***

The massive doors groaned in protest as they inched apart, disclosing a cavernous chamber awash in an otherworldly, feeble glow.

The air hung thick and suffocating, as if the very essence of the room aimed to smother any unwelcome intruders.

Once adorned with elaborate designs and a kaleidoscope of hues, the walls now bore the blemishes of sinister shadows, cavorting and shimmering, whispering of the stygian power concealed within.

The chamber itself was immense, its ceiling towering far above Yomite and his companions, conjuring an image of an infinite, fathomless abyss.

The floor was a jigsaw of somber, lustrous tiles, each one impeccably interlocked, composing a convoluted, labyrinthine design that enticed and repelled all who dared sully it with their footsteps.

The erstwhile resplendent columns encircling the room now contorted in grotesque and twisted forms, as though the very rock had been deformed by a maleficent presence.

Once-smooth surfaces had grown jagged and keen, akin to the talons of an abhorrent beast hungering to tear through sinew and bone.

As Yomite and his companions ventured further into the chamber, their gazes were inexorably drawn to a levitating crimson key at the heart of the room, ensconced atop a raised platform that they all were familiar with by now.

The object seemed to pulse with a sinister energy, its ruby luminescence painting the chamber in a sanguine hue that whispered of an impending reckoning.

After Barbara read a passage from the book and buffed everyone, Yomite went ahead and touched the crimson key, the latter disappearing into thin air as usual.

All of a sudden, a massive, aquatic creature composed of ever-shifting water appeared before them. It was a Leviathan, also known as the Oceanid. A titan of the deep, it towered over Yomite and his companions, its vast bulk filling the entirety of the chamber.

“Girls…ever seen anything like this before?” Yomite asked.

There weren’t many boss monsters he faced overall, but this certainly looked like one.

“It’s so big…” Barbara muttered, “I’ve only ever heard stories and read books about it…so it does exist…”

Hu Tao grinned impishly, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “A challenge worthy of our skills,” she remarked, twirling her polearm, the Staff of Homa, with practiced ease.

Rosaria gazed upon the Oceanid with a steely resolve. “It’s unlike anything I’ve faced before, but it shall fall all the same,” she said, her voice cool and unwavering.

“Let me begiiiin!”

With a fierce cry, Hu Tao leaped forward, the Staff of Homa held high above her head.

She struck the Oceanid with a powerful blow, sending a shower of water droplets flying in all directions.

The creature let out a guttural hiss, its form momentarily destabilized by the force of her attack.

Rosaria wasted no time, her Cryo vision springing to life.

She summoned a frozen shard and hurled it at the Oceanid, piercing the watery creature’s form.

The shard exploded into an array of frosty needles, further damaging the Oceanid’s fluid body.

The Oceanid, angered by their attack, roared in defiance. It summoned a horde of water illusions, each one resembling an animal, to aid it in battle.

The creatures charged at them, their watery forms shifting and twisting as they moved.

“A boar and two human sized crabs? Seriously?” Yomite asked. “Is this a joke?”

“Yaaay! We will be having crabs tonight! Crabby Crabby Crabs!”

Hu Tao cheerfully announced, her pyro-vision flaring to life. She swung the Staff of Homa in wide arcs, the fire of her vision consuming the watery illusions as they drew near.

She reveled in the heat of battle, her spirit undaunted by the relentless onslaught

Rosaria, her eyes narrowed in concentration, unleashed her Cryo vision with surgical precision. Ice and frost danced around her, freezing the illusions solid and shattering them with a single, devastating blow.

She moved with grace and purpose, her every action calculated and deadly.

With some difficulty, Yomite jumped up and unleashed the full might of his particle cube her charged up onto the floating enemy.

The Oceanid recoiled as Yomite’s attack struck its fluid form, causing it to lose its shape momentarily.

However, the creature quickly recovered, reforming its body and retaliating with a barrage of water projectiles that hurtled towards him.

“That did no damage? Seriously?” Yomite asked. “Why is this thing so hard to kill? Can it regenerate infinitely?”

Undeterred, Yomite nimbly dodged the incoming assault, his agility belying his visible exhaustion.

He pressed onward, threading through the hailstorm of watery assaults, inching closer to the elusive Oceanid.

As the gap between them dwindled, he summoned the arcane power of his particle cube yet again, forging a whirling vortex of raw energy that danced around his outstretched hand.

Yomite had wrestled with the dark art of the particle cube, mastering its lethal capabilities over time. It was a fearsome weapon, one that had claimed the lives of nearly every enemy whom he had used it on. It was also particularly potent against creatures with the power of regeneration.

Though it required precision and time to cast which wasn’t the best thing ever.

A primal scream tore from Yomite’s throat as he lunged forward, his charged palm colliding with the Oceanid’s aqueous form.

The beast wailed in agony as the particle cube ripped through its watery flesh, the sheer force of the attack dismantling its cohesion.

Realizing its own vulnerability, the Oceanid conjured another wave of watery phantoms to protect itself.

The liquid beasts surged toward Yomite, their movements as unpredictable and fluid as the depths from which they came.

Yomite fought on, acutely aware that he could not sustain this frenetic dance of death forever.

They needed to deliver a fatal blow, to vanquish the Oceanid once and for all.

With each passing moment, he carefully analyzed the creature’s movements, searching for any sign of weakness.

‘I could most likely get rid of it in one blow, but my cube cannot get big enough to envelop its entire body…gotta think of something else.’ he pondered and spotted a brief fluctuation in the Oceanid’s form as it struggled to maintain control over its summoned illusions.

Barbara’s words however, brought him back to reality.

“…I’m afraid our attacks aren’t doing any real damage…I read in a book before, that If we wanted to defeat this creature, we’d need to destroy the solid illusions it summoned a couple of times first, because the main body will simply regenerate if we won’t do so…”

At this revelation, Yomite gave a frustrated sigh. “Great…killing crabs it is then…”

“Yaay!” Hu Tao cheered, holding her staff aloft. “Let us unleash our fiery fury upon thee, oh mighty crabs! And we shall eat thine meat later!”

“They are made out of water, so I doubt we’ll be getting any meat from them..and why are you speaking like Fischl all of a sudden? You’re doing that on purpose, right?”

The last thing Yomite wanted was an epidemic of Fischl-speak. Deciphering her peculiar dialect was already a Herculean feat, and he had no desire to contend with another oddball afflicted by her linguistic plague.