The rest of the journey came and went with little fanfare. Frank made uncharacteristically cute squeaking noises while he slept. Emil inventoried their loot, and Ozzy spent his down time wondering what he’d done to get dropped into magical purgatory.

  They’d also taken a little bit of time to talk about the surrounding area. For the most part it was just a huge swamp with monsters, at least that was what Emil made it sounds like. He also told him a bit about the wagon and what they were doing.

  Apparently they were out fishing for a place called Myreluck, Ozzy remembered Emil mentioning the place earlier though he still didn’t spend a lot of time talking about it. What he did say was that the city had a hard time growing and rearing its own food so fishing actually made decent money if you had a big operation like they were currently apart of.

  Hunters were the next thing he discussed, Emil himself was a member of the hunters guild and so he was more than knowledgeable on the subject. The guild was essentially a group of mercenary bands that had decided to unionize for better pay and more survivable jobs. Emil had told Colbert that Ozzy was a member alongside him, essentially guaranteeing him free passage so long as he helped out here and there with guard duty.

  They were pulled out of their conversation as a familiar head popped around the corner of their little room, startling Frank awake and surprising Ozzy and Emil.

  “Hey Emil, we got a problem up ahead. Big ol’ Root Sucker. Don’t know if he’s seen us but Norman said they can move pretty quick” He ducked out without waiting for a response but was back a moment later, adding in a final thought as he glanced over at Ozzy. “Might wanna bring help, it’s pretty big.”

  Emil just harrumphed as he got up. He seemed less than pleased to be leaving the comfortable safety of the wagon though he was professional enough not voice his dissatisfaction.

  “Well, showtime then, you up for some guard duty stranger?” Emil’s voice came across as bored, though there was an underlying tone of stress in his voice that Ozzy hadn’t heard before.

  Without really even thinking about it Ozzy nodded his agreement. He wasn’t aware of the risk involved in dealing with a Root Sucker, but he wasn’t about to leave the guy sticking his neck out for him hanging. This was one of those ride or die situations, because aside from Frank, Emil was the only one in Ozzy’s car. So he followed him out, anxiously aware of the fact he was potentially about to fight a monster.

  Walking out of the covered storage area they’d been sitting in they made their way up to the second floor and onto an observation dock. There was fishing gear strewn about with little care as to the placement of everything, like everyone had left in a hurry. When he caught a glimpse of movement off to the left side of wagon he could understand why.

  Several hundred feet from the boat was a monster that would’ve made Lovecraft proud. It stood taller out of the water than the wagon by a good couple feet the water slapping against its gorged belly. There was a good chance it could be nearly twice as tall as the wagon were it standing on dry ground.

  It had long tentacles that began in clusters of 5 which drooped down into the water, each moving on its own and exploring the murk. Upon catching an unlucky fish or mud crab they would drag their prey up to what was arguably the strangest thing about the monster. A giant catfish like head erupted from the monsters torso, even from where they floated several hundred meters away they could hear it grunting as it gulped down food and air in equal quantities, letting out tremendous burps every other bite or so.

  “That’s one ugly fish.” Ozzy commented, wrinkling his nose at the scent that began to waft their way.

  “It’s actually closer to an octopus. You can’t really tell with its’ prettier half beneath the water but it’s mostly just tentacle and beak under there.” Emil corrected.

  “Huh… so it has two mouths?” Ozzy looked over at Emil curiously.

  “From what I hear. I’ve heard stories about em’ using their beaks to tear through the hulls of bigger ships if the waters deep enough. Then they follow the water inside the hull and eat whoever’s dumb enough to stick around.”

  “Well, then I’m glad we’re in shallow waters-”

  “We’re not.” Emil deadpanned, oblivious to Ozzy’s exasperation. “Probably need to kill it before it goes back under.”

  Ozzy shrugged, “If we shoot it won’t it just dip back under to get away from us?”

  “Yeah, we’re gonna need to get close enough that it fights back after we surprise it. Or it might try and follow us till we’re back over the murk.”

  Ozzy facepalmed. “There’s so much there I have questions about. First off is the plan seriously to get so close it thinks it has a shot to kill us before we kill it?Doesn’t that mean it legitimately thinks it has a chance of killing us which means it probably does? Second off what’s the murk? Third, why is the best time for it to attack us over the murk?” Ozzy semi ranted.

  “Absolutely, and don’t worry about the murk. You’ll figure it out once we get there.” Emil said, nonplast and already moving to untie a small dingy that hung tied to the platform. The dingy was rigged to the platform through a series of knots and pulleys and Emil got busy stepping into the dingy and untying several knots.

  “You coming?” Emil raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “He better!” Ozzy heard the annoying and nasally voice of Colber. “I don’t tolerate freeloaders on my wagons!” He harrumphed.

  “Leave him be Colber, he’s helped plenty and he’s already halfway in the dinghy.” The first mate Norman said.

  Aside from when Emil had told Ozzy about Norman’s uncanny ability to talk to fish they’d only spoken about the first mate one other time. Emil’d told Ozzy a little about the fisherman and they apparently had a bit of a history. Norman was a failed hunter who’d initially tried getting out of the fishing industry. Without the requisite combat powers and no real chance at getting more however the guild had turned him away. Under the jokes and creepy power there was genuine respect between Emil and Norman, even if the fisherman wasn’t a guild member.

  Trepidatiously, Ozzy stepped down into the dingy. He was very aware that a single blow from the monster would probably have them swimming back to their floating wagon. It was a thought he wasn’t happy entertaining, and as he glanced between the Root Sucker and water he could only imagine what other creatures called the murk home.

  Even worse however, Emil seemed perfectly fine going out after the monster like it was just any other day. Yet Ozzy could perfectly recall him lying in a pool of his own blood after not having been able to deal with the Murk Rats. Comparatively the Root Sucker seemed on another level entirely, and as Emil lowered them down into the water he couldn’t help but voice his concerns.

  “I don’t want to sound like a prick here man, but are we really gonna be able to do anything against that? When I found you guys earlier those rats had you pinned, this guys seems way more dangerous.”

  Emil continued to lower them until the dingy slapped wetly against the water and he released the ropes. “It’s a tier one monster, I’ve killed plenty of em over the years. It was my first time tangling with a Murk Rat matriarch, it’s a hell of a bad match up too. Too many of em and the bastards are too clever for their own good. Nah, the root sucker will be a piece of cake, just trust me. My cores were made to handle these things.” Emil spoke much more confidently than Ozzy felt was warranted with him almost having died that morning though he didn’t really have the ground from which to judge, or dingy space for that matter.

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  Shrugging again Ozzy decided to trust his new friend. “If I have to swim back I’ll drown you. What’s the plan?”

  Emil took a long and meandering path around the swamp outlining what they would do once in range. The loop they took was long enough that by the time they’d hit the halfway point they’d already discussed everything in detail. As they got closer, they did their best to move from cover to cover as quickly as possible, Emil had explained to him that root suckers were just as deaf and almost as stupid as a normal catfish out of water. Knowing this didn’t stop Ozzy from wincing at every splash they made and as they approached the monster from behind he found it miraculous they’d not been noticed.

  With only a dozen or so meters in between the dinghy and the root sucker the monsters presence became increasingly stifling. It grunted and wheezed loudly with every gasp, only pausing to crunch and slurp loudly on whatever it had found to shove into its gaping maw. Its tentacles splashed around wherever it hunted and they would whip out out of the murk whenever they’d caught something before slapping back down after depositing their catches in its wide maw. It was a miracle it could catch anything at all, loud as it was.

  As the dinghy slowed to a stop Emil spoke a simple, silent, phrase of power, “Fury on the ramparts.”

  Ozzy had been waiting for the signal to begin and when it spread out across the dinghy and water he had to force himself to ignore it as he summoned his revolver. The front of the dingy became a castle rampart. Magical lines traced across the air and formed the shapes and shades of bricks in an intricate weave of power. Within a moment, it looked like the front of their little vessel had been taken off of some great fortresses bulwark. It had been entirely silent, yet Ozzy felt power well up from the formation, empowering, and strengthening him.

  The first shot cracked out from the dinghy like a peal of thunder. True to his aim the bullet passed cleanly through the back of the monsters head and out through its left eye, taking a chunk of bone and brain matter with it. In stark contrast with what Ozzy thought possible however the monster turned around towards the dinghy, blood spraying out in an arc from what had been the root suckers eye as it whipped around.

  “Mother of monsters…” Emil said under his breath as he stood in shock.

  Now that he had a better look at the monster Ozzy could see not only the clustered tentacle appendages Emil had mentioned before but thick and nasty looking barbs that he hadn’t. The flailing limbs looked powerful enough to tear a tree apart longways and those barbs would probably shred anything made of flesh in a heartbeat of it needed to.

  “Keep shooting! It’s evolved!” Emil roared, as with another powerful surge of mana he cast a second spell. “War Shell.”

  Five subsequent shots exploded out from the dinghy as Ozzy shot while red prismatic shapes formed a spiked dome over them. At their current distance and with the root suckers sheer size it was impossible to miss, even as fired as quickly as he could cock the hammer. Each shot staggered the monster, but it never stopped its steady advance, barely stopping as Ozzy punched holes through it.

  “What do you mean it’s evolved?!?!” Ozzy shouted as he slapped a fresh set of rounds into the pistol.

  Emil was hunched over, hands on his knees as he regained his breath. It looked like he’d put just about everything he had into the spells, banking on Ozzy’s ranged options to buy them enough time for him to catch his breath. Still waiting for a response to his question and still spending all of the energy it took shooting and reloading the magical firearm he realized Emil might have slightly undersold the danger this root sucker posed.

  “It’s not just tier one, it’s almost tier two.” Emil gasped on the floor.

  “English Emil! Tell me in English!!” Ozzy yelled at him as the root sucker got freakishly close.

  The first tentacle smashed into the barrier like a falling tree, the dingy shaking as the water beneath them stirred from the force of the blow. Rather than bounce off unharmed however the tentacle was caught by the glowing pyramids which rent jagged wounds into the tentacle, tearing it in half long ways as the root sucker tried to rip it free. It was a gruesome sight, and gore poured down the sides of the barrier like discolored chunky rain. It was not the only one either, the root sucker was beating down on the shield and paying for it in blood. They could hardly see through what had been a largely transparent barrier as flesh and blood poured down the dome like water down a stream.

  “It means it’s gonna kill us!”

  Still shooting into where he hoped the root sucker was Ozzy knew he needed to step it up. Between the meaty thwaps and thunks of mutilated tentacles slapping against the barrier there were distinct and worryingly more frequent cracking noises. He was no practiced monster hunter, and had little to no knowledge of the magical world, and even he knew that was a bad sign when you were using a clear magical dome for cover. So in the interest of not being pummeled and drowned he tried something he’d only ever attempted once before. Dropping the revolver to waist level he pulled his stabilizing hand back and over the hammer as he squeezed the trigger and started to rapidly slap the hammer back with his free hand.

  Fanning the hammer he rapid fired six shots out into the torso of the monster. One lightning fast reload later and he did it all over again placing shots into the exact same region of the monsters chest. He went to reload a third time when he began to feel lightheaded, he still put more rounds on target though he wasn’t quite as confident in his accuracy. Instinctively he knew he wouldn’t be able to summon more rounds to reload his pistol.

  Finally, the monster was beginning to slow. Its’ blows coming slower and slower till they all about stopped.

  Ozzy pumped a tired fist in the air, “We did it! Haha, and you thought it was gonna kill us!” and reached over to clap Emil on the shoulder.

  Emil didn’t join in his cheering, he was too busy trying to see out through the gore coated barrier. It was already beginning to dim and flicker so with a hand he dismissed it, dropping gore in a shower over them and the dinghy. Neither of them went unscathed with the dinghy catching more than a fair share of chunks.

  “Agh! It got in my eyes!” Ozzy cried, desperately scrubbing at his face.

  Around them the water began to churn, frothing and bubbling and Emil threw Ozzy down onto the boat, diving beside him. Barely a heartbeat later a fresh tentacle, devoid of any damage whooshed through the air where they’d been standing.

  “It’s turning!” Emil roared, getting back to his feet right in time to witness a kraken like beak rise out of the murk and take a chunk out of the magical castle wall like formation in front of the dinghy.

  Cursing at himself Emil ripped two vials from his belt, tossing one at Ozzy and popping the cork on his own. “Drink that, it’s mana!” He yelled at Ozzy and raised an open hand at the beak that was steadily chewing its way through the barrier.

  The beak sat in the center of a writhing mass of tentacles like a terrible eldritch bullseye. Each of the tentacles had those signature barbs though these were much shorter than the ones that had been clustered above the water. They were also less muscular though Ozzy held no reservations as to whether or not they were strong enough to tear them both apart.

  Raising his hand at the center of root suckers underside Ozzy watched as Emil formed a ball of pure energy. It was like watching someone harness the sun and Emil braced himself as the ball of energy began to crackle and throw arcs before with a vwoom Emil threw it at the monsters clacking beak.

  As the ball of electricity reached the root sucker it began to unravel. Arcs of electricity stretched between the monster and the ball with loud zapping noises, singing and stinging the monsters flesh wherever they landed. Once it entered the beak it erupted, it hit the back of the monsters mouth and lit up the inside of the root suckers mouth like a floodlight, nearly blinding Ozzy who winced as the singing rays of light caught him in the face.

  The creature spasmed, ripping itself off of the magical wall and bashing itself back into it. It’s spasms only lasted a few seconds but it was time enough for both of the would be monster hunters to down their mana potions. They were tangy and electric in flavor and the rush of energy drowned out any aftertaste, flooding their insides with an excess of power that felt almost explosive. It was a tier one potion, and neither of them had passed through that threshold yet, leaving a world of extra power with nowhere to stay.

  Ozzy began unloading into the monster, fanning the hammer of his revolver and loading as quickly as he could. While Emil raised both hands and uttered an incantation that was lost to the chaos of the fight, fire surged from his palms hitting the creature and erupting into clouds of foul smelling gas. The root sucker roared underneath the water, loud enough that they not only heard it but felt it through the bottom of the boat.

  On its last legs, torn, bloody, and peppered full of holes the root sucker made a final break for victory. It made a heavy horizontal swipe low across the surface of the water, aiming directly for their dinghy, aiming to put them in the water where it could rip them to pieces. Quick on the uptake Emil cast a second wall and ducked, the heavy barbed tentacle slammed into the wall and bounced, maintaining only a modicum of its momentum and sailing just over Emil’s head, and right into Ozzy.