Batokl took Twist and Tenacia back to his cavern, then showed them a secret tunnel that laid in a dark corner of the cave.

“We must be swift, I have matters on my own agenda I must attend” Batokl told them, shoving some boulders out of the way to make way for the mortals.

“What matters are those, if we may ask?” Twist asked.

“One my compatriots has sensed a great evil somewhere in our dear Underworld!” Batokl explained, “Something old and foul, I am going to join up the other Underworld gods to found out what is going on”

Twist and Tenacia took note of there being more Underworld gods, then nodded.

“Gotcha, thanks for helpin’ us” Tenacia replied.

Batokl smiled, then slid down the tunnel. Twist and Tenacia followed, Delphine on Tenacia’s head this time. The tunnel quickly went up at a sharp incline, going up grew more and more difficult.

Eventually the tunnel slowly went back to being leveled, at which point everyone took the opportunity to rest. Twist was eager to cook, having missed it whilst he was injured, and made everyone dinner from some food from the rations. Batokl was grateful for the meal and loved it, Tenacia especially was happy to have a belly full of normal food rather than living slimes this time.

With their bellies full, they continued. Eventually the tunnel led to a dead end.

“Well now what, Mr. Lime Jello?” Delphine gruffly asked.

Batokl chuckled and pointed out a small easy-to-miss hollow, which he squeezed into. Despite its miniscule size, he got into the hole with no problem.

Twist and Tenacia looked at the small hole for a bit.

“I’ll go in first” Tenacia said.

“I have no problem with that, though is there a particular reason why?” Twist asked.

“I have a bad habit of getting stuck in narrow tunnels like these, so if I do get caught, you can push me through.”

“Understood! I assume human genes make it difficult to get through smaller places?”

“You got that right. Times like this I wish I was all dwarf.” Tenacia chuckled ruefully.

Tenacia leaned down and crawled through the hole, Twist following closely behind. The tunnel was highly cramped, which was made all more frustrating when the incline got greater and steeper, eventually it went almost straight up and the only reason Twist and Tenacia could able to follow was thanks to Batokl’s sticky slime making it easier to grapple up the tunnel.

Twist felt claustrophobic, he was used to tunnels but he had never gone through up one so incredibly narrow. Combined with Batokl’s slime, it felt like he was climbing up the throat of some horrible beast. Tenacia meanwhile was simply annoyed, the only tunnel she hated more than a narrow tunnel was a steep and narrow tunnel. She was thankful Batokl’s ooze was both helping her up and keeping her from getting stuck, though combined with the coldness of the cave she still felt utterly wretched.

Delphine hated the climb most of all and wanted to gripe about it, though the slime dripping from above fell into her mouth and kept her quiet. All she could do was making gurgling grumbles.

“Think we need to worry about her suffocating?” Tenacia asked.

“Nah, I think she said something about not needing to breath” Twist replied. He wasn’t totally sure, but wanted to worry about that once they had reached the top.

The climb took an hour, but it felt like an eternity. Tenacia was relieved when light from above reflected through Batokl and the slime king finally vanished as he slithered up the exit. Tenacia quickly followed him and pulled the exhausted Twist out of the hole, the two were slimed and miserable but still marveled at the sight around them.

“Welcome to Oshea!” Batokl announced.

To say they were in a huge cavern would be a total understatement, it was bigger than any cavern either Twist or Tenacia had seen before, it made the Gray Vale look miniscule in comparison. Around them were gigantic bodies of water, bigger than large lakes, practically seas. Illumination came from the water too, there were numerous and tiny glowing animals within that helped keep the nearby areas lit. Twist and Tenacia could see they were standing on a small island of stone and around them were miles of water, neither could even make out the roof of the cavern, it was so big it had its own climate and clouds and the only thing that betrayed it being in a cave were some mountain sized stalactites that poked through the clouds. Around were sounds of the tides of the ocean and what sounded like huge waterfalls in the distance.

“Much of the water from the surface gathers here” Twist breathed in awe, “Both from the rains on the surface and the ocean, but my goodness… I never imagined it would gather to make whole underground seas!”

Batokl nodded, “Indeed, a good majority of Oshea is submerged! This island connects to a larger one where you can rent a myrmeke ferry to Fatana, simply go east. If you need some cash here you are” Batokl spat out two slimes that Tenacia caught, they were made of solid gold.

“Ummm… Thanks Batokl” Tenacia said awkwardly, eying the water in great apprehension “But could you guide us further? I am not too keen around water”

“Sorry my dear, I have my meeting with my fellow gods to go to! Even then, I really could not; the races here do not like me, I cannot risk you being seen with me” Batokl said apologetically “There are fierce species of slimes here who have terrorized them, though they do not follow my commands, the folk here associate them with me. And if they think you work for me, you will never find help”

“Have no fear Tenacia, I can guide us!” Twist chimed in “I know much of this realm… Secondhand of course, but we will get the help to save your brother!”

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Tenacia wasn’t fully comforted but gave Twist a smile.

Batokl leaned down, bowing “Good luck to all three of you! I am sure you will succeed in your mission, if you ever find yourself in this neck of Underworld please pay me a visit!”

Tenacia and Twist gave him a bow back, the former forgetting that Delphine was on her head. The slime-covered hat plopped down.

“Rrrgrrfrrgrrgrgfrgn!” Delphine mumbled, her mouth still covered in goo.

Batokl squeezed effortlessly down the small tunnel they had gone through earlier. Once again, the trio was on their own.

Tenacia got out her compass and Twist got out his map.

“Okay…” Twist said, looking at this map “Ahh good! Batokl dropped us off just west of a myrmeke ferry!”

"Myrmeke? Who are they again?" Tenacia asked.

“RGGGRGRGRGRRRR!” Delphine growled.

“Oh right! Be right there Delphine!” Twist said.

He picked up Delphine and washed the hat in the nearby water. He used some air magic to dry her off, summoning a breeze.

“Mmph, thanks” Delphine spat, trying to get all the water out of her mouth, “Now let’s move to the ferry”

“Agreed my friend!” Twist laughed, putting Delphine on Tenacia’s head again.

Twist then marched forward energetically. Tenacia followed along, hanging back a bit. The water around still making her uneasy.

Lionel and Klamka rested in front of a newly made campfire.

“So, what’s the plan now princess?” Lionel asked Klamka, as he roasted one of the drekavac’s legs above the campfire.

“It remains the same” she answered, wiping her face as she ate one of the drekavac’s arms,

“We find our targets and bring them back to the Behemoth. We know they were going up, and in Oshea we won’t have to worry about maneuvering tunnels anymore.”

“No but now we need to worry about maneuvering water, Oshea is mostly an underground ocean y’know”

“I do know, but I have a solution for that as well” Klamka reached into her bag and pulled out bag. She shook it and the sound of coins could be heard from within “I know there are ferries in Oseha, I have more than enough money to buy one and then we can search to our heart’s content.”

Lionel nodded approvingly “Nice to see you planned ahead for once” he said, pinching the drekavac to check if it was fully cooked.

Klamka ignored his comment and took a bite out of some jerky from her rations.

“We will have to be prepared though, our enemies will be. The bright side is the bat seems highly passive, he didn’t bother to cast any magic when we had them cornered. We can easily take him out.”

“Are you so sure?” Lionel replied, giving Klamka a skeptical look “He got you pretty riled up just by talking and got out of there with the drekavac’s screech. That bat is very clever. Plus what will we do when he does decide he wants to cast magic?”

“We will both be more clever. And you have forgotten, I have a secret weapon, antimagic…” Klamka reached to pat one of her antimagic bombs, but only patted her armor.

“Bomb?” she said, dumbfounded.

“Why yes, you are a bombshell!” Lionel replied, with a smile.

“No! My antimagic bombs!” Klamka said, surprise changing to anger.

“Hmm, do you think they fell off at some point?” Lionel asked.

“No! Remember, I threw one down to make sure the bat couldn’t cast spells”

Then it dawned on her. When she grabbed Twist, she forced him close to make sure he couldn’t speak any spells, but she did not have his hands in sight.

“That cheat! That thin flat-nosed cheat!” Klamka roared, standing up and clenching her fists “He took them! He took them all! He’s a pickpocket!”

“Welp, looks like he is indeed quite clever. Now that he can cancel out my magic, things will get especially interesting” Lionel chuckled, taking a bite of the drekavac’s leg “Hmm, awfully gamey, but better than those mushrooms… Hopefully easier on my stomach too”

Twist and Tenacia traveled across a long narrow bridge connecting one island of Oshea to another.

Tenacia got out her compass that pointed towards the direction of her wagon, it pointed perfectly north for once… Towards the ocean of Oshea.

“Good thing we are getting that ferry” Tenacia grumbled “It looks like we are now on the right layer, but the wagon is somewhere out in the ocean.”

“We’ll get it back, don’t you worry Tenacia!” Twist said happily

Tenacia nodded gratefully.

“So… I got some questions"

"Go right ahed!"

“Who are the myrmeke Batokl mentioned?”

“Ahh the myrmekes! They are an interesting lot. One of the few surface races to set up societies below in the Underworld, which only makes since given they are basically ant people.”

“Ant people? Huh” Tenacia murmured, trying to imagine it.

“Oh yes, and just like ants they are almost all female and are master merchants.”

“Ants are master merchants?”

“… Heh, You got me there” Twist chuckled, “Either way, they are friendly so you have nothing to worry about. Well… At least not physically”

“Physically? You like mental danger?” Tenacia asked.

Then Tenacia remembered that Twist had said they were merchants.

“Ohh I get it, they will try to pinch every penny out of us eh?”

“To put it politely, that is quite an understatement. At the very least myrmeke are fair, so the penny pinching is honest.”

“Well good thing Batokl gave us these golden slimes… Speaking of monsters anything we should worry about here?”

“Ahh yes, the creatures of Oshea are numerous and terrible”

“Like what?” Tenacia asked.

Twist just walked silently for a bit. He actually knew nothing of Oshea’s fauna and was too embarrassed to say anything. He knew the overall structure of Oshea and that there were sea monsters here, but that was it, he had neglected to do much research in the beasts in it. Twist assumed he would be following the route he had set himself which would have entailed entering Oseha and immediately going up another one of the stalactite towers, but now he was nowhere near where he had set his course.

“Don’t know?” Tenacia asked

“Ahh… I don’t. I am extremely sorry” Twist admitted, his ears lowering in shame.

Tenacia patted his shoulder “Twist, you don’t always have to have all the answers.”

Twist smiled at her.

“’Sides, we got an oracle. Care to explain what to worry about in Oshea?” Tenacia said, poking Delphine who was still on her head.

“Most monsters in Oshea are indeed powerful and terrible, but will leave you alone if you leave them alone” Delphine explained impatiently “Some parts of the seas though have far more aggressive beasts. We are currently in the Starry Sea, and here there are three things to look out for consistently; first are the ponaturi, nasty frog things. They attack whoever enters their waters with jagged spears. Second are the Magicannon Shrimp, crustaceous pains that can fire bursts of magic from their big claw. Finally, there is a dragon here”

“Oh joy, what kind of dragon?” Tenacia sighed, if there was one thing she hated more than water, it was dragons.

“A serpent dragon probably, those dragons thrive the most in both water and in caves, a perfect fit for Oshea” Delphine said “It likes eating myrmeke too apparently.”

“Well here’s hoping we don’t encounter that thing” Tenacia sighed “This place is freaking huge, I would think we would have enough luck to not encounter a freaking dragon!”

“At this point I am not so sure luck exists” Twist remarked “I think destiny might be a better word for it.”

“And what pretentiousness are you going on about?” Delphine groaned.

“Look at it like this Delphine: Minvaco is frozen in time the exact day I was planning on leaving, then I happen to meet Tenacia on that big machine, then we encounter you as a perfectly portable hat, then just when things look lost we meet Batokl who heals us and gets us up here. To say nothing of the mysterious party who has contacted me via dreams.”

“Coincidences” Delphine automatically replied.

“Well when you work with time as much as I have” Twist laughed “Eventually coincidences stop being plausible! I daresay a supernal, if not Chaelum Himself, may have plans for our little group”

“Ehh I’m not one for predestination” Tenacia said, though she smiled “But I can agree we met for a common purpose Twist. You have my trust, and you don’t have to worry about impressing me with big infodumps”

Twist was silent for a moment. Not being able to give a satisfactory answer was looked down upon in Minvaco, so he was used to dodging a question until he came up with a better answer. It was also agreed that no one should answer a question for you. Yet Tenacia bore no ill will towards Twist’s lack of information.

“Thank you” Twist replied, his smile wider than usual.