Standing on the deck of the ship as tentacles began to become much more violent, Griswold looked around, trying to figure out what to do. Even though he believed his plan might have been quite effective if carried out properly, it was as if everyone around him had just frozen in time. With the captain running out of mana and the girl moving even less than normal, he imagined this was going to be up to him, though that also meant having to venture into the deep water and meeting with whatever these things were on their turf. And if there was one thing he did not care for much at all, it was the deep ocean. Just as he had been pondering on ever since the ship had ventured further and further out into open waters, the amount of creatures that were always down there, hidden from few but ever present were beyond count and measure.
And for good reason, because there were no humans down there hunting them to extinction, rather fishing up their source of food near to the shore. But given how far they had ventured out and how much they had chummed the waters, it was really not much of a stretch to believe that something hungry might come after it. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t just hungry sharks but kraken with the ability to drag down a whole ship. So with that thought in mind, the only thing he could do now was to ask Smack to use what mana he had left to get Griswold a little bit of time he needed to get down as deep as he could before triggering his spell and taking the young creatures out. Whether it would kill them or not would remain to be seen, though he was certain the blast would render them unconscious for quite some time, more than enough for the lot of them to get far away from here.
“
Change of plans, since the girl is indisposed, I’m going to need you to do your best to restrain these creatures while I dive as deep as I can before releasing my spell. While it’ll be weakened severely by all of that water, if I use it too close to the boat, there’s a chance we’ll all need to swim our way back home.”
For a moment, things fell quiet between the two as Smack went over the plan in his head, likely not being all that on board with the idea of one of them quite literally diving into the lair of the beast in an attempt at taking them out where they were strongest. But when one of the thrashing tentacles got dangerous close to swiping down one of the masts they really, really needed to get back home before summer’s end, Smack and Griswold both fully realized the danger of the plan, but also exactly how much they needed for it to be carried out and succeed. So as he dropped some of his clothing to not be weighed down as much, he also left his weaponry aboard the ship, as getting to the appropriate depths was one thing, but coming back up was a whole other story. And the heavier he was, the hardest it was going to become for him to do just that with a bit of air left in his lungs.
“
Whenever you’re ready, Smack.”
Waiting for the signal from the captain, golden magic circles started forming around the ship as large amounts of liquid gold merged with the water and began restraining tentacles left and right while leaving some space around the ship itself for Griswold to dive down. And so that was what he did, setting off with as much force as his body could muster as he threw himself from the ship and into the ocean. The very first thing that went through his body, the thing that almost knocked the air right out of his lungs was how intensely cold the water was, though that could not keep him from moving forward. Beginning to build up solar mana inside of him, he heated himself up right quick while he kept swimming further and further down. With the darkness greeting him like an old friend, the salt pricking his eyes made it hard to see where he was going, though he could clearly see the enemy.
Massive marine animals that appeared to not be of this earth, their alien shapes seeming like some kind of twisted experiment that had run rampant. With the many tentacled limbs sticking out of their bodies, their eyes looked truly evil, not to mention massive, likely to take in as much light as possible to see something while down at the bottom of the ocean. Though some of these creatures saw him, the fact that their limbs were caught in golden restraints meant that they could not go right for him, even though they wanted to quite badly. Pulling at the golden mass, these six monstrosities working in unison made it nigh impossible for Smack to hold them longer than a few minutes as the grip he had on them grew weaker with every powerful tug. So when they finally managed to break free, they shot towards Griswold at alarming speeds, showing that their large bodies and strange forms absolutely served their purpose in surviving and hunting in the depths.
Hoping the built up amount of mana would suffice to take care of these creatures and be restrained enough to not destroy the ship, Griswold let the mana inside of him go. Bursting forth, the resulting blast carried the krakens towards the surface with so much force that they breached above the water for a moment before partially submerging again. Hitting them with enough force to truly make them regret coming for them, he now faced another problem. Having gone as far down as he did, swimming back up all the way was likely not going to happen, so he had to throw it over an entirely different path. With the solar mana he had built up, he faced his body towards the deep and black abyss before releasing a beam of condensed mana that caused him to shoot up towards the ship with alarming speeds. As he had no means of knowing how to steer or how this would affect him while fully submerged, he was above the water before he knew it.
In fact, he moved up with so much force and speed that he moved what was easily seven meters above the surface before the beam stopped, causing him to plummet back into the water with a loud clap right next to one of the barely conscious kraken. Quite shaken up about the whole ordeal, he slowly made his way back to the ship, his body sore from cramping up in the beyond cold water, as well as feeling pain all over his back from collapsing back into the water from a height of seven meters. Luckily, the men aboard the vessel quickly lowered a rope ladder for him to hold on to as they swiftly lifted him on up above the water and back into the ship. Once there, he let a deep and rumbling groan escape his body as he struggled to stay awake. Not because he was so very damn cold that it hurt, but because he wanted for this day to be over and done with already.
As dry and warm blankets were being brought in while the crew worked hard to get the sails to catch as much wind as possible, Griswold just stared up at the seagulls that had hitched a ride with them ever since the left the port of Raque. With the pirates down in the brig, the merchants helping out with preparing the ship and all of their merchandize in crates below deck, there was no denying that all of this had worked out quite well for everyone. Or rather, for everyone but him, though he was rather happy just to be alive and out of the water, that cold, briny ocean water. Hoping to himself that he would never need to stare into that abyss ever again, he covered himself in blankets as he sat on the edge of the deck, using his solar mana to heat himself up that much more quickly. Feeling like a little cocoon of warm hugs, he could tell that the people around him truly appreciated him, as well as Captain Smack for saving all of their collective hides.
With the minutes passing by, it did not take him long before he released that they had started sailing again, feeling the salty air brush past his face as he stood up straight and looked back at the water behind them. Noticing the kraken were already fairly far away, Griswold hoped that they would not be making an attempt at coming after them once they had recuperated. Truth be told, there was no way for him to tell how much damage he had done to them and how long it’d take them to get back up and at it due to the massive volume of water blocking much of the potency of his spell. While he truly hoped he would never have to see that kind of creature ever again in his life, or have to be submerged in water as cold, salty and deep as this, he did hope the creatures wouldn’t die from the hit they had taken. At the end, what mattered most was that he and all the other people on this ship survived, that much was clear to anyone.
Still, if it could in any way, shape or form be pulled off properly, he would always strive to not kill any of the creatures he encountered unless there was really no other way. That, or if the creature would just come back and kill someone else, in which case it had to be put down. But since they were out in the open ocean, far removed from any society or civilization, he did not imagine these creatures would be the bane to anything other than whales and maybe others of their size and stature. Because truly, he knew nothing of the monsters one might encounter within the depths, nor did he knew how many of these were actually natural born and which might have come from underwater mana zones, which were undoubtedly a thing in his opinion, even though he wouldn’t be able to realistically prove it without exploring all of the oceans, which he clearly would not.
But if there were several mana zones scattered across the lands making up Clover, Heart, Spade and Diamond, it made sense that there would be some existing beneath the waves too. After all, the oceans and seas made up the vast majority of the planet, or so he had been told, so believing they only appeared on land seemed ludicrous. After some much needed pondering on the matter, he finally felt warm enough to get out from under the blankets and get dressed in his every day attire. Putting on everything from his boots to his cloak and even his harness with swords, he returned the blankets to the sailor that had given them to him, thanking him for his efforts as it was a very welcome thing after drifting in the watery space beneath the ship. Checking the deck to see whether he could find the girl, he imagined she had ventured below deck into the crew quarters to get some rest after the shock of all that had happened. Quite understandable.
He however had other plans, for as the ship rapidly put some distance between themselves and the krakens, Griswold ascended the stairs to get to the upper decks before making his way towards the captain’s quarters. Believing both he and Smack had earned a few rounds of drinks, he wandered in to find that the captain had already started without him. Still being quite shaken up about the pirates and the kraken they had to deal with, having to act as a makeshift prison vessel, a refugee ship and a merchant vessel at the same time while having expended the vast majority of his mana to keep the golden bonds that held the ocean bound monstrosities at bay, Griswold was just glad he wasn’t the only one that felt like a sack of turds. Proclaiming that this was the last time he was ever signing up for a fishing competition or volunteering to go this far out to sea ever again, Smack just shrugged it off and laughed.
Claiming the first few times at sea for him had been quite taxing too, but that it was in that rough kind of life that he found his groove and realized that the mainland was not the place for him anymore, and that it was the reason why he had chosen to become a marine captain instead of an ordinary magic knight. Still, even as the man proclaimed his own reasons for becoming a sailor, Griswold reached for the bottle, poured himself a drink and had a good gulp of it. Because deep down he knew that the ocean was not the kind of place where he’d thrive. Not just because his magic was far less effective there, but because there was something about all of that water and the ridiculous depths it went to that just frightened him. No, if he had anything to say about it, he would remain a landlubber for the rest of his days.
2272 (3009)
[End of Thread]
Since Persephone left and I figured she'd come back at some point, I figured i'd just end this thread up since it had been sitting around since July 2021.
Name of Spell: Galactic Nucleus: Quasar
Elemental Type: Solar
Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Attack Creation
Range & Speed: 40 meters (AoE) | 40 m/s
Mana Cost: 30 mp | 15 mp sustain
Stats Effected: +6 to Power
Applicable Perks: “Overpowered”
Description: A more powerful version of the solar(lunar)burst spell, Galactic Nucleus: Quasar is a burst spell that uses the caster as the epicenter by making their entire body radiate with light before the mana explodes in all directions, moving outward in a 40 meter radius. Initiating in exactly the same manner as Blazar, it allows for a surprise element towards those that are familiar with his spells. Crossing a distance in the blink of an eye, it deals a senior amount of solar damage while knocking those hit by it back for 8 meters + an additional 5 meters for every 10 power the user possesses. Using this spell scorches the earth and leaves somewhat of a crater of roughly five meters deep as the spell itself can destroy most non-magical constructs with ease, cause minor third degree burns and break bones, making a direct hit quite lethal. Using the “ammo” rules, the caster is capable of preventing allies of being hit by the burst. During the day, the spell takes on an orange hue, taking on a silver blue hue after dark.
Name of Spell: Galactic Nucleus: Blazar
Elemental Type: Solar
Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Attack Creation
Range & Speed: 80 meters | 40 m/s
Mana Cost: 30 mp | 15 mp sustain
Stats Effected: +6 to Power
Applicable Perks: “Overpowered”
Description: A more powerful version of the solar flare (lunar swirl) spell, Galactic Nucleus: Blazar is a spell that compresses and fires a massive amount of solar mana from the user into a specific direction, following a straight line. Making the body of the user radiate with light before the beam erupts forward, it is initiated in exactly the same manner as Quasar, allowing for a surprise element towards those that are familiar with his spells. Instead of exploding when coming into contact with a solid surface, it will instead attempt to burn its way through by either punching through almost all non-magical structures with ease or by melting it on contact. Scorching the earth and leaving a trail in its wake, the beam can cause minor third degree burns, break bones and make a direct hit quite lethal. Using the “ammo” rules, the caster is capable of preventing allies of being hit by the beam. During the day, the spell takes on an orange hue, taking on a silver blue hue after dark.