The Edo dungeon is still being explored, byAkko and her friends, after exploring a good part of it, which has already led them to find the fourth word, getting even closer and closer to conquering the seven words, Andrew's defeat is only a matter of time away, they rested and soon returned to the first fork since they took the left path and are going to the right one this time.
At the fork in the road, they arrive at the door. As they enter the corridor, they come across several Stalfos Knights waiting for them and launching an attack. They face the creatures head-on and soon Atsuko is showing how she's getting ahead of everyone else, hitting the creatures that come close to her with her Katana and immobilising them all. Constanze opens the way with bombs and they walk down the corridor, dodging the jellyfish traps and the cannons that keep firing.
"Wow, we've only had a short rest and you're already in a great mood" said O'Neill.
"I'm just a bit fed up with these monsters, it's not like there's anything new, it's always the same way of defeating them and also the blows I use, now they're stronger" said Kagari.
The trio heads for the door at the end of the corridor, which leads to a room where the door closes, which is something that happens quite often, only this time they come across a group of five Hinox and the return of Dekus who stand in each of the four corners of the room, the nine monsters already showing that they are not going to be easy to defeat.
"Look, I wanted a challenge and I got it" said the crimson-eyed girl, smiling.
"I think we're screwed" said Gerudo, standing guard.
(These dungeons aren't getting to be something we can handle any more, worse than Akko can still do it with ease, but we really struggle with this type of creature, there are so many of them, even we can't get against them that easily).
The difference between the warrior from Luna Nova and her friends was obvious at this point: her strength and agility meant that she was able to dodge the nuts thrown by the Dekus, which was quite different from the other two girls, who tried to focus on the nut monsters, while the brown-haired girl focused on attacking the Hinox, who even managed to hit a few bombs with a glancing blow due to the girl's agility.
What finally happened was that the girl from Luna Nova gradually suffered some very minor injuries, such as scratches that didn't make any change apart from preventing her from using projectile cuts, which meant she had to go up, but her agility was surprising, as she was able to simply hit them even at close range, one by one the Hinox were knocked down, as were the Dekus who were defeated and so a chest with a key appeared and they moved on.
"Wow, they didn't even leave the Dekus for me" said the sarcastic Akko.
"I'm not even going to say anything, Akko" said the girl with the salmon-coloured hair.
As they pass through the door, they see new creatures, Zazaks, monsters that are like dragons and even spit fire, and Taros with cannons that throw thorn bombs at them, which already shows the level of the situation, with the new dragons appearing in a group of six, walking from one side to the other as if they were ignoring them.
"Oh new monsters, I wonder what they do? I already want to test them here" said Atsuko.
Soon Kagari is testing and notices that the Zazak, as they turn to face the girls, are throwing fireballs and getting closer, which makes it time for them to attack, while the Taros are old acquaintances, which the shorter girl takes care of by firing her crossbow at the monsters, who soon stop doing that.
There were only two Taros, but they were already showing the challenge, and the thorn balls almost hit the trio, while Amanda and the crimson-eyed one were attacking the draconic monsters
(It was to be expected that there would finally be some different monsters, it's good that now I'm able to defeat them more easily, it's strange that the girls have more difficulty with this, I thought they would be easy to defeat, Amanda on fire with some flames, I defend it easily with my katana).
And indeed, O'Neill sometimes struggled just to hit the Zazaks, as she was trying to hit them with her axe and getting a bit burnt, while the brown-haired girl showed how much easier it was for her and simply used her Katana to put out the flame and even landed an easy blow, which ended up with her killing most of the monsters, four of them at the hands of the warrior from Luna Nova, so that the girls could continue on their
way if it weren't for stepping on a crack in the ground that caused part of them to fall, and so they went into a free fall, but the fall was soon avoided with the help of the hook.
"Woah! That was close, I think I stepped on the wrong foot here" said Akko, who was the only one to fall and then got back up with the help of the hook.
"And was there anything down there?" Gerudo asks.
"Just a thorn trap" said Atsuko.
In the corridor they see two forks ahead with a door on the left and another on the right, the pair decide to enter the door on the right and soon they come across a room with a corridor with several thorns with a chest on the other side and they take a deep breath wondering if that could be of any use, but soon Kagari uses her staff of intangibility to go ahead.
"I don't even have to think much, I can create platforms, but walking on the other side is fine too, the thorns don't affect me" said the crimson-eyed one.
"Oh, apparently we'll be waiting here, since we don't have what you have" said Amanda.
It would have been easy to get to the other side if it hadn't been for some Banshees who came to attack the brownish girl, who began to defend herself against the attacks coming at her with all her might, as they were also intangible for a moment.
The women, who had long claw-like nails, began to move in on her and realised that the speed of the Katana's cuts was far superior to the Banshees' attacks.
(Wow, in the last dungeon those little things were annoying and cut you up, now they're so easy, but I can't stay here too long, if I stay too long my magic runs out and I can't use my magic to get back, or I can use the hook, true).
And soon she's making her way to the chest, which she opens and simply takes the key, and on the way back she wastes no time, using the hook to get to the other side without any problems, and so she comes back with another key, and with that she goes back with her friends.
"Wow, Akko, what kind of cut is that? I thought I'd come out of this unscathed" said O'Neill.
"That was a Banshee thing, I didn't realise they attacked until I was intangible, it's good to know, now let's go, there's still a way to go in this dungeon" said the warrior from Luna Nova.
The trio went back to the fork, this time at the door on the left, which led to a staircase, where they went down a little to reach the lower floor, where they noticed that there was water flowing across the floor and there were some Bari and also water Tektites, who went from one side to the other swimming towards the girls, as well as the presence of several medusa traps, with five Zazaks making their presence felt, but the girls just ignored them, attacking whatever was in their way.
"We just need to go to the front door, there's no point in fighting" Akko shrugged.
As they open the door, they come across a corridor full of thorn traps and what look like treadmills that push them in different directions, while some hardhat beetles are also present.
They even swallow a little saliva as they step on them, feeling the power of the treadmills' push and almost coming close to the thorns catching them by surprise, and they take care to watch out for the monsters approaching, so much so that the gerudo stays behind the shorter one, and even holds her by sitting on her shoulder to have more reach, while Atsuko goes the other
"Ugh, how can you keep this up, if these monsters catch us it'll be the end of us, they'll push us to our deaths" said the salmon-coloured hair as she watched her friend shrugging and hitting the creatures without feeling a kick.
The path was practically a slalom from one side to the other, and it was something they had to worry about in order not to end up in the thorns, since their wall is very high and full of obstacles and the monsters appeared in many blind spots, one of which even surprised Kagari by making her slip a little, hitting some thorns with a glancing blow, which she began to guard against, but the monster was attacked by a projectile from Constanze.
After passing through the path of thorns, they arrive at a chest and soon take out the master key, which gives
them some relief. There is a door there, and they follow it and notice that everything is dark, but they are soon surprised by some flames coming towards them.
"Oh, it looks like we've got company for this place" said the crimson-eyed girl, and they really had as they lit the lamps.
Red Zazaks, this time they follow the three who are starting to defend themselves, Amanda and Constanze are the ones who are having difficulties in the dark, but on the other hand Akko, even with poor eyesight, is simply feeling the flames and even goes without a lamp, following the fireballs, hitting the creatures with well-aimed blows, then helping her friends who are struggling, there were only three of them, which was very easy to deal with, despite all the difficulty that appeared.
"Thanks Akko, I really couldn't handle that one" said the badly wounded O'Neill.
"Come on, you're badly wounded, I couldn't have expected such attacks, soon we'll be able to get to where those monsters are" said the brown-haired woman.
As they explored the room, they realised that there was only one chest with Rupees in it, which frustrated them greatly. It was 300 Rupees, but the girls didn't care much about the Rupees that the warrior from Luna Nova had picked up and were on their way back.
With difficulties and some injuries, due to not killing some hardhat beetles in the slalom on the treadmills, they make their way back, and so they leave that door, returning to that room with several doors.
"Phew, we've been here for a while, can we not finish?" asked the gerudo.
"It looks like there's still a lot, look how many doors we have to go through, well let's go to the next one with a key, then we'll think about going to the others" said Akko.
The girls nodded in agreement, they opened the way inside and there was another staircase that went down, when they got there, they saw that there was a large open place with water, only some waterfalls, in this open place they took a few steps and simply heard accelerated footsteps going towards them, But soon they stop, and then the water rises, moving and holding Amanda and Constanze, leaving them trapped. In the midst of this, a shadow gathers in the middle of that open space, which becomes precisely the shape of Atsuko.
"Oh, so it looks like we've got something here, interesting, I'm going to face a dark version of me" said Kagari.
"Interesting? Akko can kill you!" O'Neill said.
The silent shadow goes straight for the crimson-eyed woman, who defends herself against the first attack with the katana, making the blades scrape against each other and with that the way was opened with them running, and then turning so that the blades met and this time they were still and it was visible the effect of the shock that remained, even causing a glow in the katana of the brown-haired woman who even opened a smile.
(I'm going to have a round 2 of what I've already faced against Mako, but now with the sword I want so much, it looks like my shadow is going to try her best to copy my blows, but let's see how much she can copy).
Once again, the shadow rushes towards the girl, even giving her a boost with a leap far greater than is humanly possible, only to hit the warrior from Luna Nova with a downward thrust that sends her somersaulting backwards, only to see a strand of hair passing through the dark version, who then tries to go upwards in the middle of the thrust, but ends up being defended.
The movements and techniques of the original Akko are still very much present, she manages to defend herself with her sword and with that she appeals for blows, hitting a low blow, but when she strikes the shadow she only sees it disappear and catch a grazing cut on the back that she manages to defend herself against, but still catches her arm.
(So it's an intangible shadow, interesting to know, I'm really going to have to get the hang of this one, she's got a good technique, but I can get a bit of an advantage and land blows, the creep got me, but the lunge didn't, I have to get the hang of attacking).
"Go Akko, kill that thing!" Amanda said.
"I'm trying, she doesn't give in that easily, I still have to study her movements a lot before I end up making a mistake" said Atsuko.
Kagari went for the uppercut this time, the shadow defending, but soon it was something that the evil version of the girl was having more difficulty with, as if she had an extra power there, which soon led her to start thinking of ways to attack, and she even managed to land a cut that caught the arm, causing it to fall, but when it came time to make a lunge, she went straight through and was almost hit by a lunge from the shadow that caused her hand to regenerate.
The dodge caused her to be grazed on the side of the body, which was a gap for an elbow from the crimson-eyed one, which was enough to stun the dark version of her a little more and she took a few steps backwards.
(As you might expect, some blows might work, she'll be regenerating all the time, but I'm not going to give up here, I even know what to try as a technique).
Akko takes her staff out of her bag, transforms it into a bow, fires one while the shadow is still stunned, but the arrow simply goes straight through, which doesn't work. She then puts her sword away and is almost surprised by a blow, which she defends with her Katana and then delivers another elbow, followed by a combination of blows, other than with the sword, realising that it might even be possible to hit it, and then ends with a strong punch from her power gloves that pushes the shadow far away.
This was enough time for Atsuko to heal herself with fairies and thus be fully recovered and healed from her injuries. She was almost hit by the shadow, but activated her intangibility on the spot, which meant that the monster passed through without hitting her.
(Now let's see, with projectile cuts there's no way this thing can withstand me, it's just going to stand off against me, it even hit a few glancing cuts, but I also know how to hurt and a lot, it can come monster from the shadows, I have my technique too).
"Good Akko, you're all healed up, you can beat this thing now, show it what you came for" said O'Neill.
"Let me concentrate here, I know the crowd is good, but I have to defeat this thing, there must be something very good about this place to have a monster like this defending it, this is so on a par with Ansolew Airo, I remember how hard the battle against her was, now I'm going back to my roots" Kagari said.
The shadow even came close, but the projectile cuts were heading towards the creature, which disappeared several times so as not to be hit. It even tried to reappear behind the girl, but she looked at the water in reflex and showed technique by hitting a cut that managed to sever the head of the dark one, which then floated away and returned to its body, which wouldn't be such a standard way of defeating the monster.
(She really didn't die with a quick decapitation like that, I have to show my technique or else the situation could get worse, I think because it's a shadow I should try to scare this thing, maybe that will work, come on Akko).
The crimson-eyed girl ended up igniting the sword and, with it alight with fire, it was noticeable that the shadow gradually began to move away from the flames, which she discovered as a weak point, even making the shadow appear further back, which she dodged with another near-strike that grazed her, noticing that the flames also ended up creating a shadow behind her body and this apparently even made the dark version of the heroine more agile.
(Damn, that's a double-edged sword, I have to switch it off, it really does get faster and it can get stronger, on the one hand the light makes it afraid, on the other it creates a stronger shadow when it's not near the light, even more so behind my body, but you get the idea, fire or light must be weak points).
Soon she was looking ahead and saw some levers near some of the waterfalls, which she made a point of going towards to see if she could somehow do something about, then she ran away from the shadow, running up to it and even landing a few blows to stun the dark version of the brown-haired girl.
When she managed to pull the first lever, she was almost hit by a blow that grazed her arm, and then a light came on from where the waterfall was falling to the other side, and she could hear the creature screaming as it saw the light getting a little stronger.
"So that's it? You don't like the light, this will be fun to do" said the warrior from Luna Nova.
"Show that shadow how it's done Akko, finish her off, go!" Said the gerudo, cheering on her friend.
Concentrating, Akko starts to put together a route, since there are five levers, she runs using her boots which give her extra speed and this even ends up leaving the shadow further behind, reaching the second lever she pulls down and goes towards the monster with all her fury trying to hit it, but just as she gets close another deception.
Atsuko uses the intangibility she has gained to pass through the shadow as if it were nothing, and in this way she reaches the third lever.
(This is going to be quiet if I follow everything by distracting the shadow, she didn't expect me to find out, but she knew there was something strange about it).
As soon as she pulled the third lever, it gave the shadow time to come up, which Kagari defended against, and the two began to engage in a battle of swords, which the monster had no idea was another distraction tactic because the one with the crimson eyes was walking backwards towards the fourth lever and it was noticeable that with each lever pulled, the dark version became weaker as the light became more intense. As it got closer to the wall, the shadow tried to lunge at the girl, but she simply began to walk along the wall as if it were nothing, so she only had to step on the lever and defend herself against a slashing attempt from the creature she was trying to push.
"I think that thing forgot that I can walk through walls too" said the brown-haired girl.
"That's it Akko, just one more to go, pity it's up there and in the dark... Damn!" Amanda said.
(Oh that's to be expected, let's see how this shadow will cope with all this, I hope I can pull the lever, I'll have to walk upside down).
The warrior from Luna Nova uses a hook and launches herself upwards with the hook and is already surprised by the shadow coming to make a cut, but is soon surprised to see that the girl can simply stand upside down on the ceiling and with that an inverted fight begins on the ceiling itself between the shadow and the queen of Wedinburgh.
(As I expected, it really is stronger on the ceiling, which is darker, but that'll soon be over, I'll just use the katana with one hand and then use the elemental staff, maybe that'll work, I hope it really does, otherwise it'll be a lot of trouble around here).
Akko began to use the katana one-handed to test herself and this caused her a little more of a challenge as the shadow rushed at her, going at a fast pace and even trying to surprise her by catching the girl from behind, who was defending herself, but she was getting a lot of grazing cuts, but even so she managed to hold her own and began to take the elemental staff from her bag, with a smile on her face.
"Let's see if all this darkness will exist when I light the ceiling" said Atsuko.
The plan really worked, with a kick the girl sends the shadow backwards and then the elemental staff lights up all the way around the lever on the ceiling and creates a very strong light, which the shadow moves away from, which leaves the gap for Kagari to reach the lever, she runs at full speed, the dark version of her even risks passing through the fire and being incinerated, she goes at high speed too, but it was too late.
The lever was pulled by the crimson-eyed girl who then threw herself to the ground and saw the shadow following her with a blade in hand, which she activated the hook, watching the tool pass through while above her the ceiling was opening small gaps through which the light would pass, and also seeing the shadow dismantling itself.
"Goodbye, little creature of the darkness" said the brown-haired girl, waving at the monster.
The fall was cushioned by the hook and the warrior of Luna Nova narrowly missed receiving a potentially fatal blow to the throat. The tip passed very close to the point where only a tiny amount of blood dripped from what it touched and then the shadow dismantled itself and was completely defeated.
Akko gets up and is relieved to have defeated the monster, while her friends are freed from being trapped by the water and are surprised by everything.
"Woah Akko, look at the monster you faced, it was one of those bosses, are you going to tell me that this isn't the one you're going to have to face? That was one of those monsters, it even led to one of those fights" Amanda said and the answer was soon given with a nod of Atsuko's head.
"It looks like the dungeons are going to demand a lot from us, now let's open the trunk, there must be something in there" said Atsuko, who realised that a large boat had appeared.
The treasure of the dungeon is finally discovered and it's simply another tunic, this one green and even looks a bit like a kimono, which the girl soon puts on over what she's wearing, it even comes with trousers, which the previous tunic didn't have and the combination of green and red went well with the look of the kimono, which Kagari has already been feeling the changes as she moves her body, as well as being able to jump higher.
"Look at this, I feel like I weigh nothing, I feel like a feather, this was one of the best treasures that could come along, now this will make me more resistant against Andrew, maybe I can survive or at least not faint on the spot when he comes to attack me" said the confident crimson-eyed girl who could feel the power coming from the tunic.
"We came all this way just to get one outfit? Wow, the rewards in these places are pretty bland" said O'Neill.
"It's just like that, unfortunately, but these are things that will help me against Andrew, look how much lighter and faster I am, I can easily cross from one side of here to the other without feeling heavy, it's much less tiring to run, this is perfect for me" said the brown-haired girl.
And soon the warrior from Luna Nova was showing a little more of her agility, she could run faster, she could move her sword as well, and she was able to make more complex dodging movements and jump higher, which could be useful when exploring the whole dungeon, which has not yet come to an end.
Surprising both the gerudo and Constanze, who found themselves falling further behind, the three of them took advantage of this fight to give themselves a rest, before setting off for the remaining rooms of the dungeon
"Let's take a break, then we'll think about going to more places in the dungeon" said Amanda.
"Well I agree on that one, that shadow made me a little tired, especially when I had to go through the other monsters in the dungeon, but it's interesting, I like the challenge and monsters like that, it just shows that we're progressing more and more, maybe we'll get to a point where Andrew can be defeated more easily -Said Akko who soon also noticed something else as he sat down in the water.
"It's not a very smart way to rest" said O'Neill.
"I'm waterproof, I just don't get wet sitting like this, before I had special boots, now I have a suit for this, it will be very marvellous to explore some dungeon that has a lot of water, which I don't doubt it will" said Atsuko.
"Ugh, I hope I don't have to go, it would be a pain, at least we're almost halfway through the dungeons, soon this will all be over, we'll defeat Andrew, I just really want to go back to the ranch, that life of mine was perfect, I loved all that peaceful stuff, having to run away and leave many of our animals was heartbreaking, they were like a family... We couldn't even give you a present at the time, but we gave you a mare while she was still a puppy" said the gerudo.
"It's so like Mrs McLaren to present me with something like this, and apparently they had to abandon it, didn't they? Poor thing..." Kagari said, and her friend nodded.
"Shooting Star is alive, we took her a long way in advance, the queen had already come a month before the disaster for us to leave, a little after you and Diana came there, we had already packed our bags and we went to Triskellion Island, going back and forth, day and night, we started by taking her to a harbour nearby, then we paid for a ship to take everything, it took days and days, we got there almost a day before everything exploded... The good thing is that most of the animals were still salvageable, one day when you can, we'll show you, Shooting Star has grown a lot over the years, we've fed her well and she's a very agile mare" said the one with the salmon-coloured hair.
"Oh, I can't wait to see her, I didn't even get a chance to see her when I went to Triskellion Island, but I think she's a ginger mare, isn't she? I remember I had a red-haired filly at the time" said the crimson-eyed one, who immediately saw her friend nodding.
"It was supposed to be a funny way for Mrs McLaren to play with you by giving you a mare and making you learn to care for and be attached to an animal, to value horses more, because we see a lot of people just abandoning them, but they are wonderful animals and creatures that deserve proper love and care" said Amanda.
And they spent a good few minutes resting and chatting before setting off again, reminiscing a little about the old days, back when Akko was at the Dublin ranch when her adventure and journey as the warrior she has become began, before setting off for more challenges in this dungeon that is making the girls give their all.
The dungeon is full of many monsters that even appear to be bosses with a difficulty that is quite considerable, but that with intelligence can be defeated, as was the case in the battle against the Dark Akko, who had no way of defeating her, but who was defeated with the cleverness of switching on the lights so that the darkness was just a story, in this dungeon that has been full of many challenges, without yet being complete, needing a lot of things yet and a lot of travelling to get to the end of it.
See you, dark witches...