"So now that Corissa's here, what is our actual first move regarding this storm?" Azimuth asked.
"Well it's simple." Roko replied, "This flood is magically created. So we destroy the magic behind it."
"So we're still going after the gargoyles?" Momo asked, "We still haven't really solved the armor issue and Muldingirmus approach issue though."
"There's a simple solution for all this. But first we have to get back to the main rebellion base."
"And that's flooded right now." Azimuth replied.
"Which is why we use Corissa's holy ability to cut through the water." Roko nodded.
"Holy negates magic, sure." Momo nodded along in their discussion, "But can it really delete an entire flood? I mean a lot of it is magical rain but there is natural water in the mix. It can't delete that can it?"
"I'm not sure how it will interact with this mix of magic and reality." Roko admitted, "But the best solution is to try and see what happened."
"Right then." Azimuth nodded, "Corissa!"
"Yes~?" Corissa said as she came over with Aranea in her arms.
"We need you to try and uhhh...sanctify the sewer water or whatever."
"Understood." Corissa giggled knowingly, "You want to come along Aranea?"
"Does she have a choice?" Momo smiled.
"Of course she has a choice! I'm not some sort of demanding parent!"
Corissa turned her head up proudly but Aranea still remained trapped in her arms, looking quite tired of the affection already. Everyone waited for Corissa to actually do something but all Corissa did was giggle and poke Aranea's cheek, "Boop."
"Corissa, put the girl down." Roko sighed.
"Oh alright..." Corissa put Aranea down and patted her on the head, "You go back to studying okay, dear?"
Aranea nodded though she still found Corissa's treatment a bit strange.
Having relocated to the top of the sewer grate that much of the rebellion had escaped through, the group looked down at the still raging waters that flew across the tunnel below like a ferocious river. Anybody that tried to swim through that would probably get their head dashed along the walls in seconds. Just looking at it made them nervous.
"Alright..." Azimuth said, "...Give it a try."
"Okay." Corissa gulped as she reached out to touch the water.
"Wait, are you trying to get Lady Corissa to touch the sewer water?! That's impossibly rude and I won't let you-"
"Varis." Roko said.
Varis blasted the shouting rebel with a low level electric bolt, stunning him enough to fall back into his tent.
"Continue." Azimuth nodded.
Corissa let out a small laugh as she finally plunged her hand into the flowing rapids and said, "Holy."
The water around Corissa's hand immediately disappeared. The spell began eating away at the rest of water but quickly came to an end with the hole it left behind quickly refilling with water.
"Well that didn't work." Azimuth scoffed, "What now?"
"Can you try sanctuary, Corissa?" Roko asked.
"I can try." Corissa nodded before bringing her hands together as she concentrated, "...Sanctuary."
A white magical seal spread out on the ground beneath them before lowering itself through the ground. The surface water immediately disappeared but with only the light of the magical seal, they couldn't see much in the darkness.
"Anybody got a lamp?" Roko asked.
"Yeah, I should've known the torches would all be extinguished." Azimuth sighed, "Hold on, let me get one."
Azimuth stood up and walked over to a nearby tent to ask the refuge rebels if she could borrow their lamp. The man looked excited to volunteer his lamp but once Azimuth left with it, his girlfriend smacked him on the head, looking rather displeased.
"Got it." Azimuth said as she turned it on, "Let's see..."
Azimuth slowly lowered the lantern down into the darkness, revealing the wall of torrential waters that was smashing against the edges of the sanctuary seal. It was an unreal sight to see such a large amount of water running at frightening speeds just to disappear.
"Whoa, what the hell is this magic?" Azimuth blinked.
"That'd take too long to explain." Roko sighed, "Regardless it seems we can freely explore the tunnels now. Albeit a bit hazardously. And with a bit more lamps."
"So are we just gonna start transferring the leather armor between the flooded base to here?" Azimuth scratched her head, "Is that what you're suggesting?"
"No. This amount of water can't be caused by just rain." Roko explained, "There's probably something generating a large amount of water to fill up the cistern. Remove those and their plot will be essentially ineffective now."
"You're pretty sure about this for someone who's just assuming things." Azimuth smirked, "Though you've never been wrong about these things."
"Of course this operation all depends on if you can hold sanctuary for long." Roko turned to Corissa, "Think you can do it?"
"Umm...probably not forever but with some short breaks I probably could." Corissa nodded.
"Then do you want to start now?"
"Sure!"
"In that case, that means me, Corissa and Varis will be heading underground." Roko nodded, "Anybody else want to come?"
"The sanctuary zone doesn't seem that big." Momo noted, "So we probably can't bring along too many of us."
"Sorry." Corissa smiled apologetically, "I can't create a bigger zone without using an incantation and if I do use an incantation, it would only appear on the surface and I won't be able to move it around including moving it underground."
"That's fine." Momo smiled back, "You guys already have Varis so you'd probably be fine no matter what danger you encounter. Best I focus on training Malus and a little bit of my own training."
"I'll come with you." Azimuth said, "I want to see the state of things myself."
"Then let's go."
Climbing down into the sewer themselves, Roko could better see how the sanctuary zone was holding back the water. Namely that the vast majority of the water was being annihilated as it crashed into the borders of the zone. There was some natural water that made it through the anti-magic barrier but they just splashed onto the ground with little effect on them aside from maybe getting them a bit wet. But the water level had stabilized as a thin, sole level film over the ground.
"Everyone okay?" Roko asked.
"Yes!" Corissa answered as Varis helped her down onto the sewers, "Does anybody know where we're going?"
"Well I live here for the most part." Azimuth replied, "So if we want to get anywhere I can help with that."
"If the sewer is completely flooded then any implement forcibly adding water must be located at the sewer's extreme ends. Lead us there if you can." Roko replied.
"If you say so." Azimuth shrugged, "Let's see...the closest dead end...this way."
With Azimuth leading the way, the small group began their mission. Every step of the way felt frighteningly harrowing, the torrents of water flowing directly towards them out of the darkness only to disappear when it came in contact with the sanctified zone. A constant reminder of just how dangerous their situation was. If Corissa slipped up even a little, that water would hit them full force without even a chance for them to hold their breath. The suffocating darkness was another problem. There was absolutely no light left in these tunnels. The only lights they had barely lit up enough of their immediate surrounds to avoid slipping off the pathways and into the channels. It was an absolute void in there. And anything could come out of the darkness. Like debris. Small items picked up by the waters that were sent flying at them at breakneck speeds. There wasn't too much litter but even the little ones could do a surprising amount of damage. So Varis was in charge of deflecting these things with his sword before they could reach them. Normally Roko would be worried about someone plunging their sword into such rapid rapids but Varis seemed to cut through the water without a problem. Everything was going fine. Perhaps they weren't moving as fast as Roko would like but there was no helping that. And it wasn't long until they arrived at their first dead end.
A large grate prohibited anybody from progressing any further. Any artificial source of the water would have to be placed here. And there seemed to be nothing out of place. Strong currents buffeted them from beyond the grate. But it clearly couldn't have been natural water as it was being destroyed by sanctuary. The four of them looked around for any sign of any artificial source they could find, whatever that looked like. They looked around for something, anything but were failing to find anything. Attempting to use Roko's map scan spell would immediately get canceled out by the concentrated sanctuary. But there was one thing they could try.
"Varis, can you carry us over the river of water?" Roko suggested, "Maybe it's on the other side of this tunnel."
"I don't think one man will be able to carry all of us." Azimuth frowned.
"No, Varis can do it." Corissa said, "The problem is...I've been manually moving the circle with us as we move. It's not an automatic thing. So...Varis will have to jump at a speed where I can move the sanctuary to accommodate us."
"So...it'll all depend on your coordination." Roko nodded, "Are you confident you can handle it?"
"Me and Varis can do anything!" Corissa said with a nervous smile.
"Then I'll be relying on you two." Roko said, "My life is in your hands."
"You sure were quick to risk all of our lives." Azimuth scoffed, "We could walk to the other side, it'd just take...25 minutes..."
Everyone just stared at Azimuth.
"Yeah okay, just jump." Azimuth scowled, "Stupid goddamn sewers."
With Corissa clutching close to his back, one Roko under one arm and Azimuth over another arm, Varis stood ready to jump over the natural water flowing out of the grate. He needed to put enough strength to get them across but at a speed where Corissa could follow with her Sanctuary spell. Roko didn't know if Varis was capable of that level of careful measuring but before he knew it, the black knight had jumped. It was a softer jump than Roko expected, like a lobbed ball that floated up softly as it carried itself forward. But it was effective in getting to the other side, Corissa masterfully following their trajectory with her spell, keeping them safe without even a splash touching them.
"Phew." Azimuth sighed, "Thank god that worked."
"It worked a little better than even I expected." Roko said.
"What do you mean?" Azimuth asked but what he meant was already becoming apparent, with the water level around them suddenly dropping a shocking amount. It settled at a still significant level halfway up the torso but they could probably breathe at least if sanctuary disappeared. They would still get carried by the current but it was a start.
"What happened?" Azimuth frowned.
"If I had to guess..." Roko said as he began taking off his shirt, "Our little source is in the water."
Before anybody could even say anything, Roko tossed his shirt to Corissa and plunged through the boundaries of the sanctuary into the waters of the channel.
The pull of the currents was strong but Roko found a sturdy enough rock to anchor himself with. But his arm wasn't going to last for long so he quickly began fishing around in the dirt to find anything unusual. And it wasn't long before he spotted something twinkling in the water. He quickly grabbed onto it and shoved it into the sanctified circle, his companions quickly grabbing onto his arm and pulling him back onto safe grounds.
"Roko!" Azimuth gasped after hauling him back onto the pathway, "You can't just do that out of nowhere!"
"Were you going to do it if I didn't?"
"No! Roko, these are SEWER waters!"
"There's so much magical water being generated that all the bacterial risks have been flushed out long ago." Roko replied as he sat up, "Though I'm still going to take a long shower after this. Now then."
Roko held up what he had found in the waters. It was like a large marble. Definitely some sort of gem like thing colored like the sea with a white line cutting through the center of it's surface.
"What's this?" Roko asked.
"No idea." Azimuth shook her head.
"Then we'll head back for now." Roko said as he got up, "Do some research on this first before we continue any further. Ah, Corissa, my shirt please?"
"Huh?" Corissa said waking up from her trance, "Oh yeah! Sure!"
"Thanks." Roko said as he took the shirt back from her, "Oh, sorry, I got a little bit of water on you."
"Huh?" Corissa was confused until Roko motioned to his face and Corissa quickly wiped away a bit of water that had been coming out the corner of her mouth, "I-It's fine! I'm fine!"
"Then we head back." Roko nodded, "Can you handle holding onto the sanctuary until we get back?"
"Yes! I wasn't staring!"
"What?"
"What?"
After a long, relaxing and through bath, Roko was left that night with the gem he had found. Analysis revealed that this was a Sealith gem. Apparently it had the unique property of seeming to be unaffected by water, refusing to float or be carried by streams. Despite that, it had a great affinity for water enhancements which it definitely had been enchanted with until it was brought into the sanctuary field and getting it's enchantment destroyed.
"So this has to be the thing producing all the water." Roko muttered to himself, "The lowering of the water level is proof enough. But there's still so much water..."
It should get easier the more they remove but getting to them was trouble enough. There had to be some easier way to get them...but more importantly, there has to be some way to tie this to Sirius. Someway to incriminate him. Not that he particularly needed to destroy Sirius' reputation within Mulapin but it certainly would make it easier for optics outside of Mulapin to definitively prove that that Sirius has crossed the line from tyrant to psychopath. Roko wasn't particularly expecting anyone to provide tangible support if they do manage to do this but the historical value would be helpful. But all that still came secondary to actually resolving the issue the most pertinent right now being some way to retrieve these Sealiths in a safer way.
"Just grab it so fast that the water doesn't affect you!"
"Yeah, not everyone's as powerful as you, Momo." Roko sighed, "Maybe with your enhancement magic you could fight the current for a while but if we're traveling using sanctuary, you won't be able to build it up in preparation. In which case, you'd have to enter and then enchant yourself and we already know how your enchantment magic fares against the flood."
"Yeah, it's not a matter of strength. The entire environment is fighting against you." Momo nodded, "I don't know if I'd be capable of that. I don't know anybody who could except for the most powerful hydromancers."
"You know any hydromancers?"
"Oh, no. Water magic is one of the more unpopular schools of magic. Takes a lot more creativity to use it in battle compared to the other elements."
"I've noticed that." Roko scoffed, "It's rare to see a water or earth mage."
"Well, we do have one earth mage with us." Momo chuckled, "But no water mages, sorry."
"I don't suppose Helena could just freeze the entire thing?"
"Entire what?" Helena asked as she arrived at their lunch table with Melia in tow, "Something I can help with?"
"Can you freeze all the water?" Roko asked with no genuine expectations.
"Yeah no, that's a lot of flowing water." Helena sighed as she sat down with her omakase sushi, "And ever since you told me to sharpen my ice's edges over pure freezing power, I haven't really been freezing a whole lot lately."
"I mean if you want to go back to freezing, you can." Roko frowned.
"No, it's fine." Helena said with a playful tiredness, "I'll do what Roko commands of me."
"I didn't give you advice so you wouldn't have to think."
"Yeah but why think when you can do it?"
"See, you get it too!" Momo held out her hand for Helena to give her a high five.
"Why do I even come to you guys for help?" Roko sighed.
"Hey, we've all got our strengths." Helena chuckled, "Name a problem and we'll see what we can do about it!"
"Well..." Roko brought out the Sealith, "I'm trying to trace this back to Sirius."
"Is that a Sealith?" Melia asked.
"Yeah."
"May I see it?"
"Sure?" Roko handed the gem-like stone to Melia who turned it over in her hand a bit.
"This is a south sea Sealith." Melia said.
"How'd you know?" Momo blinked.
"The white crest is larger than other Sealiths." Melia pointed out, "What's more there seems to be a few salt crystals trapped inside so its sea of origin must be pretty salty. This narrows down our potential suppliers quite a lot."
"Can you give me a list of those suspects?" Roko asked.
"No need, I've pinned down the seller."
"For real?!" Helena cried, "Damn, you work quick!"
"Well, it's a very simple matter." Melia said as she turned the Sealith over in her hands, "Look here."
"A fish?" Momo blinked, "Did it get trapped in the stone?"
"Normally, there wouldn't be any. Live fish don't stick around long enough for a Sealith to form around them." Melia explained, "But there is one person I know who sells 'Fossil Sealiths'. Sealiths with a fish intentionally placed inside it."
"You know the seller?!" Roko cried.
"Not personally but I'm aware of his business." Melia nodded, "You want to meet him?"
"Definitely!" Roko nodded.
"Then, I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow."