Air bubbles escaped out of Akira's mouth as he was pulled and pushed down the dark water passage.
The hundreds of grabbing hands were not gentle with him. They slammed him into the smooth stone wall one second and then pushed him down away from the wall immediately and into another wall. He was continuously bouncing from wall to wall with his armor making muffled clangs each time.
Akira tried to hold his breath for as long as he could but he was fighting a losing battle with the constant disorienting crashing into the walls. Each time he slammed into the walls several air bubbles would escape his mouth and were replaced with the pitch-black water which had a stale flat taste.
He tried to spit it out more of the dark water seeped into his mouth to replace it.
Several minutes had passed since Akira had been pulled into the pond and now his lungs were screaming for air, but there was nothing he could do as he continued to descend the dark water tunnel.
With a great thrust several dozen arms thrust Akira down even harder than before causing him to shoot straight down.
Several seconds later his back slammed into a hard stone floor knocking the wind out of him completely, even more of the stale water flooded into his mouth.
Akira was desperate to find air and used his muscular legs to launch himself up off of the stone floor. He shot through the murky water and as soon as he reached the hole he had exited, the arms grabbed him and pushed him back down into the stone floor.
A small glimmer of gray light caught Akira's attention in the far corner of the black underwater cell he found himself in.
In a last-ditch effort, Akira used his full strength to jump towards the light. The light was far above him but it was a shining beacon beckoning to him, silently telling him that it was the way to freedom and fresh air.
The gray light grew brighter as he shot upwards and kicked the water with all his might trying to reach the surface. None of the dark arms reached out for him and just let him pass by.
Swosh! Akira's head burst out of the pool of pitch-black water that was in the center of the large room that was emitting a bright gray light almost blinding Akira who had been in pitch dark moments before.
Cough! Cough!
Akira took in large gasps of air as he spat out the stale black water and filled his burning lungs with the somewhat damp and stale air.
To Akira, it tasted utterly sweet, and he could care less about the staleness as he was just happy for any air he could get.
BAM!
A red light slammed into his helmeted head leaving a shallow gouge.
The red light knocked Akira's head back under the water for a second before he came back up sputtering, still gasping for air and spitting out a fresh mouthful of the black water that he had not swallowed.
“I thought you said you could kill anyone in one hit with that skill?” said a female. The voice was not from someone Akira had heard before.
As Akira was spitting out the water he scanned his surroundings trying to find who or what had attacked him.
“I just hit him in the wrong spot! Watch, this time I will succeed!” said a gruff man's voice.
A bright red light slashed forward from the far end of the large gray room heading right towards Akira's head reaching him in mere seconds.
Akira gasped in some of the stale air and ducked his head back under the water dodging the attack that flew above the water and slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the room.
From under the water, Akira could hear the muffled laughter of the female and a few choice curses from the man.
Several seconds went by as Akira looked at the bright surface of the dark pool waiting to see if his attackers would come closer to the pool to allow him a chance to attack them.
When Akira could not hold his breath anymore he was forced to surface in a different spot and gasp in the stale air.
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As soon as he did, two red slashes immediately flew towards his head forcing him to dive back under the water.
Akira now knew he was in trouble, he was a sitting duck and the attackers seemed like they would not be coming any closer than they were.
“Stop playing around and kill it! I want to return the gathered energy to them so we can complete our mission and get out of this creepy dungeon!” said the muffled female voice.
“I'm not playing around! If you want to finish this, then help me and don't just stand there,” said the frustrated and angry man.
“Humph! Some boyfriend you are, making me fight.”
As Akira surfaced from under the water for the third time he immediately cast his [Darkness Domain], shrouding the area around the pool in darkness.
A red and a green skill flew over his head as ducked back into the water and came back up in another spot now hidden by the [Darkness Domain].
“Your little tricks won't work on us! We know where you are and you can't hide from us!” shouted the angry man.
A barrage of red and green skills flew over the pool's surface as the two tried to blindly hit Akira.
Akira swam under the surface of the water to the edge of the right side of the pool. As he grabbed the edge he summoned Nox 1 and 2.
'Why are you swimming in your armor?' asked Nox 1 as he appeared at the pool's edge along with Nox 2.
“We don't have time to chit chat! There are some people out there trying to kill me! Stall them so I can get out of this pool,” whispered Akira.
Several attacks flew towards Akira's head as if homing onto where they had heard his voice.
Both Nox 1 and 2 dodged the attacks and moved deeper into the Darkness Domain. While the two demigods could not see them, Akira watched them as they left the pool and snuck up on the two demigods that were sending out skills randomly.
As one the two jumped onto the demigods' back and bit into their necks trying to tear the muscles and break their neck bones to immobilize them.
“GaH!” “KYAAA! Something is attacking me!” Both of the demigods stopped their attacks on the pool and tried to remove Nox 1 and 2.
Akira used this distraction to pull himself out of the Dark pool, the dark water splashed all over the stone floor and the draining water created a streaming pitter-patter as it exited his armor creating enough noise to let anyone know where he was.
The two demigods paid no attention to the noise he was making as they were struggling to pull off Nox 1 and 2.
As Akira gained a somewhat solid footing on the slick gray stone floor he launched a cross attack towards the male Demigod who wore a thick fur cape over his bare chest.
He was too preoccupied with trying to slash Nox 1 with his long black two-handed sword to notice the attack.
The large blue X slammed into his body as the demigod landed a solid hit to Nox 1 knocking him off.
The skill bit deep.
Ding!
Critical hit!
Bisection has activated!
The male demigod was severed into four parts and soon disappeared into hundreds of light particles.
Before Akira could launch another skill attack at the female demigod, a loud snap was heard.
Nox 2's bite broke the female demigod's neck and allowed her limp body to drop to the ground.
Akira walked up to the now immobile demigod and tried to question her.
“What were you two doing here? Who are you working for?”
The female demigod only looked at Akira, who was shrouded in a dark misty aura, with a horror-stricken face as if she was seeing the scariest monster of her life.
Several moments of complete silence passed before she breathed her last breath and shattered into hundreds of light fragments disappearing in front of Akira's face.
Akira looked at the ground where the two demigods had been and found several items had been dropped by the killed demigods. Since Akira was not one to let such good loot go to waste, he made sure to gather everything up.
Ding!
Energized Chimera gem gained!
The system message popped up as soon as Akira picked up a red gem off the ground that was mixed in with the potions and gold that had been dropped.
“What's this?”
Akira looked at the gem but could not figure out what it did or how to use it, so he just put it in his bag.
After making sure to collect all the loot so that it would not be left behind and lonely, Akira inspected his surroundings further.
There was not much to see in the large room. It was just a plain domed room with the only thing of note being the dark pool at the center of the room and an open passage that looked to lead deeper into the mountain dungeon.
Since there was no way for him to swim back up to the room he had been in when everyone was separated he left with no other choice but to enter the passageway.
Nox 1 & 2 exited the room along with Akira, happy to be of use to Akira.
As the three were walking down the passage Akira continued to strain his ears and listen for any sound.
He was surprised to have not run into anyone or any trap in over a half-hour of walking down the path.
Clang!
The muffled sound of a distant battle finally reached his ears causing him to perk up.
“That may be the others fighting!” said Akira as he quickened his pace.