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The Creator, Atlantis, Kalenic Sea

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It was Isid who dealt the final blow. Her Manablades intensified to levels I'd never seen from her before. The blades attached to her forearms pierced the thinner metal where the core rested in its chest with unerring accuracy, and the Shadow Spirit's core broke. The Spirit fled the body as it fell to the ground, disappearing into the shadows thrown by the raid's Light sprites.

The Darkness manabeings had made no secret of their goal as the raid pushed through their domain; the banishment of their summoned light sprites. Plunging the humans into pitch-black darkness would give the manabeings practically free reign to slaughter them, and the humans knew that. They protected their manabeings fiercely. Bertram, the summoner of their little floating lights, did his best to summon more when one was banished, though that made him more of a target.

But the rest of the group were competent—more than competent, they were easily powerful enough to be on the Seventh Floor. They'd already reached it, after all. They encountered rats, giant cockroaches, and other large bugs. If I knew how to make Slimes, I'd have some here.

Note to self; Figure out how to make slimes. Man, my list of things to investigate was only growing...

But, as I'd said, they could easily overcome the castle dungeons.

After pulling another level, they rode the 'elevator' I'd made back up to the main section of the castle. It was my first attempt at a pully-counterweight elevator, and it worked fine. The elevator was the shortcut back to the entrance, and after a quick investigation, the group agreed to continue. They still had plenty of potions and supplies.

They rode the elevator back down and found the path forward transitioned quickly from a 'castle dungeon aesthetic to a literal sewer system. Though similar to the Ratten Warren, it was entirely separate. Here, the poison-based Ratten clan and their Boss waited. The group was familiar with the rats by now, having already fought their way through the Fourth more than a dozen times. They were less familiar with the poison and disease-based attacks. The pools of sludge and swampy, fetid waters of the sewer made this the perfect environment for them, and they were thriving.

Though, like the waters they lived in, they were stagnant. They were like a sword sharpening itself, with no competition outside their own clan. They were less than prepared for the humans to reach them and put up a pitiful effort. Though they were an unhealthy drain on the raid's potion supplies, they weren't a genuine threat to the humans. The couple pieces of enchanted armor spelled to resist poison also came in very handy for them.

Once they'd beaten the enormous Ratten Boss, they moved on to the fourth section of this five-part castle. This one was filled with more Stone Golems, though this time shaped into various statues. Rather than gargoyles, though, a few of the flying menaces made an appearance. The mana-saturation trick did well in making sure Isid couldn't tell which statues were just ordinary stone and which housed spirits. However, after that one room where every statue was a golem, they didn't take any chances.

This was a more traditional boss battle, unlike the tag-team battle that was the rooftop Gargoyle fight. The Stone Colossus, inhabited by this floor's Stone Spirit, took center stage. Twenty feet tall and wielding two greatswords like they were daggers, the Boss made for an intimidating sight. He was aided by a never-ending wave of Stone Golems, practically every other golem on the floor.

The battle was like a preview of the Seventh, with a few fighters focused on the Boss. At the same time, the rest were occupied with dealing with practically infinite reinforcements. Only practically because there was a limit to the number of monster cores I had on hand. I only had as many as I did because I farmed them from the fish monsters, taking advantage of their high reproductive rate and infusing them with mana to make the cores grow to whatever size I needed.

But, as with the previous minibosses, the Stone Colossus fell, breaking apart into a dozen pieces that almost crushed the humans as they fell.

After this fight and unlocking the shortcut to the next area, the raid group agreed to return. They'd been fighting for two days straight, and after fighting through three sub-areas, they were dead on their feet. It was the smart choice. And even smarter was utilizing the teleport crystals to leave. They weren't short on gold, and it made more sense to use the 'escape rope' than to keep it in your inventory, blindly searching for the exit.

Maybe my metaphor wasn't quite right, but you get the idea.

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Sunrise Cliffs, The Eleventh Floor, The Dungeon

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Wave flapped rapidly, slowing his descent as he reached the ledge. Halfway up the cliff face above the small port town, there was a new cave where none had existed before. A small path snaked around the cliff, one well-trapped but harmless to any Children who would approach. During his descent, Wave had spotted Taura on the path, carrying a basket on her back. His greeting roar had been returned with a wave.

Once he landed on the ledge, he furled his wings and walked into the well-lit cave. On his left, the first thing he passed was a table and chairs of various designs so any guest could sit comfortably. Next to them was a larger table, sized for his own use. On his right was a shelf-filled nook, enchanted to keep anything placed within it as cold as possible without freezing. Another nook near it heated anything placed inside evenly, with higher temperatures on higher shelves. Another At the far end was the large Capriccio wool mat he slept on.

Wave pulled the bucket of iced cream from the cold nook and placed it on his table. He was just settling in when Taura rang a bell hanging at the entrance. She knew she was welcome and walked in without waiting for permission. It'd taken a bit to get that through her head. She was just as stubborn as her father on some things.

"Hey, Wave!" The Minotaur exclaimed, pulling the straps off her shoulders and letting the large basket on the ground next to the cooling and heating nooks. There had to be better words for them, But the words The Creator used for them, 'Fridge' and 'Oven,' were so weird...

"Welcome, Taura. How has your day been?"

"Great! We got a delivery of grain and meat from the Tenth and Mithril from the Seventh. There's even been talk among the Minotaur Mages of constructing a Mythwood ship for their next project! Imagine a ship with the buoyancy of wood but the strength and self-healing properties of Mythwood!" Taura sat on her chair as she narrated her day. Wave listened attentively and felt the lingering soreness from his flight dissipating.

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"And what of you, Wave? How was your trip?" Taura inquired, eyes sparkling. Wave could only smile and indulge her curiosity.

"It was interesting. I had a look at that permanent storm over half the Elemental Isles. It was harder to fly in the storm than I'd expected, but after some practice, it was only a little harder than clear skies. I also investigated the new islands The Creator raised, though half are more barren than I'd expected. They... Lack the vibrancy and life found in the older ones." He quieted, gathering his thoughts, and Taura snatched the bucket of Iced Cream from his table.

He regaled Taura with his thoughts on the islands; the barren starkness of the Dark, Light, and Lightning islands, the vibrancy of the underwater city on the Water 'Island,' and the Iceberg that floated to the 'north' of the Isles.

"I particularly enjoyed the Iceberg," Wave admitted. Exploring the submerged tunnels was quite the experience and more comfortable than I expected. Though, given my Ice affinity, I'd have been surprised if it was uncomfortable." Taura nodded and shivered. She was no doubt remembering the times he'd shown off his ice flame.

Wave remembered his short time on the surface, strafing ships and covering them in ice. It all happened so fast, and he was back on the Eleventh via water-sprite portal minutes later.

"Hey, are you okay?" Taura asked, reaching over and placing a hand on one of his claws. Wave shook his head, then smiled at her.

"I'm fine. Just remembered something. Anyway, have you heard from your brother recently?"

"Oh! Right!" Taura exclaimed. She rushed over to the basket and pulled out a couple of letters. "Here! Aston and Towers both sent you letters. They're written in Runic! You know, the written language The Creator uses?" Wave hummed in interest as he took the letters. He did remember The Creator gifting Towers-over-others and himself with the knowledge of this language, though he had yet to really use that knowledge. He remembered seeing some Runic writing on the ruins spread across the islands, but he hadn't read any of them.

Unlike the large characters on the ruins, these were incredibly small. Wave could read them if he focused, but it was difficult. Why did Towers have to do such tiny writing?

"Ah, could you read them to me?" Wave asked, and Taura nodded with a beaming smile.

"Of course!"

Wave listened as Taura read the letters, and he found his tiredness catching up to him. The last thing he remembered was Taura's voice, lulling him to sleep.

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The Heroes' Quarters, High Temple of The Gods, Theona

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"Get plenty of rest, brave heroes. Your training begins tomorrow morning with the testing of your mana affinities and the decision on a weapon. Sleep Well!" As the door shut, their priestly guide and the servants assigned to attend to them finally leaving, Tamesou Akio sighed in relief. The high school student turned to face his twelve fellow summoned heroes.

The priests had deflected most of their immediate questions, telling them everything would be explained when their affinity testing and training began tomorrow. No one was happy with this, least of all the adults in the room. The two others around his age were uncommonly serious. They had an idea of what was going on then.

"Hey! Panicking will get us nowhere!" Akio interrupted, getting the group's attention. "For those still confused about what's happening, we've been isekai'd. We've been summoned to another world where magic is real, usually to fight some kind of bad guy or demon king."

"Demon King? Summoning?! I've never heard such nonsense!" a bewildered white man with brown hair stated, blinking rapidly. His suit said he was some kind of salaryman, so his ignorance was understandable.

"Fight? But... I can't fight!" The round-faced blond woman exclaimed, focusing on a different part of his statement. The other adults made similar claims. None had taken any kind of self-defense or were even overly aggressive. They were pretty distressed.

"It's all right!" Akio said, calming them down again. "The priests said they would train us, and given what they said about finding our 'affinities,' we should even be able to learn magic! And, if we beat this necromancer they summoned us to fight, they'll send us home!" There seemed to be some hope in the adult's eyes.

"But there's still one problem," one of the other teenagers, the goth-looking girl, claimed. "They didn't say anything about sending us home. Normally, if there was a way, the summoners would tell the heroes. To motivate them to gain power, survive, and beat their enemies in exchange for being sent home afterward. I don't think they can send us home, so we're stuck."

More complaining and bickering erupted. Akio shook his head and approached the pale, black-haired girl.

"That was foolish. I was trying to motivate them. They'll need it if they want to survive."

"You wanted to give them false hope," the girl replied. Her brown-eyed stare was too intense! "What was your plan for when it's all over, and we can't actually go home?"

Akio was silent. He didn't have a plan. He was going to wing it if it had ever come to that.

"My point exactly. Look, You seem pretty genre-savvy. Have you ever heard of people from so many different places being summoned at once?" Akio tilted his head, confused. The girl sighed.

"Look, you're Japanese, yes?" Akio nodded, and the girl continued. "Do you think we're speaking Japanese? To me, this sounds like English." She gestured to the group of adults as Akio began to understand. "I see people of Mediterranean, Russian, Indian, and African descent. All are dressed in entirely different styles, though common in their homelands. If we were still on Earth, none of them would be able to understand each other."

"Yet, here we are, and here they are, arguing." Akio finished, nodding. "Good eye. I am Tamesou Akio. I am from Akihabara, Japan."

"Sophie Ravenfield, Tennesee, the USA."

"Hey, uh... Mates, what's the last thing you remember?" The last teenager spoke up suddenly, getting Akio and the girl's attention. "Because I remember that... I was about to be hit by a car. At least, I think I was, but I don't remember the impact." The teen was tanned, with brown hair and a smattering of freckles highlighting his worried blue eyes.

Akio thought back...

What was he doing before...

"I... can't remember," Miss Ravenfield said, holding one hand to her head, unknowingly echoing Akio's thoughts. What had he been doing?!

It was so hard to think through this damn headache!

Wait. Headache?

Akio shook his head. "Miss Ravenfield, we seem to be under a geas. Thinking on this further will only hurt us." The goth grimaced, nodding. Akio found his headache lessening as he focused on the here and now rather than... before. From her expression, Miss Ravenfield did, too.

"And, uh, Just call me Sophie. The whole honorific thing is translating weirdly, especially since I know what they mean." Miss Rav-Sophie asked. Akio nodded.

"Oh, yeah, introductions. Name's Bruce Taylor, from Melbourne, Australia," the tanned boy, Bruce, said. "At least we're not out in the bush."

Mis-Sophie shook her head. It would be hard to shed the honorifics; Akio knew it.

"It's both good and bad. Good, because we have trainers and resources. They need us and will train us to beat their enemies. Bad, because we only know what they tell us. We don't have context for the situation or another perspective to make an informed choice. I say we go along with it until we know more." Akio and Bruce nodded after sharing a glance.

"That is something to keep in mind," Akio said, turning his head to look at the still-arguing adults. "What should we do about them?"

"For now, nothing. They're in shock, in denial, and actively trying not to think about their situation. Some might still think this is a dream, and they'll wake up soon." Bruce snorted at Sophie's words.

"Ain't that the truth. I always knew being a nerd would come in handy," the Australian grinned. "Stop watching those cartoons, you dag, and do your homework," Bruce said in falsetto, obviously mocking someone. "Well, look at me now, you old hag. Anime and video games did come in handy!"

Akio did not like someone mocking their mother in such a manner but stayed silent. It was soon agreed they'd reconvene in the morning, and the teens split up to claim rooms. The adults eventually stopped arguing, and Akio could finally fall asleep when all was silent.

Some part of him still hoped this was a dream, as Bruce had mocked the adults for...

But he wasn't that lucky.

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