“So, Rocky, that’s the rock golem from yesterday. He told me that there are thirteen “ground clans” and seven “sky clans” that rule under Siht. That’s the dragon queen lady. And by rule, he meant like they get protection money and unique benefits from Siht and stuff. Real tough monsters. So anyways then I was like, but what about the army? And he said that was only for chaff. And by chaff, I think he meant monsters nobody likes. But we got a tattoo that means we have to fight, right? Does that mean nobody like us?”
Gi blinked blearily as Poe continued to chatter away about everything he’d learned yesterday. He was confident that there was some good information in his blabber somewhere, but he couldn’t muster the attention to catch it as tired as he was. Taking a glance at his last test from yesterday, Test 104, he felt much better about his chances today. Assuming Elizabeth was still willing to let him come.
He and Poe stepped out of their house and Poe flew off to “gather more information.” Elizabeth was waiting outside. In the distance, Gi could see that more monsters had come down to the foot of the Underbridge and appeared to be standing guard. There wasn’t quite an army there, but far more than he’d seen previously. Would the attack come today?
“Let’s go,” Elizabeth said without any mention of the [Persuasion] incident yesterday. Not willing to bring it up himself, the two of them dove into the lake and continued down into the kelp forest. Like before, she spoke very little as they descended, but he followed her as she headed towards the eastern part of the lake. The kelp was particularly thick in this area with some of them being nestled right up against another. Elizabeth stopped.
Four.
Gi had no idea how she was sensing them as they were invisible to him, but even still, four Pikes exploded out of the kelp and charged straight towards them. With the same precision as yesterday, Elizabeth started to pluck at the air sending out her snowflakes that would freeze the Pike’s solid. Gi shivered, partially from the chill and partially from excitement. Now was the time to put forward what he'd practiced.
Like a snake, Gi swerved forward, his back legs kicking him off to the side and one of the Pikes peeled off. As jobbies, their intelligence was supposed to be higher than a monster in the Child Stage, but the Pikes always reacted the same once they broke ambush. A direct charge.
Dodging its snapping teeth, Gi shot around one of the kelp, sliding through one of its waves. The Pike followed directly after which was exactly what Gi wanted. He activated [Celerity] except this time he strained his internal energy, forcing to move just a little bit faster. He’d tried it several more times since his first test, but every time, it felt the same as though he was straining against a great weight. It still worked though.
He kicked out, flipping above the charging Pike and its eyes followed him, but it was just a scale too slow on the second turn. Gi killed [Celerity] redirecting all of his internal energy into his palm. It gathered to the point that it would normally allow [Divine Bolt] to fire off, but he’d gotten too much distance to have any hope of hitting the Pike with a regular [Divine Bolt]. Instead, he held it in.
It felt like a great pressure was building as internal energy continued to stream towards his palm, but none was being released in an attack. The Pike had finally gotten itself spun around and charged towards him. Elizabeth had already sent a snowflake towards this last enemy, but Gi wasn’t going to let her get all the kills today. As it approached, its giant maw opened again and Gi made the slightest shift upward before he placed his palm down towards the top of its snout.
Dozens of arrows of light exploded out of his hand. All of them were diffused by the turbulent water, but even smaller than his normal bolts, there were just too many to actually miss. A handful of bolts of light exploded into its snout and the giant fish started to twitch and flail in pain. Unwilling to let the snowflake finish it off, Gi swam toward the bucking fish and activated [Bishop]. He and the newly summoned albino bishop finished the fish off with two quick bashes of their rocks to its already damaged skull just a second before Elizabeth’s snowflake hit.
Dragon Pike defeated!
1 Soul Orb received. Current Soul Orbs: 2.
She’d only frozen its newly dead corpse. Gi slapped paws in celebration with his summoned otter just as he disappeared. Elizabeth swam over and gave him an appraising look.
You adjusted your skill quickly. Your light attack still doesn’t do as much damage as it would on the surface, but it was a clever adaptation. You might have some talent yet.
Gi didn’t know how to speak back to her underwater so he just gave a grin. He cycled back to [Merfolk’s Blessing] so he could take a few deep gulps of breath. As excited as he was, forcing both [Celerity] and [Divine Bolt] made him even more exhausted. He doubt he’d be able to manage it on every group, but he was going to push himself until he could. Elizabeth didn’t say anything else though and simply gathered his Pike into her net and continued onward.
The two of them fought several more groups over the next few hours and Gi was only able to reproduce his success maybe half the time, but he’d gotten seven Pikes so far. That was twenty one copper. If he could manage the same amount every day, he could keep both him and Poe fed. It was enough to sustain them, but Gi wanted more. Danna might be forgiving of his failures, but her goal for him was beyond his current status. It had to be.
After maybe their fifteenth group, they finally reached the lake floor. The surface was completely concealed by the kelp canopy, but little hints of light still peeked through. Strangely, a blue light ahead of them was providing most of the light needed for them to see.
That blue light danced in Elizabeth's dull eyes and her mouth quirked up into a small smile. Her dead eyes and rare smile horrified him.
The center of the lake. Whether human or monster, we all must fight for the peak. Those without the courage or ferocity to walk where others have not are doomed to mediocrity. She looked over at him. Do we explore the depths?
The blue light called to Gi, but a large part of him was still afraid. He hadn't been able to hurt the Pikes at all yesterday. What dangers lurked at the center? His hand shook as he gripped the necklace that had been created from his Focus. Was it foolish to go ahead? Or was it cowardly to stay behind?
He prayed to Danna asking her what to do, but there was no flash of insight from her. She was expecting him to make this decision himself.
While his own tools might not be best adapted underwater, he did have Elizabeth. If she didn't take whatever opportunities were there for herself, that would make him much more likely to succeed just him alone. Even if she did, maybe he'd learn more about what constitutes a unique opportunity and be better prepared in the future.
He clenched his shaking paw and nodded.
Elizabeth pushed past one of the kelp trees and it drifted back and forth before returning to its fully upright position. Not wanting to be seen, Gi crept along the lakebed more crawling than swimming as he slid between each of the giant kelp. The blue light didn't grow brighter as they got closer, but it started to take up more and more of his vision. It banished the shadows around much of the kelp so Gi almost didn't notice when they'd reached the end of the kelp forest.
In a huge clearing along the lake bed, there were a handful of buildings. Most of them were low flat domes that only hit a single story, but there were a handful of larger domes with one in particular dominating the scene at nearly five stories tall. Each of them were made out of a red metamorphic rock that had been polished to a shine similar to marble or granite. Paved bricks of the same material covered the floor of the clearing forming neat streets between each of the buildings.
The only variations in color were where some of the giant kelp dotted the strange underwater city scape. The blue light expanded from a a crystal in the center of the city that floated in the top floor of the largest building. Its light made the red buildings seem almost black in some areas where it was brightest.
They were just about to move in when a giant shadow appeared in between two buildings and then darted into the light. It had the same coloration as the Pikes with its silver scales, but the resemblance ended there. This creature had four limbs like a lizard with a giant fin that ran down its back and dozens of smaller fins that ran along its side. A long tail snaked out from its back with a sharp bone that protruded from the end. At least twenty Pikes followed along behind it like the strangest school of fish Gi had ever seen.
He glanced over to Elizabeth and she had a sour look on her face. When she saw him looking, she explained. All jobbies. I wouldn't get much out of this opportunity. After saying that, she studied him in a way that felt a bit too much like a cat who'd pinned a mouse by its tail. Then again, maybe you can make it worth my while. How would you like to be in debt to me?
The giant lizard was only a jobbie? He'd have put it at least in the next stage up from him. Why were all these other monsters so much stronger than him? This was the reason he'd pushed towards the light. What could he get if he defeated this monstrous enemy? He watched as the giant lizard drifted behind another building and its entourage of Pikes followed. He'd definitely need help. A glance towards Elizabeth what he was thinking.
Twenty five silver and I'll let you have the opportunity. Another twenty five and I'll take out the extras. Other than what you need to eat, I get the rest until your debt is paid in full. Deal?
That was expensive, but with the small fortune that he'd gotten in the Dungeon, he could afford it. He nodded his assent and then started scanning the underwater city. He needed to make a plan.