While exploring the first floor with Talis resting on my shoulder, we encountered many stone centipedes; however, they, at best, slowed us down before I continued walking through the dungeon.
"So, how was that? Dangerous enough for you?" Asked Alexander with a light smile while resting against the dungeon wall.
"While I'll admit this place is more dangerous than I expected, it's still not more dangerous than what I'm forced to experience, and since you don't live here, it's not nearly as dangerous." Replied Talis with a few high-pitched chirps while gently flapping her wings as she stood atop Alexander's shoulder.
"Heh, knowing how stubborn you can be at times, I expected that; however, just so you know, this place has five different areas, and this one was by far the most peaceful." Stated Alexander with a slight chuckle as he raised his hand and pointed Trina at a newly formed hole a centipede attempted to exit from, blasting it with a fireball, killing the monster instantly.
"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and take me to those so-called dangerous areas; considering how treacherous this area was, the other areas are probably only slightly more dangerous at best." Said Talis, stubbornly refusing to admit defeat.
Knowing how stubborn she is, I'll probably have to visit the third floor if I wish for her to admit defeat, and even then, that might not be enough; so with a sigh, I continued heading down the path, which happened to be the way to the second floor. Since we were approaching the second floor, we were hardly attacked on our small journey, giving us a slight break as we walked through the smelly dungeon. However, that didn't last for long since the moment we arrived on the second floor; we were quickly assaulted with almost hordes of centipedes, along with the rare sight of an alpha leading the charge.
'This is why I prefer to skip the second floor and go straight toward the third floor; there may be more alphas there, but at least there isn't such a massive amount of monsters.' Thought Alexander in annoyance as he launched various fire attacks at the incoming horde, opting to use more of his magic rather than fight physically since Talis was on his shoulder.
Burning nearly all of the centipedes with a [Fire Breath], I launched two [Fire Balls] at the two remaining alpha centipedes that managed to survive the initial attack, successfully killing the first of many hordes we will be encountering on the second floor.
"Before you say anything, wait until we explore more of the second floor; this was merely the welcoming party." Said Alexander with a slight smirk as he glanced at Talis, who merely huffed and folded her wings while they continued exploring.
The journey through the second floor was the same as any other time; we'd get hit with a large wave of centipedes being led by one or two alphas, which I easily and quickly dispatched before they even managed to arrive within three meters of us. After being assaulted with a wave of monsters, we would be given a break, ranging from ten minutes to half an hour, before a horde of monsters attacked us again.
I suppose that's the beauty of the second floor; if you can survive the first assault with minimal to no injuries, then the remaining attacks will be pretty useless, though anything is possible. Finally arriving at the pathway toward the third floor after being assaulted with numerous waves of monsters and killing possibly two-hundred-plus centipedes, I glanced at Talis, only to see she was frowning, which caused me to smirk as even though she was most likely going to deny it, this place is more dangerous.
"So, how about the second floor? This place has got to be more dangerous, right?" Asked Alexander with a smile when he noticed her change in expression.
"Nope, not at all; this floor is only slightly more dangerous because they have that alpha, as you call it; other than that, it's hardly different from the first floor." Replied Talis with a frown while shaking her head; although Alexander could easily tell she wasn't being truthful, he didn't expose her, at least not yet.
"You're a tough cookie to please; however, I know for a fact the third floor is more dangerous, and if you still say it isn't, then I know you're lying." Remarked Alexander with a smirk as he sat down against the dungeon wall while resting his greatswords atop his lap.
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"Hmm, why are you just sitting here? Aren't we heading toward the third floor? Or have you possibly chickened out?" Questioned Talis with a prideful smirk as she hopped off Alexander's shoulder and landed on the ground before him, though her words caused his face to twitch.
"That's real rich coming from you, Talis; chickens are practically your cousins." Said Alexander with a shake of his head.
"Hmph, don't compare me to those fat, flightless land creatures that dare call themselves birds; just because we both have feathers doesn't mean we aren't related at all!" Stated Talis in mild anger as she attempted to claw Alexander's knee, though she couldn't pierce his armor.
"Hehe, whatever you say, Talis; however, if we are going to the third floor, I'll need to refill my mana since I'm quite limited in close combat as I have a small little bird to take care of." Replied Alexander with a slight chuckle as he glanced at his status panel.
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Mana: 3,245/5,020
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Although my mana was still over half-filled, I wasn't really in the mood to take stupid and unnecessary risks, especially when it wasn't only my life I had to worry about; besides, unlike I, Talis doesn't have an ability that'll literally revive her if killed, not to mention, I'm not able to fight in close combat, my movements would more than likely knock her off my shoulder.
"Well, don't take a long time." Said Talis as she sat down, giving up attempting to claw Alexander after seeing she had barely left a scratch on his armor.
With the help of the skill, [Meditation], it didn't take long until my mana was filled up; probably only ten or so minutes later, Talis and I were already walking through the pathway as we headed toward the treacherous third floor, though thankfully, there isn't a welcoming party this time.
"So is this to be the third floor, which is supposed to be more dangerous than the previous floor? It looks quite peaceful to me." Remarked Talis while surveying her empty surroundings from the perch on Alexander's shoulder.
I didn't say anything and merely shook my head as the moment she opened her beak, I sensed several centipedes, along with multiple alpha centipedes, digging through the walls of the dungeons as they hurriedly made their way toward us; not even fifteen seconds later, the first alpha centipede emerged from the stone wall as it angrily screeched at us before mindlessly charging at us.
As I've been using mainly fire-based spells so far, I opted to use some wind attacks; the only reason I use fire-based spells more often than wind-based spells is because I enjoy using fire; that's it. Eyeing the incoming monster, I raised Trina above my head and imbued her with wind mana before slashing down toward the centipede, causing a large, curved blade of wind to shoot toward the monster; before it could even react, the wind blade sliced right through the monster as it continued until it collided with the dungeon wall behind it, creating a two-inch deep gash in the wall.
Watching the alpha centipede suddenly stop moving before it separates in two long ways and falls on the ground was quite a disturbing sight, if I will say so, though I noticed Talis didn't show any reaction to such a thing, which, given her living conditions, is expected; I'm sure she's probably seen many things more disturbing than this. Once the centipede died, the other monsters exited their holes while all releasing screeches as they came charging toward me with the intention of ripping us to shreds, but they were quickly taken care of like the previous centipede.
'Heh, finally leveled up.' Thought Alexander with a slight smirk as he viewed his status panel, which displayed him at level forty-two.
The rest of the third floor went similar to this; other than the increased number of alpha centipedes, this floor really wasn't much different than the first floor, and from the look on Talis's face, I had a feeling she was going to use that as an excuse for its lack of danger; however, not like my presence is helping my case, with how easily I'm defeating the monsters, anyone would think this place isn't that deadly.
Once we arrived at the end of the third floor, my mana was slightly below half, but other than that, we were completely fine; looking at Talis, I didn't even need to say anything since one glance was enough for me to read her facial expression, though her body language and heart were saying different things.
"So, I'm assuming this place hadn't impressed you much?" Asked Alexander blandly while eyeing Talis, who nodded in response, causing him to sigh.
"Nope, this place was even weaker than the second floor." Stated Talis stubbornly as she firmly nodded her head.
"I'll say, Talis, you're unreasonably stubborn for no reason; why can't you just admit you're wrong?" Questioned Alexander in slight annoyance as he folded his arms and tapped his foot while staring at Talis, who had landed on the ground before him.
"I'm not wrong, Alex!" Replied Talis loudly as she looked at Alexander.
"Then why are you raising your voice, hmm? You're acting guilty." Said Alexander with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmph, fine; since you seem so dead-set on thinking I'm lying, let's explore the fourth floor since I'm sure it's probably even weaker than this floor!" Exclaimed Talis, and without so much as a warning, she started flying down the pathway, heading into the deadly fourth floor.