Chapter 35 - Dangers Deep Within

We walked towards the door and placed our hands on it, then pushed all our weight behind it. I was excited to cross over to a section of the Tower I had never reached before, but I couldn't help but frown as we opened the door, thinking about how Kana had no idea.

I’m sorry Kana…I promise I’ll be safe!

The door yelled back with a loud creak and the staircase was revealed. The stairs were similar to the others, a regular spiral with railings and markings on the walls. The Tower doors were massive and the width of each step was no exception.

We scaled up the flight of stairs and exited out a white door frame into the cold dim tunnel of a cave. The rock making up the wall and floor was a dark purple colour with small stones embedded randomly throughout the tunnel.

The stones peeking out of the walls varied in size but all seemed to give off a dim blue and pink glow. They acted as a source of light, almost as if to guide us through the long dark tunnel that stretched far out into the distance.

Both Arga and I let out a long “oooooohh~” as we basked in the sight of a new Floor.

So this is the caves of the Tower…it’s amazing how much the areas can change between Floors. We’re in a completely different area altogether! No grass or sunlight to speak of, I wonder what kind of monsters I would find here?

Arga drew her sword from her back and held it into a fighting position, aiming it ahead with both hands.

It was faint but I could feel it too, an uneasy twitch creeping up my spine. I had this feeling now and then but it always meant the same thing.

“Arga.”

“Yeah, I feel them too. There’s a few but I doubt they would be strong.”

Monsters.

We went deeper into the tunnel, walking at the centre of the path away from the walls. The space of the tunnel was enough for four or five people to walk comfortably in.

Suddenly the wall to my right broke open with a violent shattering of stone, not long after a black ball of rough fur leapt out at me. It bared its gnashing teeth as it came hurling towards me.

The sudden attack caught me by surprise and I stumbled back.

Its paws forced me down and pinned me to the ground. It didn’t have eyes, so I couldn’t imagine how it was able to see me.

Its body was rather stubby, only half my size with a large majority of it being the wide mouth, snapping over me. Out of its sides were four skinny legs and a set of blunt claws on the end. Its teeth were illuminating the same dim glow as the stones in the wall, except that those weren't trying to bite into me.

My legs were pinned down and my arms could barely hold it back, there was too much of a weight difference.

It opened its massive mouth, letting its slimy tongue hover over me. The trails of gooey saliva ran down my face and I nearly threw up.

Not good—I need to think of something—huh?

Suddenly the creature's mouth froze in place and its body jolted stiff.

Arga pulled her sword out from its side and the creature dropped dead beside me. I used the chance to pull myself away from it and wipe away the sticky slime on my face.

“You okay?”

“Gah— it smells so bad!” I moaned out with a frustrated expression, more worried about my clothes than to answer her.

The walls around us continued to crack. There were more on the way.

“They’re tunnelling through the walls! Pull back—!” Arga took a step away and suddenly the ground under her gave in. The floor cracked open and a burst of monsters broke out from beneath her.

“Aahh—not good!” Suddenly more than a handful of stumpy creatures with glowing teeth surrounded us. Arga seemed to be in the thick of it but it didn’t take them long to swarm around me after.

“We got outnumbered...” I took out my Chakrams, my hands trembled along the handles.

{Lockjaw Lv8}

Tiny health bars curved around the monster's heads like a half halo as each of them came into view. The amount of health bars and levels in my line of sight was enough to block out my vision.

“Arga…let’s run for it.” I whispered, still keeping my eyes forward on the monsters.

After a brief pause, she responded with a silent nod. “Sounds good to me.”

I threw out my Chakram but the monster ducked beneath it. It came charging forward with leaps and bouncing off the walls. As it drew closer I didn’t move, only curled my fingers into a fist.

The Chakram darted back, cutting through the monster's chest. It dropped to the ground dead and took that as our queue.

Arga rushed ahead, holding out her sword with the tip aimed forward. I followed behind her with one hand held out while the other rested on my lower back.

Any monsters in Arga’s line of sight would be impaled by the sword, so most of them dodged out of the way. The others…

A crack from the wall beside us emerged, seconds later a Lockjaw burst out and leapt towards us. It entered our blind zone and came flying from the side with a ferocious speed.

“Zephyr—BURST!”

A strip of concentrated wind burst out of my hand and sliced the monster into two equal parts. We ran ahead, continuing this formation. As we passed the dead monster, I whispered out silently so that Arga wouldn’t hear me.

A trail of black mist followed behind us, devouring the dead monsters and disappearing into the void of its depths.

Arga isn't oblivious by any means but who would pay attention to the small stuff in a situation like this? I can’t get them all but at least this way I’ll be able to add to my skill tree!

A larger source of light was approaching up ahead. At that point, we had already lost the few Lockjaws that were following us but we couldn't drop out guard. The sword and burst strategy wasn’t a solid plan, only an escape.

“What is that?”

“It looks like...sunlight?” She paused for a moment and looked around the tunnel before asking. “Do you hear water?”

We reached the end of the tunnel and were met with a large platform overlooking the massive drop-down in which we could see the source of water she heard.

All around us were tunnel entrances and even some down below, like the one we had just escaped from. It’s safe to say those wouldn’t be any less dangerous than the one we had just left. I wouldn’t be able to count the number of routes around us on my hand, it might be safer to call this place a labyrinth rather than a cave.

Above us at the centre of the cavern was a small rounded hole where a beam of light peered down from.

“Amazing…”

Arga pointed to the lower depths and nudged my shoulder. “Rei, look down there! It’s water, running water.”

A stream of water passed through the bottom of the cavern and flowed into another room out of sight.

It’s common knowledge to all adventurers that the Tower has its own ecosystems. Monsters and nature living off of each other, that’s the only way something like water could be found down here in the Tower.

So where there is water, there is life…following water would probably mean we would be walking into a monster zone.

“Seeing it for yourself, it kind of makes you think.” My eyes took a second look at the water and a thought popped into my head.

“How are we supposed to get down there?” I asked anxiously.

Arga pointed to our left, showing me the narrow pathway of stone that spirals along the cave walls down to the bottom.

She can’t be serious, right? This screams trap—if it isn't then she might just be really stupid.

Her eyes lit up as she stepped even closer to the ledge, getting excited at something below us. Her feet were dangerously far over the line and were nearing the closer side to falling—

I leaned in to grab her before she could fall off.

“What are you doing, you’ll die if you fall from here!”

Not bothered at all, Arga pointed out to one of the corners of the room and yelled. “Look—over there! There’s the ore that we need!”

Among all the different shades of blue and pink rocks scattered throughout the cave, one gem was hidden between them all.

An emerald shade of green cut through the others, it sat along the walls near the bottom with massive clumps surrounding it. The only issue was that they were at the bottom of the drop.

“That’s the gem that you need? I don’t know…”

Arga’s been nice to me so far and it isn't in my personality to be mistrusting but—can you blame me?! If I did this for her and got into a similar situation as before, I’d be the guy who falls for anything! That won’t be me, it cant be!

A faint glare bounced into my eye, the string of light causing it was bobbing up and down across my cheek with wild motions. I turned towards the origin of the light and saw a charging figure coming from another tunnel connected to the platform.

Charging at us from the right, a large beast approached.

Fast!

The large brawny arms of the monster charged ahead, pulling the rest of its body and two tiny legs behind it. Shielding it like armour was a heavy layer of shining blue ore. It seemed to have grown over the monster's skin and covered all of its limbs.

The same large ore growing from its body seemed to have been heavily focused around its back and shoulder. The result of which caused a large stumpy horn to grow out from its head.

It’s charging at us so quickly, we need to do something. Uh, what the?

I took a step back and my heel dropped down slightly, I was standing against the ledge with no room to move. Trying not to fall I threw my arms out with wild desperate swings when suddenly I heard Arga’s shout calling me.

“Look out—Rei!”