Chapter 176 - Beneath the Fractured Moon II

Crushing the deer-sized head of a six-clawed lobster with one of her talons, Claire twisted her body and evaded a large but harmless ball of fire. The assailant, a man dressed in white robes, clicked his tongue and readied his wand for another shot, but she paralyzed him before he could follow through.

“Go away. I’m not a monster.”

It was already her third time repeating the line. The reef they visited was a popular hunting ground, and though Natalya had claimed it dangerous, they found a group of locals at almost every turn. Most of them were weaklings—likely level 100 at most—and few were out of their depth. None of the level 300 monsters that Lia had described were anywhere to be found, even after a high-speed, two hour exploration of the shoal and its surroundings.

What they did find, however, were ambush hunters in the dozens. Claire’s less-than-humanoid form had led many an adventurer to attack on sight. Most of those that spotted her had assumed that she was a monster, even with a cat and two animals riding atop her head, and for good reason. The reef’s wildlife was of a similar size, and her silhouette was not entirely distinguishable from that of an overgrown sea serpent.

“We should’ve gone spelunking.” She had intended to speak under her breath, but both the girls sitting on her head heard her loud and clear. In her largest form, she found it much more difficult to keep her volume to a minimum. The opposite, however, she could do with ease.

“Sorry.” Toying with her hair, Natalya could offer nothing but an awkward smile.

One of the first groups to attack had apologized profusely and even followed by providing an update to the cat’s half-baked intel. According to their account, all of the higher leveled monsters that previously inhabited the hunting ground had been wiped out by a particularly talented swordsman several years prior. Since then, Redbloom Reef had become a place for those that were seeking foes with levels in the higher double digits.

Though frustrated, Claire had decided against leaving. The reef was halfway between the city and the dungeon, and there was no reason to put in the extra travel time if all she wanted to do was test her abilities. And it was precisely that mentality that led many of the region’s wildlife to experience the worst of days. As it turned out, the overgrown creatures made for excellent moving targets. The reef would have made for a fine sandbox, if not for the pesky adventurers that assumed her one of its many mindless beasts.

Lia was the only reason that they all still lived. The catgirl would always step in either as they were assaulted, or right before it happened, and explain that they were a group of adventurers. And each time, attackers had backed down, with most concluding that the longmoose was the catgirl’s familiar. They would often discuss her accessories as they departed, noting that it was impossible to have custom-made jewelry if one was not a rich veteran. As the rumours spread, they began to encounter parties that went out of their way to seek them, with many showering the catgirl with looks of jealousy or admiration. Truly an admirable feat for a useless log incapable of functioning beneath the waves.

The many conversations and discussions only served to annoy the supposed tamed beast. She saw no reason for them to think that the catgirl was her master, and was nothing if not insulted by the assumption that the ability to speak was her most outstanding trait. She failed to understand how or why they were missing her ears, especially when they were highlighted by her jewelry.

Though all of the intermediate steps were filled with mild annoyances, Claire found the session as a whole to be rather successful. No longer did she feel shackled by the strange form, nor the strange eyes that accompanied it. Killing things helped her adapt quickly, and corpus imperium had even improved along the way. For how powerful and comprehensive the skill appeared, it leveled at a fairly rapid pace, gaining one in each of the hours she spent crushing the region’s wildlife underfoot.

Headhydra aside, the only ability she didn’t test was the one that arrived covered in red tape, but not because she took Flux’s warnings to heart. Her reluctance sprang from the same feeling that had put her off from the last of her five choices. A wave of dread pulsed through her mind each time she thought about activating it. Something about it put her off, and she had no intention of determining what that thing happened to be. Still, despite the lack of completion, and all the minor inconveniences they encountered along the way, she was willing to conclude the voyage a success.

In the end, they were attacked a grand total of seventeen times, with eleven of the groups immediately apologizing, and subsequently getting off scot-free, and the other six suffering from some light punishment. None of the attackers were brought to death’s door; the worst Claire did was repeatedly smash a particularly self-righteous grug with her tail. The cat-eared frog in question wound up with half a dozen broken ribs, both arms completely bent out of shape, and some light mental trauma. Natalya insisted that the longmoose had gone too far, but Claire and Sylvia were both confident in the scalewarden’s judgement. The wounds themselves would take no longer than a few hours to heal, and the mental scars were his just desserts. There was no crime worse than insulting a fair maiden’s ears, after all.

“I really think you should transform before we get any closer to the city,” Natalya voiced the suggestion as she set her eyes on the magical dome that spanned the horizon. The sun was already setting, and Sylvia aside, everyone’s stomach was rumbling.

They were still a few minutes away from the settlement, but Claire’s largest form was anything but stealthy. Many of the other travelers were alarmed by the speed at which she shot through the water, and the coastguard had already stopped her twice. Fortunately, they were much more reasonable than the adventurers, with neither group attacking before first attempting a conversation.

“Claire? Slow down. Claire!”

“I heard you the first time.” The living boat continued to accelerate. Twisting her body back and forth, she zig-zagged through the water like a lightning bolt through the air. Though she was tempted to continue and enjoy the sensation of the waves crashing behind her scales, she knew that the catgirl was right. She was already drawing far too much attention. “Take a breath. A deep one.” Sylvia and Boris did as instructed, but Natalya did not immediately comply.

“What for?”

“Just do it. Trust me.”

Though a little hesitant at first, she eventually nodded and sucked in a lungful of air, with Claire diving into the depths soon after. She beelined straight towards a large rocky formation and turned humanoid. She didn’t slow down, not during the transformation, nor when she donned her runecloak. For a moment, it almost looked like the others would be left behind, but she grabbed ahold of them with her vectors and pulled them along, surfacing some five hundred meters away from where they first dove.

“That was fun!” cheered Sylvia. Completely soaked to the bone, the wet dog was hardly recognizable. Her features were completely deformed by the way her fur stuck to her skin.

“I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.” The catgirl was less excited. She was gasping for air, a hand against her breast as she kept herself afloat by clinging to Boris. “Could you please give me a little more warning next time?”

“I’ll think about it.” Smirking mischievously, Claire slowly rose out of the water, a pair of large wings sprouting from her back soon after. “Now let’s go. We’ll fly the rest of the way.”

With a twitch of the ears and a discontent frown, the cat turned only her eyes to face her lyrkrian tormentor. “Do we have to?”

“I think so,” said Sylvia. “You won’t be able to breathe if we enter the city from underwater.”

The dive had granted all four of the party’s members a perfect view of the aquatic district in question. In terms of overall square mileage, it was roughly the same size as its above-ground counterpart, but its verticality provided it with many times the livable space. Some of the buildings even went down into the underwater gorges, while others went well above the sea. The most expensive-looking properties included small islands, be they natural or magically crafted.

“How do you breathe underwater, Sylvia?”

“I don’t! I just use a bubble.” The fox stopped treading water shortly after speaking the sentence out loud and slowly sank with a paw pressed against her forehead. “I can just put you in a bubble too, can’t I?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” said Lia.

A large, magical sphere enveloped everyone but Claire and took the group beneath the waves. “Sorry. I’m not used to helping, so I just… kinda forget.”

“It’s okay, I forget some of my abilities sometimes too,” said Lia, with a troubled smile.

Though the catgirl appeared quite content with how things turned out, the fox soon found her cheeks seized. Claire had snuck into the bubble behind her, with her face sporting a blank stare.

“Sylvia.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Why didn’t you do this when I said I wanted to go dungeon diving?”

“Uhmm… oops?” She stuck out her tongue and nervously laughed as she prepared for the incoming abuse of her cheeks, but no such event came to occur. She instead found herself wrapped up in the lyrkress’ arms, tail and all.

“Stupid fox.”

“Hey! That’s mean! And you really need to stop sending me so many mixed messages! I can’t tell if you’re mad or not!”

“They’re not mixed. They’re obvious.” She lightly booped the vixen’s nose before finally releasing her and directing her eyes towards the catgirl. “Right, Lia?”

It took a moment for the catgirl to nod. “Y-yeah.” She had expected the two to exclude her, as they always did, whenever they went about their shenanigans.

“See?” She stuck a tail outside the bubble and propelled it forward as she toyed with the fox. “Even the dumb cat agrees.”

“That doesn’t mean anything! She only agreed because she was confused!”

“No she didn’t.”

“Yes she did!”

Claire rested her chin on the fox’s head as she turned to the feline in question. “Lia, agree again.”

“Don’t do it Lia! She’s just trying to use you to be mean to me!”

With both gazes on her, the catgirl could do little but bring a hand to her lips and giggle. “You two are so silly.” Half leaping forward, she tackled the other two and wrapped her arms around them both.

“Let go. Pervert.”

“In a second.”

She only tightened the embrace, even as her face was subjected to a claw-like grip.

___

Most of the buildings that populated the underwater streets were made of either glass or coral, with the latter more popular around the city’s center. Though the bubble provided the party’s less-than-aquatic members with the ability to breathe, they opted against dining in one of the many underwater establishments. The air they imprisoned beneath the surface got in the way of other people moving through the bustling metropolis. Outdoors, it wasn’t much of a problem. Anyone that wanted to avoid them could easily swim over their heads. But the same could not be done as easily with a roof taking up the necessary space.

The late lunch they enjoyed was one of piping hot meat and vegetables, dishes that they were unable to enjoy during the brief time they spent away from dry land. And though Claire found little value in the less-than-delicious meal itself, she derived some degree of enjoyment in the company that came with it.

When they exited the restaurant and walked along Vel’khagan’s main, land-locked street, they found the crowd outside with its attention focused on a single point. There was a large flying ship hovering just beyond the city gates, its hull armed with cannons, and its deck with manned guns. The flag flying above it was distinct from all the others that dotted the city. A foreign coat of arms.

“What is that?” Natalya’s eyes opened wide as she gazed upon the vessel. The very same reaction shared by most of those around her. Claire and Sylvia were the only exceptions, the former because she was well accustomed to the sight, and the latter because she knew very little about what lay beyond Llystletein’s boundaries. To her, everything was just as novel. “It almost looks like…” The cat began flipping through her notebook, stopping at a page with a sketch of a landmass with a small tower planted thereon. “It almost looks like a Cadrian warship.”

“It is,” said Claire. “Carrier class. Likely belongs to a count, or maybe a marquis.”

The oversized object in question was three times the size of an ascended turberus. The veritable mountain was shaped like an upside-down pyramid, with its bottom a single point and a stone fortress built atop its triangular base. For a Cadrian warship, its size was average, covering less than half the area consumed by each of the three ducal houses floating above Valencia. Its barrier device was much weaker and generated only a tiny shield capable of guarding only the ship itself, a tradeoff that came hand in hand with an increase in mobility. Its magical drive was configured as an engine, and it was capable of flying at a pace of almost fifty kilometers an hour when its guns were inactive.

There were a number of soldiers, mostly winged centaurs, standing at attention in front of the manor, armed with spears and shieldlances in tandem.

“No. Not again.” Natalya brought a shaky hand to her rapier and gulped, but a tail to the cheek stopped her from drawing her blade.

“Calm down. They would have attacked already. If that was what they were here for.”

Vel’khagan’s barrier powered down as the vessel approached, not whirring back to life again until the ship was well within city limits. A surefire sign that the visit was anything but unexpected.

“Right.” The catgirl took a series of deep breaths before shaking her head. “Sorry.”

“Let’s go.” Shrugging, the lyrkress grabbed the cat by the shoulders and tried to relocate her, but her feet stayed firmly planted.

“Can we go check it out?” Turning her head, Natalya gave Claire a shaky stare. She was clearly still nervous.

“Oh, that sounds fun!” said Sylvia. “We should totally sneak on board and see if we can steal it.”

“Stealing it would be going a bit far.” Lia fiddled with her tail and put on a nervous smile. “I just want to make sure Vel’khagan isn’t going to suddenly turn into a warzone.”

The party’s resident Cadrian paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath before starting to speak. “It’ll be fine. Carriers aren’t very durable. They resist magic, but physical attacks can tear right through them, and the troops don’t look particularly well-trained.” She glanced at the soldiers. “They’re only twice ascended.”

Naturally, the claim was met with suspicion. Lia’s eyes shifted, and her body stiffened. “Claire, who are you? And why do you know so much about the Cadrian military? Their secrets are supposed to be incredibly well-guarded.” Shrugging off the lyrkress’ grasp, she took a few steps back and placed her hand on her sword. “You aren’t one of them are you?”

Their eyes met. One pair was cold, its icy gaze dotted with only a tiny hint of annoyance. The other was watery, trembling and uncertain. Filled with distrust.

“I am not a part of the Cadrian military. And I never have been.” Claire heaved a sigh. She had known that it was better to keep her mouth shut. But she had allowed herself to ramble regardless. “Stop worrying.”

“Yeah, Claire’s too derpy to be a part of any milit—ow!” A flick to the forehead stopped the fox before she could finish her sentence. “What the heck!?”

“I’m not derpy.”

“Yes you are!”

”No. I’m not.”

Her rapid breathing slowing gradually, the catgirl took her hand off her blade and straightened her back.

“Right… yeah. I’m sorry,” she said, as she pressed a hand to her forehead. “There’s no way you of all people would be ex-military.” She took a deep breath before continuing in a murmur. “I don’t think you have the common sense for it.”

The final statement was only meant for herself, but it was heard loud and clear, with retaliation following soon after in the form of a tail-jab to the face.

“Enough about me,” said Claire. “Let’s go. To the job board. So we can find something to do.”