As the armored tentacle of the octopus came down towards Hera, she sidestepped to the left, getting away from the edge of the ship. The last thing she needed was to be tossed overboard. Glancing towards the monster, a gigantic 2-meter-tall Cephalopoda, not counting the size of its tentacles, she triggered her [Observe].
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Diving Octopus - Level 28
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"As you can imagine, that thing uses metal mana. Be careful!" Hera yelled, but she realized that she had never read that information. It didn't show in her skill for some reason, but she could tell just by looking at it, and it wasn't because of the armor. No, she could almost see the mana moving inside the creature or feel what was happening. Looking at the octopus was like staring at a piece of metal being worked on in a forge. A brilliant piece of iron near its eyes would be hammered again and again as the mana moved towards the tip of its tentacles and cooled off, turning into that strengthened piece of metal that could crush almost anything.
Distracted by that, Hera failed to notice the next attack incoming. This time a swipe from left to right that everyone saw from a mile away, everyone except the Empress.
'JUMP NOW!' Armory screamed, making Hera instinctively obey. It wasn't because of the screaming but because of the urgency that came with that voice.
Hera jumped much higher than she expected, the energy that was still coming from Dao increasing her strength. She somersaulted, doing a full spin in the air and starting the second one. This wasn't exactly her intention, but she understood it was the [Battle Dancer] skill at work. When the guides taught her that, they helped the Empress realize that the skill wasn't just about rhythm but also about flair. Otherwise, every single person who trained in any form of combat would eventually get the skill. A dance was made to be seen, made to be performed, and the skill guided her body to do exactly that, to show off her abilities to both inspire fear and distract her opponents. In the end, it was a perfect match for her current skills.
The octopus was clever and understood that now its prey shouldn't be able to evade its attacks. After all, this bipedal creature didn't show any signs of being capable of flight. Just as Hera jumped to avoid the second attack, the octopus coiled one of its tentacles like a spring and sent it out to stab her.
Armory saw it all happening, and she had already sent orders to Ooze and Frost. The two blades with the highest strength attribute serve as footing for the Empress so she could evade the attack even while in the air. Both flew towards her feet and used their bodies to create very loose platforms. Pushing against them, Hera managed to change her direction. Instead of going straight down, she moved sideways towards the octopus. The tentacle passed right under her, stretching as much as possible and revealing weak spots in the sectioned armor covering this creature. Not willing to ignore this chance, Hera used Fang and Claw to attack, sending a few Poison Needles and some Bloody Claws at the monster. Blue blood started to pour from some of the wounds, and part of that went to Claw, increasing the dagger's strength and the number of Bloody Claws that it could generate. At the same time, the strikes that Hera was performing with Fang were pulling the poison that just entered the octopus' system making it both spread faster and weaken, but that increased the next poison needle that Hera sent through fang, which made the next attack pull even more poison. That was a vicious cycle that made the Empress and her court extremely happy. It's been a long time since she ever had a chance to fight against something where she could focus on herself, and she never managed to see Fang and Claw at their full strength.
She continued to spin in the air and attack, with Frost and Ooze doing their best to help her adjust her trajectory. With the attacks, the octopus tried to pull its tentacle back, but it seemed that the armor took a bit too long to readjust itself because of spring tentacle blow. She managed to get about halfway between her initial position and the monster before doing a three-point landing on the ground.
"Dao! Now!" Blue yelled, and Hera saw the new court member flying through the air and going between one of the exposed segments of armor. Just above her, there was a black cloud that was starting to flash white.
"Oh shit!" Hera gasped and rushed away, trying to get some distance between herself and that creature.
A lightning bolt came from the cloud and struck Dao thanks to the [Lightning Rod] ability. That made the entire octopus shake as it was being electrocuted. Not satisfied with that, Dao also cast her [Chain Lightning], burning the creature even more. The clockwork gears around the octopus' head stopped moving and the glass protecting its eyes exploded. With that combo, the monster stopped moving, but it didn't look like it was already dead. Trying to confirm what happened, Hera used her [Observe] again.
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Diving Octopus - Level 28 - Shocked - Heavily Wounded
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Dao came out of the gap she found as Hera prepared another Bloody Claw using all the blood the octopus had lost. She aimed at the now exposed eyes and covered Claw with a mana reinforcement. To her surprise, that mana changed and became blood mana instead, turning the red and blue claws of blood into more vibrant shades of color. Just looking at them floating around her dagger now felt dangerous. With a slash in the air, three regular and five octopus Blood Claws flew in a line toward the area where the glass was no longer protecting. The first two were blocked by what remained of the lenses and bronze around the creature's eyes, but the next six broke through until blue blood started to drip from most of its head armor. After just a few moments, the entire body dissolved, leaving behind only one of the sections of the armor around its tentacles.
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"Nice!" Hera cheered, but she didn't have time to check her status. More flying swordfish started to come from the water, and she had to fight.
"We are going to need more than double that amount!" Helena was coming from the captain's quarters with the barrel being dragged by her shadowgrabbers.
"Shit, fine. Blue, Hera, let's fish with dynamite," Adriel pulled one of his drones from his back, and the machine sprung to life. That was the only one with some markings on the sides, which indicated that this was the elf's relic.
The drone started rotating and shooting small spells out of it. Each one exploded in yellow light when it hit a monster or after traveling underwater for a few moments. Soon, some fish started to float, stunned by the impact. To Hera's surprise, no one hit by those spells had any exterior damage. Adriel was using a part of the relic that allowed him to stun his targets, which ended up being their saving grace as a few of the flying swordfish fell to the water or on the ship, and everyone felt the pressure lessen. There were fewer monsters now, which allowed them to focus more on small fights instead of a massive bombardment of attacks. All of that indicated a limit to how many creatures could be attacking them at once, and since the stunned fish wouldn't dissolve, they also counted for the critical mass.
Blue used her cloud that was already in the sky to call down lightning again, and Dao followed that up at Hera's command. Nimbus and Daskka turned back their focus on retrieving the stunned fish and tossing them in the barrel. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for another Diving Octopus to appear, but Helena was ready for it. The mage waved her hand, making the shadows between each section of the armor darker, and then she returned to carrying the barrel back to the captain's quarters. Hera was ready to fight that monster, who was preparing another spring tentacle blow, but when it attacked, it aimed at its own eyes, shattering the glass and shoving half the tentacle into its head. The body crumbled on top of itself and dissolved in just a few moments, leaving some gold coins behind.
"We are about halfway done. We need double that to complete the quest and a bit more for us!" Helena yelled as she came back. She just looked around and confirmed that the octopus was no longer there before returning to the ship's side.
"Did you make that monster kill itself?" Hera asked as she dodged a swordfish that her court killed a few meters behind her.
"Yes, I did. It's part of my specialty. I can do more than just remove the monster's senses now," Helena answered smugly. "I've wanted to try that since we were in the Seven Islands."
That explained why her spirits were so high, which was also the case for the rest of the group. Blue was grinning from ear to ear, Hera and her court were having a blast, and even Adriel seemed to enjoy himself, despite being unable to fish as he wanted. Clearly, being stuck in the Seven Islands took a toll on everyone, and it seemed like the challenges were not the best way to let out some steam. Here, on the other hand, where monsters could be killed quickly even if they were close to their levels and there were more than enough of them to go around, they were having a specific kind of power trip that was working wonders to help them relax.
Time went on, and they gathered more and more fish. Every five minutes or so, Helena would rush to the captain's quarters, dragging the fish barrel along to deposit all the fresh seafood into the scales. After two more trips, the mage came back yelling, "We are almost there. I think we need just a couple more fish. Let's add the ones we are taking back in this batch!"
"Got it!" the party replied as they killed another Diving Octopus.
'I think I know their triggering condition,' spoke Armory.
'What?' Hera asked as she spun around to dodge a flying swordfish before grabbing it by the tail and slamming it against the deck.
'The octopus. If I'm getting this right, they show up after we put a certain number of fish in the barrel. I think the number is 10 or maybe 12. Incoming on your left, jump back.'
Hera did what Armory said and let two of the monster fish slam against each other, becoming easy prey for the explorer, 'So the monsters here are based on the number of fish we caught? I noticed they only showed up after we had a few already.'
'That's what I'm assuming. I think the first swordfish came when we had five fish.'
'And the octopus 10?'
'Correct.'
'You don't think there is an even bigger tier, do you? Like something at 50?' Hera asked.
'Maybe, and we are about to find out,' Armory replied as Nimbus tossed another handful of fish into the barrel.
Hera was still fighting off a couple of swordfish when suddenly, something slammed into her from above. The shockwave caused both the Empress and the fish to tumble across the deck and crash into the railing. One of the swordfish that survived the explosion rammed into her as well, sending both of them tumbling through the deck. By all accounts, she should have been injured. Not in any big way, but whatever happened should have given her a few bruises. Yet, she wasn't feeling any pain. She noticed how Nimbus had one hand out pointing at her and felt a warm feeling around her body. It was cozy and felt like a blanket. Without having to hear a word, she understood that this was the Sentinel's barrier spell. Focusing back on the fight, she turned to whatever had just attacked her. In the middle of the boat was a humanoid creature with seaweed as armor or clothing. The being was 5 meters tall, extremely muscular, and had the face of a goblin shark. Hera quickly got into a defensive stance. That monster was staring right at her for some reason, which didn't feel good.
She was about to use her [Observe] to know what she was dealing with when Blue's voice echoed through the dungeon, "I AM THE STORM!"
The controller came from above. How far above? Hera couldn't tell. Even with the stunned fish, the fight was too hectic for her to pay attention to everyone, and she knew that Armory and Scythe were keeping an eye on everyone to make sure they were doing ok. Yet, at some point, Blue vanished and took to the skies. Now she came back, crashing down at the new monster and delivering a punch that made the entire boat sink about two meters in the water before its buoyancy made it return to its initial position. There was no thunder, no lighting, no wind, or anything, but the creature's head was gone. In its place, there was just a charred mess of flesh and teeth, while Blue was on the ground a few meters behind it, soaking wet and shivering. The monster's body fell to the ground with a loud thud and dissolved.
Monsters were still coming, so Hera wasn't able to help her friend right away. She could only stop them from getting to the controller. Helena was in the same situation, but she focused on the dungeon quest instead. If they could leave this place, they could check if Blue was ok. The mage dumped a few fish on the barrel sitting on the scale, and a bell rang. The sound worked almost like a barrier, pushing all the monsters away and making a bubble around the ship. The notification saying they had completed the quest appeared for everyone.
Hera ignored that and rushed to her friend, "Blue! Are you ok?"
"Y-y-yeah. I'm j-j-just cold. I-i-it's the ski-i-i-i-ills drawb-b-back."