2nd Checkpoint Boss

  Doctor Holo

  Destroying the submachine gun was almost sad. Almost. Father hadn’t had a chance to blast a bunch of corrupt fish with any type of automatic firearm. With only one magazine, the fun would have been short lived.

  Besides, wizards weren’t meant to use guns. Not that Father intended to stop. They probably weren’t meant to use katanas either. He would use any and all weapons he came across.

  Acquiring fireball was significantly more exciting than a little automatic weapon anyway. It was the spell. When people thought of wizards, they thought about fireball. Maybe they also thought about lightning or something like that, but fireball was at least in the top two.

  Doctor Holo, the turd-like sea cucumber, moved slowly, churning the kelp lawn with each minute movement. “Who approaches?”

  “You have my Son, and I have a question.” Father walked over the slimy lawn. He noted where he had seen himself get crushed and die the last time he had visited Doctor Holo.

  “Prescriptions will cost you.” He turned his bush-like tentacle mouth to Father and watched with red eyes.

  At least Father really knew that Doctor Holo was as corrupt as the rest of them. There wasn’t really a doubt, and he had intended to kill the sea cucumber regardless, but knowing for certain did give an odd sense of relief.

  “I was going to ask if you were an actual doctor, but nevermind.” Father held up a claw.

  Fireball

  Flames swirled in front of his claw and condensed to a little orb of fire. The spell launched forward like a meteor. Recoil from its power was worse than firing the shotgun with a single arm. Father nearly collapsed and tried to steady himself as the spell soared through the water. Bubbles trailed behind until it smacked into Doctor Holo’s face. It spread like a blanket of lava, spilling over the sea cucumber.

  Before the molten liquid could settle, it exploded with fury. Father hadn’t fully found his feet and was easily tossed onto his back. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the air from his gills.

  “You dare?” Doctor Holo’s high pitched voice rang through the yard.

  Father sat up and squinted against the raging flames. Shadows danced on the snail shell home.

  Sea cucumber flesh burned. Entire chunks had burned away and more fell off, smoldering like coals. Doctor Holo let out a constant scream that rang through the Crest neighborhood.

  Father used the shotgun to push himself to his feet. Pain radiated from the spot Magaleus had punched him. It hadn’t cracked worse, but a bruise or something formed underneath the chitin. It would irritate him, though not enough to impede any actions.

  Doctor Holo swung his rear toward Father. The anus opened wide.

  Father knew what meant all too well.

  Hop

  A brown and gray column launched from Doctor Holo’s anus. It sped through the water like a battering ram with the sole intention of destroying Father. Getting out of the way was the only thing that mattered.

  Father took a step and pushed off the slimy kelp. Instead of jumping to the side like he intended, the spell bounced him straight up. Father waved his arms wildly as the column passed by right underneath.

  His feet hit the solid waste. It was sliding over the lawn and down the hill toward the road. Getting carried away from the boss wasn’t going to help Father. He sprinted along the column, staying almost motionless as it pulled him back while he ran forward.

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  Doctor Holo laughed triumphantly when the column came to a stop. “A fool to challenge me.”

  Father stepped off the end of the column and landed on the churned up dirt.

  Rock Throw

  He turned and pulled a boulder of sea cucumber waste from behind him. Some dirt and kelp came with as the ball hovered in the water.

  “You survived?” Doctor Holo asked.

  Father activated the spell, sending the waste boulder at the burning sections of Doctor Holo’s face.

  As far as Father could tell, there were few, if any, differences between sea cucumber waste and cement. The collision with Doctor Holo seemed to solidify that assumption. The waste boulder smashed the sea cucumber’s face. Doctor Holo let out barely a cry.

  Father approached cautiously. He had the shotgun raised and aimed. Without a notice of defeating the boss, he had to act like Holo was still alive.

  “Ahhh.” Holo’s groan was a high-pitched cry that echoed through the empty air. “You are no mere lobster.” His words were jumbled and quiet.

  The sea cucumber slithered back and revealed mangled flesh. Some still burned, but most had caved in under the intense weight of the boulder. Little more than embers were left of the sea cucumber’s tentacles. Two red eyes were fully revealed like fiery orbs sitting in the ruins of the doctor’s face.

  Fluids leaked into the water as Holo’s innards pulsed. Each new twitch brought a new gush of blood and other unfamiliar liquids into the surrounding waters. Doctor Holo squeaked out a few screaming sounds. He mumbled and spasmed. Words formed, but not enough to understand.

  Father approached. He kept an eye on the sea cucumber’s rear. He could hop again whenever he needed. Other spells seemed unnecessary given the boss’s current state. He considered chilling Holo to slow any potential movements, but the doctor didn’t seem keen on moving more than just getting some distance from the boulder of its own waste.

  “I’ll just end this,” Father said.

  Red eyes turned to Father. They were nearly covered in a shroud of Holo’s own blood. “Please.”

  Father fired the shotgun.

  2nd Checkpoint Boss

  Doctor Holo

  Defeated.

  Continue, Return to Checkpoint 1, or Return to Start?

  He finally did it. Checkpoint 2. As long as he was a wizard, there was no reason to return to the start. He was done with Trash Co. He was done with the long drive to the Reef.

  The words fizzled away as Father focused on Continue.

  Everything had settled nearby. Loose kelp rested on top of the churned dirt. Smoldering meat of the sea cucumber continued burning in chunks spread throughout the yard. It was calm, though the chaos that had just happened was a clear mark on the landscape.

  Father gave one more look at what was left of Doctor Holo, then took off across the yard. He wasn’t done in the Crests. A new sense of excitement built inside his chest. He was one major step closer to finding his Son.

  The door into the snail shell house was far too small for Doctor Holo to ever fit inside. That explained why the boss had been in the yard, but it didn’t explain why he owned the conical home to begin with.

  Father tested the door, found it locked, then kicked it. His foot thumped against the tough calcium carbonate material. By prioritizing intelligence, he was really lacking in some categories. Luckily, a focus on intelligence meant Father could think his way through a solution to a locked door.

  A blast from the shotgun cracked the snail shell, and another kick sent the door swinging inward. It was a simple solution for a simple problem. The inside was decorated in an old, tasteless fashion. Picture frames made from bits of dead coral held faded photos of something that looked akin to a turd on the side of the road. It wasn’t until Father spotted the bushy tentacles that he realized it was a baby sea cucumber. There wasn’t enough to know if the baby was Holo, a relative, or just some random baby.

  The layout was unnecessarily complicated. After leaving the living room, Father ended up in an arch-shaped kitchen, which emptied out into a bathroom, and into an office, which held a staircase that led to a bedroom and finally into a library. It was all a single path. To get out, he’d have to walk back through all the same rooms. They formed one big spiral around the snail shell. At the library in the top of the shell, the bookshelves followed the inclined ceiling, making the tops shelves completely unusable.

  “Perfect,” Father whispered. He carefully plucked a scroll from a bookshelf.

  Anti-Levitation

  Learn new spell?

  Yes / No

  “Anti-levitation? Is that just heavier gravity?” Father mumbled to himself as he unfurled the scroll and glanced over the few brief lines scrawled across the parchment. It gave him no new information.

  “All spells are good spells,” he said in a small effort to convince himself that anti-levitation was going to be useful. Rock throw and fireball were already powerful attacks

  Anti-Levitation

  The opposite of levitation.

  Father rolled his eyes. He should’ve expected that description. At least it confirmed the existence of levitation, though he was out of ideas where to find more spells. He’d have to find more Hardbody Crustaceans to find more spells. It seemed his time in the Crests was over. The Buttress of the Reef was the last stop.