“Why's that?” He asked.
“That was brother Leo.”
“Okay and?” He asked with unsure an expression.
“(Speak more you idiot!) H-he's the man who usually checks up on us. I-if I have to guess, he-he's probably going outside to check up on us.”
“Shit really!? Then let's hurry up.”
He pointed his head towards the stairway and although it took her a few moments to realise what he was asking her to do, she began leading the way.
(“Hmm, it seems he might not survive this. Well, this is worth the sacrifice, so losing him in exchange for this information is no major loss on my part.”)
(“What was that you bitch!?”)
They hastily headed down the stairs and reached the second floor. Nothing immediately stood out to Tibaut about this floor. It was exactly like the previous one.
“(If this was a dungeon crawler, the floor would at least change colour or something.) You know where the next stairs are?” He asked.
She nodded and continued leading the way.
Like the last floor, various hallways were cordoned off with boxes and other than the path he walked, he couldn't tell any difference from the first floor.
They encountered several more cultists, but it was shocking how easily avoided they were.
They reached the next set of stairs but Tibaut felt an odd feeling staring into them.
(“This feels different.”)
Whether it was his instincts or some other unseen force, he could tell there was something about the next floor.
Agnes had already begun going down the next flight of stairs and looked at Tibaut patiently.
“Hey, Agnes, do you feel anything different about this next floor?”
“Huh? No, not really.” She responded.
He sighed and decided to ignore his instincts in the meantime.
As they walked down the stairs, they had a few more words for Tibaut.
(“Hmm, based on the distance, I'd say you have two more floors to go down, excluding this one.”)
(“Really? Thank God, it'd suck if this place was as deep as Mementos.”)
They continued down and reached the third floor. There were no torches on this floor. And the silence was almost eerie. On the other floors the background noise of conversations of other people, and walking could be noticed if one really focused, but there was none of that here.
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“Hmm, guess there's no harm in doing this now.”
He created a small flame from his hand and thankfully, the major pain he felt from using his magic had subsided. He still felt sore doing it but he no longer screamed from the pain.
As his flame lit up the surroundings, this floor of the dungeon was already different from the other floors. It was much darker than the other two.
(“The floor above was darker than the earlier one but it seems you're lacking when it comes to differentiating colours.”)
He decided giving her no attention was the best course of action. He looked around and noticed dust on the floor.
He bent down and wiped some off the floor with his finger. It had no obvious effect, so it wasn't poisonous. But it was too white to merely be regular dust.
“Hey, Agnes, what is this stuff?” He asked, pointing it towards her.
“I'm not sure. Father Daniel always tells us not to head to the lower floors. I don't think I've seen powder like that anywhere else in the dungeon.” She said. She continued observing the powder but nothing came to her mind.
Tibaut shrugged his shoulders. Figuring out what this powder was wasn't going to finish his task any faster.
“You walk forward, it'll buy me some time to attack if they see you first.”
“Oh, okay.”
(“I probably could have worded that better. I made it sound like she was a meat shield or something.”) He lamented. She had already gotten in front of him so there was no point trying to take back what he said.
They continued walking and Tibaut noticed murals on the wall. They seemed to be fires, though at their size it'd be more appropriate to call them embers.
They continued walking and noticed another difference compared to the first two floors. There weren’t any boxes or containers of any kind blocking off areas.
They stopped at a four-way intersection, unsure of where to go.
“Well, shit. I guess this wouldn't be a dungeon if it didn't branch off in various directions.” He said. He observed each of the three directions available to them and none of them had any distinguishing features. No symbols, no different coloured paths. Hell, by his eyes they looked to be of even width and height as well.
“Any ideas?” He asked her.
“No. S-sorry.” She responded as she twiddled her fingers.
“Don't worry about it.” He said as he patted her shoulder.
As she tried to contain her joy, Tibaut was busy thinking of the path to take.
(“Hmm, I've heard in a maze you're always supposed to walk left. It should work in a dungeon right?”)
With nothing but a vague rumour he had heard in his previous left, he wasted no time choosing the left path.
They saw nothing but the same terrain for several minutes until Tibaut stopped Agnes from stepping on an obvious button.
“Be more careful Agnes, who knows what could have happened if you stepped on that.”
“Sorry.” She responded with her head held down.
“Just keep an eye out for them. Actually, I don't think I've heard a single footstep so we can switch around if you'd like.”
She formed her arms in a cross and shook her head. “No, it's fine. (Urgh, I was hoping for something to happen. Oh well, even helping him out like this should close some gaps between us.”) She hoped anyway.
For most of their exploration, she couldn't help but imagine fantasies about him. Most would consider this putting the cart before the horse but she wanted instant gratification more than anything.
They continued walking but they heard something lurking further ahead.
----------------------------------------
“Hmm, I suppose they must have recommended this place as our base proper, for a reason.”
Father Daniel was in front of a giant gate. It looked cracked but he knew better than anyone that must have been an aesthetic choice. It was anything but weak.
As he looked at it, in his hand was a light pouch of divine powder.
“It seems the powder’s effects are amplified in this dungeon.”