[You have received Mythical Artifact: The Hookshot. This device works by magically propelling its hook into certain targets and then propelling the user forward towards the hooked location.]

"A what now?" I muttered, turning the device over in my hands.

Crystal chimed in with an oddly chipper tone, [In my world, there’s a legend of a word kid who bullies a pig with one of these.]

I blinked. "Bullies a pig…?"

Crystal didn’t elaborate, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know more. Still, the sarcasm in her tone made it feel like things were... somewhat back to normal between us. I shook my head, focusing on the tool in my hands. The hookshot would be useful if it worked the way I imagined, but there was only one way to find out.

I raised the hookshot, its weight balanced perfectly in my grip. The room was filled with those bizarre bullseye and cross-eye targets I had noticed earlier. I aimed carefully at the bullseye on the far side of the chamber, really wishing I had the [Aim] skill at that moment. My heart raced as I pulled the trigger, hoping I wasn't about to make a fool of myself.

The hook shot out with a sharp clang, propelling forward faster than any magic spell I had cast. It zipped across the room and connected with the bullseye, a metallic thunk echoing as it latched onto the target.

I blinked. One second, I was standing still, arm outstretched—and the next, I was yanked forward like I had just hitched a ride on a speeding carriage. The world blurred around me as I shot through the air, my stomach lurching from the sudden movement. In seconds, I was dangling from the bullseye, hanging there like an awkward decoration. The sheer force of the hookshot had left me winded, but my grin was impossible to suppress.

I clicked the release button, and the hook retracted, dropping me safely to the ground. I let out a small whoop as I dusted myself off. This thing was going to be fun.

I wasted no time and made my way back through the door into the previous room. The jellyfish-like creatures were long gone, their electrified presence just a bad memory. I glanced around, trying to figure out my next move, when frustration began to creep in. I wasn’t in the mood for more puzzles or dead ends.

In a moment of pure impatience, I aimed the hookshot straight upward, targeting one of the massive statues in the room above me. The hook shot out, latching onto the stone figure with a satisfying clank. I grinned like a madman as I pressed the button, and the hookshot yanked me up through the air.

I soared upward, the wind rushing past my face. Within seconds, I was hanging off the statue, feeling a surge of triumph as I hauled myself up onto the edge of a small square hole. My boots hit solid ground, and I whooped again, more out of exhilaration than anything else.

Now that I was back above, I spotted the chest I had noticed earlier. It had remained unopened during the chaos of the fight. Eagerly, I approached it and threw the lid open. Inside was yet another key—ornate and ancient-looking, but still just a key.

"Great, another key," I muttered, pocketing it.

The room, however, was a dead end. No door, no other clues. I sighed and retraced my steps back to the hall I had originally fallen through, hookshot in hand. The adrenaline from the hookshot rides was still buzzing through me, but now I was itching to find a way out.

I spent the next few minutes trying to latch onto several different objects in the hall, hoping I could shortcut my way back up to the higher floors. The hookshot fired with a sharp click, but each time it snapped back uselessly, the hook refusing to catch on anything. I tried the ceiling, the walls, even a few dangling chains that looked promising—but nothing. The stone here was slick, worn down by who knows how many years of water and wind, offering no grip.

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Frustration bubbled up in me as the hookshot once again clicked against the wall without latching. I growled under my breath. "Of course, it can’t be that easy."

With no luck finding a shortcut, I resigned myself to doing things the hard way. If there was one thing I was learning, it was that nothing in this place came without a fight. Reluctantly, I holstered the hookshot and pressed on, walking deeper into the twisting corridors. The walls here were damp, the air thick with moisture that made every step feel heavier. It smelled like stale water and something faintly metallic, like rust or blood.

I entered the next room, fully expecting some kind of challenge or trap. After the jellyfish and shifting platforms, I was braced for just about anything. But instead, the room was disappointingly mundane—a stone chamber with a ramp leading upward, presumably to the next floor. The sight made me blink in confusion. There were no pressure plates, no sinister enemies lurking in the shadows. It was just… a ramp.

I wasn’t one to look a gift-horse—or camel—in the mouth. If the room wanted to be nice, I’d take it. I shook off the unease gnawing at my gut and began walking up the ramp. Each step echoed in the silence, and for a moment, I thought I might actually get through without any drama.

I should’ve known better.

As soon as I stepped into the next room, everything went crazy.

The first thing I noticed was the wind. Powerful gusts howled through the chamber, sweeping across a narrow stone bridge that stretched over another dark chasm. But this wasn’t normal wind. It had a visible, almost tangible form, shimmering with a faint blue glow. The gusts twisted and writhed like living things, crashing into the bridge with enough force to send loose stones tumbling into the abyss below. It had to be magically imbued, the kind of wind that could throw me off balance in an instant if I wasn’t careful.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. The room was crawling with jellyfish—dozens of them. Their red, electrified tendrils sparked dangerously, casting eerie flickers of light that danced across the stone walls. They were floating above and below the bridge, like glowing predators lying in wait, ready to zap me the moment I stepped too close.

I gritted my teeth, adrenaline kicking in. There was no way I could outrun both the jellyfish and the wind. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted it—a bullseye target mounted above the door leading into the next room. My mind raced, and an idea hit me.

Without wasting a second, I whipped out the hookshot, aimed for the bullseye, and fired. The hook shot out with a sharp clang, connecting with the target just as another gust of wind barreled across the bridge.

I was pulled through the air like a speeding arrow, narrowly dodging one of the jellyfish’s electrified tendrils. The hookshot yanked me past the magical wind and over the bridge, depositing me on solid ground just in front of the door. I landed with a grunt, feeling the sting of exertion in my muscles, but I didn’t have time to rest.

I pushed through the door, heart pounding, and entered the next room. As soon as I stepped inside, a sense of foreboding washed over me.

I sighed in frustration. The layout of the room made it painfully obvious what was about to happen. A thin layer of water covered the floor, barely ankle-deep but enough to send a chill through my boots. The air smelled briny, like the sea, and something else—something rancid and decayed. I could feel it in my bones: this was a boss room.

And in the center of the room, blocking the only way forward, was a creature straight out of my nightmares.

It was a massive vampire squid.

The thing was grotesque, towering at least fifteen feet high, its body a deep, oily black that glistened with an unnatural, iridescent sheen whenever the dim light hit it. Its head was bulbous, swollen with dark fluid, and slick with a thick layer of mucus that dripped into the water below, creating small ripples. The sight of it made my stomach churn.

Its eyes—cold, red, and far too large for its face—glowed like malevolent lanterns in the gloom. They were unblinking, fixated on me with a predatory gleam that sent a shiver down my spine. Each eye was the size of a dinner plate, glistening with dark intelligence. This thing wasn’t just a dumb beast—it was studying me, weighing its options.

The squid’s tentacles unfurled slowly, like it was savoring the moment. There were ten of them, each one thicker than my torso and covered in rows of serrated hooks that gleamed dangerously. They weren’t ordinary suckers—no, these were built for tearing flesh. The longest tentacles ended in wide, webbed membranes that resembled bat wings, fluttering in the air as the creature shifted its weight.

The vampire squid’s tentacles twitched, and in that moment, I knew it was getting ready to strike.