Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Watery (III)

Some charged against the boat. Although not as large as the pirate ship, their size was by no means negligible. In fact, the continued impacts would have threatened to split the hull of a normal vessel. Of course, theirs wasn't exactly normal. Not only was the material extremely durable, but it was protected by a barrier of mana.

The mana didn't come from nowhere, but from the core of the ship. It was a gem with a large mana capacity, identical to the one in the mansion. Gjaki had several of them, as she had been refilling them in the past.

In fact, from this nucleus also came the mana for sailors, and the wind that moved the sails. The three of them had taken turns filling it in when they had nothing better to do. Furthermore, in the worst case, Gjaki had more.

The barrier could also cover the top if necessary, but this would interfere with their attacks. Therefore, they had opted for a more subtle protection. The lethality of the first line of defense was checked by a ten-tentacled octopus, something Eldi had always complained about in the game. Octopuses have eight.

It tried to climb onto the boat by holding on with its tentacles. It was unaware that the deck was protected by sharp adamantine threads. In fact, they covered everything except the hull, thus protecting the ship.

At that time, the need to level up was secondary, so they had allowed Gjaki to use her best threads. Mixing Live Thread, Lethal Net, and Lethal Thread, several of the tentacles were severed, so they fell back into the water.

Another similar being had all but one tentacle cut. The last one was grabbed by the lynx with her powerful jaws, and dragged over the deck. It reached the place through a network of sharp threads. They even cut off the base of the tentacles and part of the head.

Immediately, the feline lunged at it. Although smaller, she had no problem disposing of the cephalopod, which wasn't adequately armed to fight out of water. Added to the fact that it had been severely maimed, it was quickly torn apart. She lifted her head and sighed. She had planned to laze around a little longer, but apparently her cooperation was required.

"Everything would be easier if water sister were here," she thought.

She kept those thoughts to herself. She knew that her other two sisters also missed her, and didn't know if they would see her again. In fact, they had no idea where or how she was.

Eldi used Burning Spears and Javelin against those which approached. He mainly took aim from the railing at the huge mana beings crashing against the hull. Those who wanted to climb towards them were left to the feline and the vampiress.

As for Goldmi, she just shot at will. Sometimes, her winged sister would bring some prey closer to her instead of throwing it at others. These beings were vulnerable from below, so by lifting them, she made them an easy prey for the archer's arrows.

In the end, the survivors of the cannons succumbed little by little, thanks to a pirate ship whose presence on that floor was practically cheating. In fact, in the game, they had banned the players from using them after realizing that those kinds of ships made it too easy.

They got off at the island that the army of aquatic beings had been protecting. Gjaki put the ship into the inventory, while wondering once again how big that inventory was.

In reality, it should be impossible to store something that size, since she couldn't lift it, which used to be the requirement. However, she had some sort of bond with the ship. In fact, they all had it, they had acquired it together.

The goshawk perched on her sister, and let her caress her head. At the same time, everyone was looking at some strange stairs that came out of the island. In that direction, they should cross the water. However, when Eldi and Gjaki had walked them to check, they hadn't even found humidity. It seemed impossible.

"Ladies first," Eldi offered.

"No, no, you know that we are feminists. The gentlemen first," Goldmi refused, mockingly.

"We're four against one, accept it," Gjaki laughed.

"That's not fair! Why do you ally against me? It's bullying!" the high human complained.

"You started it," the elf accused him.

He was silent for a moment. It was true. Now that he thought about it, he had dug his own grave himself, no matter if it was just a joke.

"At least, put your beasts in front. The Golems are a bit clumsy," he asked Gjaki.

"Don't call my beasts beasts!" the vampiress protested.

Her companions looked at each other and shook their heads. It had been a very bad joke.

She stuck her tongue out at them, and summoned a Bat and a Blood Hound. The first one would explore, while the second would walk ahead in case there were any traps.

Nonetheless, as in the game, they went down the stairs without encountering any problems. They arrived at the same room as in the game, a real treasure room. It was full of jewels, weapons, gold coins, gems of all kinds, magical fabrics of great value...

They soon realized that, just like in the game, that treasure room was a big joke. They were all illusions, none of those treasures were real.

"Do you see something?" Goldmi asked her friend.

The elf was the one who was most nervous, the one with the most at stake. That was very important to her.

"There's something there," the vampiress pointed.

She was using Discern Illusions, which allowed her to see past them. In the direction she indicated, there was something different, a subtle emanation of mana of a nature different from illusions.

They toured several rooms, each one with a different setting, all of them spectacular. It was like a theme park where various landscapes of Jorgaldur were recreated.

They finally arrived at a place full of waterfalls. Some were huge, others small. Some imposing, others peacefully beautiful.

Gjaki approached a set of small, tiered natural pools. The water overflowed from them to fall on the next ones, although they were only illusions. It didn't even wet them.

"This's real," she pointed out.

Eldi approached and introduced a special container into the indicated place. It was the only one he had, and he didn't know where to get more that could contain that liquid without losing its properties.

He quickly covered it and watched it carefully, under the anxious gaze of her companions.

"Spiritual Water. We have it," he smiled.

""Great!"" they exclaimed, with a high five. They were a little closer.