Cinderfy’s POV

“Come on Cinder, hold on! If you lose grip on this pole who knows where you’ll end up?” Despite the constant spinning and turning in the rough current, I mentally cheered myself on. It didn’t matter that I had gotten separated from the rest of the raid, as death would eventually lead me back. I just didn’t want to give these bastards the satisfaction without taking my own pound of flesh!

Time had no meaning, everything revolved around the pole and the strange form of fishman on the other end of it. It had long since come away from around my neck, and the creature on the other end was very keen on getting it back where it thought it belonged. I disagreed.

Without warning, we were ejected from the current. The pole was torn from my hand, and I was sent rolling across a sandy platform. As I struggled get oriented, I saw the creature approaching at a brisk pace. I managed to get my hands up, but momentum knocked me onto my back as I barely kept the pole away from my neck. It was a struggle we both knew I was going to lose, as the grin on the face made me realize. I also realized I was all alone, and there was no chance of hitting an ally.

“[Lightning bolt].” I channeled the spell into the coral weapon of the creature, and though I took some blowback he got the worst of it. As its muscles locked up in agony, I swung the pole away and got to my feet. “Didn’t like that much, did ya?” I taunted as he got his muscles back under control. It responded by charging at me with its mouth open, far too tempting of a target.

“[Azure firebolt].” I didn’t know if sea creatures could scream, but it did let out an impressive amount of bubbles as it dug at its throat. I reached in and grabbed a knife off its belt, and started slashing wildly at the throat to help him get all that burned air out. Sure, I probably hit more fingers than throat, but eventually I got a good jab in and managed a rather jagged wound. It didn’t take long after that for the creature to fall over in death.

“At least I got one of you.” I muttered as I looted the body. I got a knife and his boots, nothing too special. Turning, I took a look at where I was.

Sargasso Seafloor

Dungeon level 7

Almost anything can be found on the Sargasso Seafloor. Located at the edge of a continental shelf and dropping off rapidly into the dark abyss, extreme care must be taken. The deep waters limit even darkvision.

After dismissing the popup, I sucked in a breath. I was in a sandy area designed for whatever the current spat out. Closing in on my position were three of the hunters. Beyond them was an underwater village, houses made from caves carved into coral reefs. I could see other fish people working there, but I was too far away for details. Holding my weapon like a kitchen knife, I watched the hunters close in. Hopefully they would assume that I was a melee fighter, and get within my limited range. Unfortunately, they pulled up short and pulled out a few needles from their nets. In my flailing, I managed to deflect one, but three others pierced my arms and one hit me in the chest.

Paralyzed!

You have been struck by a potent paralytic poison. Unable to move for 1 minute.

I froze, and the hunters grinned as two came closer, the third running back towards the village. One would occasionally poke me with another needle, roughly every 45 seconds or so. The other had taken my knife and checked to make sure that I had no other weapons. At least they couldn’t get into my inventory.

A few minutes later, and the third hunter returned with a few others carrying a cross. My wrists and ankles were lashed to it, and I was carried into the village. At least I wouldn’t be cooked over a fire, unless they somehow had a volcanic vent nearby.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mr. Whisker’s POV

I sat down a slight distance away from most of the people in the raid, and looked things over. It wasn’t good. Several were already laying down for a quick nap, and most of the rest had the sunken eye look of someone who had been pushed too hard for too long.

“Ya know, you can’t be thinkin’ this hard all the time. You’ll go crazy.” Lucy said as she plopped down next to me.

“Ain’t that the truth?” I chuckled.

“So what’s on your mind?”

“How much longer before people start breaking. I think we have one, maybe two more hours to find an absolutely safe spot and bunker down before everything starts falling apart.”

“Glad you see the issue as well. Just, is there ever going to be a safe spot in this dungeon?”

“If I were designing it? Not a chance. But if the developers had some hidden rules that I had to follow? I’m betting there’s one coming up soon. Otherwise nobody would be able to clear a dungeon.”

“Point.” She responded, nodding. “Wherever it is, it sure as hell ain’t gonna be on this floor. Can you imagine trying to rest with all these blasted crabs?”

“Don’t forget the ambushing fishmen and the currents should you get too close to an edge.”

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Diver shouted, frantically beating against his chest.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I ran over, people clearing around him. Now that I took a good look, his once white robes were nearly entirely pink.

“I’m in critical durability!”

“Of what?”

“My robes! I don’t understand it!”

I got a sinking feeling, especially when I saw a wisp of pink float away from his shoulder. I got a little closer, and used identify on his robes. Specifically, the pink portion of them.

Pink Tide

A nasty algae bloom, it infests and consumes whatever it can get attached to. It will spread until the substrate is completely consumed, then small portions will detach and look for other hosts. Unlike more deadly blooms, the Pink Tide produces no toxins. Extreme heat is the best way to eradicate the infection, though care must be taken to ensure the colonies complete destruction.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Sly bastard. That isn’t a pink dye that stains your clothes, it’s an algae bloom that is eating your gear. Someone cast flame cloak on both Diver and DeathFromAbove. He’s probably losing durability as well.”

“Holy crap, I am!” He shouted, as Grandelf stepped forward.

“[Flamecloak]. [Flamecloak].” He had to wait thirty seconds between casts, but soon both were surrounded by swirling bubble as the nearby water boiled. Grandelf gave them each a minute before cancelling the spells to reveal clothes with holes worn in them.

“Oh no. Nononononononooooooooo!” Diver cried, falling to his knees. “This can’t be happening!”

“What’s wrong?” Grandelf asked, looking him over to make sure all the pink was gone. The only thing left to everyone’s eyes were light brown stains that were breaking up and drifting off as the two unlucky players moved.

“The enchantments!”

“What about the enchantments?”

“Here, just read it.” Diver wailed, sending everyone a notification.

Warning!

Robes disenchanted!

Your robes have been eaten by a colony of algae! While this normally only lowers durability, the algae was particularly fond of eating the magical threads that enchanted your gear. As such, the enchantment has been completely destroyed. The only way to salvage it is to repair with the same magical threads used in its creation and reapplying the enchantments. Repairing in any other way will result in regular robes that provide no bonuses.

“Grandelf, go ahead and hit everyone in the raid with that flamecloak spell. Diver, do you have anything to replace your robes with?”

“It’s not nearly as good but I do have acolyte robes.”

“Alright, go ahead and use that for now. If we find anything better in the dungeon, we’ll go ahead and let you use it. Death, how’s your stuff?”

“I lost half the enchantment strength, but it is repairable.” He answered. “Seems it has a bit tougher time going through leather.”

We settled back in to relax and wait for the resurrection group to return. Grandelf and Peppermint were moving between people, making sure that everyone spent at least a minute to destroy any algae blooms that they might have come in contact with.

“Did you miss us?” Dave called out, causing a few people to immediately jump with hands on weapon hilts.

“Welcome back!” Lucy replied, though she tilted her head in confusion. “Aren’t you one person short?”

“Cinderfy never showed up. When we got there, Goldguard was already waiting. We gave Cinder another ten minutes, then came back.” He said with a shrug.

“Damn. That means Cinder is alive somewhere. Let’s go ahead and press on, trying to speed things up.” I said, getting groans from a lot of people. We fell into formation fairly quickly, continuing our trek. It was rather obvious now that we were moving downhill, and the curve in the road was much more pronounced. The deeper we got, the thinner the seaweed forest became, but we were still losing light rapidly.

“Anyone else see that?” Peppermint asked, pointing upward and into one bit of the forest.

“What did you see?” Dave asked, squinting as he tried to see into the gloom.

“Long, dark shape. Couldn’t quite make it out, but it seemed to be almost all tail.”

“Mages, if you have the magelight spell, please send it off into the forest. Let’s see what we can flush out.” Several balls of light were immediately sent, followed a few seconds later by a second volley.

“Good God, would you look at that.” Someone muttered, as a sleek shark slipped easily between the lights. Nearing 40 feet, it was enormous. Nearly a third of that length was the upper portion of a tail. It would normally be just out of our visual range, and its movements made it easy to tell that it had been circling the raid for a while.

“How did we ever miss that?”

“It was just. . . sitting there? Watching us?”

“Fuck this dungeon man. This is why I don’t do oceans. Too many things with too much teeth, just waiting to come and bite you. And you have no idea just how close they can come.”

“Calm down Chaos-.”

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN DAMNIT!” Chaosbringer shouted at Dave. “I fucking hate the ocean, and this is exactly why. What else is out there hunting us? Huh? Tell me!”

“Chaos, take a deep breath.” I said, walking over. I put a hand on each shoulder, and got in his face so he could only see me. “I know you’re scared. It’s a perfectly normal response. Take a deep breath. There you go, that’s it. Another. Deep breath. Now remember. We are in a fantasy world. You’re a badass berserker with a massive greatsword. Any shark that comes to take a bite out of you? It better have training as a sword swallower or its gonna have a bad day, right?”

“Yeah.” He said, nodding along. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Gonna make the fucker choke on my blade.”

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!” Dave chuckled, slapping him on the back.

“Alright, we have a choice here. Anyone get an identification on it?” I asked.

“I got ya.” Shocker stepped forward, sending a notification to the rest of the raid.

Mithril Tail Thresher Shark

Level 225

A variant of the thresher shark, the mithril tail has strands of metal flowing through its skin granting it extra defense. Usually solitary hunters, these sharks divide hunting depth based upon strength and size.

“If that ain’t a floor boss, I’m a monkey’s uncle.” Brosef said after reading the description. “Y’all want me to try and pull it?” Everyone was in agreement, so Brosef started us off. “[Prismatic blast].” Though it did minimal damage, with as wide of a spread from the diffraction the attack was a guaranteed hit.

“Imma turn you into sushi!” GoldGuard yelled as a taunt, diverting the shark’s attack. After slamming into his shield and getting a slash to the snout in return, the ranged attackers started piling on. The shark stopped attacking GoldGuard, and started circling the raid. Then it did something none of us expected. Just like a whip, it cracked its tail above the group of healers, stunning them with the shockwave.

“No healing for a bit!” Someone called out, and I heard at least three other people repeat it to make sure that everyone knew. Turning, the shark cut through the raid group, using its metal skin as a weapon. The speed of the attack was incredible, and half of the attack skills missed completely.

“Damn, how are we going to slow this guy down?” I muttered, looking around. The druids couldn’t conjure a plant binding fast enough, and the ice skills would shatter against that skin.

“I got this.” Brock said, keeping a close eye on the shark. Once again it turned to run through the raid. “[Fists of the Stone Giant].” The shark shattered the first fist, but that was fine. Brock just needed it to slow down enough to get hit with the massive overhand blow from the other fist, knocking it nose first into the kelp highway.

“[Binding vines].” All the druids cast the spell at the same time, and managed to bind up the majority of the shark.

“[Shield rush]!” Dave tried to close the distance, but only moved forward one step as the resistance of the water was far too much to handle.

“[Blink][Crippling blows][Storm of blades][Midnight’s Kiss].” While others were concentrating on the main body, I tried to shred the elongated upper portion of the tail so that it couldn’t do that whip crack attack again. “It’s got physical melee reflect!” I called out a warning, grimacing as my health dropped a bit with each attack.

With the raid warned and the healer’s recovered from their stun, we fell into an easy pattern. The druids would rotate binding skills, keeping the shark pinned. People would rotate in and out, leaving the healers to keep up the tanks’ health.

That’s not to say the shark didn’t have a few tricks of its own. Every so often it would spin, shredding the vines holding it and causing horrid bleeding damage to anyone within range. Luckily the cooldown for that skill was the same as for Brock’s giant hands skill, and he would use it to hold the shark still while the druids locked it down again. Eventually it started releasing lightning attacks, which really slowed down the damage we were able to inflict. Not only did it have a fairly high chance for a one second paralysis, but the extra damage forced the melee groups to rotate out faster so the healers weren’t overburdened. We were persistent though, and ten minutes of battle saw the shark perishing.

Danger! One of the guardians has been slain.

Denizens of the Depths grow bolder.

“Oh fuck me.” Someone groaned as we all received a notification, and I had to agree. What fun stuff had we unwittingly released?

“We’ll deal with it when we have to, just like everything else. Loot the shark, and let’s get going.” I ordered, and we set off once again. Twenty five units of metallic sharkskin, ten shark teeth, the artisans were going to be fighting over the drops.