Ocean Dungeon

Eighth Floor

There was a purple glow as the only light when Owin emerged on the stairs. It was significantly darker than the previous floors, like an eternal night. Before Owin could even move off the stairs, Shade tripped and tumbled off, crashing onto the cobblestone floor.

“I seem to have fallen.”

“Yeah.”

A black cetanthro with white speckles ran forward and helped Shade off the ground. The fish man was tall with four arms, but the lower two were more webbed like fins. “Are you hurt?”

“Uh, no.” Shade reached up and patted the cetanthro on the head. “I am fine.”

Ocean Mob

Elnu

Cetanthro Coelacanth

Level 60

Elnu stood among rubble. Most of it looked like old, broken stones, but Owin spotted some small designs on pieces of columns. It looked a bit like the old ruins where he had found the golem in the fourth floor secret.

“Are you two travelers?” Elnu asked.

“Yes. Traveling all over.” Shade grabbed a piece of rubble, sniffed it, then flicked it away. “This land of yours is quite dark. Were you aware?”

“Dark?” Elnu had wide, somewhat bulging eyes on the sides of his head. “Is it?”

“No, it’s fine,” Owin said. He hopped off the last of the stairs. “Why are you in these ruins?”

“I was waiting for a delivery. I have no idea what’s taking so long.”

Two sides of the ruins were blocked by the boundary wall, while the others were surrounded by tall, dark rocks. A narrow passage led away from the stairs, but with how much it twisted, Owin couldn’t see more than a dozen feet ahead. There was only one way to go. At least it would be more difficult to get lost.

“If you’re traveling to the village, can you keep an eye out for my delivery?”

“A cetanthro village?” Owin asked.

“Yes, of course. Do you expect any water elves to be here?”

“Okay, unnecessary,” Shade said. He muttered something, then grandly gestured to the passage. “Off we go before this fish says something inappropriate.”

Owin joined Shade at the mouth of the passage, but paused. “You don’t think there is loot hidden in the ruins, do you?”

“By the stairs? No.”

They both turned and looked at Elnu, who stared straight at them. With his eyes on the side of his head, it was difficult to tell if he could actually see them while facing straight forward.

“We’re moving.” Shade grabbed the grip of the Incandescent Blade and dragged Owin along. It was at such an odd angle that Owin fell right onto his face while Shade accidentally unsheathed the weapon. “So, this isn’t a handle to guide you.”

Owin sighed, still lying face down.

“Just think. We get to spend these next two floors together. Just the two of us. The two of us and whatever we decide to murder, I suppose.”

Owin pushed himself up and stood with his back to Shade until the skeleton sheathed the sword. “I think most summons are less annoying.”

“Most does not mean all. I am positive there is a wizard, mender, or magus out there that absolutely despises their familiar.” Shade placed both hands on top of his head. “I will follow you, so you can feel like you’re in charge again.”

“I am in charge.”

“Yes, I do want you to believe that.” Shade took a step sideways. “I am rather impatient, so if you don’t start walking, I will immediately go against my word and try to lead again.”

Owin started walking before Shade could take off down the passage. With the cooldown to summon, Owin didn’t need Shade to die in some random encounter around the corner.

“You’re not usually impatient.”

“What was one of the first questions I ever asked you?”

Owin scratched his ear, peeked around the corner, and continued leading. “Where’s my penis?”

“Oh . . . yes. And it was an important question. I was thinking about when I asked if we could leave the Ocean. The faster we get that shard, the faster we don’t have to be here anymore.”

“Is it the water or the dark?”

Shade shook his head quickly.

“Sloswen?”

Shade nodded quickly and flinched. Nothing happened with the water.

“We’ll be fast. Vondaire is still waiting for us.”

“Is he?” Shade walked for a few seconds before stopping. “Who?”

“Vondaire. He’s a Nimble Hog.”

“Well, he might be a flexible pig, but I don’t see why I need to know.”

Owin sighed. He approached the next turn slowly and peeked around. The path widened into a small opening before continuing deeper into the floor. Owin reached a hand up, intending to shush the skeleton, but instead slapped him in the face.

Shade gasped, but managed to catch on and didn’t protest loudly.

A wagon filled with boxes and bags was abandoned in the opening. Owin looked through the area and tried to use Examine, but he couldn’t get any information. It wasn’t exactly abandoned. There was a corpse of a cetanthro coelacanth near the front of the wagon.

Shade placed both hands on Owin’s head to balance as he leaned around the corner. “That’s a dead body,” he whispered.

“I’m not that stupid.”

“It was a question. I’m the stupid one.”

Owin laughed. “Sure. Yes, it’s a dead body.”

“Now I know.” Shade crouched and waddled to Owin’s side. “Do you need bait?”

“I don’t think so. The cetanthro was level 60, and the bosses last floor were around 65 and 70. I think mobs on this floor will be about the same. I can handle all of that. Right?”

Shade poked him in the face with an armored finger. “You basically killed the secret boss in one punch. I think you will be fine with regular mobs on this floor. That doesn’t mean I won’t run in there like the idiot I was born to be just to distract some fish. Or not fish. Whatever they are. You get it. Fish adjacent.”

Did he get it? “Okay.” Owin drew the lich bone knife and stalked forward. Shade stayed crouched, trying to keep pace as he waddled.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Owin immediately spotted movement high up on the rocks, near the boundary at the top of the trench. Five figures moved quickly, nearly blending into the stone. Eight long, skinny legs carried the bulbous main body of the mobs. A cluster of big eyes covered most of the body with a huge mouth full of fangs spreading the full width.

Ocean Mob

Pycnida

Level 62

“See?” Owin said, pointing at one of the spider-like mobs.

“See what?” Shade’s index popped up. “The level? Yes, you’re right. They are quite ugly.”

“Do you think they’re what killed the cetanthro?”

“I’m sure that’s what it’s supposed to look like, but right now, I think the bigger focus is how hungry those spiders look. They want to eat you. Not me. I don’t have any meat to feast on.”

“I can handle it.” Owin walked closer to the ruined cart. The spiders had spotted him as soon as he first stepped out. It was no surprise they were all charging straight for him.

Owin crouched, making sure his feet were planted, then leapt for the nearest spider. It was still on the rock wall and didn’t react before he smashed his shoulder into its body. They both fell back to the sea floor where Owin managed to kill the stunned spider with a slash with the lich bone.

By the time the other spiders reached the ground, Owin was ready to dash, hop, dodge, and stab. They were weak overall. Their speed was what made them dangerous, but Owin was faster and managed to wipe out the small mob horde without taking any damage.

Shade pointed to a spot on his gauntlet where a spider fang had gouged the chitin.

“That’s why I’m wearing armor.”

Shade shrugged. He went to the wagon and started picking through the bags.

Owin gently kicked each spider corpse, getting a few gems and gold coins that he dropped into his bag.

“This is mostly food, which would be a great time to take a break, eat, and prepare for the rest of the floor if either of us needed food.” Shade pulled out a green stick. “What am I going to do with this? And why is there celery at the bottom of the ocean? These are the kinds of questions that Sloswen obviously hasn’t considered.”

“What’s celery?”

Shade shook the green stick. “It’s a vegetable. Or a stalk? A weed? I don’t know. People eat it. People who are alive and have stomachs, unlike the naked skeleton in front of you.”

“You’re only half naked.”

“Unlike the half naked skeleton in front of you.” Shade stuck the celery in his mouth and crunched loudly. As he chewed, little bits of green mush floated out from the bottom of his jaw. “If I remembered how this tasted, I might be really upset right now.” Each word made more food fall from between his teeth.

“Because you miss the taste?”

“Or it’s really bad.”

“I could tell you.” Owin stuck his hand out.

Shade’s eye sockets narrowed as he looked at the half eaten stalk of celery. “You don’t need to eat either.”

“But I can.”

The skeleton hesitantly held it out. “Just one bite.”

“Fine.” Owin snatched the celery, took a bite, and tried to keep a straight face as he chewed. It didn’t taste at all like he had expected.

“How is it?”

“Great.” Owin gave the celery back and spit it out. “Really good.”

Shade looked at the blob of green mush in the water. “You wouldn’t lie to me, right?”

“Never.”

Shade patted Owin’s helmet. “Perfect.”

Owin climbed onto the wagon and opened more containers. They all contained food, most of which Owin didn’t recognize. “Do you think we should bring the wagon to the cetanthro?”

“Probably not. It wasn’t a quest and, uh, mobs don’t eat. Remember?”

Owin stared blankly at Shade.

“You’re a mob, Owin.”

“I know. You’re naked.”

“Hey.” Shade covered his hip bones with both hands. “Don’t bring that up. I’m insensitive. Wait. No.”

“There’s a cetanthro village ahead, I think. Let’s go there before we try to find the bosses.” Owin hopped off the wagon and started down the pass again. Shade ran after him with an armful of celery. The skeleton kept chomping on the food, leaving a trail of mush in their wake.

The pass was more simple than Owin had expected. There were twists and turns, but no forks until they reached the village. More coelacanth moved about the village on the right while the pass continued snaking about on the left. It wasn’t difficult to spot the village at all, especially with the huge fish milling about.

The coelacanth cetanthro were about as big as the itajara, which Owin hadn’t seen in a few floors. There were some on the fifth, but most had been in the swarm on the third floor. There had been a few bigger cetanthro, but those had all been bosses or something special.

The fish didn’t seem bothered as Owin and Shade entered their village. They didn’t really seem to care at all. Most of the coelacanth stood outside homes built into the stone wall talking to one another, or moved about, carrying bags of something into the biggest building in the back of the village.

All the cetanthro moving about the village avoided one specific area on the left side. A lone girhuma sat on a small rug that was covered in barnacles. Some boxes were stacked beside the girhuma with a small horned creature sitting at the very top of the stack.

“Why is a girhuma down here?” Owin asked.

“He’s looking at us.” Shade stepped behind Owin and ducked. “Do you think he can still see me?”

“Yes. Are you scared of him?”

“No.”

The girhuma looked the exact same as any other Owin had seen. The blue skinned mob watched quietly until Owin finally approached.

Ocean Mob

Hilxian

Girhuma Trader

Level 60

“You’re a trader?” Owin asked.

“That’s not a nice thing to call someone.” Shade’s index appeared. “Oh, never mind. Sorry. Misunderstanding.”

“I am. I’ve traveled a long way to reach this remote cetanthro village.”

Shade leaned close to Owin’s ear. “I don’t think she traveled at all.”

Owin grabbed his bag and started digging through, finding as many coins as possible. “What do you have for sale? Do you have any health potions or buffs?”

Hilxian grabbed a box beside her with both hands and hauled it over. It had a whole variety of potions inside. As soon as the top opened, the shop menu popped open in Owin’s vision. It would have been overwhelming if he hadn’t seen it with Arimeda on the second floor.

Hilxian grabbed three potions and passed them to Owin. At first, he flinched because he had to figure out how to pass over the stack of coins, but they disappeared before he did anything.

“What did you buy?” Shade picked up a red potion. “I could pour this on you now.”

“Please don’t.”

Shade muttered something as he hooked the potion on Owin’s belt.

Owin held a rose pink potion in front of Shade’s face. “Look what I got.”

Artisan Dexterity Buff

+30 Dexterity

Duration: ????

“Only artisan? You need more than that to catch up with your intelligence and strength.” Shade took the second health potion Owin had bought and stuck it inside the bag. “But yes, any buff is good, especially when you didn’t get any stronger on the last floor.”

Owin drank the potion and put the empty bottle into his bag. He bounced on his feet, but didn’t feel any immediate effects of the increased speed. Shade was right. An artisan buff every few floors wasn’t going to help his speed catch up with his strength.

Hero

Owin

Deficient Wizard

Nimble Hog Hero Company

Level: 1

Strength: 700

Constitution: 310

Dexterity: 300

Intelligence: 467

Wisdom: 169

Charisma: 160

“Now, what is this?” Shade asked, pointing at the small winged creature sitting on a nearby box.

“That’s Von.”

“Hi,” Von said.

Ocean Mob

Von

Level 20

“Uh.” Owin gestured to the imp until Shade also looked at his index.

“Is Von its name or what it is?” Shade asked as his eye sockets narrowed. “Or both?”

“It’s just Von,” Hilxian said.

“What’s an imp?” Owin whispered.

“Well . . . it’s a type of vampire.”

Von nodded.

“Okay.” Owin stared at the creature.

It was no more than a foot and a half tall, making it shorter than Owin. It had two curved horns and leathery wings. When it smiled, he noticed its two oversized fangs.

“What’s a vampire?” Owin whispered.

“Oh, yes. I suppose that is a good bit of information to have. They are all over the Fortress and are found in some other places. They are like undead but also not and also dangerous.”

“I think I fought one once.”

“Really?”

“In a secret earlier in the dungeon. It was stronger than this one.”

Von stayed on top of the box, watching them with yellow eyes.

“Are you a vampire?”

“Kind of.”

“Okay. Are you dangerous?”

“No.”

Owin and Shade looked at each other. They both shrugged.

“Is there anything else to do in this village?” Owin asked.

“The cetanthro have been all worried about creatures in the pass. They might have a quest.”

“Uh.” Owin looked out of the village back into the pass. With how long the floors had gotten, he didn’t want to backtrack after finishing a quest. The journey back could take hours or days, depending on how long the floor actually was. “They can figure it out.”

“They won’t, but I understand what you’re saying,” Shade said. “Do you think there is anything exciting in the pass? Like a buffalo?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Well, then it would be all the more exciting. A water buffalo. Can you imagine such a sight?”

“No, Shade.”

The skeleton grabbed Owin’s shoulders and guided him back into the pass. “I’ll describe it with painfully specific details.”

“What’s painful about it?”

“The specifications, Owin. It will be so specific.”

Owin shrugged Shade’s hands off his shoulders. “Fine, but don’t distract me. I want to watch for mobs.”