"Underwater breathing? Why…"
Silver Blade couldn't finish her question. Everyone's instincts suddenly rang alarms. But before they could react, cracks appeared on the floor beneath them. Suddenly the solid stone broke apart. Rumbling echoed from the walls, and dust filled the room. The party lost their footing.
"Ahhh!"
"I'm too young to die!"
"Help!"
"I can't summon…"
Startled cries could barely be heard in the chaos as the friends fell down a deep well. They could only make out the rough stone walls around them before their vision blurred and their ears were stuffed.
"Mh!"
"Mh, hm!"
"Mhmhh!
Out of instinct some of the friends continued shouting, immediately shutting up as they swallowed a mouthful of water. Only at that point did realization hit them. They had landed in a lake!
Plop!
Liam was the first to return to the surface. He took a deep breath. Although he had been blessed with underwater breathing, the feeling was still uncomfortable.
"Ah! C! How could you…!"
Cyclone's head suddenly came out of the water. She was caught between coughing and cursing, indignantly waving her hands at the invisible AI. Afterwards the friends reached the surface one by one, all looking bedraggled with their hair hanging in front of their faces.
Liam looked around and furrowed his brows. Silver Blade and Radiant Shield had not appeared yet. This was understandable as swimming in their heavy armour was indeed somewhat difficult.
Perhaps they could need some help…
Without hesitation Liam dived back down again. The water was murky, obstructing his sight. Bubbles rose from his mouth. After a few seconds he finally saw some indistinct figures before him.
Liam approached quickly and noticed both Silver Blade and Radiant Shield not too far from each other. Both had a hard time. They pushed themselves upwards with their considerable strength only for their armours to pull them back down again. The tanks both had disgruntled expressions as they made little progress.
Suddenly both tanks spotted Liam. Their eyes lit up as they looked at him. Liam felt embarrassed. He hesitated but after a second he made a choice and approached Silver Blade. Yet just at that moment more figures appeared. Watchful Eye and Liam's eyes met, and both awkwardly stopped in place. And next to Radiant Shield Balm and Bloody Edge met.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze. But then Bloody Edge laughed, showed a thumbs-up to his best friend and turned around. Balm's head turned red like a tomato. She felt like sticking her head into the sand and pretend this never happened. However, she already came to help Radiant Shield. Leaving now would be even more embarrassing. Thus, the young woman gathered her courage, came behind Radiant Shield, grabbed him by the hips and paddled in sync with him, slowly reaching the surface.
Watchful Eye and Liam also woke up. The two men wouldn't be easily embarrassed. They pretended that nothing awkward was going on, grabbed Silver Blade's arms and pulled her up together.
"Hehe, I was already wondering where everyone had gone."
When the five friends returned to the surface, they immediately heard Cyclone's chuckles coming from the edge of the small lake. The rest had already left the lake, standing on solid ground. Cyclone felt incredibly amused as she observed Radiant Shield and Balm as well as the trio around Silver Blade. Next to her were Quickstep and Silent Acacia also watching with great interest while Fortune recorded everything with a big grin on her face. This scene wouldn't end up in one of her videos. But it surely made for great material to show at a big celebration. Like a birthday party… or a wedding…
With everyone staring like this even Liam felt awkward. He put on a stern expression, saying:
"Are you so leisurely to watch this lake all day? Go and scout the dungeon! Silent Acacia, look for traps! The rest, scout for enemies!"
"Hehe, we already took a glance. The next room is empty."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"If that is what you think, just go ahead. We will be coming in a second."
Cyclone's face froze. From Liam's tone it was obvious that the next room wasn't as simple as they thought. Could another boss be waiting for them? They had just made it to a checkpoint after all…
As everyone's thoughts were diverted Liam and the rest made it to the edge of the lake. The helpers let go off the tanks, who thanked them in low voices. Liam couldn't help but briefly smile at Silver Blade before rushing past everyone, taking the lead.
"Let's go. The dungeon won't clear itself."
"Coming, coming!"
The friends waded through a few centimetres of water which covered the stone floor, making it quite slippery. They observed their surroundings curiously. It was a spacious cave made from natural stone. To the sides were some large holes blocked by thick metal bars, the space beyond covered in darkness, looking like sinister jail cells. There were some holes in the ceiling through which rays of light fell into the cave, reflecting on the water below.
"Eh, this feels so bad. Why must we walk through water? My boots are soaked, and the hem of my gorgeous robe is wet. Perhaps I should switch to some metal boots…"
Cyclone complained and raised her foot as demonstration, letting the water drop from her clothes. Right at that moment there was movement in the water up front. A long, green spear shot out of the water, aiming right at Cyclone.
"Woah!"
The mage instinctively tried to dodge but lost her balance due to the awkward position. She flailed her arms, but it was useless. With a splash she landed on her butt. The attack passed right above her head and some drops of water hit her face.
"Nice dodge!"
Cyclone blinked her eyes, questioning life. Fortune chuckled while walking towards her fellow mage and offering a hand.
"Thanks…"
Cyclone sent a glare towards her still laughing friends, but it didn't get better as everyone could see her wet robe. Embarrassed and indignant the mage turned her head towards the culprit. She saw that the water around them was anything but peaceful. Long, green snakes were swimming around, eyeing their prey.
"You stupid monsters! Take this!"
Gritting her teeth Cyclone waved her wand, unleashing her only skill which didn't have a long cast time, [Lightning Barrage]. Five crackling lightning bolts fell from the sky, blasting away the water, striking the snake right on its head.
Unfortunately, there were only limited methods for elemental spells to interact with the environment, or the entire cave might have been electrocuted. On the other hand, this also spared Cyclone and her friends from some pain. The only one suffering was the green snake which had been hit on the head.
"Let me do it!"
Silver Blade took a step forward. Observing the ripples in the water she realised that there were at least eight snakes slithering around them. Although they were common monsters, they seemed to have the ability to hide their bodies as long as they were submerged in the water.
Silver Blade felt some anticipation as this was the perfect moment to test her new skill. [Unavoidable Bulwark] was activated with a thought. A strange vision suddenly overlapped with Silver Blade. It looked like a tall statue of four people standing back-to-back, each holding a massive shield in one direction.
Instantly the movements around the party became violent. Nine snakes jumped out of the water, darting at Silver Blade like arrows. However, their ferocious advance was abruptly halted as they crashed into the strange statue protecting Silver Blade, producing low thuds and falling back into the water.
[-3455!]x9
Silver Blade drew a sharp breath as her joy about the new skill evaporated. Although thanks to her skill she blocked about 1200 points of damage per hit, the result was still quite a blow. Silver Blade instantly admonished herself not to be careless. Her physical resistance was too low to begin with. Even with an increase of 50% it didn't make her invulnerable. However, if these snakes were to deal magical damage… the damage wouldn't exceed a single point. Truly not far from unkillable…
"Let me share some of your burden, my friend."
Radiant Shield also took a step forward, attracting six snakes who turned their attention towards him. The following battle was standard procedure for the party. These snakes were level 68 common monsters, not enough of a threat.
It didn't take long for Liam and his friends to take care of the group. After all the monsters died the friends looked around the cave. The water was deceptively quiet. But who knows what dangers were still lurking.
"By the way, how do we get out of here? There is no door."
"Perhaps through one of these cells?"
"But the path behind them is completely dark. How are we supposed to know where to go?"
The friends discussed briefly while turning their heads towards Liam. However, this time even he couldn't give a definite answer as there was some randomness involved.
"Let's look around the cave first."