Seeing Talis take off, flying down the pathway to the fourth floor, I was momentarily stunned as I couldn't believe what had just happened, and my slight hesitation allowed Talis to disappear down the path. I've always known Talis was very stubborn and willing to do nearly anything, just so she may be correct, but I also know she isn't stupid enough to throw herself into danger willingly; if she were, she most likely wouldn't have survived this long, so seeing her fly away by herself stunned me.
"Talis! Get back here this instance!" Yelled Alexander in worry and anger as he clutched his greatswords and quickly ran after Talis, following her scent.
While following the scent trail of Talis, I quickly entered the fourth floor, and the instance I did so, there were already numerous alphas scurrying about on the ground, which slightly surprised me since they are usually hiding about in the walls; however, when I thought about it since Talis had just flown through here, they must've sensed her presence, specifically her soul, and exited the walls of the dungeon.
When I arrived, they instantly turned their attention to me and released a loud screech as they came charging toward me, all while baring their pincers that were powerful enough to bite me in two.
'Ugh, I don't have time for this! I need to find Talis quickly!' Thought Alexander with a hardened gaze as he used his skill [Wind Steps], which increased his speed, allowing him to nimbly maneuver through the numerous centipedes.
'Master, are you sure that's the best Idea? What happens when you find Talis and attempt to leave? If it's just you, I'm sure you'd be fine, but if you're protecting someone, it will be incredibly difficult.' Advised Trina while Alexander dashed through the groups of alpha centipedes.
Hearing Trina, I momentarily slowed down while eyeing the various centipedes, and while doing so, I deeply pondered her words since what she had said was something I had overlooked as I was too busy thinking of finding Talis that I didn't once think about how we'd escape.
'Dammit, Trina's right; if I continue to ignore them while chasing after Talis, they'll follow after me and continue to pile up into a bigger bunch until an entire horde follows behind me. At that point, it'll be nearly impossible for me to escape while protecting Talis.' Thought Diddy with a hardened gaze as he tightly clutched Trina and her elder sister.
I've already passed a few groups of centipedes, and I wasn't going to go back and kill them off; doing so would waste too much time, something I don't have right now. However, from here on out, I'll be killing every monster I come across, and although it'll slightly slow me down, it won't be by too much. Besides, Talis may be a very fast flyer, but she shouldn't have gotten too far.
'Alright, no time to be conserving my strength; going to have to go all out.' Thought Alexander as he began to fill his body with neutral mana, significantly increasing his physical prowess while readying his greatsword.
Now that I don't have to worry about protecting Talis, I can go all out and fight up front, which Is my preferred fighting style, though I also love incorporating magic spells in there as well. While still using [Wind Steps], I appeared right above an alpha centipede, and without waiting for the monster to respond, I slashed down, slicing right through its hard carapace like butter as I killed it in one attack, not even allowing it the opportunity to dodge.
After killing that one, I kicked the ground and launched myself toward a nearby centipede that had opened its pincers, intending to crush me with them, though unluckily for it, I had many options to kill it. Pointing Trina toward the monster, I swiftly created a [Fire Ball] before launching it at the monster, hitting it dead square in its face, burning its eyes and jaw though the monster hardly reacted to that; however, with its eyes burnt, it lost track of me.
Although, considering where they live, their eyesight is naturally bad as they live in complete darkness, so they mainly sense their surroundings through vibrations on the ground that they pick up with their feet so burning their eyes hardly did anything, but I'm not currently on the ground, so to the monster, I might as well be invisible.
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Once I neared the monster, using Trina's elder sister, I sliced right through its head and part of its back before my greatsword exited its body while coated in disgusting monster blood. Having killed two of the monsters, I quickly dashed to the remaining centipedes and killed them as well before continuing following Talis's scent, though I wasn't ever allowed peace for too long as I would come across a group of monsters like every other minute.
After about fifteen minutes of chasing Talis and killing probably over one hundred centipedes, I started to get worried that something might've happened to her; if something happened to her, it could only be one thing. Death.
'Ugh, Fuck; damn you, Talis! There is no way I'm shouldering all the blame; you're also at fault! I swear I'll feed you to a Runebear when I find you!' Thought Alexander angrily as he bit his lip with a guilt-filled heart while following the seemingly endless trail.
A few more minutes passed, and by now, I'd just about cleared the entire floor, yet much to my concern, I'd still not located Talis, and this only left me with two options: either Talis headed back towards the third floor, or, something I sincerely hoped didn't happen, she ventured into the fifth floor, a place where even I hadn't gone too. However, as I approached the pathway that supposedly led to the fifth floor, I already had my answer, one that filled me with dread and determination.
'Haa, sorry about this, Master; I know you said not to enter the fifth floor, but now's an emergency. I have a stupid and stubborn bird I need to save.' Thought Alexander with a hardened gaze as he inhaled the air, smelling nothing but Talis's scent and the disgusting smell of a monster.
Taking a deep breath, I began walking down the dark pathway, and as I was doing so, Talis's scent became more potent, which only further resolved my assumption that she was down here; however, with each step, I could feel my heart speed up as if warning me of the looming danger, although I wasn't deterred, I would've liked the option to refill my mana, though time wasn't on my side, was it?
As I walked down the narrow pathway, it slowly began to open up, and it continued to do so, enlarging far bigger than any of the previous floors, causing me to wonder what type of monster I'd be facing.
'Since Master said this dungeon only has five floors, going by my video game logic, this would usually be the boss room; however, I truly hope I'm wrong.' Thought Alexander as he flared his senses to the maximum while entering the cavern, only to spot Talis standing motionlessly on the ground.
Once I fully entered the cavern, I first spotted Talis; though I did find it weird that she was standing motionlessly on the ground, I was more worried about her safety. However, just as I was about to approach her, I sensed danger from my left, and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an absolute monster, one so big even I needed to take a second and make sure I wasn't seeing things.
'Fuck me, I was correct.' Thought Alexander with widened eyes while his expression twitched as he stared at the massive monster.
Even though the monster was giant and probably about the size of a school bus, it was still a stone-centipede, at least from what I could tell; however, unlike every other monster I've encountered, this one didn't notice either I or Talis, and I had no intention of scanning it with my eyes to view its status panel.
Slowly and sneakily approaching Talis, when I arrived beside her, I lightly tapped her with my foot, breaking her out of her stupor and nearly making a sound, but she was quick enough to react in time. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to speak through our minds like Master, so I just motioned to her with my hands, which was really me, just pointing toward the exit and us nodding our heads.
After that, I began slowly making my way toward the exit while Talis followed right behind me; sadly, it just didn't seem to be our day, as in the middle of walking, Talis tripped over a pebble and nearly face-planted onto the ground; thankfully, I had caught her with my wind mana just in time before she hit the ground.
'Haa, thank goodness for my quick reflexes.' Thought Alexander as he sighed in relief, though, believe it or not, his actions had shifted the monster's attention toward them.
"Don't fucking give me that look, Talis; we are in this situation because of who!?" Exclaimed Alexander angrily as he swiftly grabbed Talis and embraced her while running away from the charging monster.
Contrary to its massive size, it was very speedy, and seeing it charge toward us while widely opening its large pincers, I was forced to jump over the monster just before it reached us as it snapped its pincers shut; however, because of our poor luck today, it slammed right into the wall, directly where our exit path.
"Are you kidding me?" Muttered Alexander with a depressed sigh as he landed on the ground behind the monster, viewing the only path, now blocked by rubble.