The Fiend.
He was an enigma to all of them, having swept into their lives without warning just as the world turned to shit. Saved them, one and all. Everyone in the Legion had a similar story, of the Fiend dropping from the sky to kill Prismatic Wretches only seconds before they were devoured, or of him leading his team against wave after wave of Revenants, or pulling folks from the wreckage of their homes. Time and again, the Fiend was at the center of it all, a powerful figure that...helped. From what Loquis could tell, the man never even expected anything in return. How could he? What could a skinny Half-Orc offer a man even a third as strong as the Fiend?
Then the Legion was announced, in whispers at first. But it had no place for the magic that stirred in his core, the lightning that had so inspired him, not until the First of Arclight had begun recruiting. Loquis joined up immediately. And now he was here, in the midst of an adventure with his heroes.
He hoped he wouldn't screw it all up.
Exploration is level 63!
After the wild ride on the stairs, the grand hall they entered seemed almost pedestrian despite the ninety foot ceilings studded with pale purple Belais Crystals. Or the massive, stone reliefs carved into the curving walls. The chamber was bigger than the one they had faced Jadorak within, enough so that Felix couldn't make out the far end. A mist rose from the black water, something he mistook for fog before realizes it was most definitely steam.
When had the water gotten so warm?
After a while, it actually took a fair bit of concentration to keep the ice barge from melting, though he had the good idea to ask the Frost Giants for aid. Their Mantles of the Long Night were more than enough to combat the water's rising temperature and maintain the ship's general shape.
The walls grew closer, the stone reliefs revealing a detailed story, though it was infested with hanging moss and lichen. The carvings depicted ancient peoples of various Races with their hands upraised and long tables of food between them. A celebration, he had to assume, right next to the image of those same peoples raising tall, thin towers around the shores of various lakes. On top of lakes, even. And among them all, Felix spotted the robed-and-armored form of the Nym. Stars in hand, they were casting some sort of benediction on all of the workers and celebrants, depicted as beams of light.
It told a far different story than the last Temple he'd been within, but much of this was hidden by fog, moss, or damage. This Temple had not fared well with the passing of the Ages.
As they drifted forward, pushed by ice oar and the occasional Shadow Whip tether onto protruding columns, Felix also searched the waters and steam-fog for the Nagafolk. He couldn't sense them, not like he could in the colder waters up above, but he sensed something shifting in the water. Far, far below. Something enormous.
And below that, was something else. Something he'd seen once before.
"You have arrived," Garox said in his sharp accent, as if he were biting off the words as he said them. "The First Challenge has been overcome."
"Challenge?" Evie asked, before Vess could stop her. "You're sayin' you normally throw guests down a gauntlet before smashin' em into a rock?"
"It is as it was decreed," Garox said, his voice as emotionless as his snake-face. "I am pleased that you have succeeded."
"You said First Challenge," Felix pointed out. "There are more?"
"That remains to be seen," rumbled another voice, this one so deep it sent waves trembling across the waters. Following it came slithering foam and spray as a gargantuan Naga emerged from the black waters. It was at least sixty feet in diameter, and the portion that rose above the waves was a hundred feel long if it was an inch. Moreover, the Naga's immense head was bigger than both of Zara's Manaships put together. It was covered in smooth scales the colored a deep, waterlogged green, with eyes the size of their entire barge and just as icy in their burnished regard. They burned with light, a hum of power Felix could feel without trying, and the copper in them flashed as it regarded them all.
"Fiend, you are blessed by the Stone and Wave, for before you is the Deepking, Kar'casitrix of the Abyssal Shores," Garox intoned, his calm voice once again infused with that zealous fervor. "My Lord, might I introduce the Fiend and his companions."
Voracious Eye.
Name: Kar'casitrix, the Deepking
Type: Abyssal Serpent
Level: 845
HP: 42399/42399
SP: 28487/30233
MP: 9735/9735
Lore: Abyssal Serpents are an evolved form of Naga, though their exact nature is not well known. What is known, however, is that an Abyssal Serpent is a catastrophe when roused.
Strength: More Data Required
Weakness: More Data Required
Holy shit. His Voracious Eye could easily feel the strength of the huge serpent, and it was beyond any creature he'd encountered outside of Primordials and gods. It shook him, more than a little. Felix had grown used to the idea, if only a bit, that he was stronger than anything he'd encounter. Zara was a poor example, weak as she had been feeling, but it had bolstered his confidence in a way he hadn't truly noticed. Now, faced with the Deepking's power, Felix could only clench his jaw and nod to it, attempting to still his wild beating heart.
The Deepking returned the nod with narrowed eyes, in almost the exact same manner. The slightest of tilts, eyes never leaving the other; the greeting of two equals, as Karys had coached him. It was a bit of rebellion on Felix's part, and the Abyssal Serpent knew it.
"Why have you come to my realm, Fiend?" the Deepking asked in a voice like rasping boulders. It was not the voice of a human throat, or anything approaching it. Felix sensed several of the Legion sway on their feet. "Why do you trespass here?"
"We are passing through, and only stopped here on our way south," Felix said.
"Passing through," the king rumbled. "Beneath the Haestus Lake? So deep that creatures greater that Garox would have long since hunted you for their dinner?"
"We got lost."
The Deepking blinked once before his copper eyes flashed again. "What chamber did they enter from, Garox?"
"From the sealed one, off the Chapel of the Eye, my Lord."
"Sealed. But no longer," the Deepking rumbled thoughtfully. "Fiend, what lies within that chamber? How did you reach my Temple?"
"That is Nym business," he said. Beside him Zara and Vess tensed, but that was peanuts compared to the Deepking's reaction.
"Nym!" The shout sent eight foot waves out from its huge body. "What claim do you have on the business of gods, little Fiend?"
Felix felt a flutter of nerves in his stomach, but forged ahead. "I am Nymean."
Silence met his words, one populated by a palpable, murderous Intent. "You lie, Fiend."
"Why would I bother?" Felix asked, shoving aside his fears and worries. The Abyssal Serpent loomed over them, lower than before, and it would only take a single snap of his jaws to consume them entirely. "I am Nymean, and I plan to claim this Temple."
"Oh shit," Evie said from behind.
"Felix," Zara warned.
The silence stretched only a moment longer before a cataclysmic, earth-shaking tsunami burst into life around them. The air quivered, screamed with vibrations so loud they weren't sounds anymore, just a buzzing against flesh. His people screamed in pain, and Felix winced as he held tight to the railing, riding through the immense waves.
The Deepking was laughing.
"Brave! You are brave, little Fiend! I wish my warriors were half so bold." The Deepking pulled it's head back, lifting it from their barge and damn near touching the ceiling. "I shall discard the standard Challenges for this. If you wish to claim Divinity, very well. Prove yourself, little Fiend."
"What do you propose?" Felix asked.
The Deepking smiled, an expression Felix didn't realize snakes could manage. "There is a great danger below us. One that even I cannot face. If you are truly a Nym, a god given flesh, then prove it. Destroy that which lies beneath, or else perish by its jaws...or ours."