Chapter 308 (Patreon)

The seafloor welcomed Kana like a quiet, ancient cathedral drowned in blue. Light from above filtered weakly through the restless ocean, breaking into trembling ribbons that danced across the sand. It was darker than any cave she’d entered before, yet not entirely blind. Shapes existed here—soft, shifting silhouettes of rock and coral, and the distant sway of something alive that chose not to be seen. Her eyes stung the moment she opened them, a sharp protest from salt and pressure, but she endured it. Pain, she had learned, was often just the body complaining about growth.

Above her, Boris and Suri descended like reluctant offerings to the deep.

Boris looked less like a warrior and more like a man reconsidering every life decision that had led him to this moment. His eyes were squeezed shut, his jaw locked so tightly it might crack before he did, bubbles slipping from his lips in uneven bursts. Suri fared slightly better, though only just. She tried to peek once, curiosity betraying her, but the ocean punished her for it immediately. Her eyes snapped shut again, her grip tightening around the strange weighted stone as if it were the only thing tethering her to reality.

Kana moved toward them, the water resisting every motion like an invisible hand pressing against her limbs. It wasn’t like moving on land. Every step felt delayed, dragged, as though time itself had thickened. Still, she reached them just as their feet brushed the seabed, catching their balance before panic could fully bloom.

She didn’t speak. She couldn’t. Instead, she guided them.

A gentle pull on Boris’s arm. A steady nudge at Suri’s shoulder. Small, precise movements that told them where to go without words. They followed, blind and trusting, their steps awkward and heavy as the enchanted stones dragged them down with unnatural weight. Each movement kicked up faint clouds of sand that drifted lazily before settling again, as if even the ocean preferred silence.

The pressure built the deeper they stayed. Not crushing, but present. A constant reminder that they did not belong there.

Boris’s movements slowed further. His chest expanded too wide, too desperate. More bubbles escaped him now, rising in frantic clusters toward a surface he could not see. Kana noticed immediately. Her grip on him tightened. 

Not yet, she thought. Just a little more.

The path ahead shimmered faintly.

At first, it looked like a trick of the light. Then it grew clearer—a soft, bluish glow, illuminating gently like a torchlight beneath the sea. It cut through the darkness—the dungeon entrance.

It hovered there at the seabed, an oval ring of light, its edges flickering as if woven from mana itself. Even surrounded by the vast silence of the ocean, it felt… loud. Like something calling.

Kana didn’t hesitate.

She pulled harder now, urgency threading through her movements. Boris stumbled, nearly losing his footing, while Suri’s grip faltered for a split second before tightening again. The current shifted faintly around them, brushing against their bodies like a warning. The ocean did not like intruders lingering.

The glow sharpened, illuminating their faces in cold blue. Boris’s expression had turned strained, the last threads of his breath slipping away. Suri’s brows furrowed even with her eyes closed, her body tense as if her instincts were screaming.

Kana reached the threshold first.

Without pausing, she pushed Suri forward. The moment Suri’s body crossed the glowing boundary, she vanished, swallowed instantly by the light. 

Boris was next.

He resisted, just barely—his body locking for a fraction of a second as instinct screamed at him not to step into the unknown. Kana didn’t give him the luxury of doubt. With one firm shove, she sent him through. He disappeared just as quickly.

Kana lingered for the briefest moment.

The ocean pressed in around her, vast and endless. Above, the surface felt impossibly far. Behind her, nothing but darkness and the slow, patient weight of the sea.

Ahead… something else entirely.

She exhaled the last of her breath, bubbles slipping past her lips like fleeting thoughts, and stepped forward.

The blue light swallowed her whole.

The world changed the moment they crossed the threshold.

The crushing weight of the ocean vanished, replaced by air that tasted faintly of stone and something older, like a place that had been sealed away and forgotten on purpose. Water dripped somewhere in the distance, slow and steady, each drop echoing through the narrow cave like a ticking clock.

Boris collapsed first.

He hit the ground with a heavy thud, dragging in air like a man who had just stolen it back from death itself. “I—” he tried, but words failed him as he gulped down breath after breath, chest rising and falling like a bellows gone wild. Suri leaned against the wall nearby, calmer, but not by much, her breaths deep and measured as she let her body remember what it meant to exist without pressure crushing in from all sides.

Kana stood still for a moment, listening, confirming with her [High Awareness].

No footsteps. No growls. No shifting presence lurking in the dark.

Just silence.

“So,” Suri said after a moment, her voice steadier now, though she still rubbed at her eyes, “you’ve been using this place like a… breathing station?” She shot Kana a look, somewhere between impressed and annoyed. “Jump in, grab air, go back out, collect pearls, repeat?”

Kana nodded simply. “It works. Got many of them.”

Suri huffed, leaning closer, squinting at Kana’s face. “Your eyes are a mess,” she said. “Red everywhere. That’s not normal.”

Kana shrugged. “It still stings. But I got used to it.” She paused, then added casually, “If it's going to get worse, I’ll just find a healer.”

Suri stared at her for a second longer, then shook her head, muttering something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like not human.

A loud, echoing burp cut through the cave.

Both girls turned.

Boris sat there, blinking, his expression caught somewhere between relief and embarrassment. A second later, Thorne popped out from his shirt like she had just escaped a collapsing tunnel, climbed up his shoulder, and resumed her rightful throne atop his head, completely unbothered.

Kana opened her mouth. “Don’t tell me—”

Boris nodded, grimacing. “Yeah. I drank half the sea on the way down. Thought that was it for me.”

Suri snorted. “Impressive. Dying by drinking the ocean. Your father probably smacks your head as soon as he sees your dead body.”

Kana didn’t comment further. Instead, she reached into her [Inventory] and began pulling out their extra gear one by one. Armor clinked softly against stone, weapons laid neatly within reach as if they had never left her side.

Boris grabbed his armor with something close to affection. “I missed you,” he muttered to the metal as he strapped it back on.

“Stop acting like a girl,” Suri said, already slipping into her dry clothes. She caught her staff the moment Kana tossed it to her, spinning it once in her hand. Shadows flickered instantly, thin strands of illusion slipping into the tunnel ahead like curious serpents scouting the dark.

Kana finished fastening her selective armor and glanced toward the deeper passage.

Still nothing.

No movement. No resistance. No sign that this place was alive at all.

After a few moments, Suri frowned.

Her illusions returned, dissolving back into faint wisps around her. “I don’t see anything,” she said. “No monsters. No traces. Nothing reacting.” She tilted her head slightly, thinking. “Are you sure this is a dungeon?”

Boris, now fully geared, gave his spear a few test swings. The weapon cut cleanly through the air, a familiar sound grounding him back into himself. “Feels like one,” he muttered. “Looks like one.”

“Or someone already cleared it,” Suri added, her tone quieter now. “Recently. But I found the dungeon boss room”

That didn’t sit right. Dungeons didn’t stay empty for long. Not like this. Not completely silent.

Kana tilted her head, eyes narrowing slightly as she looked deeper into the cave. The air felt… chilly for some reason. “No monsters,” she said slowly. “Then let’s go to the boss room.”

Boris exhaled, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off the last of the ocean’s grip. “I finally feel my body again,” he muttered, though his grip on the spear tightened just a little more.

Suri didn’t argue this time. Because silence, seemed very strange in a place like this, that supposed to be never empty.

…..

The moment they arrived in the dungeon boss room, Suri’s fingers brushed against the golden surface, the air itself seemed to hold its breath. The door did not feel like the others they had encountered before, not rough, not indifferent. This one was… aware, in a way that made Kana’s skin prickle beneath her armor. The wavy engravings shimmered faintly in the torchlight, as if they were not carved at all but slowly moving, like something alive trapped beneath metal. At the center, the strange creature—those curling, reaching limbs—seemed almost moving when stared at too long, like it resented being understood.

Kana stepped closer, her gaze narrowing. “It’s not just similar,” she murmured, voice low, thoughtful. “It feels… important.” The memory lingered at the edge of her thoughts, like a dream refusing to fully wake. The humungous dungeon boss door carried something deeper. Something older.

Suri, of course, saw something else entirely.

“This is my suggestion…” she said, already tracing the edges with greedy curiosity. “Imagine dragging this back to the academy. We’d never have to worry about money again.”

Boris snorted, adjusting his grip on his spear. “Yeah, sure. Let’s just carry a giant enchanted door out of a dungeon. Sounds easy.”

Suri shot him a look. “With Kana here? It might actually be.”

Kana didn’t respond immediately. Her attention remained fixed on the door, her instincts whispering warnings she couldn’t quite translate into words. It wasn’t fear—not exactly. It was closer to standing at the edge of something vast and unseen, like looking out into a dark ocean and realizing it was looking back.

She reached out, hesitating just a fraction before her fingers brushed the cold metal.

There was a reaction.

A low hum vibrated through the door, faint  but undeniable. The engravings flickered, faint light tracing along the curves of the design like veins awakening after a long sleep. Somewhere deep within the dungeon, something shifted. Not physically—not in a way they could see—but in a way Kana felt in her bones.

Suri’s grin faded just a little. “Alright… that’s new.”

Boris took a step back. “I don’t like that.”

Kana exhaled slowly, steadying herself. Then, with a quiet resolve that had become all too familiar, she placed her hand firmly against the door.

“We didn’t come all this way to turn back.”

The hum deepened, as if the dungeon itself acknowledged her answer.

And then, with a heavy, echoing groan, the golden doors began to open.

Post note:

Dungeon difficulty???

Fourth chap of the week!Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂

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