Ah, dungeons. Those are hard to write, let me tell you. If anyone knows anyone else on this site who does this often and has come to do it second nature, let me know, I could always use some help on my stories no matter how well you guys think I'm doing. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, Chapter 14.

Chapter 14

Infernal Armored Parasite: Scaldorm

"What the Dark Realm are you though?" Link asked as he dodged to the side of the beast as it came crashing down at him, punching another hole in the grating between Link and the magma below.

The creature roared again before landing flat on the grating and crawling towards Link, its mandibles going to work trying to catch him. The worst part was that it was fast enough to catch up with him, but there was Link's heavier armor to blame for that as well.

"Damn, and it's fast," Link deduced as it chased him around the room, biting at him.

Link quickly turned with ax in hand to land a blow on its face, thinking that maybe its eyes were its weakness like the Gohma. Sadly, this was not the case as his ax bounced off of its armored exoskeleton. The beast reared back and lunged forward, biting at him again, Link raised his new shield just in time after replacing his ax on his back, opting for defense at the moment. The creature bounced off of his shield, crashing into the ground behind him and getting stuck.

Link took this chance to look the beast over. It was at least 50 feet long, making it a titanic insect. It also possessed multiple legs, more then six, meaning it was some kind of gargantuan millipede. It's entire body was clad in some kind of natural armor capable of blocking even his new ax, though in the joints and other unarmored areas, he could see that its body was red and fleshy. Not only that, but at the end of its body opposite its head was a yellow stinger with a sickly yellow sac likely filled with toxins. Interestingly enough, there were holes in its armor, but their purpose was unknown to Link.

"Would an arrow fit?" Link asked as the creature pulled itself free, but not before Link managed to put a few arrows into the gaps in its armor, though it didn't seem to notice. Link winced at the beast turned around before whipping him with its tail, sending him skidding back.

Catching himself before he hit the wall, he noted that the hit had just taken hurt a lot less that he though it would have, and despite the insect having just crawled out of a volcano, he didn't feel and heat even as it made contact.

"Must be this armor," Link deduced as he grabbed his ax again, rushing the beast. He caught its head with his ax, though he dragged it down the length of its body until he reached its tail, at which point it responded violently and threw its body away from him.

"So, your tail, huh?" Link asked as he ran towards it again, though the beast moved its tail right as Link brought his ax down, coiling itself around him. Stripped of his breath, Link couldn't do much else but stare at the creature that was holding him. It looked back at him before releasing green toxins from the holes in its armor similar to what had been outside, though these ones were thicker. Raising its front legs, it began scraping them together, creating sparks. It was too late before Link realized what was happening as the gases around him detonated. The creature released Link, though when the smoke cleared, he was perfectly fine.

"Whoa!" said Link in surprise. "Didn't I just explode?" He was quite sure that the gas around him had just exploded, but here he was, unharmed. He thought that maybe the armor had something to do with that as well.

"Harder to hurt and fireproof as well? I'll take it!" shouted Link as the creature noticed him still alive. It charged at him, though he dodged to the side and drew his bow, putting a few more arrows into the holes in its armor. Though the explosions from this thing couldn't hurt him, he didn't like the fact that it could spawn poisonous, explosive gas at will. He saw that there were only 12 holes in its armor that could spawn the gas, and they were all near its head. Having plugged up 6 of that holes, he drew his ax again as it turned back to him. He played cat and mouse with it a few more times until all of the holes had been plugged, and then he went to try to land a few more hits on its tail, though its erratic movement prevented that from happening. The creature wrapped itself around Link again, though he smirked as it tried to pump out more fumes, some leaking out of its maw. He wrestled himself free before grabbing a single arrow and dipping it into the lava below before firing it into the insect's mouth, setting off the gases pent up in its body, setting off an internal explosion that shot out a few of the arrows in its armor, but also dazed it long enough for Link to land a few solid blows on its tail, nearly cutting it off. It caught itself before its stinger fell off, moving away from the ax-wielding hero. It experimentally set off some gas to make sure that it wasn't clogged up before charging at Link again. He hit it across the face when it reached him before pulling his bow back out, once again plugging the holes in its armor, this time clogging all of the ones that had cleared in the explosion. The creature had been pumping out gas in rage for a little while, so Link only had to fit another flaming arrow into its mouth, setting off yet another explosion that dazed it long enough for him to finally cleave off the beast's stinger. It roared in pain, but didn't go down.

"That should have killed it," Link said as the beast crawled around in circles for a little bit before diving back through the grating over and over again, making multiple holes that he could fall through if he wasn't careful.

"It thrives in magma..." Link said quietly after it stayed in the magma, not coming back up. "Maybe that has something to do with it staying down there. I don't want to, but I have to check the magma."

Walking over to one of the holes in the grating, he slowly lowered his hand towards the bubbling molten rock, and was reassured when he didn't feel any hotter the closer he got. He quickly thrust his finger in, pulling it out right after than, and was satisfied to see his finger didn't look or feel any different.

"Here goes nothing," said Link as he thrust his whole hand into the fiery liquid, leaving it there. Despite the discomfort of leaving his hand in magma, he didn't feel any other pain.

"I'm not gonna like this," he said as he dove into the volcano. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see that he hadn't burned alive, or felt any pain, for that matter, so that meant that this armor was the real deal, making him fireproof. He noted, however, that he still had to hold his breath, so he didn't have too long to do what he needed to do, maybe a few minutes.

Then let's make these few minutes count, he thought as he swan to the bottom. Due to the nature of magma, despite being clad in both heavy armor and with a huge ax on his back, he remained pretty neutrally buoyant, being able to swim freely.

Heh, swimming in a volcano. Never thought I'd see the day.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement, and saw the beast resting in an alcove under the lava. He knew that his armor wouldn't protect his bow to the point of keeping it from bursting into flames, though it did seem to prevent his weapon and shield from degrading any, so those were always an option.

Grabbing his ax, Link swam towards the creature, though when he got close, he saw that the armor it had once bore had been purged, meaning he could strike anywhere and get results.

So that's what he did.

He brought his ax down on the monster, though the speed at which he could was drastically reduced because of all of the molten rock. Regardless, it did the trick, and the creature understood that it couldn't escape from Link. Getting back onto the grating, Link barely got out of the way as the creature shot up past him, a large wound in its face after Link's last attack.

"Bring it on," Link said as he stood, raising his ax once more as the beast charged at him, though he shouldered his ax just in time to equip his shield such to ram it into its face to stagger it, allowing him to bring his ax down hard on it. However, when he tried to pull his ax free, he found it to be stuck, so he was forced to leave it there and unsheathe his sword. Though it was faster and allowed the use of a shield, it dealt much less damage, perhaps to the point of dealing no damage. Thankfully, when he slashed at it, he dealt a satisfying amount of damage. It lunged at him again, though he rolled to the side at it bit, slashing it as he leapt up, bringing his sword stabbing down as he impaled its head, the tip of the sword coming out the other side. The beast reared back, though it fell back down to the ground, its body beginning to burn in the golden fire the Queen Gohma had when it died.

"Thanks the Goddesses," Link said as he pulled his sword free, doing the same with his ax and putting it back next to his shield. "And I'm definitely keeping this."

Stepping forward, he claimed his next prize, his new Starlight Coin. It was identical to the last one, so he figured they must all look like that.

"Well..." said Link as he released a pent up breath, "I guess that's that. Let's get out of here, Marze."

"Yeah, lets," said Marze. "It's getting a bit too hot for me in here."

Link nodded, turning back towards the carts that had brought him down.

"Looks like we can't head out that way," deduced Link. The rails were barely wide enough to support his feet, and the ties that connected them were few and far between, as Goron metals didn't require too much of it in order to do the job, so if he slipped and fell, he'd have to make his way back over to the rails.

"Well, I guess if I'm just careful..." he said in thought as he walked over to the rails.

OOO

After about three tries, Link had finally managed to climb out of the Goron Mines, this time without the flying pots, and once again saw the light of day from outside of the volcano. Taking a deep breath, he looked around to see that the green haze had been completely purged from the area. Several Gorons had also taken note of that fact and had started making their ways back into Death Mountain.

"Thank the Goddesses that's been solved," said Link as he rolled his shoulders. "Anyway, we should check out Petra's progress with my weapons, and then head back to the Twilight Tavern to see if any new information about those five other problem areas has surfaced."

"Agreed. Additionally, I want to see how Petra's business has been doing," said Marze as Link walked down the mountain, removing his new mask and hood.

"Me too. She said she had already seen some business for her less masterful works," said Link in agreement as he made his way back to Kakariko Village. Looking around, he saw that people had come out of their houses, some having heard from the Gorons that the mountain had become safe again. Sighing in relief, he looked to Remono's house, though he didn't see anyone coming out, only Cisia sitting out front playing with Zuba.

Stepping forward, she saw him out of the corner of her eye, and got up to greet him.

"Hey, Link!" she said gleefully. "So, how did the mines work out?"

"Well..." Link said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess the Goron can mine again," he finished, a smile coming to his face.

Cisia's smile grew tenfold. "Really?!" she shouted, hugging him. "Thank you! And, um... I'm really sorry for what happened back there. I shouldn't have said what I said and done what I did," she said into his tunic. Link was a solid bit taller than her, and she came up to his shoulders.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Link said as he patted her hair. "So, how's your father doing?" he asked as Cisia stepped back.

"Well," she said as she stepped to the side, "why don't you see for yourself?"

Link smiled, donned his mask and hood since Remono hadn't seen his face, and entered his house, only to see that the shaman was not in bed like he was before. Instead, he was sitting off the the side in a chair, reading a book.

"Remono?" Link said, drawing his attention. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"It is because I no longer need to be. The rest of the toxins still in my body had recently receded, but I do not know why," he explained.

"Yeah, who could really know?" Link said, knowing full well he killed the creature that had been the cause of the pathogens. "Maybe your body finally rejected it fully and purged it."

Remono smiled. "No, I believe this more to be a blessing of the Goddesses. But I must ask you, do you know where my daughter got that animal? She named it Zuba and now I can't separate her from it."

"No idea," Link said, once again knowing the truth.

"Hm. Very well. It's a docile animal though, so I can't imagine it would hurt anyone," Remono said as he noticed Link's new clothes. "Oh, where did you get those? I thought you were wearing green clothing when you left."

"These? I had them on me. They're a bit cooler than my others, and it is pretty hot out here," Link lied once again.

"You came prepared," approved Remono. "I'm just glad the Goddesses saw it fit to aid us in our hour of need. The Gorons are once again free to mine everything they need from food to materials, and we are free to visit them. It truly is a great day."

"Then I'll leave you to enjoy it peace," Link said as he turned back to the door, waving at Remono, who waved back.

"Luck to you on your travels, Hodded Demon."

Exiting the house, Link whistled Epona over to him, though Cisia stopped him.

"Leaving so soon?" she asked as he mounted Epona.

"I have to," Link admitted. "There are others who need my help. I can't sit back and just allow them to suffer. I have to do something about it."

Cisia nodded. "Well... Okay. Just don't get yourself killed out there!"

"Heh. I won't," Link laughed before urging Epona forward out of Kakariko.

OOO

"Whew. With this armor, it actually feels as if it were cold here in Lanayru Province," Link commented as he rode towards Petra's shop. "I'm not complaining though. After fighting a huge explosive insect in a volcano, I'll easily take this now."

Marze merely nodded. He understood that it was hot inside of the volcano, and he agreed. Cool air was definitely preferable at this point.

Link pulled up in front of Petra's shop, yet he didn't remove his mask due to a few people standing in front of the desk. Standing in line, he waited for his turn, Petra eventually getting to her.

"Ordering or picking up?" she asked professionally.

"Picking up," Link answered as he lowered his hood and mask.

"Oh, Link! I take it the Goron Mines are safe now?" she asked.

"Yep," Link said as he held out the insect's Starlight Coin. "Even got this."

"Great!" Petra said as she unlocked the door to the side, allowing Link in. "I'm just finishing up on your sword and shield. Aside from a few little things, they're good to go."

Link smiled and headed down the stairs after her to her main forge, seeing a golden blade and shield resting next to the forge, the golden light of the fire glinting off of the weapons.

"Whoa," said Link as he grabbed the sword, which as Petra said was nearly done. It merely lacked wrapping on the handle, which even then was very comfortable. "This is amazing..."

"It'll be even better when I take care of the finishing touches," said Petra as she took the blade from him.

"Is it fine if I just stick around 'til you're done?" Link asked, Petra nodding.

"Sure!" she replied, gesturing to a chair. "It'll just be a few minutes and then you'll be all set."

"Sounds good," Link said as he sat. Petra grabbed the sword and shield and headed into a side room, and as she told Link, it was only a few minutes before she returned with his new sword and shield in tow.

Standing up, Link took the sword and shield from her, unsheathing the golden blade. It bore a silver cross guard resembling a four-pointed star with the longest point running 1/4 up the blade which led to a fuller the ran 2/3 of the way the rest of the blade. The blade itself widened right before it reached the cross guard where it grew dull and receded back into the handle. The handle was finely wrapped with Ordonian Leather, and the silver pommel resembled a gem of some kind.

The shield resembled a standard Hylian Shield, though hers had silver rimming alongside a golden backdrop, a silver star presenting itself of the shield's face.

"It looks great, Petra. How much is this going to cost me?" Link asked.

"Not a Rupee," she replied, though Link shook his head.

"I get that you're doing what you can to help me, but I can't just take something that took three days of work for free. I'll give you 200 Rupees for each piece of gear," Link said.

"No, just take them," Petra insisted.

"Nope. I'll only take them if you take the money," Link declared as he set the money onto the table.

Petra sighed and reluctantly took the money, Link finally smiling.

"Pleasure doing business with you," he said as he strapped his new weapons on his back.

Badabing, badaboom! Chapter 14, good to go! Yep, his new armor makes him pretty fireproof, to the point of being able to swim in lava. Cool stuff, right? And Link finally got his sword and shield from Petra! Even more cool stuff, right? Anyway, you guys get it, cool stuff.

OniHelix out!