They reached the fourth floor and the colour of the stone tiles and the floor was unmistakably black. It wasn't a dark grey but it wasn't exactly Vanta Black either. It made the white dust stand out even more and Tibaut was starting to get concerned with how much of it was around.

(“Seriously, what is this stuff? I hope it isn't cancerous.”)

(“Demons.”)

That casual answer had Tibaut doing a double take. (“D-demons?”)

(“Specifically the remains of them. There must have been quite the battle here for so much remains to be left behind.”)

Tibaut decided asking would probably leave him with more questions than answers so he condensed his concerns into a single question.

(“Is there a chance I'll have to fight some demons?”)

(“Possibly. I can't believe there's a chance of seeing any of those rats here.”) The drake continued, sounding annoyed rather than any sort of concern.

Tibaut held his face in his hands and took a deep breath.

(“If these guys are anywhere on the same level as the guy that attacked Elizabeth, then I'm screwed. No doubts about it.”)

Well, this was the hand he was dealt and he now had an extra incentive (of the already many) to do what he had to quickly and then get out as fast as humanly possible.

The walls also had a flame aesthetic but they were more pronounced than the previous floor. The embers had now grown to human-sized fires. These carvings stretched across the walls and as far as he knew throughout the entire dungeon.

As Agnes watched his internal turmoil…

(“Is he the broody type? Oh please lord let him be the broody type. I mean I'll be fine with him being anything but, oh my, if he's one of those morally grey types who does what he needs with a dark past and I'm the one to show him the joy he once possessed then-”)

“I gotta say, Agnes,”

She immediately stiffened and turned towards him. He was already a few feet ahead of her.

“That magic is actually pretty powerful.”

Now that he thought about it, that weird girl from earlier was insanely strong, which made it all the more surprising that Agnes’s magic stopped her. He didn't consider asking her for help because it didn't even occur that it would do anything, other than put her in the one-winged woman's crosshairs.

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She ran up to him and tried her best to hide the growing smile on her face.

“Well, I guess there's a reason they decided I was worth training up.” She said with a stiffened face.

“(Yikes, based on her face she probably thinks I'm talking her down. Should I just change topics?) Anyway, I just want to check something in case we get in any trouble. Can you fire off that magic quickly?”

“Ye-” She closed her mouth and thought about it for a moment. (“Well the problem isn't how quickly I can fire it but how long it takes me to aim it. Ugh, I can imagine the disappointment on his face if say “I can shoot it rapidly but because I suck at most things in life I can't aim quick enough to make use of it.” Sigh maybe I would have put more effort into magic when I was younger if I knew I was gonna meet him.”)

“N-no, it takes me a while to aim charge up.” She nearly bit her tongue when aim came out but quickly recovered. (“Damnit I even thought about not saying yet it came out anyway!”)

“I see. I guess it makes sense it seems pretty potent. Alright, for the time being, if we get in any sort of trouble, just stay as far back as you can and wait for the prime opportunity to fire.”

“Okay. (He didn't notice!)” She pumped her fist in the air thanks to her slick recovery (in her mind anyway).

The pair continued their journey and this floor of the dungeon was incredibly more treacherous than the floor prior. For example, they found their first body in a spike pit Agnes nearly walked into. In unrelated matters, this part of the dungeon also had spike pits, some opened and as Tibaut would discover, some yet to be found.

(“A body? Wait is a skeleton considered a body or just a skeleton... eh who cares? How long ago did someone die here, anyway?”)

The body contained only the metal of its armour and a sword or two were alongside it in the pit. Any leather or cloth that was there likely had been reduced to dust due to how long it had been here.

(“Oh my, that's about seven hundred years old, isn't it? Hoh, so it's one of these dungeons, I remember hearing about these places when she was trying to destroy humanity.”)

(“Got an explanation for me?”) He asked pleadingly.

(“...”)

(“I should have known.”)

(“Hehe.”)

(“Don't giggle at me you… oh, whatever.”)

He rolled his eyes and walked away from the pit. As they walked through the floor, Tibaut suddenly remembered the auto-mapping feature in some JRPGs he had played and remembered they had a base in reality. And by that, he remembered the fact people would make maps in areas they hadn't explored.

He couldn't find any paper but wasn't deterred. After thinking of the alternatives, he determined his shirt would make a viable substitute. His blood from fighting Elizabeth had left irreparable stains on it and he wasn't sure if bleach existed in this world so he was probably going to toss it anyway (Not to mention the cuts on it). He handed it to Agnes and created some soot on a nearby wall. He convinced Agnes to stain her fingers with it to use as a makeshift pen.

“Alright, I'm counting on you, Agnes.”

Seeing him shirtless turned Agnes’s mind into overdrive. While he wasn't as lean as he was a few weeks ago, he still looked better off than other boys his age and even some men (as long as they weren't adventurers).

She simply nodded while strongly clutching his shirt.