Chapter 35: 035 Hidden Oasis
Ventus' feet gently reached for the hot sands of the ground as I placed her down from my arms. The familiar buzz of the teleportation portal being activate was beginning to diminish.
Upon our arrival, we were immediately greeted with the typical system message.
[Floor 3] [Desert Of False Illusion]
I dismissed the message and turned my attention back to Ven. While she physically seemed to be ok, I only took that input with a grain of salt. She was still wobbling about in a vain attempt to remain balanced.
Her usual soft rosy complexion had been replaced with a pale white. Ven's breathing had normalized some but at random she would be struggling to catch her breath.
That Bastard Gustav's assault had been more significant than I had realized.
It worried me a bit seeing her in this condition. The stress of this was compounded with the knowledge that the throbbing dry heat of the desert we were experiencing, would not help the situation at all.
We needed a place to rest and naturally recuperate if we were going to continue to climb and fight.
The floor challenges were not going to be a concern until we push past floor 50 so no fatigue worries there. The true issue would come in the form of the continuous downpour of these insane followers. If I had to guess I'm sure we would face resistance from them in some way with every floor we surpass.
Based off of what Gustav had said on the previous floor, it was obvious they had been ordered to capture me. Apparently they want to take Ven too considering she is with me. This however does not seem to be an official order. Instead it appeared it was at the discretion of whoever was in charged of the unit.
Everyone that had come against me had died on the second floor. They didn't know of Ven and I needed to keep her existence a secret to protect her as much as I could. After all this was my war not hers. She is choosing to walk this path with me but that doesn't mean she should fall victim to the perversities of the bastards who are after me.
If the crazy maniacs continued after me, it meant they sought suicide at the end of my blade. To make sure that I was able to keep up with their large demand of it, I needed to recuperate mentally.
I allowed my eyes to fall away from Ven for just a second and on to the desert ahead. It had been a very long time since I was last here in this miserable heat.
Sand littered everywhere as far as the eye could see. Dunes and mountains of the tan colored grain decorated the landscape. In the distance to my left was a massive sandstorm overtaking the scene. One didn't have to be close to admire its wicked behavior.
Moving my vision to the right, a lone palm tree stood true. It was surrounded by the only source of water on this forsaken floor. A sizable shimmering sapphire of an oasis. It's splendor brought life to an otherwise barren land.
I turned back to Ven, she was standing as tall as she could. She gave me a sheepish smile.
"So Em you ready to head to the floor boss?"
I shook my head to her question.
"We need to rest. I won't know when any of The Kings are going to send more maniacs after us. Or how many for that matter. We need to rest to be in the best condition to fight them."
"I understand that but in case you forgot-"
She waved her hand about. Displaying the desert in all its heated glory.
"We are in the middle of desert! There is no where to take cover."
I began to tease her.
"I mean we could always dig a hole in a dune and hide out."
"And let the sand crush us?! It hole in a dune can't support the weight above idiot! You said you knew of a place we could go to recover. I assumed you were talking about Otto's place. Definitely not the third floor and much less some crazy let's hide in sand idea!"
I just burst out laughing at her miniature enraged fit.
This back and forth was just natural. Truly natural and I just let myself be lost in the joys it brought.
I was still laughing when a familiar noise ran shivers down my back.
Bloop Bloop
I immediately stopped.
Oh SB....I hope my laughter didn't bother you.....Do me a favor and remember that I love you.
The previous scene of him being wrapped by intestines was brought back to my mind.
He is too scary.
I shook my head willing it away. He must be hot and wants shade. That must be why he is speaking up.
I told myself this lie as I continued on with the conversation.
"Ven I do know a place here. I was just teasing you a bit."
I flashed her the best grin I could manage.
She just rolled her eyes and punched my shoulder.
"Then where is it?"
I raised my hand and pointed towards the fearsome sandstorm to our left.
"It's over there Ven."
For the first time, I finally got to see Ventus drop her jaw. She was simply in shock.
"You're telling me we have to walk there to that storm in order to find a place to rest? Are you trying to kill us?!"
I raised my hands to my chest in order to sort of calm her.
"First of all, with the armor we got from Otto, we won't die, so take that worry off the table. Secondly yes we have to walk in there. In the middle of the storm is the floor boss yes, but if we walk around the edge of the storm, we will end up finding the entrance to an underground cave system."
"Okay....I'm not going to ask how you know about it, but why not take refuge by the tree the oasis? It seems like the easier and safer option."
"You've cleared this floor before you should know why."
Ven just stared at me genuinely confused. I gave her a suspicious look in response.
"I really don't. Why can't we? It seems much better than risking oneself in the storm to possibly maybe find a secret cave."
She seemed genuine in her lack of knowledge. Instead of trying to find why she didn't know the answer to my question. I just skipped ahead and gave her an explanation.
"While that oasis may bring salvation during the day, it pools in strong monsters during the night. It's quite vicious having to fight off wave after wave of monsters all night long. One moment you are asleep and in the next you are being awoken to the melody of your friends being eaten alive. That being said we need mental rest not labor so that oasis won't do."
She took a moment to digest my explanation before she continued on.
"Sounds like you're talking from experience... Em. The screams of your friends being eaten. That's rich."
"Yeah actually. Totally happened. I was traumatized for a while."
"Wait what?!! Really!"
"Come on let's go. I don't know how much longer we have until more of those crazed lunatics come flooding the floor so let's get to cover."
I grabbed her hand and began tugging her with me in the direction of the storm. Ven was still going off about my remark earlier.
"Are you going to tell me if it really happened?
"Sure."
"Sure it happened or sure you will tell me?"
"Yes."
"Em! Tell me!"
I giggled at our interaction. It felt natural and I simply continued to tease.
"I'll tell you if you can beat me to that patch of sand."
"Which one!? There is sand everywhere!"
"Exactly."
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
With that we continued forward. Inching our way closer and closer to the desert calamity ahead.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone