Durreg and I stood at our destination, a strange sight in front of us. Large vine-covered trees blocked the sight of everything above their thick branches, loud bird and bug chirps could be heard everywhere, and colorful flora covered the ground. As I stepped on the floor, wet mud covered my boots as the tall grass bent to make way for us. Most shocking of all, the jungle before us was bright, warm, and humid, as if we were on a hot summer day.

“Are you sure you didn’t take us to an exit?” Durreg wondered, staring at our surroundings.

“Ah yes, the tunnel that kept going downwards would take us back to the surface!” I said sarcastically, as Durreg rolled his eyes.

“Well, how do you explain the sunlight then?”

“The entirety of the Serpent’s Throat is a desolate island. There is no way we’re on its surface, much less anywhere near anywhere with a jungle like this. This is definitely the second layer, but I don’t have an explanation for why it’s like this.”

“I don’t like this, something’s wrong. It’s hot enough for regular people to worry about heatstroke.”

“It doesn’t matter, our job hasn’t changed. It’s time to go hunting.” I said, stepping forward.

“Don’t just go rashly ahead! Stay behind me, I am the warrior!” he said, rushing to follow me.

***

In a few moments, as Durreg began to cut a path through the vines and bushes ahead of us, I kept track of our surroundings to prevent an ambush. I had a feeling that I wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

“Let’s try to find an open space, Durreg. I don’t like this area; too many hiding spots for us to get ambushed from.”

“Well, I’d love to, but I don’t know where we can find one. Can you climb up a tree and look for somewhere suitable?”

“Why don’t you just fly to the top yourse- oh wait. I am sorry, must suck to be an Earth Dragon.” I giggled, rushing to climb the nearest tree to the melody of Durreg’s curses.

I wish I could summon my wings to just fly straight up, but that would break the transformation spell and Azoth isn’t here to cast it again on me. Soon enough, I reached the top of the tree and looked straight at Durreg.

“Look who’s tiny now, cousin! What does the dirt smell like?!” I yelled at him, only to ignore whatever he said in response again.

Serves him right for messing with me on the first layer.

Pushing aside the branches on top of my head, I made enough room to finally take a look at the surrounding area.

All around us, a sea of treetops covered the land, with many hills and mountains scattered around. There were flowing rivers, but no large bodies of water in sight, and no particularly open area either. Many flocks of birds were flying about at different altitudes, although they were too far for me to make out many details. They seemed to be close to the hills and mountains rather than the jungle. Above me, I found clouds and a warm, dim light shining from all over the top of the sky, forming a ceiling of glowing rock.

“This scene is breathtaking… Who would’ve thought a place like this could exist underground?” I pondered.

“Well, might as well look for a spot with some visibility.”

I looked around to search for a suitable spot and found two suitable locations. The first is a nearby stream, which had some distance from the trees. The other was a hill, and although it was also covered by trees, they seemed to be much sparser, given the treacherous terrain.

“Time to give Durreg the news.”

I quickly climbed down the tree and let Durreg know what I saw.

“Did you see any monsters around the hill or the river?” Durreg asked.

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“I couldn’t make out much of the hill, but I did make out occasional movement on it. The river, meanwhile, was completely free of any monsters around the riverbed.”

Durreg frowned.

“Let’s go to the hill; The ground here is hard for me to use because of all the roots in it, but the hill should make it easier.”

“Shouldn’t we go to the river? No monsters around it means we can find our bearings easier and move from there.” I asked.

“No monsters being around the river is exactly why we’re avoiding it. Monsters avoiding a fresh water source like that gives me the creeps, and neither of us are water attributed, so getting dragged into the water by something in it can be a death sentence.”

Makes sense.

“Okay, let’s go then. Stay sharp, and we might be able to avoid getting ambushed on our way to the hill.” Durreg said, and we began to walk towards the hill.

***

Not long after we departed from the layer entrance’s location, we encountered the first monster in our path.

“Hold! There’s a monster sleeping ahead of us.” Durreg said, crouching low to hide behind a bush.

As I hid behind a tree, I took a look at the direction he pointed at.

[Abyssal Rhinoceros Beetle]

HP: 5250/5250

MP: 40/40

SP: 1800/1800

Vitality: 320

Strength: 300

Dexterity: 20

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Rank C creature. Wielding strength above its rank and an even tougher exoskeleton, the Abyssal Rhinoceros Beetle can plow through the defenses of even higher ranked opponents with terrifying momentum. With little gaps in its armor, its primary weaknesses are its near non-existential perception and intelligence, as well as it’s weak maneuverability and slow acceleration.

“The monster looks like it’s sleeping. Let’s get the hell out of here before it wakes up!” whispered Durreg furiously.

“Get out? This is the perfect monster for us to hunt!” I whispered back.

“Are you insane?! This thing has enough raw power to kill a rank B monster in one hit!”

“And it’s as dumb as a pile of rocks, can’t change directions quickly, and needs time to build its speed. It’s literally the perfect monster for sapient beings to hunt! And it’s SLEEPING, you pansy!”

Just as we were arguing, a pile of vines suddenly wrapped around our feet and flipped us over as it dragged us through the sky. Durreg screamed.

…Okay, maybe I did too.

Just a little.

Beneath us, a flower opened up sharp jaws that revealed a fleshy mouth.

[Abyssal Venus Monstertrap]

HP: 2000/2000

MP: 500/500

SP: 800/800

Vitality: 100

Strength: 150

Dexterity: 200

Intelligence: 120

Wisdom: 180

Rank C creature. The Abyssal Venus Monstertrap is a cunning ambush predator. With its treacherous vines, it can trap and restrain its prey, then drag the unfortunate prey to its powerful jaws which can finish its job for it. Its vines are covered in thorns that can inject a powerful paralyzing venom should its prey prove to be unwieldy.

“Kiara, cast something!” Durreg screamed.

“Like what you moro- AAAAAAHHHH!” I screamed as the Monstertrap threw me out of its vines towards its jaws, which just so happened to be wide open.

“HISSSSSSSSSSSSS” the Monstertrap, a little too eager to eat me, tried to swallow me in one bite.

In a desperate gamble, I held onto my staff and tried to angle it just right as I flew into its open maw, and my gamble paid off. As soon as I entered its mouth, my staff was wedged like a pillar preventing its mouth from crushing me into paste. My boots and the lower edges of my pants were slowly corroding in the monster’s digestive fluids as I tried to cast my only offensive spell.

“Kiara, watch out!” Durreg desperately screamed at me.

“Huh?” I said, turning around to see the thorny vines rushing straight at me. I wasn’t going to be able to dodge in time.

Just as I thought that Durreg threw his sword at the root of the vines with such power that they snapped as the blade dug itself to the hilt in the mud.

“I can’t buy you anymore time, Kiara! Kill it!” Durreg screamed, but he didn’t need to.

[Mana Blade]!

A rank C creature may have been able to resist a magic attack like this one to some extent, but the Monstertrap was not the most durable of its rank and was being attacked from its insides. As a result, most of its top jaw went flying, falling right next to the vines Durreg chopped off, and the kill notification showed itself to me.

You have killed an [Abyssal Venus Monstertrap Lv. 23]!

45,830 EXP awarded!

Experience gain from kill split between combatants based on contribution.

“Durreg, did you get that?” I asked, breathing heavily.

“I did. Just let me lie down for a while, that was too exciting for my tas-” he said but couldn’t finish his sentence before we got interrupted by a monster’s screech.

I had a feeling this has been happening a few times too many recently.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH!” the Beetle roared as it woke up, its beady eyes staring at us.

“Oh gods, the fight woke that thing up!” Durreg said despairingly, getting up and picking up his sword.

“Stop whining and get ready before this thing tramples us to death.” I said bitterly, shaking the monstertrap’s acid off my now bare feet.

I am starting to really hate this jungle.