Thirty minutes into the battle…
"Okay… what else can we try…?"
"Sally! Any ideas?"
"Uh… not yet…"
Sally was standing stock-still, lost in thought.
This was possible because the tentacles were entirely focused on Maple.
Maple was getting slapped silly.
"Thank god your defense is so ridiculous."
These attacks would one-shot any other player, or at least put them in the red, but they
didn't hurt Maple any more than a bunny's tackle.
Maple was currently flying through the air like a pinball.
"Maple! I'm gonna try swimming up to it!"
"Got it! Be careful!"
Sally had already run through her spell collection, but none of them had managed to
penetrate the thick layer of water protecting the squid.
Maple had suggested using Hydra to poison the water itself, but if that didn't work, it
would still leave the water too poisonous for Sally to swim around. They'd decided to
make that idea their last resort.
First, Sally was going to swim up to it.
But not all the tentacles were busy slapping Maple.
It had kept a couple in reserve for any threats that got too close.
Naturally, these immediately closed in on Sally.
"Wow… nice, Sally."
Sailing through the air after another tentacle hit, Maple looked up and saw Sally deftly
threading the gaps between the tentacles, steadily drawing closer to the boss's body.
"Oh! The HP bar actually budged!"
Sally's daggers had lit up with the attack effect, slicing into the squid. Maple watched,
enduring more blows.
"Hmm… it has less HP than I feared…"
Sally did a five-skill combo, and that alone chewed through 15 percent of the boss's
health bar.
"Mm?!"
The tentacles around Maple stopped attacking, and she went crashing to the ground.
Sally dealing a decent chunk of damage had drawn the tentacle's aggro away from
Maple.
Realizing this, Sally quickly swam back to her friend.
No matter how good you were at dodging, a proper AOE would still hit you.
And if all those tentacles swung together, she'd be done for.
"Gasp…"
"Cover Move! Cover!"
Maple didn't use Devour. She just jumped between Sally and the tentacles and let them
all clang against her armor.
"Hydra!"
The poison dragon swallowed up all eight tentacles.
This squid was nowhere near as fast as the bird, so the Hydra landed its hits easily,
without needing any tricks or special timing.
It simply wasn't fast enough to dodge.
"But they grow back."
They could take out the tentacles, but they soon respawned without any effect on the
boss's main health.
It wasn't entirely pointless, though. It did get them to focus on Maple again.
"Sally, you're up!"
"Thanks! You're a life saver!"
Sally swam back out into the ocean.
Sally attacked, and Maple drew the aggro.
Each time the boss started targeting Sally, she came back to Maple, and Maple made
herself the target again.
They just had to rinse and repeat until something changed.
Phase two arrived sooner than expected.
When Sally had carved its health down to 70 percent, the boss changed things up.
Magic circles appeared all around the squid, generating fish.
These were clearly monsters.
The fish monsters swam toward the two girls.
All the tentacles that had been busy with Maple lost interest in her, withdrawing into
the water.
"They're swimming in air!"
Maple wasn't underwater, but the fish didn't seem to care. They were jumping right
out of the ocean and soaring effortlessly through the air—coated in a blue aura.
It was rather pretty, but… they were still monsters. She couldn't exactly stop and stare.
Fish were slamming into Maple from all directions.
"Hmm… Paralyze Shout!"
A schiiing echoed through the chamber, and the fish all fell to the floor, unable to move.
"This is so good!" Maple cried.
But the squid and any fish still in the water were out of range, leaving them all
unaffected.
"Gasp! I got away somehow!" Sally said. She emerged from the water, dripping.
The rest of the fish and all the tentacles were right on her heels.
But Sally was acting like she'd already gotten away—because Maple was there.
There were few places in the world safer than next to Maple.
"Maple!"
"Gotcha!"
Maple drew New Moon again.
A purple sigil appeared at its tip.
Maple's favorite—and most powerful—attack.
"Hydra!"
It melted all the approaching fish, and swallowed up the tentacles beyond, and…
…plunged into the water.
""Augh!""
Every one of the Hydra's heads was well inside the water, where they dissolved.
Were they imagining it, or had the ocean taken on a faint purple tint?
They weren't sure if Sally could safely swim through that.
"N-n-n-now what?!"
"D-d-don't ask me!"
"Um, uh, right! The squid! Its health bar!"
She looked up… and its health bar wasn't going down at all.
The tentacles were regenerating.
The fish she'd paralyzed were getting that blue aura around them and taking off again.
New fish were still spawning.
"I—I guess you'd better start running, Sally?"
"I'll take out a few fish as I do!"
"Super sorry!"
So many fish.
Eight flailing tentacles.
And those fish could do more than just tackle. They were spraying water the same
color as their glowing aura.
"Maple! I think that's like Oceanic!"
This was a skill Sally had that reduced her opponent's Agility, and she was pretty sure
these fish could do the same thing.
"I already got hit! But… I'm not getting any slower?"
"W-well, no. You never had any Agility! You can't get less than zero! Or… maybe it is
just normal water? Argh, I don't know anymore!"
Maple's blunder had put a stop to their reliable strategy, and now there was poison
and mystery fish fluid all over the floor. The air was filling with fish and wriggly
tentacles.
Maple was in full pinball mode.
Between screams of panic, they were both yelling ideas the moment they came to
mind, and it was the epitome of utter pandemonium.
"To hell with it! See how much poison you can dump in the ocean!"
"Right! Then just let me Devour some of these tentacles!"
"Go for it!"
Maple's shield promptly swallowed up some of the squid's limbs.
Each time it did, a red crystal appeared on the surface.
This was her MP reserve.
"While Maple handles the squid—I'm gonna catch me some fish."
Sally headed into the swarm, always at top speed, doing her usual hit and run.
Meanwhile, Maple…
"Right. Let's hope this works!"
She was standing by the ocean wall.
She'd just swallowed up all the tentacles, so she had bought herself a few moments of
relative peace.
Fish were still tackling her, but she simply ignored them.
"Wow, from close up, they're kinda cute!"
Maple reached out toward one of the fish, only for it to tackle her hand.
But she was all smiles, so it looked less like a monster attack and more like a kid
playing with their pet fish.
"You should probably back off now," Maple said and pointed New Moon at the water.
"Hydra!"
She didn't aim at anything in particular, so the Hydra just hurtled into the ocean depths.
And naturally, its body dissolved in the water, doing no direct damage to the squid.
"May the beautiful ocean… turn to poison!" Maple called out in a singsong voice.
There was a lot of water, and she'd clearly have to keep attacking.
But the water was definitely taking on an increasingly purple hue. It was much more
obvious than before.
"Better move away from the wall so the tentacles don't knock me in."
Maple moved to the center of the dome, splashing through the poison she'd created
and the water the fish had sprayed.
She had to wait a bit before she could use Hydra again.
And that gave the tentacles time to regenerate.
Since Sally wasn't attacking the squid at all, its attention was focused entirely on
Maple.
"Go on! Do your worst!" she said, lying down on the ground.
She figured there was no escaping her pinball fate, so she might as well not even
bother resisting.
"Oh?"
But when she lay down, the tentacles were just slapping her uselessly from above.
They couldn't get any lift like they had when she was upright.
"Nice! This is way better."
"Yikes… This is nuts, even for her…"
Sally was busy running a marathon with a school of fish chasing after her, so… she was
hardly one to talk.
Maple spent a while dumping poison in the ocean.
And both girls noticed the squid's HP was starting to slowly drain.
"It's going!"
"I think so! But…"
There was a looooong gap between each visible drop.
Like, five whole minutes. And each of those took maybe a millimeter off its health bar.
If they had to wait that long, it would quickly become actively painful.
"Keep going!"
"I will!"
A few more Hydras and the HP drain grew visibly faster.
An hour later, she'd succeeded in carving off 10 percent.
The boss had 60 percent health remaining.
At this rate, they'd be fighting for another six hours.
"Poison Lance!"
Maple had run out of ammo for Hydra, so she started using other skills.
"Six more hours of running like this is a bit much!"
"What do we do?"
Nothing she could think of seemed like it would make a dramatic difference.
They went on like this for another hour, and the squid's health dropped below 50
percent.
"Yikes!"
Maple had been lying down near the water wall, so she noticed right away.
The water was expanding.
The walls and ceiling drew closer.
When they finally stopped, the space in the dome had shrunk to half its original size.
Then the squid itself spewed a cloud of ink, hiding itself in the water.
It had been hard enough moving around in the water before, and doing so blind?
Fighting this thing the proper way would've been really hard.
But since they'd already given up on the legitimate approach…
"Maple, how many Devour left?"
"Just one!"
"…Save it."
"Roger!"
With the walls closing in, the fish attacks were coming at them more quickly.
Which made it much harder for Sally to run.
"Taunt!"
If Sally was struggling, then they were better off having Maple draw their aggro. She
made herself a big target.
"Thanks!"
"No prob."
The squid wasn't spraying ink constantly—just as Maple's poison was diluted, so was
the ink.
They could now see it swimming gracefully around, like it had no plans for a second
ink cloud.
"There it is… I think it's in range? Okay! Maple!"
Maple hopped to her feet and came over.
"What's the plan?"
"Come with me! Leap!"
Her jump took her toward the squid, but she was still a good fifteen yards off.
"Cover Move!" Maple yelled, following Sally's lead.
"Here goes! Shoulder Throw!"
Sally grabbed Maple and yanked her into a throw, flinging her toward the water.
"Aiiiieeeeee?!"
"Impact Fist!"
Sally threw a punch. There was a crack, and a projectile made of air hit Maple, pushing
her higher—through the water above.
Maple went rocketing directly toward the squid, swinging her great shield.
Which immediately took a huge bite of its health the moment they came into contact.
"I call it the Maple Cannon!"
"H-how am I supposed to land?!"
"...…I didn't think that far ahead."
They'd been exploring a long time and then had a very long fight—and Sally wasn't
really thinking as clearly anymore.
Maple was doomed to hit the ground with a very loud clang.
"Since I did a ton of damage…," Sally said, landing softly.
Maple crashed down next to her.
A good twenty-five-yard fall… from which she took no damage.
Incredible endurance.
Meanwhile, the squid didn't seem to have much in the way of HP or defense.
The way Sally's attacks had torn it up early on proved that.
She'd figured if they could land one of Maple's big hits, then a single blow could easily
knock off 20 percent or more.
"That saved us a good three hours!"
"But that still leaves another three."
Maple was all out of Devour. They couldn't pull that trick a second time.
"Oh, there goes the ink again."
"And to think how nice this ocean used to look."
Between the ink and the poison, there were no pretty blue patches left.
The girls held out until the boss's HP broke the 10 percent mark.
And it entered its final phase.
"Huh? The fish are…"
The fish lost their auras… and then they dried up, turning to dust.
The auras themselves rose upward and were absorbed into the squid boss.
"Brace yourself!"
"I am!"
Maple had her shield up.
She was out of Devour, so she could finally use it like a regular shield.
The giant squid shook itself; then a blue aura enveloped it—just like had happened to
the fish. It shot out of the water…
And the powerful blue glow kept its massive bulk aloft.
"Incoming!"
"Cover Move! Cover!"
As Maple yelled, the squid hit them.
Maple had covered her just in case, and while she was being flung around and was
soaking up the squid's onslaught, Sally was able to safely dodge away.
The squid kept going, plunging into the water on the far side of the dome.
It had taken a good 40 percent of Maple's health with it.
Cover Move doubled the damage she took.
But this was only the second time Sally had seen anything with a high enough damage
output to punch through Maple's defenses with brute force.
"One hell of a buff," Sally muttered.
She cast Heal on Maple, keeping one eye on the squid.
If it was coming in to attack them, that would open it up to a potential counter.
"Dodge… and strike!" Sally yelled.
The squid's attention was fully on Maple.
"Superspeed!"
And that meant it was open to Sally's attacks.
Going into slo-mo, she swung her daggers.
"Triple Slash!"
Six blows struck its underbelly as Sally slid beneath it.
"Poison Lance!"
Maple stabbed it right in the head.
The squid's attack hurt Maple, but it took more damage than she did.
It splashed into the water on the far side.
"We'll finish it next time!"
"It's almost toast! Hang in there!"
They followed it closely with their eyes, ready to go again.
Not wanting to blow their best opportunity.
The squid wheeled toward them, ready for another charge.
"Here it comes!"
"Yeah!"
They hefted their weapons…
…and the last of the squid's health fell victim to poison.
""Huh?!""
It turned to light, vanishing.
The light cleansed the water.
The particles sparkled like sunlight, rocking in the currents, and slowly faded out.
"... Well, that was anticlimactic."
"... You can say that again."
Neither of them had found that victory at all satisfying.
Still, a win was a win. A deep-blue magic circle appeared in front of them.
"Hop on?"
"Is there a reward?"
"Uh… there might be? Should I go swim around a bit?"
"Please do."
Sally dived in.
The poison was gone, and she could explore to her heart's content.
"If only Syrup were a sea turtle, I could've asked it to help."
But all she could do was watch Sally swim around until she came back.
"Just one squid tentacle."
"No medals?"
"Uh… not any that I could find. I searched among the coral pretty thoroughly. And I
doubt the rewards would drop somewhere that hard to find."
"True…"
But no medals was still disappointing. They stepped onto the magic circle.
They'd just assumed this would take them to the cliff above so were shocked to find
themselves underwater.
"H-how will I breathe?! This is bad!"
"Uh, wait. Maple! We can breathe."
"Huh? Oh. You're right…"
Both of them were talking normally.
They could feel the water all around them but weren't drowning.
"How mysterious!"
"Is this the 'quiet azure depths'?"
It certainly was quiet.
If they kept silent, the only audible sound was the occasional bubble.
This seemed to be the seafloor but fairly near the surface.
The still of the blue around them was almost soporific—but there was a blue treasure
chest cradled in the coral.
"Mind if I do the honors?"
Inside were two medals and two scrolls.
Sally picked up the scroll and read the description.
"What skill is it?"
"Ancient Ocean. The prereq is a water skill… lets you summon those blue aura fish
from earlier."
They'd seen more than enough of those during the squid battle.
Sally read further. Like she'd suspected, their blue water attack was a 10 percent
Agility debuff.
This wasn't a skill that would help Maple out much, but it would give Sally more
options.
They'd solved the puzzle on the surface to get here. That had weakened the boss and
changed the rewards for victory—but they had no way of knowing that.
"Uh… does Hydra count?"
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's not a water skill, no."
"Figured."
Maple gave it a shot but was unable to acquire the skill.
So she put the skill in her inventory, saving it for another day.
They closed the chest and lay down.
It had been a long battle, and they'd done a lot of exploring in the ruins. They were
both exhausted.
And they'd met Kanade earlier that morning.
It really had been a very busy day.
"Maybe it wouldn't hurt to spend one day relaxing."
"Ah-ha-ha… maybe not."
If they reached their medal goal in time, maybe they could take the seventh day off.
For the moment, they simply went to sleep. This was the perfect spot for a nap.
"Let's just… rest awhile…"
"Yeah…"
The sea's embrace made this the best bed they'd found yet.