Akko arrived in Rastavan with everything in hand and was able to observe what was going on. She was able to save the life of Empress Reiko, who was being blackmailed byAndrew, who had suddenly arrived from the kingdom of Edo trying to take her place, but something that suddenly happened shocked him when he realised that the girl was becoming much stronger than he had witnessed, and he was already perplexed, to the point of returning to Appleton to think about how he could find Atsuko, as well as how she had suddenly become so strong.
Akko takes a deep breath after resting for a long time and decides to take action. After taking a potion given to her by the wizard Alan, the girl's magic is restored, since she had used it to save Reiko.
Atsuko says goodbye to her friend the Empress and begins to make her way to the tower, this time cutting out a lot more of the path since she didn't have to climb everything the old way, she could just use her broom and that's what she did, making it to the top with enormous peace of mind, already facing the door of the tower, which brought back many memories.
(Here I am, six years later, this thing hasn't changed at all, it's still the same as it was six years ago, the same intimidating tower, only now I have my new spells that I can use to explore it fully, that part with the water must be where I have to go, apparently I couldn't escape from a dungeon of this level).
Kagari walks slowly towards the dungeon, entering it, noticing that it was all the same, with the main entrance room, the two parts where one goes up the tower and the other goes down, she went precisely for the part where she goes down, since it was the only way to go.
On the floor below she comes across dragons shooting fireballs, which she just stands there as if it were nothing, until she lets herself be hit, which causes nothing, then she decides to jump through the water with the second word and notices a whole series of galleries ahead, this really was just the beginning of the dungeon.
(Oh, as I imagined, the dungeon expands here, I could come back here when I was younger, anyway it's already the eighth one, there's only this one and one more to go and finally I can end this journey once and for all, I've already noticed that when I punched him in the face the damn thing felt it, so let it feel it enough that I'm going to hit it as hard as I can for all those people).
In this submerged part, the same dragons attacking her start to swim towards the girl herself, who just stares at them with a smile on her face. The monsters get close and are easily defeated, the fireballs fired are useless, their swimming is also very slow, the crimson-eyed one easily defeats both creatures.
(What a silly little thing, I thought there would be more of a challenge, if the dungeon continues like this then I won't have the challenge that could make me the most powerful, is this the first dungeon in the sequence and I'm taking the most difficult temples? Nah, it doesn't even make sense, I found the words in an orderly fashion).
But those galleries were no big deal, she was just swimming in an open space with dragons that shot fireballs at her when she was in other parts of the dungeon, so much so that the monsters were easily defeated.
Until she found the real entrance, like every other dungeon in the Nine Witches, the real entrance had to be entered with the master sword to activate the lock so that access could be guaranteed, and in this dungeon it was no different, the real entrance was well submerged
(I knew it was all just part of a bluff, the real entrance was undoubtedly this one, now it's going to get more interesting, the real challenge starts here).
The brown-haired girl entered the real part of the dungeon, which until then was a room like any other, with the only difference being that it was completely submerged, so she swam along, looking at the surroundings and seeing a door ahead, with some magic lamps lighting the way to help the girl.
She swam to this door, when it opened, a corridor was revealed and in it there were some aquatic monsters Baris, Zazaks already appearing in the corridors, as well as an aquatic version of the mouldworms, the draconic monsters were already attacking the girl with balls of magma, just as the Bari were slowly swimming towards her, lit on fire.
(That's what I was hoping for, well just avoid these monsters and go where there are doors, there's no point in wasting time on these things, really, I just have to enjoy it while there's still a way to go).
The monsters were soon well ignored, and some that got close even ended up dying, since the warrior from Luna Nova was very well armed for any situation and also very alert in case any monsters came at her with all their might.
At the end of the corridor there are two doors on either side, Hyllian chooses the one on the right and notices that it slopes downwards, where she goes down while dodging being hit by some Hardhat beetles, until she descends onto a floor, which continues the corridor full of these monsters with precisely the same medusa traps throwing lots of magma balls.
(Nothing much different here, very similar to the Zoras dungeon even, I think that's why I'm managing so well, I've got a feel for the aquatic monsters).
So much so that they were largely ignored byAkko, who made her way to a door, which was the only way out so far, starting to lock it in the middle of the room, where some monsters were appearing around her. The closed room meant that she had to deal with some purple-coloured bari, which were slowly making their way towards the girl and were much more intelligent, flashing their heads when they realised that they were being attacked.
Atsuko even uses the projectile cuts and realises that nothing worked - they just electrocuted their heads and were protected, nullifying the attack.
(Let's see, these little monsters are really going all out, it's not for nothing, they're going to end up destroying me like this, I'd better be smarter and prevent them from getting too close, I can't use the projectile cut that they defend, I have to think of a different attack).
With a bit of intelligence, the girl uses the boomerang and it even happens that they freeze, but when she cuts the projectile, the creature is still using the shock shield, which leads to another idea, using the hook to push and this time it was effective, the hook was the Bari's weakness, not only were they injured, but they died with a single hit, splitting into smaller pieces, much to Kagari's horror.
(I'm going to stay here forever like this, 10 of them showed up straight away, I'm still going to have to kill about 20 little ones afterwards, that's going to suck, but what the hell Akko, it's all for Hyrule).
She spent a long time killing creature after creature, one by one, first dividing them up and when they got smaller, they lost this clever tactic, which meant that they ended up being easily hit by slashing projectiles when they didn't have time to use the lightning shield, perfect for the crimson-eyed one who needed help to kill the monsters and not take so long.
After defeating everyone, a chest appeared with a key in it, which she picked up and put away, heading for the door ahead, which was now free.
(Finally... I thought it would never end, the monsters never stop appearing, I thought it took me a long time, but I wasn't exhausted, the monsters aren't even strong, they're just boring to kill).
Opening the door, it turns out to be a corridor, where new creatures are appearing, skeletal seahorses, with only Stalfos mounted on them, which are already travelling with their swords from one side of the corridor to the other, with some medusa traps.
The crimson-eyed one repels the balls of magma and even manages to throw a few at the Stalfos mounted Water Knights, who get off their mounts that are set on fire by the magma and become confused, only to be hit by the girl who opens the way down the corridor, where there are more of these monsters.
(I even missed these things, they really did show up with everything around here, mounted on horses, kind of strange these horses, but well I've never seen horses like this, they look like chess pieces only with fish bodies)
When she reached a certain point in the corridor, she simply came across a row of several Stalfos Mounted Knights, who were already pulling bombs out of their bags and throwing them at the monsters, which were scattering, while others were moving up to attack. The brown-haired woman fearlessly hit the monsters, clearing the way as necessary so as not to end up being hit by anything, With her momentum, she dodged the slashes coming towards her so that she wouldn't be hit. With precision, she was also hitting the monsters, but she got a few grazing slashes that accidentally caught her, who was distracted and also had a lot of them, so she took the opportunity to use another bomb and slow everything down.
(Well that's almost it, they've got me surrounded, but I'm going to make the remains of this thing fly everywhere, I'm not going to get hit by it, I've spent a bit of magic on it, but the good thing is that the way to the door is being opened, I've gone, let's kill each other there).
The monsters simply don't notice anything, as in a second the warrior from Luna Nova passes them all as if they were nothing, swimming in the utmost tranquillity, she enters the door that opens to the key and is soon
faced with a room, which later turns out to be a corridor that lights up ahead, with no monsters, just a few traps of all kinds.
(Good time to practise my swimming skills).
Medusa traps are fired at Hyllian, who dodges the magma balls, only to be surprised by projectile traps in front of her and laser lines, which she dodges and continues to swim carefully so as not to be hit. When she reaches the other side of the corridor, she breathes a sigh of relief, then looks down and sees that she has to swim further down, where some Zazaks are already starting to come towards the girl, who is getting ready to go up.
She just wants to swim further down and get to the door, but she is soon surprised by skeletal fish that want to come and devour her.
(Oh no, not those guys, they're the worst... They'd have to come, the challenge would be more interesting with them, now I'm much sharper, they won't even come close, apart from the fact that I can swim extremely fast without being hit, that'll be interesting).
She decided to use her bracelets to gain a second and put some distance between herself and the fish that were devouring her, but they couldn't swim fast enough and fell into the girl's bomb trap, so she was able to reach the door to continue into another part of the dungeon, where she had no idea there were so many monsters.
She was able to dodge quickly enough to open a door downstairs, and in it a room simply appeared, with a monster inside, simply a seahorse with a skeleton on it, only much bigger.
(Oh this one's really back in action, well I'm going to have to deal with this skeleton all the time, he always ends up back here all the time, but now a big one).
The creature immediately swims at full speed towards Kagari, who dodges being hit by Stalfos' spear, calmly turns round so as not to be hit, takes a deep breath, looks at the monster and starts to attack, using her arrows to shoot at the top, hitting the eyes of the seahorse, which starts to move from side to side.
With that, the larger Stalfos comes out of the creature, which disappears due to the impact of the blows and turns the spear into a trident, revealing that its skeleton was something more like a fish underne
(Ah a mermaid skeleton, how interesting, let's see where this goes).
The monster swims upwards towards the girl, who dodges it with great calm, as if it were nothing. Then she hits it with a cut, which already causes some cracks, the monster tries to attack with the trident, but the crimson-eyed girl simply dodges it.
The crimson-eyed one then makes another slash, dismantling the monster and giving her a chest with the master key, giving her another way to open the dungeon, since there was nothing in that part.
(It looks like this dungeon is going to be very quick to complete, but good, let's see how far I can get, it's time to go all the way back to where the path forks).
And so the girl swims all the way back to the path where everything splits up to reach a place, as she had taken the path on the right, she swims to the path on the left, and as she enters it, she comes across a corridor ahead.
In it there are jellyfish traps and lots of Bari swimming towards the girl and Zazaks firing balls of magma that are repelled when they get close to the warrior from Luna Nova, she manages to get through just by ignoring the creatures, since there are very few of them, arriving at a door that could only be opened with a key, making a point of using the key she had in her hands straight away, she enters the room, which is locked again.
(Another trap, let's see what I'll have to deal with now, well it all looks like a repeat of the last dungeon, but so far so good at least I'm managing to deal with all the monsters).
What appears is a shark, ridden by a stalfos, who immediately controls the creature, which swims faster towards the girl, who quickly dodges a sure bite from the huge six-metre-long creature, which was no small feat, and the cuts with the blade didn't work so well either, as they only scratched the monster's flesh.
(I've never seen a fish like this before, but it's interesting to know that there is one, now that I don't actually go in the water).
The huge shark swam at full speed towards the girl, who just swam and dodged, realising that it didn't work to use her sword, so she started using her bow, this time aiming to hit a weak point, but the arrows only
ended up hitting the creature's body, showing that it was immune to those attacks, somehow preventing her from being able to use it to attack.
Akko decided to use her grappling hook, getting on her mount and fighting Stalfos on equal terms. The skeletal monster tried to hit her with its trident, while she went for it with her sword, preventing a few thrusts from hitting
(Now all I have to do is get him off and even I would want a mount like this, by staying on top I can hit some of the fish's weak points, the head is even exposed for this, if I give it a good lunge I'll hit the brain and I'm sure it'll get in enough to do a lot of damage).
Stalfos was soon defeated after many cuts byAtsuko herself, and she managed to completely empty the monster, but with that she was still missing the shark, which she supported by its fins to try to do something since the monster kept moving from one side to the other, just to get her out, which she supported by making thrusts to hold on, which even managed to penetrate through the scales and even open some wounds.
(The skeleton is gone, all that's left is the huge fish, but it's a shame that it keeps moving from side to side and that makes things even more complicated, but I can still do it, I trust that I can do it if I'm patient).
Kagari supported herself and got closer and closer to exactly where the monster's brain was, leaning on one of the creature's open wounds as it swam from side to side trying to get the girl out. When the time came to strike, she plunged the blade all the way into the brain and the creature only stopped moving so much, coming to a complete standstill and then turning to dust, and with that the whole level of the water around it went down in the room.
(How strange, that's really quite suspicious, but well, at least I can breathe some fresh air again so I can only see advantages in that).
After emptying all the water from the place, a pedestal appears with a huge chest, which indicates that it is the treasure of that castle, which the girl gladly goes to get. When she opens it, she discovers that she has received a hammer, which confuses her, but she feels a power in her hands when she uses it, managing to control the size and give a very strong downward hammer that even causes tremors, also managing to throw the hammer as if it were a boomerang.
(That's quite interesting, I have a feeling it's going to come in handy somehow, with a hammer like that I'd love to mash Andrew's head to a pulp, now it's time to get out of here and swim towards the... Look there's a crack here, I'll try using a bomb).
There was a crack in the room and it was broken by exploding it with a bomb, which revealed a secret passage. When she walked through it, she didn't even need to swim, as everything was on the surface in a strange way, the water was only very shallow, which soon turned out to be a source of fairies, much to the relief of the girl who hadn't had any before.
(I'd used up all the fairies and these look very different, just by the colour, I'm going to get some and fill the jars).
They were fairies who also restored magic, which made the crimson-eyed girl much healthier and able to withstand more blows, as well as coming back in a better mood, her pots were full and her energy was ready for action, a sign that she had everything.
The brown-haired girl left the room relieved and was already using her second word, since as soon as she opened the door, the place filled up with water again and she was soon back in the corridor, where creatures were swimming towards her.
(It's time to get cracking, let's see what this hammer can do, now that there are monsters around here that I've been ignoring I want to test how this hammer does).
The first to get close was a Bari and the warrior from Luna Nova immediately threw the hammer, which made enough of an impact for it to split into smaller ones, just as it hit the back of the head of a Zazak who was preparing to throw a ball of magma at it, and the impact changed its course, causing it to hit the ceiling of the dungeon.
Going upwards with the augmented hammer, she hit a group of encircled and duplicated Biris, which even using the shock shield wasn't enough to protect them, since the impact of the hammer was very strong, then she went towards the only Zazak with the augmented hammer, without hesitating she gave it a hammer, also augmenting the hammer, and it was lethal with a single hit, crushing the creature.
(Wow, look at this thing, it was really easy to kill, just use the enlarged hammer and I can make my way through with ease, now I have an extra weapon, this will improve the combat even more, this hammer is really lethal, you can feel the weight even with the power gloves).
After the test with the hammer, Hyllian continued swimming down the corridor, but ended up coming across something that prevented her from moving forward, which was precisely some cracked blocks that didn't break easily, at least not until she took the hammer in hand and started breaking the first block, and it was really the hammer that made everything possible.
Opening the way until it was open to swim to the other side, revealing a corridor full of medusa traps shooting freezing rays, but there were also some monsters along the way.
(Whew, that can be fun, but it's a bit heavy on the hands to open, luckily I even managed to open a good path with those hands, it's not light at all what I did, well anyway I'm close to reaching the end of the dungeon, that's for sure).
She soon notices that there are some walls with several spears that are on a track and she doesn't hesitate, as soon as she sees some Mounted Stalfos Knights she starts hammering these walls that are moving, hitting the creatures with the spears, and there is a lot of this, as a way of showing how the hammer works, but of course there were still some monsters coming, they had helmets on their heads, looking like fish, swimming towards the girl, the sword cuts did nothing, but there was something that did.
Akko launched hammer blows towards the Helmafishes, which were losing their protection and thus had their heads exposed, dying with just a single projectile cut since they were very small and had practically no attack except to use their heads to hit the girl.
(It's even getting less tense here, how marvellous, these little monsters with helmets die so easily, it's interesting to see how they break through the protection with a single hammer blow, I think this could be an omen of some monster to come, which will be a stronger version of them).
Swimming down the corridor, Atsuko reached the end of it by entering a door, some creatures were just being ignored all along the way, which was very easy for her to move on, when she entered a room, she was soon faced with simply some statues of mermen with tridents, which obviously Kagari is not stupid, she was already throwing the hammer and gave it to activate one of them which ended up with her using the hammer and breaking it into pieces, Another one comes up and tries to use the trident from behind, but is dodged by the girl who gives it a hammer blow strong enough to hit its head and turn it to dust, and that's how the statues in the room were defeated. There wasn't much to go on in the room, since it was just an introduction, with the exception of the blockades on the walls with blocks that were cracked.
(Well it's time to make way, if there are no doors, I'll use the hammers, it's getting interesting to do the dungeon here, not for nothing, the hammer has made everything better)
The corridor ahead opened up and there were monsters in front of her, something she had already dealt with Helmafishes, Zazaks, Baris and with the hammer she was almost able to handle what was also a very tight corridor, which made it impossible for her to use the hammer to throw it. She was soon grazed by a Helma fish and the hammer was returned to her on the spot, no longer able to be thrown due to the cut she had suffered, already realising what had happened.
(Apparently I'd always have to attack unscathed, it's not going to be easy to do that, I've missed a very powerful attack, but what can I do? I can still increase the hammer and I have the sword, time to get back to my roots).
With the katana she took care of the Zazaks and then used the hammer on the rest of the creatures, since not only is the hammer capable of breaking some armour, but it can also annul the Baris' electric shield, which means that they have no extra power compared to the crimson-eyed one, who was there just to open the way to the corridor, which once again has stones in the way, so she has to hammer, but with monsters coming it wouldn't be easy.
(I'm going to kill these things first and then I'll go to the rest of the corridor anyway, it's good that I'm getting used to using this hammer better, it even has a nice precision when Andrew comes up I've already got a very interesting take on him, I can crush him like an ant, that much I'm sure of).
The brown-haired girl soon finishes defeating the monsters in that place, hammering away at the rocks blocking the way, this time managing to open almost all of them, causing a whole wave of water to push over everything as if it were a waterfall, and then she begins to be pushed by the strong current of water.
As she's pushed by the water, she notices that there's a surface, so she's pushed along this surface and
sees some monsters around her in a corridor where she's being pushed along, which leads to a huge block in front of her, readying the hammer
(It seems that the underwater part of the dungeon is over, it's dark and macabre in here, the only thing I could see were monsters appearing and some even hitting me, damn, look at the size of that thing in front of me).
Just in time, she managed to throw herself to the point of opening the way with the hammer, which she crossed to the other side where she fell into a room where torches were being lit all around and there was still a path of water passing through the middle, indicating that there was a larger door; when it was lit, it was revealed that it was the boss's door; the warrior from Luna Nova got up from the floor and even dusted off her clothes, taking the effect of the second word and breathing a sigh of relief.
(Now it's over, finally the end of this dungeon, it was very quick, but there's still a lot to fight, well it's time to break it down, this is going to be very complicated to deal with, I hope I can defeat the monster of this place, it wasn't as complicated as the last dungeon, but it still had its moments).
Before going into the dungeon, Hyllian first took a break, even drinking some of the water that was lying on the floor and sat down on the wall to wash her wounds a little, as well as using a kit she had to care for wounds, which she was slowly letting regenerate, so that she could come back in good spirits and with the full power of the hammer in her hands, which could be very useful.
She gazed in wonder at the objects she had obtained in the dungeons, just thinking about the whole journey she had been through; it really was a milestone to have come as far as she had in all these years.
(To think that I started out as nothing, nobody gave me anything, everyone swallowed their words at the end of the story, a pity it wasn't the way I imagined it would be, they shouldn't have ended up like that...) But anyway, the clumsy little girl from Luna Nova, is in the penultimate dungeon of the nine witches, one step away from finishing it, one step away from going to the last one, getting the power of the nine witches and finally defeating Andrew Hanbridge, I will one day be in the history books of Hyrule, I will be the first heroine of history after so many Links have passed, I will be unique, Akko the female hero, the one who managed to defeat Ganondorf, the one who saved and brought peace to Hyrule... Ahhhhh, all this warms my heart, but without a doubt looking at every single thing I've won in these dungeons too, each one brings back a memory of what it was like to finish each of these dungeons, each challenge that could put my life at risk, all in the name of saving Hyrule, of one day being a great warrior, now my dream has come true, not only has it come true but it's escalated to a point that I didn't even imagine it would reach).
After all this reflection, the girl even goes to talk to her wife, telling her about the difficulties she ended up going through in the dungeon, also about the new item before going to face the boss of the place, having a very relaxed conversation, talking about how much she misses Diana's presence, how she is looking forward to finishing the journey, defeating Andrew and being able to return to Cavendish's arms, forming a family with her.
Akko decided to go straight to the Rastavan dungeon. This time, unlike climbing the tower, she would do the opposite and descend further and further, facing various challenges with totally aquatic monsters and putting her swimming skills to the test, which she had already done in the dungeon of Louise Du Nord's temple where the Zoras lived, Now she's going to do it again, only with totally submerged challenges, where she can acquire a hammer to help her on her complicated journey. It won't be easy to deal with the challenges at the end of all these dungeons, as she's already facing the dungeon boss and more to come.
See you, rastavan witches...