<~> CHAPTER 57

I stepped onto the new floor. It looked familiar, the walls were made of regularly spaced bricks almost identical to the blue ones from the trapped fifteenth floor. Instead of the blue of those bricks, these were a whitish-grey color instead. Maxwell told us that this current floor wouldn't take that long so we should try to make it through this floor today. We spent a little bit of time near the stairs to rest up before we continued on.

"Traps?" I asked Luna as we walked through the maze-like hallways once again.

("No, this floor doesn't have any traps on it and the only monsters on this floor are misty wolves and giant rats. Compared to the things we have been facing, not a challenge at all,") she told me.

("Are the misty wolves made of flesh?") I asked, switching to talking through the rings since I didn't know the monsters' names in this tongue yet.

("Kind of? They do have meat but it tastes strange so most people don't like it. They're mostly normal looking wolves, but they can use water and ice magic. They leave trails of mist behind them when they run, hence the name. Their magic probably isn't much of a danger to us, but like all wolf monsters, they fight in groups and use pack tactics. The giant rats aren't anything special though, they're just big rats. You don't have a problem with rats do you?")

I snorted. ("No. I've never really been squeamish around animals like that. Not really afraid of bugs either.")

She turned to me and smiled. ("I thought so. I used to be afraid of bugs but fighting in dungeons against giant ones will make you deal with that fear really quick. I still don't like them but I don't squeal like a kit anymore when I see them.")

("It's honestly kind of funny to think about you being scared of bugs,") I said.

She tilted her head to the side. ("How come?")

I shrugged. ("I don't know, you can use magic! It just feels like a little creepy crawly shouldn't be much of a concern when you can light them on fire.")

She giggled. ("Well, how do you think I got over my fear? Well... that and getting sprayed with bug ichor a few dozen times. Our early trips through the dungeon in Ironcastle got me used to them quickly. A couple of the early floors have giant bugs in that dungeon.")

("Any bugs in this dungeon?")

She looked up and tapped her chin. ("Not that I recall, but there might be some on the first five floors. Maxwell would know better than I would. There are so many adventurers on those early floors that a lot of the monsters get killed so quickly it would be entirely possible to go through the floors and never see all of the monsters on any given floor.")

("Does that mean eating all the different hearts up there isn't going to work?") I asked.

She frowned. ("I'm not sure if that's a good idea and I have a suspicion you wouldn't get much out of it anyway. Transforming on those early floors might send people into a bit of a panic and attack you.")

("What did you mean about that first part? That I wouldn't get much out of it?")

She shook her head. ("Because I'm a spellcaster, I have an innate sense of how mana flows and I can sense it if I concentrate. I didn't realize it was happening right away, but after we suspected you were eating mana in addition to the monster's meat, I was able to observe your mana the next time you ate one of their hearts. When you eat the hearts of monsters, the mana flows through you and absorbs into your mana pool, strengthening your altered form. Sometimes those changes carry over to your human form as well and your mana signature subtly changes. While the monsters on the tenth floor had pretty strong effects on your altered body, they didn't have as much mana so it didn't strengthen your mana pool as much. By the time we're at the fifth floor and above you might be getting next to nothing from them. Tracking each one down may be a waste of time.")

I had been thinking as much as well based on how much worse the monsters were tasting on every floor we went up. ("Do you think the potential alterations to my form would be worth it at least?") I asked.

("I would have said no before, but the monsters on the tenth floor had stronger effects on you than I would have expected. All we can really do is try and get away with it if no one's around on the fifth floor and above,") she replied.

Before we could continue our conversation, our group came across a dozen giant rats. When I say giant, I mean dog sized.

"Helena, Piper, block!" Maxwell called out.

The two of us ran to the front, created a wall of shields with Maxwell, and blocked off the corridor. These rats are so gigantic that I would have been a lot more worried about them if I hadn't already faced worse on my trip through the dungeon. I felt the warm prickle of mana collecting as a large circle of magic started to form in the room in front of us. Either the rats had no sense of self-preservation or they weren't aware of what was about to happen to them. They slammed their bodies against the three of us and tried to get through our little barricade, but with a little bit of positioning none of them made it through. While we were holding them off Aria had shot several arrows at the rats through my legs and between the gaps between the three of us, much to my chagrin. However, each arrow hit a rat and sent it flying to the other side of the room without a single incident of friendly fire.

In a great swell of heat, the entire room the rats were in lit up and all of the remaining rats died instantly to Luna's magic. They didn't seem like difficult enemies, but I suppose Maxwell chose that strategy to make sure no one got overwhelmed. Luna's magic is a safe bet for situations where they mindlessly threw themselves at us. When it was clear there were no more enemies, Maxwell followed Aria over to some of the rats she had nailed with her arrows and they talked while Aria retrieved them.

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Piper came over and gently elbowed me in the side and nodded over to the two of them. "Looks like Aria's .... impressed my brother," she said with a grin.

("Aria's what?") I asked. I couldn't help but have let some of my amusement seep into my voice.

("Shooting, you horn dog,") Piper said with a chuckle after teaching me a new word. "Though I'm pretty sure he likes her ass too. I've caught him looking." Even Luna giggled at that one.

"What do you think of Aria?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Maxwell could do worse than with her. I've asked and she isn't engaged or married and I think they get along well. Things could go sideways depending on what happened with the rest of Aria's team but I suppose we'll see what happens when it comes to it."

"What's this about Aria's team?" I asked.

Piper sighed. "With how we found her, I'd say the odds of her teammates being alive are low. None of us have talked about it but I think everyone, except you I guess, has come to the conclusion that she's on her own now. If she gets confirmation that they're dead or missing, or even if they are alive things could change rapidly. She could be holding onto hope that her friends made it out somehow and could break down when we reach the surface. Or if they are alive, she would be forced to choose between her friends and Maxwell, a .... lover. A lot of things could happen and we haven't talked about them yet."

I nodded. "I see."

Just then Aria came over to me holding one of the dead rats in her arms. It looked even creepier dead than alive if I'm being honest. I wasn't lying when I told Luna that rats didn't bother me but giant dead rat corpses the size of dogs was a little grosser than I thought. This one had been killed by one of Aria's arrows and was knocked out of Luna's spell before it could be charred to death like the other ones.

"Do you need to eat one of these?" she asked.

I was a little grossed out by it, but despite myself, my mouth was still watering. I was starving and perhaps a little mana-deficient after my last close call with the giant ballerina clockwork. I sighed and took the giant rat from her before gently placing it on the ground and sinking my teeth into it.

The meat was more appetizing than I was expecting but the mana content was much lower than the monsters on the tenth floor. Still, it was good enough to sate my hunger so I kept tearing off meat and swallowing it down. Eventually, I made it to the heart and ate it in two bites. I felt a prickle in my whiskers and I was suddenly a bit more aware of the movement of the air against them. It was an odd feeling, it wasn't a sense that I was used to, but also not as overwhelming as some of the other sensory upgrades I had received so far. I could easily tell which way the air was moving in the dungeon without much thought now though. An odd thing to be aware of at all times but not unwelcome. I poked at one of the whiskers on my wolfy face to see if they would be painful to touch, but fortunately, there didn't seem to be any drawbacks from eating the heart this time.

("Anything good?") Luna asked curiously. I think she may have started treating me as a bit of a puzzle to solve without realizing it, but I don't think I mind.

"My..." I pointed to my whiskers.

Piper told me the word I was missing.

"My whiskers are more sensitive. I can feel the air moving now. It's moving in that direction," I said pointing down one of the nearby corridors.

Piper's brow wrinkled in thought and she walked over to Maxwell. I just shrugged and continued eating the rat. It was a bit less gross now that I had eaten half of it already. I had nearly eaten the entire thing before deciding I didn't want to pick around all the bones for more. None of the other rats survived being char-broiled so I decided to save my appetite for the interesting wolves Luna had told me about instead.

Maxwell walked over as I was finishing up. "Piper said you can feel the air moving?"

I nodded. "That's what I got from the rat," I told him.

"That may be the direction of the stairs. Do you want to see if it is leading us the right way?" he asked.

My eyebrows rose. I hadn't considered the air might be leading anywhere but it made sense. "Are you sure it will lead up and not down?" I asked.

"No, but the direction you pointed isn't directly behind us, so I think it's worth looking. We still have a little bit of time so it won't be a big .... if we go in circles for a little while. If it does help us find the stairs up, it could save us a lot of time instead."

"Alright, I'm interested in trying it out then," I replied.

"Great," he said with a smile. "In that case, point the way and Aria will scout ahead for us."

"Sure." I didn't think Aria's scouting was necessary since I could hear and smell the monsters better on this floor, but I wasn't going to rain on her parade either. Maxwell and Aria both seem happy about the arrangement so who am I to say anything? I'll just make a point of warning everyone if I hear something unusual.

I indicated the path again to Aria and she nodded before quietly going on ahead of us while we followed behind her at a slower pace. While I could track monsters a little bit, I found that I didn't particularly mind letting someone else scout the path. It let me reserve more energy for the fights. Not that we were fighting anything all that challenging anymore, other than the bosses.

I licked my chops, I could go for some wolf meat though. While I didn't think it would hold up to the umber hound that I had eaten when I woke up, I would be happy if it echoed the flavor a little bit.