Shovels In Spades

'Master Identification,' Daz invoked mentally, but surprisingly, nothing happened.

He wasn't shown a detailed description of the illusion masking Atlantis like he had expected. 'I guess I can't identify things that are hidden? Rose's version of Master Identification must be specialised to doing just that then, right? Identifying everything, even if only at a basic level. Otherwise, there's no way that she would know as much as she does about everything even with that big brain of hers and access to a limited system database. Well, she also has that guessing skill of hers, so I suppose it doesn't really matter...'

Daz crossed his arms over his chest as he stood there on the ocean floor and held his chin while he began thinking of ways to destroy or get through the illusion.

Before long, Daz decided to take Hamson out of his brand once again and swing it where he was certain the illusion began. The water in front of him rippled unnaturally and seemed to stretch.

'Okay, so that's a possibility. Hamson's sharp enough to damage the illusion, so I could always create a tear in it or outright destroy it. I kinda wanna keep it in place though since it could be useful once the city belongs to me, so that's a shelved option for now,' Daz concluded.

He was happy to have a seemingly certain plan if his other ideas fell through.

Next, the reaper used the skill Mass Dig, resulting in a big hole that was 30-cubic-meters in size appearing in front of him. He then bent over and picked up a chunk of the seafloor and tossed it towards the far end of this new hole.

Like magic, it simply disappeared, presumably having been sent to the other end of the illusion like Daz had. 'Huh. So the illusion covers underground as well. I kinda expected that, but it sure as hell would have been nice for such an easy exploit to exist. Well, I guess that only leaves trusting my instincts and hoping that there's actually a path through this illusion. It'll be annoying if it's restricted in a way that you can only enter it if you're an Alphorian.'

He sighed and shook his head softly before he began asking his instincts to bring him to the weakest point of the illusion or its entrance - if it had one.

'I guess I'm lucky,' Daz remarked as he saw the space in front of him that was rippling furiously. Occasionally, he could see glimpses of buildings through these ripples, though they were far and it was very dark, so it was hard to really tell.

'I wonder if this part of the illusion just degraded over time, or if it was heavily damaged during the fight with the powerful being? Anyway, I should be able to tear this part open with Hamson without destroying the whole illusion, or, at least, that's what my gut tells me,' Daz remarked internally and then summoned Hamson again.

Without even a shred of hesitation, he cut a vertical slit into the already weakened section of the illusion. Instantly, the sight of the city in the distance became focused and clear despite it still being almost pitch-black.

Daz could see that the illusion was trying its best to repair the hole he'd carved out as quickly as it possibly could, and not wanting to damage it any more than he already had, he stepped through the tear he had created.

'I wonder why Rose never mentioned the illusion?' Daz thought as he began walking on the seafloor towards the blue and golden ruins off in the distance. 'Did she not guess about it, so never knew, or was she aware of how sharp Hamson is now that he's fused with an imitation of a real god's weapon, knew about the weakened section of the illusion, and was confident Hamson could cut into it? Hmm... both seem possible.'

Daz entertained himself with such thoughts as he hopped on Hamson and let the shovel take him to Atlantis.