Chapter 529 - Snakes on the water (Patreon)

Hera's Status

Adriel's 'submarine' was far from being fast. Any one of them could make a better time swimming, but at the same time, no one had to be worried. The air bubble also supplied the party with a constant flow of oxygen. And thanks to Mylo and Shane's spells, they could see their surroundings without an issue. The combination of spells allowed everyone to see far away into the water. The colors and shapes were not exactly correct since the enchantment Shane created would mirror the effects of night vision goggles, but they at least worked to show everyone where they were going.

Hera was surprised by the sheer number of creatures that kept swimming around them. She imagined that there would be some creatures, but it actually looked like they were close to an actual reef. Fishes were swimming everywhere, some big, some small. They all were similar to the ones one would see on Earth but, at the same time, had distinct features. Some had more than just two eyes, others had spikes or longer tails, and there was even a small seahorse with a horn on its forehead. Considering all the rooms she passed by, this ocean felt more alive. The only two places that could compare were the Waperath Jungle and Brinefront. Everywhere else barely had any diversity of species. Some rooms didn't even have any monsters, while here, it was an actual ecosystem.

After about half an hour, they could finally see the start of the reef. If Hera were flying on Nimbus' back, it would take just a few minutes to get here. Even swimming, she was confident it would take her less than 10 minutes to reach the reef's edge. Still, their journey so far was going well. Now, they had to focus on finding the actual doorway. Hera could ask Yarnball for directions, and as long as she formulated the question correctly, it would even show an arrow pointing to their destination. However, if she did it now, it could go to waste. She would end up spending mana for nothing if it were something obvious.

"Adriel, if I use a sonar, would it affect your barrier?" Shane asked.

"A sonar? I don't think so. What are you trying to do?" The elf glanced back as more of the reef came into sight. It looked massive, but it was still too soon to tell if it would go beyond the 30-meter depth limit for the bubble.

"My relic lets me make a map of my surroundings. I never used it underwater, but in theory, it should work," Shane replied as she placed her gauntlet outside the bubble and triggered its sonar mapping ability. Nothing happened to the people inside the submarine, but when Shane pulled back her hand, she could map almost everything in a 10-meter radius around them, "There is nothing that seems like a passage for now. Not a passage that would fit us, at least."

"So there are passages?" Bonnie asked.

"A bunch of tiny ones that fish should use. Some are even occupied to the point where my sonar can't see what's beyond it," Shane turned the tablet so everyone could see. It was a 3D map of the entire area that she discovered, "But there is what seems to be a large chamber right here. At the edge of my range."

"Can't we just open a hole in the reef?" Blue asked.

"We need to get closer before we try anything. If the entrance is not big enough, we will have to find another way. Besides, I'm not the type who enjoys destroying nature just to save some time," Adriel said as he examined their position.

"I was thinking more like that stone shape spell Hera has," Blue replied.

"That only works on stone. Besides, a reef is a living organism, not just a bunch of rocks," Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Shane, how often can you use that sonar thing?" Alex asked.

"As often as I want. It's more about the mana cost. I can still do it about 10 times. It can be more if we really need it, but I want to keep some mana in case of an emergency. We are in the middle of the ocean, after all," Shane replied.

"Hang on. Let me do something. No one freaks out. I'm going to summon a bunch of snakes," Hera was about to trigger the bracelet skill when Bonnie stopped her.

"Do you have to trigger it here? Can't you summon them outside?"

'It was worth a shot, mum,' Daskka snickered in Hera's mind.

"Fine. I just wanted to see if everyone would keep their cool while snakes passed by," Hera replied while putting her arm out in the water. She shook the bracelet, and 30 snakes came out of it. Using the map Shane showed everyone, Hera sent all the snakes to the large open area she found with her sonar.

The snakes slithered through the water and started exploring their surroundings. There wasn't much to see from the inside of the bubble. It would take them some time before reaching the opening, and Hera didn't want to waste one of her connections for nothing. One of the most interesting parts of this item was that she could sense the presence of the snakes in a similar way as she felt Daskka. However, she could also tell everything came from the bracelet and not from each individual snake.

If they found something, Hera would know about it first. Or if someone decided to mess with the snakes, she would instantly know. As long as she stayed calm and focused, she would be able to pinpoint whatever was happening. Either way, Adriel continued to pilot his drones to guide everyone around the reef. According to Hera and Shane, there should be an entrance, a path that they could take to reach the doorway, and he wasn't the type who would want or allow others to destroy nature just to make things easier on themselves. He wouldn't let anyone go near the door until there was a clear path for them.

And so, Hera waited patiently for the snakes to explore their surroundings. That was…until she got bored and decided to check on the snakes herself. Looking out into the darkness wasn't exactly fun, and seeing the reef through the odd night vision enchantment that Shane created was nowhere as interesting as one would expect. Her snakes didn't all go to the open area Shane found. Only 10 of them followed one of the tunnels. The others were scattered around the reef to look for entrances or anything interesting. Hera could tell the snakes simple commands, and they would obey and even send a signal back when they found something. The good part was that even after tapping into the senses of one of her snakes, the construct would still exist and send back messages, even if it could no longer become her eyes in the water. After looking through two different snakes and only seeing darkness and the reef to the side, she gave up and decided to wait for them to tell her they had found something.

In the meantime, the rest of the group asked if there was a way to use the drones to scout the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Adriel only had the three that were being used to maintain and move the makeshift submarine. When they were getting closer to the edge of Shane's current map, she used her sonar again, discovering more of the surrounding area. To her surprise, she could see some very strange shapes under the water on the edge of the map.

"Hey, guys! Look at these!" Mylo pointed at the screen, "Is that a giant octopus or something?"

"I don't think so. Living things don't show up on the map like that," Shane pointed at a few points in the water that seemed to have caught some interference, "See these? They are animals, things that are moving and don't stop the sonar completely.

"What are those, then?" Bonnie was curious about the odd tentacle-like structure at the bottom of the map. By all accounts, they looked like the legs of a giant octopus.

"Fossils, maybe?" Helena suggested.

"Ok... but then what caused them to become fossils? Could this room have a volcano or something like that somewhere?"

"Shane. If that static equals a living creature, these could be Hera's snakes, right?" Mylo pointed at a few points on the map showing the snakes in full definition.

"Correct."

"What are these then?" He pointed at the corner of the screen where a few other large shapes were. They would start as static, but the sonar stopped a few centimeters beyond it as if it had hit a wall.

"I don't know. Hera, can you move one of the snakes there?" Shane turned to the Countess.

"Sure," Hera told a couple of the snakes to head in that direction, but she soon felt the connection break. Something happened with the constructs she sent, and they no longer existed. Using another one that was close by, Hera swapped her senses with the snake and tried casting a light spell through it. When the snakes were close enough, that could work. It wasn't like Hera was using the snake as a medium. She was still casting from her position but using the constructs, she could have a better grasp on the position of her spell. The moment the lights appeared, Hera saw, through the snake, a Hunter Bugfish. With the flash, the monster was startled and swam away.

While the squid-like creature disappeared, Hera moved the two closest snakes to the spot where it was last seen. Sure enough, it reappeared, but this time, it was covered in sand. Its tentacles were also waving around wildly. They lashed out and cut the constructs where they stood. One thing that Hera didn't expect was how it felt to be sharing the senses of one of the snakes when they were destroyed. It didn't hurt, but when the Bugfish hit the snake, Hera gasped and stepped back, almost falling into the water if it wasn't for Blue catching her.

"What happened?" Helena had a worried expression.

"There is a Bugfish out there. It seems different than the ones we fought against. It looked more like an octopus, and for some reason, it was covered in sand," Hera tried to explain calmly, but her heart was beating so fast she was amazed it wasn't coming out of her throat.

"We should hurry. If it gets more aggressive, it could destroy our submarine," Mylo raised his voice, "Let's get to the doorway! I'll break some of the reef, Blue help me."

"Wait, wait! Let me find the entrance. I can push the sonar to reach a larger area, but I'll use more mana," Shane looked around, trying to see if another monster was approaching.

"My snakes reached that open area. Let me see if they can find something to help," Hera quickly snapped back and tried to see through one of the snakes inside the open area. There was some bioluminescent coral around the space, revealing a path towards a doorway. Oddly enough, when getting close to it, the water would simply stop as if it had hit a wall, but the snakes could pass by that area without a problem, "The doorway is in there, but I can't see a passage. Everything here seems closed off. I think we might not find a passage."

"Why?" Bonnie asked.

"Probably because there isn't one," Helena said, "Reefs are natural formations. They grow and change with time. It wouldn't be impossible for the coral to block the entire passage."

"Ok, so can we open a path? I think that between Mylo, Bonnie, and I, we can break enough to pass through."

"We are not breaking the reef just to pass through! If you try anything, I'll drop the bubble and stop you," Adriel turned around with an angry expression.

"What is your problem with that? We are here to explore, and the reef can grow again. I'm not saying to burn everything to the ground, just to open a path!" Blue tried to walk closer to Adriel, but she was in the middle of the platform, and they didn't have enough space to move around.

"How would we burn this to the ground? We are underwater," Mylo asked.

"That's not the freaking point!" Blue gasped.

While they started fighting about their destination, Hera got a ping from one of the snakes. It was far away from her location, but apparently, it had found something. The snakes had amazing eyesight, and this one could see a large oyster that would occasionally open to release some air bubbles. Inside it was a hexagonal red gem instead of a pearl. Thinking nothing of it, Hera told another snake to grab it. The moment one of the constructs touched the gem, the snake vanished, almost as if it was absorbed by the mineral.

The entire reef started to rumble, and everyone stopped fighting as the red hexagonal gem flew towards Hera. It stopped in front of the submarine and slammed against the reef, shattering it with the impact. The red particles were sucked into the coral and started to twist and bend, revealing a hexagonal path inside the reef itself.

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The reef path will remain open for the next seven days.
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