SSS-Ranked Trash Hero: I Was Scammed Into Being Summoned-Chapter 19: Floor 2 — The Breathless Dark

They entered the second floor.

Hiroshi stepped down and plunged into water up to his waist. The cold hit him like a punch to the chest, forcing the air from his lungs in a sharp gasp.

"Oh god!" Marcus stumbled in behind him, splashing hard. "No warning at all?"

Aria entered last, her staff raised above the waterline. "This entire floor is flooded."

The water was dark and opaque, hiding whatever lay beneath. The walls showed murals of drowning figures, their mouths open in silent screams, hands reaching upward toward surfaces they’d never reach.

Hiroshi tried to move forward. The water dragged at his legs with every step, turning simple movement into exhausting effort. His muscles burned after just a few meters.

"This is going to slow us down," Marcus said. "Can’t fight properly when you’re half-submerged."

Something moved ahead. A pale shape drifted through the darkness, its form translucent and shifting. It had the outline of a human but no substance, like fog given the flesh.

[Wraith - Level 8]

"Incorporeal undead," Aria said quietly. "Physical attacks won’t work."

The Wraith turned toward them. Its face was a hollow void where eyes and mouth should have been. It glided forward through the water without disturbing the surface.

Marcus stepped in front of Hiroshi and raised his mace. Golden light gathered around the weapon, brighter than usual in the darkness.

"Holy Smite!"

The light lanced out and struck the Wraith dead center. The creature convulsed, its form flickering like a candle flame in wind. Then it collapsed into nothing, leaving only ripples on the water.

Marcus lowered his mace, breathing hard. "That took more mana than it should have. These things resist magic."

"How many uses do you have left?" Kenji asked.

"Seventeen. Maybe eighteen if I ration carefully."

Hiroshi did the math in his head. Three floors remaining after this one. If every floor had Wraiths, and each Wraith took one Holy Smite...

"We need to avoid fights," he said.

"Agreed." Marcus started forward through the water, moving carefully. "Stay close. If we see one, I kill it. We can’t afford to let them surround us."

They moved through the flooded corridor in single file. The water made every step hard, robbing them of the ability to run or dodge. Hiroshi’s legs already ached from the resistance.

His Undead Stride activated without conscious thought. Suddenly the water stopped dragging at him. His legs moved with ease, each step identical to the last. He wasn’t wading anymore.

"Hiroshi?" Aria glanced back. "How are you moving like that?"

"Undead Stride. It works in water."

Kenji grunted. "Of course it does." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Another Wraith appeared ahead, blocking the passage. Marcus didn’t hesitate. Holy Smite burned through the darkness and obliterated it.

They encountered a Risen in the next chamber, a waterlogged corpse that lunged at them with surprising speed. Marcus crushed its skull with his mace while Hiroshi stayed back. When the corpse collapsed, Hiroshi felt Adaptive Evolution activate.

New information flooded his mind. The way the Risen channeled cold through its grip, using dungeon energy to freeze living flesh on contact. The technique crystallized in his understanding.

[Skill Acquired: Cold Grip]

He tested it on the next Risen they encountered, grabbing its arm as it swung at him. Ice spread from his palm across the corpse’s flesh, slowing its movements. Not as strong as the original, but functional.

"Useful," Marcus said, finishing the creature with a heavy strike. "But save it for physical enemies."

Three more Wraiths over the next hour. Marcus killed each one with Holy Smite, his face growing more strained with each use.

The cold began to accumulate. Even after Marcus healed the damage from fights, Hiroshi felt it settling into his bones. His fingers were numb. His breath came in shallow gasps.

"It’s building up," Kenji said quietly. "The cold contamination. Healing fixes the tissue damage, but it doesn’t remove the chill itself."

"How bad?" Marcus asked.

"Manageable for now. But if we stay on this floor too long..."

They found a long underwater passage in the next section. The ceiling dipped below the waterline, forcing them to either swim through or turn back.

"How far?" Aria asked.

Hiroshi leaned down, trying to see through the murky water. "Maybe twenty meters. Hard to tell."

"Can you make it?"

Hiroshi hesitated. He’d never learned to swim properly.

"I’ll manage," he said.

They took deep breaths and dove.

The water was worse below the surface. Pitch black and freezing, pressing in from all sides. Hiroshi kicked forward, his movements clumsy. His lungs burned almost immediately.

Ahead, Marcus swam with practiced strokes. Kenji followed close behind with Aria.

Hiroshi’s vision started to blur. His chest screamed for air. He kicked harder, but his legs felt distant and unresponsive.

A Wraith materialized directly in his path.

Marcus saw it and twisted in the water. Holy Smite lit up the passage like lightning, turning the water white-gold for a brief instant. The Wraith dissolved.

But the delay cost Hiroshi his rhythm. His lungs spasmed. Water rushed into his mouth as he gasped involuntarily. Cold flooded his throat and chest.

Undead Stride activated with brutal efficiency. His arms and legs moved in mechanical repetition, pulling him forward through the water. His body operated like a corpse being dragged by invisible strings.

His hand broke the surface first. Marcus grabbed it and hauled him up into air. Hiroshi coughed violently, water streaming from his mouth and nose.

"Breathe!" Marcus slapped his back hard. "Come on!"

Hiroshi sucked in air, his lungs burning. His whole body shook with cold that went far beyond what he’d felt before. His lips were blue. His fingers wouldn’t respond to commands.

"Hypothermia," Aria said, "It’s bad. The cold contamination plus the water..."

"Safe room," Marcus interrupted, pointing ahead. "There. Move."

They dragged Hiroshi the last hundred meters to a door set in the wall. Marcus kicked it open and pulled Hiroshi inside.

The safe room was dry and slightly warmer than the flooded passages. Hiroshi collapsed against the wall, still shaking. Marcus worked on him with healing magic, but the cold resisted his efforts.

"It’s layered too deep," He said. "I can keep him alive, but I can’t remove all of it."

Kenji sat heavily against the opposite wall. "How many Holy Smites left?"

"Not enough."

They had twelve uses left. If each floor had four or more Wraiths, they’d run out before reaching the boss. And Wraiths were the only enemy that required holy magic. Everything else could be handled with physical combat.

"We avoid every Wraith we can," Kenji said. "No more underwater sections if possible. If we see one and can go around, we go around."

"And if we can’t?" Aria asked.

"Then Marcus use Holy Smite and we pray the next floor has fewer."

Hiroshi’s shaking gradually subsided, though the cold remained locked in his core. He looked at his hands. During the swim, when his conscious mind had shut down, his body had moved on its own. Undead Stride had saved him by treating him like a corpse.

He’d tried to activate Adaptive Evolution when the Wraith appeared, hoping to copy its phasing ability. But nothing had happened. The skill had failed for the first time.