Clemiticus dodged as the Undead Merman lunged, swinging its sword with an enraged gurgle. The near miss was thanks again, not to skill or training, but to dumb luck. The poor Merman looked confused as its weapons sailed past the dancing pirate and struck the stone floor with a clang.
Clem then chose that moment to abuse the free opening by tightening his grip and swinging his cutlass like a madman. Without protest, the shiny sword sliced effortlessly through both bony arms of the Merman with a sharp pop. The Undead creature let out a ghostly wail as its sword and shield dropped to the floor.
“Melly now!” Clem shouted.
Instantly, her arrow soared through the air and pierced the confused merman's forehead with a crack.
Bing!
“Melly has slain the creature: Undead Merman level 18.”
“Melly has gained skill experience in Archery.”
“Clemiticus’ party has slain Undead Merman, six of seven.”
“Clemiticus has gained combat EXP.”
“Melly has gained combat EXP.”
Fairy's voice faded as Melly moved to collect her arrows. When Melly first entered the level, she struggled to even land a hit. But once she gained enough experience, she gained accuracy and ultimately unlocked the intermediate skill level. That’s when she also gained a new skill: Aimed shot.
Melly spotted the final skeleton and nocked an arrow. She was confident now.
Her eyes trailed down the shaft and onto her last target.
“Aimed shot,” Melly whispered as the bow and arrow glowed blue. She smirked as the string rolled off her fingers. Instantly, the arrow roared down the hallway.
Red words flashed above the creature.
Critical strike!
65 damage.
The undead Merman cried in anguish.
“Another great shot!” called Clemiticus. He was sprinting towards the creature with his blade held high.
Thea stood beside Melly protectively with her shield. The younger girl was watching Melly with eyes of admiration and envy.
“If only I didn’t have to wear this over-the-top outfit in battle,” Melly muttered bitterly. She couldn’t understand how such a tight-fitting black leather armour would improve her aim but somehow it accomplished exactly that.
“Bonus stats,” Clemiticus said.
Melly chose to ignore Clemiticus' obsession with stats and eyed the merman who was slowly approaching them with an arrow through its chest. The trio had come so far and now wasn’t the time to get complacent.
Melly loosed another shot.
35 damage.
Clemiticus angled low to the ground and swung his cutlass across the Undead Merman’s tail.
Thwack!
The final monster fell to the floor as Clemiticus unceremoniously stomped on its brittle skull.
“Clemiticus has slain the creature: Undead Merman level 18.”
“Clemiticus’ party has slain Undead Merman, seven of seven.”
“Clemiticus has gained combat EXP.”
“Melly has gained combat EXP.”
Clemiticus whistled. “Eeeasy game.”
Melly rolled her eyes. “Don’t get cocky,” she chastised.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Finally, they had cleared all the enemies of the second level and now they could move onto the last.
The trio continued walking down the corridor and spotted the opening for the third floor. More steps, Melly thought, great! The new stairs were long and straight and seemed to disappear into a sea of darkness.
“It seems the last floor of the catacombs is far deeper underground,” Thea supplied.
“I can’t see a bloody thing down there,” added Melly.
“At least there’s a handrail,” replied Thea.
The trio slowly made their way into the enveloping darkness. Further and further, they moved deep underground and with every step the temperature dropped.
“Do you smell that?” Thea asked.
“No, what is it?” Clemiticus answered.
“I can,” Melly replied. “It’s the sea.”
“Oh yeah,” he admitted after taking a few sniffs of the cold air.
Melly could feel herself tense up. She hated the dark; she hated the cold and worst of all she hated the smell. The further they went the stronger it became. The stench of seaweed, salt and dead fish saturated the air.
“Uggh, let’s make this quick,” commented Clemiticus.
A blue light flashed above them as Fairy appeared holding its nose.
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“Clemiticus has entered the Merfolk Catacombs: Level Three.”
“Melly has entered the Merfolk Catacombs: Level Three.”
They paused for a bit and waited for the green fairy who reluctantly appeared.
“Thea has entered another danger zone. Yadda, yadda combat blaa blaa. Call me when it doesn’t stink.”
The two fairies vanished and Clemiticus let out a bark of laughter.
“Wow, little Midori’s got some sass!” he chuckled.
“Stop laughing and keep going,” ordered Melly. “How far have we…”
Melly gasped as her feet left the hard stairs and landed on a soft surface. A white glowing light under her feet exploded outwards like a wave, illuminating the floor in an instant. She was standing on a glowing sand floor in a massive room.
“Wow,” Thea said slack jawed.
The room was enormous. The light she had caused to flood the room continued to move across the floor until it hit the walls, which burst into a brilliant shade of navy blue. Melly’s eyes widened as she realised that the walls were not made of stone but of water.
She twisted her head and turned about the room. The circular chamber was surrounded by what looked like an underground ocean. Millions of brightly coloured fish swam in schools as massive sharks drifted by, minding their own business. There were turtles, stingrays, jellyfish and even a giant squid. Beyond the wall, the sea floor was also littered with sea life and coral.
“Damn,” Clemiticus said.
“It’s like an aquarium,” commented Thea.
“Most definitely,” replied Clemiticus.
Melly’s eyes ran around the room, eager to see everything. The colours alone were mind blowing. It was a sight no artist could reproduce. Her eyes fell on a large object in the middle of the room. It looked like a wide orange rock that had been left abandoned long ago. She pointed at it and nudged the swashbuckler.
“What the hell is that?” she asked.
Clemiticus looked at what she was pointing at, and his jaw dropped.
“Can you see any text above it?” he asked.
“No,” said Melly.
Thea looked nervous.
“I can’t either. This things gotta be…” Clemiticus gulped, “It’s the boss.”
Melly thought back to the last time they had fought what Clemiticus had called a boss. He had easily dispatched the weird alchemist with little to no effort. However, this time was different. This time Clemiticus looked concerned.
“I don’t think we have any other choice.” he then asked the empty air. “Fairy?”
A blue light flashed, and a disgruntled creature floated towards him.
“What level is that guy?” Clemiticus inquired.
“Um,” Fairy studied the creature and gave its master an unconvincing smile of reassurance, “it says double question mark, Master. That means its level is far beyond yours.”
Clemiticus sighed.
Melly watched as the giant orange object stirred. It was then that she spotted giant words as they appeared above the form of the monstrous creature. The words read:
Emperor Mercrab: Level ??
Melly gasped. The creature stretched out monstrous claws that could slice a cow in half. Atop the crustacean’s shell sat a normal sized top half of a man.
“What the heck?” Thea spoke a little too loudly.
The Mercrab opened its eyes and spotted the intruders.
“What are you doing?” the emperor shouted.
Its voice reminded Melly of the young boys she knew while growing up. The trio was far too stunned to respond.
The Mercrab clicked its claws then repeated, “What are you doing?”
“Um, we are after the Ocean pearl,” supplied Thea.
“Noooooooooooooo!” the emperor roared and stamped its crustacean feet.
Clemiticus watched the Mercrab with the eyes of a veteran gamer. Then a smile appeared on his lips.
Melly would never admit it out loud, but that simple smile of confidence was all she needed. The swashbuckler may be the most outrageously annoying buffoon, but as soon as he had that look plastered over his face, there wasn’t anything on Fanswald that could stop him.
A series of harmonic bells rang out followed by a strained tune.
“Is that Caribbean music?” Thea asked.
“Yup, it’s the Boss music.” Clemiticus answered with a grin. “Do you know what that means?”
Thea and Melly shook their heads in sync.
“It means… It’s hammer time!” Clemiticus sung.
“What?” Melly asked.
“I mean dancing time.” he corrected.
“Ah!”
“I’ll tank, Melly DPS!” he ordered as he looked over at the Pirate King, “and Thea…”
“Yeah?” she asked.
“Don’t die!” Clemiticus cheerfully instructed.
“Will do!” she replied.
Clemiticus then ran towards the giant orange monster and slapped his cutlass harmlessly across one of the giant Mercrab’s legs. The swashbuckler was tiny compared to his crustaceous counterpart.
“Can’t touch this!” he sang as he fought.
“What are you doing?” the Emperor roared.
Melly knew the plan. They had been practising it the whole time they had fought in the catacombs. She nocked an arrow and aimed the bow at the enemy's human face.
Hit!
Glancing blow.
35 damage.
“Noooooo! What are you doing?” the Emperor squealed and clutched his cut cheek.
“Is that seriously the only two things this bloody crab can say?” Melly asked. The idiotic crustacean was clearly asking to get shot in the face again.
Clemiticus kicked a leg with little to no effect and yelled insults at the Emperor.
Melly was confident. She had improved by leaps and bounds within the catacombs. Clemiticus’ dance moves however, hadn’t. He still had the striking appearance of a desperate fish on land.
Melly nocked the next arrow and let loose.
Miss.
“Damn it!” she swore.
“Oh, shit!” Thea shouted. “We have company.”
Melly cringed as a familiar cracking sound echoed from above. She looked up just in time to see a group of pufferfish monsters falling from the roof.
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has entered combat.”
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has entered combat.”
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has entered combat.”
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has entered combat.”
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has entered combat.”
“Oh damn! Over here ya stinky bastards!” Clemiticus shouted.
The Merkin monsters roared in anger and chased the swashbuckler.
“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” the Merkin screamed.
Melly watched in awe as Clemiticus dodged between the giant orange legs of the Emperor Mercrab with a line of angry and armed pufferfish behind him.
“Keep…” Clemiticus called out, “Shooting the big guy.”
Melly readied her next arrow as Thea called out to the prancing pirate.
“Here!” Thea shouted as threw the shield towards him.
Clemiticus caught it with a pained expression. “But pirates don’t look cool with shields!”
“Just bloody use it!” Melly roared and let the next arrow fly.
Thunk!
45 damage.
A blue light flashed above, and Fairy sang cheerfully. “Clemiticus has learned how to block.”
“Clemiticus has gained the skill: Taunt AOE!”
“Clemiticus has failed to learn skill: Dancing beginner.”
Melly looked down the sights of her bow and whispered her two new favourite words, “Aimed shot.”
Crack!
Critical strike!
65 damage.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” the Emperor cried.
“What are you doing?” taunted Clemiticus.
The Mercrab lunged towards the dancing pirate with a giant claw. The pincer opened either side of Clemiticus and chomped shut.
“Reeeee!” cried the top half of a Merkin warrior who had just pounced on Clemiticus a moment before.
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has died.”
“Oh, thank you for blessing me with RNG!” Clemiticus chanted as he laughed off his narrow miss. “Any day now Melly!”
Melly smirked as she aimed her last arrow.
“Aimed shot!” she yelled as the bow glowed a brilliant azure. The string whipped as the arrow streaked through the air.
Thud!
Critical strike!
145 damage.
“NOOOOOOO!” the Emperor Mercrab clutched its face in agony.
Bing!
“Melly has slain the creature: Emperor Mercrab: Level ??”
Clemiticus looked up to see the shaking form of the noisy crustacean. He had the expression of a seasoned expert. The Merkin warriors charged him as he ran once more under the descending mass of crab.
Melly watched as Clemiticus and the remaining pufferfish vanished under the Emperor.
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has died.”
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has died.”
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has died.”
“Merkin warrior: level 15, has died.”
“Clem?” Thea called.
The swashbuckler groaned as he pulled himself up on top of the fallen Boss.
“Clemiticus’ party has completed the dungeon: Merkin Catacombs.”
“Clemiticus has gained combat EXP. Clemiticus has reached level 17.”
“Melly has gained combat EXP. Melly has reached level 16.”