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Leafers 3

The air on the second floor was much different than on the first one, humidity was significantly higher and the temperature lower. The Leafers suddenly appeared in the middle of a huge cave that heavily resembled a well, they were on the bottom of it, surrounded by raging waters and a defeaning waterfall on the walls of this hole. A small island right in the middle of this madness stood tall and proud as if an ancient knight among enemy soldiers.

"Welcome to your grave." An old member of the group said grimly and looked at the water beneath him.

Elizabeth gave the group some time to take in the landscape before their eyes and in the meantime made sure that her plan was flawless. The cave was enormous, at least two hundred meters wide and three times as high. The only source of light were bright green mushrooms and glowing crystals which made the entire atmosphere feel magical and mysterious. Sight of hundreds of bats and other flying creatures above their heads drew the attention of mercenaries, leading to some people bumping into each other and slipping on the wet ground.

"How are we supposed to do anything here? There is no way out of this island." Arath approached Elizabeth.

"There are many ways, trust me. We are Elementalists after all, if a pond like this is too much for us, we can give up any hope on going forward. We will need a strong Ice Elementalist to make way for us and many people like you to make sure nothing eats us. Don't worry I have been here during the last cycle so I know what to do, just do as I say." She smiled and explained.

Arath noticed all the built-up stress and anxiety behind that smile. Death of her comrades, leading a team into the most dangerous place they could be at the moment and her follower's expectations didn't allow her to get the neccessary sleep. She was ready to break at any moment but not once forgot to put up the facade of a strong leader before her teammates.

'She needs a break, not just for herself, all of our lives depend on her decisions. If we want to see the sky at least once in our lives we need to get get our business done here as quickly as possible and go back to beds.' Arath thought as he thanked for the explanation. 'According to the Hero's notebook the most dangerous creatures live under the water surface and behind the waterfalls. Blood Bats and other flying monsters have their nests in caverns behind the water curtain, and this is why Giant Spiders build their nets in spaces like that.'

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One after another groups started to appear in an array on top of the sharp rock and soon the island was full with people. Leaders who wanted to cooperate and work with each other started to make plans, while ones that were sure of their team's skills didn't waste any time and ordered their Ice and Water Elementalists to make a way for the rest. They all tried to get to the other bank of the lake, precisely into caves that could lead them to higher parts of this floor.

"We can all go together and defeat every moster that attacks and hope nothing big notices us or split and fight for ourselves." Elizabeth discussed the plan with three other leaders who were eager to cooperate. "My bet is in a big and strong group, many smaller groups have already made their moves so the monsters should be distracted for a while. I believe the more of us there are, the bigger the chance of success."

Two other commanders nodded their heads and only one wasn't convinced. He looked at his people, his group was the strongest so he was sure they could handle all minor dangers on their own and just needed other groups to taunt bigger ones. He shook his head, stood up and left without a word.

"So, now, we all agree on this plan?" She made sure no one had different opinion and gave sign for all adventurers to prepare.

The combined group consisted of over fifty elementalists, who at just the signal of their leaders were ready to move on after just a minute. Ice Elementalists in the front and on the rear, Arath and Water Elementalists on the sides, while the rest moved in the middle. In this formation the mercenaries started to leave the island and moved forward on water freezed by Ice Elementalists, it was incredibly slippery but they didn't have much choice but to try their best to maintain balance. The distance they had to cover to get to a dry place was no less than sixty meters and the closer they got to the walls of this well the more furious the lake seemed to be and the harder it tried to get rid of unwanted visitors. Monsters were, on the other hand, delighted to see such meaty and tasty prey so they didn't want to let go easily either. About half way through, a roar, even louder than the waterfall, invaded everyone's ears. A giant creature that resembled a fish jumped out of the depths of the lake and devoured few people from the group that decided to leave in the last moment. It's five meters wide jaw easily swallowed them and the monster escaped in a blink of an eye using it's eight fins.

"It's a Leviathan!" One of the Water Elementalists panicked and tried to escape but soon was hit hard by reality, when he realized he was in the middle of the lake with no way to escape.

"They were unlucky, they faced exactly what they were trying to avoid by not moving in a big group." One of the other leaders turned to Elizabeth and said.

She hurriedly pulled a map from her bag and put a thick "X" in the place where the Leviathan attacked. When asked about this she just answered:

"Big fish rarely change their hunting area, we must avoid that place at all cost."