Chapter 57: Teamwork (Patreon)

A loud plink sounded out in the cavern of the third floor, or at least Jim thought it was the third floor, and he had to reach out his arm to catch his lovely wife as she rocketed backwards with another crystal cradled in her arms. He was glad he did, too, as his lovely wife crashed into his arm with quite a bit of force, and he simply couldn’t bear the thought of sweet Loraine hitting a wall or, Vol help him, some of that nasty coral instead.

And so he didn’t, instead, he turned to face the stunning selkie, watching as the legs she used for a bit of leverage started shifting back to flippers, something much easier to swim with. Of course, it mattered little to him how she looked, and he knew that she felt little different towards him, though as a proper sea lion kin, he needn’t bother with all that shifting and changing.

The two shared a moment, or tried two, when a curt cough took their attention away from one another and towards the forgotten audience, a pair of merman and lamia they’d met just the other day. 

“Ah, yes, sorry about that… You see-“ Began Jim, but Mel simply waved his hand and spoke back. “Don’t worry about it, just… try to keep it in an inn or something, please?” Delia nodded in agreement as he spoke, and both Jim and Loraine knew the man was correct, even if they didn’t exactly enjoy that he was.

The two separated, and the crystal joined a fairly large number of others in a sack, although a loud boom echoing from somewhere further down the path reminded all four of them just how out of place such shows of affection were and all four of them found themselves edging that much further away from the walls.

The quartet once again started moving forward, making sure to keep  a healthy distance from any landmark that seemed the slightest bit suspect and prying the occasional crystal free from the floor, should it be close enough to them to do so with minimal risk.

By now a few groups, mostly the Adventurers, had started figuring out how the very top layers of this dungeon worked, something the very recently formed team was quite thankful for indeed, it was certainly a job they had little interest in. Still, they had to respect them, the information on just the first four floors had saved many lives already. Just knowing how best to avoid one of those horrifying little shrimp went a long way, much less a proper map of some of the more common places they’ve been spotted, or rather, heard.

That very map was once again unfurled in Jim’s hands, as he motioned for the other three to start slowing down. “The bend up here is supposed to be one of the more dangerous spots. Try not to touch the coral, and only take a stone if you’re certain it’s really worth the risk.” He finished his spiel and turned to start swimming again when he seemed to realize something.

“Oh, mufflers on both ears too. It might get loud anyways.” The scaly duo hummed in agreement, and his wife let go of his arm for a second to slide the earmuffs over the ear she left uncovered up until then, while he and the others did the same. It was a common tactic, if one could afford a pair of mufflers, and surprisingly most could, or at least trade for a pair. That is, so long as they were actually available.

They were far more effective than cork or wax plugs, what with the basic silencing people had started putting on them, and actually decently comfortable to anybody who could properly wear them, and thankfully, they were fairly universal. Most people started going through the first few floors always having one ear covered, even if someone was unlucky and still had a shrimp attack them, they might just get away with only being half deaf. 

Of course, this only applied when they weren’t close enough to really feel it, then they had bigger problems to worry about. Still, when the halls were wide enough, and they stayed as far away from the walls as possible, most people could avoid that fate. Jim truly hoped he and his party were most people today as they rounded that corner into the straightaway that had been so helpfully dyed in a vivid red on the map they had purchased before their descent.

They could all see why straight away, the limestone walls looked to be covered in pockmarks, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that quite a few of those might stretch on as holes leading to Vol knows where, with any manner of things taking up residence. Jim felt his wife shift just a little closer to him, and he made sure to get directly in front of her, while Mel and Delia did the same behind them. He had already been ready to go on the defensive at any moment, the entire group had, but now his fingers were hovering just inches from the handle of his shield, and he was already flexing his gauntleted hand at the same time.

He was absolutely sure that Lorraine was mumbling one of her chants, just waiting to push a bit of mana in her voice, and he couldn’t help but smile at the face he knew she made whenever she was doing that. He wiped the smile away quickly, though, now was not the time to be thinking about that, and he knew it. The pop and rush of water right beside them, the one that still managed to be heard despite the protection, only served to stress that fact.

Lorraine and Delia were both quick to act, though, when a chunk of rock manifested and shot out towards the offending shellfish, at the same time as the water around the thing took on a green-yellow hue then turned to a jagged shard of ice, opening the carapace and letting the toxic liquid seep in. In the end, the uppity shrimp did not last, most things don’t when their head is crushed after getting a nasty venom pumped right into them, and a burst of light let them breathe easy and move onward.

They were slower still, though, and Lorraine couldn’t help but pop a couple of larger crystals loose. A tap on his shoulder let him know to wait a moment, and she was quick to weaken the floor those gems had fused to, and this time enough to make sure she wasn’t sent sprawling when they came free. Thankfully, there weren’t any other incidents by the time they reached the end of that corridor, and after going a bit further to be safe, they found themselves in one of the very, very few green areas on the map, a decently large, deep room that the place apparently just up and added a day prior, and they weren’t totally sure why. All the more reason to be impressed by those map makers. 

The group pushed the muffs off their ears once again, and gathered in the center of that ‘room’ to chat, sinking under the water to make it easier on them all. The water was even brighter here, most of the coral was a dazzling yellow or brilliant orange that made it all the easier to think this room as safe.

Right away, Mel spoke up and the other three turned to listen to the eager merman. “So, what’s the plan? I know it’d be kind of a waste to just leave now, not after we got so far, so how deep we going?” 

Jim was glad the younger man asked that, it was a question that was on his mind, too, but he wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. The large man pursed his lips as he thought, moving to, once again, check the teleportation relic, his at least, they’d shelled out for was still there. It was a lifeline not everyone had, and with things how they were, even with his lovely wife’s father being who he was, it wasn’t exactly easy, or cheap, to get them on such short notice. 

The lamia was next to speak, something Jim was not too surprised by, given her temperament. “I say we keep going. I’m not too low on mana, and I think Lorraine” she turned to the woman, who nodded back “isn’t either. I don’t want to fight the boss, and I really don’t want to deal with a siren. If we can, let’s finish on the fourth?”

Jim nodded at that, it was definitely a reasonable assessment, and he agreed with her about the boss and especially the siren. He wasn’t a fan of sirens. He was a bit amused at her enthusiasm about going to the fourth floor, he knew as well as she what was there, and he spied her buying a tamer’s relic earlier in the day when she thought she’d snuck away. He was about to speak up when his wife started, and his mouth snapped shut before he could interrupt her.

“I think that’s a wonderful plan” started the woman, the usual smile plastered on her face, her enthusiasm practically staining the water around them, even from just a simple statement “We’ve already been really successful today, though, so we shouldn’t force ourselves.” The care in her voice made Jim’s smile grow, they’d known these two for only three days, and only formed a party the day after, and she still cared about them so much. On top of that, the two were firmly in B rank, and part of an ‘official’ A rank party, so experience wasn’t much of an issue at all, Jim was sure they could handle themselves on the upper floors, ignoring the shrimp, or maybe a proper kobold hunting party, if they were as bad as it claimed.

He shook his head, he could fawn over his wife later, as well as work out what more to do about the party. He spoke up, once he was sure no one else had anything more. “Then I think we’re agreed? We try for the fourth floor, then warp out? I don’t want to risk coming all the way back, even if the danger really only comes from those shrimp, no need to push our luck.”

A few nods, and a dazzling smile, and the four turned towards the way out, only to immediately slide their mufflers back on. Some time when they were speaking, another shrimp had popped up, oddly enough, in the exit of the room and not a wall. Even stranger, the thing was absolutely beautiful. 

A glittering platinum carapace, and two golden claws, and what Jim would swear was a crown, whatever it was, was new. And new was bad. They grouped even closer together, the mages behind Mel, and Mel behind Jim as the former pulled out a harpoon, and the latter, his shield. 

The tool was massive, seemingly growing from a simple little thing into a proper tower shield with a bit of intention, and it dwarfed the shrimp to an almost comical extent, not that anyone said anything. The intruder, too, noticed them getting ready, and perked up. Another oddity, apparently, it was waiting, since it started crawling forward with a grace that other shrimps didn’t match, though it didn’t get to walk for very long before a hail of fist-sized rocks shot out towards it, closing the four meter gap in an instant. 

The party was terrified of whatever it was the newcomer may sound like, and when they saw the half dozen stones that were on target get deflected harmlessly from its shell, only to start opening both claws they all prepared themselves as best they could, expecting to still be deafened, and they all reached for their crystals with whatever free hand they could, just in case Jim’s shield didn’t block the pressure.

What they weren’t expecting, then, was for the claws to snap shut, and the sound to not be their concern. There was a muffled pop, and almost no force, and they would have been relieved if not for the room being turned completely white, blindingly harsh light threatening to sear their eyes useless in that very moment. Nobody wasted another moment, not when they had trouble seeing anything well past the light actually ending, so sudden and aggressive was the glare. Fighting deaf was already a bad move, fighting blind was certifiably insane, and within a moment every one of them had used their relics and vanished from the dungeon.

Jim and the others weren’t sure if it was totally necessary, or if just light was the only threat, but sticking around and risking their lives to find out was not on the agenda. Instead, with a burst of light, almost lost to them when compared to what they dealt with a moment prior, they appeared near the dungeon entrance. Initially, they got just a glance from the guards as they waved another group in, apparently they had impeccable timing, but when they saw Lorraine they got a much more sincere smile, and even one of them shouting over the din of chaos if everything was alright.

This was good, because everything was not alright, and they needed to let someone know about that. As soon as their vision finished coming back, they decided, until then, they simply weren’t going to move, even as a few people flocked over to see what exactly was wrong.