Thanks to their efforts, the water level had fallen to a knee deep level now. They could probably travel through the water without sanctuary now but it'd be such a struggle to do so that it made no sense not to continue as is. After all, speed was imperative to their goals so they needed to move as fast as they could. That said, their efforts borne no fruit as the finished their expedition into dead ends with no further Sealiths recovered and still missing three total.
"Makes sense." Roko sighed, "The enemies know exactly where the remaining Sealiths are and we don't."
"What do we do now?" Corissa asked.
"Now we start finding where the Sealiths were moved." Roko said, climbing up the ladder and opening up the grate above them, "Take a break for now. I'll need some time to calculate it."
Returning above ground, the trio took a break in the shelter of an abandoned store. Corissa and Varis wandering off as Roko sat down in front of a cashier, pulling out the cabinets for a clean sheet of paper and a working pen before pulling out his phone and starting a call.
"Hello?" Vespa answered.
"Vespa, it's us." Roko reported, "We have a situation. The Sealiths have been moved."
"Moved? So they could be anywhere in the sewer now?"
"Yeah. I need you to take a look beyond the ice wall and seeing what the water level is like where you are."
"Oh, okay. I can do that."
"Call me when you're done."
Having assigned Vespa his task, Roko called on the next person.
"Hello?"
"Helena, it's us." Roko explained, "The bastards moved the Sealiths, I need you to check on the water level in M83's sewers."
"Oh yeah sure. Gimmie a moment."
A few minutes passed with the sound of Helena getting up and walking around before eventually reached the grate and called Roland to lift the heavy grate for her while she asked around for a lantern.
"Okay..." Helena said as as her voice grew more echoey, "Uhh...there's still quite a bit of water left. I'd say about...a full meter."
Just as Roko was noting down the water level, his phone rang again and Roko picked it up as he continued writing.
"Hey, it's me again." Vespa reported, "Uhh, water's still here. I'm not good with measurements so...I'd say about...like waist level? Still too much to unseal the base at any rate."
"Oh hey, is that Vespa?" Helena said, "What's up man?"
"O-Oh! Helena? Yeah, I'm...I'm doing good."
"How's the black dragon Aldeztroi?"
"Oh you know...sleeping."
"That's neat. How's the base?"
"Flooded."
"Yeah. Same here."
As the two chatted to each other, Roko did his best to recreate the sewer system map that Azimuth has sketched for them along with a few more details Roko had noted from walking around it. Then he noted the water levels that they had reported as well as the water level near where they were. Then he started measuring.
M83 was a base close to Minchir so that put their starting position near the wall. That the water level was so high near there made sense so the rest of the rebellion could not just come down to help them. So that meant that wherever the Sealiths were hidden, they had to be close to the base to maintain the flooding there. The cistern base was far outside the city but the flooding there had only let up a little. That mean the Sealith's location must be somewhere in between the two bases to maintain the water level there. Then there was the water level where they were at. Since their starting location was M83, they had started close to the wall and moved out to the tunnels further from the wall. Right now they were at a store close to the edge of the wall and the water level had fallen to about knee height. So the Sealiths probably weren't close to the edges. From the one enchanted Sealith he had recovered without disenchanting it, he knew the general yield of water from one Sealith. One alone couldn't output enough water to maintain these levels so all three remaining ones had to be together at one location. And if the three were at one location, Roko could only assume that there was one final guardian that their opposition had prepared. But they'd need the location first so using fluid dynamics, Roko could calculate-
"Roko. Here. Jerky."
"Than-" Roko paused as he looked up at Corissa and the chicken jerky she had placed on the table, "Where'd you get this? The entire store is empty."
"There were some leftover in the storeroom." Corissa said, munching on her own strand of jerky.
"This store must've been closed for almost a year. Are you sure these haven't expired?"
"Jerky can last a long time." Corissa replied, "I'd love to cook something for you but all the ingredients left have long since rotted. We have some water bottles if you need something to drink though."
"I'm about tired of water already but it's fine." Roko sighed.
"Hey, you're in Mulapin right now right?" Helena spoke up, "I could get someone to deliver some ingredients to you right now."
"No, it's fine." Roko said, unwrapping the jerky and taking a bite out of it, "I'm about done with my calculations already."
"What are you calculating?" Vespa asked.
"Probably triangulating the Sealith's locations using fluid dynamics with the water levels as reference." Helena chuckled.
"That doesn't sound humanly possible."
"Well I won't say I'm entirely accurate." Roko said, picking up the map he had drawn over, "But I think I've narrowed down their possible locations quite well. Not that we even really need the exact location. With all three Sealiths in one location, we just need to following the rising tide to reach their location."
"Still, having an idea of where to search first is important." Helena agreed.
"So where are they?" Vespa asked.
"Where else? A dead end."
This final dead end was a few corners away from M83 and in between it and the cistern. Like Roko had predicted, the rising tide served as definite proof and guide to their final location. A small dead end that Roko could see the end of just by turning the corner. And in the dark waters, floating listlessly, were three drones, three Sealiths in their robot claws. Said drones looking up when Roko and company finally approached but they did not dare move.
"Varis, close off the exit." Roko ordered, "We're not letting them get away this time.
With a nod, Varis conjured another ice wall, giving it enough thin slits to funnel enough of the water away to not increase the water pressure while also not giving the drones any hole big enough to escape from. Once their preparations were complete, the three slowly approached the drones who remained still, watching like a wary and jumpy prey animal. Their slow standoff drew their attention on each other but Roko had already warned them of the possibility of one final guardian that their opposition must have prepared. So everyone was already prepared with a giant maw broke out from the channel at their entire party. Varis immediately took action, grabbing the two halves of the maw and holding them open as everyone turned their lights to illuminate an absolutely absurdly huge saltwater crocodile. A creature that Roko had never seen before and certainly would have been warned of if there were any monsters like this in the sewers. Making this Sirius' final gambit. And honestly, a very weak attempt with Varis by their sides.
"Can you handle it alone?" Roko asked, one hand holding the lantern and the other too bandaged from catching the wire to hold a sword properly.
Varis just nodded and jumped out of the sanctuary's zone to fight the crocodile inside the water. A normally suicidal prospect that was only balanced out by the fact that Varis was now free to fire off magic, blasts of lighting providing the only light to illuminate instants of their fight.
"Let's go." Roko said, handing the lantern to Corissa.
The two resumed their approach towards the drones that remained still, only one of them keeping an eye on them as the other two tried observing the crocodile's fight with the black knight. Roko wasn't sure if they'd start running if they got too close but even if they did, there was no longer any place to escape to and besides that, Roko wasn't going to give them the chance for all of them to react. Once they were close enough, Roko threw out the Sealith clawshot, firing it quick enough to grab the drone observing them and pull it into the sanctuary zone, decommissioning it and the Sealith at once. The other two drones turned their attention away from the fight to look at Roko and Corissa again but quickly turned away again to try and run away from them. And directly into Varis' fight with the crocodile as they ran right into stray lightning bolts.
These bolts were not very effective as the majority of it was absorbed by the main target's rough hide but it was enough to stun them for a short moment. Enough time for Roko to grab another one with the Sealith clawshot and draw it into the disenchanting zone. The only one remaining shook off it's stun and ran off into the darkness, outside of the lantern's range. Roko and Corissa tried to follow it only for the crocodile to slam Varis into the wall, the black knight holding off it's jaws again with his hands. The crocodile thrashed around and the black knight struggled against it, their fight blocking their only path around the channel. Varis slammed the crocodile's jaw shut and punched it in the side of it's snout. A very sluggish punch as it had to fight the surrounding water to make it's trajectory but the spark of electricity made up for all its effect. The crocodile lumbered back into the darkness with Varis chasing it, opening up the way again.
Roko and Corissa dashed forward, looking for the drone. However, the water level had decreased significantly from a completely filled tunnel to near waist level now. Since it was an underwater drone, it couldn't possibly be above them now so it was probably stuck in the channel. Which was where Varis and the crocodile were wrestling. So instead of searching for the drone in the middle of the chaos, Roko began to look for the wall torches that had been submerged. They were naturally too wet to start a fire directly but by providing some kindling in the form of some paper Roko had grabbed from the store and borrowing a small flame from their lantern they started a nice fire that burned brightly to illuminate more of their surroundings. Thankfully by the time Roko climbed back down to the ground, the chaos had subsided and Varis was climbing back onto shore looking none the worse for wear.
"You got it?" Roko asked and Varis responded with a thumbs up, "Good. Now all we have to do is find the drone. Can you light up the remaining torches for me?"
With a nod, Varis pointed a finger around at the few remaining wall torches and launched a few small fireballs to get them lit up with ease.
"Guess magical fire doesn't need kindling to burn." Roko muttered, "Now, let's find that drone. Varis, you take a break."
Holding their lantern up high, Roko climbed down to the channel, sinking down until the water was just below his up-stretched arms. After glaring down at the water as best he could and after having a startling bump in with the corpse of an unnaturally large saltwater crocodile, Roko finally managed to find the smashed remains of a drone under the crocodile's tail. Still in it's broken arms was the Sealith. Still enchanted and still pouring out water when Roko had to practically submerge his head when he bent down to pick it up.
"Here." Roko said, "Catch."
Throwing the final Sealith at Corissa, it crossed into the sanctuary field and was disenchanted immediately, falling safely into Corissa's gentle hands.
"We're finally done." Roko said as he pulled himself back up onto the sewer walkway, "Varis, you can release the ice wall now."
"Let me do it." Corissa nodded as she walked over to the ice wall, Varis following her to remain in the circle. Reaching out past the sanctuary zone, Corissa touched the ice wall and in what felt like a ceremonious moment said, "Holy."
Varis' ice wall collapsed and all the water remaining in their little dead end drained down, leaving the walkways to dry off and FINALLY have free movement again.
"So..." Corissa said as she released her sanctuary zone, "What now?"
"Now...we go back to M83." Roko let out a lengthy, aged sigh.
"And then what?"
"I'm going to say nap."
"Yeah...I can use a nap..." Corissa said, just as tired as Roko was.
"At least you don't have to take a bath first."
"That's true." Corissa laughed softly, "I've been completely dry for the most part this entire time."
"I'm sure some people will be disappointed."
"Should I jump in the water too?" Corissa giggled.
"I wouldn't suggest it." Roko shuddered, "Water's not warm."
"You want a hug?"
"I want a blanket."
There was a big victorious cheer and crowding when Roko and company climbed out of the M83 grate and declared their victory but frankly, they were all too tired to celebrate along with everyone else. There was talk about a victory feast and celebration but the three of them were too tired to attend and simply pushed past the crowd to collapse on their beds.
Waking up the next day, Roko took that bath he said he was going to before walking back downstairs to the foyer where much of the tents that had been set up as temporary shelters had now been taken down and much of the crowd that had been living there were gone. The retaking of their original base had already begun but Roko was going to have to catch up on that later as he headed directly to M83's cafeteria. A few people were already there, including Lichas and Piscium. Some were drinking a bland looking meat and vegetable soup but most were chatting excitedly as the kitchen was bustling with activity. Including the rest of Roko's comrades.
"Hey, Roko!" Helena waved him over to their table, "Nice going out there!"
"I didn't do much." Roko said as he sat down.
"Don't start with that." Kaguya chuckled, "I heard about you using fluid dynamics to determine the location of the last Sealiths."
"That was overkill probably." Roko rubbed his tired eyes, "We should've just followed the tide."
"You know as well as I do that that is much less cool."
"Who cares about being cool?"
"Roland."
"That's not-" Roland started, "Okay, that's kinda true."
"I'm jealous of the whole big adventure you all went on." Kaguya chuckled, "From the bits that we managed to get out of Corissa, it was quite the story."
"No you aren't."
"Yeah...yeah...getting that wet doesn't sound fun." Kaguya admitted.
"Wasn't that sewer water by the way?" Roland smirked, "Are you sure you're not covered in shit and piss everywhere?"
"You tell me. How do I smell?"
"Well I won't deny there's a bit of stink coming off of you." Momo smiled, "But mostly you smell like a fresh sea breeze."
"So salt."
"Yeah...yeah, it's mostly salt."
"That's what I figured." Roko sighed again, "The flooding pushed out most of the bodily excrement. Probably gave the entire system a good flush. Since most of the water was generated by the Sealith, the majority of the water was clean. I don't know how I'd calculate how contaminated the water would be after coming in contact with the rest of the sewer but it clearly can't be that bad."
"I'd say it's pretty bad." Roland smirked.
"Noted. However, you are Roland so opinion discarded."
"You're not even trying to hide it anymore are you?"
"Oh I'm sorry, I must've given you the wrong impression. Did I ever pretend like I was trying to hide it?"
"Helena, can you stop them?" Momo smiled.
"Why would I?" Helena smirked, "If anything they should fight so they can prove themselves to the other."
"You know, I'm down with that idea." Momo grinned.
"We already fought." Roland sneered, "And I won."
"Oh you still think you won that, huh?" Roko rolled his eyes.
"Show me one person who thinks otherwise other than you."
"Me." Momo raised her hand.
"You weren't even there!"
"I was there actually. I stopped you two."
"I don't remember that."
"Well you also think you won so maybe you have dementia." Roko smirked.
"I'll give YOU dementia!"
"Hey hey!" Corissa said as she came over with a tray, "I've got food for everyone so let's calm down okay?"
"God bless you, Corissa." Momo said, almost with a tear in her eyes as Corissa placed down a bowl of delicious ramen, "I'm so glad you're back."
"Corissa just came back and you made her cook?" Roko frowned.
"Roko, what do you think we've been eating while you were gone?"
"..."
"That's right. They didn't even try while she was gone."
"Ahaha..." Corissa laughed awkwardly, "They were just worried...I think..."
"I don't think they even learned anything from you, Corissa."
"I'll uhh...try to teach them some more."
"Aw, now I feel bad for giving you more work after just getting back."
"No, it's fine!" Corissa said with a bright smile, "I didn't even do much back in the sewer aside from holding one spell."
"Well without you, I don't think anything we did would even be possible." Roko said as he slurped his ramen, "And if it makes you feel any better, we probably won't need you for the fight ahead."
"Are we finally doing it?" Momo said excitedly.
"Well, I'd say give it a day so people can pick up the pieces at the cistern but yeah. Right after that, we're heading for those gargoyle's heads."
"Hell yeah!" Momo cried and began slurping through the rest of her ramen at concerning speeds.
"Well, I was all ready to help with the next mission too..." Corissa said, "But if I can't really help in a battle, I'll just have to whip up a good feast for when you all come back!"
"Plesh DO!" Momo said.
"It'll be fine." Roko nodded reassuringly.
"Will you need Varis?"
"Uhhh...yeah, we might need Varis. If he's recovered."
"He seemed fine last I checked up on him but I'll see if he's up for it."
"Thanks."