บท 58: Dungeon Dive (V)
Tommy and Mike threw themselves into action. Mike jumped into the fight a lot more aggressively than before. He was trying hard to match Tommy's kills but was utterly failing behind. There was no competition, and Tommy didn't care that Mike was chasing him.
Snow, too, jumped into action. She didn't have time to pull out her own sword and instead used her own claws to snatch and grab the monkeys out of the air. When she got a good hold of them, she crushed their bones, creating even more panic from the monkeys. They screeched and shook the very tree branches in the hopes to scare her away, but so far nothing helped.
As the three slew more monkeys; eventually, the monkey's scattered, leaving the dead behind. Dairen gathered the body as they were more in a hurry to leave the place than stay.
"Snow." Tommy was brimming with energy as he still wanted to fight, but there was nothing else to hunt.
"Yes?"
"I was thinking about a place that you could set up the second shop at."
Interested in what he got to say, she tilted her head, waiting for his answer. It wasn't often that Tommy had a useful idea that didn't bring up endless fights or monster hunting.
"It's the seventh floor. There is a safe zone I suggest you check out. I don't think wandering around aimlessly through levels would be ideal, plus it's considered a hotspot for the Players and the Hunters."
"What do you mean?" Snow asked. She had barely heard about the seventh floor because it was just recently opened.
"It has a wall built around the gate. Even though the monsters attack, its walls give us a cushion to keep them at bay. The only problem is that we still haven't found the dungeon boss on that level, meaning we will have a rough wave of monsters present."
Snow thought about it for a moment. So far, every area that they hit was considered not the ideal place. The foot traffic was quite low, meaning profit would be difficult to come by for a few weeks. She needed interaction with the Players and Hunter community as often as possible to protect the company's profits.
Who knows what monsters or maybe even unscrupulous people were out there to ambush her and her group as time went on.
"Then let's go." Snow was not going to let this opportunity slip away. She needed to see what it was like there before she could deem it worth her time to set up or not.
Tommy was satisfied with her answer. With their destination set, they continued their uneventful journey.
Hours past, Snow wondered why their walk through the forest was unusually quiet with less monsters. She did not mind fighting the monsters to get a bit stronger, but she didn't think that the monster repellent was that strong to last things long.
Such high-grade monster repellent was challenging to create, and she had heard stories of how the monsters were becoming increasingly difficult to subdue. The rewards from the carcass were very profitable and useful that it was hard not to come back inside the dungeon to keep hunting.
Especially the dungeon monsters that the Players would excitedly yammer about when one came up. She had wondered where such courage came from to fight such an existence. Especially the past two boss monsters she had fought, it wasn't something to scoff at.
Still, she gave credit to the Players for their unique plans that brought down the boss level monsters, even if they lost a handful of Players, they would regroup and attack again and again until the boss fell.
For the next two days, only the lower class monster in the dungeon decided to take a bite out of Snow's group, but they were brushed aside with ease. Snow didn't complain, but it perplexed her. At the rate they were going, it was too easy. She knew that the death of the dungeon boss lowered the difficulty level of the surrounding area, but that did not mean the high-level monsters that proliferated throughout the dungeon would stop attacking. They hunted relentlessly from her understanding.
Snow had thought it would take a couple of weeks to get into the seventh floor since the start of the trip, but in a record time of four days, they made it close to the gate of the sixth floor with ease. Nobody had made it that quickly to the sixth floor without a bit of something happening.
The fifth floor was filled with Snake-like creatures with three heads and scorpions with half of the human bodies, while the sixth floor was filled with an upgraded version of the two animals from the previous level.
She noticed a stark difference from their colors to their tails, even the powers were more acidic in nature. But even still, they only ran into a handful.
Mike signaled the group, telling them that they were close. Throughout the fifth and sixth floors, barely anyone talked as they were concentrating around the surrounding. He did a quick hand signal, telling them that they were about thirty minutes away from their destination.
Just when they were about to leave, Tommy called out with an annoyed grunt. "Guys, can you hold for a moment?" Breaking the silence, which brought a bit of discomfort for the team. They knew that Tommy didn't just suddenly call out to them unless necessary, especially on this floor.
Red was trailing a bit behind like usual. Tommy slowed down his pace to match hers so she wouldn't be left behind. He was always behind the group, watching the surroundings for any possible sneak attack.
This was Red's sixth time, stopping at a random spot in front of a decrypted tree that was barren. Compared to the surrounding trees that were filled with life, this one was dead and hollow.
It took a good moment to see what Red was looking at. Half of her arm just suddenly disappeared into the tree trunk as she rummaged inside, searching for something.
Throughout the journey, Red had a knack to stop during random times to jot down some notes as she examined certain trees and plants. Some even Snow didn't know but peaked to see what Red was writing. It was a detailed note of the plant, but her sketches of the plant itself was pretty elementary, which made anyone who was actually reading it think it was a mad gibberish.
Snow couldn't help but assist Red on this, drawing the plant to create a much clearer picture of what Red had found out.
At times, Dairen would be near Red, learning from her the things that she had learned, but barely talked to Snow. Snow didn't mind, it was getting old anyway, and the cold distance between them was fine with her.
"Give me a moment." Red squeaked, she felt something wet squish in her hand.
"Come on, Red," Tommy was getting tired of being slowed down. "This is getting pretty old. We came here to find Snow a place to set up her second shop, not look for plants."
Red didn't reply back as she was in her own little world. Everyone knew that Red had a knack to ignore people when something interested her.
"Let her be," Dairen replied, coming over to see what Red had found. "Every time she finds something, it's valuable to us."
Tommy rolled his eyes at Dairen. "As much as I like her findings, but getting to the seventh floor is a priority. The monsters on this floor are not something to ignore."
"True, but like I said, the things she found had helped us go through the dungeon a lot easier." Dairen retorted. "Haven't you noticed, each plant that she had found helped us cover our scent or deter away from the monsters. The Stinkbomb Flower was one such flower."
"Is that why?" Snow had a few theories, she knew that the scent of the flower was horrible, but not unbearable. Even a small petal from one of these flowers was enough to let out a strong smell that trailed behind them. She had a feeling that Red had put such a smelly thing into her dimensional bag, but she wasn't sure.
There were times when they all assumed that the smell of the Stink Bomb Flower was nearby, but they couldn't quite differentiate where it was coming from.
"You guys didn't find it strange that the Stink Bomb Flower smell would just appear out of nowhere?"
"I thought it was a bit strange," Mike replied. He came over with the rest of the group, waiting for Red to finish up what she was doing.
With a loud huff, she pulled hard. The tree groaned and even shook. Lines start to form, telling everyone that the tree was going to break, and in seconds with a thundering crack, it split the tree in half. The tree branch fell down with a roaring boom, picking up dirt and leaves into the air.
Everyone coughed, trying to breathe. When the dust and dirt settled, everyone stared at Snow at dumbfoundedly. They knew that Red wasn't strong physically, and to see her break a tree with her bare hand was different.
Tommy quickly snapped out of his stupor. His body tensed, looking around for any monsters that could be coming their way.
"Let's go." Tommy grabbed Red by the waist, picking her up. He slugged her over his shoulder, going into a jog. The others instantly knew that they couldn't stay. They stuck close to Tommy as their nerve was tense.
Only the pitter-patter of their feet could be heard, but even then, Snow wondered if the scuffling of their feet would attract attention.
With an unconscious silent prayer, she prayed to the God of Light to bless them from the enemy's eyes. A gentle pressure enveloped around her group and especially herself. She thought she felt her speed pick up, but she wasn't sure.
Her mind was too occupied in getting as far away from the tree as possible. They half jogged and powerwalked until they arrived at the entrance to the seventh gate. Not once, they looked back.
Snow was out of breath when they arrived. Her chest felt tight as she sweated. She was glad that nothing followed them. Glancing around, she noticed that most of them were out of breath except Tamaki, Tommy, and Mr. Everrett.
"Let's not do that again," Tommy grunted, dropping Red onto her butt. "Unnecessary danger is not needed."
Red gave him a half-hearted smile that seemed like she was thinking about something else that could get them into trouble. Tommy smacks her head to wake her up from her own Lala land. She gave him a scowl.
"Let's head in." Tamaki was the first one to head towards the gate that was out in the open under the cloudy sky.
"Yea, let's." Tommy agreed as he followed behind.
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