They entered the next room to find it filled with clear crystal fish swimming through the air as if it was water.

“Whoa, what the...” Ali asked eyes widening

The Demon King looked equally confused “Diamond fish? These weren’t here before.”

“You know these things?” Kenn asked,

“Yeah, they’re fairly common mana beasts born when fish live in places with high concentrations of crystal and air mana. They're pretty much just a hollow diamond shell with air inside, fragile little things, and completely non-hostile. It makes sense that this dungeon would have access to them, with its theme and all. It’s just weird that i didn’t see this room when I checked this place out earlier…”

“You’ve been here before?” Hailey asked with a cold look,

“Duh! I did make it clear i don't want you guys dead and sending brand new mages into an unknown dungeon is just asking for you to fuck it up. I had to know what I was working with. But back to the point, dungeons don't usually change their layout like this in the middle of the day. It makes me wary. That being true diamond fish themselves arent dangerous.” The demon shrugged with an unsure look on his face.

Despite the Demon King's words, as the fish swirled around them the group prepared to fight. but when none attacked Ali allowed her stance to relax but didn't drop the ice bolt sigil she had prepared in her palm. A look around the room revealed several things. a giant hourglass which was slowly dripping sand into its base, The door to the other room had a lock in the middle of it, a flat plate of metal with a keyhole holding the two doors closed, and much like the first room of the dungeon there was gold writing on the wall;

Each of these fish contains an item. One of which is the key to escaping this room. Find it and slay it before time runs out before the last of the sand falls or death is the only outcome. This room will collapse if the door is not opened in time.

Shit… well at least there were instructions this time.

“Guys” Ali called to the other, pointing to the text, “We need to find that key!”

A little under an eighth of the sand had already fallen.

A closer look at the fish and she found that they did indeed all contain things in their hollow interiors visible through their transparent skin. Most had silver or goldkart but many had other things such as bottles of liquid Ali assumed were potions, Small glowing stones, and a variety of fruit and vegetables that seemed to hum with mana, one of the bigger fish even held a large book titled ‘spellwork for beginners.’ that particularly struck Ali as interesting she pointed her staff at it, firing her prepared icebolt and sending the creature crashing to the ground where it shattered on impact, leaving only the book intact.

“Good choice,” commented the Demon King “That’ll give you a head start when we get to that lesson,” He said with an obnoxious grin

The other diamond fish didn't even seem flustered by their comrade’s death, just continuing to swim about without a care.

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“First thing’s first we need to find the key fish” Kenn said “Then we can just shoot it down”

“...And fast” Hailey added taking the book Ali handed her and tucking it away in her bag

Sandra looked like they had just stabbed her in the back “Are you guys kidding? We’re in a room filled with free stuff and you can only think about the puzzle”

“We will die if we don't find the key Sandra!” Giel said practically pleading with the human.

“Ugh, Okay! But lets at least break any fish that have cool stuff in them”

“Fine do whatever but look for the key damn it”

With that the group split-up.

Ali ran to the far left of the room. Watching the flying glass-like fish churn around her. There were hundreds of them all packed into this relatively tiny room and always moving, how were they supposed to find the key fish in these conditions?

Ali hissed under her breath, her forehead twitching with annoyance.

What they needed to do was clear out as many fish as possible all at once and, as much as if pained the gnome to say it, Ali had just the spell in the book the Demon King had given her.

She pulled the book from where she had stuck it in her belt and flipped it until she had the page, she didn't admit to herself that she had bookmarked it as the spell had seemed right up her ‘Ali”

‘flare

Element: Fire/heat

Type: Cast

Difficulty: simple/novice

Create a wave of flames from your palm to engulf your enemies’

No more expedition than that, and no more was needed. It made fire, what else was there to say?

As she began forming the sigil Ali immediately felt why the spell was no longer simple. Unlike the other spells she had used this sigil was less one shape and more two shapes that were interlocked. It was like trying to visualize two separate images as she formed them with her mana, she thought she could do it but it was oddly uncomfortable. It didn't help that her power seemed to resent not being in one continuous flow, every time she felt like she had it her mana would automatically snap back into the line that was its resting state. She was glad that she hadn't tried this during a fight she would have been left open for way too long. Still, they were on a time limit here and she wasn't one to waste time.

Ali pulled at her fire mana trying to figure why this spell wasn't working. Had the Demon King given her a dud? Maybe it was something she was doing?

She shaped the sigil again, an idea striking her as she did, she let herself think of her mana as actual fire, mentally placing sticks and coal down in the shapes she wanted and letting the flames spread there rather than her forcing it herself.

She made the mana want to go.

As soon as she did that she felt the spell flicker to life, the blazing sensation of fire mana swelled in her hand and she realized it for all to see.

Frames reached out of her palm in an arch, the smell of smoke filling the air as their light reflected off her eyes. An ever rare grin marked Ali’s face as her beautiful creation raced toward the nearest cluster of fish. It washed over them, the fire covering their crystal bodies. The diamond fish, hollow inside, groaned as the air inside them expanded, and finally popped like pots left too long in the kiln. Leaving a chunk of open air for a few seconds before more fish swarmed to fill the space.

Ali swooned, swaying on her feet as a giant chunk of her fire core’s light was expended. She blinked rapidly trying to clear her blurring vision as she watched items rain down, no key among them.

She could probably do that two, maybe three, more times before she was empty. Her channels felt raw and a bit sore, having pushed more mana through themselves than she was used to.

The others gawked at The spectacle the Demon King smiling in an annoying proud way

“A novice spell, Flare if im not mistaken. Good work Ali!”

Sandra called from where she was hunting on the other side of the room “We’re using new spells? Oooh, I have one i wanna try!” The thief pulled back her arm as if she was going to stab one of the Diamond fish, the closest of which was a yard out of reach “Shade’s strike” She shouted, unnecessarily for a cast, and thrust her dagger forward. At the same moment, a foot from the human’s arms length arm a point of darkness appeared midair, an arm that was an exact copy of Sandy’s dagger and all, except formed of shadow. The blade of darkness pierced a fish causing it to shatter and its loot to drop to the ground, a vial of something, “That was awesome!” Sandra swelled with pride, even as her breath came heavy.

From that moment it became a sort of game, a fish-breaking contest.

Kenn sent Manacuts, Giel fired his spellarm, Hailey had picked up a small mace that one of the fish had dropped and was bashing any fish that got closes to the ground.

But through it all, they never forgot their goal. The hourglass was about three fourths one by the time they spotted it.