Akko went into the dungeon with Jasminka and Marianne, facing peculiar challenges, but already managing to get the master key in her hands, showing that she is doing well in that place, but still ends up getting hurt by some things, the three are already taking that step towards a greater journey, even managing to find one more of the words, which gave Atsuko a hook that could be very useful for crossing platforms that are very far away, already being the third of seven words.
The three girls have already explored most of that part of the temple, but there's still a long way to go, and they're reaching the end of it all where Jasminka can pass. When they reach the corridors with the master key in hand, they're battling again with the same trees attacking them, with Antonenko simply using her magic to transform into a dragon, but soon the path leads to a door with an opening for a key, a sign that there's still a long way to go.
"As I expected, the key we picked up will work here, but it's a shame we can't just go round collecting several keys to open the whole dungeon, otherwise it would be very useful, they always disappear as soon as we put them in the lock and unlock that door" said Kagari.
"I've been thinking about it, we could just use the same key for everything, but now that you've told me, it makes perfect sense" said Marianne.
As they passed through the door, they came across what looked like a wide-open hall, where the vegetation was almost entirely part of the environment, with pillars that looked more like tree trunks, as well as plants that moved as if they were tentacles trying to catch anything that came near, in addition to the monsters that were roaming around.
"Oh great, we'll have several paths to follow, there are three entrances, I'll go in the middle and you go round the corners" said the crimson-eyed girl.
In that hall they're already making their way along a route they've decided to take, in the middle Akko is just dealing with creatures that are very easy to deal with in this case just a few Snap Dragons walking from one side to the other, while Marianne is dealing with branches trying to catch her, but she dodges them by jumping from wall to wall using her ninja techniques, Jasminka on the other hand is more disguised by a creature and this makes it easier for her to get through.
Atsuko arrives at the entrance to the middle path, she walks along it and comes across a corridor where there was what looked like a huge gap and something on the other side, which looking up she notices some platforms already thinking and with all her creativity in mind she already uses the hook to the other side and grabs onto the wall, being carried to the other side of the gap as if it were nothing
(Quiet, just as I hoped it would be, time to use my hook for something).
When she arrived on the other side, she passed an entrance and in it a more open corridor with vegetation in the middle, and several dekus came out of it and started throwing nuts, these were much stronger than the ones the girl had encountered in other dungeons, throwing not just one, but five nuts at once and even with a more precise aim, which the crimson-eyed girl was able to defend herself calmly with her shield and sword, it was precisely a group of four of them in each corner of that room.
"Wow, I missed you guys, you're always here" said Kagari as she took cover.
She wasn't having so much trouble dealing with the creatures since she knew what to do, she just had to protect herself with a shield. The nuts came back at the Dekus with all their might, but since there were so many of them, they even caused a bit of an impact that pushed the girl backwards, who calmly held on tighter with her feet, soon immobilising some of the Dekus, which she already tested with a blow.
"I wonder if you can work as a weapon too" said the brown one.
The hook is used on one of the dekus and it ends up being pulled out of the root, going full body to where the warrior from Luna Nova is, who immobilises the monster with a single cut. She is able to demonstrate these techniques with great ease, catching the dekus with the hook without having to immobilise them and pushing them into the middle where they were even hit by the others' nuts as Akko pushed them back.
"What a bunch of easy monsters to kill, well at least now there are some easy ones, I don't doubt that it will only get worse from now on" said Atsuko.
Kagari continued to finish off all the monsters, which soon led to the release of a chest, which contained some good Rupees, as well as a staircase that led downwards. Following the path downwards, another
corridor, much longer, contained smaller versions of the cockatrice that the girl had faced, and soon several of them were heading upwards.
"Oh an unwelcome visitor, you'd think they'd turn up here, I have to be careful not to bump into something unwelcome and turn to stone" said the crimson-eyed one.
The brownish girl soon hooks herself to the ceiling and uses it as an impulse as soon as the creatures get close and in this way she passes all the cockatrices, as well as going to where one of the chests is, opening it she takes a key, but the corridor itself had come to an end and she would have to act in some way, to get back the way would be difficult, so she quickly takes the first word.
"Well, let's see if there's any more by killing these Cuccos and turning them into lunch" said the warrior from Luna Nova, aiming her bow.
The various arrows were being fired, lots and lots of them, already finishing off the various cockatrices that barely got close, only one that managed to get close enough, but even then it was dodged with Akko using the hook on the ceiling and getting up to then release the hook and throw herself at the creature with the blade down which really after killing them all she could open the way to a staircase, one more going down.
"Wow, it looks like I'm going to have to go down the whole corridor, so let's go" said Atsuko with a shrug.
Going down all those stairs, she arrived at a safer place than it seemed, the water fountains that passed by her made a channel that led to a fountain of fairies, which she breathed a sigh of relief, since she could recover from the battle and was soon there getting a little more willing and healed of the wounds on her body, thus already being able to make the special cut that launches a multiple projectile cut.
In addition to some fairies, she stored them in a pot, which she used to recover her magic, so she was practically refreshed for a few more battles inside the dungeon.
"Whew... Now I'm brand new, there won't be a monster to hurt me, with the projectile cut I can simply have the power to attack from afar again, it sucks that I have to be completely unharmed to do that, but at least I can get pretty far like this" Kagari said.
She walked to a doorway that was in front of her, and when she stepped through it, she simply went into the main hall where the girls had split up, where Marianne was sitting on one of the pillars and immediately saw her friend appearing out of nowhere.
"Akko!" Said the smiling Lerclerc.
"Wow, you're already here, you were so quick" said the crimson-eyed girl.
"Ah that's because my side has locked doors and there's also the huge chest, I think we should go through the castle from there, did you get anything?" asks the brown-eyed woman.
"Not only did I get a key, I also got this here" said the brownish girl with a pot full of fairies.
"Ohhhh, that's marvellous, we really needed it, fairies will come in handy if we get really hurt" said the dark-haired girl with the reddish streaks.
With that, they went off to wait for Jasminka, who was still exploring her part of the castle's path, in which case she managed to manage quite well, since she could transform herself into many creatures at the same time, which was very useful for Antonenko.
A little earlier, when Jasminka had started to go her own way...
Starting to follow the path to the left, the pink-haired girl soon entered a corridor full of the same trees she had encountered before. Instead of attacking, she walked calmly past the creatures, and in this way she even managed to get past them, gaining access by walking along the ground full of vegetation and branches.
(It's actually quite easy, luckily I became as good a creature shapeshifter as Marianne is at people, I'm even glad I was chosen to explore the first dungeon, it's really easy to deal with and get through all the dangers here, it's fun, really good fun).
Walking in the guise of a tree, she reached the other side of the corridor, entering another corridor, this time more winding, with no trees, which forced the girl to revert to her human form, and so she walked on and soon came face to face with some large Taros who looked down on the dark-eyed girl.
(What bizarre creatures look like oxen with spears wanting to attack me, pity I'll get round to it soon).
Jasminka dodged the spears that the Taros were trying to thrust at her and at the same time used magic to metamorphise her arm into a bear's, which with the combination of the hammer in hand ended up giving her a fatal hit on the monsters as she walked forwards and those creatures still continued to go after Antonenko.
(These things really don't give up, I feel bad about attacking them so much, but we have to, we have to keep going through this dungeon, otherwise we won't get very far).
The girl continues down that curved corridor, which soon also has what seems to be a path with a staircase leading downwards, and she arrives in an open hall, where several of these Taros fall, this time carrying forks and throwing them in Jasminka's direction.
(It seems to be a trend for these little monsters to appear all the time, they're very easy to kill if you learn their pattern, I'm going to take the opportunity to try to study them better to take their form).
This soon happens and the girl herself uses her abilities to metamorphise into the monsters themselves, who confusedly try to find where the pink-haired girl is, walking from one side to the other, which opens the way for the hall to be explored further and in this way a chest is found and opened by the dark-eyed girl.
(Wonderful, another key, this will certainly help with Akko and the girls, it looks like there's more way down, I'll just leave these creatures alone without doing anything, there's no reason to attack them, even if they did attack me, they were afraid to know that I stopped doing anything)
Jasminka goes down another flight of stairs, into a practically empty room, but she soon realises that it might be a trap, so she goes back to normal and it really was, as the doors close and several of the Taros try to attack her, and she gets into position again, putting her arms out with the strength of a bear while holding the huge hammer and knocking down whoever she passes on the way.
(Come on, I'm sure there's a reward behind this, I hope there is at least, there's a lot of them, one spear even grazed me, it really hurts a bit, but it's the way to go)
Even though Antonenko was a little wounded by the slashes from the grazing spear, she seemed to get stronger with each hit, and soon she began to dodge more and hit stronger hammer blows, as well as alternating and sometimes stealing the spears of the Taros that were heading towards her, who continued to attack, going almost non-stop, even getting a little support to be able to turn around.
(There are so many of them, damn it, it doesn't seem to end, I'm going to have to act like that, I knowAkko said to save magic, but I don't want to get hurt either).
And she really does, turning into a huge dragon she began to use her flames on all those various Taros who tried to throw their spears to hit the huge girl who had become a dragon, but some of them just missed her and in this way she managed to make a chest appear, showing that the way was clear.
(Another spanner, how marvellous, I was already getting pretty sore from all this, I think I'll need to take a potion when I get back toAkko)
And so she began to make her way back toAkko, taking out some of the spears that had even caught her and were reduced to mere arrows by the transformation, and she soon took them out, bruised and walking with a slight limp on her way back.
Luckily there weren't that many monsters on the way back, so she just walked in disguise until she got back, luckily she wasn't noticed, so she managed to get back safely to where the main hall was and there, walking badly hurt, she went to her friends who hugged her and welcomed her warmly.
"Jasminka!" They both said.
"I'm fine, just give me a potion" said the tired Antonenko.
"Take this green one here, it recovers not only your body but it can also recover the magic you've spent, anything else, we'll take the route I took to get more fairies" said Akko, helping her friend, who was recovering as she drank the potion.
"Wow, I feel brand new, these potions are always very powerful, I remember I always took them in Edo during the training sessions I did with the girls, we could really take a lot of beating" said the pink-haired girl.
"Now let's all recover, get some fairies, and go to the path on the right that Marianne said was the specific one where the monster is" said Atsuko.
They all nod in agreement, walking together first to where the fairies are, where Leclerc takes the opportunity to fully recover, being the one who ended up being hit the least by both of their blows, since she dodges very well and also because she didn't go too deep into her path.
With the jars full of fairies, they walk together to the side of the corridor where they go straight ahead along the path on the right, where there is a corridor emptied by the dark-haired girl with red locks, but soon they arrive in the room with a huge chest in the middle and also a door with a key, which is the sign they needed.
"Get in position, this is going to take a lot out of us" said Kagari.
The three of them stand ready for a probable attack, then the crimson-eyed one opens the huge chest and simply finds what looks like something to hold on to, but then notices that some monsters have thrown spears at it, and it simply becomes a huge shield that protects her, which turns out to be a magical shield.
Woah! Look at this, I can defend myself better and this shield is so light" said the impressedAtsuko.
"Well, now you can give us a hand here, Akko" said Marianne, who was fighting a Taros using the Katana.
She quickly fires a projectile cut with her master sword and hits the monster that Leclerc was trying to defend herself against, while Jasminka hammers away at the various Taros with her bear arms, even managing to do so with great agility.
The two girls with swords work together to defeat the various monsters, coming at them from all directions, but together and with the help of the magic shield, they manage to have perfect protection in front of them, since the shield moves in a good direction and also creates impenetrable protection for the user, which is already very useful for the group of girls.
"Wow, this shield really protects, even I'm protected in this thing, it could be useful against Andrew, he may be strong, but he won't hit you anymore" said Leclerc.
"When we get better, we'll think about taking him on. For now, we'll deal with these little monsters here rather than the biggest monster in all of Hyrule" said Kagari.
And together they combined their attacks until there were no Taros left, and they headed for the door locked by a key, there's a corridor in it, and in that corridor there's another door that only opens with a key. It seemed to be a quiet empty corridor until they took a single step and simply ran into a log that came hurtling towards the group, showing that the plants were also attacking them.
"Oh, there are always traps" said the crimson-eyed girl.
"We just have to work it out" said the brown-eyed girl.
The dark-haired girl simply jumps from wall to wall, leaning on branches and dodging them like a true ninja, while the pink-haired girl becomes a Snap Dragon that passes through without being hit once, leaving the brown-haired girl to start her action and she uses the hook, dodging as best she can and even using the master sword with the shield that simply destroys the branches so that she can also use the hook more often, making it a smooth crossing, already serving to use the second key to open the door.
"Great, now all that's left is the last key" said the relieved warrior from Luna Nova.
When they open the door, they are immediately faced with a staircase leading downwards, where they go down it like a spiral, watching out for some of the various tortoises that were around trying to do something and also for some plant tentacles catching the girls and in this they kept hitting something.
"Oh, even on the stairs there are these annoying guys" said the Wedinbugh ninja.
They dodged the dangers on the stairs, with Antonenko basically leading the way with a fire-breathing dragon form, but the staircase was rather long, which made it a little tiring to make their way down. After descending the huge staircase, they were relieved to reach a hall where there were several plants
jumping from one side to the other. They were monsters that resembled Rupas, jumping without a specific point, but which seemed to be heading towards the trio, who were walking and avoiding the creatures or attacking them as they got close.
"They look like plants, but they're just as disgusting, now come on, we'll defeat the monster, it looks like the big door is in front of us" said Akko.
They made their way to the boss's door, but when it opened and they passed through, onlyAtsuko managed to get through, the other two girls were blocked, which already caused a strange feeling, so they returned, and together they faced the remains of the creature.
Together they cleared the path, making it easier to rest without suffering any worse attacks, so that they could be safer and the pair who were left out could wait for Kagari to pass through the monster safely, which she did by hugging the two girls.
"Good luck Akko, I know you can get through this, it'll be easy" said Lerclerc.
"I hope so, I promise to come back to you and call you to come with me when I defeat the monster, it's quite possible that the portal will appear and allow you to pass through it, anyway, I'm going" said the crimson-eyed woman.
Hug given, the brownish girl enters the room where the dungeon master is, where she looks around, noticing that everything is made of branches and roots, covering absolutely every corner, with several plant tentacles passing by, but soon a tremor follows, this tremor comes with a light and a huge plant appears with pink petals and also some tentacles coming out of it.
Man eater monster plant Mandragora
"Ugh, what a weird thing to happen, seriously the monster here is going to be a plant, well I have to think about what to do now" said Akko, who was already taking a deep breath.
The plant began to launch its first attack, which was to move and shoot acid towards Atsuko, who dodged the balls of acid that were thrown at her, seeing that they simply dissolved even the very branches of the entire arena.
Then the creature stopped doing this and raised its tentacles several metres towards the girl, who simply dodged being hit, jumping up and almost being caught by some of them, where she even slashed with her master sword, where she was still unharmed enough to take advantage and try to launch a slashing attack from afar, and simply heard the sound of hitting a hard wall.
(This plant looks like it's going to be tough to prune, I'm going to have to find its weak point and take a closer look, at least this thing stands still in the corner, it has no way of moving, but I do and I'm going to take advantage of it enough to be able to win even if it's a small advantage).
Mandragora simply changed her attack to another where she simply made the girl shut up, and she started to act like a helicopter, flying slowly towards the girl with some blades made of vegetable and the crimson-eyed girl ran to avoid being hit by it, and just by getting close to some places it was possible to feel how much those blades were capable of cutting with enormous intensity, and they really were causing enormous damage wherever they went.
"I've got to think of a way to better memorise how to attack, there may well be a weak point in this thing" said the still calm Kagari.
With the hook, she thrusts away from the blades, but the brown-haired woman is soon faced with another long-distance attack, with tentacles coming towards her as she tries to get back to the ground, and they are as sharp as blades, But luckily the warrior from Luna Nova still had a shield in her hands, but the shield wasn't perfect. She was protected from the front, but those tentacles were also coming from the back and she was trying to dodge them until she fell to the ground and was facing the huge plant.
(Damn... I haven't found a weak point in this thing... I could distract the monster and find out more about this thing's pattern. From a distance, it's also dangerous, but I'll give it a try.)
Akko tries to escape from the creature using the hook, which she changes the pattern to try and hit it with acid to the point where she almost succeeds, showing that she's not a dumb plant either, even more so because she hit Atsuko a little in front of her, who was quite taken aback by such a surprise blow, but she can still notice something every time the plant shoots acid and that could work for her.
(A little ball inside her, that can only be the weak point, if I go with an arrow I can do it, I have to try this, come on Atsuko, you can do it, defeat this monster, just use your brain a bit more, Hyrule is in your hands now).
Kagari uses the grappling hook to give herself a boost and then turns the sceptre into an arrow, launching a very precise one where she saw it was the target and then uses the grappling hook again to dodge the acid thrown by the craitura where she ends up being hit by a few tentacles in an attempt to land, even with the shield being agile, she was caught from behind and felt a few piercings that soon came out of her when the plant was all open on the ground with that part all exposed.
"Damn it, I can't make a specific cut, I've really got to get to that thing" said the crimson-eyed one.
Cleverly, the brownish girl decides to use the hook to get closer, but she soon notices that the hook pulls the thing towards her as if it were a floating ball, where she immediately makes cuts and notices an obvious glow with each attack that is made, the whole plant recomposes itself and soon a little ball grows inside it, just like the one Atsuko attacked, which eventually disappears.
"Now it's up to me, I've understood how to defeat this thing, I just have to be really clever and agile, you'll meet your end, you weird plant" said the warrior from Luna Nova.
But she realised something, some branches and vegetation had disappeared, there was still a lot of it, but the plant itself was getting a little bigger and more swollen, only with that attack starting to become more of an attack of desperation launching several balls of acid in the surroundings where Akko was desperate trying in every way to dodge so as not to be caught, but when the attacks came with the tentacles.
This time the warrior wasn't agile enough and the thicker tentacles hit the girl like blows, even with her shield it was strong enough for her to be thrown backwards with all her strength and soon end up on the wall where she felt some pink thorns piercing her and it was very painful, she got out of there with some bleeding on her legs and also through her clothes and took a deep breath for what was the other attack of the various tentacles that were heading towards her.
(Wait a minute... I'm in the middle of a forest, this plant is made of plants... My sword could catch fire... Ahhh I have no reason to be hurt like that, let's see if this mandragora can stand up to it).
Luna Nova's Hyllian remembered when she faced the giant tree and used the same tactic of simply using fire on her sword, making it blaze and it really did serve to scare off the tentacles that were practically dodging her route and heading for the wall for fear of the fire, so she walked further towards Mandragora, only for a surprise to come from behind, which she dodged, The only reason it didn't hit her was because her shield protected her, but it didn't protect her from being caught by the tentacle, so she was slowly led into the creature's mouth and quickly the crimson-eyed girl began to think hard.
Taking the sceptre in her hands and seeing that the little red ball inside was still active, she began to launch an arrow inside, which didn't serve to immobilise the creature, which only ended up throwing it with all its might, hurling the brownish one against the wall, which hit many thorny roses with it and becoming full of wounds as it fell to the ground, its vision already very blurred.
"Damn it, I can't die here, I'm in so much pain, I didn't even have time to activate the shield to protect myself, damn it" said the wounded Akko.
The plant immediately began its attack, turning into a helicopter heading towards Atsuko, who was lying on the ground with multiple broken bones. She tried to grab something from the pots, but her movements weren't working very well, and she felt weak and was soon grabbed by some tentacles, unable to move her arms.
"This is going to be the end of me, I don't think I have a chance... Heh... I guess I wasn't ready for this, I'm sorry Diana, I won't be able to go back and get married someday... It's bad Hyrule, I think I failed as your saviour" said the tearful Kagari, who was very weak.
The Mandragora came very close, but not to the point of causing cuts. Akko even tried a desperate attack by biting the plant holding her and even managed to get free, but was thrown away, only to feel something simply piercing her very intensely in the back, the cuts were already too many, her vision was already very blurred, it seemed that her chances of survival were running out. Akko's breathing was getting weaker and weaker, as was her heartbeat, which was slowing down. The plants had even stopped moving and Mandragora was slowly collecting herself, which could be a sign that something worse had happened, but something in her bag was glowing.
Akko, Jasminka and Marianne are reaching the end of that dungeon, where Kagari unfortunately had to go alone to face the dreaded boss of that place, the terrible plant monster Mandragora, which is quite powerful and strong, already causing serious injuries to the girl, who was beginning to feel that her death was about to happen, after very strong attacks there was no body that could take it, there was already a lot of blood loss,
there were already fractured bones so much so that Mandragora herself was retracting with the sign that reallyAtsuko Kagari is dead.
See you, strong witches...