3 Dungeon days later

  I have been having a nightmare of a time getting to the lake. It seems while I was resting the 1st day, not only did the stinking Spider Moth not stop following me, but it also brought friends too. It was when I awoke from my meditations, I noticed way too many magoi signatures surrounding the boulder; magoi signatures of Spider Moths…uuhh… With no other choice, I evoked earth magoi and tunneled downwards while covering the tunnel behind me. Like a mole I burrowed for an entire day occasionally encountering the uniquely passive magic beast, Night Moles.

  These magic beasts are beyond scary in appearance. They are so ugly and frightening in appearance, even Fr*d** K*e***r would be afraid to go to sleep fearing one of these guys will appear. Despite that, the magic beast is more afraid of others than we are of them, so they will typically crouch down and cover their heads with their paws waiting for others to go away before continuing their burrowing. Thanks to the Night Moles, I was able to travel along their tunnels and avoid many near death encounters.

  It would be another day in the mole tunnels before I surfaced. Once out, I scanned my surroundings and noticed even though I was less than a day away from the lake, I was in the center of three giant hordes of monsters, all being monsters I had encountered before, Spider Moths, Crypt Stalkers, and Night Creepers. Apparently, that hateful Spider Moth was still somehow following me and brought his friends. Talk about an overly persistent bastard! In the process of tracking me, it entered an all-out war between the other 2 hordes of which the Spider Moths blatantly crossed into their territory.

  Not daring to stick around, I ran like hell towards the lake, this time no monsters followed me, thank God!! I swiftly made my way to the lake without rest, avoiding every monster that was in my path. I was not about to waste time fighting when those Spider Moths might target me again. After another twenty-some odd hours, I reached the lake which glowed in a bluish luminescent glow. Relieved, I approached only to find out it was not the lake I was supposed to head towards.

  According to the map information Lucas provided us, the lake was a massive body of water able to fit other lakes the size of the Great Lakes in North America inside it. In addition, there is a massive mountain sitting in the middle of the lake with an abandoned fortress carved out from the side of the mountain. That is where we are to meet, at the foot of the fortress. In contrast, the lake before me does not have a mountain inside it, nor is it as large as Lucas said it would be. Pulling up a copy of the map in the system menu while holding a paper copy of Lucas’ map I was able to determine my location.

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  Currently I am at the southernmost point of the 1st floor. I had teleported into the dungeon and landed at the easternmost point within this region. According to Lucas’ map information the lake in front of me is called the Guardian’s Bath since the floor guardian frequents this location. This would explain why I saw the floor guardian when I first surveyed the area. To reach the real lake in question, it would take at least 20 days to at most a total of 50 days.

  One might think this time various was abnormal, and they would be right. The causes are two routes that lead to the lake, the safest taking about 50 days with monster encounters included, and the fastest route being through an underground river starting from the Guardian’s Bath which Lucas had labelled the river Styx since very few adventurers have succeeded in coming out alive. Weary from my running and the disappointment caused by my incorrect observations days ago, I looked for a place to rest for a few hours. I decided to take the safer route even if that meant taking more time.

  I set up camp not far from the lake’s edge. When I first reached the lake, I was unsure what caused the glow, but now that I look, I was able to see glowing aquatic life inside the lake, the biggest and greatest illuminating the entire lake, but nowhere else did their glow travel as if a barrier of shadow wrapped around the lake. The glowing creatures are the among the few magic beasts that inhabit this dungeon like Night Moles called Sun Bass, with the giant one at the bottom being a Luna Whale. These magic beasts are among the few magic beasts in which both monsters and the races leave well enough alone given they provide light and purified magoi to the area around them.

  To be honest, the never-ending darkness did get to me. Seeing my own features and my surroundings again helped (regardless of the dark elven passive sight ability) with the fact I was alone in dangerous territory. Unlike my time at the Ancestral glade, I was not truly alone since the Dark Elf settlement was a few minutes away. Here, my party members are all scattered while we race to the rendezvous point. All I can do is hope and pray they remain safe until we reunite. With that thought, I set up a Safe house, and went to sleep.

-End of Chapter