V2Ch58 New Dungeon

I removed the powers of the kitsune before following the wall on the right side of this massive cave. I followed the wall for an hour before my feet began to feel a wetness. Water was seeping from somewhere. The floor began to get slippery. I was trying to be cautious but, the slippery surface got the best of me.

I fell and hit the ground hard. My body was so emaciated that I was sure I had several broken ribs.

I heard a loud crack. Before I could stand, the ground gave way and I began to fall. I hit a smooth surface that was angled down. Aside from the fresh rubble that came with me, there were amounts of water, enough to make the surface slippery. It was like I was on a water slide.

I swear I must have been sliding down for ten minutes. It was mostly a straight shot. Not so many turns. What caught my attention the most was, the further down I got, the brighter it got. Bioluminescent algae was growing along the walls. I was able to see more of my surroundings.

I saw a mass of light coming at me. The slide got much steeper and I began to slide that much faster. I was let out into a large room that was covered in bioluminescence. It looked like a scene from a fantasy underwater cave.

*SPLASH*

I was dumped off into a large pool of water... saltwater. I emerged from the pool after a bit of swimming. The room was mostly empty and had a greenish-blue hue. Dead coral and other sea plantlife littered the floors near and on the walls. I saw only one way to leave this room. An opening that was unhindered.

I made my way toward the opening. As I did, a naga emerged from it. She let out a horrendous scream before throwing her trident at me.

My body was so weak that I could not dodge. Her aim was deadly. My head was severed in a single throw. My head landed in the perfect spot, to where I could watch the naga drag my carcass away. I just hoped no other naga would enter while I regenerate my body.

I spoke with the other voices in my head. So far, only Fear was still missing. It also seemed that my body was regenerating slower than normal. We came to a consensus on several things.

Firstly, Sorrow was probably right about the head injury linked to communication loss. I had never had a major head injury before. It took longer to heal and thus longer to reconnect with my other selves, Rage and Mother.

Second, I had more energy to regenerate when I was eating meals with my friends and wives. Food was not necessary but, It was useful enough to speed up my base regeneration.

Third, in order to get out of here, I may have to use my powers. Not only that but, I may have to train myself to use them on command and more efficiently. I was hesitant because Anger and Sorrow were the powers that I had the most problems with. Either I can't bring the power out or I go berserk with them and destroy vast amounts of land.

However, Fear is still out of contact and thus, my shadows may be unavailable. I would have to start with Anger or Sorrow.

My body was nearing full regeneration. I felt renewed with energy. I took a census of my body parts to make sure everything was in order. Everything was present, in fact, my body regrew to a state where I was not emaciated. This could be a handy deception tactic later on. I explored the large room away from the single entrance. It was almost a U-shaped room.

I stayed out of view of the entrance while I began to practice summoning the powers derived from Anger. It took some patience, but I knew I could do it because I had done so before.

I had it down within two hours. I could increase my physical capabilities quite a bit until it was on par with the time I was fighting the giants in Ula Thyfe.

I felt ready to take on a naga.

I watched from behind some dead coral. I saw the singular naga patrol go past the doorway. That was my cue to run up and take a peek. I looked in both directions and saw nothing but long hallways. The lone naga began to turn. I hid around the corner and waited for her to slither past.

I heard her get close before I jumped out and slammed my fist against her. The hallway was narrow. She was so close to the wall that her body was pinned against it when my fist broke through her arm and pierced the side of her torso. She was instantly dead. I pulled my bloodied fist out of her body.

I shook my hand hard enough to get most of the blood off before wondering what direction should I take next. I went right when I woke up. How about I go left?

There was only a single room at the end of this hall. It was a small room. The centerpiece was a naga of some repute. He was similarly decorated as the one I had seen after my void sphere incident in the Troll Lands. He was wrinkled and weak.

"An intruder... Have you come to kill me? Are all of the guards dead? Can my people finally get a well-deserved rest?"

"What? I only just got here. I did kill the guard patrolling the hallway."

"Only just? How came you by an entrance? There should be only one. You could not get here without facing hordes of my people."

"I was held up in a dark cave. I fell and landed in a pool of the room down the hall."

I found it strange that we could simply talk like this. I wasn't complaining though. He wasn't trying to kill me.

"A cave above? Boy, we are in the farthest depths of the ocean. There isn't much above... unless..."

The ocean? The theme of this dungeon fits but, how did I get so far down?

"Unless?"

"Would you do me a favor? Two actually."

"That depends on what that favor is."

"Kill me..."

"Wha..."

"Then... kill my kin. They are suffering. They are old. Their minds are gone. They are no longer living. They are just... existing. We were once a noble people. We lived openly in the sea. It was bountiful. We nurtured the ocean and it nurtured us in return."

The old naga took a breath.

"Then, the Magician stole the lifeblood of so many things in this world. The great water spirits thrived on mana. When it was consumed, the great spirits were lost. Our ocean began to die. The fish began to disappear. The plant life began to dwindle. My own daughter was killed and eaten by our own kind."

He was visibly disturbed at what he had just repeated.

"After my daughter, I swore to find us all a new home. We couldn't find any place in the ocean that was worth staying in. Our last attempts were on land. Our bodies were not meant for the open air. We had to change our bodies to adapt. One of our last great minds found a method. Our crusade was about to begin. We were thwarted on several fronts. Our ninth battle was our last attempt. We faced only a single enemy. He was stronger than our entire army. We had to retreat back into the sea. These caves were all that we could find."

His words became weaker the longer he talked. I was about to tell him to get some rest.

"These caves do not represent salvation. They are damnation. The only food source we could grow affected our minds after so long. The ingredients to change our bodies to the environment had been muddied. This caused even more loss of one's self. I am from the earliest generations with the purest of ingredients. That is the only reason I can speak to you. I beg of you. End my people's suffering."

The old naga was finally out of breath.

"You know..."

Or so I thought.

"I would prefer it if you could tear out my heart. You are s... strong. I can tell."

His breath was escaping him even more now. I wondered if he was near death's door already. I suppose, there would be no harm in humoring this old naga.

"Are you sure?"

I asked. He merely shook his head and halfway raised a hand before it dropped to his side. I got close. My hand was quick and fierce. His eye went wide when the wound in his chest was made. He stared into my soul through my own eyes.

"It's... y..."

He was dead. I dropped the still heart to the floor at my side. What was he trying to say?

I had no more purpose here. I needed to practice hand to hand so I left the blades behind. Since there was only one way to go from here, my decision was easy.

I found a room that had a circle of twelve naga. They were engrossed in some kind of chant and had not noticed me yet. I decided to try taking them by surprise. To MY surprise, one of them looked up and saw me.

"RAAHHHHHHH INTRUDER!"

They began to charge at me. Only three of them went for weapons. The others just came straight at me. I didn't mind. I wanted to try using more power than before. I dodged several swipes at me. When I found an opening, I went all out with a single punch. My fist didn't even feel the impact. It was like I punched through Jell-O. The flesh just liquified at my power. The blood from my victim splattered on the naga behind her.

They all stopped in horror. They looked like they had no idea what to do. A spear flew past me. I saw it before it was too late and dodged two more before I caught one and threw it back. I put a spin on the spear. Handle or blade, the circular motion cut three naga in half before it embedded itself into a wall.

There are eight naga left.

One tried to grab my arm while I dodged a swipe from another. I grabbed her wrist and crushed it like a hotdog. While she was distracted by the pain, I pulled her backward and kicked her back, thrusting her body into a comrade of hers. They both hit the wall hard enough to kill.

Six hostiles left. Four of them tried to leap at me at once. I had always seen it done in the movies but never tried it. I attempted a roundhouse kick. My kick was dead on and the power was undiminished. I hit one head and it hit another, then another and then the last. Their bodies went flying into the wall on my left. My landing was terrible though. I almost smashed my face into the ground. The last two were before me. One was throwing spears, the other was trying to figure out what to do.

The weaponless naga lunged at me with claws outstretched and teeth bared at me. I caught her head and crushed it in the palm of my left hand. I moved the body between me and the next spear. I pulled the spear from the body before I let go of the naga head. The next throw ended with her head impaled and hitting the wall behind her body.

I continued to explore the naga caves while improving my fighting style and power for some time.

I came across a room that looked like it was some kind of agricultural center. Many open pools with a moss-like substance could be observed. I witnessed some naga eating a handful of the moss. I cleared out the room in no time.

I wondered If I could use that moss to give my body more energy. I took a bite of the moss. It tasted like seaweed. I was not fond of the flavor but, I downed enough to fill my stomach. I found some makings for a kind of loincloth. I was not happy, wandering in hostile territory with my equipment loose. I moved a heavy rock in front of the entrance to this room and went to sleep.

When I awoke, Sorrow convinced me to try activating her power, since I was in a safe environment to do so. After hours of attempts, I was able to summon what I called a void glove. The disintegration power wrapped around my hand without destroying my hand in the process.

The rock that was blocking the entrance to the room was cut in half with zero effort. Just a gentle swipe of my hand. Sorrow told me that, with practice, I could use this power as an undefeatable weapon. Attacks would be useless and nothing could defend against the void.

The day was dedicated to practicing with the power of the void. At least, I assume it's daytime since I feel awake. There was no real way to tell what time of day it was down here. I began to get sleepy after clearing nearly 45 rooms.

"One more, then I'll call it quits for a while."

I told myself. The next room was different than the rest. It had no coral or sea life to speak of. The colors were a deep marine blue with a raised platform in the center. The only life in this room was a single... mermaid. An actual mermaid. Not a naga.

She was beautiful. Her tail was shimmering orange. Her hair was a long and flowing green. She had nothing clothing her. She didn't notice me. I was just watching the beauty, in awe.

The mermaid took a small object and put it in her mouth. She looked terrified, almost. Her terror turned to pain. She began to scream and clench her head with her hands. I started to get close but, it felt like I was too late. Whatever she ate was doing something to her. Changing her.

Her scales got rough. Spikes began to emerge from between scales. Spiked fins burst out from her arms, ears and back. Her eyes finally opened and looked clouded. Her human-colored upper half grew green scales and bonelike armor, right before my eyes. Her gorgeous hair fell out. Her body gave one last heave before she fell off of the raised platform.

Naga were mermaids...

Why would they do this?

She began to push herself up, off of the ground. She was weak. Even so, she began to charge at me the moment she saw me. The mermaid before me stood no chance. Her claw was severed with a precision swipe of my void glove. I reached out and swiped right to left. Her body convulsed and fell to the floor next to her head. Such a shame for a beauty, to turn into a mindless creature.

I felt horrible over the sight I just saw. Was this a ritual? Is this a cult thing? Survival? Do they go mad when they transform? Again, so many questions.

Then it hit me. This was the transformation that the old naga spoke of. Mermaids had to transform in order to survive out of the water. The mermaid attack in the Troll Lands was actually a mermaid attack. I recalled the battle that was held there. The devastation that I wrought. Was their final battle, the one against me?

A horrible thought raced through my mind. Did I damn the mermaids to this place? I recalled the last naga I saw before I came here. The one I threatened to never attack land again. He didn't just look like the old naga I had killed. It WAS the old naga.

Oh fuck... How long have I been down here?

I was tired from keeping my void glove up for such a long period. I couldn't think. I wanted to rest now.

I blocked the doorway and tried to sleep once more.