Percival stepped out of the Gate and onto solid ground.
Splash.
He looked down at his boots, the leather wet after stepping into a shallow puddle. Then he lifted his face to behold the Gate World.
⸢Depths of the Drowned⸥
As familiar as it was, it felt strange seeing it again. It was a unique kingdom made of spires of golden coral spiraling toward a heaven above that was merely a shimmering barrier of water.
The architecture reminded him of the story of Atlantis: the grand arches, sweeping balconies, and statues of finned royalty. Waterfalls cascaded from the higher tiers, feeding the endless reservoirs below.
Percival lowered his gaze. He didn't come here to admire the architecture of this Gate World. He came here to clear it.
The dungeon map appeared on his interface, highlighting the linear progression through the submerged districts.
Presently, he stood in the Gallant Entrance.
He moved forward, heading into the first Encounter Zone.
Splash.
A quiet ripple disturbed one of the decorative side pools lining the Gilded Corridor.
Percival's hand hovered over his sword hilt, but his mind reached out to his Summon Space.
"Soldiers."
Blue flames erupted in the damp air and his Skeleton Soldiers materialized, yielding their weapons and ready for battle.
Percival stood motionless. Listening. His Skeletons mirrored him, statues of bone waiting for the command.
Then his Perception picked up a bubbling noise in the pools. "Get ready," he warned his Soldiers.
With suddenness, they emerged from the water.
Seven hunched figures exploded into the air and landed on their feet.
They had the bodies of men but the heads of deep-sea anglers, with pale, dead eyes and maws filled with needle-teeth. Their green scaled skin dripped with much and they gripped jagged harpoons fashioned from bone and coral.
⸢Threat: Trench Stalker⸥
⸢Level: 22⸥
Percival had killed Trench Stalkers before, and he could end all seven of these in a seconds with both Class skills.
However, this was a fitting chance to test the capability of his Skeletons yet again.
"Engage," Percival commanded calmly.
The Trench Stalkers shrieked and lunged, raising their spears high.
The Skeleton Soldiers met the charge.
Bone and scales clashed as the battle ensued. Percival's Skeletons were undeniably weaker than the Stalkers, but they had the numbers.
Ding!
⸢Trench Stalker killed⸥
⸢+25 EXP⸥
Nevertheless, the power and skill difference was just too significant. The Trench Stalkers soon began to fight back.
One skeleton took a harpoon to the ribcage, and a bite on the neck bone, draining all the HP to a critical 5.
Percival quickly used ⸢Soul Draught⸥ on the singular dead corpse of a Stalker, healing the wounded Skeleton and others in a flash of blue fire.
The Skeleton twisted out of the Stalker's jaws, another stabbed the shocked fish beast from behind. Then, the previous Skeleton ended it by driving its sword into the Stalker's gill-slit.
Green blood sprayed.
⸢Trench Stalker killed⸥
⸢+25 EXP⸥
The other Skeletons swarmed the remaining beasts. They were learning. The phalanx formation Percival had drilled into them held firm against the wild, thrashing attacks of the fishmen.
They utilized the reach of their spears, keeping the Stalkers at bay before closing in for the kill.
Percival watched, analyzing his soldiers. 'Their agility is very poor and their defensive maneuvering is quite slow as well. Simply teaching them battle tactics isn't going to make them soldiers. They're just not strong enough.'
With the first wave cleared, Percival picked his loot, revitalized his legion, and led them deeper.
They crossed a suspended bridge of translucent crystal to the next Encounter Zone: The Plaza of Weeping Coral.
Here, the water was deeper, calf-high in places, hiding the approach of the enemy.
⸢Threats:
14 Trench Stalkers - Lvl 22
6 Coral Knights - Lvl 25⸥
The Coral Knights were imposing. Standing seven feet tall, they were encased in a peculiar armor of red coral plates growing directly from their flesh.
They wielded massive tridents and moved as fast and as powerful as a tide.
Percival knew they were too much for his Skeletons to handle, so he drew out the Crownless Greatsword.
"Wait here," he ordered his Soldiers.
Activating ⸢Grave Step⸥, Percival appeared in the center of the enemy formation, water splashing violently beneath his leather boots.
The Coral Knights spun their heads, but they weren't fast enough to defend from his attacks.
Percival sped through them like a wind blade, using the sword to cut down their HP, filling the air with their terrifying shrieks of pain.
In three seconds, he had reduced the Coral Knights to critical health.
He reappeared in front of his Skeletons. "Finish them," he ordered with a sword raise.
The Skeleton Soldiers descended like piranhas. They capitalized on the openings Percival had created, striking the vulnerable spots of the Coral Knights.
The axe-wielding Skeleton Soldier smashed the exposed skull of a kneeling Coral Knight.
⸢Coral Knight killed⸥
⸢+30 EXP⸥
Percival stood back, watching his Skeletons battle the Trench Stalkers and finish off the Coral Knights.
EXP rolled in, and his level bar journeyed closer to Lvl. 16.
When the last beast fell, Percival harvested their souls to strengthen his army, he looted and then, they pressed on.
The deeper they went, the harder the Golden Kingdom fought to repel them.
In the Hall of Tides, they met the greater threat of Atlantic Sorcerers (Lvl 28) and Leviathan Hounds (Lvl 26).
The Sorcerers floated inside bubbles, summoning pressurized water bolts, while the Leviathan Hounds—scaled, crocodile-like dogs—rushed the front lines.
Percival frowned at the sight.
The Atlantic Sorcerers were a problem. He remembered how they used their water bolts from range to cause damage and sometimes even Bleed.
And with the Hounds posing a genuine threat to his Skeletons, he couldn't afford a long fight where his army would be ground to dust without fresh corpses for ⸢Soul Draught⸥.
So, his priority was to get rid of the Sorcerers.
He extended his hand toward the Sorcerers and activated ⸢Void Slash⸥.
⸢Void Slash: A highly concentrated attack that doesn't rely on physical blade, but manifests as a cutting force in thin air: a tear in the vacuum that damages targets at a distance⸥
⸢A-Grade⸥
A vertical line of force tore through the air, bisecting the air, the bubbles, and the fish skin of the Sorcerers.
Schluk!
Red blood burst out of their centers as they split apart, the halves sliding cleanly off the air to slap against the wet floor.
⸢Atlantic Sorcerers killed⸥
⸢+200 EXP⸥
A wave of Leviathan Hounds marched toward them, barking with rage and terror.
"Wait," Percival said to his army. He stood still, and so did his Skeletons. They waited and watched as the Hounds got closer and closer.
Once the pack passed the corpses of the four dead Sorcerers, Percival raised his left hand, death mana surging to his fingertips.
"⸢Corpse Explosion⸥"
The bodies of the Atlantic Sorcerers bloated, glowing with an unstable, sickly blue light.
Then, BOOM!
Bone shrapnel and necrotic energy erupted in a twenty-foot radius. The explosion shredded the scales of the Hounds, killing the front rank instantly and maiming the others to critical health.
"Kill the rest," Percival muttered, turning his attention to the pulsating Beast Source at the corner of the hall.
As his Skeletons pounced and slaughtered the wounded lizard-dogs, he approached the Beast Source.
It was a giant silver clam, pulsing atop a slim altar.
He summoned ⸢Soulfire⸥, engulfing the clam in blue flame until it ruptured, dissolving into silver spores.
⸢Beast Source Destroyed⸥
⸢+300 EXP⸥
Percival gathered his loot and marched his Skeletons into the final Encounter Zone.
The Throne of the Deep.
After retrieving a special key, he unlocked the massive golden doors open and pushed it open.
A loud groan thundered in the air, water poured from the lintel to the river sides segmented by golden barricades.
The rest of the room was a vast, circular arena, and in the center sat a throne made of shipwrecks and whale bones.
Sitting upon it was a monstrosity.
⸢Boss: The Great Merbeast (Lvl 50)⸥
⸢Main Skill: Water Storm⸥
Percival stepped forward. The Great Merbeast was just as he remembered it.
It was twenty feet tall, made of muscle and colorful scales. It had four arms, each wielding a massive anchor rusted with age and blood.
Its face was a nightmare of shark and man, with barbels that sizzled with electric current.
Percival remembered how fun it had been to kill the Great Merbeast alongside his old party. The laughter. The adrenaline.
Now, it was a different feeling.
Maybe no feeling at all.
There was no joy. No excitement. No thrill. The Great Merbeast was simply a means to an end. An entity that offered no single value except its own death in Percival's hands.
The doors slammed shut behind him. The Merbeast rose with a shrieking roar, its gills flaring.
"MY PEOPLE WERE SUBMERGED INTO THE WATER!" it cried with a vibrating voice.
"WE SUFFERED TO SURVIVE! WE EVOLVED INTO BEINGS OF THE SEA!"
The Great Merbeast slammed two of its anchors together, sending golden sparks into the air. The water bodies by the sides of the room began to churn, rising in response to the creature's rage.
"YET, YOU STILL TORMENT US! I WILL DESTROY YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"
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