Chapter 8

I was seated at breakfast together with Lili, Gareth, and Finn and eating heartily. It was satisfying to know the three of them agreed with me about having a balanced meal, and Finn was even willing to consider imposing a stricter focus on getting everyone their proper vitamins and minerals—which really only translated to making sure we didn't have any meat heads like Anakity or Tiona.

Lili broke the bread in her hands and dipped it into the soup. "Ugh, Lili was made to go down to the third floor of the dungeon fighting by herself."

"That's not normal?"

Lili pursed her lips at me, then looked to the monsters sat with us. She groaned. "Lili forgot none of you people are normal."

"I can't say no to that." Gareth stroked his beard.

"Look at the bright side, Lili," Finn said with a smile. "Doesn't it feel good to release the tension?"

"That's a very unhealthy coping mechanism, Finn."

"I don't want to hear that from you," Gareth said with a flat stare.

Loki joined our table dragging Aiz and Tiona behind her. They didn't even have their food yet. "These two need help."

"I charge a premium for my psychiatric services."

Loki sneered. "And I'd be damned if I made you the shrink to these two."

"Finn," Aiz said with that same intense stare. "We need money."

Finn didn't bat an eye. "How bad?"

Tiona, tongue in cheek, said, "We need one hundred and sixty-five million."

Lili coughed up her soup.

I rubbed her back to help get it out. "There there, Lili, these people have no proper sense for financing at all."

Loki gave me a dirty look. "Says the guy who hates taxes."

Finn shrugged. "Sure, we can do that. I've been wanting to show Lili around as well, this would also be a good opportunity for Thomas."

"Oh, so I finally get to last hit some deep floor monsters?"

"That's not how it works, Thomas." Gareth shook his head. "That's not how it works at all."

Loki sighed. "Just go with them, alright? I want to see how far your range goes, it'd be pretty useless if we couldn't use it where and when it matters most."

"I get your point. Ah, and I can also grind my magic stat down there too." I gave her a thumb up.

"Good enough," Loki said.

We finished our food and got ready for a dive, with me finally equipping the great sword I was yet to use. The plan was to send a small elite force with as little baggage possible—baggage here referring to me and Lili. And to have our supporters be the kind to be able to fight when we needed them to.

As such, our party was assembled with: me, Lili, Finn, Riveria, Aiz, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, Rakta, Narvi, and Daffyd and his brothers. In terms of composition, that was one level seven, one level six, three level fives, four level fours, two level threes, and two level ones. Finn was to be responsible for me and Lili, and everyone else below level five was tasked with carrying the extra-large bags.

The target was to reach the fortieth floor barring any mishaps with the floor bosses. With luck, they wouldn't have spawned yet, and we'd get a really juicy haul.

Also, it stood to reason that this dive wasn't gonna be one of those where I pissed myself dry hacking away at whatever moved, because one, I had to get down deep enough with everyone, and two, I also had to make my way back.

Which meant I was carrying a pack for camping with. Though it was little more than a few changes of underwear and a cot and pillow. The provisions would be taken care of by our pack mules—though I preferred to call them the hoard masters.

Because holy shit who doesn't get excited about the looting?!

If I couldn't fight the monsters, then I was looking forward to cutting them up at the very least.

For science.

You have issues, Tom.

It's called research.

Come up first so I can update your status.

Yes, mom.

Not my thing, Tom.

#

The land drew closer from a bird's eye view, a copse of trees turned into a forest in the span of a few seconds as feet landed without sound on the grass. Fresh eyes took in the tranquil view, mundane but magical to the old gaze.

Her first step vanished into a swirl of white.

And the next images came in flurries of rejection, frustration, envy—then joy, as a small light flickered into existence, bright and stable.

#

Level 1

Strength = F 334 -> F 374

Endurance = F 392 -> E 470

Dexterity = D 501 -> D 561

Agility = F 302 -> F 347

Magic = C 624 -> B 780

Madness Spectrum = I

Tranquil Intervention = I

World Walker = I

Fated Actor = I

Magic

Answered Prayer = Allows two-way communication with one's patron god or goddess with Mind consumption based on distance. Chantless Magic.

Despair = An enchant magic that steeps the user's attacks with the chaos of the World Boundary and enfeebles targets when attacked. Has a chance to inflict madness, fear, or confusion. Chant: "Madness"

Saudade = An area of effect drain spell that takes the magic and life force contained in all within range and transfers it to the user. Targets stronger than the user are able to resist having their magic and life stolen. Has a five-meter radius, and a chance to inflict madness, fear, or confusion. Chant: "Taken from the peace of home / I now stand beyond the veil / The aberrant demands reparation"

Skill

Babel Jack = Allows automatic translation of written and verbal information to some understandable form to the user.

Enabler = Increases magic by an exceptional amount in a pinch and causes magic damage to siphon life force.

Mania = Increases endurance the longer one stays in battle and gradually wears off after.

Lævateinn = Adds a fire element to all attack magics.

Vindicta = Momentarily increases strength when retaliating against an attacker, the higher the damage received, the stronger the effect.

#

"What did I just see?"

The blue glow faded away from the room filled with all manners of trinkets, the dark blue covers of Loki's bed returning to its deep hue.

"That was when I first came down to this world and met Finn." Loki was sat on my butt. She pressed a sheet of paper against my back.

"Finn was the first member?"

"Then Riveria and Gareth," she said. Loki pat my back. "You can get up now."

I looked back. "So, how much more awesome did I become?"

Loki got off me. "I swear, Tom," she said with the sheet in hand. "You're really going down that edgelord route. Only thing left now is to have you running around with an eyepatch or something."

I stood from her bed and got dressed. "Eh, as long as it makes me stronger." She passed me the paper. "Two new skills? And finally, Despair becomes useful!"

"Don't forget it adds to all attack magics," she said, "but that's not what my sword does though."

"You have a sword?"

"Why yes I have a sword," Loki said. "Every god needs a sword!"

"And Ganesha?"

"Not the point I was trying to make." She pointed at the paper. "The name though, its strange to me. Remember, I'm just pulling these things out of your ass. Soul. Same thing."

"And then you get these weirdly named things? Vindicta… sounds revenge related. Fancy name that sword of yours has, what's it mean?"

"The wounding wand," she said. "And that's not what your skill does, still, sinister effect though."

"I think you meant to say effective."

She smirked. "Why would I use the adjective form of a noun on it?" Loki clicked her tongue. "Your English teachers would frown on such crappy use of the language."

"Are we even speaking English?"

"You can't tell?"

"Does it matter?"

"Back to the point," she said. "You've never had anything in your status show up in my language. And then this comes out."

"Maybe its because its part of your blessing?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Only a few gods know of my limited authority over fire, and you specifically didn't know this word, nor about my connection to it. It should've been named something else. And yet here we are."

"This is one of those god things?"

"And a Thomas thing apparently."

"Maybe its related to how I'm seeing glimpses into you too?"

"Reasonable, but I'd assume it should be something you learned anyway, not just something out of the blue. And you've yet to gain more than one skill per update."

I clutched my forehead and stood on my tiptoes like Dio. "Maybe it's the start to my rise to power?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Or maybe its because I was wading in the ashes of Riveria's magic yesterday?"

"Huh," Loki said, "now that you remind me, Lævateinn is part of her chant… its possible."

"Interesting."

Loki shrugged. "We'll deal with this later." She looked me in the eyes. "Take care down there, alright? No monkey business if you can't take the heat." She chuckled.

"I'll come back to you. I promise."

"That goes without saying." She stood up with her arms opened wide. "Well? Don't just make me stand here."

I couldn't help the small laugh at how awkward she was being. I wasn't turning down the intimacy though. "Oh my, Loki, I'm starting to think you actually like me." I hugged her tightly, her small waist snug against mine. I almost forgot how soft her ass was.

"Please stop tugging it off to my ass."

"Ah, sorry, no promises there."

She pinched my side and mumbled something under her breath. "You do know I see everything, right?"

"I see enough into you too," I added.

"Ugh, don't remind me."

#

So apparently, it was a familia rule to have the lower ranked adventurers fight monsters on the upper floors, so the higher levelled ones could preserve their strength. Which meant I was doing all the fighting in a group of thirteen until we got to, maybe the thirteenth floor?

I swung the pick-axe like sword and easily disemboweled the goddamn silverback that socked me in the face. Honestly, fighting monsters without the intention to collect their stones was a whole lot easier than how I normally fought. Because now I didn't have to bother avoiding hitting them in the one-hot kill spot.

"That's not normal," Rakta said.

"It's Thomas," Finn said.

"It's… annoying," Aiz said.

"Aiz?!" Lefiya said.

I stared at the offender.

"Aiz is sulking because of your absurd status, Thomas," Riveria said with a chuckle.

The blonde puffed up her cheeks. "I… needed six months to get this far."

Rakta raised her hand. "Actually, I'm pretty annoyed too."

"Same here," Daffyd added.

"Me too," Cadoc chimed in.

"Mmhmm," Lefiya hummed.

"I don't want to end up like him though," Brynmor said.

Tione shook her head. "How come I never hear any good stories about you?"

I tanked another punch and retaliated with a downward swing and split the silverback's head in two. "That's because none of you stick around long enough to see my good points."

The next silverback exploded into ash when the pick part struck its chest.

"Lili had already spent an entire day with you and she saw none besides your stupid endurance."

"Did you know he has a skill that keeps increasing his endurance the longer he's in battle?" Finn said.

"Oh, so that's why he's the only one fighting," Narvi said. "I thought he was just being his usual self."

"Wait, you guys could've been helping me all this time?"

"You never asked," Tiona said with an innocent look I only felt the utmost rage for but couldn't even bring myself to get properly angry at.

"And you won't get it until either a mind down or you fall unconscious, whichever one comes first," Finn said with a nod.

"I haven't done anything yet!"

"That's exactly why we're getting you out of the way early," Riveria said.

"I'll show you all!"

We reached the thirteenth floor and Finn had me put on this red cloak with a hood before letting me loose. I was still wielding my great sword because of how effective it was at killing everything we'd seen so far, and I was yet to meet something I couldn't kill in one swing. The goblins fell like wheat to the harvest, and the ants' bodies cracked like egg shells. Tsubaki didn't pull any stops with the sword and it showed in the performance.

Compared to the twelfth, this place was an open patchwork of ledges and caves and stairs that led to everywhere else but the next floor. The exit needed a smarter method than just 'reach the end' to find, and it was also the starting point where monsters began using ranged attacks. Not counting the infant dragon, that is.

Sure, I still couldn't fight without relying on my sight like Gareth wanted me to. And really, I wasn't improving on it, so I just gave up and focused instead on making the next hit count—and my status supported my decision, so there it was.

Vengeance was mine!

"Be careful with the fire breath of the hellhounds," Finn said. "Make sure to get them before they get you."

"I've been roasted by the infant dragon before—"

"I knew it!" Aiz said with wide eyes.

"I hate you Thomas," Riveria said.

"I think we're all missing a big point here," Rakta said. "When you say roasted, as in got hit with the fire balls?"

"Pretty sure that's unavoidable if you're hanging on for dear life. And no, I meant fire breath."

Lefiya tilted her head. "But the infant dragon can't breathe fire."

I shrugged. "It did for me."

"Lili has found assuming Thomas is stupid and that running that with everything he does makes accepting everything easier."

I beheaded the large dog with the flaming mouth before kicking that huge rabbit thing with the axe in the face, staggering it before introducing it to the busy end of my blade. "You are so much feistier when you're not carrying a bag."

"Lili is done taking shit from stupid adventurers."

"Yeah, you tell 'em Lili!" Finn said, pumping his fist to the air.

"If I think of Lili as our child it makes more sense… I see now."

"Uhh Cadoc, I think its nicer to walk next to you," Narvi said.

"What? No. You stay there next to Tione and make sure she doesn't get attacked," Brynmor hurriedly said.

"She's a strong independent woman and she can take care of herself," Narvi said.

You've been really having fun with these people, haven't you?

I've had years with them Thomas. Let that sink in.

"Wait, didn't supporters have that skill where their status increases based on how much they're carrying?"

"Lili is not comfortable with this line of speculation."

"Wait, he might have something good to say," Finn said.

"So why not give her all of our stuff and this huge sword?" I presented my precious blade. "She's carrying the blade, right? What's the difference between swinging a sword anyway? You're just carrying it thata way." I swung the blade in a lazy arc.

"He's not wrong," Daffyd said. "This is how Gareth feels all the time, isn't it?"

"Probably," Rakta said. "Spending time with Thomas is at best disgusting, and at worst enlightening."

"Wasn't that the other way around?"

"Sounds about right," Narvi said.

And I failed to notice the large plume of flames coming at me from the left. Whatever, my endurance was probably real damn high already. But the flames only brushed against me and only felt like the warm exhaust of a generator set on full blast: hot, but not horrible.

The dog lost its head to my blade.

"Salamander wool isn't supposed to do that," Cadoc said.

"Thomas," Brynmor added.

"Bullshit," Lili finalized.

With renewed confidence, I ran towards the pack of dogs and halberd wielding bunnies and just let my sword do the talking. The increased weight of the blade made it strong enough to crush the stone tomahawks of the Almiraj, and as long as I made sure to retaliate, I was able to break through their formations without a problem.

However, things took a turn for the weird.

I rushed the next hellhound—

—and fell down a hole when the ground gave way beneath me together with a section of Dungeon wall.

Then the stones were blown away, and I saw the level fours and threes had come to my rescue.

"You shouldn't charge without caution here, Tom," Daffyd said. He was holding my by my ankle.

"Trap chutes open up leading to the lower floors, and some of them even connect you further down," Brynmor added.

"You mean shortcut?"

"No," Rakta said.

Finn clapped. "Okay everyone, down the shortcut."

Lili frowned.

"Finn is talking weird," Aiz said. She looked at Riveria. "Thomas's fault?"

Riveria nodded.

#

It was a good thing Daffyd was nice enough to carry me going down because we ended up going straight for the sixteenth floor after another two chutes opened just as we were about to land. On one hand, fuck the thirteenth floor, and on the other, yay for fast travelling. Unfortunately, this place didn't come with a Snakes and Ladders rule so the shortcuts only went one way.

Daffyd caught me just before I hit the floor then set me down to face a group of three minotaurs.

"Moment of truth then," Finn said with a smile. "Go, Thomas!"

The rest of the party cheered and sent me off with their well wishes, then I saw the Ironhands palming some coins with Narvi and Lili. Good that she was getting along with them, but bad because the girl was developing some strange habits. Knowing the Loki familia, it was seemed like a prerequisite.

The minotaurs easily towered over my five-foot four with their at least six and a half. They also had halberds, but Daffyd was kind enough to steal their weapons and break them so I could last a bit longer, according to him.

"Use the pick-end!" he said. "Their hides are thick and fibrous."

I stepped up to the challenge and readied myself, standing my ground as the bipedal monsters charged.

"Are we also throwing him against the Goliath?" Brynmor said.

"We've already had him face everything, why not let him have his first monster rex?" Narvi said.

"Lili would just like to say Lili will not be cleaning up what remains of Thomas."

"There's always letting Lefiya end it all with one spell," Tiona said.

The minotaur furthest to the left punched, the middle one thrust with its horns, and the right-most one settled back.

I swung my sword into the fist coming for me and the blade destroyed its hand, while I raised my shin to meet the coming headbutt.

Horns bounced against the greaves and threw me backwards legs first into the ground.

I rolled along on my side avoiding the stomping bulls and stood unarmed, my sword left behind from where I flew.

"Never let go of your weapon!" Narvi said.

I took out the pick on my left thigh and ran back into the fray. From what I'd seen, bipedal monsters usually had their crystals behind the sternum equivalent on the human body. Goblins, kobolds, war shadows, orcs, and silverbacks all followed that trend, and I was willing to bet these guys did too. Although the short range meant I'd be coming in dangerously close, but… my endurance should be able to tank it, I think.

I charged in with the pick ready to strike, aiming for the front most minotaur meeting my charge. Horned animals usually had thicker skulls by the forehead to facilitate butting, but no amount of bone could ever protect the eyes.

"Madness." The mists engulfed me.

The bull snorted before dipping its head and thrusting its horns at my chest, and that's when my hammer dashed just above its snout, removing one eye and casting its head to the ground as the creature started blazing with a deep black.

It started screaming.

Then the one behind it pushed the beast away only for the black flames to jump and engulf it too. With the effect of Lævateinn, my debuff had finally turned into a proper attack magic though I didn't know or had any indication as to how strong that added element was. Were the minotaurs screaming from hallucinations or from burning? I wasn't too sure how to test the hypothesis unless I could restrain them and let the things continue burning.

There was smoke coming from their bodies, but the mists didn't pass any heat back to me—so I was effectively this black torch now. Pretty fucking cool. Really goddamn edgy. And damn was it just so satisfying!

I took out the short sword and covered it too in my mists—no, flames.

"Those minotaurs are writhing in pain," Lili said.

"Thomas's magic… is strange," Aiz said.

"No kidding," Tione followed-up.

I ran straight for the not yet burning minotaur who was watching its comrades rolling on the ground and spasming while they foamed at the mouth.

"Here's Tommy!" I lashed out with the pick and caught the bull with the pointy end, the tip easily digging into flesh as the flames spread from there and had the beast screaming and lashing out before I could grab on.

Its flailing threw me away, but the damage was already done. I went back for the screaming minotaurs I disabled earlier, but one was already climbing back to its knees.

Too bad.

I lunged for it—and was swatted from the air with a meaty arm, but it didn't even hurt anymore. The burning reignited on its arm as I got back up and ran towards the downed one instead, elated and just so damn happy I was making them hurt. The other one reared back as I neared, and the other one behind me was walking into the far wall over and over.

Perhaps this was one of those mental effects I was yet to inflict? Despair did have a chance to inflict three of them, fear… uhh, madness, and confusion I think.

"What's even happening right now?" Cadoc said.

"Mmhmm, it's still creepy alright," Tiona said.

I grabbed onto the one still on its belly and started stabbing and hacking as it screamed—before the thing burst into ash and I landed on the ground. The other minotaur finally got back to its feet and made a beeline for Finn and the others.

"My magic has a fire element now, don't let it touch you."

"Why does Thomas sound so weird?" Lefiya said.

"I swear you are such absolute bullshit!" Tione said.

My legs were so light, and I caught up to the bull in no time—before I tackled it into the ground, stabbing and hacking just like before. We stopped rolling just in front of Riveria. "Pardon the intrusion."

"Carry on," she said.

The beast burst into ashes.

I got up and ran for the last minotaur.

"Lygerfang above!" Finn said.

I dove to the side as dust exploded all around me.

"Will he be fine?" Rakta said.

"If any, he still has Gareth's armor," Narvi said.

A gigantic paw slapped me out of the cloud—and this endurance booster thing was simply the icing on the cake. I was feeling just dandy and already running back into the thing that just asked for a burning.

"Over there," Cadoc said.

The Lygerfang was swatting the black flames away from its paw when I found it and vengeance was delivered by a swift stab into the gut with the short sword. Followed by another, then another—

Before a great pair of jaws closed down on my torso, but it went slack just as quickly after the pick penetrated and crushed its skull.

When the dust cleared, there were no other monsters. I saw my great sword a ways away from me, and the lygerfang's corpse had stopped burning. The minotaur had also finally fallen to its knees but was no longer in flames. There was a horn left behind somewhere close. I dispelled Despair.

I sheathed my weapons before walking over and picking up my wayward blade, and the group advanced towards me.

"Two days ago, we had to carry you here," Narvi said.

"I got two new skills just this morning."

"How many do you have?" Tione asked.

"Five skills, three magics, and four dev abilities."

Lili kicked a rock as she screeched. "Lili objects at labelling Thomas a level one!"

Rakta raised her hand. "I don't have any magic and I only have two skills as a level four. Can I complain to Loki?"

Daffyd threw his arms up to the air.

Aiz raised her hand. "…Bullshit." She nodded, then smiled like she was satisfied with herself.

Riveria preened like a proud mother.

"Come on, I need to find another monster soon or else my endurance buff will wear off."

Finn shook his head. "You heard the guy, let's move people."

#

Three to four minotaurs was manageable, but any higher than that and it was only too slow, so Cadoc, the other level three in the group, finally stepped in to help. Between us, we made short work of the monsters, with him funneling the beasts so I could disable them. I healed as fast as I got damaged, and it made for a strange sensation to be cycling between wanting to puke my guts out and feeling like a hundred bucks.

I didn't know if the endurance buff had given way, but I wasn't dying so that probably counted for something.

I couldn't slash through the minotaurs' bodies but taking off their legs was enough with my swings while the lygerfangs' front paws dropped with my counters. Take one give one back, Vindicta allowed me to leverage the damage I received for that boost in strength while Mania and Enabler kept me in the fight. I figured the burning effect counted towards the life drain effect so as long as I had enough monsters burning then I was fine.

The rocky fields of the sixteenth floor gave way to the massive expanse of seventeenth—but the Goliath didn't make an appearance.

"Maybe someone already defeated it?" Tiona said.

"Too bad Tom, maybe next time," Finn said.

Cadoc and I still fought through the monsters and led the way to the chute down to the eighteenth. As one, the party descended and the glassed earth and deep gashes where the fighting was thickest when I last went here were already healing, replaced with fresh earth while the greenery slowly encroached on the battle scars.

I'd seen the Dungeon heal itself before whenever monsters were born from the cracks—but never on a scale like this. The swathes of destruction spanned the area of maybe upwards of twenty football fields of destroyed forest and landscapes, but now I could scarcely make them out from the rest of the floor.

"That's impressive."

"Yes," Finn said. "The Dungeon can work fast when it feels like it."

Everyone there besides Lili just accepted it at face value, and the sheer magnitude of what just happened was lost to the bounds of magic as an excuse. Now that I thought of it, I had heard of magic generate matter before in the form of Riveria's ice and seen it in her flames, but for the Dungeon to create permanent structures out of seemingly nothing was a feat nothing short of miraculous.

Our group trekked down the stony path lined with grass, the gradual slope continuing some sort of natural way into the forest. The trees didn't grow along certain winding lines through the forest, and it was visible even from the cliff we came from.

"This is Lili's first time to the eighteenth floor."

"And it won't be your last," Finn added.

Our group had me and Cadoc leading the way, ready to take on any monsters that cropped up from the lower floors. There were the dragonflies called Gun Libellas and the Bugbears that Narvi killed before.

A great paw caught me in the torso and had me fly through two trees before stopping at a third one. I'd been continuously battling for god knows how long now.

It's been about four hours since you guys left.

Thanks, Loki.

Being able to talk to Loki like this whenever also meant I served as time keeper for the group, and going back, besides the feeling of my guts getting twisted into knots, I was back in the fight and already ablaze and gunning for the bugbear.

I threw my great sword away and got my pick and short sword out before latching on. "Madness!"

"We'll bypass Rivira and go straight for the nineteenth," Finn said. "I doubt we'd see anything worthwhile there in the meantime. We'll aim for the next safe spot in the twenty-eighth before making camp."

"Thomas," Daffyd said. "Finish up already.

I kept stabbing into the beast in and out as I kicked away any attempts from it to grab me. "A little busy here."

"I can't help but feel sorry for the monsters Thomas meets," Lefiya said.

"I can't believe Thomas can keep on bathing in that much blood and not get sick of it," Narvi said.

"You should've seen him on the first day," Rakta said. "He was butchering monsters for sport."

"W-was I like that?" Aiz said.

"Heavens, no, Aiz, you were a proper young lady—reckless, but not crazy," Riveria said.

I shoved the short sword through the bugbear's back and twisted it hard, before the monster burst into a pile of ashes. "I can hear you all dammit!"

"Oh," Tiona said, "Tione did that last expedition too, remember? With the Virga."

"Don't lump me in with the likes of him!" Tione said.

"I wonder if throwing Thomas into a horde of monsters is a good idea?" Daffyd said.

"Wait, no. Not this deep at least."

"You've been doing the same anyway," Brynmor added.

Thankfully, Finn stopped their disillusioned ramblings before I ended up flying ass first into a bunch of monsters. The natural path eventually ended with this passage of roots that extended outwards from the hole like cracks against the walls and ground. The inside of it was illuminated by patches of moss compared to the luminous crystals that dotted the upper floors.

"Am I still supposed to fight my way through here?"

"Let's have you solo the first thing that comes, deal?" Finn said.

"Do level ones make it this far?"

"With good enough parties, yes," Riveria said. "But they're usually not the ones fighting in the frontlines."

"Doesn't that mean I shouldn't be fighting this deep?"

"Thomas," Rakta said. "You shouldn't have been fighting anymore once we went past the sixteenth floor—not alone at least."

"Aren't you glad, Tom?" Daffyd said. "You're above the norm for a level one already!"

"Bullshit," Aiz said with a thumb up.

"I'm just annoyed you haven't collapsed yet from a mind down," Tione said.

"I don't think I can keep using my magic for that long and that often," Lefiya said. "Sorry, Thomas, but I'll have to agree with everyone on this." There was no remorse in that poor excuse of a smile she showed me, her lip was even slightly twitching upwards.

"Get on with it then!" Tiona said. "Forward march!"

We exited the passage into this winding road of… wood and moss, that opened into this great expanse of trees and vegetation. It reminded me of the jungle biomes from Minecraft except less blocky and warmer—since I wasn't sitting in an air-conditioned room but was instead walking along this fantastic place.

The light from the moss filtered through bunches of leaves and way above the ceiling the place was lit up by crystals that shone like the sun, bathing the place in a hundred shades of green and some smatterings of other hues from the flowers and fruits.

We were then greeted by these bipedal lizards who reminded me of a more grim dark version of Feraligatr. Then they picked up some flowers and split them into a short sword and shield.

"Oi! What the hell?!"

"Yeah, see, this is why Gareth keeps telling you to stop grabbing onto the monsters," Finn said.

"Five hundred Varis says Thomas won't care," Daffyd said.

"You're on!" Lili said.

"Well?" Tione had her arms crossed. "We're waiting."

I took off my great sword and passed it to Brynmor. "Lemme borrow your buckler?"

He shrugged and passed me the round shield, it was larger and heavier than the one I used. I took out my pick and wielded the two together, then met the lizardman.

Rakta and Cadoc were already engaged with the other monsters, the other lizardmen together with some bugbears and vouivres. The latter were half-snake humanoid women with scales covering up the good parts, and a bright red jewel on their forehead that wasn't their magic crystal.

The lizard had its flower shield presented towards me while its other hand waited with an overhand stance with its sword, ready to strike. It was the same form Gareth showed me before, and it was either them instinctively taking that stance or the Dungeon birthed them with the knowledge, and either explanation was a terrifying thought.

I was wielding a blunt weapon while it had a hacking and stabbing one. It had more optons with its attacks, but I had the weapon for breaking through armor.

It all boiled down now to who was stronger, and who had the better technique.

I inched closer and the lizardman thrust out its shield as it lunged.

"Madness." Black flames engulfed me as I hammered the shield away with the other end of my weapon.

The sword thrust out from behind its shield and towards my gut.

I placed the buckler between me and the blade, making sure to catch it with the boss before rounding my swing towards the lizardman's head.

It weaved its neck away then checked me with its shoulder, pushing me back. It readied its stance again.

My magic didn't catch on its weapons, and it was fighting with a high priority for caution. Again, if this were instinct or actual conscious thought, then either explanation was a shitty thing.

With each floor we descended, the enemies grew stronger and stronger and my gear would protect me less and less. I couldn't keep up my usual tactic of relying on my gear—but at least now I had some proper ranged magic attacks… to some extent.

"Taken from the peace of home."

The lizardman lunged with the shield first.

"I now stand beyond the veil."

It punched with its shield like a buckler.

I hopped backward with my shield forward and received the thrust of its sword again on the boss before stepping in close. "The aberrant demands reparation."

Black exploded and the refreshing cool seeped into my bones as the magic receded. And the lizardman flinched as some of the black light clung onto him.

I bashed its sword away in that split second of panic and engulfed it in Despair—and the thing started writhing on the ground. My magic didn't proc this much before so it was a welcome break how it was disabling these things so often now.

And just out of curiosity, I crushed its knees and elbows with the hammer and raised the output of Despair to as hard as I could make it burn.

It writhed and screamed, louder than before and smoking too. I couldn't smell anything strange from it however, like no burning flesh or anything so perhaps my fire wasn't burning like a proper flame?

The lizard disintegrated before anything could properly happen… but I hadn't even touched its stone yet. Perhaps the magic or its heat ended up damaging the crystal?

"Thomas," Lefiya said, "was that necessary?"

I dispelled my magic. "I needed to see how hot my magic burns now."

"But to do… that."

Rakta sighed. "Like I said, he does that too often."

"And I thought Bete was cruel," Daffyd added.

Finn clapped his hand. "Alright, alright. Come on everyone, we've still got a long way to go."

Cadoc and Rakta had already finished their thing while I was burning the lizard.

"Thomas," Finn said, "you can fall back now."

"Finally!"

"But if you find some way to support the front line, don't hesitate to say so."

"Sure, maybe I can send out waves of magic or something."

"Like Bete's Flosvirt?" Brynmor said.

"I'm not so sure I'd be comfortable knowing Thomas can throw those black flames around." Narvi had on an uneasy smile. "Those monsters back there weren't screaming from pain."

"How could you tell? It all sounded the same to me."

Lili just stared at me.

"I still think Thomas's magic is creepy," Tiona said with a nod.

"Thomas is creepy," Tione said.

Aiz nodded.

We resumed the march with Rakta, Cadoc, and Brynmor in the lead, and I was now carrying the pack Brynmor had which contained a portion of our rations—that is, one third of that which must be protected at all costs minus life and limb.

I stepped over the root along the road, unable to hide my awe at the gargantuan structures that towered from inside the dungeon. The scent of leaves, flowers, and fruits mingled in the air minus the rotten foliage, and it was an entrancing experience. I was in the middle of the formation with Lili and surrounded by the others, and Finn in front of us.

"Oh yeah, Finn, did that Fels guy ever contact you again?"

"Yeah," he said. "He came to me while I was out drinking with Gareth."

"You went out drinking without me?!" Tione said.

"And, how'd it go?"

"We still got paid so that was nice." Finn shrugged. "Wasn't as big as the original fee, but for a failed quest, it wasn't bad."

"How much?"

"Three hundred million."

"So you're telling me we could've just use those funds?!" Tiona said.

"That's for the familia," Riveria said.

Aiz's pouting face greeted the elf.

She looked away. "That's not going to work Aiz, you must pay for your own."

"And that much money is still not enough to pay for those Durandals you ordered, right?" Just remembering the numbers Tsubaki quoted made me feel the beginnings of a headache.

"Not even close." Finn laughed. "Why else do you think I agreed to come down in the first place?"

"How far into the red are we?"

"Hmm, come on, let's hurry up and get us some loot!"

"Finn? Answer me, Finn."

He didn't bother answering and we just kept going.

We stopped at a copse of fruit-bearing trees which Rakta and the others collected these starfruit-looking things from. They were about three times as large as the ones from back home, and when opened they contained these little green balls that tasted like… matcha?

"Matcha," Aiz said. She opened a pod for herself and popped three into her mouth, chewing with a sort of downplayed gusto that just didn't quite reach that sufficient energy level. She liked the stuff, I was sure of at least, but the enthusiasm just left this dissonance between the lack of a blissful expression and the intensity of that monotone.

"Ah, so precious," Lefiya said. She also had a pod in hand and was eating.

We also picked up these berry-like things that tasted like potatoes, and then some red bananas that… well, tasted like bananas. It was kinda disappointing.

"Captain," Tione said. "Say ahh."

Brynmor took out a smaller sack from my pack and filled it with the fruits, each one organized in their own pockets.

#

With our supplies bolstered, the nineteenth floor eventually gave way to the twentieth, and the spiraling canopies were replaced with a maze of roots and tree trunks that reached all the way up to the ceiling. They looked like pillars reaching for the sky and the leaves covered up most of the light from the Dungeon's crystals, but visibility didn't suffer too badly thanks to the glowing moss.

The monsters here were still the same as above, but larger. Lizardmen moved faster, the bugbears were stronger, the vouivres were longer, and there started to appear these flaming birds.

"Fucking things!" I held up my great sword and presented the broad side like a shield. "Madness."

The bird dinged against the blade and was engulfed in black—and I stomped it dead.

"Thomas, protect Lefiya," Finn said with his spear out. He was intercepting all the birds that came for Lili and the luggage.

"Understood." I dashed towards where Lefiya was who raised her staff.

"I'll be counting on you," she said. The space by her feet began to glow with a soft pink light. "Proud warrior, snipers of the forest."

The light formed a complex pattern—the mark of her mage developmental ability. It was the defining quality of any magic user to receive their own mark, and it was an impressive sight.

Brynmor had already taken back his shield and I was really starting to regret not bringing mine. I slashed at a bugbear that got too close, careful to avoid getting hit. I wasn't about to gamble on tanking anything since I'd already lost the charge from earlier, but as long as I could counter properly, Vindicta should still proc.

The black flames grazed its belly, and the thing started to clutch its head and scream. My status effects procing so often were probably an effect of me fighting where I shouldn't even be standing on—because when I really thought it through, I was in a shit ton of danger just being here.

"Take up your bows before the advancing plunderers."

But it also meant almost everything that touched my magic was disabled, so it was a constant balance of risk versus reward. I was properly gaining experience here instead of just riding on people's coattails, contributing like a proper member instead of just some guy who got by thanks to some freebies.

I swung at the wing of the dragonfly who got too close, and Rakta finished off its writhing form.

"Answer the call of your brethren and ready your arrows."

Finn and Riveria were hanging back with Lili, Tiona, Tione, and Aiz, while us grunts were doing the heavy lifting for now—since come the thirtieth floor, those guys would be the ones fighting tooth and nail next.

Now if only I could send it out in waves.

A vouivre left its tail unattended and I took the chance to cut it off with my sword—the black flames travelling up its body like wildfire.

Brynmor beheaded it a second later.

"Tinge them with flame, the lamplight of the forest."

The magic circle grew in intensity and even from where I stood, I felt the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end. She was building up a butt ton of magic in that spell.

I beat back the next bugbear and blocked another firebird, while Rakta, Brynmor, Daffyd and Cadoc tightened the formation, our flanks slowly giving way to funnel the monsters into a line.

"Release them, the fire arrows of the fairies."

We held the line.

"Falling like rain, burn away the savages."

Light bloomed behind Lefiya like a thousand-armed star as the brilliance built into a crescendo. Daffyd and the others opened the battle line to let her have a full view of the horde.

"Fusillade Fallarica!"

The petals of light lit ablaze as they took flight through the air, closing the distance between the caster and her targets. Bolts of burning magic rained down fire against the monsters, impaling and exploding and destroying them where they stood, unable to fall back or even lash out one last desperate attack as the beasts burst into ash.

When the dust cleared, nothing was left of the monsters that swarmed us.

"Good," Riveria said. "Well done Lefiya."

The others in the vanguard donned their packs again and resumed the march. I took a deep breath and slapped my cheeks. That, was a proper spell. It took so much time to set up though, and it made me wonder whether focusing on casting while moving or casting faster was possible.

Then again, all that happened in just a few seconds so who was I to say anything?

Somewhere on the way to the stairs down the twenty-first, we stopped by a bluish tree with some bulbous roots. Brynmor chopped a few of the spherical bulbs away and stored them with Rakta. He saw me looking and passed me a chip, he bit into the thing.

I bit into the chip and had a burst of soda water fill my mouth. It was a sweet and tangy taste, refreshing and fizzy.

"What the hell are all these things?"

"Food from the Dungeon," Rakta said, "what else?"

"I mean like what feeds on these? The monsters are born from the Dungeon right? So why would they need to eat?"

"Because they're alive?" Cadoc said.

"Wait, no, I mean… okay, fair." I scratched my cheek. "So monsters have to eat too…"

"Its either fruits or they feed from the pantries," Lefiya said. "They are these crystals that release this liquid that monsters can feed on."

"That's new." And where monsters gathered to feed probably meant rare spawns or drops. "I wanna visit these places sometime."

"I can take you to one," Tiona said. "But not now, I still need to make some money."

We then found the stairs at a wide clearing devoid of trees.

Together, we went down the twenty second floor. It was a strange place that had us walking over dense foliage, so dense that I couldn't tell whether what we were walking on were bushes or trees or whatever. They had thin trunks when I looked through the gaps, and it was enough for us to jump up and down from and still not feel the branches giving way.

Monsters spawned by coming up from the canopy, mostly bugbears and large mantises. We killed whatever we met, and didn't—rather, couln't—really gather anything from here, and just passed through. There were a lot more birds and dragonflies too than the earlier floors, so that bit sucked.

We eventually got through just fine.

The passage to the next floor was a small opening in the tree walk way ringed with stones and the insides was a deep red wood illuminated with glowing red mushrooms.

"Whatever you do, do not eat those," Cadoc said while pointing at the fungi.

"They make you see things?"

"What?" the dwarf said. "No, they're poison."

"Oh."

"Why do you sound disappointed?" Narvi asked. "Actually, forget I asked that."

"How're you holding up, fellow level one?"

"Lili would first like to deny any level-based relations to Thomas. Lili is doing alright, the captain and Tione are making sure Lili is not harmed at all."

"So, about that thing I was talking about earlier."

"Yeah," Finn said, "let's do that when we get back."

"Lili hates you, Thomas."

We descended the passage to the twenty-third and the first thing I saw was the huge ass hive of bees smack dab in the middle of the floor. The red mushrooms grew in places here and there, but the majority of the floor's space was dedicated to giving that huge ass bulb as much berth as possible.

"This place is called the Hive," Lefiya said.

"I noticed."

"We get a lot of requests for the secretions the monsters make," Daffyd added.

"Let me guess, they're used for potions?"

"How'd you know?" Tiona asked.

"Lucky guess."

Needless to say, we were eventually swarmed by the monsters. And out of sheer annoyance, Finn had me grab onto his spear while I was engulfed in Despair—and he swung me around like a fucking bug trap. The wasps and bees and dragonflies fell like… well, flies, and the others got to finish them off without issue.

"We might be able to work with this."

"I was expecting you'd get offended by this," Finn said. He was still swinging me around and using me like a living mace. A magical, living made.

"Oh, I am. But it's too effective not to get won over."

"I swear there's something wrong with him in the head," Rakta said.

"Lili thought that was already established ten floors ago?"

Aiz was looking at me with an intense gaze. She drew her sword. "Finn, may I borrow Thomas?"

"Shouldn't I have a say in this?"

Finn raised a brow. "What are you thinking of?"

"I can lift Thomas with my magic."

"Please don't."

They didn't listen.

Aiz lifted me up into the air with a tornado that funneled all the flying bugs to hit me on their way down. It was like she was flushing them down the toilet and I was the cake to make all the solid bits that bit easier to bear. I was pelted by spiny carapaces and avoided a sting too close a few times too many.

But below, the monsters died as they touched the ground, and when the monsters started screaming because of my magic, they summoned more bugs to them just like the ants back in the seventh floor. They made a killing with destroying the monsters, and soon enough Lili had a sizeable pack of magic crystals.

The blonde finally let me down.

"Good job," Aiz said with a thumb up.

"Lili has seen the light."

"How much time would it take for us to fill all the sacks we have?" Finn said.

"Aiz only had to levitate Thomas for about fifteen minutes?" Riveria said. "We'd need a few hours perhaps to fill three large packs."

"Okay, we'll do that next time then."

"Wait, I haven't agreed to this yet."

#

The next passage was a hole that glowed blue against the uniform red of the twenty-third floor, and when we went through it, long spiraling bridges of wood crisscrossed the entire space. It was a bit like the seventeenth floor minus the floor boss, and instead of rocks the place had said wooden bridges instead.

Spirals of wood would connect one passage to another, or one ledge to another or one bridge to a ledge and other such combinations. The foliage was also concentrated along the wooden bridges so the green trailed behind the bark.

What caught the eye however, was the carpet of monsters migrating down the passageway of the twenty-fifth floor. And by carpet I meant like there was no space to see ground at all from how thick their ranks were. I saw for the first time these deer with large glowing horns walking together with these masses of glowing moss, these muscular goblins that were about the size of the orcs, and these furred humanoids with the large fangs.

Good thing we were standing high above on a ledge and away from view then.

"Please don't throw me down there."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Finn said.

"But we have a level seven!"

"And you're a level one," Rakta said.

Narvi sighed. "Finn can't cover for everyone, Tom."

"I take it this doesn't always happen? The monsters I mean."

"Not at all," Cadoc said, "not ever."

"I can destroy them," Aiz said.

"And we can collect the stones after, pretty sure we can still accommodate them." I pointed at my bag.

"But it's the high value drops that will net us the best income," Daffyd said.

"True, but if Finn has a bad feeling, I'm inclined to not act on that stupidity."

"I never expected to hear that from you," Tione said.

"I'm all for stupid crap as long as it works."

"I'm rather mortified, but I feel like I should agree with Thomas for this," Riveria said. "We have no choice but to fight all those monsters to get down the twenty-fifth floor."

"But since they're moving away, doesn't it mean that whatever is causing this is on this floor instead?" Lefiya said.

"The lady has a point. I guess we can keep going then?"

"Or maybe we should investigate this place first?" Finn said. "We never know, but it could always be related to whatever's happening on the surface and on the deeper floors."

"Fair enough, if it happened on either end, then happening in between isn't that big of a logical stretch. But why would monsters move away from a floor anyway? And how come I've never seen this many in one place on any floor before?"

"Maybe it's just because we're deep enough?" Tiona said.

"Usually monsters that didn't get destroyed on a floor move to the pantry." Lefiya held a finger to her cheek. "So maybe there was a cave-in in the pantry?"

Finn bit his thumb. "But if there aren't any adventurers in this area, then the Dungeon wouldn't have any reason to react."

"Maybe they died?" Brynmor said.

"If it was that recent, then this big of a movement would not have been possible. And this many spawns makes me think there's a person making the monsters go away," Riveria said.

"Which means we ought to check it out, right?"

"We should split up," Rakta said.

"What? No! You never split up when there's something up!"

"We'll cover more ground that way," Tione said.

"More ground is the last of our concerns in case we really are dealing with the same people or whatever it is that's controlling those monsters."

"Lili supports Thomas with this."

"Me too," Aiz said.

"This path they are taking originates from the Northern pantry," Lefiya said. "Our target should be there."

"Then we should head to the Northern pantry," Finn said. "Together. But first, I need to take care of something. Tione, could you take care of Lili for a bit?"

"Anything for you Finn!" Tione said.

Then he jumped down.

The monsters didn't stand a chance.

We followed behind Finn with a casual pace and met up with him near the entrance to the twenty-fifth. Corpses littered the floor and the smell of blood filled the air while not a single speck was on his immaculate self.

He pointed to the opposite side of the passage. "The Northern pantry's over there."

Within a few minutes of walking, we reached a dead-end, a green wall that was of a different color than the surrounding wood. It didn't take a genius to know this was the thing we were supposed to be looking for.

"The way should be here," Aiz said. She touched the mass. "It's soft."

"Yes," Lefiya added. "The Northern pantry should be just behind this cave."

I touched it too. "It feels like plant stem."

"Tom, please notify Loki," Finn said.

Hey Loki, Finn wants to talk to you about the thing we found.

Same drill then.

"Loki. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. If we come in and it's nothing, that's a win. If there is something, then you best be prepared."

"We should be fine," Finn said. "But just to be sure, have Bete together with a squad of level fours wait by the entrance of the twenty-fourth floor.

"Loki. That's alright, need anything else?"

"Wish us luck."

"Thomas. That's not reassuring."

Eh, you'll be fine.

"Lili, Thomas, stay behind me," Finn said. "Tione, Tiona, Aiz, you three lead. Cadoc, Lefiya, get behind Thomas. Rakta and the others, in front of me."

We changed up our formation as told, leaving behind our packs just outside the cave in case we needed the full range of our movement. The potions we brought with us were distributed according to our needs, mind potions to those with magic, and more stamina potions to the vanguard.

"Ready," we all said as one.

"Also, can we avoid talking when we get inside? Just in case there really is something there."

"Agreed, everyone refrain from talking unless its important. We'll want to make our entrance as silent as possible. Bite down on a piece of cloth if it helps you avoid screaming should something unexpected come up."

"Oh captain, you know I can take it."

Narvi and the others groaned.

"So not the time for that Tione."

Finn rubbed his temples. "Aiz, open it up."

The blonde summoned her wind about her and made mince out of the organic wall, opening a hole as the material lost its integrity where she ground away at it. Inside the passage, the floor, ceiling, and walls were of the same color as the obstacle we just destroyed.

We went in one by one, and the floor had the same fleshy feel and the glowing moss was replaced by glowing flowers.

After everyone had come in, we took our first steps into the unexpected segue to the otherwise peaceful dive. The hole closed behind us. My stomach sank as the blood pounded away at my ears. This looked like the start of a very bad horror movie with a just as bad ending involving everyone dying.

Finn whispered too low for me to hear. Aiz and the others started moving. We walked as one, keeping pace with the vanguard.

Our footfalls were muffled by the fleshy ground, with Lili clutched tight to my hand. Shoulders were tense, and the others all had focused looks directed in front. Rakta and Daffyd looked here and there every now and then, and Narvi and Brynmor kept their weapons levelled, Riveria, even when skulking still looked the image of poise and grace.

The vanguard stopped in their tracks.

Finn moved up to them, then he pointed at the ceiling. Everyone's gaze followed where he directed us and just barely against the low light, I could make out the outline of the Violas' distinctive mouths.

Loki, looks like we hit the jackpot with this.

Damn, I'll let Freya and Hephaestus know.

Please and thank you.

Finn moved back into formation, then signaled for everyone to converge on his location. We huddled together with the monsters just in front of us.

"We've got no choice but to go loud if we proceed any further," Finn said loud enough for me and Lili to hear.

"These fleshy walls and the pathway earlier closing seems to imply these walls can close in on or separate us."

"Can we snipe them with Lefiya's magic?" Tiona asked.

"We can move back further into the passage and have her do her chant, but it removes the element of surprise."

"That's assuming there's something waiting for us at the end," Tione said.

"The only thing of note here in the pantry is the crystal that can sustain monsters, and if we can eat Dungeon fruits, then it wouldn't be a stretch to say a person can also drink the stuff."

"Actually, people can't, it's poison to us," Lefiya said.

"Well what if it wasn't poison to them?"

Tsk tsk, recursive justification. Shame on you, Thomas.

"Well, we had a theory there might've been a tamer behind it, right? So, they might be feeding their monsters here?"

"Not impossible,' Daffyd said.

The low green light of the flowers reflected steady gazes—minus Lili's but that was to be expected.

"Get ready to battle," Finn said. "If they've set up a trap, then it means there's something important here they want to keep guarding. Remember, these things react to magic so no using yours, Thomas. The vanguard will engage in close quarters, and the rest of us will be just a few feet from them. We'll assume these walls can separate us so let's stick together as close as possible."

We all nodded, and went back to formation.

"On my mark then," Finn said, biting his thumb.