Chapter 8 — Into the Dungeon: Second and Third Floors

Editor: PROCRASTINATOR

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

The second floor is a jungle. Do you know what jungles have? Humidity. And I hate it. My hair’s going to be all messed up! And there are mosquitoes. Why are you drinking my blood?!? I’m the one who is supposed to drink blood! Oh well… (E/N Wait, if she ate a mosquito… would she technically be drinking blood?)

 

This floor is a bit different from the last. Instead of corridors there are trees. Lots of trees. And vines. And other plants. I almost want to commit arson. 

 

“Aaagghh! Mapping this is so annoying!”

 

Hehe I’m glad I’m not the one doing the mapping. So far we’ve found basically nothing on the path we could take. Well, besides a few monkeys. Where are the other jungle creatures?

 

*zzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz” (A/N: Buzzing, not sleeping)

 

“What’s that noise?!?! It’s making mapping impossible!!! FHDSCHFDVKOFWS”

 

Yes, she actually said “FHDSCHFDVKOFWS”. Or something like that. It was pretty much incomprehensible screaming.

 

“Uhhh Luna? We’ve got company.”

 

“Ei! Can you be quiet? I'm trying to map this hellhole!”

 

“Luna!! We. Have. Company. As in, GIANT, FLYING, HUMAN SIZED MOSQUITOS.”

 

I don’t know why I added flying. Mosquitos fly…

 

“Eh? What?! Mosquitos? Then, they. Must. Die. [Windstorm].”

 

… Luna really hates bugs, huh?

 

*OOOOOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOoooooo*

 

Winds howl as the three giant mosquitos that came to fight us slam into a tree. I run up to the closest one and slice its head off. Running past it, I stab one of the mosquitoes back into the tree. Then, I slice up through its head and tree while doing a backflip, casting [Fireball] on the final one. The spell also sends me flying backwards.

 

I’d rather not get covered in bug guts. The thought of them makes me shiver. It’s a bit odd though, considering normally I find blood very appealing. Like that monkey I fried. He smelled tasty afterwards. 

 

“Huh. I don’t think we’ve seen those before.”

 

“Yep. We. Must. Kill. Them. All.”

 

Luna has some serious killing intent in her eyes. It’s scary.

 

“Luna… calm down. You’re scaring me.”

 

“Oh… sorry. Well, let’s just commit bug genocide! I think I have a guess on where their nest is from the map!”

 

“Let’s go there then. Besides, the floor boss could be there.”

 

“Yep!”

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

We’ve found the nest. It’s literally a beehive. 

 

“So… how are we getting in?”

 

“I can launch us there with [Gale Burst].”

 

“Alright, then how do we avoid getting all of our blood sucked out?”

 

“God gamers don’t get hit.” (A/N: I need to stop this don’t I?) (E/N Never)

 

“... I don’t think that helps me.”

 

“Uhhh… Maybe I can create a wind barrier around us. Let me try something.”

 

I envision a ball of compressed air around Luna. It’s literally just [Create Aerofluid] with a different application.

 

“[Create Aerofluid]!”

 

I pull out an arrow from my item bag. Why am I carrying arrows without a bow? No idea.

 

“Luna, hold still.”

 

“Okay”

 

I throw the arrow. It bounces off of the shield I made.

 

“I made a shield. We should be fine now, I have my shield and you have the air shield. Ready?”

“Yep!”

 

“[Gale Burst]!”

 

It took a surprising amount of effort to reach the nest.

 

“We’re in. Try not to lose yourself Luna.”

 

We’re immediately greeted by a swarm of 20 or so mosquitoes. 

 

“[Windblade]!”

 

“[Fireball]!”

 

Haha… they’re dropping like flies. Well, they are basically really big flies.

 

“[Ice Shard Storm]!”

 

I launched around 50 spikes of ice at once. All of them hit at least one mosquito and stick them to the wall. 

 

“See? You didn’t need the shield.”

 

“I guess… Well, let’s continue onwards!”

 

We made our way through the nest, murdering lots of mosquitoes. I have far more than I’ll ever need stored in my item bag now.

“The walls are starting to look decrepit. I think we’re near the floor boss.”

“I’d agree. Why does it look so ominous though? There’s fog everywhere!”

 

“I don’t know. Let’s just hope the boss isn’t like the last one.”

 

“If it is, we’re leaving this time!”

 

“No.”

 

“Yes!”

 

“No. I’ll just murder it if it is.”

 

“All you think about is fighting!!!”

 

“That’s not true.”

 

“You’re still a battle maniac!”

 

“... Maybe a bit.”

 

The door this time looks like the entrance to a crypt. It is intricately carved with the same designs, except instead of bananas there were skulls and bones.

 

“This really is ominous…”

 

We passed through the door to be greeted by a skeleton holding a purple orb. 

 

“Who dares interrupt my slumber?!”

 

 Its voice has a surprisingly high pitch.

 

“Bow before me pitiful mortals! You are in the presence of a god!”

 

Unlikely. ENTITY feels different. Is ENTITY a god though? (E/N *Shrugs*)

 

“What are you standing there for? On your knees, worthless scum!”

 

This guy is full of themself. 

 

Monster: Snas the Delusional (Skeleton, 200y) 

Condition: Insane

Status Ailments: None

Noteworthy Skills: Fire Magic

Info: A delusional lich who fell from glory. He also lost his phylactery. Also, he actually is one of the easiest enemies, unlike a certain skeleton. 

 

Haha… well this should be easy then.

 

“Luna, can smash him to bits please.”

 

“Sure! This guy is getting on my nerves!”

 

“What the hell, you bastards?! I am a god! Bow before me!”

 

“”No””

 

Luna runs up to the skeleton and hits him with an uppercut. The skull goes flying off, which she jumps up and catches before throwing it beneath her and doing a flying kick on it as she lands. After, she pulls out her Flame Tongue she just got and slices the skull in half. It also was on fire, but the boss died already.

 

“That was surprisingly easy.”

 

“Something tells me the first boss was a fluke.”

 

“Yep! We need to remember to tell the guild master!”

 

Oh, and the loot sucked too.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[???’s POV]

 

It’s only been a few days and yet this place has been discovered… The pair that came here somehow managed to pass the first boss I placed. This is… unexpected. It seems we need to relocate sooner than imagined.

 

“Brothers… Sisters… and everyone else… It is time we move once more. Within the day, we will have been found. It seems that we cannot use this place as a catalyst.”

 

The followers around me seem a bit disappointed.

 

“Worry not… I have almost finished procuring… an alternate method. Soon, we will meet HIM.”

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

The next floor is a graveyard. It’s not your normal everyday graveyard though. There is no organization, the tombstones are in horrible shape, all the trees are dead, there is no grass, and there’s a constant fog.

 

“I don’t like this place Luna. Let’s get through here as fast as we can.”

 

“Good idea! I see something different looking up ahead, so let’s go there.”

 

We set off for the odd looking patch. It’s brighter at least. All the grass here is a musty blue-gray. 

 

*click*

 

Eh? What was that?

 

“Luna did you hear a clicking noise?”

 

“I think?”

 

“I wonder what that was…”

 

“”AAAAAAHHHHH!!””

 

A hand popped out of the floor. Then another. And another. And another. And another. Then some heads popped up.

 

“Zombies? Let’s smash them.”

 

“I’ll try and practice some fire magic on them…”

 

I stepped on one of the zombie’s heads. It exploded. Remind me to never do that again.

 

“[Firebolt]!”

 

Luna’s fire magic has gotten to a decent level too. It’s better than not being able to use it at all. Fire also seems very effective against these zombies, although they smell horrible.

 

“[Firebolt]! [Firebolt]! [Firebolt]!”

 

Hehe… Luna seems to be having fun. Who’s the battle maniac now?

 

We repeated this game of whack-a-mole for a few minutes before the zombies stopped spawning.

 

“You should mark that down on the map.”

 

“That was fun!”

 

“Ha! Who’s the battle maniac now!”

 

“...”

 

Luna looks a bit troubled. Hahaha. 

 

“It’s not as bad as you!”  

 

“Hehehehe…”

 

“Argh! Whatever, let’s just get going. To the not depressing rocks!”

 

 We continued walking towards the rocks, but they were deceptively far away.

 

“Haaaa… after the floor boss let’s take a break. I’m tired…”

 

“Alright then. If you collapse I can carry you with magic.”

 

“... Why didn’t you just use magic to move us through here in the first place??”

 

“Uhhh… I forgot?”

 

“Just do it now!”

 

“Okay, okay! [Gale Burst]! [Create Aerofluid]! [Gale Burst]!”

 

*crash*

 

Would you look at my luck? I crashed straight into a tree. I swear there wasn’t a tree there five seconds ago.

 

“Luna, is it just me, or did that tree move?”

 

“I can’t tell, you made us move too fast!”

 

“Kkuuuurrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaahhhhhh…..”

 

The tree speaks. Well, not really. The tree definitely moved.

 

“Luna, burn it.”

 

“On it! [Fireball]!”

 

I forgot. Trees are actually pretty fire resistant, at least while there is bark. Well, I’ll take care of the bark then. I ran up to the tree and sliced it in half.

 

Eh? Both halves are fighting independently now… I guess that sort of makes sense. Not really though.

 

“Luna! Aim for the exposed wood parts!”

 

“On it! [Fireball]!”

 

*fwooosh*

 

Half a tree on fire. Nice. I ran up to the bottom half of the tree, which wasn’t burning yet, and sliced a large piece of bark off. A few moments later, Luna shot another fireball and set it ablaze too.

 

The tree is now a pile of ashes.

 

“Maybe next time we should just smash the tree.”

 

“That’s a good idea!”

 

We kept moving forwards until we ran into some ghosts. 

 

“Luna… I think we’re going to have to kill ghosts. Are they weak to anything?”

 

“Not really… Ghosts are minor spirits of ice. They’re immune to most attacks and resistant to most magic.”

 

This is going to be troublesome. And why only ice? Ice is just frozen water… or is science not that good yet? Oh, one of the ghosts saw us.

 

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

 

My ears hurt. Was that a banshee? 

 

“EEEEEEEEEE!!” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” “EEEEEE!” “EEEEEEEEEEE!!!” “!!!”

 

The ghosts look terrified… we haven’t even taken battle stances yet. Maybe they’re just pushovers. Or maybe they sense I’m a vampire?

 

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

 

“Eh? The ghosts ran away?”

 

Not one was left. They all dissolved into the background as they flew away into the sky. Were they trying to turn invisible? I can still see you, you know. I have no reason to chase them though.

 

“Any idea what that was?”

 

“...No?”

 

Luna looks slightly troubled. Oh well.

 

“[Gale Burst]! [Create Aerofluid]! [Gale Burst]!”

 

“IIIIIIYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GIVE ME WARNING!!!!!”

 

“No!”

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

We finally made it to the rocks. Luna somehow managed to map everything after looking back for a bit. There’s a door leading to a cave here. The door seems like a boss door too, there’s the same intricate designs, but instead of bananas,  there’s rocks and gems. It’s a bit too shiny for my liking.

 

We passed through the door and a massive stone golem was there.

 

“Is this the boss?”

 

“Yep!”

 

“Huh… It reminds me of something. Does it throw its arms at us?” (E/N Now that’s an obscure reference!) (A/N: :thinking: I wonder.)

 

“No…?”

 

“Well, I’m killing it. [Earth Spike]!”

 

I created a massive spike of earth underneath it and slammed it into the roof. The spike kept going in though, and I kept making it larger. After a few seconds, the golem shattered. It dropped some ore, which might be useful for something.

 

“Haha… That was easy.”

 

Oh… I forgot to appraise it. That’s fine. I can do that next time we’re here.

 

“Alright, let’s take a rest then head to the next floor.”

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Luna’s POV]

 

Ei was being crazy, as always. People don’t just kill bosses in a single hit! But that isn’t what is troubling me right now.

 

Those ghosts… They were terrified. And I think I’m the reason why. A long time ago I met someone. I think they were afraid of her. Although they also did seem a bit weary of Ei… but I think it was her.

 

I haven’t spoken with her in a while though. I thought she ran off because she had to take care of something. Maybe she is back already? I’ll check later… 

 

“I’m going to sleep. Take first watch Ei.”

 

Without giving her a chance to protest, I crawl into my sleeping bag.