Ruthless ~ 18!

~ 18 ~

“Let’s do a quick inspection before we go.” Joe looked at the others, not able to see anything different. “I was able to make a few anti-personnel rituals, and I figured out a way to get to the bottom of the lake, but I wasn't able to find a way for us to breathe down there.”

“I got that!” Alexis pulled out a vial that seemed to contain a tiny storm. “This is called a Fish-flop Flask. It's a pretty common poison that makes anyone breathing it only able to breathe water for about ten minutes. Normally you use this in dry areas so that people suffocate, but it can be used just like a water-breathing potion while being far less expensive.”

“Downside being…?” Bard motioned leadingly.

Alexis rolled her eyes, “Well, clearly you need to stay underwater until it wears off. Unlike a potion, it is one or the other. Also, if you aren't in water, your body will start drying out bad enough that all of your skin will crack and bleed. Oh, and it is a debuff, so Joe will need to cancel his aura.”

Joe winced at that; he had wanted to keep his aura active at all times so that he could get another bonus when he ranked up the skill. He nodded once to show his willingness, and only once to show that he still didn't want to do it. Jess coughed lightly, and handed a paper to all of them. “I made a copy of the map for everyone, so if you get separated you will still be able to find your way around.”

“I got accepted as a disciple of the Royal Masseuse, so I can give all of you extra-relaxing massages at the Beginner ranks!” Jaxon offered cheerfully. No one replied, so he just quietly continued humming.

“Made ah new song.” Bard muttered when everyone stared at him. “Modified Haste spell that makes it feel like time is moving at eighty percent while we move at regular speed. It isn't ah time spell, just boosts your speed, thoughts, an’ reaction time. Only lasts ah minute, so don't go crazy.”

“That's super useful, Bard.” Joe’s brow was furrowed, already deep in thought about how he could put this to best use. “How often can you use it? Once per-”

“Hour.”

Joe nodded at Bard, “Got it. Clearly, in a Boss fight would be great, but you’ll see when we are in trouble. Always feel free to go all out, guys.”

“Shouldn’t we hoard everything we get and only use it after we have defeated all challengers in out path?” Poppy smirked as he spouted game logic. “Joking, of course. As for me, I basically worked on my skills. Oh, and I got my specialization.”

There was a round of congratulations, then Jaxon asked what they were all thinking, “What is it?”

“Honorable Duelist.” Poppy proudly stated. “The class ability I got with it allows me to begin a duel, and we are moved to a private space where nothing can interfere in our combat. It’s called ‘Instant Arena’.”

“I think that happens when Champions of Deities fight each other.” Joe mused. “That sounds really handy. Is death the only way out of there?”

“Death or surrender.” Poppy affirmed. “If we surrender, we get sent to our respawn location and get a hefty debuff. Not as bad as dying, but if the person who surrenders goes after the other person again within a day… the debuff doubles, and the winner automatically gets a single item off of the loser. Ya know, because they acted dishonorably.”

“You need to defeat others in honorable duels to get your class rank up?” Alexis guessed.

Poppy pointed at her with a grin. “Got it in one. Expect me to vanish all the time, because I plan to blaze through the levels.”

“Well, let’s hope that you can't get too far on this trip.” Joe nodded at the others and pulled up his status screen. “I think we have everything that we need in order to at least start this challenge, so I think that it’s time we got to it.”

They vanished in a flash, reappearing near the coast just as the sun was setting over the sea. The final rays of light seemed to set the entire body of water into a sparkling pool of blood, it turned black as the sun vanished, then the moon shone down and bathed the world in silver. Bard looked up and stuck his chin out to point, “Yup, full moon, just as Jess said it would be.”

“Now all we need to know is if she was right about the water levels.” Joe was moving along at a speed just shy of jogging, keeping his eye on the coastline. “There it goes! She was right! Keep an eye out for other groups!”

“Of course I was right!” Jess announced, making Joe flinch and shy away. “I told you that the full moon should make the water recede almost far enough that we would be able to get to the underwater dungeon building thing.”

“When did you get here?” Joe prodded her after he got over his shock. “I thought that-”

“She was with us all the way back at the Guild, Joe. Pay attention!” Alexis barked at him.

“Well it wasn't like I was trying to ignore her; I’m just focused on-” Joe cut off his words as Jaxon put a hand on his shoulder.

“Joe. Do you understand the issue here?” Jaxon waited a moment, but there was no reply. “Right now, you are a leader, but you might not be one for much longer if you don't figure this out. There is a dichotomy to leadership, and every choice has two extremes. If you cannot find a balance between the two, you will topple over and lose it all. Right now, the balance you need to find is between micromanagement and abdication.”

“If you become too focused on controlling every little aspect of everything, you leave no room for the others here to step in and find their own niche. They simply become combat automatons. Too little oversight and people begin to think that you don't care about them.” Jaxon sighed, then smiled as he took his hand off of Joe. “The other option is what I did! Become a follower in the party, and you can just cruise along doing whatever you want while someone else makes the choices for you.”

Joe tried to argue, “But isn’t that what you just told me is-”

“Ah, but that’s my choice. I’m not the party leader.” Jaxon winked at him. “See the difference?”

“Why are you so good at this?” Joe looked at Jaxon, somewhat concerned at the shift he saw.

“Joe, I’m over ninety years old now. I think?” Jaxon replied with a pearly-white smile. “I’ve had a lot of positions in life, and now I finally get to just do whatever comes naturally!”

Jaxon skipped away, then laid down and rolled down the incline to where the waterline had been. Joe watched him stand up and promptly fall over again, too dizzy to keep his balance. “And he says I need to find a balance…”

“Just another thing to work on.” Joe added ‘leadership training’ to his constantly growing list of things to do. He had been in the military and in a leadership role there, but not really. As a medic, he was attached to another platoon and given free reign whenever he needed to do his job. Other than that, he mostly followed along with the person who was running the combat operations. In fact, he had been a follower just like Jaxon had been describing. This - being in charge for real - was harder than he had thought it would be.

“Follow the maps I gave you!” Jess called from the side of the hill as they waded over sucking sands. “There are going to be a bunch of drop offs, and some of them will have monsters!”

She didn't follow them the rest of the way, opting to hang back and watch their progress via her increasing class experience gauge. Thanks to her giving each of them a map of the area, they had a small minimap that they could follow around some of the more treacherous zones. When the water was up to their chests, they were nearly a half mile away from dry land. Bard suddenly dropped underwater, only to come sputtering back up a moment later. “Looks like that’s ta end of ta easy part.”

“Alright, I have our lead boots ready to go.” Joe spit out a mouthful of salt water as a wave splashed over his face. “Activate.” 

Ritual of Leaden Boots activated! Time remaining: 3:59:57.

Instantly, the group stopped bobbing along with the water, standing still even as heavy waves smashed into them. Alexis coughed and yanked the cork off her bottle, managing to jump high enough to suck in some of her poisonous concoction. She was the shortest, so she went underwater as soon as she came back down. Everyone else took a deep inhale of the oddly pink cloud, and ducked underwater.

You have been poisoned! Air is now impossible to breathe! Time remaining: 38:48.

Joe dismissed the information and started walking along the bottom of the sea. He got to the edge of the land, and hopped off. That was also when he took his first breath of water. His eyes bulged out as water rushed into his lungs, and he tried to cough it out, only to find more rushing in to take its place. 

He was also falling much faster than he had thought he would. Joe had jumped off the equivalent of a cliff, and was falling almost as fast as if he had jumped off a real one. He hit the ground at the bottom hard, but managed to mitigate the damage fairly easily thanks to his Mastery of jumping. Still, there was blood in the water from all the bones that were poking through the skin of his teammate’s legs. Joe tried to heal them, but the spell didn't pass through the water.

Struggling to walk over to each of them individually, Joe cast Lay on Hands and managed to get all of them fixed up. None of them could speak with their lungs full of water, so they motioned toward the murky depths and began walking across the silty ocean floor. Luckily, their minimap didn't need actual light to operate. Darkvision allowed Joe to see a decent distance, but seeing through the shifting water was a different story.

The salt of the sea burned at their eyes, and so the group struggled to stay in a cohesive formation as they walked. Still, they got near to the underwater dungeon and looked up. With the moon now shining from above, they were able to see what looked like a school of fish swimming around a small mountain. If this area wasn't highlighted by Jess’s maps, they wouldn’t have known that those weren't fish; they were a combination of monstrous eels and sharp-fanged predators.

It was time for the next part of the plan. As an overly-curious monster fish got close, Poppy’s blade flashed out and sliced it in half. Blood flowed outward into a cloud, and the group dashed toward the hidden entrance as quickly as they could. If they were too slow, they would be caught in the chum and the incoming feeding frenzy.

Just before he ducked into the relative safety of the entrance, Joe looked up at the shining moon once more. The silver disk was now coming through a sanguine filter, and chunks of monster flesh were beginning to rain down.