Naturally, Rentt and his companions had no way of knowing what was happening far up above the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters. However, the battle was such that... Well, perhaps “battle” was not the correct term. The strength of the freak tidal wave was such that its aftereffects reached Rentt and the others down below, inspiring them to proceed with heightened vigilance.
✦ ✦ ✦
After the scarcely believable accumulation of magic, I immediately noticed a disturbance so heavy that it shook the dungeon itself, all the way down here on the sea floor. I figured something must have happened on the surface—and it seemed Capitan had the same thought.
What it had been, exactly, neither of us could begin to guess. A powerful monster? A natural disaster of some kind? Or something else entirely?
“Either way, the shaking’s stopped now...” Capitan said, exhaling the breath he’d been holding as he watched the rubble around us finally settle. Some parts of the walls nearby seemed to be on their last legs, so they’d fully collapsed during the tremor.
He was right, though—at least the shaking had stopped. Not only that...
“The massive mana signature’s gone too,” I commented. “Any idea what that was about?”
Despite its oppressive, looming presence only moments before, the mana had vanished so completely that I could sense no trace of it left. In fact, the mana balance of the surrounding area felt far more stable than it had been before the strange quake. As a monster, I was sensitive to such things.
Capitan seemed to realize this as well. “Couldn’t say what it was,” he said. “But it doesn’t look like we’re in for any more nasty surprises, at least. I couldn’t tell you how, but it feels something like the calm that settles over a forest after a large monster’s rampage. As if all the tension in the air has dispersed.”
Now that he’d mentioned it, I could kind of get what he was talking about. Of course, that didn’t mean we were safe—some new phenomenon could crop up to threaten us just as suddenly as that mana surge had. Still...
“No sense worrying about it anyway,” Capitan said philosophically. “If something happens, it happens. That’s how these things are.”
He had a point. Anybody who made a living as an adventurer was practically guaranteed to run into at least one unpleasant surprise during their career. Whether they survived it or not was usually down to simple luck. I was a perfect example—and in my case, I doubted that a dash of extra caution would have changed the outcome at all.
“I take it we’re continuing the search, then?” I asked.
Capitan nodded. “Yeah. It should be fine.” He glanced farther down the stone hallway. “Ah, looks like they’re back.”
Four figures appeared in the distance—none other than the rest of our party. While Diego appeared calm, Niedz, Lukas, and Gahedd were clearly uneasy. When they noticed us, they quickened their pace.
“Boss Rentt!” Lukas exclaimed as he rushed over. “What was that, just now?!”
They must have felt the same thing Capitan and I had just a moment ago. “How would I know?” I said. “Looks like it’s settled down, though. We’ll probably be fine.”
My answer had been a purely honest one—from the heart, as it were—but apparently Lukas had taken it as flippant. “B-But how can you be sure?” he said. “We should leave! Leave and, uh, go for drinks! Yeah! I don’t think I’ll be able to calm down otherwise. Wait... Don’t tell me you’re planning on continuing the delve!”
“Lukas,” Diego said, giving the plump adventurer a look that contained not a drop of mercy.
“Yes?”
“Do Rentt or Capitan look like they’re about to call it off for the day? If I had to guess, I’d say their expressions are saying that there’s no point worrying about what we can’t control. Am I wrong, Rentt? Capitan?”
“Huh?! Y-You’re joking...” Lukas turned his head toward us jerkily, like a metal doll that hadn’t been properly greased.
I looked him straight in the eye. “We’re not leaving,” I said clearly. “It’ll take more than that to drive us off.”
If asked what would actually do the trick, well... I figured something in the vein of an encounter with a dragon would qualify—not that that would give us much of a chance of getting out alive, mind you.
Still, maybe I was coming off as reckless. I decided to give a more practical reason. “Mazlak won’t be back with the boat until evening anyway,” I pointed out. “Better to get some searching done, then, rather than waste time doing nothing.”
“I guess you’re right...” Lukas said. “It’s just... What do we do if it happens again?”
“Give it up, Lukas,” Niedz said, smiling. “Might sound hypocritical, coming from me, but by all rights we should be dead anyway, given what we did. What’s it matter where we end up being buried, then, right?”
Lukas chuckled ruefully. “Heh. No good ever comes of being around you, does it? I guess it could be worse, though. Don’t think I ever would’ve set foot into this dungeon without you, for one.”
“There. You get it.”
Fortunately, it seemed the pair had come to terms with their situation without needing me to step in. Lukas looked a great deal calmer too.
Suddenly, I recalled a question I had for Diego. “Come to think of it,” I said, turning to him. “I heard from Capitan that you saw some kind of strange vision.”
“Hmm? Well, yes. But I think it was just my own thoughts playing tricks on me. My family’s got history with this dungeon, you see. As pathetic as it sounds, it seems being here had a bit of an emotional effect on me.”
It sounded like Diego had already reached his own conclusion on what had happened. While I felt somewhat guilty about the idea of dredging it back up, I also couldn’t leave things be. After all, there was a chance we’d see similar visions again.