After blowing away one of the otters with a gust of wind, the other two otters launch themselves at him, one going for his nether regions and the other for his chest. Unable to do much at such a close distance, Alexion reinforced himself further and prepared to receive the two headbutts with his forearms. Striking him, the otters unleashed their blasts, and he was sent flying, his arms and body hurting, but otherwise still in the fight.

  While in flight, Alexion tried to stabilize himself once again by summoning wind, but three blasts of force hit him, slamming him into the ground. The only good thing about the situation was that the blasts had directly impacted the wind, rather than his body. And even though his body hurt even more after creating a small crater on the ground, he forced himself to get up, dodging another three blasts.

  Arctur had been able to kill the uninjured ball of fur with his earth wall maneuver by impaling it with the shards of hardened dirt. Now all that was left were the two injured ones, which shouldn't pose much of an issue. However, they wouldn't go down without a fight, and after breaking down his wall, they landed only to launch themselves at him once again. This time, however, they were too close, and he could not summon another wall, so he maxed out his enhancement and decided to take the hit.

  The two otters smacked right onto his crossed arms, both aiming for his chest. The explosive force sent him flying back a good distance, his arms and chest hurting, the bones having been rattled along with everything else. Getting up from where his body had come to a sliding stop.

  Arctur was not worried about the otters anymore, even as two blasts struck his shield, which he had switched to mid-flight. Looking over at the two otters who were running at him, Arctur gave them a green-tinted smile as he spat some of his blood, then decided to end their fight.

  After Adriana had popped the first otter, the rest had redoubled their efforts to bring her down. As expected, their efforts didn't mean much, and in the end, they were all killed one by one. Out of everything, the only thing that the fight brought to Adriana's mind was whether it was really worth being so playful when the cost was so high. Sure, she had magic to restore her hair, but that still didn't mean she liked it when bits of it were cut off. So, as she watched Alexion’s and Arctur’s fight, she questioned whether she should stop playing with her opponents as much.

  Alexion decided that it was time to end the fight. It may have been a fun fight, especially against so many enemies, and even though they had landed a good amount of hits, it hadn't been a true challenge. Not even half of his mana was gone yet.

  Taking a single step towards the otters who had launched another set of explosive blasts at him, Alexion murmured his technique.

  “Thunder Step.”

  An explosive boom was launched in the direction of the three otters. The sound caused their explosive blasts to detonate midair, and upon reaching the otters themselves, they staggered in confusion. Not far behind the sound blast, which sent sand flying every which way, was Alexion, who had launched himself with great force as part of the same technique.

  A second before arriving at his first confused target, Alexion activated his second technique, which caused his fist and forearm to be encased in lightning currents.

  “Lightning Fist.”

  He came to a stop near his first target, his arm blurring into the otter, causing all the lightning to discharge and killing it in one blow. From there, and with the other two otters just overcoming the confusion caused by his first technique, and not expecting to be surprised by two more attacks, Alexion brought his fight to an end.

  Arctur had finally reached the midway point with his mana after taking a couple of the explosive blasts with his shield. Not like it was going to be a problem, considering the fight was about to end. He had let the fur balls get closer to him; that way, his technique would have more of an effect, and he didn’t spend too much mana increasing its area. However, once they had covered half the distance to him, Arctur gave them another smile before activating his attack, causing his eyes to brighten as he spent mana.

  “Nature’s Crushing Embrace,” Arctur said calmly, and a second later, a small rumble began all around him.

  Arctur didn't have many techniques as he wasn't necessarily the most creative, and his powers didn't give him too much leeway, at least in his current form. However, he didn’t care because the techniques he did have were more than enough to deal with most situations.

  Another second or two after the rumble began, roots, grass, and the dirt underneath the otters exploded upwards. The materials quickly transformed into dozens of rope-like vines of a brownish-green hue as they attempted to grasp and entangle the two otters. Naturally, the two fur balls attempted to dodge the vines and even explode them, but the vines easily regenerated. Finally, the vines grasped onto the two balls of fur, and a few seconds later, blood began running down them as they squeezed the life out of the otters.

  Watching the fight come to an end, Dan was shocked. For some reason, he had thought that the trio had been using techniques from the very beginning, just not having actually said their names or anything. After all, that was a possibility since some individuals could use techniques without saying the words. It would just be much less effective.

  However, as indicated by the fight, the three of them had not been using techniques. And for the most part, they had been using freeform Innate Magic gained from their ancestors. The revelation shook Dan to his core and showed how overpowered the three adventurers were. After all, that had been essentially six versus one odds, yet they had dealt with the situation as if it wasn't a problem, because Dan knew for sure they still held a couple more secrets.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Then there was the truly frightening part: the mermaid had yet to employ a technique. If she were like the two guys, that meant she had been using freeform magic the whole time. Which made Dan question what exactly she was capable of when she did use a technique.

  The situation was depressing because Dan knew they would keep rolling over his dungeon. Dan’s only hope was that they were only doing so well because of the mermaid being so strong in the water; however, based on their souls, Dan wasn’t so sure about that. Still, Dan had to be confident that his dungeon would give them some challenges later on, especially if he had something to say about it.

  Watching the fight come to an end with her two friends using their techniques, Adriana was reminded that techniques were a thing. She had plenty of them, but she never used them outside of when things got serious or if she wanted to end a fight extremely fast. That being said, she did use them occasionally if she wanted to show off. Anyway, as she approached the lakeshore, she met up with her friends.

  “So, did you guys have fun?”

  “Oh yeah. Those otters were a good fight, especially with those powers,” Alexion said, looking around the destroyed beach.

  “For sure, I can’t imagine fighting them underwater, well, unless I am you,” Arctur told her, noticing she was unhurt.

  “Yeah, I don’t recommend fighting that many underwater. They made things rather turbulent. Can you believe they chipped off some of my hair?” Adriana answered, making it sound like the otters had committed a worse crime than attacking her.

  Hearing her, Arctur and Alexion shared a look before doing what friends did.

  “How dare monsters do that!?” Alexion said sarcastically.

  “Yeah, it was almost like they were trying to kill you,” Arctur added mockingly.

  Hearing her two friends, Adriana rolled her eyes at them, which made them laugh.

  “Anyways, look what I got,” Adriana said, throwing Alexion a wooden stick with some fur on one end.

  Catching the stick, Alexion quickly cast an identification spell on it.

  ?? Crystal Notice ??

  Name: Weak Wand of Otter Destruction.

  Item Rarity: Uncommon.

  Item Rank: D.

  Enchantment: Durable. Mana Storage. Mana Absorption. Evocation Attuned.

  Ability: Explosive Missile.

  Description: This wooden wand with a simple fur hilt is capable of unleashing a few blasts similar to those used by the explosive otters. Though somewhat powerful, the wand takes an incredibly long time to recharge.

  Instructions: Activate the magic with your Will.

  ??

  “Well, that’s nice,” he said, sharing the information with the other two.

  “I guess, it just doesn’t have much use for us, though. By the way, should we finish up this quest?” Arctur said, looking back at the few remaining shells on the beach.

  Alexion and Arctur picked up the shells, and it wasn't long before they were all swimming back to the village, the shells floating alongside them thanks to Adri. Arriving at the village without any other fights, they quickly approached the farm.

  At the farm, the frog lady, upon seeing only a handful of shells, was elated, which confused the party.

  “I thought you would be distraught. There are barely any of them left,” Arctur told the frog woman, gaining a reprimanding look from Alexion and a slight slap on his shoulder from Adriana.

  “Why would I be? You brought back some of the shells, and a few of them are mother shells, so it won’t be long before we are back at full production! Also, I am assuming the culprits have been punished?” The frogkin said as she inspected the shells.

  “Yes, they have been, they were something called Boom Otters,” Alexion answered.

  “Hmm, that makes sense, they are the usual suspects, but they usually only take a few shells,” The farmer added, rubbing her froggy chin.

  “How big are their packs normally?” Adriana asked, curious to see if 20 otters was the normal number.

  “From the little I know, they only roam in packs of three or four, sometimes a few more or less. Why? How many did you encounter?”

  “We fought 20 of them,” Arctur said without thinking, not even trying to show off. His answer, however, made the frog gasp.

  “What!? I am so sorry! If I had known there were so many, I would have never sent you! Oh my frog, you could have gotten killed!” The farmer told them in a panic.

  “It's alright, they weren’t a problem, we are just glad we could help you,” Alexion told the frog woman, trying to calm her.

  “Are you sure?” She asked, genuinely worried, but calmed after she saw them nod.

  “I see, well, this demands a higher reward for a job well done,” She added, carefully inspecting the small shells growing from one of the bigger ones that the trio had placed on the ground. Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for and handed Adriana a small shell, a screen popping up to show her the quest reward.

  ?? Crystal Notice ??

  Name: Young Mother Shell.

  Item Rarity: Uncommon.

  Item Rank: Common.

  Effects: Grows Small Shells.

  Description: A mother shell, which, when fully grown, can create small shells that can then themselves grow. Though it may not seem like much, a Young Mother Shell is a sure way to begin your own shell farm.

  Instructions: Leave it underwater and let it grow.

  ??

  Seeing what the item was, the trio quickly tried to deny the reward, considering the farmer would have a better use for it. However, the frog lady denied them, saying it was only appropriate, so the party ended up taking the shell. Then, with the quest officially done and being thanked once more by the farmer, the party swam off, an important question plaguing their minds.

  “Guys, do you think the dungeon is mad at us?” Adriana finally said what they were all thinking.

  “Maybe, I don’t see how that’s possible or what we even did to make it mad,” Alexion answered calmly.

  “I mean, it seems like it, since we fought 20 otters instead of four or five. Still, is that really a problem? I mean, as long as it doesn’t go too far, it's just more of a challenge,” their green friend added, making the other two think about his words.

  “I guess I can see how that would be good, but what if it eventually throws something we can’t handle?” Adri answered.

  “That is a good point; however, I think we are jumping to conclusions. I know that this quest was an oddity, but what if that is normal? What if that was the dungeon's way to keep adventurers on their toes?” Alexion explained his thoughts after thinking about it and unknowingly giving Dan a new idea.

  “Yeah, that’s fair, after all, we have only been here for less than a week, so maybe that is the standard,” Arctur agreed after hearing his friend's words.

  “Okay, but what now? Are we still going to the town?” Adri asked, letting the previous subject rest.

  “Yeah, let's do that,” Alexion said, and they went to the nearest frog person to ask for directions.