Aby was trying to puzzle together what exactly was going on. It could tell the waters were rather turbulent, and there was quite a bit of presumed noise finding its way into the core’s halls, and it even had quite a bit of blood seeping during a few points, but it had no indication as to why all this was. There was no information as to what this blood came from, and it didn’t apparently constitute a large enough portion of whatever creature it was coming from to unlock a template.

And so it was in the dark, so to speak. As the numbers of interlopers within its halls wasn’t replenishing, it could dedicate more to killing those who remained, and over time more and more were forced to either leave through their infuriating artifacts, or perish, as it felt secure enough to send its hunting parties after the more isolated, and on those in a better position to defend, it tested the efficacy of its more porcine fish.

No one could say Aby didn’t work fast, and with the fact that very few remained in its halls after whatever had scared them out, the final group had fallen; the ruined remains of platemail disappearing into the mouth of the very greater tiger shark which shredded them. The bodies of the group dissolved into light, and their Carmine induced feeding frenzy had finally been ended by predators much more experienced at that very task.

Just when it thought itself free of its shackles for the day, Aby was greeted by yet another pang of invasion, a feeling that jarred it from its review. The core let loose a conceptual grumble, turning its attention to the newcomers. Eighteen faces it had never seen swam forward in a crude formation, ogling the cores admittedly praiseworthy interior.

Any endearment the core may have had for them, however little it may have been, due to that was lost, however, when they began ripping up its beauty. Upset at their lack of anything to show for that, one of them made the stunning decision to attack another member in a blind rage, screaming vague accusations and threats. Aby was even more confused than usual about this sapient’s behavior. It hadn’t made any sense to do so, and it almost seemed that he simply wanted an excuse to attack the girl, but Aby couldn’t tell why. She had simply said something to him with a smile, and a few more members laughed.

It had seen groups turn on each other, and quite liked when this happened, but never so soon nor so easily. In fact, Aby was almost considering whether or not it even wanted what knowledge they could give to it in light of one of the past groups lending some rather questionable information themselves.

It pushed away that bit of memory, and debating whether or not it even wanted to allow its seagulls and crabs to remain alive after knowing exactly what could be done with their materials, and a rather dubiously willing volunteer. Thankfully, Aby found that at least some of these interlopers were more intelligent than that one, the irate member of the big group was pulled away from his compatriot before they continued deeper, taking time to overturn segments of the halls violently and scramble for any of the crystals they found which hadn’t been taken. Aby hadn’t yet gotten around to replenishing after the many groups had invaded, and it was truly sparse on the first four floors.

They continued valiantly, loudly, and bluntly, using sheer numbers to repel much of what Aby sent, and the core didn’t have the confidence in even all seven of its kobolds being able to hold their own with such a numerical disadvantage. It was forced to let the riotous bunch barrel forward, somehow seeming to take far too long even at their brisk pace.

Finally, they arrived at the first of Aby’s stopgaps, descending into the darkness with thirteen. Of the five who weren’t a part of the group, two decided not to continue forward and left the halls after reaching the end of the first floor, and three wound up becoming very familiar with Aby’s resident loud shrimp, including the angry man. He was as lacking in information as the core had assumed previously, but thankfully came without anything the core deemed too frivolous, beyond his unusual spending habits.

Still, this was the largest ever unified invasion into its halls, and it wanted to be very certain it wouldn’t come out worse for wear. It ordered the stars to be on the defensive, and had Carmine at the ready should it need assistance. Oddly, being on the defensive for the stars meant to gather into a unified mass; though a proper description for how exactly they did so evaded the core.

What remained was once more a writhing ball of tentacles, squirming from gaps within the burly arms of the sunflower. After adjusting itself thoroughly, the brittle star stretched, then began pulling itself in much the same way it usually did, beyond the many additional limbs which it controlled by means even Aby was unable to learn.

~~~~~

Jrake was a proud man, a natural born mage of steam, he’d formed his own mercenary group at age sixteen with a few of his friends he’d known from the academy his parents sent him to. While they weren’t accomplished yet, they’d known from the very beginning that it was only a matter of time before they made something of themselves. They’d fought their way up the ranks after being certified, and wound up a B rank group after just a few years.

He’d been beginning to feel that was all there was for him, every increase in strength for him and his team took longer to find and was getting harder to reach, and then word reached him way off in the Hynix Barrier Reef that there was a miraculous place here, a dungeon overflowing with wealth and riches, that any who could brave it would walk out with sacks of elemental crystals. After asking around, he’d found it was indeed true, that the Hynix Grand housed the road to his rise. He’d rallied his group, gunning for fame and riches as is the goal of all mercs his age. He scoffed at the A rank given to it by the Guilds, they were a bunch of money hungry old men desperate to relive their glory days ordering around a bunch of two-faced sycophants anyways, and he’d never regret not joining the atlantians and receiving their “protection”.

After a few days journey, happy to have found an easy paying job protecting a caravan headed the same way. It was an easy job, and an even easier paycheck, and it appeared there were many with the same idea of getting a rather lucrative break. And there he was, waiting in line for his turn, patiently as could be, when a pod of marauding orcas attacked.

After a brief moment of confusion and a long moment of slaughtering them, he yet again came face-to-face with his weakness. It took all four of them to even wound one of them, and they weren’t able to do much beyond that before one of the atlantians came and finished it off. They feigned appreciation, before realizing that in the chaos, the hole was left unguarded. A silent agreement with a few more like them was reached, and they ran to the entrance, and one of the other groups was too excited to hold back from shouting and screaming at those who’d scorned them.

They eagerly awaited coming back, armfuls of riches, and turning away the Guilds’ grubby hands with an upturned nose, living the rest of their days in wealth and glory while they gloat over the slaves of the Guilds. Then they made it inside, and their hopes were fixing to be dashed, the dungeon was barren. They knew there was something in there, they’d seen the odd person come out with truly stupendous amounts of glimmering gems on display, and those who were more reasonable, hiding their spoils. They couldn’t hide their stuffed sacks and bulging pockets, though, and Jrake was anticipating having that problem himself.

Then the dungeon changed, he’d heard of the fifth floor being a floor of darkness and mazes, with an unusual star acting the guardian, but this was more than he’d been expecting. Pitch black and oppressive in feeling, he almost began rethinking, but doubled down, intent on riches. That redoubled focus crumbled shortly after, though, when he watched a thing round the corner, moving in the strangest manner he’d ever seen. It pulled itself forward, as though its weight was a too big a burden to swim, or even walk, and when it came closer into the light casted by many of the groups’ undine lights, they saw that the entirety of its body was moving. Tendrils coiled and moved, hairs fluttered in the water, the entire thing pulsed in a sickening manner. His training was not for naught, though, and he made to boil the creature alive, whilst the others with him began their own strikes.

It all seemed to simply sink into the flesh of the thing, though, and even being surrounded in superheated water merely agitated it for all the good it did. It scampered forward, raising limbs he hadn’t even seen, and lashing out. They saw little more than a blur in the dim light, and even that light wasn’t long for the world. The creature seemed offended by the mere suggestion of visibility in its domain, and all five of the lights they carried were the first to be struck down. The spirits contained were dispersed, and a few of the rag-tag band of invaders were directly injured by the sheer force it struck out with, wrists limp or elbows bent at unnatural angles.

His group was apparently better trained than some, and while a few of the others scattered in all directions, the four of them very quickly left, gunning for the direction they came from. They may have been more than a little eager to taste the wealth and riches they knew were here, but they couldn’t well do so if they lost their lives to a threat they weren’t aware even existed. The information he’d gotten about the dungeon along the way was apparently outdated or outright wrong, and he’d realized now how hot-headed he’d been.

Jrake was a proud man, but nothing about that meant he couldn’t learn. He and his group sped back towards the entrance, scrounging up what few crystals they could find. Even with the prices for them being liable to decrease immensely, they could likely find quite the price for them nonetheless. Already considering who among his contacts he could sell these to, preferably those still untouched by the influx of the markets but still wealthy enough to offer a decent price.

Afterwards, he’d go on to find better information about the dungeon and come back, finally making his fortune. He’d gone on planning, emerging from the hole, only to find a few more sharpened harpoons pointed in his direction than he’d like to have seen.

“Why don’t you come with us?” came the calm voice of the guard captain, his smug grin told Jrake more than enough about the man. Unfortunately, he was right to be smug, and despite how much he loathed it, Jrake was in no position to fight or flee. He could only begrudgingly go along with those orders, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he could talk to someone competent.