C45: Water City, Dumb Crabs, Monster Rex
Word count = 1363 on 3/2/2024
(Sunday is my only real day off as 8 get too busy other days which is why these chapters are always so late in the day recently.)
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The group had decided to rest for whatever can be considered a day as they get used to any oncoming monsters that are trying to break out of the water city and into the forest. As such, they split into 2 major teams with the rangers: Daisy, Chigusa and Lily would typically team up with the trio of Ouka, Mikoto and Bell to fight off monsters that would approach their camp. While Axel and Welf would take on the second team. Axel set up this team arrangement to help with work better tomorrow as well as give Welf a bit more time to recover before he would rejoin that team near the end of the day.
This has been a useful experience for the group as they got used to how the giant blue crabs would attempt to steamroll the group if the archers didn't pick their shots at them. This also includes the random crystal turtle that is joining the monster parade. Truthfully, there is an obscene amount of new monsters made available in the water city that has reached a point where Axel simply proposes to the group that they stay there near the entrance while he moves in by himself to the 27nd floor to take on the rex. They haven't even made their way down.
Yet when it came down to it, Axel couldn't bring himself to force the group down further even if it is somehow beneficial to them. It's just not right and so after some minor experiments. He steals a few monster cores from Lilys bag and uses them as the energy source for the magic bubble he set up for the group to sleep in. Once he was able to do that, he snuck out on his own.
Shortly after he left, a bunch of grumbling was heard. "Can you believe the nerve of him, spending money so casually, it doesnt all belong to him. First he spends our money then runs off by himself. Who knows how many cores he will waste by not picking them up. He definitely looks like the lazy type."
"Come on Lily, he means well. He is under a lot of pressure from first fighting Antares" Bell speaks up a bit groggy as he reveals that Axel had told them a bit about Antares to help prepare them ahead of time. Serving as motivation to help them improve more. But him telling them also hinted at the pressure he had faced from not being able to slay the monstrous beast after already possessing the title of titan and slaying a goliath himself. Welf had revealed to them during the time that Axel was away that Axel nearly died pushing himself to his limits to defeat the goliath before. He even had a magic sword to help reduce his burdens a bit but didn't even use it. He chose self destruction over asking for help.
"Yea, what Bell said. We can't let him go off by himself. Lily, grab the orb. Everyone, be ready for a hard fight." Welf speaks up firmly and resolves to go help his friend to overcome the nearing challenge.
The group heads off with Mikoto and Ouka making their own comments about Axel not trusting them enough. Axel himself is rushing forward through the 25th floor but his pace is quite casual now that he doesnt have to protect anyone. Though he is getting annoyed as he is walking next to the river to go further down, blue crabs keep popping up like tidal waves. He can easily deal with them with just the back of his hand but his shoulder is getting sore from doing this many times over.
He considered outright setting fire to the endless river and waterfalls to hopefully find its end. That would greatly weaken or kill off any sea based creatures like the crabs, which technically don't require the water here but there are tons of other monsters around like Aqua Serpents, Raider Fish, the Drag Octopus, and many of the humanoid style monsters like merman and mermaids, or sirens that are more dependent on the water, if for the very least an extra speed buff whilst in the water.
The fish monsters definitely rely on the water but the others could take it or leave it like the crabs. His pace remains constant nevertheless and he soon arrives at the 26th floor. Due to Antares, the monsters which typically show up on the 27th floor are appearing now. This includes the Afanc which look like beavers if they had walrus-like tusks and scaled belly like crocodiles and platypus-like tail and fins on their arms. Another example would be the Dodora [1]which are bi-headed flying monsters the size of the hand, making them very fast and a bit annoying.
At the end of the 26th floor, he encountered the Voltimeria, a stone based Sahuagin with 8 fins on its body that is somehow able to float nearly 9 feet in the air. It's considered a rare monster due to only appearing near the deepest of water pockets on the 27th floor. But Antares naturally made it an irritable child and it wanted play time with the adults. Luckily, Axel is still 13 years old so he can relate to this notion but he could not relate to this monster at all so he then promptly discards the idea just like the corpse of the beast after he snapped its neck.
Thus Axel finally reached the 27th floor. The ground finally no longer slopes, the 25th and 26th floors can essentially be a giant staircase downward as it leads to this giant open area that is split in two by a monstrously large river. There are a few side paths that can be accessed following any one of the side river paths but Axel has a goal in mind.
The rex arena itself is devoid of life. Even with other monsters rampaging around the area is clear and peaceful. Axel believes that even the first dungeon explorers might have considered this a safe zone of sorts until they discovered Amphisbaena. Speaking of rampaging monsters, Axel initially hoped that the rex would have been one of them so that it would have saved him the trouble and come up to the 25th floor right away. Thus, he is saddened that it wasn't.
Axel blatantly walks into the giant room, his legs wide and carefree. He sits down next to the river, a peaceful expression on his face. Minutes tick by as Axel actually ponders if he arrived at the right location until the walls around the nearby waterfalls begin to crack and shatter similar to the goliath's entrance. The Giant two headed snake dragon finally shows itself. With it's arrival, the central river expands 3 times over until the land itself is divided properly into two as the other half is now 50 ft or so away from Axel.
Axel himself had jumped back from the river once the monster rex had begun signs of showing itself. Axel looks at all the water and ponders about something such as Raikou and Kaoruko in swimsuits but he shakes his head to reorient his thoughts to the coming fight.
Amphisbaena sees Axel standing casually as his multi-armed form starts to get ready for a fight. It roars at him and Axel offers his own retort.
"Alright, Come at me"
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[1] I attempted to look up what a Dodora was since wiki offered no info. I found that there was no real mythology related to this unlike the Afanc which was an irish monster. I was referred to Arcwingpedia instead…that or monster hunter world which has a monster that is closely named but not exact. Most of these are pretty unified, a 2-headed giant dragon monster but i felt that danmachi has enough giant dragons so i made a pixie dragon instead. tada.