Jay killed two dozen sharks as he swam over to the second trial dungeon. The wanton murder wasn’t remotely necessary. The sharks seemed all too ready to leave him alone, which might have to do with the trail of bodies in his wake. He hunted them, anyway.
The sharks were easy to hit with critical hits, even when he couldn’t swim fast enough to keep up with them. A shot to the gills or nose was all that it took. It still took him around eight to ten shots to kill each individual shark, but the process was well worth it. The kills nudged his way up to level 49, meaning he was guaranteed to be level 50 by the time he finished the dungeon and received his quest rewards.
The castle was three hundred feet tall at its peak tower that ran through the center of the structure. Surrounding the peak were sections of various sizes, including three other smaller towers. The construction and materials used seemed to be Gothic, but that wasn’t the most surreal element. Every window glowed with soft light, creating an oversaturation of light.
Blinking away the noisy light, Jay walked up to the front doors featured on a small boxy structure that constituted the castle’s entryway. On the front double doors, a window glowed with soft light on each side. A lock on the doors was about level with Jay’s stomach. The circular lock was held in place over both doors.
The lock held three sockets that looked appropriately sized, so he pulled out the first of the Mercuran Hearts. When he socketed the item into the first slot, the structure behind the lock lit up with runes. The runes quickly faded, but when he leaned in close, he could see the faint outline of the glowing magic.
Satisfied with the process, Jay placed the remaining two Mercuran Hearts into their appropriate slots. The runes glowed but didn’t fade away immediately when he set the third heart. Instead, they transformed into the script from the first dungeon that only Jay could understand.
The Monster Hunter must fear nothing from below.
Jay would have laughed if he hadn’t been entirely submerged underwater. He had no idea how walking into the doors was going to work. It didn’t seem possible for them to even open under such water pressure. The script was undoubtedly on-theme for an underwater dungeon, though.
The script dispersed, causing the doors to open. They didn’t push out against the pressure of the water, but they didn’t push in using the force of the water, either.
The circular lock mechanically, or magically, shifted itself out of the way on the left side, creating a completely flat surface. The flat surface slid into the walls, which should have caused an ocean’s worth of water to flow inside to fill the castle. Instead, a magical layer of bubbles, clearly an entrance portal, stopped all water from coming in.
The magical enchantment looked cool, but Jay still hesitated to walk through a random barrier. The last time he had received a random debuff, the ability had prevented him from reviving his character. After a slight hesitation, he ultimately decided that the Angerine hadn’t betrayed him—yet. There was always a chance.
Jay pushed through the bubbly water, which was much like moving through syrup. Finally, he made it through, somehow completely dry.
The inside of the castle was also completely dry. The construction looked more like a medieval church than a castle. The interior was large, which made Jay feel relatively small. His concern was growing that the monsters would be manageable for him alone. Still, he had all the time in the world. Resurrection was now possible on the island, so he’d have plenty of attempts.
The inside still unnerved him since Charybdon would have easily fit inside the parlor of the castle. He did not want to meet anything like the world boss lurking in the building. Looking around, Jay saw only a singular exit to the room. There were no doors leading to adjacent castle rooms; the only exit to the room was a sprawling staircase that led under the castle floor.
But seriously, the giant castle was underwater, and he couldn’t see a single drop of water anywhere.
Jay’s path forward was evident since he only had one particular exit to use. Immediately descending inside the dungeon made him feel an impending sense of danger. He glanced at Cuddles, looking for a signal like the squirrel’s hint about the water.
The Strogian Death squirrel shot him a look that Jay interpreted as, “This is your whole thing, dude; I don’t even want to be here.” The squirrel’s face could be quite expressive.
Jay dragged himself forward, peeking down the staircase to see what he could see below. The rough-hewn stone stairs descended twenty feet before they were fully submerged in water. The water seemed similar to what could be found outside, but he had no idea where it was coming from. The parlor area was still spotless.
He gingerly walked down the steps, wishing he had another one of his magical moss lamps. The parlor was well-lit by whatever enchantment was on the castle’s windows. Whatever lived beyond the staircase was not.
Steeling himself, Jay waded into the water. His potion buff still protected him, so the water had no ill effects as he submerged himself completely. With the aid of the potion, outlines of different areas of the tunnel were visible. Without light, however, details were nearly impossible to make out.
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Jay swam slowly through the underwater tunnel. He had never been spelunking himself, but Sarah had gone with some of her friends. They took pictures of the cave they went to, which hadn’t been underwater. The tunnels below the castle reminded him of the photos she had shared.
The tunnels were complex to pass through since each chamber was connected by a much tighter passage than the broad rooms of the cave. He spent the whole time on edge, waiting for something to grab him, but nothing happened.
Due to the buff timer, Jay tracked the exact time he went through the tunnels before something happened. It took him an hour and seven minutes, but he broke into another, much larger chamber. The new room was well-lit by algae growing around the chamber’s edges. Otherwise, patches of the same rocky tunnels were visible.
The new room was about one hundred feet across but wasn’t circular. The chamber was shaped like a kidney. There were a few places to stand around the room, platforms naturally created at the edges of the kidney by the shape of the cave. Swimming aimlessly inside the room was the first boss of the dungeon.
Coela, Wrath of the Deep [First Boss], Level: 52. Health: 12,230/12,230.
Jay recognized the type of fish the monster was based on—courtesy of the obvious hint provided by the creature’s name. The beast was based on a coelacanth, looking far more ancient than the castle. Also, this fish was twenty feet long. The other main change was a glowing light akin to an anglerfish hanging from the center of its head, drawing attention to the center of the room. Taking a deep breath, he activated his Analyze ability.
System Message: Analyze successful. Coela is a fearsome, ancient creature of the deep. This monster is capable of using the light above its head for magical attacks. However, the monster can be easily killed by destroying three vital points: the left gill, the right gill, and the internal lung. Sometimes, it pays to have an intelligent plan of attack.
Jay internally cheered at the success of the ability. He had been worried it would fail him, but the entry had given him exactly what he needed. He didn’t need to burn through all that health to defeat the boss. Despite his potion, the fish definitely had the advantage in the water; it was time to play smart.
The boss, fortunately, still didn’t seem to notice him. At the very least, the creature wasn’t interested in him. That gave him a chance to set things up. The travel time through the tunnels had been substantial, so he could count on resting up to allow cooldowns to reset after the fight.
In preparation, Jay activated Vital Points, seeking out the critical areas of Coela. He watched for a few minutes, making sure to get a solid image of the weaknesses in his head. After observing, his mp was drained, so he drank a mp potion. He was pleasantly surprised that he could do so under the water.
Next, he activated Rapid Fire and summoned magical ammunition of necrotic bolts to fire at the boss. He expected to take down the boss without burning through all the health, but there was no harm in applying extra damage just in case. Aiming first for the gills, he loosed his first bolt.
Coela roared in frustration at its intruder while Jay tread water in the small entryway to the chamber. The light dangling on its head began to glow, so he quickly swam out of the way. Behind him, a lance of bubbling, hot water slammed into the cave wall. The lance of energy had completely destroyed his bolt while it was still moving.
On second thought, Jay decided the fight might be challenging. Dodging another lance of energy, he summoned a second bolt and blasted the creature again. His aim was true, sending the bolt gliding for one of the gills, but Coela dodged the attack, using its tail to adjust its body.
Jay continued firing bolts at it while swimming to avoid the deadly magical lances of hot water. The creature was in its element, but he was still frustrated with the monster’s utterly infallible ability to dodge. Something was going on with this fight. Even a boss shouldn’t be able to avoid every attack even more efficiently than a player. That’s when the system message came to save him.
System Message: Coela has been stricken by the “Tired” debuff for the next five seconds.
The fish paused, and Jay saw the air pulled from the surrounding water into its gills. Coela wasn’t moving, essentially giving him a chance to attack unimpeded. Squinting his eyes, he charged forward in the water and quickly fired two bolts at the lung and one of the gills.
Both attacks were accurate, slamming into their targets. Heavy chunks of the boss’s health disappeared from the attacks. However, there was no opportunity to attack the other gill on the massive creature. The distance to swim around it was too great, so Jay swam out to a corner of the room and climbed onto one of the platforms.
Jay had been hoping it would take Coela a moment to determine where he was once he was out of the water. It didn’t. A lance of bubbling hot water slammed into the platform he was standing on, completely destroying it. The scalding hot spray landed on his skin. He suffered only a glancing attack but still lost twenty percent of his health.
A direct hit from one of those lances was not an option.
Pushing through the pain sensors lighting up in his brain, Jay surged through the water as fast as he could. He could feel the heat from the projectiles that barely missed him, but he ignored it. All he had to do was keep swimming and wait for Coela to tire itself again. At least, that’s what he had planned.
The boss monster’s attack pattern completely changed. He could feel the disturbed flow of the water as the creature charged him through the water. He air dodged to the side, but it wasn’t enough. Coela was coming straight for him.
Activating the Beetler Queen’s wings, Jay magically soared through the air, finding freedom in the part of the cave that wasn’t submerged. The fish slammed into the other wall, taking a minor amount of damage and creating the moment Jay needed.
System Message: Coela has been stricken by the “Tired” debuff for the next five seconds.
Finding the angle of attack he needed was a breeze in the air. Focusing on the critical areas, Jay quickly flew to give himself an angle of attack on the last gill. He dropped into the water, took aim, and fired the bolt point-blank into the remaining gill.
Like nothing at all, Coela’s health, which was still above eighty percent, dropped straight to zero.
System Message: A Monster Hunter must use their wits and knowledge as much as their weapons. You have successfully slain Coela, completing the first step of the second trial.
Jay’s quest updated, showing that he had killed one out of two necessary boss creatures for his quest. He didn’t look for a way out yet. First, he added the beast to his Bestiary and reviewed his gains from the fight.
His efforts didn’t quite yield him level 50, but it did deliver him something better. When he inspected Coela’s body, there was loot awaiting him.