NOVEL NEXT Chapter 114 - Silent Passage
The boss room remained dark. But James still had a decent number of glow strips. Exploration revealed a wide open expanse of dirt ringed on the very edges by tall trees, and beyond them, featureless stone walls. The ceiling was a complete mystery, too high above for his light to reach.
After some time spent re-orienting, James found the treasure chest, and inside was another amulet.
[Appraisal]: Steel Amulet, Quality: Average, Durability: 10/10, Enchantment: Silence (10)
Intermediate Air Enchantment: Silence memorized.
The Enchanter grinned, and the boy in James couldn't resist.
But he could take counter-measures.
He first put down his wards, and ensured they were topped up.
Then he put on the amulet, and felt the effect settle over him.
And then he yelled as loud as he could.
"Aaaaaaauuuugggghhhh!"
The noise echoed around the boss room before fading.
The Enchanter frowned.
Well, that was a bust—
He froze, realizing that although he was mouthing the words, he couldn't hear them.
Further experimentation revealed that, up to a certain volume just above normal speaking, the enchantment absorbed all the sound he created. Above that, the enchantment failed entirely, and noises could be heard as normal: the sound of his metal armor as he walked was absorbed, the sound of his hammer striking against his shield was not.
Satisfied, James took only a moment to eat more of his Glimmering Tortoise meat.
It was nearly half gone, now.
He quickly gathered his things and moved on, up the ten steps to the main part of this dungeon floor.
Light spilled forth from the iron door as he pushed it open, revealing a small room as usual, but beyond that was a pine forest spreading before him in the overcast light that precedes a storm.
He wrapped himself in shadow, and stepped forward, [Silenced].
It was hard to see very far in the forest. Tree trunks and bushes tended to block his view beyond a certain distance. But James had grown up on the edge of a forest, and he knew a thing or two about navigating within a forest.
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He took up his Red Iron Round Shield and his Red Iron War Hammer, the one enchanted with [Heated Blade]. As he went, he singed a mark into each tree trunk at chest height, indicating the path he was taking. Obviously not good forestry practice, but this was a Dungeon. He didn't think anyone would mind.
He proceeded on in this way for a couple miles, oblivious to the hawk and eagle monsters above as they were to him, invisible as he was. Nor did the tree monsters, disguised as young pine trees, note the Smith passing among them.
It was a peaceful, if tense, walk from one end of the floor to the other.
Eventually a wall, like the side of a canyon, revealed itself to James, and he followed it and there found the staircase to the next floor.
By this point, James was growing tired. Again, he set up his ward and slept in the staircase, leery of the odd floor where he hadn't found any monsters.
When next he woke, he stretched awkwardly in his Dark Armor, the soft clink of metal on metal absorbed by the [Silence]-enchanted amulet, and forced himself to stop after eating a third of his remaining meat.
His food situation was growing dire.
He took his Red Iron Round Shield and Dark War Hammer in hand and climbed the rest of the staircase, peering down the passage to reveal—
The back of a waterfall.
He crept closer, and most of the view of the boss room was blocked off by the falling water. To the sides he could see stone cliffs like those on the second floor, and the floor was sand. But cliffs ringed the entire arena, so the only drowning threat was the pool of water in front of him. It was a semi-circle some twenty yards across at the widest, with a small sandy path leading around it to the passage James was currently in.
James frowned. He didn't like that he couldn't see the boss. He was certain there was a boss: he had learned his lesson from the Lightning Serpent, and would never forget it. But without seeing it he couldn't plan, couldn't figure out the optimal armor and hammer and shield to bring into the fight.
Imagine if he hadn't been wearing his best Fire Armor when he fought the dragon? He shuddered silently.
So, he equipped himself as he had for the last boss fight. With his Dark Armor, Dark War Hammer, and Light Tower Shield. And also his new [Silence] amulet.
He crept forward, and stepped over the threshold—
And nothing happened.
Carefully, he stepped silently over the sand, his footing somewhat unsure, and moved along the cavern wall, around the pool of water and away from the treasure chest. More of the boss room became visible: It was just a sandy arena ringed by stone cliffs, lit flatly by what appeared to be low-lying, grey clouds pressing down like a smooth blanket.
And nothing happened.
James stopped, against the wall, and slowly reached into his magic bag, withdrawing warding stakes. He put them down around him in the sand, and poured magic power into them…
No ward. He put the stakes away. It had been worth testing.
There was definitely still a boss in here, somewhere. Most suspicious were the low-lying clouds, and the pool of water.
It was a bit of effort, but James kept his armor's [Shadow Concealment] at full power while also fully powering his Light Tower Shield's [Reflect], and with his numb right hand he held it above his head, covering himself from the sky.
If anything rained lightning down upon him in a surprise attack, hopefully that would be enough. It should—it had been enough to block the Holy Tiger—but nothing was certain.
The mystery of it all was really stressing James out.
Keeping a yard or two away from the wall, in case he needed room to swing his hammer, James made his way across the boss room, a full one hundred yards, to the ten stone steps leading to the iron door.
Still, the boss didn't appear.
James bit his tongue, pressing down on hope and enthusiasm. No celebrating until after he was out of the room.
He climbed the steps and paused. He put a hand on the iron door, and paused. He pushed on the iron door, and it was stuck fast.
He was locked in.
Looking down on the empty boss room was eerie. Nothing but an expanse of sand and the waterfall and pool at the far end. Looking from here, he could see how the water poured from a hole in the wall at the far end, then spread and fell into the pool below, churning up the water's surface and blocking any view of what might be in there.
He walked back down to the last step, and stepped off into the sand again. He couldn't hear the crunch, and wisps of shadow dripped from his armor onto the sand before dissipating like mist. The room was a neutral temperature, but the tension was making James sweat nervously.
He pulled off his helmet to wipe his brow, and that's when it happened.