Liam sprinted out of the room. The boat rocked violently every few seconds as if the waves outside were getting rougher as he made his way up the stairs. It had taken him more time than he would have liked since he was getting thrown from side to side, but the moment he finally reached the deck his eyes widened.
Creatures of different sizes, colors, and looks scattered across the deck and air. There were silver fish with clear light green fins shooting out streams of water as they flew around, creatures with small spherical bodies and long thin sharp legs scrapping across the wooden deck, and even creatures that looked oddly like…
Liam stared at these creatures with wide confused eyes as he muttered, “Are those…Narwhales?”
Liam quickly assessed the creatures as he took them all in.
[Crackling Narwhale. 87,200/87,200 HP. 64,875/64,875 MP. Level – 45]
[Frigid Narwhale. 15,520/15,520 HP. 8,880/8,880 MP. Level 25.]
[Breezy Fly Fish. 56,400/56,400 HP. 32,000/32,000 MP. Level – 32.]
[Breezy Fly Fish. 26,120/26,120 HP. 10,000/10,000 MP. Level – 23.]
[Oceanic Skitter. 10,610/10,610 HP. 7,890/7,890 MP. Level – 20.]
The range of levels between each monster was surprising to Liam. While the highest he came across was level forty five and the lowest was level twenty, there were too many in between for him to keep track of them. However, no matter how many creatures hopped onboard the ship the crewmen and women were quickly and easily killing them.
Liam was surprised how fast and efficiently these men and women were fighting. Those with Water Magic used their abilities to either counter the waves or streams of water being shot at those who had their backs fighting against the bigger creatures while also landing some of their own attacks on creatures who didn’t see it coming.
Those with Barrier Magic created small shields right on time to protect their comrades from lightning and icicle strikes the Narwhales shot out from the long sharp horns on their heads before getting sliced or battered from those attacking with swords, spears, axes, hammers, and maces.
None of that, however, was as impressive as Uncle Naro and Key who were killing scores of monsters that were flying or trying to hop onto the boat from the front. Liam was both mesmerized and amazed by how easy they were killing each creature. He stared at how effortlessly they were chopping each creature’s head off or how swiftly some of the monster’s bodies were being separated. It wasn’t just how they attacked that had Liam’s attention though. It was their teamwork that caught his eye as well.
Without words or hand gestures, they easily switched positions and killed monsters that the other didn’t see coming. Or at least, it looked like they didn’t see those monsters coming. What made Liam believe that was how Key moved her body. Her flexibility when she ducked, dodged, rolled, or even jumped showed off how skilled she was as she not only danced around each monster, but also danced around Uncle Naro as he swung his Meat Cleavers in Key’s direction.
Liam could see how he trusted the smaller woman would get out of the way of his strikes as she moved around, under, or even over his weapons. He could also see how the woman trusted the much bigger man would finish off creatures she didn’t with her too fast to keep up with sword strikes.
“Liam!” Avery’s voice suddenly called out, snapping him out of his stupor.
Liam turned to see her making her way towards him. He could also see that everyone, including Omira and Gimmel were taking up supporting roles as they kept together, keeping out of the crews way. Mercer fired off arrow after arrow, aiming to not kill but injure any creature he could as he had a Bard Sphere playing one of his buff songs. Ariyana chanted out spell after spell creating illusions to cause some of the monsters to have something to focus on or even chanting spells that affected some of the monsters’ senses.
Roman, following Ariyana’s example, used some of his Illusion Magic in the same manner while also using his own Lightning Spells to land paralyzing attacks along with his Lightning Hand. Most of the time he failed on causing a paralyzing effect, but it looked like not all were failures. Artem took on the role as a healer as he used his Aqua Sphere and Healing Sphere just like how he was practicing. Small streams of water landing on some of the crewmen and women that were unlucky enough to get a hit landed on them.
Blair on the other hand was around a small group of crewmen that were attacking a good amount of creatures. When they had killed the last of them they looked at Blair and gave her a thumbs up. Blair then whirled on a group of monsters that were rushing towards unsuspecting crewmen before crossing her arms against her chest. A faint violet color pulsed from her gloves before coating her entire body.
After a few seconds she then threw her arms out and let out a powerful scream causing the arcane mana that was surrounding her to explode out from her like a dome of power, running over the monsters and causing them to stop. Those that were washed over with the power quickly turned around and raced towards Blair. However, before they could reach her the crew that were around her swiftly attacked them.
Gimmel had one of his spider puppets racing around the area. It bounced from one creature to the next, taking a bite before leaping. Shortly after the puppet jumped away, the creatures looked to slow down just a bit and stumble around before coming back to its senses. This brief moment of weakness though was all it took for a crewmember to reach them and kill them. Omira, surprisingly, used water magic to create a barrier to stop some of the creatures from reaching them. Every now and then she shot out a blade of water, cutting off a fin on one of the flying fish creatures.
“What the hell is going on?” Liam asked, confused and also a bit excited.
“We’re being attacked by monsters. What else does it look like?” Avery responded, sounding slightly annoyed.
“I get that, but where did they come from?” Liam questioned.
“Ah, apparently this is called a Sea Parade,” Avery stated. “I don’t know the full details, but its kind of like a wave dungeon except its out here in the sea….” Avery looked like she was trying to think about how to explain it better. She looked even more annoyed as she continued, “I guess they are like a school of aquatic monsters that roam together. However, instead of there being one or two Wave Bosses there is a single Boss monster that rules them…” She brought up a hand to her chin as she muttered, “Or was it guide them? I don’t know.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Avery! We could use some help over here!” Roman called out.
“I’m coming!” Avery shot back with a grumble before looking back at Liam and informing, “Anyways, Key and Uncle Naro think this is a good way for us to gain some levels on some of our skills, abilities, and magical stuff. We’re not supposed to fully engage any creatures on our own since most of these monsters are way above our levels but try to land as many attacks as we can while assisting the crew. Come on.”
At those words, Liam understood why she seemed annoyed. Avery wasn’t one that liked to be told not to fully engage a monster. She looked like she really wanted to test something out. However, after seeing the levels, health, and mana pools on most of these monsters, Liam could understand Key’s and Uncle Naro’s understanding for not wanting them to attack them head on.
Without a word Avery turned around and made her way over to the others. Liam followed close behind her and found a spot of his own. As he made his way over there he thought about what he wanted to work on and settled on a certain new tool weapon Uncle Naro had given him last night.
Once in place, Liam pulled out two rod like instruments. They were pitch black with swirls of transparent areas that started near the sharp tip at the top and ended somewhere in the middle. Their length was as long as the tips of his hands towards his elbow and around a quarter thick as his forearms. At the back end of the instrument was a loop that looked like you could tie something to it. These tool weapons were called Toxo Bone Needles.
The transparent area that he could see was a circular vial that Uncle Naro expertly crafted into the tool weapon that, when filled by placing the sharp needle end into a vial of poison, would show how much venom, poison, or toxins was left inside. The loop at the bottom end was where he could tie string strong enough not to break around it. The Toxo Bone Needle was both sturdy and flexible enough to bend while piercing a target.
Liam called forth two Arcane Hands and handed the Toxo Bone Needles to them. Taking a deep breath he activated Mana Blend with one of his Arcane Hands. Once it activated he felt something weird happen. Instead of the Arcane Hand gripping the tool weapon, the hand started to blend with it entirely. This shocked Liam as he watched this happen. A chime echoed in his mind, telling him that something leveled up. Curious he looked at it.
[Congratulations! Non-Class Magical Ability Mana Blend has reached level 10! Progression to level 11: 0%! You can now use Mana Blend on two objects, weapons, or equipment. Your understanding and usage of Mana Blend has allowed you to coat the object, weapon, or equipment with more Mana Type mana easier. If user is using Mana Type Hands then the Mana Type Hand will completely fuse with the object, weapon, or equipment until user chooses not to or ends the spell. Can only do this with one Mana Type Hand until level and Knowledge Theory of ability increases.]
“Huh. That pretty cool,” Liam muttered. Then with a sarcastic, but resigned tone of voice he added, “However, it would be better if I could understand how to better utilize Arcane Hand.” He then pulled out a vial of poison he had worked on a few days ago. He moved the Toxo Bone Needles to dip the sharp needle tips into it so they could suck up the poison. As he did this he felt a reaction happen with the Toxo Bone Needle he had his Mana Blend activated on.
It was subtle at first, but as the Toxo Bone Needle sucked in more of the poison, the feeling started to grow. He stared at the object for a long second before looking at the dark green poison that rested with in it. He wasn’t sure, but he felt like the change he was feeling was there. Going along with his gut, he activate Mana Sight and saw something interesting.
The Arcane Mana that was coating the weapon was mixing with the poison inside it, making the poison a bit more potent. This both shocked and surprised Liam. He didn’t know how or why, but the sudden discovery brought his thoughts back to the discussion Blair had with them when she explained one of the conditions she had to meet to gain her evolved class.
As he thought about that discussion, he wondered if him thinking about how she viewed Arcane Mana or Arcane Magic affected his outlook on it which led him to this. Did his questioning of whether Arcane Magic and Mana could be used as a catalyst change how he looked at Arcane Magic entirely? If that was true then why didn’t he see any changes to his Arcane Abilities?:
“Liam look out!” Roman shouted as he grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back in time to dodge a lightning strike.
Liam’s eyes widened as he watched the sudden streak of lightning fly by his face. He grimaced before looking at Roman and thanking him for the save. Roman looked at Liam in the eyes and frowned at him. “Dude, what’s going on? We might not be in a dungeon, but there are still monsters around us. You need to be more careful.”
Liam nodded. “Yeah…sorry…I was just surprised by…”
Roman quickly cut him off as he said, “Sorry, let’s talk about it later. I need to try and level up my Lightning Magic and Lightning Hand while I still can. We don’t know how long this Sea Parade thing will last.”
Liam nodded once more as he watched Roman turn around and attack a creature that flew by the group. Liam turned around. He knew Roman was right. this Sea Parade thing was a perfect environment to utilize what he’s been training as well as get some Skill Weapon levels in his new weapon. He was already at a disadvantage trying to use two right now. Normally he would be denied dual wielding a tool weapon if it wasn’t at level ten, but since his Mana Hands, or at least the Mana Hand without Mana Blend, wasn’t truly considered his actual hand he was able to do it. The penalty for it being a low level though was still there.
With a look of determination on his face, Liam pushed aside his thoughts on his discovery and focused on the task at hand. He pulled out a couple of throwing daggers and aimed for a creature. After throwing them and drawing the creature closer to him, he sent his Toxo Bone Needles to pierce the monster. Due to both the penalty and the low level, the sharp needle tip hardly pricked the monster’s skin. After pulling them back and trying to stab the creature several times though, the sharp needle tips were eventually able to dig through the skin. When the needle tips finally punctured deep enough he received a notification stating that he received the Weapon Skill Needle.
A couple of the crewmen saw what was going on and waited until he was able to land a blow before swooping in and finishing the monster off. As they finished the monster off, Liam focused on the next one and repeated his string of attacks. The repeating actions of him drawing monsters close enough after throwing his daggers at them and sending his Toxo Bone Needles felt tedious and boring, but at the same time he was seeing results.
The ease of puncturing and even being able to pierce the entire tool weapon in and out of the monster was starting to bear fruit as his levels in the Weapon Skill grew. To his surprise he was also gaining levels in his Tailoring Craft ability Needlework Precision.
After what felt like was a couple of hours had passed, Liam reached level ten in both the Weapon Skill and the Tailoring ability. He had also received a couple levels in Arcane Mana Type, Mana Blend, and Arcane Hand. These levels came in just in time too as the amount of monsters that were appearing had slowed down quite a bit before the last monster died. At least what they believed was the last monster.
As soon as the last creature that hopped onto the ship fell, the waters around them rippled violently. A large dark shadow within the waters started to appear on the left side of the ship. Key and Uncle Naro saw it before it broke the surface and shouted out for those with the Field of the Barrier to start making barriers to protect those who were low in levels. As soon as they finished their chants, several translucent golden domes scattered over the deck, covering as many people as they could.
A bright bluish green orb of light emerged from the water. Attached to this orb of light was a long dark blue rod that curved up into the air before going back into the water. As this orb and rod started to rise it didn’t take long to see what the other end it was attached to looked like. A massive head that was almost as long as half the ship shot up. A loud ear splitting shriek pierced the sky as its massive mouth opened wide. Rows upon rows of sharp teeth were seen inside the mouth. Its massive dull black orbed eyes blinked several times as it looked down at the people on the ship. Liam assessed the creature, curious to know what monstrosity was before them.
[Deep Sea Angular Lotan Spawn. 100,578/100,578 HP. 87,655/87,655 MP. Level - ??]