System Programmer

The next morning Joshua woke up everyone at dawn like usual.

"Our friend visited again last night." he told them.

"Are you sure it's the same individual?" Catherine asked.

"According to Luna, the probability is quite high. We're about ten kilometers below the surface, anyone who follows us here is probably up to no good." he answered.

"Maybe we should set a trap to catch that person?" Lydia suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, we'll see to it after crossing the lake." Catherine replied.

As they had planned in the evening, Catherine began creating a large raft made out of ice. It was basically a large mass of ice, five meters in length and three in width. The ice was also half a meter thick, enough to support everyone's weight. For security purposes, she made a wall around on the border of the ice, to prevent people from falling off by accident. They also covered the ice with cloth so they wouldn't slip. To complement the construction, she made a few oars.

The party boarded the makeshift boat and set off. Boris and Cynthia used the oars to get the vehicle off the shore. Afterward, the twins used their wind magic to push the boat at a moderate rate. They were willingly taking it slow, in case Luna detected something dangerous in the water. It would give them time to alter their course.

The reconnaissance Joshua had done the previous evening had allowed them to determine the lake was at least a few kilometers wide. As for the length to reach the other side, they had no idea. They chose to stay near the walls of the cavern, to avoid getting lost.

As the boat progressed along the walls, Joshua was keeping up with his scan. The depth of the lake kept growing and was at least a few hundred meters deep by now. He detected a lot of lifeforms in the water, based on their size, it had to be fish so it was not an issue. Relaxing a bit, he observed the party.

Eric appeared to be conversing with Boris. Since they were talking via telepathy, he had no idea what they were talking about. Catherine was engaged in a conversation with Lydia. They were both smiling so Joshua assumed they were having fun. Cynthia, however, was standing alone in a corner, her magic was still pushing the boat forward. He flew up to her and she slightly turned her head in his direction, wondering what he wanted.

"Lord Joshua, can I help you with something?"

"Not really. Just checking if everyone's all right and you're the only one alone right now."

"Everything's fine. My sister and I decided to alternate pushing the boat to save some energy. We'll switch in about half an hour. "

"I see. How is your nose by the way? The wound is gone, but does it still hurt?"

Cynthia placed her hand on her nose.

"I'm glad to hear it. Luckily, you're a tough cookie. I couldn't take a blow like that."

A hint of pride appeared in her eyes.

"My sister andI have a good teacher." she said.

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"Really? Someone from the Lippi clan?"

"Indeed, we were taught by Lord Theodore."

"Catherine's father is your mentor…" Joshua gulped for a second. He had seen how brutal Cynthia's movement were in combat, then he remembered Theodore who looked like a wild Viking… Suddenly everything became clear... This somehow led to an awkward silence before Joshua asked:

"So, how did you two become his students?"

"Tradition, my family has been a part of the Lippi clan for generations. Since Lydia and I were revealed to have a high potential, Lord Theodore took us as his students."

"Must have been tough."

"It was, but he's a fair man and a good teacher. Learning from him was a blessing." she said, a smile forming on her face.

Joshua made a mental note to not mess with this girl as he did with Catherine, she would probably have less kind reactions. As he had no further questions, he started to daydream for a bit.

He got brought back to reality by Catherine who called him mentally.

"Joshua, there seem to be something ahead. Can you check what it is?"

Catherine was also using Luna's mapping function and it had detected a bizarre form in the water a bit further. Joshua stopped daydreaming and went ahead to scout the area.

It turned out there was a vast rock formation ahead. The rocks were about five meters thick and were nearly reaching the ceiling, while they were also going deep under the water below. Worse, the formation started from the wall and went deep into the middle of the lake. If they were to follow it to reach the other side, they would have to make a large detour. He went back to Catherine and explained what he had seen.

"Damn, we're going to lose a lot of time going around it." she said.

They sailed closer to it until the boat was standing right next to the rocks.

"Looks like we'll have to follow the rock formation until we reach its end." Lydia said sighing.

"This may sound crazy but would it be possible to break the rocks?" Eric suggested out of the blue.

"Are you stupid? Even Boris can't break something that big!" Lydia replied.

"If he were to do it alone, then probably not, but if Lady Catherine and I used our magic first, it might become possible."

Hearing this, Joshua understood and approved by saying:

"I see what you mean, by alternating extreme temperatures you can fragilize the rocks, allowing Boris to break them more easily."

Eric nodded in reply.

"Very well, let's try it." Catherine said as she approached the rock formation.

Eric picked out a large rock and started to unleash a stream of fire against it. Joshua measured the temperature of the rock and while it was nowhere enough to melt it, it still climbed above a hundred degrees Celcius. As soon as he was done, Catherine unleased an ice attack on the rock. A thin layer of ice soon covered it as Joshua saw the temperature lower at a great pace. Finally, Boris took one of his morning stars and slammed it into the rock. A big crack was heard. Confident, he hit it a few more times before the rock shattered in tiny pieces. Joshua noticed the nearby fish all ran away, they must have been afraid of the noise.

"Good plan Eric!" Joshua said.

"Not bad." Lydia admitted.

Eric simply smiled before moving on to the rock mass that had become visible behind the piece Boris had just broken. Along with Catherine and Boris, they slowly but surely dug a passage into the rock. After about ten minutes, they were more than halfway through and They stopped for a moment to catch their breath and restore their energy. Catherine and Eric started to meditate while Boris took out a gourd and drank some water.

"This is going better than I expected, " Joshua commented, " a few more attempts and we should be able to pass."

Cynthia looked overboard into the lake. "I wonder if we could catch some fish, would make some variety for dinner."

"I saw them run away when we started, we must have scared them with the noise we've been making."

As Joshua said that, his eyes went wide.

"What the hell is that?" he murmured to himself.

Luna had just detected a very large form moving underwater, slowly making its way toward them.

"Damn it, something is coming, sorry people break time is over, finish this passage quickly!" he ordered.

Catherine, Eric, and Boris nodded and resumed their tasks in a hurry. The twins drew their weapon and were on guard. Joshua saw the figure get closer, it was extremely long, at least two hundred meters. Based on its form, he guessed it was some sort of sea serpent. It wasn't particularly fast but it would still reach them in about two minutes.

"Did we make too much noise?" Lydia wondered.

"Possibly, but the chance is high this thing would have found us anyway should we have gone closer to the middle of the lake. Going through the tunnel they're digging is still our best option." Joshua replied.

A minute passed. The passage was progressing quicker than before thanks to the effort of the digging team. The figure was very near the boat now and was starting to move upwards. In the distance, they saw the water split in two as a gigantic creature surfaced. The snake-like creature had thick black scales and red eyes. Its mouth moved in a weird way, Joshua almost had the impression it was smiling at them.

Everyone gulped. The passage would be ready soon, but the twins and Joshua would have to buy them some time.

The snake let out a large hiss that resonated through the whole cavern. Then it suddenly dove forward and rushed toward the boat. Lydia unleased a few arrows but they bounced against the creature's scales.

"DAMN IT! If this thing hits the boat everyone is done for." Joshua thought.

Thinking quickly, he rushed forward. He had to create a distraction somehow. As long as this thing didn't realize he was an immaterial being, he could buy time for the rest.

The snake saw him come forward and slowed down a bit. It opened its giant mouth and tried to take a bite out of Joshua who barely dodged the attack.

"Let's see how you like this!" he said while unleashing an electric attack. The creature let out a growl but didn't seem too much affected. Joshua was taken aback by how little damage it did, he had expected lightning to greatly affect a creature living underwater. Clearly, he had played too much Pokémon.

'Now what…' he thought. His combat abilities left a lot to be desired, even with the upgrade he recently had.

'Maybe I should try to hit it from the inside? It's probably not as resistant there. Well, I hope so, at least.'

He approached the snake once more and tried to traverse its head to reach straight for its brain. However, he was met with an unpleasant surprise: when he hit the creature's head, it was solid and he couldn't go through. He barely had the time to think 'WHAT?' as the snake used a quick maneuver to bite him. He tried to dodge but his arm was caught between the creature's teeth. Much to his horror, his ghostly arm was cut off from his spiritual body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" he cried out in pain. He realized he was in much more danger than he originally thought and tried to retreat. The snake was having none of it though and tried to swallow him. Luckily, that's when one of Lydia's arrow hit it in the eye. Unlike the rest of his body, the arrow didn't bounce off and the snake let out a shriek.

Joshua used the opportunity to rush back to the boat. When he landed, he immediately used his energy reserve to reform his missing arm.

"What the hell is this thing made of?" he said.

He took a glance at Catherine, they were busy with the last layer of rock. The snake was charging toward the boat again, however. They still needed a few more seconds and they had no idea what to do.

"Let's hide in the passage!" Cynthia suddenly yelled.

Her sister nodded. They both jumped in the passage. It was a few meters deep by this point. It wasn't very large so with the trio already being there digging, they could barely move. Joshua just hid between the rocks. He had to stay away from the snake.

The snake knocked out the now empty boat and nearly crashed into the passage's entrance. To everyone's delight, its head was too big to enter. It placed its gigantic eye in front of the passage, looking at everyone. Lydia tried to quickly shoot, but it closed its eye. It then opened is mouth in order to cover the whole entrance and started to inhale. This sudden current was very violent but the twins quickly riposted by creating a wind wall. As a result, no one got pulled in. Seeing its mouth was open, Joshua quickly unleased another lightning attack. Hitting it on the inside seemed to hurt the creature more and it retreated a bit.

Finally, Boris broke the last remaining rock and the passage leading to the other side was open. Catherine was almost out of energy so she just made a small ice layer, allowing the twins and Eric to jump on it. Boris was too heavy, so he remained on the rock formation, but put himself on the side the snake couldn't reach him.

Seeing its prey escape, the snake hissed in rage before leaving.

"He's going to come back after going around the formation, we have to move quickly!" Catherine said.

Unfortunately, she had no energy left to make a solid boat, but Joshua had an answer for that.

"You gave me water from your soul world to use as energy when I started out, can I give you some of my energy too?"

"You can, but a lot will be lost." she answered.

"Doesn't matter, we need a boat immediately." he replied.

Entering his soul world, he turned a maximum of electricity into pure energy and sent it to Catherine. As she said, it wasn't very effective, but it gave her enough to make a new boat that could transport everyone. It was very rough in shape though, so they made a few holes in the ice to grab on to and not fall overboard.

With everyone back in the boat, the twins activated their magic, full speed this time. The others used the moment of respite to recover a bit.

After about fifteen minutes, Joshua and Catherine both went pale, seeing what Luna was showing them.

"Is it coming back?" Eric asked, worried.

"Yes but…" Joshua started.