A high pitched noise rang through the water. Everyone froze.

Following Siora had felt wrong, but now that they froze and were probably going to be blasted by some spell, he felt a lot better about letting her lead.

“What was that?” Nikoletta asked.

“I’m glad you asked because none of us were curious,” Shade said.

Owin took a step away from the skeleton just as Nikoletta spun around, grabbed one of his ribs, and shook him with force.

“Do not speak to me!”

Shade made noises with each shake that sounded somewhere between vomiting and laughing. Nikoletta growled as her eyes and mace glowed with luminous light.

If he was half specter, did luminous even hurt him? Myrsvai’s spell had done very little the first time Owin had summoned Shade.

She clubbed him in the head, tossing the skeleton onto the wooden ramp. Shade rolled back, then jumped to his feet. He pressed his hands onto the sides of his skull and somehow made his eye sockets wider.

“Wow. Nothing like a solid smack to wake me up!”

“Stop,” Siora said. She grabbed Nikoletta’s shoulder. “Focus!”

“Am I expected to act like this isn’t some horror?”

Shade tsked and waved his finger. “No, that was Baby Head. Or is it Ilthaman? What do you prefer?”

“Shade, shut up.”

The skeleton pointed at Owin. “Right.”

“Can you just get rid of him for now?” Siora asked.

Avani placed her hand on Shade’s shoulder and gently guided him away. “He’s not that bad. I’ll talk to him.”

“About math?” Shade asked.

“What?”

“Oh, I have so much to teach you!” Shade put his arm over her shoulder.

“I know what math is. Why would we talk about it now?” she asked, her voice quiet.

Owin let her pull him a few more steps behind as he started talking about addition. Avani quickly gave up and listened to the skeleton’s rambling.

“How did you find him?” Codhyses asked.

“I found a gray bone that is part of him, or something.” Owin shrugged.

“Okay.”

Siora stopped again where the trash became heavier on the ramp. Ahead to the left was the gallery of eager cetanthro. They were waiting with things to throw ready in their hands. A few more steps and they would start tossing everything.

“If we hit them with a spell, could we detonate a grenade early?” Siora asked. She squatted and picked up a torn shirt on the ground. “Why all the trash?”

“Some were throwing trash or rocks.” Owin pointed ahead. “That’s a skull.”

“Yeah, it is. There’s also a thigh bone out there.”

Nikoletta kept her eyes and mace glowing, despite Shade being a dozen feet behind with Avani. The mender took a step forward, which caused another high pitched squeal. “It’s coming from the stands.”

“Is it?” Siora stood and placed a hand on her sword. After the bubbles had interfered with her vision a few times, she had kept it sheathed. Owin didn’t mind. It was an ominous-looking weapon.

He looked down at the little white knife he used. A bone of a lich. Maybe it was also ominous.

Nikoletta strode toward the stand. It was a bad idea, unless she was ready to run, but Owin wasn’t going to go out of his way to stop her.

A light flashed over the gallery, and when it vanished, a boundary wall stood between the gathered crowd and the ramp. The cetanthro inside dropped their arms like they knew not to try throwing their items.

“That didn’t happen before,” Owin said. He hurried to join Nikoletta as she walked right up to the gallery. Siora followed a step behind.

A door in the back of the gallery, embedded into the stone wall, swung open. The gallery hushed and turned to watch the fish descend. He wore a long coat that had various tools sticking out of every pocket. Underneath, he wore odd metal armor that looked sleek and unlike anything Owin had seen before.

Despite the unique clothing, the cetanthro was a grenadier with huge eyes, just like most of the other fish on the fifth floor. He had goggles sitting just above his eyes, much like Avani, though his goggles were much farther apart and also huge enough to cover his big, bulging eyes.

The cetanthro in the gallery watched silently as the new fish finished walking down the narrow stairs between rows of seats. He grabbed a small object with a black ball on the end and tapped it. Each tap caused a booming noise.

“Is this on?” it said, its voice loud and coming from somewhere above.

Ocean Mob

Elstima the Crafter

Cetanthro Grenadier Master

Level 45

Elstima gave the object one more tap before becoming satisfied that it was turned on. He brought it close to his face and said, “I am Elstima the Crafter.”

“I know,” Owin said.

The fish nodded. “It appears our giganta was defeated by these intruders. How was the show?”

Every fish in the gallery cheered.

“I am certain it was exciting! Since these intruders still stand, I think we should bring in our next entertainment!”

The crowd cheered more.

Nikoletta looked back. “Entertainment?”

“Are we the entertainment?” Siora drew her sword. “Get this damn boundary down.”

Owin ran back over to Shade, Avani, and Codhyses. “Get ready for a fight.”

“Well, I feel like that was obvious,” Shade said.

Stolen story; please report.

The next gate slowly opened, which elicited another cheer. Owin caught a flash of something red.

“Get over here,” he shouted.

Nikoletta gave him a side glance, but remained near the gallery.

Siora walked a few paces and stopped. “I don’t care how much we hate each other. Try working together.”

The gate swung open, fully revealing a ten foot tall . . . thing. It had red and white skin and thin arms that ended in serrated claws. Ten legs spread from its hips.

“A lobster?” Siora asked.

“A what?” Owin looked back at the new enemy. Its head was small with two long antennae. He couldn’t see its face from so far away. “What’s a lobster?”

Siora pointed with her sword. “That! Obviously!”

It hadn’t felt that obvious before. The lobster strode forward while the gallery cheered wildly. The gate swung shut behind the new enemy. At the same time, the gate behind Owin also closed.

“Intruders! I am excited to present Malacoe!”

Ocean Mob

Malacoe

Spiny Lobster

Level 40

“I think that’s the wandering boss,” Owin said. Why else would a mob be that much higher of a level?

“Wandering? It’s right here,” Shade said. He tilted his head. “I guess you are always right where you are.”

Avani shushed him.

“How do we fight a lobster?” Owin asked.

“They have shells like your ugly armor,” Siora said. “We’ll need to break through before we can do any damage.”

Owin scowled. “Can your sword cut through it?”

“Maybe, but we should focus on giving Nikoletta openings. Her mace will easily smash through.” Siora swung her sword through the water. Bubbles rose from the glowing blade. “Are we ready?”

“I don’t need the freak’s assistance.” Nikoletta glared at Elstima as she set off toward the lobster.

“And the battle begins!” Elstima tapped something. “Remember, no grenades! Let Malacoe fight!”

The crowd cheered and immediately started throwing everything they had. Old clothing, ceramic mugs, and bits of old food flew through the boundary wall and pelted Siora and Nikoletta, who were the closest to the gallery.

A rock struck Nikoletta directly in the side of the head, causing blood to bloom into the water. She stumbled to the side and shielded her face while the cetanthro continued pelting her with items.

Malacoe let out a deep laugh. “You are fools to challenge me!” His voice came from the same area above as Elstima’s. Owin couldn’t see an object like the one Elstima held, but there had to be something making the lobster’s voice so loud.

“I’m going to rip this freak apart!” Luminous light erupted from Nikoletta, causing her entire body to glow. Another rock struck her face, but she didn’t react even as blood leaked from a gash on her cheek.

“I am the superior creature!” Malacoe clicked his claws. “I’ll devour your soul!”

“Can he do that?” Owin asked.

“It’s a fucking lobster, Owin. I don’t think it’s eating souls.” Siora took a couple steps, shielded her head from some trash, then waved Owin forward. “Let’s get up there before Nikoletta kills herself.”

Owin stared blankly at Siora for a long moment. Meanwhile, Nikoletta roared and sprinted at the lobster. White light trailed her as her entire body continued to glow.

“Come on,” Codhyses said. He adjusted his staff and ran, wincing with the movement.

Shade raised his brow. “You wouldn’t.”

Owin groaned. “Fine.” He sprinted ahead of Codhyses. Siora ran just beside him with her sword unsheathed and ready. If he ran at his full speed, she had no chance of keeping up, but he had no reason to reach the lobster first.

Malacoe swung a heavy claw while Nikoletta attacked with her mace. She battered the claw aside in a flash of white. Malacoe staggered and pulled his claw back, now with cracks spread through the chitin.

“Go right,” Siora said.

“Obviously.” As soon as they were close, Owin dashed away, slipping underneath Malacoe’s other claw.

Codhyses sent a telekinetic attack that struck Malacoe in the face. Siora jumped and chopped straight through Malacoe’s thin arm. The lobster’s cracked claw fell to the ground beside Nikoletta, who lost her full body glow.

“Fools!” A burst of energy pulsed from Malacoe, throwing Owin straight onto his back. The whole Void Nexus team was also pushed to the ground, with Codhyses hitting the ground harder than the rest. Owin ran over and gently slapped the magus.

Another pulse of energy burst from Malacoe as four more arms sprouted from his torso. Instead of claws, they were tentacles about twice the length of his normal arms. Blood poured from his body as the tentacles shot into the water.

“I will show the cetanthro how superior I am!”

The crowd cheered so loudly Owin couldn’t hear anything else.

“Fortification!” The ground rumbled around Nikoletta as a glowing circle of light appeared on the ground. Siora stepped into the light and raised her sword just as a tentacle whipped over and smashed against her. The blow caused her to take a half step back, but otherwise she was unharmed.

“Wake up,” Owin said. He gently slapped Codhyses again. Two tentacles snaked through the water, aiming for Owin. He flipped over Codhyses and tossed the unconscious magus toward Shade and Avani.

Codhyses hit the ground limp and bounced. Owin winced. It wasn’t his best idea. He leaned to the side, dodging the first tentacle, then caught the second with the lich bone and carved the end off.

“In the circle,” Siora said.

Owin was able to reach Nikoletta’s spell quickly. Instead of letting himself get hit like Siora did, Owin still dodged and cut each tentacle that attacked. “What are we doing?”

“Taking a second to figure out the boss,” Siora said through clenched teeth as she took another hit before counter attacking.

Nikoletta stood in the center of the circle with her eyes closed. She held the mace with both hands with the head just below her chin. Owin hadn’t learned much about mender spells, but it was obvious they could take more hits while in the circle. What it actually did was beyond anything he could guess.

“Why?”

“What do you do? Just jump and stab like a moron?”

Owin grinned and launched himself at Malacoe’s face. The lobster was so distracted with trying to batter Siora as she chopped through more and more of the tentacles, that he reacted slowly as Owin crashed right into his face. He would have bounced right over if the lobster hadn’t had large antennae to grab.

Back when he had first fought Etosai, Owin had to really fight to crack the chitin. Malacoe looked to have a similar shell, but Owin was significantly stronger than he was back then. If he really focused, he could puncture the chitin and get to Malacoe’s true skin. Or he could use the advice Artivan had given him.

Even if the old man wasn’t as agile, he still knew how to easily defeat most enemies. Ogres had rock-like skin, so stabbing them in the eyes was easiest. Did Artivan ever stab them in the eyes? Probably not. How would he get up there?

Owin kept one hand on the antenna and swung himself low enough to drive the lich bone directly into Malacoe’s eye.

The lobster flailed, turning everything that was left of the tentacles at Owin. As they all shot forward, Owin pulled himself behind Malacoe’s head and dropped onto the lobster’s tail. Whether it was because he was partially blinded or he was just in a fury, Malacoe hit himself in the head four times, leaving Siora fully open to tear her glowing sword across Malacoe’s gut.

She flashed as she leveled up.

Malacoe fell to the ground as blood quickly filled the water in the area.

Owin ran back over to Codhyses, who was already being healed by Nikoletta. The mender was on her knees with both hands on the magus.

“Is he okay?” Owin asked.

Nikoletta ignored him.

“I wasn’t challenging you to try jumping at his damn head, you know,” Siora said. She sheathed her sword and joined the group. “It gave me an opening, so I can’t be that critical, but damn, that was a dumb attack.”

“It’s gotten me this far.”

“He does jump at everything,” Shade said.

She rolled her eyes. “And what do you do? Stand here and criticize?”

“Well, yes. I have been more helpful in some other situations, but normally I serve a different role. Combat, it turns out, requires some sort of constitution in which I have none. You know, muscles or skin or anything else that makes one able to give or take a hit.” Shade patted his own arm as if it wasn’t obvious he was a skeleton.

Codhyses groaned and sat upright. “Ugh. Where are we?” He noticed the huge cloud of blood from Malacoe. “Is that the lobster?”

“It was the lobster.” Siora grabbed his hand and pulled him up. “Stay back in fights where we have Owin.”

“I can help too,” Avani said.

“No. You’re staying out of it,” Siora said quickly without even looking at the knight.

Avani put a hand on Shade’s shoulder. “Fine.”

The skeleton widened his eye sockets and looked at Owin.

“Stop,” Owin whispered.

“The intruders gather to regain their strength after that harrowing battle!” Elstima held up a hand, stopping any cetanthro from throwing more trash. All kinds of trash filled the ramp, covering the wooden ramp far more densely than when Owin had first arrived.

“Unfortunately, that is the end of our show for today. The intruders will face me above, where their journey will end.”

The crowd cheered as the boundary wall became solid stone, cutting off the noise abruptly.

“Okay.” Owin looked around. “Now what?”

Both gates slowly opened.

Two figures stood at the first gate. The shorter of the figures cocked its head.

“Twin?”