Chapter 30 The Flooded Depths

Elysia marched down the spiraling tunnel to another camp area with logs around a firepit. Unlike the previous two, there wasn’t an exit tunnel. Instead, water took up half of the cavern. Flashing back to her first dungeon, she assumed the exit was under water.

Instead of confirming her guess, she plopped on the log to view the notifications from the previous floor she ignored in favor of escaping the Changed team.

Killed Level 38 Mushroom. X81.

Level up! Level 37 Channeler.

Level up! Level 38 Channeler.

Level up! Level 39 Channeler.

Level up! Level 40 Channeler.

Level up! Level 41 Channeler.

She let out a whistle at the level ups before opening her status menu.

Status:

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Level 41 Lightning Touched Human.

Class: Channeler Level 41.

Charge: 235/246

Attributes:

Available Points: 34

Strength: 22

Dexterity: 32

Endurance: 22

Intelligence: 22

Perception: 32

Proficiencies:

Novice Spear Proficiency Level 8.

Novice Throwing Knives Proficiency Level 3.

Affinities:

Lightning level 4.

Resistances:

Death Resistance Level 1.

Water Resistance Level 1.

Poison Resistance Level 2.

Skill slots:

Slot 1: Electric Current +20% efficiency +10% power.

Slot 2: Static Shock +10% efficiency +20% power.

Slot 3: Electrify +10% Efficiency, +15% Power.

Slot 4: Lightning Rod +30% Power.

Slot 5: Static Zap +30% Efficiency.

Bonuses:

Damage to undead +10%

Damage to Arthropod +10%

Damage to Ladybugs +5%

Figuring it couldn’t hurt, she dumped ten points in strength, intelligence, endurance before laying on the ground awaiting the side effects. After the pain and paralysis passed, she sprang to her feet, turning her attention to the water. I guess I’m rolling with evening out my attributes, at least for now. Why should I specialize when my charge limits how high I can push my attributes? Hopefully, I get bonus attributes like last time.

After a quick scan of the rest area, she turned her attention to the water. I can’t dwell in this dungeon too long. I don’t have any supplies or weapons. They even took my canteen and meal bar! That Max kid probably did it. He seems to hate me for some stupid reason.

Elysia glanced down at her tattered camo clothes and stained boots before stripping them off and stepping into the water, shivering upon contact. Goose bumps formed as she walked deeper now up to her waist before the floor dropped off. She sucked in a deep breath, plummeting to the dark depths.

Blind, she grasped at her core, lighting her veins violet. With puffed cheeks, she scanned her surrounding while hovering in the water, finding a petrified forest below. Beautiful and eerie.

She spun around, staring wide eyed at a gaping maw filled with razor sharp teeth. On instinct, she released a burst of electricity, but to her shock, the lightning only momentarily stunned it.

-40 Charge.

Taking the opportunity to escape, she frantically swam upward but the serpent easily caught up, moving to swallow her whole. She released another lightning stream but it glance off its scales. With it catching her inevitable she instead swam toward the gapping mouth, slipping past the teeth before it tore her apart.

-40 Charge.

While maintaining her lit up veins, she stood on the living room sized tongue, glancing back at the now closed pointy teeth as long as she was tall. Before she could investigate further, the tongue flicked back, flinging her down its throat past gills which she reached out to grab, but the frilly organ slipped through her fingers.

Its esophagus contracted to force its meal to its stomach, but Elysia was far too small for the contractions, sparing her from a crushing fate. Still, the contractions propelled her further down the length of the serpent before coming to a stop near a loud beating sound vibrating the walls. Turning blue from holding her breath too long, she lifted her hands, discharging a stream of violet lightning toward the beating sound.

-120 Charge.

The streak of lightning burned through the walls of muscles, causing them to contract, accelerating the beating. She lost her footing as the serpent shook, then curled into a tight coil to protect itself only for its predator to be within.

Reaching her limit, she ran along the ribbed muscles toward its mouth, slipping through a gap in its teeth. Too preoccupied by its pain, the serpent failed to notice her as she frantically swam toward the surface, vision darkening as the light of the cavern approached. She broke the surface, gasping for breath before plunging below again. In desperation, she pushed her exhausted muscles to their limit, breaking the surface once again, this time dragging herself onto land.

On her hands and knees, she coughed water from her lungs until her throat burned before collapsing on her stomach. She laid on the smooth rock floor of the cavern unmoving for several minutes, too exhausted to move until a ding sounded, followed by a massive wave of warmth washing away her fatigue and then some.

Killed level 60 Infant Sea Serpent.

Level up! Level 42 Channeler.

Level up! Level 45 Channeler.

Achievement! Risk taker.

“Are you insane or genius? The jury is still out.”

Reward: 3 Attribute points.

Elysia rolled onto her back, staring up at the glowing ceiling in a daze. Infant!? That thing was the size of a 747! How did I kill something so huge? Did I beat the dungeon? If that thing wasn’t the boss, I don’t even want to think about what is. Please tell me mommy sea serpent isn’t swimming down there. I don’t think something that huge would fit.

After laying on the floor for several more minutes, she climbed to her feet, turning toward the water with a hesitant expression. I can’t hide in here forever. Whatever lives down there is blocking my freedom. As extra assurance, she dumped five attribute points into endurance, raising it to thirty-seven, but as she expected, nothing happened.

Just to solidify her need to delve into the depths, she prodded the entrance to the cavern, finding a barrier blocking her escape.

With no other option but to move forward, she approached the water, sucking in a deep breath, expanding her enhanced lungs before jumping into the water. Her body plummeted into the dark depths as she lit up her veins violet. She scanned the dungeon, finding the serpent laying on the dungeon floor crushing the petrified forest. Just to make sure it was the only enemy, she swam for several minutes in a circle, but nothing else decided to jump out to eat her.

Her lungs burned prompted her to swim to the surface, sucking in another breath before diving back down, this time swimming lower toward the serpent corpse. She circled the massive serpent, eying silvery scales. Why did they have to chase me away from my backpack? This serpent is probably a goldmine, but how will I transport my spoils? This is the crab dungeon all over again. Those scales deflected my lightning. I bet they would make amazing armor.

Elysia yanked at a scale, pulling it free with surprising ease. To get a better look at it, she swam to the cavern, hand-sized prize in hand. The scale shined iridescent under the glowing crystal ceiling, causing her eyes to sparkle.

Greed flashed as she turned her attention to her tattered clothes. An idea formed as a solution to her predicament. She knotted the legs of her cargo pants, forming a bag before diving toward the serpent once more, pants bag trailing in the water, grasped by her right hand.

Upon reaching the sea serpent corpse she pried scales of differing sizes, some the size of her head while others smaller than her palm, all glistening silver even in the dark depths, with the only light source being her violet veins. After filling her pant bag to the brim, she swam back to the cavern, hefting the surprisingly light bag of scales onto the cavern floor before diving back down to survey anything else worth scavenging.

Something glowing near the head of the dead serpent released the tension from her shoulders, but as she approached, a problem presented itself. Elysia’s gaze swept down her naked body before returning to the surface, fetching her tattered shirt. Upon returning to the shining pile, she stuffed the palm sized blue crystal and nine acorn side crystals of a darker shade of blue in the intact pockets then swam to the surface.

Determined to get as much as she could from the serpent, she dove once more. Her eyes landed on spikes near the end of the serpent that were manageable size, shining the same silver. She stood on the serpent, then gave it a yank and, like the scales, it broke free. With the forearm length razor sharp bladed spike in hand, she swam to the cavern, careful to avoid cutting herself as she deposited it on dry land before hopping out of the water. While grasping it by the base, she inspected it, smiling when it reflected her violet eyes. Out of curiosity, she tried to electrify it, since it looked metallic. The electricity coursed through the spike, giving it a violet tint, causing Elysia to vibrate with glee.

Curious, she grabbed a scale and tried the same, with a similar result opposite to what she expected. Odd. The scales deflected my lightning when the serpent was alive. I think the spikes did too, but everything happened too fast to know for sure. Is it because I killed it with my lightning? I’ll have to do more testing if I can find a safe place. I hope my boat survived, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to escape with it. He said it was damaged and they will fix it, but somehow, I doubt they will if the Changed team has their way.

At the thought of the Changed team, she jumped to action, diving back toward the serpent, breaking off five more spikes, transporting them up two at a time. She did one last scan of the serpent, tears in her eyes, leaving behind the massive creature filled with valuable materials. Stupid dungeon locking me out! I would back my boat up to the exit and pile on countless scales. I could bling my boat! Elysia snapped back to earth, cringing at the thought. Actually, let’s not. That would be too flashy, even for me. I like my jet black boat, though it needs some repainting. If it is even my boat anymore. Maybe the ownership from the system protected it.

After returning to the cavern, she stood over her shiny hoard, then to the tattered shirt. She grabbed one spike, slicing through the shirt, creating a tube top and skirt from the torso section before turning the rest into strips of fabric. Once she slipped the makeshift clothing on, she squeezed the crystals into the overstuffed pants bag before tying three strips around the spikes and the pants bag, forming a single bundle. Last, Elysia used the remaining four strips to tie it to her back, triple knotting it on the front. Elysia gave it a few experimental tugs and hops, finding it secure enough as long as she avoided any fights.

She glanced at the stained shoes, then down at her bare feet before shaking her head, knowing swimming would be hard enough with bare feet. After one last scan of the cavern, making sure she missed nothing, she dropped into the water.

Her eyes gravitated to the sea serpent corpse with only a small section of scales missing and hundreds of spikes remaining, but with no way to transport them, she swam past to survey the walls of the dungeon, spotting a cave near the floor opposite the starting cavern.

While mentally crossing her fingers, she swam toward the cave, gaining a little confidence when she found it far too small for the sea serpent to fit through, let alone an adult one. Was I supposed to out swim the serpent and escape in here to complete the floor? Oh well, either way, I killed it. It’s not like it gave me any other choice. It literally ate me! Little did it know I give heart burn. Okay, let’s not say that one out loud.

The cave turned out to be a tunnel leading upward. Her arms strained and her lungs burned, but she had gone too far to turn back. Elysia pushed on as she always did, reaching the end of the tunnel a minute later. A ding and notification appeared in her vision, but she waved it away for later. Flashbacks to her first dungeon prompted her to swim upward, seeing light shine through the water.

With a gasp she broke the surface, but after glimpsing where she was, she ducked back under for a moment to collect herself before peeking above. Fifty meters to her right was a port filled with ships and people milling about. The light she saw earlier wasn’t sunlight as it was night, but a spotlight aimed at the water near the docks. She ducked back under water as the spotlight waved over her location, swimming under the dock before climbing onto a concrete support.