The enemies for the third floor were rather simple, in a way that they weren't exactly numerous per se, instead, they're basically three mini-bosses strewn to fight together on the same floor. Not one of the divers looked worried as they went down the staircase of the second floor and not one of them showed any signs of fear when they saw the three Stone Feeders dig themselves out of the ground using those powerful front legs of theirs.
Only one came out at first, and everyone had been prepared and ready for its surprise attack thanks to the Knigtht's warning, and even then, their words only really served to let one person know about the situation- Jacob eyed the lumbering beast without any real thoughts, he had already expected them to be sort of slow, especially with such tiny legs. The thing in front of him looked like it could use a help or two from an army of Giant's Tears to even beat the team of Dungeon Divers he's with but that'll just mirror the situation on the first floor earlier.
And like back then, all Jacob really had to do against the thing is raise his hand, channel a spell, then shoot it out- The thing's head popped like a watermelon and it fell to the ground, lifeless. The other two that followed after it more or less had the same fate, except one of them managed to live a second or two longer because Jacob had to kill the other one first.
At least he got something out of it.
Sharp-Bolt has leveled up!
Lvl 5 > 6
"This was... anti-climactic." He commented as he stepped forward, he circled around one of the massive corpses and passed it without batting it a second glimpse, "They're probably pretty strong normally, right?" He asked the knight walking alongside him and got a sharp nod in response, "Thought so. If three of them are enough to fill an entire floor, I assume that they're strong in their own right. This was just a bad match-up."
[Sharp-Bolt] really did do wonders against the monsters of this Dungeon.
The fourth floor had been the same as the last one monster wise, in that the place had nothing other than Giant's Tears. Just this time that they have some sort of armored variant as well as the other two they've encountered prior. Oh, and they're much more numerous too, but that doesn't really count when Jacob's also in a team of Dungeon Divers who again, are more than enough to take on their armies thanks to the flaming swords of the knights as well as the formation that they are on.
To say that they had quick work of the floor would be... not accurate, but it's close- Jacob had to cast a [Shield] or two to protect himself against some stray net of immobilizing honey that came from above and also- the larvae had come. Yeah. Turns out, the presences that he'd felt all this time weren't on the first, second, or even third floors, instead they're on the fourth and fifth.
The things weren't really that hard to kill, though they were mostly annoying because of the fact that they just kept falling from the ceiling and dive bombing him and the other ranged attackers- something that the larvae somehow knew to target through sheer instinct alone. Or Dungeon programming. One of those two.
Jacob activated another [Shield] and two larvae immediately fell on top of it, sending ripples across the barrier's surface and giving him amp. He eyed them, they looked like some sort of grub with a pale-white oval body, little mandibles, and two tiny eyes above it. The orange hair around them was a new addition, though that doesn't exactly make them special, just dangerous. Jacob had seen what kind of effects the hairs of moth larvae can have when they get into contact with skin and he assumes the hairs of these ones probably do the same thing.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He dropped his [Shield] and the two grubs fell down to the floor, they squirmed and fought for life until the sole of a muddy sneaker put an end to their misery, crushing their heads and stopping their foot-long body from moving any further.
That was pretty much the rhythm of the entire fight; Jacob would raise a shield to stop the maggots from attacking him at random by falling from the ceiling, then he'd turn the barrier down and crush the larvae before shooting out [Sharp-Bolt]s to the line of insects at the front, which, more often than not, resulted in him killing them with each shot. Thanks to the way he shot out spells- that is, by using his hand, - he'd never miss so far.
That slow yet rhythmic pace of the battle continued until the massive horde of Giant's Tears got wiped out and by then, so was everyone else.
For the second time, the team of divers took another moment to rest, and just like earlier, the ranger offered her supplies, this time everyone went up and took some form of potions for themselves: mana, health, stamina- all of those got taken until the ranger's bag went empty and she sighed, "Guess I'll finally have to start helping with the fights huh?" She said with a stifled giggle and grabbed the bow hanging from her back, she took an arrow out from her quiver and quirked it on the weapon, with a pull, the string went taut.
She released her hold and fired the arrow at the corpse of a nearby Giant's Tear- sadly, she missed and struck the ground instead. "Eh." She giggled again and turned to Jacob, "How do you land all of your shots?"
"Using spells the way I do makes it pretty simple. That and I guess my father used to take me hunting during my early childhood." He answered and took a seat on a nearby rock devoid of any blood or honey.
"You went hunting?" She asked to which Jacob answered with a nod.
"Yeah. Dad liked to collect the heads of animals as trophies, and sometimes, when we kill anything other than the small, fatless rabbits that roam our islands, we'd eat it. They're boars, usually." He'd remember eating a seal that for some reason, landed on the shores of their beach at one point- which his Dad quickly killed and shot instead of letting go - and he couldn't really say that he liked the tough, tangy meat of the things.
"Boars?" The ranger was walking towards him now.
"Yeah, you know, like the ones on the knight's chests." He pointed to one of them, "Just without swords, they have regular tusks."
"Oh! Flat Noses!" She eagerly said, "Is that what they're called back where you came from?"
He nodded, "Yeah..." He answered though he wasn't really focusing on her. Flat Noses- that didn't really sound like the way he understood it as, and checking his memory of her words just now confirmed that the ranger said it more like 'Hor-He' which... oddly enough, can arguably be said to be the sound that a boar makes.
Jacob smiled wryly, whatever- he understood it in the end and there was no point in placing further thought on the complications of language.
"Huh, must be a weird world." The Ranger said and Jacob stared. Well... if the world is gonna make him think about it then so be it.
"Is the language everyone speaks here the same?" He asked and everyone stared at him as if he'd gone insane.
The Ranger especially, "Of course!" She answered loudly, "Why would the Gods make it so that their creations don't understand each other? That'd just be weird!"
"Well, except for the Goblins. But those guys deserved it." Etia helpfully added.
The Ranger nodded, "Actually- yes, that's what they get for trying to go against the Gods."
Jacob went silent, thinking. He hummed and tapped his knee, "I think my world has something similar happened to it." He said.
"Really?" Asked the ranger as she plopped herself to the ground next to him, seemingly not minding the dry honey on it. "What's it about?"
"Well... the various humans came together-"
"You mean humanoids?" Asked Etia.
Jacob slowly nodded, "Uh- sure." He went back to the story, "As I said, they all came together to build a tower so tall that it'll reach the heavens and enter the realm of... The Gods."
"Then what happened?" Asked the Etia and to Jacob's surprise, when he faced the Acolyte, he noticed that everyone in the team is listening to him, even the knights.
"Well, The Gods got mad and punished them- Since the reason why they manage to build the tower is because they can understand each other, they decided to split their languages apart, and one turned into Dozens- English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hindu, Indian... and many more. And even in some cases, like the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian- they even have two languages of the same variation."
"The Gods must hate them then." The Knight said and Jacob can only nod.
"Maybe. I've met an Indian before and he didn't seem so bad. Smart guy actually." He answered.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to the ranger, "The Gods do things for a reason."
Jacob nodded but didn't really agree, he'd read some of the bible at one point and to say that God seemed to have been an egotistical guy is an understatement- he was the type of person who wanted people to praise him for rewards. "I guess." He said dully.