Mia ran towards the dungeon as fast as she could, ignoring the world around her as much as she could manage. Everywhere around her there were signs that war was coming and she didn't like it one bit. She remembers the times in her old life where she got caught at the start of a conflict and it was one of the worst situations one could get into. If things were already under way, fighting was to be expected. If things were ending, that was a resolution and people would hope and wait for it. But the start was the part where most people were most off guard, specially in this situation where the city was strained. Well, this was all true in this specific situation anyways. More often than not, when war was coming, the people who were going to be caught in the middle of it knew.
As she began to approach the outside of town, near the area where the dungeon was, less and less people were gathering, until there was just a group of guards guarding a badly made road that went to the middle of the untamed forest. That road led to the dungeon.
One of the guards was going to try to stop Mia but another one got in the way and just signaled to let her pass. The other guards looked at him in confusion but once Mia got through them, they realized that she was more powerful than all of them combined, something that Mia should have noticed but her mental state was not the best and she was letting a lot of power flow out of her that she normally didn't.
After a few more minutes of running, she finally arrived at the dungeon. A big hole going down into the earth in the direction of the ocean, which by Mia's calculation, was just a few kilometers to the east, if she decided to brave the forest in that direction.
“Well Mia. It's now or never. Let's fix one problem at a time, first the dungeon, then your messed up head.“ Mia said to herself, trying and somewhat managing to calm herself down.
Mia got into the hole and began to walk. A few moments later she felt the shift in dimensions, like entering a pocket space created by dimensional magic, just bigger and more wild.
After that sensation was over, Mia quickly created an air bubble around her as she was entering the dungeon proper.
Inside was not what she was expecting. The descriptions given to her was that she would be underwater but would still have solid ground just a few meters away but this was the worst nightmare of a lot of people. Everywhere she looked there was just water and darkness. If not for the lights she conjured herself, she wouldn’t be seeing anything.
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When picturing the depths of the ocean, Mia pictured this if living things weren't in the picture. If not for gravity, Mia could easily lose the sense of up and down.
Using jets of air, Mia began to move in a random direction while sending balls of light to illuminate the way ahead of her.
As she did that she couldn't help but wonder if she could handle the water pressure. Not that she would test it.
Mia jetted in random directions for about an hour and found nothing. There were no signs of a floor, a ceiling, monsters, anything really. It was relaxing in a strange way that she couldn't describe.
After making one last check, she decided that it was better to go back to town and ask if anything happened. This was not normal. But as soon as the thought formed in Mia's mind, something made itself known.
Two shining balls of light suddenly appeared in front of Mia, Eyes, that of a serpent. Mana began to move around those eyes, illuminating the creature's head and then its body as it began to circulate mana.
Under normal circumstances Mia would just have attacked the creature, a giant sea serpent, but attacking at that moment would mean giving up the air bubble for a while and the mana of the creature was moving the water in chaotic ways that would pop the bubble as it was being made. Luckily, a fully formed one was able to withstand the chaos.
“I AM THE KING OF THIS ABYSS! YOU SHALL BE MY SUSTENANCE AND THE KEY TO MY FREEDOM!“ Mia heard and felt the creature speak to her. There wasn't going to be any discussion here. One of the two would die at the end of this and there was nothing either could do to change this outcome.
Outside the dungeon
“Hey, you sure the plan worked?“ The elf woman asked.
“She is inside, isn't she?“ The sickly man asked back.
“But what if she loses?“ the elf woman asked.
“We kill the dungeon master or do you think we are weaker than that overgrown snake? It only became as powerful as it is now because we helped it.“
“Do you think it believed in the whole 'true freedom' thing?“ The muscular man asked.
“It doesn't matter if it did or didn't. One way or another, something is leaving that dungeon and we are going to kill it. Now contact the others so we can get ready.“ The sickly man commanded.