Regression of the Tower's Final Survivor-Chapter 33: The Depths

The dungeon entrance was exactly where Dante remembered it, a massive archway carved into the base of the sunken city’s largest structure with its surface covered in symbols that pulsed with sickly green luminescence.

The air corridor here was wider than most, allowing multiple climbers to stand abreast before the dark opening that led down into whatever lay beneath.

"That’s ominous." Astrid studied the symbols with the expression of someone who saw a lot of dangerous things and was adding this to the list. "What do those mean?"

"Warnings, curses, an invitation depending on your perspective." He checked his equipment one final time: sword secure, potions accessible, emergency supplies packed tight. "The Drowned King considers himself a sovereign. Anyone who enters his domain is either a supplicant or an invader."

"Which are we?" She shifted her weight, already eager for the fight.

"Invaders, definitely invaders." He drew his blade and gestured toward the darkness with it.

Ravenna moved to stand beside him, her Hellfire flickering at her fingertips in anticipation. "How far down does it go?"

"Three levels, with the upper chambers flooded but empty and the middle level where the minions spawn." He gestured toward the darkness. "At the bottom is the throne room."

"Any chance we can just skip to the bottom?" She raised an eyebrow hopefully.

"The levels seal behind you as you descend, so there are no shortcuts and no retreat once we’re committed." He met her eyes. "Last chance to back out."

Astrid’s grin was savage as she cracked her knuckles. "Just the way I like it."

They entered together, the dungeon’s ancient magic accepting their presence and triggering whatever mechanisms controlled its trials. The archway shimmered behind them, and he felt the familiar pressure of being somewhere that didn’t quite obey normal rules.

[Dungeon entered: The Drowned Throne]

[Floor 8 hidden dungeon]

[Objective: Defeat the Drowned King]

[Party size: 3]

[Difficulty: Extreme]

"Extreme difficulty with three people." Astrid’s voice echoed in the flooded corridor ahead as she waded forward, testing the depth. "The system doesn’t think we can do this."

"The system doesn’t know what we can do." He took the lead with his sword already drawn. "Stay close. The first level is straightforward, but there are traps."

---

The upper chambers were exactly as he remembered: flooded corridors of ancient stone, their surfaces covered in coral and sea growth that glowed with phosphorescent light.

The water came up to mid-thigh in most places, making movement slower than he wanted, but the breathing enhancement the Tower provided meant they could walk through completely submerged sections without difficulty.

They encountered the first trap maybe twenty meters in, a section of floor that looked stable but was actually covering a pit filled with razor coral and something that moved in the darkness below. He spotted the telltale shimmer of the illusion and guided them around it without breaking stride.

"How did you see that?" Ravenna asked, eyeing the false floor with renewed caution.

"Experience, because this dungeon uses the same patterns throughout." He pointed to subtle discolorations on the walls. "Once you learn the first trap, you can predict the rest."

More traps followed in quick succession. Pressure plates that triggered spear walls. Sections of ceiling that dropped without warning. A corridor where the water suddenly became acidic unless you found the safe path along the left wall. He navigated them all, leading his companions through a labyrinth that would have killed most parties on their first attempt.

The first level ended at a massive door that opened only when all three of them placed their hands on its surface simultaneously.

"Teamwork check." Astrid observed, rolling her eyes. "Cute."

Beyond the door, the middle level began, and with it came the real danger.

---

The minions came in waves, spectral forms that rose from the water like nightmares given shape with their bodies composed of drowned sailors and ancient inhabitants of the sunken city.

They moved with jerky, unnatural motion, their eyes empty and their mouths open in silent screams.

"Here we go!" Astrid charged the first wave, her transformation bleeding red across her features as she tore into the spectral forms with savage efficiency. Her fists passed through their ghostly bodies but somehow found purchase, ripping and shredding as if they were made of physical matter.

Ravenna’s Hellfire followed immediately, black-edged flames consuming entire groups of minions at once while the spectral forms shrieked as the fire touched them, their voices audible for the first time as they burned away to nothing.

He held the line between his companions, his blade cutting down any minion that tried to flank them, and the Champion’s Blade hummed with satisfaction as it severed spectral limbs and heads, the weapon seeming to enjoy this kind of work.

[Enemy slain: Drowned Specter x12]

[Enemy slain: Drowned Specter x8]

[Enemy slain: Drowned Specter x15]

The notifications scrolled past faster than he could read them, and the minions kept coming wave after wave, emerging from the flooded corridors around them. But the three of them held their ground.

"How many of these things are there?" Astrid shouted between kills, her fist crushing a specter’s skull.

"Hundreds, maybe more." He decapitated two specters with a single sweep. "They’ll keep spawning until we reach the guardian chamber."

"Then we need to move!" Ravenna threw a concentrated lance of Hellfire that carved a path through the horde ahead. "Follow me!"

She ran, and they ran with her, cutting through any minion that got in their way. The middle level was a maze of flooded chambers and narrow corridors, each one filled with more of the drowned dead, but they pushed through with Ravenna’s fire clearing the path while he and Astrid covered the flanks.

The guardian chamber appeared after maybe an hour of continuous fighting, a circular room maybe thirty meters across with a raised platform at its center.

The water here was waist-deep and eerily still, reflecting the phosphorescent light from above like a dark mirror, and standing on the platform, waiting for them with the patience of something that was dead for millennia, was the guardian.

Not the Drowned King, but something smaller. A lieutenant maybe, or a champion of the ancient court.

[Mini-boss: Drowned Champion]

[Classification: Elite undead]

[Threat level: High]

The Champion was massive, easily three meters tall, its body bloated and waterlogged but still powerful. It wore armor that might have been magnificent once, now corroded and encrusted with barnacles, and in its hands it held a sword that pulsed with the same sickly green light as the dungeon’s symbols.

"I’ll take point." Astrid cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders. "You two support."

She didn’t wait for a response before launching herself at the Champion with a roar that echoed off the chamber walls, and the fight was brutal from the first exchange.

The Champion was fast for its size, its corrupted blade sweeping through the air with killing intent. Astrid dodged the first strike, countered with a punch that rocked the creature back, and immediately dove away from the follow-up that would have taken her head.

Ravenna circled to the Champion’s flank, throwing Hellfire that ate into its armor and the dead flesh beneath. The creature roared, a sound like drowning given voice, and swept its blade in an arc that forced her to retreat.

He waited for his moment, watching the Champion’s movements, learning its patterns.

The Champion overextended on a lunge toward Astrid, its balance shifting forward just slightly too far, and he was already moving. Shadow Step carried him past the creature’s guard, and his blade found the gap between helmet and breastplate where ancient chain mail rusted through.

The Champion staggered, dark ichor spraying from the wound, and Astrid hit it from the other side with her fist driving into its armored gut with enough force to dent steel. Ravenna’s Hellfire wrapped around its sword arm, burning through corrupted metal and dead muscle until the weapon fell from nerveless fingers.

Together, they brought it down.

[Drowned Champion slain]

[System points: +800]

[Dungeon progress: 2/3 levels complete]

"One more level." He cleaned his blade on the Champion’s ruined cloak. "The King is waiting."

"Let him wait." Astrid was breathing hard but grinning, her berserker form slowly receding. "I’m just getting warmed up."

Ravenna moved to check them both for injuries, her healing abilities weak but present. "We should rest before the final push. Recover some energy."

"Agreed." He looked around the chamber and found a dry corner near the exit to the third level. "Fifteen minutes. Then we finish this."

They settled into their rest positions with the weight of the dungeon pressing down around them like a living thing.

Somewhere below, the Drowned King stirred on his ancient throne, sensing the invaders who would soon come to challenge his rule.