[Luna POV]

Three days since we started on the way to the merfolk and the most exciting thing that happened was a giant squid fought a whale.  And even then, it lost in an instant when the whale used whatever whale noise is called to shred the squid to chum.  After that event, Skadi hurried us away from the area since it would soon be filled with so many monsters and other sea creatures that would turn the area into a literal sea of carnage.  We were now standing on the side of a large ravine that went so deep that all I could see was darkness and the occasional stream of bubbles.

 

“Luna, why are you glaring into the ravine like it stole your money?” (Velvet)

 

“I’m staring back.” (Luna)

 

“What?” (Velvet)

 

“This abyss is staring at me, and I’m staring back.” (Luna)

 

“Skadi, what do we do?  Luna’s finally lost the little sanity she had.” (Velvet)

 

“She’s fine.” (Skadi)

 

“I’m fine.  Anyway, Skadi, what are we just standing around for?” (Luna)

 

“Well, we want to get across here, right?” (Skadi)

 

“Yeah.” (Luna)

 

“Do you want to do it the fun way, or the boring way?” (Skadi)

 

“Do you really need me to answer that?” (Luna)

 

“No.  Anyway, the reason we’re just standing here is so we can cross in the fun way.  It should be any minute now.” (Skadi)

 

Ture to her words, a few minutes later the ground started to rumble and along the sides of the ravine a little ways away sand was becoming clouds on either side.

 

“What is that nya?” (Mio)

 

“It’s a Cancer. It’s a kind of giant crab.  They make ravines like these that draw in fish and other sea creatures that they then periodically comb through to catch and eat.  One of the strangest things though, is that they only comb through their ravines at the same time every day.  No matter what, it’s always perfectly timed.” (Skadi)

 

“That’s interesting.” (Soleil)

 

“Yeah.  Another interesting fact is that they are actually extremely docile.  If you drop something down for one to eat, they will let you ride their back to the other side of their ravines.  Like so.” (Skadi)

 

Skadi pulled a small chunk of meat from her bag and dropped it over the edge just as the Cancer was about to pass us.  It stopped and plucked the meat that was floating down out of the water and inspected it.  It moved up some so its eyes were staring at us.  It moved one of its claws up and snapped it twice before moving back down and snapping two more times.

 

“Come on.” (Skadi)

 

We all climbed onto the Cancer’s back and it let go of the side of the ravine.  It then shot water out of its mouth to propel it to the other side.  The sudden burst of speed knocked all of us but Skadi off out feet and we hurriedly grabbed onto one of the spikes on the Cancer’s shell.

 

“Hahahahahahahaha!” (Skadi)

 

When we stopped again, the Cancer snapped its claw three times and we all climbed off.  Skadi dropped another piece of meat that was quickly caught and the Cancer then started scuttling away.

 

“You could have warned us about that.” (Ophidia)

 

“I could have, but I didn’t.  It’s not like any of you would have been left behind anyway.  And, I would have caught you.” (Skadi)

 

“I enjoyed it.” (Luna)

 

“Same nya.  Though I also kind of want to eat it nya.” (Mio)

 

“I did not.  Its mouth was creepy and its eyes felt like they were staring into my soul.” (Soleil)

 

“Loosed up, Soleil.  It’s better than a spider.” (Velvet)

 

“No.  No, it’s not.  Crabs are just spiders with a shell and pincers.” (Soleil)

 

“There are sea spiders, you know.” (Skadi)

 

“Eh?” (Soleil)

 

“Skadi, please don’t go further than that.” (Velvet)

 

“I won’t.  And don’t worry, Soleil, sea spiders can’t physically live this far up in the sea, they can only survive in the deepest parts of the sea.  Places where there is no light except that which comes from other creatures.” (Skadi)

 

“Big sis, don’t you dare think of going somewhere like that.” (Soleil)

 

“I’m not.  Even I wouldn’t like going somewhere like that.  Do I want to see some creatures with that glow like that, sure, but I’m not going to go out of my way to do that.” (Luna)

 

“Good.” (Soleil)

 

“Anyway, shall we proceed?” (Ophidia)

 

“Yeah.” (Luna)

 

We resumed the journey once more.  We spent a few more days walking when I started to see strange patterns dug into the sand.

 

“Hey Skadi, what’s all this?” (Luna)

 

“Just some things that some fish made.  Nothing really too special in my opinion.  Though with the amount of these around, we’re bound to run into some predators.” (Skadi)

 

{*Yawn*  Oh?  You’re all already underwater?}

 

‘Hey Tamamo, I was wondering why I haven’t heard from you for a while.’

 

{Tonya made me sleep for a bit.  I just woke up a little while ago.}

 

‘Well, did you sleep well?’

 

{Extremely.}

 

‘That’s good.  Sleep, while I’m not really one to talk, is good for your mental health.’

 

{Ignoring advice you yourself should take, what’s been happening the last few days?}

 

I started telling Tamamo about the past bit while we walked when I stopped when I saw a flash of silver and blue pass in front of us.

 

“Nya!?” (Mio)

 

“Ooo.  Spearfish.” (Skadi)

 

I looked in the direction of the thing that flashed and saw a fish that looked kind of like a marlin only way thinner and extremely sharp looking.  It had speared a fish that was buried in the center of one of the patterns.  Once it pulled itself free from the ground again, I saw that the lines all along the side of the spearfish that I thought were just some sort of pattern that fish all have was actually a really long mouth.  It was chomping away at the fish that was speared onto its body in a really disturbing way.

 

“Hey Luna, you wanted to fight some stuff, right?  Well now’s our chance.  Spearfish travel in ginormous schools called a phalanx.  And they don’t care what it is, if they spear it, they will eat it.” (Skadi)

 

“Then we best get ready for a fight.” (Luna)

 

I pulled out my sword while the others got ready to fight as well.  For Soleil, I opened a few domains that floated behind her as she prepared to fire off some stellar magic.  Soon enough, more and more spearfish started to spear the sand patterns and really anything else in the area.  The ones that targeted us were easily taken care of until they started to change tactics.  They started to circle around us like a hurricane of fish and every so often shoot bubble rings at us in an attempt to confuse us while others would break away from the encirclement to try and spear us.

 

“This is annoying.” (Luna)

 

“I agree.  Spearfish, while pretty looking when not eating, are annoying due solely to the fact that they travel in such a large group and the way they attack stuff in this way.” (Skadi)

 

“They’re like gnats.” (Ophidia)

 

“Big sis, you need to work on your stellar magic.  It takes too much mana.” (Soleil)

 

“Well, you are using the bows, and they are the level 10 spell, so of course they take a ton of mana.  If they didn’t, then anyone that reaches level 10 stellar magic would be able to annihilate a place at night.  Sure, people can already so that with other magic, but this one is pretty much a tactical weapon.  You just need line of sight and bam, you can hit a place with it.” (Luna)

 

“I know, but still, can’t you, I don’t know, make it use less mana for others while we’re the only two who can use it?” (Soleil)

 

{That’s not how it works, Soleil.  It’s a one time decision when the magic is created in the way Luna made it.  You should be happy with the fact that you’ve used it as many times as you have back to back.}

 

“I am, but since it’s the only magic I can use right now, I’m kind of useless when my mana runs out.  Daggers aren’t a real good idea here and I’m still worse than a novice with a whip-sword.” (Soleil)

 

“Then I guess it’s time to finish this up.” (Luna)

 

“What are you about to do?” (Velvet)

 

“Use the same magic Soleil has been using.  I mean, seeing it in action makes me want to use it as well.  So, group up people.” (Luna)

 

Everyone backed closer to me all the while fending off the random spearfish attacks that would come in their direction.  I made several more small domains and made them spin in a circle around us.

 

“Time to die, annoying fish.” (Luna)

 

Several beams of silver light shot out of the domains.  Since it was me that cast the spell, the beams that would normally be single shots, kept firing continuously.  The beams practically erased the spearfish that were hit.  Once they noticed that their comrades were beyond dead and that the beams of light were certain death, the remaining spearfish broke formation and swam away in every direction as fast as they could.  I then stopped the spell and closed the domains.

 

“Note to self, make sure that the bow constellation is way less potent and only make one for mortals to use.” (Luna)

 

“Those beams will stop, right?” (Skadi)

 

“Yes, I shot them into another set of domains so that they wouldn’t continue traveling until they hit something.  I made that mistake once when I made a talisman and I didn’t want to make it again.” (Luna)

 

“Did you ever learn where that hit?” (Ophidia)

 

“Nope, and I don’t plan on it.  As far as I’m concerned, it fizzled out before hitting something.  And not, Tamamo, that does not mean you should go and find out.” (Luna)

 

{Alright.}

 

“Nya nya.  Lunya, how many spearfish did you collect in that fishing session nya?” (Mio)

 

“150 to 160, maybe a little more.  Enough that I actually leveled twice.  I’m level 78 now.” (Luna)

 

“Oh wow, that’s way faster than it used to be.  I guess a 2x level demerit is a lot better than you thought?” (Velvet)

 

“Yeah.  If we run into something like this a few more times, I might even get my eighth tail before we meet the merfolk.” (Luna)

 

“That’s good and all nya, but you’re not asking the most important question nya.  Are spearfish tasty nya?” (Mio)

 

We all looked to out resident sea expert.

 

“I wouldn’t say tasty unless you like extremely bitter food.  The bitterness is even worse than herbal medicine.” (Skadi)

 

“We shall feed all of the spearfish to Cerberus nya.” (Mio)

 

{She doesn’t like that idea.}

 

“No, she deserves only the best.” (Luna)

 

“We can give them to my dad then.” (Velvet)

 

“I like that idea.” (Soleil)

 

Skadi, Ophidia, Mio, and I looked at Velvet like she just grew a second head.

 

“Did Velvet just offer a prank idea?” (Luna)

 

“I think she did.” (Mio)

 

Mio was so shocked at this that she even spoke without her normal accent.

 

“Luna, start using healing magic.” (Skadi)

 

“She might have been hit in the head with another fish.” (Ophidia)

 

“You swore to never mention that!” (Velvet)

 

“Oh yeah.” (Ophidia)

 

“And the rest of you, stop acting like I’ve gone crazy!  I’m allowed to suggest pranks as well you know!” (Velvet)

 

“Fufufu.  Are you sure, Velvet?  You’ve already stepped off the path of common sense, if you step onto the path of pranks, you might never be able to step off of it.  Sure, none of us will go to Atmos lengths, but pranks are something that pull you in, just like my tails.” (Luna)

 

“Stop exaggerating, big sis.  Pranks are fun and all, but they aren’t a way of life like you’re making them out to be.” (Soleil)

 

{I think I just heard Atmos faint in shock.}

 

“Fufu.  I know, I just wanted to mess with Velvet a bit since we’re all just having fun right now.” (Luna)

 

“So, are we going to do it or not?” (Velvet)

 

“We’ll go with your idea.  Next time I find time to cook, I’ll make something will  all the spearfish and we can gift it to your father.” (Luna)

 

With Rayon’s fate decided, we chose to stay the night in that same area before moving on again the next morning.

 

Chaos Realm:

Atmos: ...

Fenrir: Hehehehehahahahahahahaahahhahaha!

Order: Pfft.

Hehehe.

Atmos: It's not funny.  That was a genuine insult.

Fenrir: Sorry, but it's really funny.

Order: And what's even better is that she can't prank in retaliation.

Atmos: Oh?  Who said I won't?

Are you sure that's a good idea?

Atmos: When have I cared about that?  I HAVE to prank her now.

Fenrir: Well, have fun in the isolation room afterwards.

Order: Isn't that just her workshop?

Yes, but it still acts as the Atmos Isolation Room nonetheless.

Atmos: Well, I'll be back. *Poof*