Every group rushed with all their strength and tried to get on the safe, dry land. Two teams panicked and every member capable of movement on water tried to escape on their own leaving their comrades with no way to survive.
"That is the danger of second floor, it's not like this in every corner but you need to be very careful of where you go. One wrong turn and a second of inattention is all you need to become dinner for some monsters." Elizabeth warned her team.
Few experienced adventurers nodded in approval while newbies made mental notes of her words. They took a short break to give the Ice Elementalists a chance to breathe and recover some strength after using their abilites continously for a long time. Arath was assigned to the scout group together with Earth, Wind and Light Elementalists, one of each department. They moved at a slow pace to make sure nothing could surprise mercenaries behind, and left signs indicating where monsters went. The main force followed at a distance of fifty meters and got rid of any enemies that showed their faces. This went on for three long and exhausting hours, when no one had any remaining strength to fight they assigned guards and set up a temporary camp. To everyone's surprise one of newly recruited mercenaries was a cook hired by Elizabeth, who made a little campfire and prepared hot soup. The taste wasn't bad and there was not a single person whose belly didn't rumble so everyone wolfed down their meal and spent the rest on talking and laughing.
'That was a smart move, to bring a cook here even though we will be back home in few hours. Everyone is content right now and morale are high, she is certainly the best leader we could have.' Arath praised Elizabeth's skills in his mind.
After the rest, scout team changed it's members and Arath could vent off some steam this time round. The most common enemies were Giant Cave Spiders and Amphycertas, a lizard-like creatures with membranes between their legs and arms. It wasn't particularly dangerous, but thanks to it's unmatched speed in water and incredibly sharp teeth a group of them could easily kill even an experienced person. The corridors were so wide the group could move arm-to-arm and still fit, the only obstacles were streams of water blocking their path. From time to time the tunnel would become a huge well with water falling from higher caves, the sound generated from that was defeaningly loud and Elizabeth had to shout orders at the top of their lungs in order to be heard.
"Ice guys, freeze the pond, don't give them place to escape! Fire, boil them!" She ordered when over two dozens of Amphycertas started to walk out of water only to fake an escape trying to get their prey to walk into water where they had advantage.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The operation was finished in a blink of an eye, the creatures were now boiled and ready to be eaten. Elizabeth hit two birds with one stone, not only did she kill the monsters, she also prepared them. Amphycertas were renowned for their delicious meat, so catching over twenty of them was surely going to be turned into good money. Their bodies, the size of a human's head without a long tail, were packed and the group moved forward looking for opportunites to get some money.
"You are probably counting on getting a Blood Bat, aren't you?" Elizabeth asked him when she got some free time, when the other commander took over.
"Yeah, how did you know?" He asked sarcastically. "What gave me away, my unconcious friends? Thought so." He laughed when he saw flabbergasted face the woman made.
"It won't be as easy as you might think, Blood Bats don't live in tunnels. Your best bet would be to sneak into a small hole on the side of the Well and hope that you meet some in there. It won't be easy because the water will be pouring on you all the time, and no one can stand the strength of the waterfall unless they are a Water Elementalist. But don't worry, as weird as it might sound the Well is this level's tower. We, right now, are on the floor, not inside the dungeon, so eventually everyone will have to climb to the top. This will be your best opportunity as we will probably encounter some Blood Bats then." She explained.
"Don't worry, getting the blood now wouldn't make much sense. I don't have enough money for a good Poison Elementalist to extract the antivenom." He said with a grim expression.
"Oh, one more thing. Only two subspecies are immune to the Giant Cave Spider's poison so you need to find the right one. Killing them blindly won't really help you." She added.
"How can I recognize them?" Arath asked.
"Look for bats with red hair, huge ears and white spots on their foreheads."
Arath wasn't sure what to think, he had been certain that after entering second floor all he would need to do is find a random bat kill it, save some money and the job would be done. Now knowing what this level looked like he didn't know if he would be able to achieve his goal before being eaten by the Leviathan or other monster.
'Clara, I hope you will see Anga's worried face, you know? She has been taking care of you all this time. Ruby, who is the most tight-fisted person I have ever seen pays her even when she can't come to work. Carl and Ben, you fucked up in the last fight and it was partially your fault but you are good guys and I will need your help if we want to achieve something in the Tower. Our, normal people's, power are no match for monsters from higher levels so make sure to recover, you bastards!' He thought as he clenched his fists with frustration.