"Damn."
As they advanced through the corridor, a school of flying fish suddenly appeared in front of them. Their bodies were shaped like blades, and every movement was capable of producing cuts that reached even the surrounding walls.
Alaric reacted immediately, positioning the spear in front of his body to block the first attacks. Then, he spun the weapon backward, concentrated magic at the tip, and performed a precise thrust, piercing several fish at once before returning to his position.
"Careful!"
Someone's voice caught the group's attention.
Behind them, a few drops of water began falling from the ceiling. Gradually, the water accumulated and took the shape of a humanoid creature. Before it could complete the movement, Kai stepped backward to escape its attack and appeared behind the Nartheis at the same instant, cutting its body in half.
The creature tried to reassemble itself, but a girl with her hair tied into two buns advanced from behind the group. Several flowers began appearing around her feet through the stones of the dungeon. The petals opened and quickly absorbed all the water forming the Nartheis's body, making the creature disappear before them.
"Good job, Meilin."
"I only did my job, Lord Liang."
Kael observed the two for a few seconds.
"You're quite strong, Xuanwu."
"Can you stop calling me by my name?"
It was already clear that he was trying to get closer to Liang, although he was always rejected whenever he tried to start a conversation. In return, he seemed to be getting closer to Liang's companions much more easily.
"Your magic is quite strong, Meilin."
"You think so? Normally, there aren't many who think the same."
Kael talked to one person and then moved on to another, always finding something to ask or comment on.
Alaric began to notice a pattern in that behavior. Perhaps Kael was trying to keep everyone talking precisely to prevent the tension between the three groups from increasing and eventually causing an unnecessary fight.
Alaric exchanged a few words with Lyssandra and asked her to keep an eye on Kael. After that, he took the lead and began analyzing the corridor.
When they had entered that cave, he expected to find only a dark and unpleasant passage, but the inside of the dungeon was much more beautiful than he had imagined. The walls were covered with ancient drawings, all carved with impressive care. Some figures seemed to represent people, while others were difficult to identify because of the wear caused by time.
"To continue, pass the first battle."
Alaric stopped in front of a door. Above it was an inscription similar to the previous ones. After reading it, he warned the others to approach.
The decision to enter was quick. Liang stepped forward and asked for him and three other people to go first, in order to check what was on the other side. After receiving authorization from the others, he crossed the door together with the other three chosen people.
"You can come in. It seems the boss will only move when we do something."
Kai appeared with his head sticking out from the passage and warned the others.
One by one, they entered carefully.
In the center of the room was the Nartheis guarding the passage. Its appearance resembled that of a gigantic armored crab, but there was something strange about its face: it had no eyes. Its body was covered by a thick layer of protection, and its sharp legs remained motionless as they waited for some stimulus.
Kael and Valença positioned themselves on opposite sides of the creature, keeping enough distance to react in case it advanced. Meanwhile, Liang began accumulating mana in his hand. The green energy slowly concentrated until it took the form of a small jade dragon.
"I'll wake it up. So you can get ready."
Liang quickly explained the situation. The absence of eyes could be a weakness, but it also meant that the Nartheis probably used other senses to locate its enemies. He believed that the creature was mainly guided by sound and intended to take advantage of this characteristic to find an opening and deliver a decisive blow.
"And it's a level-two Faizes at the peak of its power, so be careful. Approach slowly."
Everyone remained alert.
Liang waited for the right moment, but when Kael and Valença took a step almost at the same time on the ground seven meters before reaching it, a sound echoed through the room.
The creature moved.
Its entire body trembled before rising onto its enormous legs. One of its limbs moved violently, forcing several of them to retreat, and soon afterward, a jet of water was fired at the group.
The water crossed the room with enough force to force them to scatter. Before they could reorganize their formation, the armored crab began spinning around its own body. Its legs and carapace transformed into a barrier of attacks that advanced in all directions.
"Multiple Water Slashes!"
Alaric spun his spear and launched several water slashes at the Nartheis. The attacks struck its carapace and opened deep wounds. He had put a considerable amount of mana into that technique and immediately noticed the price he was paying. His reserve had already fallen close to half.
At the same time, several golden swords appeared above the creature and pierced its belly. As soon as the blades connected, small lights appeared between them before exploding, increasing the damage even further.
Kael took advantage of the opening. Jumping over the creature, he created a water spear and launched it at the lower part of its carapace. The attack pierced through the defense and caused a wound that Kai did not take long to exploit.
"Crescent Slash!"
Kai's sword was coated in his magic and struck directly at the damaged area, cutting off one of the Nartheis's legs.
While the three attacks were happening almost simultaneously, Kael still found time to talk.
"Are you Princess Elowyn? I thought you just threw weapons around."
"I want to defeat someone, so I'm preparing new things for that."
Seeing Kael approach the princess, Kai immediately decided to warn him.
"Kael, don't trust her. She's Enrico's enemy."
"And who is Enrico—"
Before Kael could continue, he had to dodge an attack while Kai defended against another, and Elowyn retreated a little before preparing to continue the following second.
"You shouldn't interrupt other people's conversations, annoying light boy."
"What do you mean annoying light? And why wouldn't I interfere if I'm sure I'd want to recruit him?"
"What do you mean recruit me?"
The three continued attacking while talking and dodging the various balls of water the armored crab spat around the room.
Alaric watched the situation with a tired expression. A drop of sweat ran down the side of his head as he watched Kai trying to convince Kael to stay away from Elowyn even during a fight against a Nartheis.
'What a lovely discussion.'
"Summoning: Raging Tiger!"
Lyssandra's tiger charged toward one of the crab's legs and sank its teeth into it. With a powerful movement, it managed to tear away part of the protection.
Higher up, Dorian extended his hands and several chains appeared around the Nartheis's body. The chains wrapped around its legs, reducing its movements. Taking advantage of the opening he created, several snow blades created by Elaris began falling onto the creature, striking its head and piercing its carapace.
"Scarlet Emperor's Slash!"
A crimson blade extended along the weapon of one of the Shengtian students. The blow descended with enough force to reach the ground and release a wave of energy that advanced in a straight line, cutting everything in its path.
The attack struck one of the crab's legs and separated it from the body.
The boy responsible for the attack had cold eyes. He was Han Longwei, Rank 6 of Shengtian Academy.
"Good job, Han. You're stronger than I thought. Shall we fight later?"
Longwei's cold expression immediately disappeared.
He became visibly embarrassed.
Longwei wanted to look impressive in front of his leader, but Kael had managed to completely destroy his composure with only a few words.
'Damn Kael.'
"Ice Beast Claws!"
Arvanys jumped and charged toward the Nartheis. Her claws cut into the creature's belly, destroying part of the carapace and opening a new wound.
"Incandescent Ray!"
Valença took advantage of the opening and fired a ray of fire that exploded on the other side of the crab's belly.
The Nartheis staggered.
Alaric and Kael exchanged a quick glance.
The two raised their hands at the same time, causing their water magic to meet in the air. The two currents began to merge, forming a much larger and denser spear than any Alaric had created alone.
"Now!"
The spear was fired.
The impact opened an enormous hole in the center of the Nartheis's body, leaving the core exposed for a few moments.
"Good job. Now it's my turn."
Liang advanced.
A jade dragon began spinning rapidly around his body. The energy creature traveled along his arm and, as the mana concentrated, his limb began to take the shape of a dragon's mouth.
Liang pointed toward the Nartheis.
"Jade Dragon's Heavenly Mouth!"
An extremely condensed sphere of magic emerged from the dragon's mouth. The attack crossed the room, destroying everything in its path before striking the armored crab's body directly.
The impact destroyed the core.
The dragon mouth surrounding Liang's arm slowly dissipated as he took a deep breath. After confirming the Nartheis's defeat, he called everyone closer.
"Let's see if we receive any reward."
Kael looked at the attacks used by the others during the battle and then seemed to remember something.
"Why are the names of your attacks so long?"
"Please don't ask questions, Lord Kael."
"It's because it has always been like this in some Tianlong families. Even though there are people now who don't give big names to attacks in our territory."
Meilin answered calmly. She seemed to have become quite close to Kael during the little time they had spent together, perhaps precisely because he never stopped talking to everyone.
Curious, Kael asked what her Rank was.
"Rank 7."
Kael seemed surprised by the answer and continued talking to her, while Alaric took the opportunity to examine the place where the armored crab had disappeared.
Among the remains of the creature, there was something different.
"An armor breastplate?"
Everyone looked at the object.
"Should we take it?"
Liang seemed interested in the piece. He took a step forward, but before he could do anything, Kael raised his arm.
"Wait. This armor seems to be meant only for someone who possesses some kind of water magic."
Alaric analyzed the breastplate more carefully.
He immediately understood the problem. If it really worked that way, they would need to decide who would keep the armor.
Kael pointed at Kai beside him.
"Why not give it to Kai?"
"Me?"
"From what you told me, you have a magic called Ocean, right?"
That information caught everyone's attention, especially the members of Tianlong. Ocean Magic seemed to be something quite unusual, and some began wondering why Kai had given that name to his magic. Was it simply an arrogant way of describing it, or was there really something different about it?
Alaric silently observed the breastplate.
He also wanted that armor.
If it really possessed an ability capable of increasing his resistance and storing mana, it would be extremely useful during the rest of the dungeon. The problem was convincing the others to let him keep it.
Kael, however, noticed his interest.
"Looks like you want it too."
Alaric raised his eyes while Kael had an idea.
"How about this? You keep it during the dungeon, but it will be given to the water magic user who deserves it the most during this mission."
Kael smiled confidently.
Kai, who was beside him, simply nodded, apparently agreeing with the proposal. Alaric remained silent for a few seconds.
It seemed that he would not need to convince anyone because he had two idiots beside him.
"Are you sure neither of you will regret it?"
"As long as it's fair, I'm fine with it."
"I'm the strongest one here, so winning it will be easy."
Liang stared at Kael upon hearing those audacious words. The challenge was clear, even without needing to be said directly.
Alaric picked up the breastplate and put it over his body. As soon as the armor came into contact with him, he felt an amount of mana being slowly absorbed. There was a mana storage within the piece itself, capable of naturally absorbing the energy present in the air until reaching its maximum capacity.
In addition, Alaric noticed another change.
His body seemed more resistant.
He closed his hand and felt the energy traveling through his body before looking at Kael and Liang again.
"If you insist, I accept the challenge."