Everyone was silent as they made their way to the last floor of the Dungeon, the fear, anticipation, and excitement was so thick that Jacob can feel it in the air, like some sort of foul tasting gas- well maybe that was just the scent of dried sweat but Jacob would prefer it was anything but. With that said, everyone seemed to have been eager when it came to facing the Boss- he didn't really know why though, because from what he'd heard from the knights, it wasn't really a pleasant thing to fight and it took lives every month.
"Remember, be careful against the tentacles, the tower they're sprouting from is tall, yes, but it can bend down so that the tentacles can hit people." Jacob nodded idly, his mind was focused more on the oddity of it all. He was about to fight a giant crab the size of a small house with an anemone stuck to its back, he thinks that maybe, it was about time for him to consider that his life had been turned upside down.
"For clarity, how big is it again?" Jacob asked.
"It is the size of a royal carriage." Jacob nodded- yep, definitely the size of a small house.
A thought passed in his mind and Jacob moved his head slightly to stare at the ranger who he'd been sitting with earlier, she looked nervous but her eyes were determined, the bag full of stuff she'd been carrying is now empty though it seems that she saved a health potion or two for herself. 'And one stamina potion too,' Jacob thought when he saw the bright yellow thing hanging on the girl's belt.
Her eyes quickly moved and she locked them with Jacob's, he nodded at her and she smiled. "Good luck." He said to her.
"Uh- thanks?"
He nodded again.
The scent of the sea soon crawled across the narrow stairway they were descending with, the salty smell didn't have a hint of freshness to it and Jacob was reminded of the taste of seawater with each breath. A few more steps and the sounds of crashing waves entered his ears- no, the sound was more akin to the soft splash of the tide hitting against the shore. Actually, that made Jacob wonder, did this place connect to the sea? Obviously not... He looked up and saw the rocky cave ceiling he'd been seeing since coming here.
"You think you can recognize what it is when we see it?" Jacob turned to a warrior, a man with a scruffy beard and a friendly smile full of pearly white teeth. He held up his mace in a non-threatening manner and said, "It would be great if you know what it is."
"I have a feeling." Jacob answered, "I think it's a crab with a sea anemone on its back."
"An-mone? What's that?" Asked the warrior.
"A type of... fish? I guess? Whatever their classification in the animal kingdom is, they're basically related to the jellyfish in that they have venomous tentacles- usually connected to a white, rubber-like body. If needed, said tentacles can retract." He stared at the night, "Is that familiar?"
"That's exactly what's on the back of the crab." He agreed, and before Jacob's curiosity about whether or not the knight knew what a jellyfish is, the armored man spoke again, "You know what it is?"
Jacob grimaced, "my brother used to eat them."
"Anyone ever told you that your family is weird?" Asks the knight with a tone that told Jacob he was smirking underneath his helmet.
"You should see the Asians back in my world." He replied.
"I would love to meet them, then." Says the knight. "Though that's probably impossible isn't it? You said your shift was accidental?"
Jacob nodded, "Yeah."
"Hey, look at the good things; like you don't have to eat honey anymore." Jacob can only smirk at Carlo and the warrior grinned.
They were now nearing the entrance to the floor, it was just a few more steps away. Soon they'd reach the bottom and face the boss, with that being said, Jacob decided to ask one last question, "Can the anemone detach itself?"
The knight turned around, "Not as far as I'm aware. Why?"
"Nothing." He answered and waited until he was on the cavern that was the last floor.
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Well, the word Cavern might be an understatement because the place was a full SuperBowl in terms of size- Jacob can almost imagine an entire sports team fighting each other in this place with extra room to spare. His eyes went up and he looked around, the honeycombs have stopped somewhere near the entrance of the cave, instead, they were replaced by the moist, stalactite filled ceiling of the cave, the sharp rocks above glistened with sea water, dripping with them every few seconds or so.
On the edge of the floor was a small beach, the sea behind it went deeper to the back of the cave wall and Jacob assumed that if he swam down, he'd find an underground water channel. As for where it leads, he does not know. What he does know, though, is that there's a giant crab lying on the beach, the anemone on its back was resting for now, curled up.
For a little bit, Jacob wondered if he should focus on it and after a while of thinking, he decided to do so. He waited for the formation to finish and turned to the knights, "I think I wanna focus on the anemone, I'll shoot it with my spells." He nodded, "I just want to say be careful? They're usually alone and not attached to a crab, so maybe it can detach and move."
"Move with what?" One of the other divers asked, "Thing doesn't have legs." As if in response to his words, the anemone came alive and bright red tentacles sprouted from its head, they waved and bobbed as if they were still underwater. "It's gonna use that?"
"I don't know. I just know that they can move." Jacob answered, he doesn't know much about anemones but if the sea urchins that his brother loved to eat can move from one part of the kitchen to another when no one's looking, then anemones can as well.
The diver nodded and stayed silent and the lead knight took that as a cue to speak, "We're about to fight the boss, and I know you guys came here with that knowledge already but just to be clear, I'll say it again- this thing kills people. If you want to back out, you can do so."
No one did and the knight nodded, "Good. I take a first step and you all follow."
And so they did, slowly but they got closer to the sleeping giant with each step. Soon, the giant stirred, and it got up just as the anemone bent down in the less threatening way Jacob has seen it do, big as it might be, the thing looked harmless form this distance and knowing that he has something that can pierce through the heavily armored heads of the Stone Feeders gave him the extra confidence to step forward without fearing for his life.
They all took another step and this time, the crab followed by taking a step forward of its own- it was a show now, and they got closer to one another until they got near enough that Jacob's [Sharp-Bolt] spell can reach the thing on top of the crustaceans back. He raised a hand, channeled the spell, and took a shot.
Red blood spilled out and an ear piercing scream came from the anemone as the [Sharp-Bolt] struck true.
Jacob didn't have the time to wonder how can something like that make a sound because the crab's attitude went a full 180 as the thing started aggressively running. With a yell that had the effect of everyone becoming more confident of themselves, the lead knight charged forward and met the crab head on, in response, the crustacean lifted its pincer then swung down.
The knight raised a gauntleted hand and moments later, a transparent blue shield grew out of his forearm and blocked the strike. With the spell being perfectly tailored to block physical attacks, the [Knight's Shield] held on even as it took the full force of the attack. It didn't have the energy absorption abilities of Jacob's variant of the [Shield] but it was tough enough for the boss fight.
As the knight backed away, the anemone took that moment to pop its tentacles back out before bending down, it headed for the knight but a [Sharp-Bolt] from Jacob discouraged it from continuing, another [Sharp-Bolt] later and the thing backed away writhing. "Kill it! The boss is harder to fight with it on its back!" Yelled the [Knight's Shield] wielding knight as he blocked another pincer swing, "I'll keep the crab distracted!"
Jacob nodded and raised a hand, he channeled [Sharp-Bolt] and when it was at full power, activated it while aiming for the anemone. The bullet struck home and the creature screamed for the second time before writhing around and splashing blood all over everyone- Jacob felt sluggish when it hit him and that was enough for him to realize that the blood had a debuff-like effect.
"I knew it- the blood paralyzes too." Says one of the other divers, Jacob didn't know who, "Don't let it hit any of you! Enough and you won't be able to move!"
"Wholly unnecessary," Etia said while casting a [Fireball] that hit the crab in the face, "The anemone's dead." He said with nigh perfect pronunciation of the word- an Acolyte of Horos indeed.
And like he said, the thing stopped writhing and died, the crab stopped, as if shocked then moved a second later, a pincer reached out and tried to pry the anemone off, it continued to do so and just ignored all the attacks that everyone's throwing at it. Seeing that the crab was stuck in some sort of animation, Jacob tested out a few things and channeled two [Sharp-Bolt]s on both his hands and then aimed it to the crab, he pumped the two circles with amp and shot it out.
They struck and cracked the Boss' shell, though nothing more than that.
And true to its name, the Boss of the Dungeon pulled the anemone off of its back and roared, causing stalactites and larvae to fall from the ceiling- it also had an added bonus of making Jacob (and pretty much everyone else,) feel fear and lose his confidence.
And it was precisely that he was scared that he looked back to the entrance of the room and saw that it was now sealed off.
And it seems that he wasn't the only one-
"W-we're dead!" Yelled one of the other divers.
His words were enough to run across the cavern and cause a panic so severe, the formation broke apart because everyone started running around like headless chickens.