He had no qualms with the calm walk through the forest. The sun even started to rise as they broke through, making for a rather pleasant experience all things considered. They made it to the base of the mountain without so much as a hiccup, but it apparently put the others on edge. Was this too easy? What exactly were they here for, if it was supposed to be so difficult?

What do you think of these people? He asked Seru, keeping his eyes forward so there was no indication that they were communicating.

I love Copter. Other than that, they’re all really strong…

The way she trailed her last word was enough for him to understand the way she meant it. She was cautious about their strength, as if she were wondering whether or not the two of them would be able to handle all of them on their own.

He sympathized with her worries. The brief bout with Odysseus on the ship was enough for him to understand that they were leagues above him in terms of both power and experience.

So, when I complete this adventure, will my dungeon connect to this world? Will this world be eaten by my dungeon, or will I create a replica? Is it possible for me to form a bond with them and eventually take them as summons? I’m sure they’d all be legendary and make for a really fun dungeon.

About a quarter of the way up the mountain trail, there was an explosion in the forest. He, and all the others, turned to see what was going on. Even from the distance, Athena’s visage was domineeringly massive.

The Captain gritted his teeth and took off running up the mountain, sandals clacking loud against the ground. The rest of them followed after him, trailing behind just enough so that when arrows started raining into the side of the mountain they were successfully separated from one another.

The rising sun was obscured by a heavy shadow for a brief instant before the entire mountain shook. Dust and debris were both quickly blown away by the pressure that came from the attack, which was revealed to be the work of a gigantic two handed greatsword with a curved tip as opposed to a pointed one.

The swordsman, a silver haired dark skinned man, was sent flying back along with the sword when the right hand man of the captain stepped forward and into his movement to fully deflect the attack he had somehow managed to intercept with two of his swords crossed over one another. When he did so, he followed up with the movement by jumping straight off the side of the mountain to chase down his foe with a look in his eyes that made it seem as if the silver haired man were the prey even though he was the attacker.

The rest of the crew didn’t so much as miss a beat. They jumped over the damaged part of the path and continued their ascent, hastened by the distance created between themselves and their captain.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Another disturbance came soon after. This time, it was in the form of a spearman that literally struck the ground that the suit wearing chef was about to step on. Like, in a bolt of lightning.

Before he realized it, it was just himself and Seru left on the trail. Somehow, Odysseus had just enough noteworthy subordinates to roughly match that were more or less as strong as the individual crew members. The coincidence was crazy, honestly.

Odysseus flew to the summit sometime during the obligatory individual segmentation, so by the time Amon made it to the top the castle’s courtyard was already a mess. The two captains had littered the ground with craters and debris from their onslaught directed toward one another.

He had no legitimate way to intervene. They were too strong for him to contend with, and much too fast for him to even find the right timing to jump into the fray. Luckily, he didn’t really have the desire to throw himself into the middle of things.

Odysseus was forced to brandish his shield to deflect Kuffy’s fist. He sent the pirate flying through the ground, creating an opening that led to what could only be the inside of what Amon now understood was a hollow island. It was huge, way too big to just be a simple basement.

When Odysseus flew into the hole to follow up with his attack, Amon and Seru hustled over to the edge of the hole. He peeked in, noticing brilliant blue scales ordaining the walls. The craftsmanship was humbling. They were so well laid over one another and seamlessly connected that they looked as if they were grown out of the wall. As if the wall were the body of some kind of sea serpent.

Because it was.

Wrapped around the entire inner wall of this space was the body of a sea monster, unbelievably large. Its five heads rested near an altar at the other end of the room, suspended above it as if it were some sort of guardian deity. The room gave him the same feeling as the core room of his own dungeon, or the place he had managed to get the sapling from.

The platform that led to the altar was a huge square, giving the two of them more than enough space to fight, but it didn’t connect to the rest of the island. Water separated the edges of the platform from the wall, designating a sort of out of bounds area as if it were a stage.

Though there was an intense battle raging on, there was a blue light consistently reflecting off the surface of the water. He looked up for the source of it and found a message that read:

To bring the life of old anew,

The stone must come and split in two

Within the basement of the king

Of all eternal thunder rings

Everything was starting to make sense. Kuffy was trying to bring a friend back to life, most likely one that was actually dead and not just in some kind of coma. Taboo, sure, but valiant. Was it solely because it was taboo that Odysseus chose to stop the pirate, or did he have some information that others weren’t privy to?

What does Charybdis have to do with any of this? The sea monster is Scylla, so…

His heart sank to his feet.

The eyes of all five heads produced a blue luminance before the entire island began to shake.

Scylla was waking up!