“Get out of here,” Jay called, adding to Ken’s urgent gestures to leave. “Hurry! Before it fills up.”

He didn’t want to deal with a permanently deleted character due to drowning. Losing to a powerful boss monster was one thing, but drowning without a lifeguard would be pathetic.

Carlos cast his shield spell as the party moved, creating some protection for Jenny. The shield successfully absorbed acid damage, allowing Jenny to cast a rune tag on him that healed gradually.

The damage was rather slow, only dealing a single point of health per second. Jay felt he could live with that, but a debuff notification appeared as they picked up the pace.

System Message: You are under the effects of Acid Bath. You are taking one point of damage per second for each stack. Stacks accrue at a rate of one per five seconds while you remain in the acid. All stacks expire when you leave the source of the acid.

The party sprinted for the entrance, even as they were already up to their ankles in acid. Jay pulled ahead of the group due to his movement speed bonuses and ridiculous Speed statistic. He was the first one to see the real problem.

The flow rate had been increasing where they stood, but the acid was entering the tunnel much faster from further up the tunnel. The quicker they ran to the entrance, the deeper in acid they were.

Jay was mentally losing it, trying to figure out how he missed the origin points for the massive quantities of acid. His Perception wasn’t fantastic, but he had focused points there. He also received several bonuses from titles that pushed it even higher. Despite all these bonuses, his senses completely missed whatever trap caused the predicament.

Jay could effortlessly survive the damage rate as the tunnel’s entrance light came back into view. His heart rate was settling, believing they would clear the tunnel safely.

That’s when everything changed.

The tunnel’s slight slope allowed the acid to pick up speed as it descended. The flow rate eventually hit a point where the liquid fell fast enough and in enough quantities to match a mighty flowing river.

Despite his strength, the wave of liquid pushed him off the ground and sent him hurtling into the tunnel’s depths.

Jay lost track of his senses as the desperation settled in. He flailed and pushed against the liquid, swimming forward, but he wasn’t drowning. His body was being pulled further down the tunnel by the rushing acid.

The seconds ticked by as he could see little, aside from the debuff reaching a total of four stacks on his display.

As suddenly as it had begun, Jay regained a semblance of control. He was deposited somewhere in the depths of the tunnel. His body was still out of balance, but he could move again. Struggling, he pushed himself to his feet. Looking around the room, despite his continued dizziness, he noticed the tunnel had opened up into a chamber.

His magic moss lamp was broken, but he could still see the shards of glass and green light nearby. It had been pushed into the chamber with him. The details of the room were difficult to make out, given the limited light.

Jay thought the chamber was a deeper red than the tunnel. There weren’t any exits, but the room wasn’t as proportional as the tunnel. Acid was still washing into the room, carrying his companions into the room with it. The room was large, leaving the acid water only up to his knees. The stacks of Acid Bath were still racking up.

“Gather by me,” Jay said, calling out so the party could follow the sound of his voice. “The lamp broke, but the moss is here. I need to collect the moss so we can use it to light the way.”

He heard sloshing sounds around him, presumably the party trying to follow the sound of his voice. Even with the aid of the lamp, it was extremely dark in the chamber. It was barely possible to determine where the acid flowed into the room.

Jay collected the moss into his hands as other party members slowly came into view. Everyone else looked a mess, so Jay was confident he did, too. The acidic liquid had drenched everyone, soaking through gear.

With a moment to rest, Carlos and Jenny applied buffs and healing to the party to manage the pressure from the escalating damage. There was plenty of time as the party regrouped.

Zenya came into Jay’s view, and the dire wolf was growling deep from her throat. Scales was sitting on top of the wolf’s back, still small enough to do so despite the days of grinding. Contract companions and Familiars didn’t receive any experience from quest bonuses.

“Come on,” Jay whispered, trying to avoid disturbing whatever monster was hiding at the bottom of the dark tunnel. “We’ve gotta get out of here.”

He led the slow march forward with Sarah right by his side. The acid around them splashed gently as they moved through the liquid. The room was still slowly filling, but the size of the room guaranteed it wouldn’t raise the level quickly.

When the party reached the room’s edge, Jay instinctively realized something was amiss. The green light in front of him shone on a wall. He was sure he’d found the right spot since the force of the gushing waters had thrown him straight back into the chamber. Despite that certainty, there was no exit.

Turning back, Jay counted party members and saw everyone behind him was accounted for and unmoving. All the expected pets were present: Scales, Zenya, and Cuddles. Even though the whole party was accounted for, he heard sloshing coming from deeper in the chamber.

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“Something’s coming,” Ken whispered, trying to match Jay’s earlier volume. “What do we do?”

Jay tapped Sarah and motioned for her to move in front of the party with him. It was a terrible time to suffer an attack since the acidic debuff was slowly killing the party. Despite his Speed, stuck with strenuous movement through the acid, he wasn’t fast enough.

The creature was challenging to see in the dim green light, but Jay could make out some of it.

The creature was snake-like with a conic hood encircling the head, likely for physical protection. He saw the glint of two shining fangs that looked particularly deadly, glistening with more acid. The monster’s skin looked purple, but the color was unclear due to the strange lighting. Jay took the opportunity to activate his Analyze ability to gain more information.

System Message: Analyze successful. The Charybdon is a parasite that lives off the prey of other organisms. Their unique immunity to acid, protected by a coating on their scales, allows them to thrive in environments most creatures find unsuitable. Their eyes are adapted to sight in the dark, so bright lights and light magic are highly effective.

“Light magic,” Jay called out. “My abilities say to use light magic. Sarah, Carlos, use as much as you’ve got.”

Jay no longer needed to be quiet since the creature had already found them. Ken instantly hopped out of the way, dodging to leave Sarah in front of the beast.

Charybdon, Level: 45 [Elite]. Health: 2,000/2,000.

While the monsters weren’t as easy to kill as the basic crocodiles roaming the island, this elite was amongst the least dangerous they had ever faced. The encounter was nothing compared to the challenge appropriate for their current level.

Sarah laid into the creature with a combo of serious holy-oriented powers. Her first strike left a glowing holy mark on the target in the shape of an unrecognizable rune. The second attack caused her weapon’s blade to glow with divine light, and the runic brand seared with power upon impact, boosting the damage of her attack. The third and final part of her combo summoned the holy hammer, which stunned the singular foe before it could make a single strike.

Carlos, Casey, and Taylor Lynn began devastating the creature with magical attacks. Jay and Ken found a place near Sarah to efficiently strike out at the snake-like creature with melee attacks.

Jenny’s runic tag-based magic was already healing the party as she activated one of her most effective self-buffs. The ability allowed her to spontaneously generate her tag spells for a short time, spreading buffs across the battlefield. Her healing and defensive buffs made the enemy a non-threat.

The only problem was the lone enemy was merely the fastest of the pack. Another small group of three Charybdons launched themselves at the front lines. Sarah managed to catch their attention by quickly releasing her holy flamethrower. Still, the area of effect attack dealt minimal damage against the elites. And the fourth was still alive.

The four creatures attacked Sarah simultaneously, rendering her unable to block all of the attacks. Despite her damage reduction, several of the strikes dealt dangerous damage. The monsters hit hard; Jenny’s tags weren’t enough to heal her.

Carlos stepped in to activate a vast area ability that balanced the health percentages of the entire party. This aided the slow-healing tags greatly since the others were taking minor damage instead of heavy spikes. Taylor Lynn opened fire with her chain gun of icicles, laying waste to whichever Charybdon was easiest to target.

Casey summoned spectral tiger heads that lasted only a moment but bit into the intended target as part of the spell. This was her new spell, and she utilized it to drastic effect. Jay thought it was pretty metal.

Two additional monsters joined the small horde. Jay and Ken engaged the newcomers, trying to alleviate some of the pressure from Sarah.

Ken’s magical, forged sword appeared made of pure energy as he quickly swept it through the air, trying to keep his target at bay. On the other hand, Jay snuck in close to the creature, trying to dodge its head and land as many strikes as possible to trigger his blinding enchantment.

Zenya and Cuddles joined the battle, although the results were mixed. The party’s damage output increased, but the pets took damage the same as any player. Carlos was forced to switch to healing abilities to keep the pets alive.

Sarah battled on, trying to brand each individual Charybdon within her range. Her health spiked low again as two pairs of fangs snuck underneath her shield. She recovered by activating one of her self-healing buffs.

The enemy’s number didn’t increase further, but with so many targets, the party wasn’t burning through enemy health pools. They were trying to stay above acid water. Taylor Lynn was the one to eventually change the whole flow of the battle.

She cast the new spell she acquired at level 40, summoning a small crown of tiny meteors above an enemy’s head. The meteors began to strike out at nearby targets from the centralized position.

Three of them blasted into an injured target, downright eliminating it. The original Charybdon, already heavily injured, was obliterated by a single meteor. Several other meteors spread through the grouping of enemies, spreading havoc among the remaining targets.

After that, Jay landed a couple lucky strikes with his blinding weapon. The monsters went berserk when they were blinded. For a moment, Jay had thought the creatures sensed movements in the acid, but the reaction proved the monsters just had robust vision in the dark.

Taylor Lynn and Sarah spread out their area of effect damage, pushing to eliminate the remainder of the enemies. The Charybdons hit hard, but the greatest danger was the escalating threat of the Acidic Bath. The debuff had already reached ten stacks.

The party mopped up the remaining enemies, instituting a focus fire by following whichever target Sarah concentrated on. Carlos and Jenny focused on buffing and healing, creating a solid defense. Casey’s magic was even stronger on the single targets than Taylor Lynn’s. The stacks of acid bubbled up to thirteen before the final enemy fell.

The tunnel entrance behind them opened with a significant thumping sound when the final enemy died.

Jay quickly looted the snake monsters before catching up with the others since he was the fastest player. He expected the elites to have unique loot. Instead, they dropped meat, teeth, and several pieces of the conic plates around the Charybdon’s heads. It was a disappointment.

The party made the tough slog through the acid, with Jenny cleansing some of the stacks of the buff when it got too dangerous. Carlos’s ability to balance the party’s health also allowed the party to remain at relatively high, if imperfect, health levels. From balanced health, he could throw out single-target heals. Trying to ease the burden on the healers, everyone chugged potions as they hustled away.

Finishing a potion, Ken clapped his hands together as they rushed from the tunnel.

“I finally remembered something embarrassing Jenny did,” he yelled, practically shouting in victory. “She cried during one of those doll horror movies when they destroyed the toy.”

“That’s not fair,” Casey argued. “You’re supposed to be emotional during scary movies. That’s the point; she just got a little scared.”

“No, you don’t get it,” Ken replied. “She wasn’t crying because she was scared. She was crying because they destroyed the doll.”

Jay laughed, patting Ken on the shoulder. “Don’t be so mean to your sister. You’re making fun of her when she was a little girl. You were thirteen, man. Just take the loss.”

“Nope,” Ken said, patting Jay’s hand and brushing it off. “This was last year. She was eighteen.”

“The doll was cute before it got all murderous,” Jenny pouted.