Continuing from part 1...

At first, he thought everything was done with, but with the appearance of what looked like the captain, everything changed. Yuurei covered his ears with the gunshot as it was too loud, and it bothered him a bit. He could see the blue orb, but the reasoning of showing it off meant something and he knew as much. The half-elf needed to make sure that he got it out of the man’s hands. His hands opened up once again as the stars had come out of the magical circles floating in the air and entered his body. His guild master had lunged at the man with such speed, and he would follow behind her with less speed than she had pulled. He was surprised the man was able to nearly dodge the attack, but with him gripping his chest, he hoped that he could get the orb.

Yuurei’s hand stretched out as he did his best to get to it, but the captain had seen this coming and tossed it overboard before he could get to it. The light mage would roll on the floor as he stopped his momentum and look over to the orb disappear from his sight. What’s going to happen now? He thought to himself as he prepared himself. It wouldn’t take long, but the ship would start to make noise and it would soon start rattling back and forth. Renji would hold onto Yuurei as he felt something bad was coming.

“Well, it was nice knowing you Yuu. I think we are in for trouble I can’t help with.” The Exceed told him.

Yuurei would keep his balance as he wasn’t trying to fall, but soon enough a huge tentacle would appear in the sky from the water. His eyes widen as he saw the monstrosity in his view, and then what was coming next. The tentacle made its move as it was falling straight down onto the ship itself, which brought Yuurei to think a lot. If that hit the deck, then the ship might be destroyed completely. If they fell into the water, whatever owned that tentacle would get them for sure.

The half-elf had to try something and try he did. He started running towards the tentacle and he would leap into it as he would pull his arm back and punch it with everything that he had. After that, he would stretch his hand out in front of him and he would find himself creating a magical circle and shooting a beam of light straight at the tentacle. He wasn't sure what it would do, but he had to try.

445
69/1120 Mana used

Spoiler:

The gunshot caught Brone's attention, his hands tightened around the handle of his battleaxe as he faced the captain who walked upon deck. The dwarf eyed the firearm, keeping on his toes, knowing what the weapon was; he has heard of such weapons that use special powder and flint in order to simulate Iron Fire, such weapons are usually extremely dangerous.

For the moment, Brone remained quiet, trying to think of a way to attack the pirate captain before he can fire the flintlock at him, but before he could even begin to formulate a plan, the dark haired maiden had made her move and within a blink of an eye, she closed the gap and struck at the enemy, though the captain had managed to dodge the majority of the attack.

"Chance!" Brone saw his moment to strike at the pirate before the man had time to gather himself, but as he had taken a single step, the boat shook and the wood began to creak loudly, though no wave had struck the boat. The dwarf halted for the moment as did everyone else to try and recognize what was happening. Then suddenly a giant tentacle burst from the water, towering over them all, trying to reach the heavens, "What the-!?" Brone cried out.

He wasn't sure what happened or what he was looking at, but seeing Yuurei run forward to strike at the thing, Brone reacted by following his lead. Whatever this monster was, the dwarf knew this was the immediate threat and lost sight of the pirate captain. "On your right, Yuurei!" Brone called to his friend as he was following him on his right side. His battleaxe was gripped solely in his left hand while with his right, he drew his second battleaxe, "Yer not getting first blood!" Brone yelled as he rushed towards the tentacle's base while the top of the thing was trying to drop down upon the deck. Yuurei struck the tentacle, then with a light blast, something the dwarf had never seen before, either way, it didn't slow him down, as he got closer, the shadow of the tentacle stretched across the deck, darkening as it came closer. Once the gap was closed, Brone yelled at the top of his lungs as he swung both his axes at the base of the tentacle, at the same spot where Yuurei's beam of light hit.

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The sound of gunfire resonated throughout the air causing the wind mage to shudder and wince at the ringing in her ears. Her lilac eyes glistened as they turned to lock onto the strange blue orb of shimmering magical energy. What was that? A shiver ran down the wind mage's spine, it couldn't be anything good seeing as it was held within the clutches of a man who had nefarious intentions. Her eyes pulled away from the light, to the weapon he held in his other hand, a gun pointed in the air, still smoking from having fired mere seconds ago.

Kailani shifted, unsure how to react, her abilities rather limited, however, the newest addition to their little party was already on the move, slicing the pirate and leaving him a crumpled bleeding mess with ease with a precise strike that left him alive but unable to retaliate as the orb was tossed overboard and into the depths of the ocean below. A sigh of relief came to the lavender-haired mage all too soon, as the whole ship lurched and rocked as something beneath them knocked into the ship on which they stood.

Her eyes widened as they spied the shape of a gigantic tentacle worming its way out of the sea below, gripping onto the ship as it twisted and twirled around, crushing the wooden railings as easily as one might snap a twig. Glancing behind her, another tentacle, raising itself high in the sky before coming crashing down towards the deck, a loud reverberating crack, not enough to break the ship just yet, but she doubted the vessel could take many more before it would completely give out.

Kailani's eyes moved towards her beloved exceed at her feet who had a look of sheer panic on his face. Out of instinct, she moved to kneel and cradle him in her arms as she tried to see how the others were planning to respond. Fight or flight, they'd all have to work together either way to survive this encounter. Panic set in as she saw Yuurei already preparing to fight his way out, the idiot always acting before thinking things through. Inhaling a deep breath, she'd try to settle her nerves to no avail her whole body now trembling. Before she could even build up her resolve, Brone was there beside him, fighting as well, it seemed the two had made the choice for the lot of them then. The creature had to die.

Summoning forth the magical energy reserved in her body she'd click as she had done previously, twice with one hand and once with the other as she summoned forth two magic circles, this time both on her best friend. Cursing that she didn't have a better way to protect him in a time like this. If even one of those tentacles managed to strike him down, she feared she would lose him forever. With this much speed, she prayed he would at least be able to avoid most threats.

Spells Used:

Yuurei chuckled when he saw that his effort was naught. The damage done to the ship that they were on was happening. It wasn’t just that, but the pirates that they had taken out were now being tossed into the water and disappearing. This was stupid in every way and it seemed like the thing that owned these tentacles wasn’t happy with any of the attacks. Still, the two beautiful women with the group would be able to cut down a few tentacles around them. That was good and he was even happier that he had someone like Brone who seemed to have his back.

Renji was holding on to dear life as he wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. He heard Sofia’s warning, and he would nod listening to her well. Still, he did forget about one thing, and it was the captain of the ship. The new threat had him worried that he would soon hear the man’s voice, which surprised him. A gunshot would be the next thing Yuurei would hear, and his head-turning to the man. The bullet was aimed at him, and Yuurei’s eyes widen as he saw the filthy ammo heading towards his heart.

He was upset about this, as he was falling from the air, how the hell was he supposed to dodge that? Of course, his best friend would give him what he needed, and he would feel her magic surrounding him. In an instant, he would lunge through with the wind blowing on him and onto the ground. He dodged the bullet as he would feel his body trembling from the near-death experience. His eyes changed to that with even more anger than before.

Yuurei cracked his knuckles as he felt his body shaking, but he wasn’t sure if it was excitement or fear of what had happened. He knew one thing was for sure and the captain had to go. He was wounded already, and he knew that the guild master and Sofia would be able to handle the water monster.

“You shot at me! If that is how we’re going to play then take this.” He said this to the pirate as he was getting ready to shoot again.

Yuurei would rush once again, this time even faster than he had ever moved thanks to Kailani. He quickly got to max speed as another bullet was shot off to the light mage. He would step to the side to dodge the second shot before lunging straight towards him with a punch. The captain would dodge the attack with a smile on his face. Yuurei would press against his left leg on the ground as he forced himself to rotate in the direction of the man before using his left hand as a second attempt to hit the captain.

The pirate would groan from the pain he felt earlier as it was hindering his movement and Yuurei would catch a lucky punch straight onto the man’s face and sent him stumbling back a bit while Yuurei looked at him standing tall. He wasn’t sure if it was enough to take him out, but if not, Brone was there to deal another blow hopefully.

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115/1120 Mana used

Brone gained distance after he landed his attack upon the tentacle. The combined attack from the Blue Pegasus members managed to cause some hesitation in the monster, but it's durability was tougher than a ship. A separate tentacle grabbed a nearby defeated pirate and as it was dragging the body across the deck, Brone brough the axes down upon the creature, but it simply jerk right before it went over the railing and into the water. "I suppose the pirates are a well enough snack for the beasty" he tried to make a joke to help the tension, but his tone was too serious, hinting his concerned expression.

A gunshot rang and Brone to see the pirate captain had his gun pointed at Yuurei, to which the half-elf then reacted by closing the distance and throwing some hits. The dwarf rushed forward towards the pirate, and when he managed to engage him, Brone jumped up enough to swing both his axes, acting on impulse, the dwarf didn't see if Yuurei's hit was enough to knock him out, even after receiving the wound from the recent rush-stab, but he figured he would take a shot just in case, then they can turn their attention back upon the monster of the sea.

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With the rest of the party doing their best to take down a single tentacle to seemingly no avail. It was clearly much sturdier than any creature she had set her eyes upon before. Her heart racing as panic set in, Sofia was most likely correct, and Kailani severely doubted the capabilities of herself in dealing with such a foe. Her lilac eyes scanned the surroundings keeping an eye out as requested as the words of the black-haired beauty rung in her ears. 'Yes... How did a measly pirate possess the ability to summon such a creature?' A thought that made her scowl momentarily as she contemplated the chances of someone backing the pirates. Someone with either enough power or wealth to obtain some sort of powerful magic.

Her wandering thoughts were cut short however as the growling voice of the captain caught her attention, his sights set upon Yuurei as he fired a shot towards him, her eyes growing wide in panic, her magic thankfully allowing him to leap from death's grasp. A small sigh of relief that she had managed to aid him so. The light mage launched his own counterattack, followed quickly with Brone's own. Seeing as they were in dire need of help, lest he be kept standing she'd summon forth her own mana once more, this time siphoning the air current towards her open palm as she reached into the sky, a shimmering white circle of magic appearing before condensing the air into a dagger of wind. With a quick toss, she'd aim the dagger towards the pirate praying her strike hit its mark in order to knock him back and cause him to stumble if nothing else. Giving the others time to take him down before turning their sights back to the definitely bigger threat.

"How do we even deal with such a beast?" Kailani muttered aloud to herself, frowning as she tried to come up with a solution to their colossal problem. Racking her brain she tried to think of anything that could be considered a weakness for creatures of the sea. Alas, her studies and knowledge mostly pertained to those of the forest variety and she had learnt little on anything other than fish since arriving at Hargeon. The ship lurched suddenly once more as the strike the beast beneath them rocked the vessel. With the grace of her race, Kailani easily managed to quickly find her footing, but at the cost of releasing Nimbus from her arms, who went rolling towards the railings. Scrambling with mad panic, she raced towards her exceed, paying no mind to anything else around her, her focus set on protecting the feline.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" The black and white exceed screeched as he dug his claws into the wooden deck with all his might, managing to cling on before finding himself flung completely overboard. "WHY ARE WE HERE AGAIN!?! THIS WAS A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE IDEA!" He cried, continuing to stay put lest removing his claws place him in a worse predicament.

Yuurei would watch as Brone’s attack would come from the other side, and it would seem like the captain of this ship was a tough cookie. He wasn’t impressed by it, but he was indeed annoyed. Still, this guy was someone that needed to get out of the picture, and he figured that with Kailani’s support, all three of them could take him out. If it weren’t for their guild master hurting him like she did things would be even worse than they should be. Renji needed them to finish this guy quickly so they could help the girls. The Exceed was pretty sure that they didn’t need their help, but the more the merrier, right?

“Yuu, you’re playing too much with your food. We got to get rid of him and move to the next thing that’s in our way.” He said to the man who gave him a home.

Yuurei would hear this and he would crack his knuckles as he was going to put this guy away with Brone’s help of course. The captain looked annoyed, but he was sweating so much. The light mage could tell that he was doing everything he could to make sure he didn’t lose consciousness.

“All that blood you lost, and you refuse to take a nap.” He said this as he ran right at the captain.

The captain shook his head as this guy was straightforward and to the point. He found himself dodging the punches that were launched by Yuurei, but with each movement, he made more blood would come out of him. The berserker noticed this a while back and figured he would take him out with him losing every ounce of blood in his body. Still, he wanted to get on good hit, so Brone can finish it all. That was when the captain would try to point a gun a Yuurei, but the half-elf was nowhere to be found. The light mage had ducked under the man’s sight and launched an uppercut into the man’s chin.

He would feel the force of the blow as it was starting to lift him up from the floor he was on. Both now in the air Yuurei would use this moment to rotate himself and swing his leg around to kick the man in the area where Alisa had cut him previously. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen after this, but it seemed like those tentacles were truly becoming a problem. The ship was becoming unstable and if they stood here too long, they would be done for.

His eyes looked over to Kailani for a few as he wasn’t sure if she was fine. He was so upset about the man shooting him, he had tunneled towards the captain. His eyes widen when he saw Nimbus flying off of the ship and he started running towards the edge of the ship as Renji gripped onto Yuurei’s shoulder.

“You can’t let Nimbus fall into the water!” He shouted.

Yuurei would hope Kailani would make it time as he saw her running towards the Exceed and he would help her out if she needed him to save them both.

553
161/1120 Mana Used

Brone's axes cut through the pirate captain's trench coat, though he felt one of his blades hit it's mark, albeit not entirely. Blood dripped onto the deck. The dwarf sucked his teeth as the captain backed away from him while readying his flintlock. This pirate was a tough one and if the situation was different, Brone would enjoy taking his time fighting him, but as the clock ticked, the sea creature continued to thrash about.

Yuurei moved in on the captain and Brone was going to double up on the offensive, but one of the tentacles slammed onto the deck, separating the dwarf from the captain, "Damn it! I hate calamari!" he was now more annoyed than fearful now. His axe was about to be swung onto the tentacle that had laid before him, but something interrupted his attack and train-of-thought; several tentacles around the ship had jerked forward towards one spot; the black hole that was levitated above Sofia, this had caught Brone's attention enough for him to catch what the brunette woman had said concerning the two ways of winning this altercation with the beast, "Cut the link!?" he called out has he dug his axe into one of the tentacles that were being stretched and held into position, albeit the thick meat barely gave way to the blade, "What link ye talkin' about, lass!?" his beard flapped in the wind as it was being pulled by the gravitational force of the black hole, though due to the dwarf's heavy form, he didn't worry about his body following the direction of the tentacles.

Before he could ask further of what Sofia meant, he spotted the black and white exceed by the railing, claws rooting him onto the wooden deck and with the black hole active, the dwarf was worried the cat might either go over board from being thrown above the jerking of the ship or be pulled into the emptiness, so he rushed towards the feline, "Don't ye fret! I will-" before the dwarf could finish his sentence, a barrel slammed into him, but he held his ground, "Not easy tossing a dwarf!" he laughed, but too soon. Next thing, one of the tentacles that was struggling with the gravitational force had swept part of the deck and slammed into the dwarf, sending him flying over towards the edge of the ship.

In a split second, just before he soared over the railing, Brone looked down, catching eyes with the black and white exceed he was trying to save, and all he could do was shrug his shoulders with a stupid embarrassed grin on his face. His body then hit the water right after he took a deep breath.

"Damn it!" he thought as he opened his eyes to peer into water.

Silent Hell. Before him was the black abyss of the ocean, his body hesitated as fear shook his core. He locked eyes with the faceless depths and time seem to stand still, all the noises of battle above him started to vanish, all he could hear was his racing heartbeat.

Darkness was about to take the dwarf entirely until his attention was drawn by something massive below the ship; the kraken in it's full glory, dwarfing the dwarf in size and even rivaling even ship, but this was enough for the dwarf to draw him from the idea of the sea's abyss, he began swimming towards the beast. So long as he can keep his eyesight from the empty abyss, he could keep his fear at least somewhat in check, then he spotted it...

The Blue Orb he had only seen the captain holding just once. Sofia's words echoed into his head, "The link!" The blue orb was  embedded into the side of the creature's 'head?' he wasn't sure, but it was big and squishy looking. The dwarf swam as fast as he could towards the beast that was embracing the bottom of the ship, if the thing knew the dwarf was there, it wasn't able to do anything now that all the tentacles were being held in place thanks to the black hole.

Brone Heavyaxe, turning his back towards the fear inducing abyss, tunnel visioned at the orb, focusing on smashing it. His grip on both his axes tightened as he closed the distance. The creature, as big as it was, was nothing more than a clan's worth of calamari, in which he hated, he swung both his axes overhead and brought them down upon the orb as hard as he could despite the impeding water slowing his swing, hoping this will turn the tables.

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Gripping her beloved exceed tightly within her arms, afraid of letting him go, Kailani sighed. Her lilac eyes blinked a couple of times in the brunette's direction with a stoic, unimpressed look plastered on her face. Was she truly trying to lighten the mood considering the dire circumstances? Perhaps that meant she had a plan at least that would ensure all of the group's safety. If nothing else the green-eyed beauty had shown she was far stronger than the three rookies combined, the woman had a far greater chance at dealing with the beasty than any of them. As ridiculous as her words were, she had at least distracted Kailani enough for her to focus as well as she eyed once more over the battlefield towards each comrade, trying to discern the best choice of action to take.

Sofia's words rung true, usually taking out the summoner would remove the summon from play, however, their black-haired companion seemed to have the right of it as well, he didn't seem to be controlling it. Still, she found her lilac eyes searching for the two males who had been attempting to deal with the pirate captain, only to spy Brone flying overhead, her eyes widened, unable to think of a way to stop him as he fell with a splash into the depths below.

"Better him than me." Nimbus noted, clinging onto Kailani, his sharp claws unintentionally digging into the wind mage's forearm causing her to cry out in pain.

"Careful." she spat, narrowing her eyes momentarily downward towards her exceed before giving her full attention back towards where their stout friend had gone overboard.

"Sorry, sorry..." the exceed apologised quickly withdrawing his claws as he too followed the trail of her eyes. Would the man be okay down there? He was rather heavily clad in armor, which would definitely make it all the more difficult to swim. Could he even swim? A question she hadn't even thought to ask before. As she found herself holding her breath, listening for any sounds of his resurfacing.

If there were any, the sounds of the tentacles flailing about and the ocean wind drowned it out. Sweat began to form as panic set in. No, no, no. They couldn't lose him here. Kailani had only just gotten to know him and was quickly becoming someone she was comfortable around. Placing her furball carefully onto the deck with a determined look she'd peer over the railings down towards the sea below.

"Watch Nimbus for me, I'm going to make sure he's okay!" She cried out channeling her magic and snapping her fingers as she moved her mana away from her best friend and onto herself. One long deep breath she'd thank her lucky stars she was a master of air, and able to hold her breath for reasonably long periods of time as she drove straight into the depths below.

Her body instantly felt cold as her skin met the ocean, the freezing water enveloping her entirety. Snapping her eyes open, she struggled to see anything but the shadows of the tentacled beast. Another wave of panic. She had not thought this through. This was the worst place to be, but she fought back her fears, as she attempted to focus on the task at hand, finding Brone.

It took her far longer than she anticipated as she found herself fighting just to swim down against the pull of the tentacles caught in the gravitational pull of the spell above. Thankfully, she managed to spy the shadow of her companion contrast against a shining light. He was swimming downwards? Confused for but a second as it dawned on her that he was attempting to destroy the light that had allowed her to spy him in the first place. He was attempting to destroy what had summoned the creature? Would that even work now that it was already here? She had no clue, but at least she knew he was safe-ish for now.

Following him downwards she'd notice he was swinging as recklessly as one could underwater, attempting to destroy it. Unable to be of much assistance, Kailani did the only thing she could think of to be of aid. Releasing some of the air in her lungs she'd capture the air bubble with her magic and move it towards the Dwarf. Whilst not all of it would be oxygen, at least some of it would be and that way the wind mage could at least ensure he didn't drown in his stubborn attempt.

Yuurei had missed the opportunity to rescue Nimbus and that was because Kailani had done so, but it seemed like he wasn’t the only one that had tried to do the same thing. One moment Brone was on the deck and the next moment, Brone hit the water sinking into the abyss. Yuurei was getting ready to dive into the water, but he would hear a snap and look at Kailani who had done so before he could do anything. Instead, he was left with Nimbus, and the two eyes each other a bit. Renji knew this was going to happen, but he figured he would tell his friend to stop standing there and hop on.

”Hurry up Nimbus get on Yuu’s shoulder. We don’t know what can happen.” He said to his friend as he would nod as Nimbus was worried about Kailani.

He would get onto Yuurei’s shoulder without hesitating though as Yuurei shook his head as he wanted to help them. Instead, he got to help the guild master who was the only one besides him that stood above the water. It seemed like she was destroying the tentacles at her own leisure, and he figured he could put more swings into these things to pain the beast that was underwater with his friends.

Yuurei would activate another magical circle in front of him and he would release a light beam at the tentacle as it would bother the thing, but nothing more. The tentacle moved in the direction of Yuurei, which made Nimbus scared as hell. Renji figured Yuurei was about to attack, so he didn’t close his eyes. The light mage would run to the side before pressing his foot against the deck and lunging straight towards the tentacle using all his strength behind the punch.

The tentacle would fall on the deck losing the momentum it had for damage and it would continue to cause the Kraken agonizing pain.

”Hopefully, they get rid of this thing now before we don’t have a ship stand on anymore.” He would say to Alisa, wondering if they were okay.

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The axes, side by side, as if guiding one another, slammed onto the bluish orb, shattering it and causing the light it emitted to fade.  The dwarf caught the largest shard of the orb with his feet before the rest slowly fell. Almost instantly, the body of the kraken shifted and the next thing the dwarf knew, a giant eyeball was right in front of him, even though the water was dark, his dwarven eyes could make out the iris that was larger than his own body, but he cared not.

"What-yer-looking-at!?" Brone yelled, bubbles shooting from his mouth, through the water as he took another swing of one of his axes, however because the dwarf was much slower in the water, the kraken would be able to retrieve one of it's tentacles into the water and slammed the dwarf before the axe could connect, but to the dwarf's fortune, all of the tentacles had been shattered by a powerful spell, causing the kraken to jerk and hesitate, long enough for the axe to land and poke the kraken's eye. The beast jerked back away from the small figure.

Brone, believing his attack had caused major damaged, cheered, releasing the remaining air from his lungs, to which he realized was a bad idea and was beginning to suffocate, but once again, to the dwarf's luck, a bubble of a air had rescued him... though if the air bubble was suppose to only encircle Brone's head, the bubble entrapped his entire body, save for his arms which held both large battleaxes, "Ah! It's spitting out bubbles! I'm trapped!" he yelled within the pocket of air. Just as he was about to attempting to cut the bubble, he spotted Kailani in the water and remained still to think for a moment, "Ah... air magic... right" he felt very silly, especially now that he was floating back up to the surface, though the bubble didn't remain stationed and began turning. By the time Brone spotted Sofia within the water, the dwarf was upside-down, inside a bubble while trying to flap his axes to direct his vehicle... to no avail, all the while keeping his legs crossed so the shard of the blue orb wouldn't fall into the depths.

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Nimbus didn't hesitate to scramble up to join Renji on Yuurei's shoulders, it would be safer there than on his own. The exceed almost looked worried as he stared down towards the water. His ears flat, his eyes wide.

"She better not die down there." He muttered quietly before clinging on for dear life as Yuurei set about attacking the beast once more, causing the feline to pay more attention to the tentacle heading their way. Far more used to sitting in the backline with the wind mage over the reckless frontline assault that was Yuurei's manner of fighting. Nimbus clearly dreaded every moment, his eyes only growing larger the more fearful he became.

As the lavender-haired mage watched over her companion attacking the orb, she felt a shudder run down her spine, not caused by the freezing waters. The glimmer of the orb, illuminating a large orb attached to the beasty, its eye. Staring at the dwarf with malice, but only momentarily as its gaze shifted upwards. The others must have done something to divide its attention. Once more she found herself thankful to be surrounded by such skilled companions.

It was fortunate that her magic didn't require vocal components, it was already a struggle to click her fingers beneath the surface of the water. Kailani found herself having to try a couple of times before finding the right movement of her fingers to summon forth her mana, sending yet another wave of air towards her companion. This one, however, was definitely not for breathing, instead once more finding its way to the dwarf's feet, allowing him to propel himself through the water in the direction of his choice. If he needed to go to the surface he'd have no problems, if he wished to rush towards the orb once more, he was free to do so instead.