Scattered bones and gut spilling corpses of countless fishes scattered through the already dark and murky water, Bug cuts through it all without a care, darting straight for her target. With four arms, two legs, a pair of wings, and a freshly modified tail purpose built for swimming carrying her through the water, Bug is cutting through at an alarming pace, darting straight for the last place she saw the massive fish before diving in.

Without echolocation or any other advanced forms of detection like an electro-sensory system, Bug has to rely on sight to find her target. With her bioluminescence pushed to the max and every scale on her body glowing green, the darkness of the water is pushed back a fair distance and allows her to see somewhat in the merk.

With how fast she is cutting through the water and pushing against the currents caused by the battle, she soon finds the golden beauty just as it is tail whips away another of her Kappa, scattering it into bone shards and a sinking turtle shell. Bug doesn’t stop moving. The moment she has sight of her target she is blasting forward with a flap of her wings and slamming into the side of the fish's side.

The poor creature is already covered in wounds and is bleeding from all over where the scales on its side had been torn away or bitten through by ravenous zombie fish and sharp Kappa claws.

Plowing into its bulbous body, Bug and her target are sent tumbling though the water in a cloud of blood as the fish fights to recover its balance. Kicking its tail and shaking its body violently, the fish takes off into the water with Bug latched onto its side, her claws already buried into its scales and holding on with all her strength.

Swimming away fast and leaving the Undead behind, the fish carries Bug away as it darts and weaves, panicking as it tries to shake off the little predator that already has it in her claws. If Bug could laugh right now, she would, but her respiratory system is still just an ad hawk thrown together solution right now. She can’t open her mouth without risking swallowing a bunch of water or getting it all stuck in her regular lungs. But if she could? She would be laughing manically right now as she slowly climbs her way towards the beast’s head!

One hand after the other, stabbing her elongated claws into its scales with each advance as she climbs along its side, working her way forward bit by bit and resisting the currents trying to pull her away. With every small advance forward, Bug’s light reveals more of the majestic fish and soon she is reaching one of its fins on its side. Stopping her advance and looking down at the beautiful fin that flows through the water like a banner made of silk and gossamer, she raises one arm and transforms it into a blade. With a mad smile stretched across her face, Bug attacks.

The motion is swift and clean, the blade of her transformed arm sliding through scale and flesh and bone to remove the fin in a single stroke like a fillet knife in the hands of a fisherman.

If the fish could scream, it would. With blood pouring out of its side in a thick cloud, flowing over Bug’s body, the fish writhes in pain and flails about. Missing a fin, it is almost immediately sent off balance as it tries to continue to swim, to flee from the little predator latched onto its side.

The two of them tumble and fall. With the fish made unable to swim straight, their course sends them plummeting down and off to the side, spinning like a corkscrew as they descend deeper and deeper into the lake with a trail of blood marking their path like smoke following a flame.

Oh, how much she wants to laugh as Bug rides this thing into the abyss of the lake. Riding it to its doom, much like she had the Queen Bee, Bug is reminded again of just how much she actually enjoys fighting. Just how much she has diverted from her supposedly peaceful people’s origins. She loves the fight! She loves making a bigger foe bleed and suffer as they can do nothing to stop her. In this moment, as she is riding a giant to its literal end, Bug feels powerful!

They reach the bottom of the lake, the fish smashing face first into the bottom as it is moving at top speed. Bug almost gets dislodged by the shock from the sudden stop and the fish is also clearly dazed, though it isn’t dead.

With one hand still transformed, Bug takes this chance to quickly move across more of its body, refusing to let go should it suddenly try to dart away as soon as it is free. And she makes good progress, getting closer to its head before the fish can manage to shake off its shock from the collision.

When it does come to, it tries to rub itself against the floor. To try and scrape the little Gremlin off its side and leave her against the rocks and sand. But Bug quickly moves and scurries up to its top, grabbing a fist full of its top fin before stabbing her sword arm down and into its spine.

Spasms tear through the fish as her blade slides between vertebrae and cuts something important, the back end of the fish going still as it is paralyzed from the fin down.

Reduced to one usable fin and entirely unable to swim now, the bloodied and dying fish falls to its side, its large bulbous eyes frantically looking around as if in shock and fright. Bug, once she is certain that it isn’t able to do anything, stands underwater and walks on its body the remaining distance to its head.

With her bioluminescence lighting up the dark waters for the both of them, the fish moves its eye to look up at the glowing predator that had felled it. With fear, it sees the little creature standing atop its dying body, smiling with a mouth full of sharp canines and dark hair that flows in the water behind her.

The fish isn’t smart enough to understand what it is looking at, but it does know one thing. Land creatures aren’t supposed to be able to fight it underwater. The waters of this underground lake have been its hunting ground for nearly four years now, the beast having become a legend amongst adventurers in this Dungeon. Being responsible for the deaths of several parties and desired because of the golden scale atop its forehead, the Golden Fish has been a local bounty of the Silest Adventurers Guild for quite some time. Again, the Golden Fish is not aware of all of this, but it has always felt some sort of pride at being the apex predator of this lake. Of being able to capsize rafts and get a tasty human treat whenever it desires.

But even when the humans had fought back and tried to stab it with spears, it had always been able to get away. After all, land creatures can only stay on land. They shouldn’t be able to fight down here…

Bug, smiling like a blood thirsty ghoul and not aware of any of this fish’s history or of its fear, can only see the prize right before her. So, so close. She just needs to kill one big fish to get it, and nothing else matters.

With fear and confusion in its heart, the Golden Fish watches as Bug elongates her arm blade and then brings it down, spearing it through the side of its head and running her bone and scale covered blade through its brain.

The Golden Fish spasms and shakes as its mind slowly dies, its vision going dark and foggy as the green light is the last thing it ever sees. With one last spasm, its heart stops, and it dies.

//Killed lvl 25 Golden Fish – 500 exp gained!

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//Congratulations! You have defeated the secret Mini Boss, Giant Golden Fish of the Sewers!

//Notice. A shortcut to the next floor has been opened. A marker has been placed on your mini map!

Bug ignores the notifications, only caring that they mean that her foe is dead. Without hesitation and with greed filling her every desire, Bug launches herself the rest of the way across the Golden Fish’s head and grabs hold of the scale. Just holding it in her hands has her shivering with joy and wanting to dance and sing. But she can’t, not yet. She needs to secure her treasure first!

Working quick but trying to be careful as to not damage it, Bug works her blade in behind the golden scale and pries it loose, cutting away at any flesh that tries to hold onto it and pulling it free.

Once it comes loose, Bug and the heavy scale falls away from the Golden Fish’s corpse, Bug holding the scale in her arms like it is the most precious thing she had ever held. Even as her back hits the bottom of the lake, she can’t help but to smile and kick her legs with joy as she holds the tear shaped scale, almost as big as she is tall, tightly to her body.

Once she has had her full of hugging her new treasure, Bug lifts it above her to look into its gleaming surface, her green light reflecting off its golden brilliance and reflecting light all around her. She can see her own blushing reflection in its mirror polished surface and marvels at her own appearance reflected in gold.

I LOVE IT! Mine! Mine! Mine!!! ALL MINE! HAHAAhahahahaHA, yes~!!!

She just has to give it another hug, tightly giving it a love filled squeeze before finally storing it safely away in her inventory with the rest of her treasures where no one can possibly steal it from her. A quick check of its description has her smile growing even bigger.

‘Golden Scale (Small). The namesake of the renowned, coveted, and even feared Golden Fish. Made from solid gold processed from the metals and minerals eaten by the Golden Fish as it grows larger, this solid and heavy scale is used as a sort of battering ram by the fish for combat and for ramming boats. At larger sizes, this scale become a magic medium for the Golden Fish to cast Lightning Magic through. Very valuable and is prized by fishermen the world over.’

And now it is mine, all mine! Hahahaha! Finally, the Dungeon has done something right!

Lovingly looking at all the treasures stored in her inventory, which consist of about a couple dozen mana shards and several bags of copper and silver coins Bug stole off of the people she’s killed, Bug feels herself filling with pride as she takes and moves all her treasures into one corner of her inventory, turning that corner of blocks into her treasure pile/horde, with the Goden Scale as the center piece of her collection.

Beautiful~

Eventually, Bug does manage to pull her attention away from her inventory and towards the corpse of the Golden Fish. Might as well check its description while she’s at it.

‘Golden Fish corpse. The corpse of a Golden Fish. Much like their relative, the common goldfish, this monster fish will grow to fit its home. Unlike the harmless house pet however, Golden Fish will never stop growing until they are the largest predator in any body of water. The largest recorded specimen was discovered in the eastern seas, off the coasts of Beast Men territory and is the size of a small island. It continues to evade hunters to this day’.

There is an even BIGGER one out there!?

Going back to the description of the scale, it shows that the golden scale only continues to get bigger as the fish does. How big is an island? How big could that fish’s scale be now!?

I want it! I’m adding it to the list. When I get out of the Dungeon, I’m hunting the island sized Golden Fish! But first, I have to get out of here…

Blowing some bubbles out of her nose, Bug swims closer to the corpse.

In the meantime, Bob, Sam, Zax, Kappa, hurry up and get over here already. I guess we’re swimming to the other side now. I’ll just stick them in my inventory and then let them back out when I get over there… Hm?

Reaching out to grab the Golden Fish’s corpse and put it in her inventory, Bug stops as she notices the body shift to the side.

Became a zombie on its own? I guess I do have the Undead curse now… Or, no? What the heck is going on?

Bug looks around and finds that the water seems to all be moving one direction and is slowly picking up speed. Before her, the body shifts again as the current pulls against it, the blood leaking from its body all flowing in the same direction. With her claws sunk into the ground, Bug isn’t being moved, but more and more she is feeling as the current is pulling on her.

What the heck is this? Why is- Wow now, get back here!

The body gets picked up by the current and starts to be dragged away. Not wanting to lose it, Bug lunges for it and tries to grab it, just needed one touch to be able to store it away, but it slips past her fingers and disappears into the dark waters beyond her light. Having let go of the floor, the currents grab hold of Bug as well and try to drag her away. Swimming desperately against the water’s pull, she tries to get her claws back in the floor again, but the current only becomes stronger and stronger as each second passes.

Before she knows it, Bug is being swept away and is unable to stop herself. The couple times that she manages to find the floor just ends with her getting slammed into it with Bug protecting her head with her arms.

She continues to fight though, desperately swimming against the current as zombie fish get pulled past her and other things goes zipping past.

In a moment of surprise, her skeleton, Sam the Shield Man, ends up entering her perimeter of light and nearly slams into her as he is pulled past.

Shit!

Next, she is nearly taken out by a piece of broken raft, the large timber hurtling over her head after one end slammed against the lake’s bottom, only to tumble over her.

Need to get to the surface!

Kicking off the floor and swimming up, Bug breaches the surface and is shocked to find herself being caried away towards a whirlpool, the water’s currents only growing faster and faster as the ring of sucking water grows larger and more violent like it is trying to swallow up the entire lake. With her finally having her head above water, Bug takes in a deep breath, filling her empty lungs, and curses.

“What the hell Dungeon!?!? Are you doing this!!?? I gotta get out… I have to…”

Bug looks over her shoulders and suddenly remembers that she has wings...

“Oh yeah… I can fly.”

And she certainly tries, but being in the water, her wings struggle to lift her into the air and she just ends up flapping and splashing around for a bit as she is dragged closer to the growing vortex of turning waters… Looking around for any other solutions, Bug finds her one remaining flying skeleton, who remained up by the ceiling this entire time while she was underwater, just hanging around like a bored bat that was left behind by his friends at the park.

“You! Get over her and save me, now! Pull me out of the water!”

As Bug continues to be pulled towards the whirlpool, the skeleton takes off and flies over, its clawed hands for feet skimming the water as Bug reaches up.

Grab.

Two scale covered hands find two bony ones and Bug is pulled out of the water and up into the air, dripping wet and breathing heavily. The skeleton doesn’t stop to hover in place, instead continuing to fly forward with Bug in its grip and soaring over the lake.

“Oh, thank goodness. Thank you for that. Maybe I should give you a name now?” She asks the flyer as it carries her above the whirlpool.

Rather unfortunately however… As Bug is looking up at her skeleton who is carrying her and considering a silly name to give to the skeleton, she manages to spot something odd on the ceiling. One of the bricks, completely inconspicuous and looking the same as all the others around it, except for a noticeable lack of moss growing on its surface, opens up to reveal a pair of eyes inside of a mouth full of teeth.

In her moment of shock at the weird sight, Bug uses Identify on the toothy brick…

‘Lvl5 Baby Mimic (Brick Form). Baby mimics will often disguise themselves as bricks, boards of wood, or small rocks, and hide in the walls, the floor, the ceiling, or as part of the stairs. Lacking the lethality of their adult counterparts, baby mimics will instead try to cause accidents by being in the worst places possible. If you ever tripped while going down the stairs, there is a very real possibility of it being a baby Mimic that was the cause.’

“Mother fucker…”

Bug surfaces a couple seconds later, her flyer still held in her hands as she refuses to let it go even with its weight pulling her down. Turning, she sees the mouth of the whirlpool growing closer and closer. Not knowing what else to do, she quickly pulls the skeleton into her inventory, cursing as the water pulls her under and she dragged away into the dark depths.

Bug surfaces a couple seconds later, her flyer still held in her hands as she refuses to let it go. Turning, she sees the mouth of the whirlpool growing closer and closer. Not knowing what else to do, she quickly pulls the skeleton into her inventory, cursing as the water pulls her under and she dragged away into the dark depths. Can this day get any worse?