Lair of the Beast

Each step taken made a splash as they made their way into the temple, the stone glowed a beautiful blue from the water that fell from the walls and ceiling on the temple. The air was still and cold but it was beautiful as could be, with the water shimmering against the metal of their armor and a statue of one of the heroes standing tall in the main room. The slapping of water could be heard coming towards them from down one of the many halls, as well as from above them on the other floors.

Out from the hallway came a alligator type monster, it was big and stood on its hind legs, its jaw snapping at them and a large anchor held like a club in its hands. It rushed them swinging the anchor wildly around and as they dodged it, its teeth clamped down on them, biting at them. The monsters just got a whole lot tougher than the last dungeon, a lot had happened between then and now but they didn't expect this. They gained distance and split up around the main room, so that it didn't have a single target to hit, they started taking turns rushing in and hitting it, juggling it between all of them so that it couldn't get a chance to attack. This was the best tactic they could think of at the moment to take on something strong enough, they had to gain levels while in this dungeon to ready them for what was to come. It bounced back and forth, as they randomly jumped in and hit it, making sure it couldn't find a pattern to them they. They didn't get out unscathed though, as it was much quicker than it looked and hit them when they rushed in sometimes, this also made the battle go much slower.

Soon they downed the Thrashing Alligator and took a quick breath, looking around trying to figure out where they were meant to go, at first it seemed like there were to many paths to take, but they decided to split up into teams of two, each taking a path, leaving only one unchecked path. Fenix and Razah headed down one that had a large amount of HopChomps that they had to fend off, these ones were much larger than the ones they originally saw when they first got to this world, they also had red shark skin and white on the frog parts of them. In time they were able to get rid of them but it seemed to be a dead end.

Tophuu and Vixen headed down the other path, they ran into more of the same, finding these Rage HopChomps to be rather annoying but with only three in this path they were able to get rid of them quick, sadly Tophuu didn't have enough magic after summoning Slimey to catch one of these ones yet. After the battle they noticed that ice had been forming and crawled up the wall, they decided that it was a good idea to break it, shooing explosive arrows at it, till it cracked and shattered. From behind it water flooded into the hall forcing them back and out into the entrance room.

Art and Meekle had less luck, running into one of the Alligator monsters and having to fight it off. They went in with full force, both attacking with all they had but getting pretty beat up in the process, they continued hitting and bashing at it till it finally fell and they were left breathless as they started to heal up. They were just thankful that they were able to beat it with just the two of them, showing that they weren't as strong as they originally thought they were. As they went farther in they found the same ice as Vixen and Tophuu did and agreed they should break it, unsure if their was a door behind it or not. This took them a bit longer than it did Vixen, hacking away at it with swords and claws it finally started cracking and water burst forth, as if it was waiting for them to break it and flooded them back to the others.

The water level had gone hire and hire but it wasn't enough, it was clear they had to make it up to the ledge of the second floor this way and so Vixen and Art decided to swim under and go to the last path, all of them wondering why there wasn't anything in Fenix and Razah's path, but that was best saved for another time as the two dived under the water and found the last path. This was the path that the first monster came out of so they had an easy time swimming through it and finding the last ice wall to destroy. This time they were not pushed back and had to swim back, both of their chests were burning, pressure building up inside of them as they rushed back out of the hall and to the surface of the water. As they came over they both gasped, trying to get catch their breath and stay afloat but their armor and weapons made it hard after holding their breath so long, their bodies felt weak and the others had to help them to the ledge, they decided to go over to the left side of the temple first, as their were no monsters there.

They made their way down one of the passages and found a series of doors, checking each one slowly till they saw a chest in one, all of them knew what it was and they really wanted to fight it this time. They kicked at the mimic chest till it popped up, this one much more fish like than the others as it spit out bubbles, filling the room, as they popped they made a horrid screeching noise that stunned them and the mimic attacked. When they finally felt free enough to move again they rushed the mimic and knocked it into the air, each of them hitting it higher and higher and then letting it fall to one of Vixens arrows. They knew by now not to give it much time to attack them back and they started in quickly on it, attacking back and forth till it fell over. Same as always gold and gems that they now knew what to do with, they handed two of them to Art, which had him a bit confused, they were red strength ones but he felt bad taking them, but they all wanted him to have them, he was always in the front of the battle and the first one to want to protect everyone else.

The next door they opened had stairs leading down to the first floor, into a large room that had no door, but one of the walls was broke apart and had some kind of scale texture to it. Razah and Meekle rubbed their hand against it and it quickly moved, rushing away till a tail passed them and all of them jumping back, unsure what it was. After that there was nothing else to see. They went back up and checked the other rooms, finding another sword for Art, one that countered his dragon scale sword, the look of it reminding them a lot of their Whale Dragon friend. Its stats were all almost exactly the same as the flame one so he didn't see any reason to switch it out just yet, he let it fade into his sword dimension for now.

They went back and chose another hall to go down, this one had no rooms but more monsters that they had to fight off once again. Once they were done with that the path lead to a dead end, when they got there they felt a rumble shake through the temple and stones could be heard falling into water. They rushed back to the main area to find that some of the roof had fallen in but instead of seeing the outside it was those scales again, trying to ignore it they went down the next path to find more monsters and a few more rooms, this time they headed down searching for anything that would get them closer to finding the boss room but to no luck.

They headed back and started making their way around to the other side of the second floor, there were no stairs that led to the bottom, the water seemed the only way up unless you broke through a wall to the hidden room. The upstairs had a path that circled around the whole room so they didn't have to get back into the water but as soon as they got close to them monsters on the other side they got attacked. Fighting off three of the Alligators all at once, one of them had a large icicle as a weapon, using it like a sword he thrust it at them. This one was much more lively and harder to take down than the others, but with enough blows they were able to finish it off till it went digital as well. Even in just the few fights they had been in they could feel they were getting good experience from it and that in itself made it worth continuing to fight all these monsters.

They found three more paths that were a lot like the others, but the room that led them down the stairs this time was covered in webs, a sickening dark air floated around the staircase and when they opened it the giant spider was their. Art having not seen it in the gardens grabbed at his sword and was getting ready to attack when everyone stopped him.

"Oh, a lively one you are, don't seem as scared as you once were." The spider taunted him and his face went pale when he realized it could talk.

"Why can that spider talk?" Words came mumbling out of his mouth as his eye twitched a bit.

"We don't know, but she did help us when you were taken before." Fenix informed him of what happened back in the garden.

"Now that, that is out of the way, how are we my little heroes? It took you a bit longer to get here than I expected." They all had a moment, looking at one another, how do they explain that they all had a break down and couldn't even fathom going on. That's when laughter filled the air. "Come now, it cant have been all that bad." Her long limb reaching out and rubbing against Arts cheek.

"We just had a few small hiccups but we are doing just fine." He replied to her.

"Well isn't that good, you see, I like my pray to be nice and strong." She teased at them more and more, seeing as they were all acting so serious about seeing her again. "I am sure we will have our chance soon. You have done well against the Legion, seeing as they have had hundreds, maybe even thousands of years to become as strong as they are." Giving them a little taste of information.

"How could anyone be that old and still live." Vixen and the rest were confused by her statement, not that they doubted it but it seemed so insane to think of.

"Well, I am still very much alive, am I not. There are many magics in this world that can do a great many things. You will have to find a power much higher than you have now, but do not worry, I am sure I can drag it out of you one day." She laughed and crawled into a hole leaving them to ponder on her words.

They had no reason or want to look around that room as they started back up the path, the webs were all gone, as if she was never there. All of them wondering if they were just going mad together. On their way back they heard more crashing and the whole temple rumbling about, it was strange, it wasn't like any of the other dungeons they had been in, there weren't any crazy puzzles, no maze of rooms to make their way through, just the rumbling from what ever this sea beast was.

They went through the other two paths quickly, the same in each and they just couldn't help but wonder what they were trying to find or do, that's when they remembered the room back at the beginning, wondering if all the shaking might have cleared the way for them. The went quickly back to the main room but as they entered they found themselves staring at a large lizard like serpent, coming out out of the water and towering over them, it was the largest beast they had faced, as big as the Whale Dragon, it was known as Leviathan and it greeted them with a monstrous roar that had stones falling from the wall.

It let out a breath attack, icicles flew from its mouth and stabbed into the walls, doing a large amount of damage they all rushed around the circled floor to get away from it. Vixen shooting at it from long range, catching its attention and it turned towards her as it quickly reached out and grabbed her between its teeth before Fenix punched it as hard as he could, making it let go. Art had to use his magic to even be able to hit it with his sword, trying to get its attention towards him who was on the other side of the room so that Vixen could heal up. It quickly turned and bit at him, with no one close enough to stop it, it threw him into the air and chomped down on him before spitting him back out into the water.

"That is the third time I have been eaten." Art scrambled to get back onto solid ground, not feeling safe in the water with it.

"Man, you must taste pretty good for all the monsters to want to eat you." Meekle teased at him as he buffed everyone's defense, sense he couldn't attack from long range. Tophuu whipped at it over and over, this time when it turned it took a deep breath and steaming hot water shot out of its mouth in a single powerful stream. Tophuu was just barely able to dodge it but it followed him and he had to start running, forcing others to be in the way of it as well.

They weren't ready for this battle but thankfully they had good levels of health before they had got back in there. They continued to fight, Razah left to do her spells the others kept it on them and away from her, this meant they were limited on what they could do to stay away from the beast. Art continued swinging his swords but he was running low on mana, the others feeling the same pressure as they waited, hoping that Razah would pull out another amazing spell. Fenix then remembered a form he had yet to use, it didn't seem helpful before but now it seemed to fit just right.

"Frog Form." His arms and legs changing and looking more frog like, he was able to run on top of the water, though it dropped his attack a lot he was able to move on top of water but he had to keep in motion to continue to stay on top of it, he started punching, chipping away at the health bar. Without the knuckles he had got from the elf blacksmith he wouldn't be able to do even half the damage he was dealing now. Tophuu downed a mana potion and got ready and summoned forth Slimey to attack, it seemed that he was able to bounce on top of water no problem, he slammed into the Leviathan over and over, still only chipping away at its health.

"Denwen, I call you from the depths of the abyss, I call you forth to let loose your rage onto this beast before me. Show yourself to be feared, king of serpents and destroyer of gods, here my call and vanquish this foe with your breath of fire." The water turned and swirled as a large celestial serpent came forth, the same size as the Leviathan and they tangled around one another, ice from the boss and fire from the Egyptian god. The room was taken over by this attack and the whole group and to go on the defense, hiding themselves behind fallen stones and trying to make themselves as small as they could. Soon Denwen vanished, his damage had been done and Razah was out of mana once more, her spells took so much from her when she first tried them but over time they became easier to use.

The Leviathan was not done as it thrashed around, causing huge waves to slam against the walls and forced them all over the ledge into the water where he dragged them down to the bottom floor and thrashed them around, his body smacking into them and crushing them between the wall and itself. They finally got back up, all of them healing as fast as they could, they hit it with everything they had but it just wasn't going down. Vixen had placed traps all over the first floor while she was down there and her magic was drained but when the boss thrashed it set them off and thorn covered vines wrapped around it and continued to grow, the beast let out a roar that dropped more stones, almost nothing left of the ceiling above them. The vines then started exploding all around the beast, this was one of her best traps, it kept them still and made it impossible for them to dodge away from the explosion.

Fenix boosted up Art and shot him into the air with all the force he could get and Art came down summoning forth ten swords and hitting it as many times as he could before he hit the water, his sword stuck into the beast that then swatted Art away leaving him blinking with low health and tired. The rest continued to lay into the beast, giving all they could to fight it, Meekle following in Arts steps and launching himself at the beast he used his claws to grab on and climb up till he was standing on its head and started clawing away at it. He had a tough time holding on but he wasn't letting go.

"Ultimate skill, Cursed demon." Meekles body was engulfed in a black smoke that took him over, making him look like a demon, large monster like jaws and his claws came to a devilish point as he did a combo attack, releasing every bit of magic he hard. "Finishing move, one thousand slashes." Each slash leaving red marks across the scales of the monster, he wasn't letting up as the claws on his feet dug into it. He fell to his knees and grabbed on with another claw and continued attacking with all he had before he was knocked off, the demon smoke fading from him as he hit the ground, the Leviathan roared as Vixen rained arrows into its open mouth, each one flaming as they burned its mouth, making it look like it was shooting flames out.

The boss started sinking into the water as they all fell to the ground, hoping that was the end of it. It burst out and thrashed around once more before it started falling apart, the digital squares for this monster were huge and as they fell the seal was left floating over them. The water started to drain out of the temple and they made their way down slowly to get the seal.

"Why was this dungeon so different?" Vixen finally asking.

"It would seem it was either time related or trigger related. In other words we had to see each room, which set off a trigger for the boss to move. As to why they decided to do it here I am not sure, maybe a change of pace or the creators didn't know exactly what to do to make an original water, ice dungeon." Fenix shrugged, knowing that this is the type of thing that could happen when it came to writing and creating, as did Art, after hearing it, it all made so much sense.

Before they could get down from the second floor and grab the seal the Legion member that they had fought back at the base popped up in a haze of green smoke, laughing.

"I really must thank you for taking the time to help me retrieve this." He grabbed the seal that they all had just worked so hard for and vanished without a trace.

"No." Art jumped from the rope they had been climbing down and rushed him, "I can't believe this." He said as he kicked at the now thrashed parts of the hero statue, he then placed his hands over his face and slid them back, his brows and eyes dropped, he wasn't sure what emotion to feel as his hands clasped together behind his head and his breathing was labored. They were all dripping wet from all the water and just stood their staring at where the seal was once floating.

"How can we hope to beat them when they can pull stuff like that?" Meekle's hand tossed up towards the area the man was just in, an annoyed voice escaping him.

"I don't know, it seems like this whole time it was just a matter of knowing the locations and now they are saving themselves the trouble of fighting the boss monsters and simply letting us do it." Fenix clarified the situation more but it was no help, they all knew that's just what they were doing, they were simple ponds in a game of chess now.

"Then we just have to come up with a new strategy. Something they can't see coming, we have to start thinking three moves ahead like they are. We know what they are doing and I doubt they will change it so we just need something." Art looked down at his hands and closing them and gripping tight as he searched for some answer to this, he looked at Fenix, but he shook his head side to side, not having a clue on how they would go about stopping them from just appearing and taking them.

"Come on, we need to go, we will figure it out but we need time to think and this really isn't the place to do it." Vixen could here the walls shifting as it was getting ready to fall apart. They headed out and got into the Whale Dragons mouth, as it swam away the temple fell to ruins and they were left to think of counter measures they could take to stop them. Fenix a bit upset with himself, feeling as though he should have saw this coming, that they should have known that the Legion would have pulled something like this.

They finally found land and headed back to Faefrihed, hoping that maybe one of the guilds there might have a strategy for them to try. Though the first thing they did when they got to town was take off all their wet, freezing cold cloths and get into something a bit more relaxing. They all sat around the room talking about the Leviathan and asking Razah how she pulled something so awesome off again, complimenting her spell work. Though she felt like it took so much out of her that it left her useless for the rest of the fight, she started thinking that with a new way to stop the Legion, she also wanted to find a new way to use her magic more wisely, rather than blowing all her mana on a single boss, still she was happy they all thought it was so cool. They ragged on Art for being so crazy but then turned to Meekle who did the same crazy thing and asked him about that new move. He told them that it was some type of Ultimate skill that popped up, it took so much and drained half his health just to do it but it was worth it.

They were all so tired they didn't have the strength to get up and go walk around the whole town talking to the guild leaders. They wanted to rest after so much happened, but they didn't let their spirits waver this time.

"What do you think about that spider?" Art asked the group, they all stopped and looked at him.

"Well, she seems helpful but also like she is getting us ready so that she could eat us." Vixen shivered as the words escaped her lips.

"Do you really think she wants to eat us? Or is that just some taunt she does to freak us all out?" Meekle sounded unsure of what the real answer was.

"Well, she is helping us along, why I am unsure but she does know a lot about the Legion, I wonder why a spider monster, no matter how smart, would care so much about the world and us in particular. It would seem she is of hire inelegance than most of the monsters we see though. This could simply be a food source thing for her though, if the world ends than maybe she will as well and to keep that from happening she has sided with us?" Fenix giving the most logical answer to it as he could find think of. It made sense to the rest as well.

They decided to bury that question for now and come back to it when the time came. They also spoke on how many mimics they had seen and wondered why there was so many of them, it seemed odd that they just kept randomly popping up around the world like that. This was how the conversation continued from there, till they all fell asleep, it was the calmest night they had in some time and they all were excited to get some rest.