Fueled by his anger Almar moved the attack time up several hours. He began ordering his fellow Banner Eels to provide stamina buffs throughout the army. Since the skill drained their own in exchange they hadn’t used it on the way to Castalia but during a battle he’d have them go all out. With their help the hundreds of Sobeks, Leviathans, Various Eels, Rays, Axolotls, and Piranhas all swam together towards the island.

The sun was currently setting on the water’s edge and after 30 minutes of swimming in the open ocean the aquatic strike force found their target. A few larger sea monsters and sharks passed by but none seemed interested in tangling with the entire army by themselves, so they kept good pace. Almar for one was heavily enjoying his time in the open expanse of the ocean. His reservoir was enormous, but the sheer scope of the wide blue ocean was something to behold. The Leviathan Whelps also awakened some new instincts and began swimming in strange pack formations they’d never made before.

About a mile out from the island Almar had everyone slow their approach and rose his massive head above the water. The island was largely flat, something seldom seen for an island in the open sea, with thick vegetation wrapped around the inland. According to the Reaper’s intelligence the island had no living creatures on it besides those of the dungeon. Before the dungeon was discovered it had slowly killed everything nearby except the plant life, leaving the outside strangely desolate yet alive. The target was the entrance to the dungeon itself, a large spring in the center grove with a garden around it. During the day said spring would be drained and adventurers were given free passage but at night the water would return as a natural deterrent. People could still enter but the Osin family considered it trespassing at that point and would charge a hefty fine. With the Sobeks and Axolotls, getting the army into the dungeon would prove an easy task, but lying in the ocean while the enemy came to them would be much easier.

Coiling around to address the army Almar spoke “As discussed we’ll begin operation Starvation tonight. You all know your groups so let’s begin surrounding the island. Report any urgent updates to your designated Phantom Eels and they’ll come get me. We won’t be charging the dungeon until the other falls, but we should encounter heavy resistance. Rays keep an eye on the sky for us. Just knock em down to the water and we’ll do the rest. Good luck everyone.”

---

Almar silently waited in the open ocean east of the island gathering his strength until nightfall when he got the first report of battle. It had come from the north side of the island and two different enemies were being reported. Meaning both aquatic species of the Dungeon of Fairies were attacking at once. Hopefully once he arrived Almar could take out both [Commanders] who were no doubt present.

First were the much more obvious Selkie, which appeared to be 15 foot leopard seals with the ability to take human form and release pheromones to charm nearby enemies. Luckily the Banner Eels had so far proven capable of dispelling the effect and were keeping the dungeon’s forces together. Unluckily the Selkie had a ridiculous amount of ice resistance and the Sobeks were struggling now that they were in a pure contest of strength against the much more agile seals, which danced in circles around them. If not for the Leviathan Whelps and Torpedo Fish assistance the Selkie would dominate the melee fights dotting this stretch of open ocean.

Secondly was the occasional Undine which were much more difficult opponents. Mainly as they possessed no true body. The strange female figures were entirely made of water and seemed to possess water magic rivaling that of the Tidal Axolotls. It was the job of the Phantom Eels who could attack the Undine’s souls directly to take them out while the Axolotls counteracted their spells.

Deciding to bait out the [Commanders] Almar erupted from underneath the ocean surface where the main battle was taking place and made full use of his 30 foot body to decimate the enemies front line. Many of the Selkie managed to dodge out of the way but at only half his size they posed little threat to the prince. Having made his presence well known to the enemy Almar activated [Mako], a high level speed buff, on the entirety of the northern forces and held back. It wouldn’t do to tire himself on such small fry while two quite literal big fish waited elsewhere.

They wouldn’t keep him waiting long, as right after another 50 Selkie fell to his forces, along with 9 Undine, the first [Commander] appeared. If he hadn’t been enhanced by his own buff Almar would likely have been heavily injured by the Selkie [Commander’s] initial attack.

Similar to his own appearance on the field from below, a 25 foot long Selkie torpedoed towards Almar’s underbelly, massive jaws outstretched. It’s skin was the same gray color as the other Selkie but it had 2, large, folded fairy wings on its back along with a very broad whale shaped tail.

Clashing against the beast with his equally enormous body Almar began rolling around the sea creating such intense waves that the water surrounding the titans was emptied of life, allowing them to focus on their opponent. In terms of raw strength the pair were almost equal with Almar buffing himself to a slight advantage, but the seal was far from an unworthy opponent.

Momentarily breaking away from their last head on clash the seal fell back and spread out its massive wingspan underneath the waves. A pure white in color Almar was temporarily stunned by their strange beauty. Despite not belonging anywhere near a seal the wings had been augmented to fit the creature’s body perfectly. Once the wings were spread wide the Selkie let out a roar so loud it created a ring of air and began flapping them wildly.

Twinkling in the darkness of the ocean at sundown the white lights appearing under its wings stole all attention on the battlefield before they began homing in on Almar. In moments they’d gone from a stalemate to Almar rushing his body across the expanse to avoid the several hundred magic arrows glittering towards him.

Thinking fast he activated [Stonefish], a magical defensive buff, and just before the first of the magic lights hit him turned into his human form with [Persona]. Maintaining his strength and swim speed the lights became easier to dodge in a smaller body. However a few still landed now Almar lost around a quarter of his strength from the exchange.

Still recovering from the barrage of magic Almar barely raised his arm in time before the Selkie, now in her own human form, rammed into him with a lance of ice. Despite blocking the tip of the spear with his reinforced skin Almar was sent flying back dozens of feet underwater from the sheer force behind the strike. He made sure to note the technique of gathering speed in a larger body before transforming in case he survived this war.

The Selkie had changed in appearance to that of what the humans often called a “barbarian”. Wrapped head to toe in white furs with white hair and gray eyes the seal turned woman roared after Almar as he recovered from her attack.

Responding in kind to the white haired fairies’ attack Almar took out his own Lightning affinity spear gifted to him by his Boss. He’d needed a weapon for his human form, unlike Mulan and Mary who had them from the beginning and had chosen a spear tipped with a Glimmer Rays Spinal Blade. As the shaft was made of the Electric Stones that lined the ceiling of Burza he could release discharges towards his foes.

Having both shifted forms the Selkie and Almar began exchanging spears directly under the water’s surface occasionally leaping to meet in the air above the waves. These small breaches revealed a second battle occurring in the skies above between some of the airborne fairies of the dungeon and the two ray species. As they were the only monsters capable of fighting the incredibly small Blight Fairies Almar had little choice but to count on them. Just as the rest of the army was counting on him to finish this fight.

Currently rushing towards each other in midair over the turbulent sea of battle the Selkie and Almar were both caught off guard as a new opponent entered the fray. Freezing the water below the dueling titans and standing on the patch of ice was the [Commanding] Undine in all her icy glory.

Unlike her sisters this Undine was completely solid with a thin layer of frost shifting across her outline at all times. This one had obviously evolved from water to ice magic upon being promoted and was powerful enough to freeze parts of the ocean itself solid.

Crashing onto the ice opposite his foes Almar paused to watch the two commanders interact. Unlike how he acted towards Irwin and his sisters Almar saw no words or looks exchange between the enemy. They were acting completely independent of one another and barely seemed to register the others presence.

Pointing his spear out with mock confidence despite his heavy breathing and bloodied chest Almar taunted “Come on now! Even the both of you couldn’t take me on!”

A bestial roar and the uplifting chin of the Undine proved his taunt effective despite the language not being understood and Almar braced himself as the Selkie cracked the ice below before launching kick towards him. Not to be overshadowed the Undine summoned twelve towering arms of ice in the sea around the platform. Shattering the magically reinforced solids would prove difficult even for Almar so he decided to simply engage the Selkie away from the edges. Key word being away. Get caught in one of those hands and he’d be crushed.

Spear long forgotten the berserker seal met Almar’s charge spear shaft with a punch so strong she rose in the air after the impact. Holding his ground Almar took the blow and spun his spear around making use of the added force. Aim true, the Selkie went crashing into one of the ice arms, shattering one of the twelve as it tried to catch her before she retreated back into the sea.

The Undine continued unperturbed by her allies injury and began summoning hundreds of floating icicles behind her. At the cost of no homing these icicles would be much more damaging than the previous light show. Meaning Almar could not afford to tank them.

Focusing the entirety of his power on speed Almar once again cast [Mako] but made no effort to conserve the rest of his stats. In his mind the [Boss] could see several sliders that represented his own physical and mental abilities. Between them he could allocate a certain number of points representing his own strength. By lowering the others he could max out his speed slider and risk it all on dodging.

In response to the change Almar’s body shifted from muscular to lean and the world slowed slightly around him. His punches would hit for nothing and his defense was paper thin but hitting him in his pure evasion form would prove difficult.

Dropping her hand silently the Undine flung the hundreds of icicles towards him in rapid succession. Her mana was likely running on low as she’d already engaged the southern forces on her way to face Almar and spent much of her pool already. He just needed to survive this volley!

Making use of his extreme kinetic vision Almar spotted a path through the icicles and began executing on it.

‘Diagonally to the right is gap in the succession... she fired the 315th icicle at a slower rate when she took in a breath creating a moment I need to stop... by pushing off the 619th and 801st I can get into the air over the remaining barrage...’

In under 4 seconds over a thousand icicles had been launched towards the prince and 4 seconds later he was falling in the sky over the confounded Undine.

Just as he readied his spear to strike the Undine and reset his sliders to put his strength back to normal Almar heard an enraged roar. From underneath the frozen patch of ocean Almar saw a dark shadow moments before the entire platform shattered. Caught up in the wake of sudden destruction the Undine was sent flying into the open jaws of a Shivering Sobek and death rolled until she was reabsorbed back into the Dungeon of Fairies.

From the eruption of ice was the Selkie, back in seal form, massive jaws and neck outstretched towards Almar’s small body still falling through the air. With no way to get out of the way that likely would have been the end of him if not for the Glimmer Rays quick thinking. Over 30 tractor beams coalesced on his location and he felt his body being rapidly pulled towards the clouds above. Thankfully he was accelerated fast enough for the Selkie to miss and fall back towards the ocean but he saw it’s massive shadow turning back for another leap under the choppy waters.

Gripping his spear tightly at his chest Almar yelled to his saviors “PUT IT IN REVERSE!” and turned his body downwards while allocating all his sliders to physical strength. This blow would decide the lengthy battle.

Just as the white and black jaws of the winged giant burst out of the slushy water the Glimmer Rays reversed the pull of the tractor beam and launched Almar at blistering speeds towards the seal. Another subset of the rays fell along with Almar to help him dodge.

“GRUAAAAAHHH!” called the Selkie as she beat her wings to gain more speed midair.

“FOR THE BOSS!” screamed Almar, fueled by his adrenaline.

Just as Almar fell into the closing jaws of the Selkie the Glimmer Rays pulled him out from the side before once again reversing the beam and launching him into the seal’s flank not an ounce of momentum lost from his freefall.

Despite the massive size difference the humanoid Almar managed to bend the massive Selkie into a U shape from the force of his pure attack form and send her flying into the remaining ice hands. Even before the body fell into the ocean the Dungeon of Fairies had begun reabsorbing the beast.

Entering freefall himself Almar put his spear back in his storage and allowed himself to fall into the now calming waters. With the strongest foes defeated Almar could fall back and recover while the remaining forces handled the fleeing fairies. As long as said fairies didn’t try to breach their perimeter none of the “Unnamed Dungeon’s” forces would attack. The main goal of Starvation was to trap the remaining fairy forces on the island. Not only would this deprive them of getting more mana from the outside, and possibly summoning back their [Commanders], but also from providing aid to the Dungeon of Fireworks as Mary’s forces drew closer.

From his link Almar felt an enormous flash of congratulations and worry from his Boss. The core had never wavered that Almar would win but was now worried about the damage and energy Almar had taken. Swapping from two maxed out sliders had indeed taken most of the eels energy but he’d be fine in the morning. After that show of force the leader of the Dungeon of Fairies should be discouraged from attacking again.

---

On a dock in a small port town an old man hours from death hung his legs over the waters he once loved. The town was quiet as the ghosts of the residents who’d gone and died. Leaving his mana drained bones behind. Despite his rather abysmal last days the man couldn’t help but smile as he watched the setting sun fall into the ocean.

Cast across the orbs background was the outline of a small humanoid falling into the sea. Despite the distance the wizened old man could tell whom it was and feel the warmth of the prince’s smile in victory.

“Old Makara’s been taken down for the last time eh? Old Jastog won’t be too happy to hear that.”