Logging into the game once again, Sol stretched his virtual muscles and was welcomed by an extremely enthusiastic Eilyria.
"Sol you big dummy! I was soooooooo bored here all by myself. When is big sis Luna, Minerva, and Diana coming?"
"Sorry Elly, they should be on soon. Do you always stay around here when we log off?"
Crossing her arms and smirking, Eilyria tried her best to look snooty despite her current cute and small form.
"Unless there's some game administration that needs doing ill occasionally go back to the game creation part and chat up new players.
Unfortunately, most of them pay me no mind or say little to nothing in response. Other than that I go sleeping and then wait around when you come back online. I MUCH more have been enjoying playing with you guys!"
Trying his best to butter up Eilyria, Alex got on his knees and praised the light fairy. "So is there any way I can get some new loot or secret upgrades?"
"Don't even try it bud, I don't even have access to those abilities while playing in this form and it would be so boring if I just powered everyone up.
So you're just gonna have to deal with the bestest and most cute familiar instead."
"Darn, welp it was worth asking anyway" Laughing, Alex wouldn't have accepted any benefits even if Eilyria could offer them for much the same reason.
It was just then that the rest of the group came online and Eilyria took that moment to fly over to Minerva as they quickly chatted away.
Luna gathered the rest of their group. "So I hadn't planned on going to visit an Aspect shrine. However, now that we are better equipped and have the boat, we can go look for the next dungeon a bit ahead of schedule. I don't know the exact location, but it should be hidden near the shore around this town."
Diana questioned. "So is there a reason why we needed the boat and couldn't find the dungeon by land?"
"That's a good question, we very well might have been able to find the dungeon by land. However; getting a boat early is always useful in case we come across a situation where we would need it, and it would allow us to fight the sea creatures for level easier than the more sparse ones that appear on land.
"So what makes you so sure that there will be a dungeon near the coast then?"
"I got a tip from Melantha about a nest of elementals nearby." Despite lying to Diana, Luna knew that there was a dungeon near the town that can be found out by talking with some of the townsfolk but they would be able to skip that part since there was no quest associated with the dungeon anyway.
As they were about to get onto the boat to look for the elemental nest, a loud group of players had come by close to the dock.
"Wow, would you look at this place? I was wondering if we had wasted our time being sent this way to explore. I was almost bored out of my mind having nothing to fight on the way here. To think that there would be a port town."
As the group of players walked to the port, they saw Sol's group about to board their ship. "Damn, others have already been here. And they have a boat?! We should be able to get a boat too!"
The leader of the small group looked over and recognized Sol and Luna. Narrowing his eyes, he wanted to make sure that they were who he recognized and quickly messaged. "Hey, boss, that punk and his sister that you've been looking for. I found them over at this port city to the east.
An angered response quickly came back. "No wonder I couldn't find them after all this time."
"What do you want us to do boss, should we kill them?"
After a moment, a short response followed. "No, follow them for now and if they find anything useful you know what to do."
"Yes boss, if I see something I like can I have it?"
"You have to let me know what you loot, and if I find you trying to sneak something behind my back you know what'll happen. Keep me updated should you find something."
Richard or I guess now Noctis sent a quick message to another man in the group to keep a lookout on his subordinate. 'Can't be too careful about him, he is getting too sly with his requests. Don't think I don't know what you've been trying to hide behind my back.'
'I am curious why they decided to run away to that place though. Tssk whatever, I'll crush you for what that bastard did to my face.' Getting back to farming elementals, Noctis shelved the thoughts forming in his mind till later.
~~~
Sol and the rest of the group had spent a good hour searching up the coast from the town and didn't find much of anything besides fighting a new sand elemental in the shape of a flounder which almost swallowed Minerva whole and a few smaller Skaldyr that were nearby.
Unable to find anything, the group made their way down the coast and closely monitored the beach and shore again while sailing.
Passing the town a small group of players had been following their travels. "Damn, why do we have to chase after a freaking boat? We lost track of the damn thing following behind so far and only were able to find it again after it circled back."
"Quit yer bitching, I don't like this just as much as you guys do. But that's what the boss wants, and I sure as hell ain't gonna end up like Jake. Now get your asses in gear and follow the fucking boat without getting noticed!"
Groaning, the rest of the group followed behind the boat being thankful that the boat wasn't going too quickly and the lack of elementals blocking their path.
15 minutes later, Luna felt Aquis shuffle around and hop on top of her head looking around. After looking for a few moments, Aquis started to squeak loudly and pointed its tiny snout towards an outcropping of rocks near the coast.
Hearing the commotion, everyone else gathered around and Eilyria fluttered around Aquis. "Oh is that so?"
"Over there?"
"Are you sure? It looks like a bunch of rocks, we've passed a ton of those already."
Aquis squeaked and nodded his head.
"Alright, alright, no need to be a jerk. I was just making sure. Princes are sure a touchy bunch."
Fascinated that Eilyria was able to communicate with their familiars, everyone was dumbstruck and just watched the back and forth. Luna who was still having the conversation occurring on top of her head just smiled.
Picking up Aquis and holding him gently, she directed the boat towards the outcropping and thankfully there was a side where they could dock without too much trouble.
It took no time at all for them to find the entrance to the elemental nest which was surprisingly devoid of any defenders on the outside.
What looked like a smooth carved hole sloping downwards was found near the center of the rocks and Sol looked at the others cautiously. "So are we going in the hole? Shouldn't we be worried that it will be full of seawater? Not to mention being super dark as well."
Looking over at Eilyria, Sol asked cautiously. "Elly, do you think it's safe down there?"
"Aquis said he felt a strong water elemental in this place, should be the elemental nest that Melantha was talking about. As for being safe, we can't really know till we check it out, but it should be another dungeon as soon as we go inside. I do hope it isn't underwater though, that would make flying impossible for Minerva's familiar and myself."
Sighing lightly, Sol braced himself as he approached the cave entrance.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! Don't move a muscle, give us your equipment and we can let you go nice and easy like."
Twisting around quickly, Sol saw a group of 6 players surrounding them with their weapons drawn. A bulky armored tank stood in front, flanked by two others with long two-handed weapons. In the back of them stood a mage and a ranger protecting their cleric.
Their group floated around level 21 and while the levels of Sol and the rest were much higher than them, they were unprepared for the sudden ambush.
Taking no chances at letting them get the first attack, Luna coordinated with Diana to fire a volley at the ambushing players along with their terrain being very cramped, the players quickly scattered to avoid taking too much damage.
Knowing that would be far from enough to seriously injure any of them, Luna recalled their boat and rushed into the hole, grabbing Minerva and shoving Sol into the dungeon entrance.
The ranger who was the leader of the group cursed at the fleeing players as he pulled out an arrow from his shoulder. "Damn bitch, I'll kill her thousands of times over till she's naked and begs for forgiveness."
One of the two warriors spoke up. "That's why I said we should've just killed them, even though their stuff might have not dropped, it's not worth the trouble of letting them escape. Should we follow them?"
Gritting his teeth in frustration and debating killing the stupid warrior for talking back, he held in his anger. "No, you heard them, didn't you. This place is a dungeon, they have to come out here sooner or later. We risk missing them if we go in now and the boss wouldn't be happy if we lost track of them now."
"So what are we gonna do in the meantime, it might take a bit for them to show up."
Thinking for a bit, he agreed. "You three meatheads will guard the entrance and let us know if they show up again, the rest of us will scout around for any elementals we can grind for exp. As soon as they show up make sure to contact us, and for your sake you better not let them escape or you'll have to explain to the boss, not me."