Chapter Eleven: The Perilous Kuba Castle

Wang Ling stood motionless for a full ten minutes. After taking a deep breath, he clenched his teeth, stepped back a few paces, then broke into a run and leaped fiercely toward the stone steps above. Fifteen meters ahead lay the ground and the flagpole, but these four floating stone steps were not so easily crossed! His first jump landed squarely in the center of the stone step, but his second leap veered slightly off course. On the third jump, his foot found only empty air, with nothing beneath him—he was about to plummet to his death!

"Ahhhhhh—!"

Wang Ling screamed wildly, arms flailing to grab hold of the stone step. Now, in his enlarged fireball form, his arm span was twice its normal length, and he just managed to catch the stone step, preventing a fall. His body dangled in midair, with nothing to support his feet. Luckily, his strength had also increased, enabling him to keep from slipping. Glancing down, his vision spun; the cliff below was at least five hundred meters deep. If he fell, there would be no need to worry about the main quest—instant death was certain.

"Stay calm, stay calm…" Wang Ling steadied himself, fighting off trembling. His predicament resembled scenes from Hollywood blockbusters—thrilling to watch, but terrifying to experience. Gradually regaining composure, he gritted his teeth, summoned all his strength, and hauled himself up. Squatting atop the one-square-meter stone step, his legs were shaking uncontrollably.

"No, I can't rest here—I must jump again, I have to make it across!"

Summoning his courage, aligning his stance, and controlling his form, Wang Ling launched a mighty leap. Though he missed the center again, most of his body sprawled across the stone step, averting disaster. The rest was easier; he mustered every ounce of strength for a final jump, arcing through the air, landing hard on the paved ground below. He rolled several times, coming to a stop only when he crashed against the flagpole.

The flag slid down, covering Wang Ling from head to toe, resembling an honorable burial after sacrifice. He had no energy to remove the flag; every hair on his body stood erect. Leaping across four narrow, suspended stone steps with a cliff beneath—had he failed to catch the third step, he would have become a corpse.

"So, the difficulty is escalating—not just monsters, but terrain and traps as well…"

At that moment, the Dream Badge issued a prompt: "You have pulled down a Koopa Devil Battle Flag. Based on your performance, you will receive 100 Dream Space universal currency points."

Hearing this, Wang Ling could only smile bitterly. Losing 900 currency points did not discourage him; he had succeeded in crossing, marking the successful completion of this third region.

"Now for the final stage—King Koopa and Princess Peach await… Whether this novice world quest ends perfectly, or ends in failure—or even death—depends on my performance in the next area…" he murmured, feeling as though he were about to take a college entrance exam ahead of schedule.

After resting in the transfer fortress for a while longer, Wang Ling realized ten hours had passed since he entered the Super Mario World. Thankfully, he had eaten several mushrooms and felt no hunger.

"Just one last stage—let's go!"

The second and third regions had been perilous; the final area would surely be worse. But Wang Ling steeled himself, gritted his teeth, and stepped out of the transfer fortress.

Its exit led to another castle, towering into the clouds. The architecture was unlike anything found in the real world, for this castle was a mountain itself! Within the mountain, enormous interconnected caves had been hollowed out, their passageways built of hard white stone, leading into unknown darkness. Red light flickered within—Wang Ling knew this must be the glow of magma.

At the forefront of the passageway connected to the fortress exit stood a massive gateway, also constructed from white stone. Four crooked characters adorned the top; though Wang Ling couldn't read them, he understood they must spell "Koopa Castle."

At the gateway's peak, a giant battle flag fluttered high. This time, instead of the green demon head, the flag was emblazoned with King Koopa himself! His ferocious face, enormous teeth, and spiked shell were vividly depicted. Just gazing at it imposed a tremendous psychological pressure.

"This is the final stage. I can do it!"

Wang Ling narrowed his eyes, determination burning as he stared at the Koopa battle flag. With resolve, he withdrew his gaze and stepped into the dim, pale corridor. Behind him, the stone portal and battle flag whipped in the wind.

Inside King Koopa’s castle, the gloomy passage was illuminated by the magma river, casting an eerie red glow. The heat intensified as he approached the molten stream—magma, a mythical entity in the real world, seen only in movies and games, and ordinary people would never witness it firsthand.

The magma bubbled and surged, waves of heat billowing forth. Beneath the road in the 8-4 region lay pools of molten rock. Falling into one would be far worse than plunging off a cliff—at least a cliff would reduce you to broken flesh, but magma would turn you to ashes.

"This place is simply too dangerous…"

Wang Ling frowned tightly. Activating his speed, he sprinted and leaped over a magma pool, feeling the soles of his shoes scorch as he passed overhead. Traversing the pale stone corridors with flaming pools below, the stark colors and harsh environment weighed heavily on his psyche, nearly suffocating him. Even the pipes in the demon king’s fortress were no longer green, but the same pale shade as the stone.

He knew that the last stage of Mario 1’s final castle was actually a vast maze, its corridors branching in every direction. Without the correct route, one could become hopelessly lost, never reaching Koopa’s lair even after a day’s journey.

But the maze posed no threat to him—having failed to clear Mario 1’s last stage before, he had searched online for the solution, spending 10 points of knowledge wealth for the answer, so it was etched in his memory…

This was one reason Wang Ling dared to skip ahead to the final castle. The maze’s layout was arguably the greatest threat in the demon king’s fortress, surpassing even King Koopa himself. Without resolving this danger, completing the main quest would be a joke.

Battling monsters as he advanced to the third white pipe, he destroyed the rooted piranha plant and jumped inside, emerging from another pipe. Moving forward, he found the real-world scene much grander than its in-game counterpart—the castle stretched for miles. After a long trek, he began to doubt his memory, until he spotted a stone platform in midair, with a white pipe rooted atop it, and another piranha plant.

"This is it!"

Wang Ling leaped onto the platform, blasted the piranha plant with a fireball, climbed into the pipe, and emerged from another. No sooner had he appeared than several large-eyed, round-bodied, red fish with tiny wings—over a meter long—came flying at him.

These were the famous flying fish from Mario 1!

The flying fish were far faster than cannonballs. Fearing they would knock him out of his enlarged state, Wang Ling hurriedly unleashed fireballs to eliminate them. Seeing more flying fish approaching in the corridor, he ran ahead, jumped over a pipe, and dove into another.

Sliding down the metal pipe, he felt something odd—a current of water surged up, spinning him around before blasting him out—like being flushed down a toilet. But he was delighted; this confirmed his memory of the route was correct, and he had finally reached his destination!

Ejected from the pipe, Wang Ling found himself in a sealed aquatic chamber. The water was blue, resembling seawater but lacking mud, coral, or seaweed; both floor and ceiling were stone. This was King Koopa’s underground aquarium, with seawater flowing through the corridor to keep his pets.

"What a strange underwater breathing ability!"

The chamber was not dim; the rocks emitted a gentle blue glow, enough to see by. Wang Ling discovered a transparent membrane clinging tightly to his nose and mouth, preventing water from flooding his respiratory tract. He took a few deep breaths and found the membrane blocked water but filtered air, making it the key to underwater respiration.

This underwater breathing skill had further effects at level four: while in water, all physical attributes increased by four points—almost half an average adult’s stats. But the ability wasn’t perfect; while the membrane blocked water from his nose and mouth, it did nothing for his eyes, making swimming uncomfortable. Still, he pressed forward.

Was this aquatic domain safe? Of course not, for the pets King Koopa kept here were white giant squids! Now, Wang Ling stood at three and a half meters tall, but the giant squid, including its tentacles, stretched a full four meters!

One giant squid spotted Wang Ling swimming and immediately approached. Seeing its tentacles as thick as a child’s arm, Wang Ling grew anxious and raised his hand to fire a fireball. But then he realized a deadly problem: fireballs could not be cast underwater!

This unforeseen setback sent a wave of dread crashing over him…