The water reached Hiroshi's neck.
He stood at the bottom of the stairs, barely able to keep his chin above the surface. One wrong step and he'd be swimming. Fighting was impossible at this depth. Even walking required deliberate effort.
"This is it," Kenji said quietly, water lapping at his mouth. "We can't fight here at all."
Marcus kept his mace raised above the waterline. "One swing and I'll lose my balance. We're completely vulnerable."
"Then we don't fight," Aria said. Her staff glowed softly, the only light in the darkness. "We need to sneak."
Hiroshi activated Combat Sense and pushed it forward. The chamber ahead lit up in his mind with enemy signatures. Seven cold voids scattered throughout the space, each one moving in slow, overlapping patterns.
"Seven Wraiths," he said.
"Can we get through?" Kenji asked.
Hiroshi watched the patterns, tracking each Wraith's position and direction.
"Yes. But we have to move exactly when I say."
They waited in the freezing water. Hiroshi tracked the Wraiths, memorizing their routes. The nearest one drifted left, crossing the chamber slowly. The two behind it moved perpendicular, creating a brief window.
"Now. Straight forward ten meters, then stop."
They moved together, water barely rippling. Hiroshi counted steps in his head, matching the Wraiths' positions. When they stopped, a Wraith passed less than three meters to their right, completely unaware.
"Wait."
Two more Wraiths converged ahead, blocking the path. Hiroshi waited for them to separate, watching the gap form between them.
"Left. Five meters. Slow."
They shifted direction. The water resisted every movement, threatening to splash and make noise. But they moved carefully, and the Wraiths continued their patrols without deviation.
It took twenty minutes to cross the first chamber.
The next corridor had four Wraiths. Tighter spacing, faster movement. Hiroshi's head throbbed from the concentration required to track them all simultaneously while calculating safe paths.
"Stop. Don't move."
A Wraith drifted past directly in front of them. Its translucent form was close enough that Hiroshi could see through it to the wall beyond. It continued without pausing, sensing nothing.
"Forward. Now."
They crossed into the next chamber. Two Wraiths this time, moving in synchronized patterns. Easier to predict, harder to avoid because their routes covered more ground.
Hiroshi guided them through.
Another corridor. Six Wraiths. The patrol routes overlapped so tightly that there was only one safe path through, and the window lasted less than thirty seconds.
"When I say go, move fast but quiet. Don't stop until I tell you."
He watched. Waited. The patterns aligned for a brief moment.
"Go."
They moved through the water as quickly as silence allowed. Wraiths drifted on either side, close enough to touch. Hiroshi's heart hammered in his chest, but he kept his breathing steady, his movements controlled.
"Stop."
They froze. A Wraith turned in their direction, as if sensing something. It drifted closer.
Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.
The Wraith stopped two meters away. Its eyeless void seemed to stare directly at Hiroshi. Then it turned and continued its patrol.
"Forward. Slowly."
They completed the crossing.
Hours passed this way. Hiroshi tracked Wraiths, calculated routes, guided the party through impossible gaps. His head felt like it was splitting from the constant mental strain. The cold water sapped his strength, and even Undead Stride couldn't completely compensate for the exhaustion.
But they didn't fight. Not once.
By his count, they'd avoided fifteen Wraiths without a single detection. No holy magic used. The run was perfect.
Then they reached the corridor.
It was long and narrow, maybe fifty meters. One Wraith floated in the center, completely still. Unlike the others, it wasn't patrolling. It was simply there, blocking the only path forward.
Hiroshi scanned for alternate routes. There were none. The corridor was the only way to the safe room.
"Level 12," Kenji said quietly, reading the information his skill provided. "Stronger than the others."
"Can we go around?" Marcus asked.
"No. This is the only path."
Marcus raised his mace. Golden light began to gather. "Then I use Holy Smite."
"Wait." Hiroshi grabbed his arm. "If you use it now, we have nothing for the boss."
"If we don't use it, we can't proceed."
"Let me try something."
Kenji looked at him sharply. "Try what?"
"Cold Grip destroyed the last Wraith. Not directly, but it slowed it. Made it unstable." Hiroshi stared at the Wraith ahead. "What if I use maximum output? Full power, directly into it."
"That's just theory," Aria said.
"Everything we've done today was theory until we tested it."
Marcus lowered his mace. "If it doesn't work, you'll die."
"If you use Holy Smite, we all die on the boss floor. At least this way we try something first."
Kenji was quiet for a long moment. "Do it. But if it starts to go wrong, Marcus uses Holy Smite immediately."
Hiroshi moved forward through the water. The Wraith didn't react to his approach. It simply floated there, waiting.
He stopped three meters away and raised both hands. Cold Grip activated at full strength, pulling heat from the water around him. Ice crystals formed in the space between his palms, growing larger and denser than before.
The Wraith turned toward him.
Hiroshi pushed. The cold erupted outward in a concentrated wave, hitting the Wraith's incorporeal form directly. The temperature differential was extreme, freezing versus void.
The Wraith convulsed. Its translucent body flickered wildly, parts of it solidifying as the cold interacted with whatever energy held it together. Physics still applied, even to the dead. Extreme cold disrupted the form, destabilized the magic.
Hiroshi pushed harder. His HP dropped as the skill drained him. 80, 70, 60.
The Wraith's form collapsed inward, unable to maintain coherence under the temperature assault. It flickered one final time and dissolved into nothing.
[Wraith Defeated]
Hiroshi's hands dropped. His HP sat at 45. His whole body felt hollowed out.
"It worked," Aria said, stunned. "Cold killed it."
"Extreme cold," Hiroshi corrected, breathing hard. "More than I've ever used before."
Marcus stared at the empty space where the Wraith had been. "So we have a weapon against them after all."
"One that costs HP instead of mana," Kenji said. "But yes. A weapon."
They continued to the safe room. When the door closed behind them, the silence felt different than before.
"Floor 4 cleared,"