"So the boss is down this way, right?" Link asks, slashing a Red Bari in the next room.
'Yes,' Sahasrahla confirms.
The Red Bari splits into two Biri and they both shock Link.
"OW!" Link yelps.
Link then grabs a decorative skull off the ground and throws it at the Biri. One of the Biri gets hit and dies. Underneath the skull that Link threw is a button! Curiously, Link goes and steps on the button. The door nearby opens up.
"Oh! Okay! I guess I know where I'm going next!" Link says.
The moment he steps off of the switch, the door closes.
"Oh…" Link says, "…Wait a minute, maybe there is a different switch…"
Link pauses a moment to see if Sahasrahla will correct him. Sahasrahla remains silent so Link goes to the other side of the room to check.
"There are two more doors over here!" Link exclaims, "One of these has to be the right way!"
Since one of the doors is already open, Link decides to check down there first. Here he finds a lever and pushes it, hoping it will keep the other door open. Much to his surprise, the water drains instead.
"Oh! That was another water switch!" Link exclaims.
Quickly, Link heads back up the stairs. The other two doors are still shut.
"I need to open the doors again…" Link says.
He runs back and forwards a few times, trying to figure it out.
'Link, you've been through one of these puzzles before. Do you not recall the Palace of Darkness?' Sahasrahla asks, sounding tired.
"Palace of Darkness… Uh… Oh, yeah! One of these statues might work!" Link says, suddenly remembering.
Link pushes a statue over the switch and the doors open once again. After this, Link heads back to the door that was next to the open doorway and heads down there.
"Treasure! Wow! What could this be?" Link exclaims, opening the two chests.
Neither chest proves to be that useful so Link heads back up stairs. Unfortunately, the statue has moved back into place and the door slams shut behind him.
"What! Who moved the statue?!" Link wails.
Quickly, he dashes back to the other side of the room and puts the statue on the switch again. This time he goes through the door directly in front of himself. The next room has a pool of running water in it as well as a few more dragon statues spraying water into the room. There doesn't appear to be a way forward from here.
"Huh? Is this the end of the temple? Where is the boss, then…?" Link wonders.
As he is walking through the water, a blob of water flies and hits him in the face.
"Well THAT'S not helping!" Link yelps.
Curiously, Link begins pressing on the blocks on the ground. The third one he tries to push actually moves and a treasure chest appears.
"Hmmm… Maybe whatever is in this treasure chest will help…" Link says
He goes to open the treasure chest. The chest contained Rupees.
"Just Rupees?" Link wonders out loud.
Link goes and presses the remaking few blocks, but nothing happens. He then just stands there staring in disbelief.
"Did I miss something somewhere?!" Link asks, "Sahasrahla?!"
Sahasrahla does not reply. Frustrated. Link exits the room and begins reexploring the entire palace AGAIN. He tries hitting all the switches again, and then attempts to defeat every enemy he sees.
"Come on! Where is the boss?!" Link asks.
He pulls his map and studies it a moment.
"According to the map, it SHOULD be in the room I got a Rupee Chest from…" Link says.
Link turns around and heads back the direction he came from. Nothing in the room appears to be different now. Link then sits down in the water and holds his head in confusion.
"This is so haaaaaaaard!" Link cries out.
'Link… Just because the correct way forward cannot be seen, doesn't mean it doesn't exist…' Sahasrahla says psychically.
"I can't do this, Sahasrahla! The world is doomed!" Link wails.
Sahasrahla sighs heavily in annoyance.
'Did you try walking through the waterfalls…?' Sahasrahla asks.
"Walk through the waterfalls…? Isn't there just walls behind them…?" Link asks.
'Do you know that for sure or have you failed to check?' Sahasrahla asks.
"…I don't know for sure and I didn't check…" Link says.
Link stands up, causing a lot of water to drip from his tunic.
"Maybe you're right…" Link says.
He walks towards a waterfall and it just so happens to be the correct one.
"YOU WERE RIGHT!" Link exclaims.
"I told you…" Sahasrahla says with a sigh.
The next room that Link arrives in is a very long one full of water and a strong current. Waiting in the water are several Water Tektites, wanting to attack Link.
"Oh… How fun…" Link says.
He then tries to poke them from the little ledge he is on. Unfortunately, his sword isn't long enough to reach them.
"Go away! Go! Shoo!" Link yells.
The Water Tektites float back and forwards, still watching Link eagerly.
"I need to get through here!" Link yells.
After the Water Tektites continue floating back and forwards, Link hops in behind them. The Water Tektites attack Link as he quickly swims to the other side of the long room. As it turns out, the next door is locked.
"Uh… Where is the key…?" Link wonders out loud, "Please tell me I don't have to swim across that room again!"
"You have to swim across that room again," one of the Water Tektites says.
"DANG IT!" Link yells.
He jumps in the water again and the Water Tektites immediately attempt to attack him.
"Get away!" Link yelps, swimming against the current.
After being chased in the water as the current tries to drag him away, Link eventually reaches a ledge with a skull on it. Under the skull is the missing key.
"There it is!" Link says.
"Now you have to swim back!" one of the Water Tektites taunts Link.
Link sighs and jumps in. After reaching the locked door, Link unlocks it with one last glare at the Water Tektites.
"Uh oh, he's heading to Arghus' lair…" one Water Tektite whispers.
"It's fine. Arghus will totally crush him!" another Water Tektite says.
Link smirks and enters the boss room. Floating in the middle of the room is a gigantic octopus covered in little clouds; this is Arghus, the boss of the Swamp Palace!
"Alright, Arghus! I'm here to defeat you!" Link cries out triumphantly.
Arghus slowly approaches. Link stares at it for a moment before looking through his inventory.
"There has to be a way to uncover the boss…" Link mumbles.
His first attempt is to throw the boomerang at the Arghi. This doesn't effect the boss.
"Ummm, uh…" Link says.
One of the Arghi touches Link and electrocutes him.
"AHHH THAT HURTS!" Link yelps and slashes at it.
That Arghi bursts. Link then escapes from being cornered by Arghus. Next, he tries to shoot Arghus with an arrow, but that also does nothing.
"Gee, that doesn't work either…" Link says and pulls out his hook shot, "…but maybe this will…"
Link successfully hooks an Arghi and brings it to himself, slashing it with his sword.
"Alright! That's easy!" Link says.
Arghus then proceeds to corner Link again.
"Okay! Not easy! I take it back!" Link yelps and just barely escapes.
The fight continues for awhile until Link manages to remove and destroy all the Arghi. Arghus then becomes very angry.
"Where are you going, Arghus? I think I need to stab you!" Link cries out as Arghus springs into the air.
Arghus comes crashing down and almost crushes Link. Link yelps in surprise and dashes away. Arghus starts ricocheting off of the walls. Link begins to panic and slashes at random.
'Focus, Link… You can do this!' a woman's voice cries out in Link's head.
Link takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and slashes Arghus as it is passing him. Arghus springs up into the air again. The process continues as Arghus once again attempts to crush Link. By the power of the Master Sword, Arghus falls!
"YEAH! I DID IT!" Link cries out excitedly.
Arghus explodes and a crystal descends. It is Princess Augusta, the 2nd Maiden! Link approaches and touches the crystal. It grows and shines its brilliantly blue light around the room.
"Brave hero, you have rescued me from the clutches of darkness..." Augusta says, repeating the same words her sister said, "…and yet you still have so much further to go…"
"I'm trying my hardest," Link says.
"…my sisters Stella, Belinda, Krystal, Destiny, and Zelda are still locked away in dungeons across Hyrule. Your next destination should be the Skull Woods in the north west. My sister Stella waits there in captivity. For now, I shall aid you on your quest, granting you my power!" Augusta says.
Once again, the crystal flashes and shrinks back down. Link uses his Magic Mirror to return to the entrance of the palace again. When he arrives at the exit, he once again finds the black fox sitting there and waiting for him. She stands up and stretches.
"Wow, that took a long time. You smell funny," the fox remarks.
"As it turns out, Swamp Palace had pretty clean water," Link says.
"Really? Then why do they call it Swamp Palace?" the fox asks.
"I don't know, but I was told to head to Skull Woods next," Link says.
"Wow, lovely. Sounds like you won't find anything but death there," the fox says, "Death and a giant evil moth named Mothula."
"A giant evil moth? Well, that wouldn't be the strangest thing I've experienced lately," Link says.
"It's quite far from here, though. It's north of where Kakariko Village should be," the fox says.
"Kakariko! That's right! I have a little friend back in Kakariko!" Link exclaims.
"Do you?" the fox asks, "I wonder… Do they miss you?"
"Maybe…" Link replies.
"Alright, follow me. I can lead you to Skull Woods!" the fox says, "We head north first, then west."
Link follows the fox. She leads Link first to Kakariko.
"Welcome to Thieves' Town! Poor people aren't welcome here!" the fox announces, "But, uh… We don't need this town. We need the Skull Woods."
"Oh no… I barely recognize this place…" Link says, "All the buildings are ruined…"
"And, it is crawling, with thieves!" the fox says dramatically before picking a green Rupee from Link's pocket.
"Hey! What?!" Link exclaims.
"It's just one Rupee," the fox says and hands it back, "Now, don't expect the thieves to hand you your money back."
"The Cuccos have become skeletons!" Link points out, "I sure hope my red Cucco is okay…"
"Oh, don't worry about it… Back in the Light World, the Cuccos are safe," the fox says.
"That's a relief…" Link says with a sigh.
"Now, come on. Skull Woods are north of here!" the fox says.
Link narrowly avoids a few thieves as he follows the fox. They want to steal all of his money and resources. Eventually, the two arrive at the entrance to the woods.
"Now, here we go! They hide the entrances cleverly here, so check everything suspicious!" the fox says.
"Everything suspicious, huh?" Link asks.
There are plenty of monsters roaming these woods. While outside there are thieves that want everything Link owns, in here, the monsters want Link to stop living altogether. Link takes a deep breath, trying to keep calm.
Link pokes a skull on the ground with his sword. In fact, there are four skulls on the ground here. There are many other bones as well, which is how these woods became known as Skull Woods. Link pulls the skull out of the ground and, sure enough, there is a secret entrance.
"A skull in a hole…? Did the person fall in and die?" Link asks.
"Probably. But you look small enough to fit in," the fox says.
"Am I?" Link asks.
"Actually, I have a better idea," the fox says suddenly, "There is another entrance this way. Follow me!"