I stood in front of a gigantic door after having spent a stupid amount of time navigating the three floors of the maze. There had been a shit ton of traps, and it only got worse whenever I descended a floor, making my progress slow at best. On the third floor, I’d been advancing so carefully that I was reminded of myself pre-agility unlock. My fruit stock was dwindling, but I still had a lot. Thankfully I’d collected over two hundred on the third floor, but by using them as waypoint markers as well as occasionally using them to disarm traps, there were only seventy-four left.

I’d found one more scale on my journey through the winding halls of the dungeon, along with another piece of the carving and a passage from whatever it was the dungeon was trying to tell me. The first one I’d found had been “From which, formed the first Leviathans.” The second scale was accompanied by the phrase “Together, they went forth and created life both big and small.” I couldn’t make much heads or tails out of these two sentences, but it was probably some background story about this “progenitor” dude this dungeon was about.

The door I stood in front of featured what I assumed to be the completed mural I’d seen pieces of at the scales locations. The large, stone, double door was decorated by a Chinese-style dragon, long and winding, with a bunch of hair running down the back, and a long face complete with a maw full of sharp teeth. On closer inspection, it kind of resembled the fake water dragon eel I’d fought earlier.

It was missing the clawed feet Chinese Dragons usually had, replaced by four sets of fins along the body. I was starting to think that the progenitor was an actual water dragon. Not the fake eel with visions of grandeur, but an actual water dragon. Seeing how I fared against the fake one, I’d have to be extra careful when fighting this thing. Retreat wasn’t an option, since the system wouldn’t let me leave until that monster had been slain.

I studied the carving for a while longer, before stepping up to the door, which opened automatically once I got close enough. The doors were seemingly ancient and when they opened a whole bunch of dirt got dislodged and fell to the ground in front of me. They were scraping the floor, shaking the entire floor as they slowly revealed what was behind them. I cast void cloak and got ready for a fight, intent on getting the first strike in.

As it turned out, my combat readiness was unnecessary, since behind the doors was a large, circular room. I could tell, since for the first time since I’d entered this damn dungeon, there was light in the room. When the doors had completely opened, a line of torches circumventing the admittedly huge room started lighting up one by one in a rapid fashion. Aside from the torches, the room seemed to be completely empty, which made me halt.

Would the boss emerge from a hidden compartment once I stepped into the room? I had readied an array of void javelins while the doors were opening, so I was as ready as I could be and carefully stepped inside, ready to start blasting the second I saw some movement. But it never came. The tension slowly left my body as I realized that this wasn’t the boss room.

I didn’t dissolve my javelins as I took a closer look at the room I was in. It was a perfect circle, and if I had to guess, about half a kilometer in diameter. The torches that lined the walls did woefully little to light the center of the room, but somehow the whole room was properly lit. Probably some system shenanigans, or magic. When I looked up, I once again saw the mural I’d seen at the temple entrance. On the high ceiling was a depiction of thousands of sea creatures converging toward the center of the room in a whirlpool-like fashion.

At the center was the deep sea gem, surrounded by the five large monsters, probably the leviathans mentioned in the first passage I’d found. But in this room, there was an addition that hadn’t been in the temple. The progenitor was featured heavily, his long body starting all the way at the wall of torches, swirling toward the center of the whirlpool where he cradled the deep sea gem in his mouth.

It was a fascinating mural and I spent some time taking it all in, following the long body of the progenitor to the center of the room. I was so focused on the mural at the ceiling that, when I bumped into something I jumped back in shock and started blasting, only to realize what I’d bumped into was a raised section of floor. After the initial shock, I quickly recognized it for what it was: An elevator. It looked almost identical to the in-between-layers elevators I’d been riding.

I gingerly approached again, reaching out with one of my tentacles to touch the platform, which caused a system screen to pop up.

This is a boss elevator, please make sure you are sufficiently prepared before proceeding onto the platform. You need to provide at least one of the progenitors' scales to activate the platform.

Progenitor Scales 2/5

I grumbled under my breath, cursing the system for telling me there were more of these scales to collect. Sure, I could just go down right now, but I had the nagging feeling that there was a reason for there to be five scales in total. The tooltip said to prepare sufficiently, which felt like a not-so-subtle hint toward having to gather all of the scales before challenging the boss of the dungeon. I thought back to the fake water dragon and how it shocked me with its spell, which was all it took for me to turn around.

No more unnecessary risk-taking. It would take time, but I fully intended to get all five scales before continuing. I’d already explored large parts of the maze anyway, tons of hallways had been marked, and I’d gotten somewhat proficient at not only spotting the traps but also disarming them. So I quickly left the circular room and dived back into the maze in search of the remaining scales.

I finally stood back in front of the door after hours of arduous searching. A clock widget for the system would be cool, but here I was, plunged into a dark maze with no idea how much time had passed. It sure felt like the whole thing took several days, but it probably hadn’t been a full day since I entered this accursed labyrinth. But! I had done it! All five scales were safely resting in my inventory. I’d also seen all of the passages associated with the scales, which after some rearranging read something like this:

The progenitor was created by god and given a mission.

He would rule the seas in gods stead and was tasked with populating the vast oceans.

The progenitor ripped out five of his beautiful scales.

From which, formed the first Leviathans.

Together, they went forth and created life both big and small.

This little story went against everything I’d learned on the last floor, of course. There was no god involved in this whole shebang, just some dude causing a magical explosion of untold proportions, corrupting the entire planet. I wondered if this dungeon just used a system-fabricated story, or if the floors were actually representing different planets altogether. Regardless, I’d collected all of the scales and was now ready to challenge the boss.

I entered the circular room and stepped on the platform, summoning a whole array of void javelins and activating void cloak as I went. The system once again prompted me, and I confidently chose to start the boss battle. Immediately, the whole platform shook a bit as it disengaged from whatever was holding it up and started to slowly descend.

Below, I found an almost identical room to the one above, albeit less lit. There were only a few torches on the wall, making it hard to see. As I continued to descend, I realized that below me was a stone platform, maybe a hundred meters in diameter, surrounded by water. I eyed the water suspiciously, knowing that the progenitor was some sort of water dragon creature and that he’d most likely emerge from there to fight.

The platform slotted into a hole in the ground, coming to a flush rest. It didn’t even take a second for the progenitor to show itself, jumping out of the water and over me, landing back in the water on the other side, dragging its long body after itself. I took the moment to quickly analyze it with the archive of asphon, and almost wish I hadn’t done so after reading what it said.

The Progenitor (T6)

A mythical creature said to be the source of all marine life, created by an unknown god for the sole purpose of lessening his own workload. The progenitor doesn’t know this and is taking its work way too seriously. It is fiercely proud of its creations, and even more protective of them.

That thing was tier six? Probably level twenty as well! Oh dear lord, this might be a problem…