Amber, their dungeon informant had a simple but difficult to fulfil request. She wanted to explore it with them. Unsure about how to respond to the request, the adults decided to discuss this while the younger ones, Wilson included, were left to keep her company.
"So... Amber right, my name is Mateo and this less masculine guy beside me is Leone. Why don't you tell us more about yourself, like where you're from, your family and other things. " started Mateo, doing his best to keep his eyes away from Amber's modest but eye catching chest and on her face, unlike Leone who was blatantly staring.
Sensing hostility from one of the females, Amber blew her a kiss after saying that she swung both ways and ended it all with a seductive wink, leaving Ayleen flustered.
Before Mateo and Leone had the chance to make even bigger fools of themselves, the adults had returned with the verdict. Amber would be allowed to go with them.
This decision came to be after factoring in the fact that she could expose the dungeon's location to others who may or may not want to cause them harm. As for their safety in the dungeon, they outnumbered her so there was no worries about that.
Suiting up, the group waddled through the ankle-high seawater before entering the dungeon with Amber in their midst.
The brief change of scenery was unwelcome, since the group had travelled from the bright, hot midday sun to the cold, dark, knee high waters of the cave.
Turning on the flashlights on the protective suit's helmet, everyone had a clear field of vision except Amber who refused the suit she was offered.
Wading for a while, the quietness of the dungeon was just about to become suspicious until Mateo screamed and fell.
Soon after, the temperature of the water increased leading Wilson to pull the hurt and cursing Mateo out of the water.
Soon the culprit in the form of a Rank 1 PEACOCK MANTIS SHRIMP was found.
Channeling all his anger, Mateo dropped a boulder on the head sized shrimp, killing it in one attack as confirmed by the 1xp he got.
Shrieking sounds were heard as the troupe of shrimps reacted to the death of one of their own.
Wanting to vent out his pain some more, Mateo shook the stinging feeling in his leg off and readied his Glock 18, the fastest automatic machine pistol that existed.
The force created by the movement of a troupe of about a 1000 shrimps was no laughing matter, especially if the troupe consisted mainly of mantis shrimps, known for their title as the creature with the fastest punches, punches that are believed to heat water due to their speed.
With little fear in their eyes, everyone but Amber fired bullets into the shrimps who didn't slow down their speed.
The shrimp troupe had reached about 10 feet away from them and were still coming strong until Amber did something that shocked everyone.
Diving down for a short while, she returned to the surface and broke out into song, keep the tide of water still with an outstretched hand.
Deciding to ignore her new scaly appearance, the families focused on eliminating most of the shrimps, leaving a few for Amber who caused a small whirlpool that sucked in and crushed the few ones alive.
With all the shrimp dead, everyone pointed their guns at Amber as if agreed beforehand while Julian began asking questions.
"Miss Amber, state your full name, age, race and affiliation to mankind."
"I - I am Amber Leaf, a 19 year old human with no evil plans for mankind." stammered Amber, clearly not expecting this kind of thanks after practically saving them.
"How are we supposed to believe you, after all you don't look human."
"Well, technically I was born human, but after taking a potion I transformed into what you see before you, just like Leone did, I assume."
Raising a valid point, the guns were lowered, all except for Wilson's own since he had been suspicious of her from the begin.
"So what exactly are you?"
"I'm a mermaid, you know, like the ones in those cartoons and movies, only I don't lure people to their death."
"Yet", chimed in Ayleen who didn't like how Amber's more defined chest highlighted by the wet top she was wearing took all of Leone's attention.
Apologising for his daughter's words and their actions, Julian offered to hand over the dungeon to Amber which was quickly agreed on by the others since it didn't fancy anyone in particular.
Asking a few more questions to satisfy their curiosity about mermaids, the group followed Amber to the core room, killing any random shrimps they encountered.
Before entering the core room, Amber started humming a melodious tune, causing the water to develop a luminous sheen to it which cured Mateo of his aching legs and returned everyone's stamina back to peak condition.
Standing outside the core room to protect against intruders, the group heard the scream of pain caused by a dungeon core fusion and after a short time, probably due to her superior race, Amber came out with a smile.
Walking to the entrance together, the younger ones, under the advice of their parents exchanged contacts with Amber, promising to call when they encountered another water based dungeon.
Setting the conditions necessary to be challenged for the dungeon as a swimming race through mantis and pistol shrimp infested waters, a wise stipulation considering her race.
Exchanging goodbyes, they watched as she transformed back into her mermaid form before quickly swimming away from Laguna Beach, confirming how difficult it would be for her to lose the dungeon.
Sitting back in their respective vehicles, the tired families sped off eager to sleep away the tiredness accumulated from a tense 2 hours of dungeon hunting.
Reaching home in under an hour, they shared a light meal, reviewed the battle and congratulated Wilson and Mateo, the highest levelled people, both at level 11 with the rest all at level 10, except Ayleen, level 9, due to her being too busy looking at Leone and his hot new form some of the time.