Chapter 21 - The Deep

  Robert’s scream through the darkness was suddenly silenced as an icy cold enveloped him and he crashed into freezing water somewhere in the abyss. He had forgotten he was still carrying his staff while he slid downward through the infinite tower, until the torchlight they had been chasing vanished far below them plunging them all into darkness.

  Remembering himself as he thrashed aimlessly in the water, unsure of which direction was up or down, he summoned his Holy Light spell, illuminating the pitch darkness. I’m inverted, he realized, swimming toward the depths of some rocky cavern below. He twisted around, looking up to find the rest of his party treading water far above him.

  To his left, he spotted Brukk arcing toward him effortlessly through the water, swimming like a great shark darting for its prey. As Robert swam awkwardly, repositioning himself upright, Brukk grabbed him by his fur vest as he passed. Kicking powerfully with his clawed feet, the orc drove them both upward toward the water’s surface.

  How were we moving through the water so fast, Robert thought as he struggled to hold his breath while they surged upward through the frigid water. He could just make out the large boots of Varg above them, treading water effortlessly, his steel maul still strapped to his back beside the stone greatsword pulled from the Frostmere summit.

  Even with the big man’s strength, the steel weapon should have been dragging him under, Robert thought.

  A few strokes later, Robert gasped for air as Brukk dragged him to the water’s surface. Regaining his composure, he held his staff high overhead, illuminating a small rocky cavern filled with crystal blue water.

  "Are you all right, Robert?" Alice called out as she swam beside him while he coughed out a mouthful of the cavern’s fresh water.

  "I... think... so," he replied between coughs.

  Above them, near the edge of the cavern’s ceiling, a square cutout had smashed through the rock. The infinite sliding tower they had fallen from, Robert thought. It had dropped them into whatever game the Great Forge had in store for them next.

  "How are we swimming right now?" Robert asked, finally regaining his full breath.

  “It’s strange. It almost feels like I’m floating,” Alice replied. “I’m not really trying to stay afloat, despite my heavy gear.”

  [System: Dungeon mechanics may alter known elements found in your world.]

  “What in the gods’ names does that mean?” Varg barked.

  Oswin was doing quick backstrokes, circling the group as he responded gleefully. "I think the water’s buoyancy has been changed in some manner. Look at me go!"

  "Stop goofing off, chanter. We’d probably be flattened up there had the orc not turned into a flaming tree," Varg said.

  Brukk treaded water with a scowl beside him. Beneath the white glow of Robert’s spell, he noticed the orc’s charred skin had fully regenerated to a glossy gray when the great voice of the dungeon rang out once again.

  "Drown then, tricksters. Drown in the deep as the darkness takes you."

  "Show yourself, bastard!" Varg roared, but no response came.

  “Well, I guess we’ve gotten on the dungeon’s bad side,” Robert said as he scanned the cavern once more, finding no other exits in the rock aside from the tilted tower they’d slid down from.

  “We’re trapped in here, it would seem, Robert,” Alice said. She was still wearing her full helm, which bobbed up and down over the water’s surface with simple, light strokes of her arms.

  "I think it means for us to dive into the deep," she added ominously.

  Robert looked down into the crystal blue water. His Holy Light pierced a few meters below the surface before fading into a dull blue. He lowered his staff beneath the water and increased the mana draw of the spell, illuminating the pool below in an awe inspiring glow that shifted the cavern’s light from white to an ethereal blue.

  "Is that another cave?" Oswin asked as they all looked down through the rippling glow of the water.

  Toward the bottom edge of the submerged portion of the cavern, another cutout lay burrowed somewhere beyond the reach of Robert’s light.

  "I hope everyone is as strong a swimmer as Brukk is," Robert said.

  "Only one way to find out," Varg replied with a grunt. "Keep close to my boots, priest. I’ll need the light from your staff so I can lead the way through the darkness."

  Without waiting for a response, Varg dove downward toward the submerged passage.

  Robert looked around at the rest of his party with a weary expression.

  "Into the deep?" he asked.

  Alice simply nodded, and with that, Robert dove downward after Varg.

  Robert kicked his boots with ease as he propelled himself down into the depths of the pool. Each kick sent him forward with an unnatural grace. He felt as if he were moving effortlessly through a cloud rather than cutting through frigid water, nothing like swimming in the lakes of his youth, he thought.

  Reaching the opening of the underwater cave, Robert stopped at the mouth just behind Varg as they peered inward. Just a few yards ahead, the passage grew thick with a dark green weed that rose upward from the bottom, making it impossible to see what lay beyond or how long the tunnel stretched.

  Varg looked back at him, searching for some sign of confirmation that they should press forward. Checking his breath as a few small air bubbles escaped his mouth, Robert found himself surprisingly untaxed by the swim down.

  Looking back, he saw Oswin, Alice, and Brukk floating just behind him. Alice’s cloak and Oswin’s longcoat rippled outward as if they were wings, carrying them through the cold water.

  Still carrying his staff in one hand, he used it to wave them forward, then turned back and signaled for Varg to push ahead through the green mass of rippling weeds before them.

  Without hesitation, Varg turned, then with a wide sweep of his massive arms propelled himself deeper into the cave as the wall of green weed enveloped him. Slow down, Varg, Robert thought as he began to swim forward after him, determined not to lose sight of the faster warrior.

  As Robert entered the weave of thick weeds, the slick texture of the broad blades slid past his hands and face, sending an unsettling sensation through him as his visibility faded to nothing but the green mass enveloping him on all sides. Even the brightness of his Holy Light spell failed to pierce the green veil ahead as he increased the intensity of his class survival skill to its maximum draw.

  Where are you, Varg? he thought as he continued to struggle through the thick growth.

  He began to pull himself forward with his hands as the weeds grew denser and denser, making it increasingly difficult to propel himself with a swimmer’s motion. Exhaustion began to subtly settle over him, followed by creeping panic etching itself into the back of his mind, as he pushed onward through the never ending web of floating green with no end in sight.

  I need to turn back, he thought as the lack of breath finally began to overtake his thoughts. He stopped in the middle of the cave, caught in a moment of uncertainty.

  I’ll turn back. Make it to the cavern surface, regain my breath, then try again, he thought as options raced through his mind.

  Deciding to turn back, he shifted toward what he believed was the way he had come, though he was no longer certain, surrounded on all sides by the green weeds that trapped him like some simple snare within the underwater cave.

  With a wide arc of his free arm, he pulled himself backward through the thick weeds when he felt a sharp crack against the side of his skull.

  “Argh”, he shouted soundlessly through the suffocating water, expelling some of his desperately needed air.

  It was Alice, he realized, as the tall weed leaves separated, revealing the steel helm that had struck his head. He had collided with her while trying to reverse course, and she was now trying to turn him back around with her hands as Robert began to thrash in panic. The lack of air was starting to cloud his judgment as he began struggling against her, both of them becoming tangled in the green thicket.

  As the feeling of doom started to take hold, Robert felt himself suddenly yanked backward by his cloak. His view of Alice vanished in an instant, replaced by green weeds fluttering past his sight as he was rapidly pulled back by some unknown force. As Robert watched his boots and arms floating outstretched in front of him while he shot backward, the weeds finally began to thin, and the green tunnel opened into another massive underwater cavern.

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  He looked behind him to see Varg dragging him upward through the water, swimming with an awesome speed that gave Robert another faint sense of hope as the air in his lungs finally began to deplete. But before he exhaled the last of his breath and started to breathe in the deadly water, they broke through to the surface together as Robert gasped for life saving air.

  "Wait here, priest," Varg bellowed as his voice echoed through the rocky chamber before he dove back beneath the blue water, leaving Robert alone, still gasping as he treaded water in the partially submerged cavern.

  Robert searched his unfamiliar surroundings as he bobbed up and down. The dome shaped cavern he found himself in was vaulted, with steep walls composed of slick gray rock. High above him, stalactites hung from the cavern ceiling, dripping down several meters into deadly points. To his dismay, he saw no exit and no signs of life, and the only light source was that of his Holy Light, illuminating the darkness.

  Cursed hell, he thought. I hope this trial doesn’t take us further underwater.

  A brief motion at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He raised his staff, illuminating the chamber further as he inspected the far wall when a splash rang out behind him.

  To Robert’s relief, Varg, Alice, and Oswin surfaced together, followed shortly by Brukk.

  "What was that, Robert?" Alice shouted in anger as she began to cough beneath her helm.

  "I’m sorry, Alice. I lost my senses in the depths and was trying to get back to the entrance. In the panic, I honestly forgot you were all still behind me," Robert replied apologetically.

  "It’s okay, Robert. Apologies for my outburst," Alice said as her anger slowly dissipated.

  "All is well, Robert. We made it," Oswin added.

  "You’re welcome," Varg grumbled.

  Another flash of movement caught Robert’s eye.

  "What is that?" Robert asked, returning his attention to the far rocky wall of the cavern.

  As they all turned toward the direction of the subtle sound of grinding stone, the gray rock of the cavern wall began to crack along a ten meter stretch as dust and debris started to fall.

  "Nothing good," Robert said as he searched the lake sized cavern for solid ground. But there was nothing he could see, only the sheer rocky walls rising vertically around them.

  “It’s breaking free,” Varg said as Robert watched the stone along the wall fracture in a strange pattern. But to Robert’s surprise, it wasn’t something breaking free from beneath the rock. It was the rock itself tearing away from the wall. The massive formation detached in the shape of a serpent as the gray stone began rippling in a slithering motion, suddenly hovering above the water. At the tip of the beast, a maw formdwed as two jagged boulders pulled apart. A sound that was part roar and part crashing stone slammed into Robert’s eardrums.

  [Stonemaw (Level 35)]

  "Um, do we run?" Oswin said in terror as the monstrous rock serpent began to slither forward through the air, circling near the cavern wall as it jerkily rotated its eyeless head to face them.

  "Run where, human? Are we not swimming?" Brukk replied with a growl.

  "Maybe it won’t attack us if we ignore it," Robert said. "Has anyone found a way out?"

  "When I swam back for you, I believe I saw an opening toward the bottom of the pool, but it’s a far swim. Best we deal with this rock now," Varg replied.

  Robert was about to respond when the rock beast, as if understanding their conversation, darted forward with terrifying speed.

  “Spread out,” Robert yelled as he held his staff forward, still treading water, unleashing a bright Holy Bolt through the cavern like a shooting star. Unconcerned by the magic racing toward it, the Stonemaw crashed straight through the spell and continued its forward trajectory toward Robert.

  [Skill Leveled Up: Holy Bolt (Level 7)]

  With its maw wide open, the stone beast roared as it swept over him, expelling a torrent of liquid ice from its mouth across his position. In reflex, Robert cast a Holy Barrier around himself as the icy blue liquid rained down. The water around him flash froze when touched by the monster’s breath slipping beneath his barrier, locking him in place as jagged ice spread in all directions.

  "Robert!" Alice yelled as he struggled against the unmoving ice. One of his arms was submerged, frozen solid in place, while the other remained above the ice, still gripping his staff.

  "It’s circling again!" Varg roared as he climbed atop the ice beside Robert. The frozen mass floated like a miniature glacier floating across the underground lake. Alice climbed up next, briefly slipping on the ice before steadying herself.

  "It’s coming back around!" she shouted, drawing an arrow as cold water dripped from her soaked outfit and gear.

  Robert shivered in the ice as he watched Alice unleash a fire arrow across the cavern toward the circling Stonemaw. It struck the creature’s stone hide and pinged off helplessly into the water. Well, that’s not going to work, he thought.

  "Robert, hold on!" Varg roared as he brought his great maul crashing down into the ice just to Robert’s left. The impact shook him to the bone as the small glacier fractured in two, releasing him back into the water.

  "Get down, Robert!" Alice screamed as she dove back beneath the surface.

  He turned just in time to see the Stonemaw charging back toward him. Panic surged through him, and Robert dove beneath the water, immediately feeling the temperature around him drop as the frigid water grew even colder.

  Robert slowed his descent and looked back up toward the surface, finding a large area above him frozen completely solid. He was about to swim toward the outer edge of the ice when a massive crashing sound echoed through the water.

  At the center of the newly formed glacier, the Stonemaw smashed through the ice, plunging into the depths below him.

  It carried Varg clenched between its stone jaws.

  Helpless to assist Varg and realizing he was low on air from the sudden dive, Robert swam upward toward the jagged hole the Stonemaw had created. Hold on, Varg, he told himself, unsure how they were supposed to fight living stone. HUD, how about just a little help right now.

  Robert burst from the frigid water with a gasp, grasping the slick ice as Oswin and Brukk rushed to him.

  "Robert, are you all right? What do we do?" Oswin said. "It took Varg!"

  "I don’t know," Robert replied. "Where’s Alice?" he asked, not immediately seeing her.

  "Over here, Robert!" a shout echoed from the far end of the cavern.

  He turned, relief flooding him as he spotted Alice perched against the rock where the Stonemaw had torn itself free from the wall.

  [System: The Stonemaw is made of a composite rock of similar, but weaker, composition to the inert templates of the Weapons of Fate. Discretion is cautioned. Failure to reach the Great Forge without said templates will result in failure of the trial.]

  The weapons, Robert thought. He had forgotten they were even carrying them on their backs.

  Robert drew the feather light stone staff from his back, sheathed with a leather strap.

  "What are we supposed to do with these things?" he heard Alice shout from across the cavern.

  Robert watched as Brukk and Oswin pulled their stone weapons free as well. The mace shaped boulder of rock sat awkwardly in Brukk’s one hand, while Oswin held his simple stone wand, staring at it with uncertainty.

  Maybe we can use it as a club, he thought to himself when Alice shouted out again.

  "He’s been down there too long. Brukk, dive down and help Varg!"

  A settling worry crept over Robert. The warrior still had not surfaced. He had taken the larger than life man for granted, having witnessed him survive the impossible too many times. He could be drowning down there while we do nothing, he thought.

  The thought was cut short, however, as the Stonemaw crashed upward through the edge of the ice. Varg stood atop the serpent’s back, his stone greatsword pierced clean through its rocky hide. He was using it as an anchor as the beast surged high toward the cavern ceiling.

  "Will the rest of you do something!" Varg roared.

  Robert hesitated no further, casting a heal followed by a Holy Shield on Varg as droplets of water from the flying serpent drizzled down over them like early morning rain.

  [Skill Leveled Up: Holy Shield (Level 6)]

  "Bring it lower!" Brukk roared back toward Varg.

  "This isn’t a horse. I’m not controlling it!" Varg shouted as the Stonemaw began circling the cavern high above.

  With a roar, Varg tore his sword free from the serpent’s back and, with a swift two handed downward swing, severed the stone creature’s slithering torso in two. Robert watched in a mixture of amazement and horror as the Stonemaw roared in pain, its front half thrashing with violent motions that hurled Varg free, sending him, along with the severed rear half of the serpent, plummeting back toward the lake. He slammed into the blue water in a thunderous crash.

  "Brukk, help him out of the water," Robert said as the front half of the Stonemaw began to descend again, skimming close along the cavern walls.

  A loud crashing sound echoed across the cavern as the serpent’s side slammed into the rock just above where Alice was perched. It began to spin rapidly in place, flinging off large chunks of gray stone and dust as the severed half of the rock serpent started to regenerate before their eyes with every violent roll.

  "Alice, jump!" Robert shouted as he rushed to the edge of the glacier closest to her.

  Without hesitation, she leapt as rubble from the monstrous entity above her crashed into the water below. She was making a desperate swim across the narrow channel when green script flashed across Robert’s vision.

  [System: Fight or flight. All quests and trials will explicitly state if mob kills are required.]

  As Robert processed what HUD was relaying, his dread deepened as the text faded and what lay beyond came into view. The Stonemaw had not simply regenerated its lost tail. It had doubled in size.

  "It’s slowing its spin!" Varg shouted as he and Brukk ran up to Oswin and Robert, who stood at the edge of the frozen glacier with outstretched hands, waiting for Alice as she swam furiously toward them.

  "Come on!" Robert shouted as they all hauled Alice up from the water.

  Behind her, the rock serpent ceased its spinning and began to disengage itself from the wall. The cavern shook as the massive boulders that formed the creature’s body tore free from the stone. Its bulbous head, formed of two massive boulders, turned toward them and, with a final roar, shot forward.

  “I say we flight,” Oswin said, staring at the monster with wide eyes.

  "You want to stand and fight?" Varg replied, confused.

  "Oh dear no," Oswin added.

  "Run!" Alice shouted as all five of them bolted toward the fractured center of the glacier where Varg and the serpent had crashed through.

  "Everyone fall in a line after me. Lock hands with one another, even you, orc," Varg roared. "Now dive!"

  They plunged into the blue water one after another, not looking back at the monstrosity still chasing them.

  Robert was third in line. Alice gripped his wrist as he awkwardly held both of his staffs in one hand, having forgotten to resheath them. His other hand was stretched behind him, crushed within Brukk’s massive clawed grip as they swam in unison straight toward the depths of the cavern lake.

  He glanced back briefly and saw the Stonemaw crash through the glacier once more, its immense size nearly destroying the entire sheet of ice that covered the surface. Cursed hell, he thought as he suddenly felt their speed through the water accelerate.

  He turned his attention forward, spotting Varg shifting his skin to iron. The added weight of the warrior’s spell dragged them down, faster and deeper into the frigid water. Ahead, at the center of the moss covered lake floor, a small opening vanished into blackness.

  Robert risked one final glance behind them and saw they were outpacing the massive beast, its greater size slowing it in the depths. We’re going to make it, he thought with a flicker of relief as they all held their breath and sank into the deep.