk stared directly into the undead shark’s dark blue eye. For just a single moment the spark of magic that acted as its mind felt very much afraid for its existence.
And then Mako struck, her spiralling trident swirling with moonlight bubbles and abyss waters as all her skills combined. Its skull managed to endure for about two seconds… and then it shattered. As did the glowing, yellow core within. And then it exploded, a yellow star quickly punching through the roiling clouds above.
The shark’s shape within the lake quickly filling up again until there was but a moonlit mirror dotted with gorgeous lily pads.
Yep, totally worth the use of four Energy Drops in a row. A cheerful grin played over Mako’s lips as she hummed to herself, looking to see how Threy had been doing.
———
Awkwardly the skeleton look at Threy as he just casually hopped over it and its shield. But then it decided that it didn’t matter and with a roar whirled around to smash Threy into the ground. Or back into the water, depending on how it managed to hit him first. It would prefer the former, to be honest.
This really would’ve been much easier if he had some kind of dash ability or something! But thankfully the boss skeleton wasn’t too quick, even with all its strength, and after dodging under its shield smash Threy’s coat bubbled with darkness and the wave of writhing shadows washed over its form.
It roared furiously but the shadows held it in place for the moment. A pair of explosions echoed through the air, two canon shots firing uselessly against the ravine wall.
“Heh, let’s show you what a real hail of explosions is.” Threy smirked.
Throwing his arms to the side, his coat flared to live with deep darkness roiling within. One. Two. Three. More and more weapon barrels and rocket tips revealed themselves. All of them aimed directly at the unprotected back of the skeleton.
It somehow managed to blanch. And then its bones were turned to dust under a continuous hails of bullets and rocket explosions as Threy pumped all five Energy Drops into his finishing move. Soon a red star shot into the sky, following after the yellow one only moments later, and with the second hole punched into it, the dark storm clouds began to disperse.
———
“Well, that was easy.” Mako smiled as she hopped onto the shore shortly after the last breeze of rain had splashed over the now dispersing dome and the warm, afternoon sun shone once again from a bright blue sky.
“Yeah…!” Threy agreed, stretching himself wide with a satisfying sigh. “Kinda anticlimactic after all the theatric opening. But I take it.”
Mako bopped her head and her tail wagged happily behind her, the trio making their up the zigzagging path leading up the end of the ravine with Key basking in the warm sunlight.
Finally the Cliffside Ravine was done and they could move onto the harbour. They could see its dark clouds above, weakened after they had crushed both undead shark and the guardian skeleton but still active. Whatever kept them in place wasn’t gone. A gloomy feeling laid draped across the coming path. The pair of torches besides the narrow gap flickering within the cold wind blowing through.
But the trio shared a smile as the second pair of marker stones flared to life and the familiar cheer of Zaunder’s Counters rushed out of the portal.
Yes, there was still a lot that stood in their way. But for now they more than deserved a short break.