"The fight continues, even to this day; from the material realm, to the elemental planes, unto the Aetheric Gates. All creation stands as one... against corruption."

--Popular sermon, Streets of Lenoria. AC 293.

"Please, gods, anything... anyone... If... if you're there. If you're watching. I... I could really use some help right now."

I send my prayer into the ether, not really expecting a response. If anyone cared about this little corner of Arthos, wouldn't they have done something about it?

The portal opening on the ceiling disabuses me of that notion. All I see is a shining metal cylinder that glows red hot in the water. As my weary brain attempts to interpret this new development... the weapon fires.

A golden light blasts into the room.

Divine fire pours into the area with a beam that scours away the corruption. I huddle in on myself, preparing for my own imminent destruction... when I realize that it doesn't hurt. I look down at my claws and golden flames gently caress my shell. The flame flickers in the dark room, almost playful, as it evaporates and cleans my carapace.

The burning power cleans and freshens my body, removing the muck and ichor that coats the surface. I look around in wonder. The flames are burning the core, the corruption, every piece of evil that has saturated this room. It all just dissolves to nothing. While I don't feel anything but a pleasant warmth, the same cannot be said for others. Because the corruption?

The corruption is screaming.

Countless mouths erupt from each burning surface, teeth gnashing in agony as it attempts to fight against the flames. It's efforts are futile as the fires consume it all. Minutes pass, and the rotted flesh completely burns to ash. I look to Todd and Luna and they seem to be okay. Luna has even been completely restored, her body healed and I rush over to check on her condition.

I extend a claw and gently poke her.

"Luna? Hey Luna, are you there?"

She tiredly waves an arm at me. "Heyyyy, whatcha doin'? I'm just taking a nap."

I grab her arms, and start swinging her around, excitement coursing through my shell.

"You're healed! You're back!"

"Waaahhhh!" She yells, as she jolts awake from being crab handled.

"Let me go you weird crab!"

Eventually I calm down and set her down once more. She looks around at the newly pristine core room and says, "Huh... we're at the core? How did we get here? And what happened? My head's a bit fuzzy."

I take the time to explain everything thats happened thus far. She follows along until the end when I explain that I think the gods must have intervened with the portal. She stops me.

"Whoa, Crabby. I'm not sure how I know, but the gods just don't interfere like that."

Todd chimes in, "TODD."

Luna continues, "Yeah, what Todd says. We shouldn't have made it out alive."

As she finishes her words the [system] 'dings.

**You have received a new message! Say "Yes" to accept!**

Sigh, "Yes."

Message: Aethir [System Architect] to Crabby McCrabbington I

Contents:

This is it crab, bone thrown. You don't get any more free hand outs. Your fate is your own to manage. Good Luck.

P.S. - Toriana told me to tell you that she loves you.

P.P.S - Lira told me to remind you that Toriana loves everyone so you're not special.

Cheers

--Aethir, God of Knowledge

I close the window, offering a silent thanks to the Gods. At least now I know they can hear me. For a moment, I pause on the first post script message. She loves me? No, not right now Crabby. You have other things to deal with.

I raise my head from the screen and see Luna and Todd looking at me pensively. I rush to reassure them,

"Everything's fine. Apparently I had a free handout that I just cashed in. No more divine intervention for me."

They both slump, visibly relieved. We look around the room and Luna finally says,

"Well? Ready to get out of here?"

We walk over to the core, and as one, reach out to touch it. A blinding flash of light moves us somewhere else.

As the light fades I see that we're still somewhere in the water. I struggle to get my orientation as I look around, sending mana pings off into the distance. We stand in a small rocky cave, and I can tell it's naturally constructed. It's dark, and the entrance is right in front of us, leading out into blackened water. However, that's not the only thing in front of us. Sitting motionless, hovering in the water is a bubble of air. And inside the bubble is a frog.

It stares at us impassively, no indication or sign of what it's thinking. As I try to determine if it's friend or foe I make the mistake of looking at it's eyes. The eyes that slowly revolve in a twisting vortex. My mind blanks as suddenly all I hear is a distant *whirr*.

Before I become lost in the pounding noise, the frog breaks contact and turns away from us. It says a single word, it's voice neutral and without inflection.

"Come." it says.

We cautiously follow it out of the cave, the frog leading the way to the outside. I find ourselves on a ledge, a thin promenade extending from the side of an underwater mountain. Far, far above I can see a bit of light, but down here the water is black and indiscrutable. It's not completely featureless though. As I stare into the dark sea, occasional pinpricks of light appear in the distance. I strain my eyes, struggling and failing to make out any details. Several minutes pass, and nothing happens. We're just standing on a ledge in the ocean. Finally, I decide to try and engage the frog.

Being polite doesn't hurt right?

"Uhm... Mr. Frog sir. What, what are we doing here? What's going on?"

The frog doesn't move or glance at me, just continues gazing into the distance until finally saying.

"Sit and wait. It's too dangerous to move now."

I look to Todd and Luna. Luna shrugs, clearly unconcerned and Todd just ripples in a motion that seems to be nonchalance.

I take a seat and bring up my system logs. They've been blinking for a while now. I'm immediately innodated with a wall of text.

'ding'

You have defeated [Undead Tiger Shark] - Larry.

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You have defeated [Undead Pufferfish] - Pops.

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You have defeated [Undead Swordfish] - Irene.

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You have defeated [CORRUPTION] - Incarnation.

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You have gained a level!

You are now level 25!

You gain +24 to all stats from the level up.

Congratulations!

You may now advance your class!

Congratulations!

New Title Available.

I can feel a wave of mana flow from the system into my body, bolstering my abilitity as most of my stats nearly double. I remain still, trying to let my mind and body adapt to the changes. I hold off on advancing my class for the moment, I want to be in a safe space before doing something completely new. As I finish, I can see a light gently glowing in the distance.

The light floats in the water and as time passes I can see it grow closer. It's revealed to be a lantern, floating along in a bubble of air. Inside the bubble is a human, dressed in a blue suit, sitting cross legged as he moves through the ocean. He's wearing some kind of dark shaded glasses and his expression appears stern and unwelcoming.

He continues towards us until finally stopping, hovering parallel in front of our ledge. He briefly glances at Todd, Luna and I before turning to the Hypnofrog. The man says,

"Agent Frog, why have you summoned me here? Report."

The frog begins speaking,

"Agent Frog reporting. Dungeon 284C2K, [system] classification Deepwater [Dungeon] suffered an infection by [CORRUPTION]. The urchin and the sea star are sapient dungeon monsters. The crab is an outsider, sapient as well."

The seated man jerks at those last words.

"How did he arrive in the dungeon?"

"Unknown."

"How did he achieve sapience?"

"Unknown."

He briefly looks back at me and stares for a moment before returning to the frog. He says, "Continue."

"The infection progressed, devouring and corrupting all life within. The crab and starfish teamed up to defeat and escape the dungeon. They hoped that escape would heal the starfish's own infection. They eventually teamed up with the urchin and made their way to the core, defeating corrupted sapient dungeon creatures to do so. They then made their way to the core room."

It pauses as if to gather its own thoughts. "From there, my personal sight was obscured, but from their words after the corruption was purged and the [system] restored, it appears as though the crab faced and defeated a [CORRUPTION] incarnation."

The man isn't even hiding his stare this time. His eyes never leaves me as he just floats in the water. His unabashed attention is making me nervous, and I wring my claws a little. The frog continues,

"Then, the dungeon suffered some kind of incident. It purged the entire dungeon of corruption and allowed them to escape."

The man jerked his eyes from me and focused on the frog. "Incident? What kind of incident?"

The frog responds,

"Unknown classification. But from their words and my own observations. I believe it may have been... divine intervention."

As the frog finishes speaking, the man in blue rocks back, visibly stunned. He pulls his gaze from us and looks off into the distance. I can see his brows furrowed in thought as he considers the frogs accounting. Finally, he turns back to the frog.

"Agent Frog. This is an unusual story. There is not a current precedent for how to deal with this. As the Agent on ground, what do you recommend?"

The frog responds,

"Though unusual, I believe all of these incidents appear to be one off events. I don't recommend memory wipes at this time. I recommend usual processing procedures in accordance with personnel acquisition and recruitment from areas surrounding the incursion zone. To include, an immediate draft into territorial forces."

I've been trying to follow along in the rapid fire telling of our tale, but as the final speech leaves the frog I start to object. I lift my claws and say, "Hey! Wait a minute here!"

The man in blue immediately cuts me off. "You... crab, how did you get here?"

I glare at him and decide to respond. "Freak teleport accident."

He continues, "And how did you gain sapience?"

I glare harder. "Freak sapience accident."

My glare is matched by his own as he frowns at me. "And what is your goal here crab?"

The sudden shift in topics puts me off guard. I slowly respond, not sure what exactly is happening, "I... I'm just trying to get home." I add, just for clarification, "I'm from the coasts of Lenoria."

The man in blue's frown slowly changes to one of pity. He looks into the distance once more, then says softly.

"Sorry crab. That's not going to happen. The coasts of Lenoria are fifteen thousand miles that way." He points behind him to the dark sea and the distant flashes of light. He adds, "and you're not getting past that."

His words raise my shackles, and I say, "Get past what? There's only dark water over there. I can't see anything."

Understanding crosses his features and he begins moving his arms in a spell casting motion. He says, "I'm going to cast a vision enhancement skill on you." He finishes his motion and says, [Megalodon's Sight].

A green wave of mana passes from his hands to my eyes and as the light fades, my vision clears. I can see far, far away into the dark. My shell pales and my blood rushes to my extremities as I see what lays before me.

I see War Unending.

A deep trench rends the sea floor in two, miles of canyons leading into the earth. On both sides of the trench, sea animals huddle in bunkers. They're dug in, occasionally conducting sorties to raid and attack. Above them, coordinated platoons of fish swim in synchronization. Periodically, the fish turn as one, firing coordinated spell blasts at the corrupted monsters rising from the abyss.

Miles and miles of dug in positions, fortresses, barricades, earthworks lay on either side, manned by what appears to be millions of creatures. They all defend against the continuous waves of monsters emerging from the trench. I get the sudden sense that they are the first and only line separating Arthos from destruction.

I almost collapse from the sheer scale of the battle being fought. I finally manage to choke out.

"What... what does this mean?"

The man in blue's voice carries a tone of pity as he says.

"What does it mean? Welcome to the war crab..."

"You're in the army now."