Dragged into Another World's Apocalypse - A LitRPG Story

"No!" Arianna! "Help!"

That was it. Cassis threw every plan of grinding skills and slow growth out the window.

He'd worried when the turtle bit his mother, but she had reacted beautifully, hugging the stealth beast's head so the others could strike. Fire had been weak against its water affinity, but Benny's wind blade and Nadine's wind arrows had the best chance of killing it. Cassis's own fire blade might have killed it. He was strong enough to do so. The mana blade he could summon through shared channelling with Arianna would have ended it for sure.

But he had held back. He'd wanted everyone to grow. Wanted them to fight, to learn, to earn their strength.

That didn't matter anymore.

"Elena, Dad! Stand by!" he barked through party chat. "As soon as I bring up Mom and Arianna, Elena cooks the oasis with fire, Dad uses earth spikes on the bottom where its body has to be. Nadine, Benny! Wind attacks as soon as you see it. Use your full mana, charge them now! Joseph, Luke! Harass it whenever it shows up, keep it distracted. Helen, track the stealth weave and call out its position. And… you may need to do CPR on Mom."

While he was giving out those orders, Cassis dove into the oasis.

It swallowed him whole, water pressing in from every direction. He poured mana into Blazing Body until heat shimmered off him even beneath the surface, a blazing bubble of defence. His vision cleared. There. Arianna and his mother, suspended in the water, wrapped inside Arianna's barrier.

"Arianna! Dissolve the barrier!" he urged through the link.

He didn't want to waste precious time breaking it. They wouldn't die immediately. Their level 20 F-rank bodies could last close to ten minutes without air, mana sustaining what lungs could not. Still, the shutdown reflex was brutal. He remembered his own early dives in underwater dungeons, blacking out again and again. The torture of not breathing.

The turtle slammed against Arianna's dome. She had called for help, but even unconscious, she had kept herself and his mother safe. His brilliant, stubborn partner.

"Arianna, I'm here. Please, dissolve the barrier."

The turtle shrieked as it lunged, snapping jaws inches from him, but it recoiled at the heat radiating off his flaming body. Stealth and ambush had made it dangerous, not raw strength. Without that freak wave, Benny's blade would've finished it already.

Cassis pressed forward, feeling desperation bubble up inside him. Intellectually, he knew that they were fine, but seeing their lifeless bodies in front of him brought back the nightmare that was his past life. "Arianna, it's me. You're safe. Dissolve the barrier."

And like a miracle, Arianna's eyes shot open wide, her body jerking. "Cassis!"

"You don't need to breathe right now," he told her firmly, locking eyes. "I know it feels unbearable, but hold on. Your body can handle this."

She forced herself under control, managed a shaky nod. Relief surged through him. Then she dissolved the barrier.

Cassis dropped his Blazing Body, grabbed his mother's limp form, and kicked upward. The turtle lunged immediately, appearing just before him, only to slam against the shield Arianna summoned right away. Purple blood trailed from its eye. Arianna must have injured it.

It vanished again.

They swam hard, time ticking. Even if their bodies could handle it, Cassis wanted to get out of the oasis fast. Who knew what other strange abilities that turtle had. He wouldn't get surprised by it again.

Whenever the beast appeared, Arianna conjured another barrier. She was getting good at predicting where it would appear.

And then, at last, the surface broke above them, dazzling with sunlight.

They swam hard toward the shore. The oasis wasn't wide, but it had been unexpectedly deep.

Suddenly, Cassis felt something solid beneath his feet, a massive water shield. Arianna had outdone herself this time. He stood and carried his unconscious mother to land. Helen was already waiting, and as soon as Cassis set her down, she began CPR.

Arianna sank down beside her, gasping for air. She shot Cassis a sharp glare. He had no idea why, but there was no time to ask.

"Your water shield, does it cover the whole oasis?" he asked.

Arianna gave a breathless nod.

Good. They had time. Cassis turned back.

Elena was already pouring mana into an enormous fireball, her face tight with concentration. His father's expression, scrunched with pain, told Cassis he'd begun using earth spikes. That would cost a lot, but it would make it very uncomfortable for the turtle's body. This kind of strain would leave his father with a brutal headache.

"You can let go of the water shield now," Cassis told Arianna.

The moment she released it, Elena hurled her blazing spell into the water. Another followed. And another. She kept going, groaning from the drain, but refusing to stop. Cassis joined in, unleashing Flame Burst after Flame Burst. They would cook this damned turtle alive.

Behind him, his mother sputtered, alive and awake. Relief surged through him. Knowing she was alright was different from seeing it.

Then Helen's urgent voice rang out: "In front of Elena!"

The monster's head appeared only centimetres in front of her, ready to bite her head off. Benny was already there, his strongest wind blade stabbing into its skull. Nadine loosed her arrow, wind mana shrieking as it drove deep.

Joseph and Luke didn't even need to move. The combined strikes were enough.

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The turtle collapsed, lifeless. Finally they could see its whole body as its stealth was dismantled upon its death. That creature's neck was abnormally long, just as they had thought.

[Congratulations! You have completed the objective: "Kill the Turtle of the Oasis."]
[You may now leave the dungeon if you bring the turtle's pearl to the gate.]
[EXP gained. Level gained.]

[Spell Blazing Body rank up to Advanced]

[Spell Fire Lance rank up to Intermediate]

[Spell Flame Burst rank up to Expert]

Cassis raised his eyebrows. No wonder his head was pounding. He'd thrown too many spells and drained too much mana.

His father and Elena collapsed to their knees and vomited. Mana depletion.

Warmth spread through his body, soothing the pain. Arianna was healing everyone again. She was still glaring at him, though. What was her problem? He'd saved her, hadn't he?

The group slowly gathered.

"The pearl isn't with the head," Joseph said. "So it should be with the body. Do we need to dive down?"

Cassis nodded. "Yeah. But we should wait until the water stops boiling first."

The oasis still bubbled, steam rising from the surface.

"I'm not diving again," his mother groaned, holding her stomach.

"Yeah, someone else can do it," Arianna muttered. "I've had enough of that oasis." Then, under her breath: "I hate deserts. I really, really hate them."

Cassis smirked. She was cute sometimes.

They rested while the water cooled, passing the time by comparing gains. Arianna's face lit up.

"My Water Manipulation ranked up to Beginner and I got a new spell: Water Lance. And it even started at Beginner rank!" she said gleefully. "I think it's because of Water Manipulation reaching a higher rank."

That spell would be a huge help to her. Everyone else had improved too, though no one had received anything new. Helen, however, had advanced her Awareness to Master rank.

That reminded him.

"What is the stealth weave?" Cassis asked.

At the same time, Arianna blurted out the same question. She grinned at him, the first smile he'd seen from her since the fight.

Helen shrugged. "I noticed it first when my stealth hit Expert. Awareness has three dimensions: senses, mana particles, and the stealth weave. Most people only know about the first two. You can sometimes pierce the weave if your senses or mana are sharp enough or your opponent's stealth isn't good enough, but it's inconsistent. To truly grasp it, you need to learn stealth yourself, become part of the blanket covering everything. Only then can you understand it."

Cassis froze. That explained why he had never broken through to Master in Awareness. He'd never even known about the stealth weave.

He turned to Arianna. She smirked, her eyes glittering with mischief.

She mouthed carefully: Should. Have. Had. Team. Mates.

Cassis rolled his eyes. She'd never let him forget his lonely past. Admittedly, it had been simpler then. He hadn't had to worry about anyone else, only himself. His choices had only endangered him.

But even so, he preferred this. This team. These people he could trust. They'd been through so much together, and they were still standing. Still fighting.

Finally, the water stopped bubbling. The oasis had cooled enough that they wouldn't boil alive diving in. Luke and Joseph volunteered to retrieve the pearl and the body. The rest waited.

Cassis seized the moment. Arianna still seemed grumpy, and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why. He gestured for her to follow, and they stepped a little further from the others.

"What's wrong? Why are you angry at me?" he asked, straight to the point.

Arianna scrunched her nose, drew in a sharp breath and smacked him on the upper arm.

Cassis blinked. "What—?" That had actually hurt. She was at the same level as him and a warrior–cleric hybrid.

She smacked him again. And again. Then she exhaled heavily, clearly steeling herself.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me I didn't need to breathe for some time?!" Her voice was sharp, angry.

Cassis rubbed his poor upper arm and tilted his head, genuinely baffled. "I thought you knew?"

Arianna's nostrils flared. "And how exactly was I supposed to know?"

"Well, how else did you think I survived all those underwater dungeons?"

Her eyes widened. Then she whisper-shouted, her voice shaking. "You were C-rank at your first underwater one! I thought your body had adapted! You didn't really talk to me back then, remember?"

He searched his memory. Had he really never mentioned that? He couldn't recall. Maybe… she was right.

Cassis grimaced. "…Sorry."

Arianna's shoulders slumped. "I was really scared. I thought I was going to die when I couldn't breathe." Her voice cracked, not with anger now, but with lingering fear.

Without thinking, Cassis pulled her into a hug. She didn't resist. In fact, she clung to him fiercely, though her body still trembled with frustration.

"Sorry," he said again, softer this time.

"…Okay." Her reply was muffled against his chest, but she hugged him tighter.

They stayed like that until a shout broke the moment.

"Hey! We found the pearl!" Joseph's voice echoed across the oasis.

Cassis let out a breath. "Sounds like that's our cue."

Arianna finally smiled, eyes glittering with relief. "Then let's get out of here."

Only a day later, they reached the gate. Joseph had relied on his hunting skill again, guiding them directly to it. In truth, the gate had been ridiculously close to the oasis. If they hadn't deliberately slowed down to grind levels, they might've finished this dungeon in just two days, which translated to only a few hours in real time.

By Cassis' internal calculations, they had been inside for nearly two weeks. Outside, that would be about two days. That was the usual time dilation for F-rank dungeons: one week inside equalled one day outside. E-ranks weren't much different. It was the higher ranks, D and C, where time dilations varied wildly. And starting from B-rank, the rules twisted even more: one month inside equalled a single day outside.

Before stepping through the gate, they gathered to decide who would keep the loot.

"The watering can should go to Joseph," Arianna suggested. "It looks like it gives buffs or debuffs depending on the user. He can use it for the mana farming experiments."

The others nodded. Joseph beamed as he accepted the oversized can. "Thanks, guys. I'll make the most of it. Once we're done with this dungeon business, I think I'll finally break through. I've also been in touch with Marnie's community. They've got fewer dungeons, but they're clearing them steadily."

Cassis was impressed. Marnie's people had been living under constant siege ever since the first wave, monsters roaming freely through Belaney Park and spilling into the streets. Their grit was something to admire.

Next came the turtle's pearl. No one quite knew what to make of it. Arianna studied the orb, her fingers tingling as water mana hummed around it.

"It's saturated with water mana," she admitted, "but beyond that, I'm not sure what it's for."

The group quickly voted for her to keep it. Arianna had become their default when it came to anything involving mana. If anyone could unravel its secrets, it was her.

While the decision hung in the air, Cassis dug into his inventory and produced the blowdart necklace from the frogman chief in the Rezon dungeon. "We kind of forgot to decide what to do with this." He glanced around at the familiar faces, most of the raid party from back then were here again. His parents could even vote on behalf of Liam and Camden.

Nadine raised her hand hesitantly. "If no one else wants it… may I? A blowdart fits with my class. It would give me another line of attack. This one might be too big, but I could model a smaller one after it. I'd need to try it out first"

No one objected. The necklace went to her. The watering can, though awkwardly large as well, Joseph would manage. After all, it was just pouring water.

With that settled, they finally stepped through the gate.

Vertigo spun Cassis for a heartbeat before familiar scenery sharpened into view: his hometown. He checked the timer at once and exhaled in relief. The counter had reset to four months.

This time, no one waited outside. No soldiers, no curious civilians, no reporters. Everyone was too busy with their own dungeons, scrambling against the ticking clock.

His mother pulled out her phone, thumbs already flying, probably messaging Liam and the kids. Cassis also retrieved his phone from his inventory. The screen confirmed the date. They'd been gone two days. Which meant today was the day the first dungeons were set to break.

He clenched his jaw. Hopefully, most communities had cleared theirs in time.

They made their way to the cars. Tonight, they would rest. Tomorrow, the work would begin again. He and Arianna would each lead their own teams into new dungeons, levelling more people, scouting routes and monsters.

Cassis let his gaze drift to the horizon. He only hoped everything would work out this time.