After the fight, I was the only one who didn't get to level up, but that's because all of my exp was being gathered into one huge chunk, and I would only be able to level up once the second trial ends. At this point in time I had no idea where we were, and even though I've been telling everyone that we should all put our faith in the compass, I was beginning to have doubts myself.
So far we've not encountered any monster for over an hour since we killed the first boss, which more than proves the point that the dungeons in lost descendants online, are completely unlike the dungeons in other games. Looks like we really have our work cut out for us. We kept on following the compass, until finally it brought us to a hallway with a dead end, and based on the twitching eyebrows pointing in my direction, I would say I was only five seconds away from a mutiny.
But the compass was pointing at that direction, and I knew that without a doubt it wasn't broken, or at least I hoped not. But the idea of ramming my ship through a solid wall did not sit well with me, so I shot an arrow at the wall, and low and behold the arrow went through the wall like all we were seeing was just some sort of hologram. I gave everyone a smug look, ignoring their rolling eyes as the Acheron sailed right into the wall, leading us into another section of the labyrinth that was much different from the first.
The first labyrinth had straight walls, just a simple maze. However this sectional had curved walls and some completely circular walls too that made navigating it's waters a little tricky. To be honest I don't think the guide have ever been this far into the dungeon, and that was because the platforms on which the walls once stood, platforms that were wide enough to carry a dozen men, serving as a pathway through the dungeon so that ships would not be used. All those platforms were gone. Now it just seems as if the walls themselves rose out of the water.
*Splash!*
A blue skinned man with a tattered robe, the spine of a fish, gills on the size of his neck, round black eyes that were a little too big for his face, and a mouth filled with sharp serrated fish, like a humanoid piranha stood on deck. Funny thing is we don't know how he got there.
We heard the splash of water, but we didn't notice any disturbance, one second he wasn't here, and the next he was. He was standing at almost eight feet tall, which was quite a lot of height, and he was also carrying a staff made from stone, with a blue orb glowing on it. All in all he looked like a hobo, but a very scary one none the less.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, raising his staff and spreading both of his hands like he was Moses parting the red sea. And then he brought his hands together and slammed his weird looking staff down on the deck with a metallic clang. And then he started screaming.
"Ayayayayayayayayaya!"
It was more like a guttural screech that left your stomach churning, utter as soon as he finished, massive tentacles made of water stretched out of the canal below us, and wrapped around the ship, bringing us to a screeching halt, as most of us was thrown off our feet. But the monster was not done yet as he swung his staff, and wave of water washed over the deck and pushed all of us towards the other end of the ship with the intention of throwing us off.
I don't know what to expect, but I knew falling into that canal was not a good idea. I spread my wings and flapped them harder than normal, using my connection to wind to create a powerful gust that brought our momentum to a halt. It didn't cause any damage, but it hurt like a bitch. We scrambled to our feet quickly, with Raven Song standing in front of us with his shield held high.
"Raven Song keep that monster's attack away from us, but keep an out for any others. Qitar the ships guns can't fire on the ship, so you will have to use a normal gun. Jack, Zack, Mack and Darke, you guys lack any long range attacks, so just keep our rear safe, make sure we're not attacked from behind. Dinah is still below deck so she should be able to monitor the situation from there. Qitar and I will be responsible for dealing damage to the monster."
[Dungeon Nereid: Water Shaman/ Grade: Earth/ Hidden Grade: NA/ Level: 50]
If this was a common monster, then based on the principles of dungeons, there's bound to be more. And to be honest that's not really fair seeing as just this one almost kicked our ass in more ways than one. Qitar stretched her hands in front of her, and just like magic a sniper rifle appeared out of thin air (of course it was magic.) She took a stance and aimed, while the Water Shaman who at this point has been throwing exploding spears of water at us, took a deep breath and yelled again. This time in a different frequency.
"Yuyiyuyiyuyiyuyiyuyiyuyi!"
The water tentacle that was holding the ship in place shook as it moved the ship left and right a bit, throwing us off balance enough that Raven Song wasn't able to defend with his shield and one of those exploding water spears slammed into his chest. He was thrown backwards with a massive dent on his armor, and he would fallen overboard if Darke didn't step in to catch him.
"Qitar use the ships turrets to get rid of those tentacles, Raven Song heal yourself and get back to the front line, I will lay down some suppressive fire. Jack and the others hold your positions for now."
I ordered as I started firing at the water shaman. But for some reason the first four arrows I fired slowed to a crawl when they reached a certain distance from the shaman, it was as if they had been shot into water. But with wind mark active, every subsequent arrow had a faster speed, and much more piercing power than was normal, so they went further.
From the looks of it, whatever skill that was preventing my arrows from touching this shaman was a passive, because I didn't seem him speak or wave his staff to cast a spell. But who knows maybe he already did so before he came aboard the ship. But in response to my arrows that were getting more and more closer to his body, he slammed his staff on the ground, and a wall of ice rose up to block my ninth arrow.
Massive chunks of ice exploded every which way as the arrow slammed into the ice wall, there was substantial damage, but the wall had kept the water shaman protected. I was annoyed, which was why I buffed up the speed and damage of the tenth arrow by using [SHOOT]. The wall was blasted apart, but the debris was still stopped by the invisible watery forced field around the shaman.
Qitar had already carried out my orders and used the ship's turrets to get rid of the tentacles holding us in place. So the ship was moving once again, but we still had to deal with the shaman. Though the ice wall protected him from us, it also prevented him from attacking, looks like he could not attack what he couldn't see. Raven Song moved to the front once again and slammed his shield down, a golden glow suffusing his body as he intercepted a barrage of water blades from the shaman.
With Raven Song now serving as a tank for us, Qitar turned her focus back to the Shaman, and pointed her sniper rifle at him. The gun began to glow a deep red, looking as if it was charging up a shot. Five seconds later a bullet fast as a laser shot out of the gun's barrel, went through the protective force field and blasted a hole right in the chest of the shaman.
The fact that he could die that easily annoyed me since he was so troublesome, but looking at the exhausted look on Qitar's face, it was obvious that the skill she used drained her a lot. But unfortunately that bloody shaman did not want to die that easily, he fell to his knees, using his staff to hold himself up as he started chanting.
"Shomulumulumulumutututututurijirijirijririji"
The entire thing happened so fast that we were unable to react on time. The shaman fell to the ground dead as his body slowly turned into a watery portal that floated in the air above the ship. There was a sound of waves crashing and storms raging as bony hand stretched out of the portal, and soon enough a half corporeal form came out of the portal.
The monster standing in front of us had on a hood, the hood itself was white and it covered it entire body, all we could see where it's glowing blue eyes, and it's genie like body as if located in the air. One of it's bleached white bone hands was holding a trident, and it washing it around pretty menacingly.
[Dungeon Nereid: Boss: Ocean Wraith/ Grade: Earth/ Hidden Grade: Spirit/ Level 70]
[HP: 55000/55000]
And there were seven of them, one for each of us. At this point, I think its safe to say we would all be loosing our lives here.