“You need to hurry,” Abigail hissed through gritted teeth. “This thing is starting to break free.”
My assortment of dragons were attacking fiercely but the much larger lavasaurus was just too much. It already got its teeth into the lesser earth dragon which lay prone on the floor. It took a different approach with water dragons, which were made of water.
Gouts of flame arced out of its mouth at the small serpentine dragons causing geysers of steam to erupt every time they made contact. While it didn’t stop them, they noticeably shrunk with every hit. With Abigail barely holding on, we were going to lose if I didn’t do something quickly.
The lavasaurus’s attention was focused on Abigail. It thrashed against the line, dragging her closer while taking potshots at my water dragons whenever they got too close. The rocky ground was scorched from the intense heat it gave off. The surrounding treeline was a good fifty feet away. Even the river seemed to be giving the lavasaurus a wide berth. Several hundred feet above was the cavern ceiling under which a strange cloud hung in the air. While I couldn’t see a light source, I did have an ability that allowed me to ignore the darkness. For all I knew, the lavasaurus was the only thing lighting up the area through the bright orange cracks in its dark skin.
Watching the lavasaurus hiss when the water dragons scored a hit gave me an idea. I needed to draw the lavasaurus toward the stream or find a way to extend the river. The problem was, there didn’t seem to be enough water to make that happen. The source was the waterfall I’d created in the shaft room. Expanding the flow was worth exploring but only if we wiped.
I put my new Thermal Combustion Canisters and lined a path to the lavasaurus from the stream with the volatile explosives. Every couple of feet, I planted another charge, taking the time to infuse it with mana to enhance the explosion. I ignored Abigail’s cries and my rapidly shrinking water dragons as I worked.
The lavasaurus noticed me when I got about ten feet away from it. By then, the last of my dragons was nothing more than a tiny wisp of angry steam nipping at the much larger lavasaurus’s ankle. It turned to face me, dragging Abigail so close she was standing right under it. I threw one of the water bombs, which landed in its gaping maw.
“Splash!” I screamed, using an alternative trigger word I set up to trigger the watery explosion.
A geyser erupted from the lavasauraus’s mouth followed by a great deal of steam. It roared and spat as it bent down to eat me. I Super Jumped out of the way and triggered the second Thermal Combustion Canisters. “Kablooey!”
My new explosive threw dirt everywhere, leaving a crater the water quickly flowed into. The last explosion ended just a few feet from the lavasaurus. It darted at me faster than expected, getting to me just as I was about to throw another water bomb.
“Splash!” Water exploded from my hands and washed over me and the lavasaurus as it snapped its jaws shut on my torso.
I experienced the decidedly unpleasant feeling of having water go up my nose while simultaneously having my body skewered by giant dino teeth. It didn’t hurt or anything. The game didn’t allow that. They did, however, do a remarkably good job of conveying just how unpleasant the feeling would be if I could feel it.
You have died.
I groaned when I appeared next to the lava pool beyond the control room. While not terribly far from the battle, it was unlikely I’d return in time to save Abigail. I decided to run for it anyhow. I’d just made it through the control room when I received another system message.
A Phoenix Ray would like to cast Rebirth on you. Do you wish to accept? Y/N?
It must have been a fancy form of resurrection, so I accepted. The next thing I knew I was sitting next to the stream and a very dead lavasaurus. Hovering in the air was a massive fish that resembled a…
“Is that a…?” I couldn’t find the words.
“I suppose I should address the elephant in the room,” Abigail said with a giggle. “Or more appropriately, Elephant Whale. It’s the biggest whale I’ve encountered in this world, and not like my other summons. This one can only be summoned from water. I guess that means we owe this win to you.”
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It was then that I noticed a smaller creature next to her. It resembled a stingray but it had feathers and was made of fire. She smiled and nodded. “This baby only serves one purpose. I can use it to resurrect my friends. It doesn’t help me much but I don’t mind. It comes in handy in situations like this.”
“That’s amazing,” I replied, memorizing the name Phoenix Ray.
She smiled. “Sorry for killing it while you weren’t here but it was either him or me.”
I waved her off. “It’s fine. I would have done the same thing if you died.”
Abigail frowned. “Really?”
Her good-natured laugh right after told me she didn’t mind. When the elephant whale dove into the stream we noticed a treasure chest left behind by the Lavasaurus.
Infernal Shovel
Rare Class Item
Stats: Attack +25
Special: Smelt
Level to Equip: 25
Molten Tackle Box
Rare Class Item
Fishing Tackle
Special: Unbreakable Line
Level to Use: 25
As usual, there was also a large pile of coins under the loot, only this time it looked to be a lot more.
Abigail clutched the tackle box possessively. “Your turn to loot the gold. This thing is worth its weight in gold…to a fisher.”
I was beginning to wonder if that was all she was.
You have obtained 123 gold, 77 silver, 86 copper!
I scooped it up and the money immediately vanished into my inventory.
Dungeon Complete. Would you like to exit the dungeon?
I was about to select yes when Abigail caught my hand. “Wait for a bit. There are some things I want to check out down here.”
“Uh, sure,” I replied, taking a look around the underground forest. “Do you think there’s hidden treasure or something? The dungeon said it was complete.”
She pointed to the stream. “I want to see what fish I can catch in this unique environment. You can leave if you want to but please don’t close the dungeon.”
“Oh, right,” I laughed, remembering she was first and foremost a fisher.
That reminded me. I was a gatherer too. We’d spent so much time killing monsters that I hadn’t bothered to try mining anything.
“Do you mind if I blow stuff up?” I asked.
Abigail chuckled. “Just don’t make this place collapse on me.”
“Don’t worry,” I replied, shooting her a smirk. “I won’t.”
I watched for a bit as Abigail set up next to the stream. She didn’t use any of the lava-based fishing gear she got from the dungeon. It made sense. She wasn’t fishing in lava, after all. I was about to ask what she could possibly catch from the shallow stream when something bit.
She leaned back, reeling like mad and looking like she was struggling. After a five-minute battle, the fish she pulled up looked too big to be possible. It was something like a swordfish, ten feet long from the tip of its pointed nose to its tail fin. It thrashed about in the stream, still half-submerged even though the water wasn’t only a couple of feet deep. Abigail let the fish thrash back and forth to tire itself out. When it finally got within arms reach, she took out a small net and swiped at it. The net was too small for the massive catch but it didn’t matter. The moment the net made contact, the fish vanished.
Abigail fist-pumped and flashed me a grin. “I thought so! There are prehistoric fish down here.”
“Did it get away?” I asked.
“It’s in my inventory,” she winked before adding. “Weren’t you going to blow something up?”
I laughed and set to the task of finding something to Ping. There weren’t many options in the middle of the forest. I decided to follow the stream to see where it went. It meandered through the trees, occasionally forking off in various directions before joining together again. At one point, I came upon a waterfall that fed into a deep blue pool before picking up again and heading off in the distance.
I gazed into the pool, muttering, “Abigail would love this.”
I didn’t feel like fetching her though. She could explore if she wanted to. This was my adventure, and I had a decision to make. Continue following the river, or swim down the hole and see where it led. In the end, my adventurous spirit won out, and I dove into the pool.
The water was surprisingly cold considering I’d just come from a magmatic environment. The deeper I got, the colder it got. I was already accustomed to not breathing when I swam. It helped to think of myself as breathing outside of the game, so I didn’t need to in the game world. I was beginning to wonder how deep it was when I fell through the world.
Looking up, I just managed to see the opening before I dropped out of sight. Everything went dark, only instead of black, all I saw was white. The sensation of freefall continued for a few more seconds before I crashed through a layer of ice and was dunked into a second icy bath. I spluttered and kicked my way to the surface and shimmied my way onto an ice sheet.
Welcome to The Tundra Down Under Under Drunder
I wanted to call Abigail even more at that point. If she was having fun in that stream, ice fishing would probably delight her. First, I needed to figure out just what I’d stumbled into. Was it still part of the hidden dungeon? Perhaps I hidden room in the hidden dungeon? It had a name, so it was an official part of the game. Maybe I could find some hidden loot or a side boss. Those were always fun to find.
I climbed gently to my feet careful to lower my weight so I didn’t fall through the ice again. Everything was white as far as I could see. The two exceptions were a pinprick in the sky where I’d fallen from and the hole right below me. It reminded me of the hole I fell through to discover Under Drunder in the first place.
“Only one way to find out,” I muttered as I walked nimbly across the ice.
After walking for a while, I started thinking about swimming to the bottom of the water and setting some explosives. That all changed when I saw something in the distance.