Magical beasts could come in all sorts of different forms or shapes, just like how a dungeon could look like or appear anywhere in the world. Since most mages never bothered to learn offensive magic and would instead use their abilities to seek a different career choice, ships would often hire strong mages to defend them, since it was unheard of for a dungeon to randomly appear somewhere out in the ocean.
By luck, this dungeon resembled a large body of water, and the type of magical beasts that filled it were of an aquatic variety.
Vast water came pouring down, and soon the entire boat was drenched, as more and more beasts flew out of the ocean and began to soar alongside them.
"What sort of fish is that?" One of the sailors asked, stunned.
Olis let out a loud squeak and stumbled back a bit, holding his staff out in front of him to protect himself as more magical beasts emerged from the ocean. The things looked sort of like common trout, but they were only about a foot bigger and a little thicker. Most notable about them, though, were the strange, feathery wings that stabbed out of their sides, allowing the fish to take to the sky and fly.
"Sky Fish," Olivia called out. "I've read about them. They're pretty much harmless." One flew by Davi, who opened his mouth and snatched it up, biting down on it, as he used his legs to pull himself back over the railing, standing on the boat. The fish flopped around in his mouth, but he bit down harder, pretending he was a bird that had caught its prey in its beak. "Hey! Don't eat it raw! Spit that out!" Olivia said with wide eyes.
Davi spat the fish out and made a face. "Nasty." He kept spitting. "Gross."
"What'd you expect?" She was starting to think Davi might be weird. "Why'd you eat it?"
"I was curious." Olivia just made a face and sighed. Out of all the Arcane Knights, she just had to get stuck with the weird one. "What?" Davi asked, noticing her look.
"Nothing."
"Looks like we were worried about nothing." One of the sailors grumbled. "Can't believe a couple of small fries actually scared you." The man clapped Olis on the back, causing the mage to stumble forward a bit. "Come on, you're our guard; shouldn't you be more useful?" The sailor chuckled. "Then again, I guess there isn't much your magic can do, can it, Olis?"
Olis let out a weak chuckle himself and nodded his head. "Yeah. I guess. Sorry."
"What are we paying you for? We're counting on you to keep us safe." Another sailor grunted out.
Olis glared down, not meeting any of the men's eyes, and they soon left him once the excitement of the Sky Fish died down. "Alright." A different sailor called out. "Looks like we got lucky, and we're in a weak dungeon. If we keep sailing forward, we'll hit the barrier and be able to slide right out once we leave the boundary." The man stated, and he pointed out across the green sea. "We want to get out of here as soon as possible, so focus on our escape. The sooner we're out, the better."
The people all cheered, save for Olis, who remained where he was, clutching his staff. The boy looked conflicted, but before he could say anything, he was startled by Davi, who suddenly stood next to him. "You look really bummed," the raven-haired man noted. "So what gives? You feeling down or something?" His uncaring voice wasn't very comforting.
Olis let out a weak chuckle. "To be honest, the only reason they even hired me is because the captain is friends with my dad." The boy explained. It seems he forgot that just moments ago, he was about to blast Davi with a spell. "I'm not actually that qualified to be a protector. I only took a few lessons in combat toward the end of the year and realized I wasn't cut out for it."
"Not cut out for it?"
"You saw my magic, right?" Olis's knuckle turned white from how hard he gripped his staff. "Try to picture taking down a giant monster with some lame-ass flowers."
Davi glanced down at himself. His arms were still bound by the twisting vines. "It took me out pretty handily."
"Yeah, because you're a person. Taking a monster down is another matter." Olis said bitterly. "My magic is useless. I was cursed with such a pathetic kind of magic, and it's totally lame."
Olivia gave the boy a sympathetic look. She understood why he was mad. Mages didn't get to pick their magic type out, and they didn't get to decide on the spells they could and couldn't learn either. It was one of the reasons so many people didn't actually use magic for combat, since it came down to pure luck or not on if a person's magic could be usable in battle.
A person could be born with a strong magic type like fire magic but be unable to learn to use any offensive or defensive spells simply because of the way they were born. On the opposite end, a mage could have loads of offensive and defensive spells and be able to make a wide variety of constructs but be stuck with a useless type of magic like blood magic or something akin to that. The amount of mana a person had and how many spells they could cast in one sitting were also determined by luck.
Some people were born lucky, and others were useless.
Unlike her, not everyone struggled against the system. Some were fine with the hand they were dealt, like Olis, who didn't even try to become a Knight or do anything grand and was just letting life coast him where it needed him to go.
"Olis!" A voice called out, and the mage turned as someone new approached. It was a large, portly-looking man who had on what looked like a captain's uniform. He had a hefty beard and stern eyes, which roamed over the two captured stowaways. "Is this them?"
"Yes, Captain." Olis saluted and nodded his head. "What would you like me to do with them?"
The captain studied Davi and Olivia, looking them both over. "Why are you two here?"
"We were trying to get a free ride to the next city," Olivia admitted, a little ashamed. "We don't have any money."
"You picked the wrong boat."
"Yeah." Her shame grew, and her face turned a little red. "I know. Talk about bad luck, huh? We're stuck with you guys in a dungeon now."
"Who cares about that?" Davi's eyes lit up, and he stood, walking toward the captain. "You're going to let us go, right?"
The captain narrowed his eyes. "After we arrive at the city. You'll be staying in the hull until then, though. I don't want you two putting my crew in any danger. We should be arriving at the city in three days, so you'll have to remain tied up until then. Got that? Times are tough, so I'm willing to overlook this crime as long as the two of you behave."
Davi nodded. "That's fine with me, but you are going to need someone to deal with that magical beast, you know."
Olis raised an eyebrow, as did the captain. "You mean the Sky Fish?" The captain eyed the creatures that were still flying alongside their ship. "I think we can manage. I've seen this kind of dungeon before. They might look big since they're an entire ocean, but the barrier connecting them and the real world is small. If we keep going straight, we'll escape this place and leave the monsters behind."
"It isn't these monsters I'm concerned with," Davi said, and he winced slightly as his scar began to burn.
Olivia's eyes suddenly flickered with recognition. "There's something else coming! Predators often hunt Sky Fish, so they avoid most things, yet these ones are flying alongside us! That means there's something that they deem as an even bigger threat!"
"What!"
As if on cue, another wave of water came roaring down. Davi didn't bother dodging it this time and stared up at the emerging beast. This creature was much larger than the Sky Fish. It wasn't quite as big as the boat, but it was large nonetheless and covered in what looked like thick steel armor. Its shape was whale-like, but a massive horn stabbed out the front of it, which pierced through several of the fleeing Sky Fish.
"An Armored Whale!" Olivia yelled out.
Everyone on the boat, besides Davi, let out a loud yell as the magical beast rammed part of its body into the ship. A large section of their boat was instantly torn out, and the entire ship began to tip a bit. Several of the sailors lost their footing and screamed as they fell into the water, including the captain. By some miracle, Olis managed to grab onto the railing while Davi used his teeth to bite into the vines wrapped around Olivia and held her up, stopping her from falling. His own legs remained steady, ignoring the way the boat began to tip over.
Davi flexed, and suddenly, the vines around him snapped and shattered. He hooked an arm around Olivia's waist and stopped biting down. "Damn, I didn't expect it to take out the ship instantly." He said, still sounding bored. "My bad, sorry everyone."
"You could have broken out at any time!" Olivia yelled with wide eyes.
"Well, yeah, but I didn't want to make him think his spell was weak." Davi's response didn't help her anger. His finger tore through the vines around her, freeing her. "Less talking, more fighting. You're smart, right? How do I beat this guy?"
Olivia nodded her head. "I'll get the crew; you take that creature down. Aim for its eye! One good swing should do it!"
"Got it. Row Shadow Vault." Davi ripped his claymore out of his shadow and charged forward, leaping off the boat. The Armored Whale let out a roar and twisted its body, aiming to impale the man with its horn. "Row Shadow Armor." Davi's entire body was suddenly covered in pitch-black liquid, which flowed and took shape before it formed into his black armor. His chest plate smashed into the whale's horn, his armor holding out, allowing him to grab onto the horn and twist himself off it, landing on the monster's back.
On the boat, Olis felt his face pale as he watched Davi. "A Knight in ebony armor?" Olis wasn't met with a sense of awe or wonder, as most people would be when they saw an Arcane Knight. If it had been any other Knight, he would have been, but seeing Davi Hawker only made his stomach flop harder.
Davi's feet smashed into the scales of the whale as he landed. Armored Whales were insanely durable and very tough, since they were strong enough to swim and survive at crushing depths with iron armor coating their flesh. A normal sword wouldn't do anything, so he wasn't shocked when his dull blade bounced off the metal hide. He didn't stop, though, and kept ramming his sword down, grinding it across the whale's back as he approached its eyes, kicking up a wave of sparks.
Right as he reached the top of its head, the whale spun its body and then dove underwater, dragging Davi with it.
Back up top, Olivia ran to the side of the boat, which was starting to sink, and she bit down on her hand, opening the skin up. "Row Blood Rope!" She pulled her wand out and twirled it; a red thread formed and launched down toward one of the crewmates. "Grab on!" She used both her hands and did her best to tug the person up, who also attempted to climb up. Once the person made it to the top, she wrapped her arms around them and pulled them all the way up, but by then, the splashing of the water had ruined her blood rope and dissolved it, so she'd have to make another one. "Seriously? Come on!" Olivia shook her head and turned to Olis, who was cowering away from the edge. "Olis! I need your help!" Olis remained where he was standing and watched where Davi had been dragged down. "Olis!"
That managed to kick the boy back into gear, and his body shook as he glanced back at her. "What can I do?" The boy asked in fear.
"Just do what I did! Make rope and grab as many people as you can!"
"I can't do that, though. My magic is useless—"
Olivia growled and reached out, grabbing the boy by the front of his shirt. "You want to hear useless? I can only cast three spells. If I cast more than that, I literally die. I have next to zero mana because it's basically impossible for me to cast spells properly. I lived most of my life being mocked, belittled, and told that I couldn't do anything because of my magic. I would have been blessed to be born with magic like yours, but I don't have it." Olis's eyes were wide, and he shook, and Olivia's face softened. "All magic can be useless depending on the situation that you're in." Her mind went to Ash and the way he had struggled to battle the Salamander despite having strong wind magic. "In the end, though, your magic is only truly useless if you yourself are. I know it's scary. I know those people haven't been the nicest to you, and it'd be easy to let them die and say that you couldn't do anything, but that won't be true, will it? Because you can do something! So do it, Olis!"
Olis nodded as she let go of him, and he stepped forward, still shaking. "I've never had a strong desire for anything, if I'm being honest. I used to have dreams and goals, but that all went out the window when I unlocked my magic. I was always picked on for being able to create flowers, and I guess part of me just accepted the words that were thrown at me." The boy gave a sad look before his grip on his staff grew tighter. "Even so! I don't want any of these people to die! Row Flower Vine!" From the tip of his staff, a long green vine fired out and pierced the top of the water. Unlike Olivia's, it didn't instantly dissolve, and several of the crew members clung to it.
"Good work! Just like that!" Olivia cheered, and she and the other crew members began to pull the others up while Olis created more vines. It didn't take them very long to get everyone out of the water, but they weren't out of the clear yet. Their ship was still missing an entire chunk, and the Armored Whale was still nearby.
Beneath the ocean, Davi's fingers dug into the armored beast, and he began climbing up it. The monster kept trying to spin its body, creating a whirlpool, but Davi didn't let up and soon made it to the eye. He clung to the eyelid with one hand and lifted his sword up with the other. It was awkward to swing his weapon out, the water trying to fight him, but he fought past it and jammed the sharp part of his weapon into the beast's eye, causing the whale to screech. The sound rumbled beneath the waters, and Davi felt a ripple go through his armor, but he stood his ground.
More blue flared out of the gaps in Davi's armor, and he dug his sword in deeper, gripping it with both hands. He then placed his feet down on the whale's face and pulled up as hard as he could, tearing his sword out, along with the eye, which was skewered onto it. This finally caused him to be flung off the whale.
Davi's head burst through the top of the water, and he took several gasping breaths, throwing his helmet off of him. "Row Shadow Vault." He brought something else out of his vault and shoved the sword with the eye on it back in before ducking back down and letting his heavy armor weigh him down.
The magical beast circled from beneath him, a stream of red coming out of its face, and it let out another deep cry that echoed through the water. It positioned itself and blasted up through the green sea, ramming the tip of its horn into Davi.
Davi let out a loud hiss of pain as the tip of the horn began to dig into his shoulder and punctured part of his armor, but he didn't fight it and instead wrapped his arms around the whale, attaching the thing he pulled out of his vault to the horn and clicking it in place.
The Armored Whale was strong, but it wasn't the boss of the dungeon. The boss was most likely deep beneath the waves and was a creature Davi didn't want to deal with, so he decided to end this fight quickly.
He ripped himself off of the horn once he was done setting everything up, and he kicked off from it, sending himself flying to the side in the water. The whale made a strange growling sound at him and began to sink, trying to twist toward him. That was when it noticed something was still on its horn.
Wrapped tightly around the pointed end was a long chain, each section covered in a vast number of grenades.
The blast that followed rippled through the waters, pushing Davi further back and sending him spinning through the water. The horn of the whale shattered off, and more red streamed out of it. The creature's good eye was wide and filled with shock, and its hide was blistered and burned as the water boiled around it and the shockwaves pierced past its armor. Despite the attack, though, it was still alive.
The whale glanced at Davi, who was also fine. He had layered the inside of his body with intense mana, allowing him to withstand the wave of force that had smashed into him, and his armor absorbed the remaining kinetic energy and sucked it into the shadows. The whale let out a pained cry and then began to sink deeper into the ocean, swimming away. It was running away.
Davi watched it go before finally emerging from beneath the water. Breathing heavily and catching his breath, Davi swam toward the boat and grabbed onto the vines that were hanging off. "It ran." He breathed out, gasping in air. His armor vanished and faded off of him, making him light enough to be pulled up.
Olivia helped him up and nodded. "I knew it would. It's an animal at the end of the day, and magical or not, it will still have the instincts of an animal. When faced with prey that can fight back, it would have to consider if it would be worth the effort, so once you seriously harmed it and stole an eye from it, it would give up and flee."
"Where'd you learn that?"
"I got bored and watched this nature documentary that went into a lot of theories on magical beasts."
"If you two are done, our boat is still sinking!" The captain yelled out. "We don't have enough lifeboats for all of us, not after that creature tore through several of them! Do something! You're an Arcane Knight, right?" The captain asked, staring at Davi.
Davi lazily hummed. "My magic isn't useful for a situation like this."
"What! Then what do we do?"
"I dunno, drown?" Davi offered unhelpfully.
"Guess we're still going to all die at sea after all." One of the crew members chuckled. The man's face then grew serious. "Olis."
"Yeah?" Olis squeaked out and turned to look at the sailor.
The sailor's face softened a bit, and he let out a sigh. "I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I'm sorry, okay?" The man said a little sheepishly. "I heard what you said earlier. I was one of those people that was rude to you, wasn't I?" He wasn't the only one who had a guilty look on his face. Most of the crew shifted and looked away awkwardly. "Growing up in our village, part of me was always jealous of the fact that you had magic that could cast a ton of different spells, whereas I only knew how to light candles. I'm sorry for always picking on you."
"Seriously?" Olis snorted. "You're telling me this all now?" Olis facepalmed. "In Haru's name, the only one who should be ashamed is me. I didn't save this boat like I promised I would."
The sailor chuckled and went to say something else, but his face suddenly turned pale. He dropped to his knees and vomited, a wave of red coming out of him. He wasn't the only one, either. Dozens of crew members began to do it as well.
"What's happening?" Olivia asked in horror.
"T-the dungeon." The captain groaned, grabbed at his stomach, and winced. He hadn't started vomiting yet, nor had Olis, but something was having an effect on him. "We've stayed in the dungeon for too long. If we don't escape soon, we're going to get infected and start to change. We're going to become Magical Mutants soon."
Olivia's face paled, and she gasped. Dungeons had their own source of mana within them that was different from the mana of the real world. Mages used mana to cast spells, and it served as an invisible force of energy that resided within their body. A dungeon's mana was deadly and toxic. Being in a dungeon would cause it to corrode and eat away at a mage's mana, weakening the mage. The more mana a mage had, the longer they could resist the effect.
If a mage was in a dungeon for long enough and started to run out of mana, then they'd be hit with an effect that was similar to radiation. It'd start to eat away at not just their magic but their bodies as well. If they were lucky, they'd die. If they weren't lucky…
Well, they'd become a Mutant.
A mage could tell how long they could survive in a dungeon by looking at the grimoire app. The resistance stat determined how well their body could fight off the effect. She had a shockingly good resistance since hers was listed as A, though everyone else wouldn't be able to look at their stats since they were in the middle of the dungeon, and phones didn't work.
"What do we do?" The captain gasped. "We're close to the exit? Should we just swim for it?"
"No." Olis shook his head, his fear returning. "The monsters could come back. Even if they don't and we do all make it to the exit, we'd appear out in the middle of the ocean with no boat and still all drown." He looked at Davi with a pleading look. "There has to be something you can do."
"I don't have an entire boat in my dungeon or a plane either." Davi sighed. "I do have some cars, but they'd sink like rocks." Then, suddenly, he got an idea. "Just because my magic isn't useful for this situation doesn't mean there isn't one person here who can help."
Everyone turned to look at Olivia. "Not me." She snorted. She reached out and gripped her hands tightly onto Olis's. "Olis, this is your chance. We need your help."
"Me?" The boy asked in shock.
"Davi and I don't have the right magic for this." Olivia shook her head and stared into his eyes. "You're wrong when you say your magic is useless. You can do this. You can save everyone here. Use your magic again, Olis."
Olis turned and looked at the rest of the crew, and one by one, they nodded. His eyes landed on the captain, and Olis gave a nod of his own. He stepped forward and closed his eyes, lifting his staff up. His skin glowed a bit, and he focused his mana.
All mages had a type of magic that would determine what spells they could develop. Spells had to be spoken and were broken into three segments. The level, the type, and the intent. At that moment, Olis put all of his intent into helping in the best way he could.
"Row Flower Flow!" Olis slammed his staff down, and the ship's wooden deck twisted and changed, replaced with a vast swarm of green grass. In the center of the boat, an entire tree began to grow and sprout, various flowers growing across it, and vines snaked out, along with twisting roots, which started to plug up the hole in the boat, evening it out until the ship no longer had a hole in it. The vessel was now no longer on the verge of sinking. Olis had saved it.
The boy collapsed to his knees and breathed heavily, gasping in several gulps of air. It had taken most of his mana, but he did it.
The crew cheered, and several of the men lifted Olis up, throwing him into the air repeatedly, even though their bodies were still being damaged. Olivia watched with a grin of her own, and Davi folded his arms and nodded his head, the closest thing he had to showing real emotions. "Well, what do you think?" He asked her. Now that the ship wasn't sinking, it surged forward, getting closer to the exit.
Olivia looked back at her new traveling companion and smiled. "Yeah. Being on an adventure is the best." Her smile then faded when she heard a rumble. From the ocean, the Armored Whale was back, and it wasn't alone. A second one was with it, and they were coming at the ship. Olivia brought her hand up, about to cast a spell of her own, but was stopped when Davi put his arm out in front of her.
Davi shook his head. "No. Leave it to him."
The rest of the crew noticed the whales, but instead of fear, they were cheering Olis on this time. The boy gripped his staff, mustering up the last of his mana, and he swung it out as hard as he could. "Row Flower Rope!"
Right as the whales were about to reach the ship and ram into it, Olis's flowers sprang out and twirled through the air, wrapping around both of the whales and tying them to one another. The creatures awkwardly rammed into one another and then began to sink, unable to swim fully. As they disappeared beneath the waters, the crew's cheering grew louder, and Olis collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily but with a smile of his own.
"I think I'm totally out of mana." Olis chuckled and fully collapsed onto his back.
At last, he had defended his ship.
The boat jutted forward, and the air rippled. The green sea was gone, replaced with a gentle blue, and the cry of the whales vanished in an instant as they reappeared back in the real world, still on the open sea.
Several of the men all took gasping breaths, their bodies recovering. Luckily, they had left quickly enough to not have any lasting effects, and the damage a dungeon would cause would always fade away as long as the person didn't die or become a Mutant from it.
Olivia watched and then turned to look back at Davi. "Earlier, you could have killed the whale and been done with it, right? Did you let it go on purpose, and did you know that there was a second one?"
Davi didn't say anything for a few moments. He turned away from her and looked out at sea. "Catch a man a fish, and he'll have dinner for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he'll be able to provide for himself. It isn't always about just helping people, you know. Sometimes, you have to teach someone how to help themselves."
Olivia snorted and then gave him a suspicious look. "Did you always know there were more salamanders? The way you conveniently showed up just in the nick of time to save me…" Davi let out an innocent whistle, and Olivia let out another chuckle.
"My dad taught me to do this." Davi's mood seemed to shift. His blank look was still present, but something about his eyes was off. Sorrow, maybe? The light in them faded slightly. "My dad helped teach me that saving someone is the easy part. But leaving them better off than they started? Now, that's really hard."
"What do you mean?" Olivia questioned.
"I mean, like how I gave your village the supplies to build its wall." Davi stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared out at the vast sea. He wondered, like he often did, what it would be like to soar above it totally free. Just like how birds did all the time, and just as how he pictured the Dragon did. "I don't like helping people. Helping people over and over again can lead to them relying on you. They forget how to save themselves or become too dependent on you, despite the fact that you won't always be there. That's why, whenever I can, I like to make sure a place is better off than when I found it. I don't want to have to keep coming to Fri and killing monsters, so I gave the village the supplies it would need so it can help itself and prevent future attacks. We won't always be here to help this crew, so I made sure Olis could do it on his own."
Olivia's eyes shone a bit, and she eagerly nodded her head. "That's so nice. You're a good person, Davi."
"Nah. I'm just lazy." Davi said in an unambitious tone. "Less work this way."
Olivia's smile vanished. She wanted to argue, but didn't really know what else to say. She stood next to Davi and looked out at the vast sea with him. "Thanks." She finally said.
"For what?" Davi asked, a little confused.
"For taking me on this adventure."