If there's anyone within the party who should be considered as having great luck, it would be Katya. Upon entering the dungeon, she and her golems were transported right to the fortress in the center of the lake, their rendezvous point. Despite her luck, Katya didn't hesitate to send both Gwenn and Raptor out to survey the area.
After 4 hours, Katya was able to review and analyze all the information provided by the 2 golems which in turn illuminated the fact the stairway to the lower floor was inside the fortress and was completely unguarded. Additionally, the monster within the fortress were pitifully weak as even Gwenn could easily kill them.
Katya would spend the next 4 days clearing out all the monsters from the entrance of the fortress all the way to the stairs down to the next floor. Afterwards, she decided to head over to what appeared to be an alchemic lab on the 2nd floor of the fortress. Once there, Katya worked on upgrading her golems to the next level knowing she would need to develop quickly to catch up with the others.
She would spend the next 25 days in the lab as her golems watched over the fortress, until Anansi arrived from the west. Spying Gwenn in the air, Anansi relaxed and entered the fortress while keeping in mind the light shining from a large window on the 2nd floor. When Anansi saw Katya hard at work, he did not disturb her, but proceeded to tend to his own equipment on the workbench next door.
After Anansi 10 days later, came Cavilhaugh from the north. He too went to the 2nd floor. Upon noticing both Anansi and Katya hard at work, he too fixed his equipment within the alchemic lab keeping enough distance between him and Katya so to not disrupt each other's work. It would be another 7 days before Ivy arrived at the fortress from the east. Once inside, she found Katya and gave her a big hug from behind. Such affection caused Katya to stop her work and return the embrace. After which, Katya inquired,
"Has anyone seen the bandit leader or the floor guardian? I've been here from the start but no sign of either could be found here." When asking the question, worry covered her face since Yuriy was the only one not present.
"Don't Worry, Katya. When entering the dungeon from the east, I encountered the bandit leader who was in the processes of meeting a fate worse than death. The floor guardian was nowhere to be found though." Ivy replied while releasing her embrace.
"I came from the north, but there was no sign of the floor guardian, only swarms of Spider Moths everywhere. Although they didn't seem to care about anything as they headed south. What about you, Anansi?" Cavilhaugh chimed in,
"I too saw no floor guardian. This could only mean it was in the south. Likewise, all I encountered were endless waves of Crypt stalkers, but they all seemed to be heading south for some reason."
Anansi said which sent red flags off in Katya and Ivy's hearts. Since everyone was sent to various parts of the dungeon, only one area was not accounted for among them, the southern region. This was of course where Yuriy encountered the growing hordes of monsters in an all-out war. At the time when he saw the three hordes, he did not consider the chance of more monsters appearing from the other regions of the floor.
…
Going back 50 Dungeon days prior-
At the glowing lake full of Sun Bass and a Luna Whale-
I woke up suddenly to the noise of monsters wailing and stones shattering. Not wasting any time, I prepared for battle. Yet, what appeared before me was a sight full of the worst luck possible. The three hordes of monsters I ran from earlier somehow made their way here but did not shrink with their constant fighting.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
No, in fact the hordes are bigger than what I remember. This was not the worst part however. While the hordes had been fighting, the floor guardian awoke and is now fighting the hordes. As a response, it would appear monsters from all over the dungeon are arriving here by the second. Some have even decided to come to the lake, Shii!!
Putting the idea of fighting aside, I hastily gathered all my shit and ran towards the river Styx as the lake was completely surrounded by monsters. There's no way I could fight all of them and take the safe way now. I swiftly ran towards the lake and jumped in without a second thought. Once underwater, I mentally evoked the water around me creating a bubble completely covering me from head to toe and proceeded to command the water magoi to propel me towards the river.
Recalling what was mentioned regarding the river Styx, the water was extremely caustic and teaming with monsters. These deadly critters would attack anything which enters the water, even each other. The worst however, is the ruler of the river and the source of the caustic water, Midgardsormr. Much like the name implies, this monster is a giant serpent and from its pores flows the caustic water.
All who have encountered the monster, have not lived to tell the tale. Also, this was not the only Midgardsormr on Ohmdorra, nor even the biggest at that. It is said the biggest male and the female of all Midgardsormr are swimming in the water surrounding one of the deathly forbidden continents. These monsters have evolved into gender specific demi-dragon monsters, the male is called Jormungandr, whereas the female is Ouroboros. Both are the oldest serpent monsters on Ohmdorra and the eldest remaining children of the first demonic dragon.
Anyway, this river is home to a monster that could easily eat the floor guardian but has not done so for some unknown reason. Either way, should I encounter the monster, I am as good as dead. With that in mind, I had to think of a way to travel through the caustic water without alerting the Midgardsormr. I approached the river, and immediately created a current of caustic water around me, in hopes of camouflaging my position. This idea worked at least for the rabid monsters that attack anything.
After 10 days in the underground river, the quality of caustic water grew as I approached the source. Using all I had I improved the current of my bubble shield and slowed my propulsion given I may alert the intelligent but ravenous monsters nearby. Each day I grew closer to the end of this river. As a result, the caustic quality grew and so did the ferocity of the aquatic monsters.
One time, I was trapped between 2 unnecessarily persistent monsters. One was a serpent type monster called a Bile Moccasin which are monsters that look and smell light fresh feces. The other was a school Death Fish. Much to its name, everything which comes across these bastards are doomed. It was pure chance, the Bile Moccasin considered the school of Death Fish more important than me, allowing me to get far out of dodge from their bloodfest.
Despite my fantastic body, my mind has completely turned into mush after all the non-stop running and fighting from the past 10 days. I need to somehow improve my fatigue consumption now, or not even bones will be left of me. With that thought, I moved towards a small cave branched off to the side. Once in the cave, I attempted to create a dry place for me to rest, but the place kept filling up with caustic water. I even tried to block the entrance only for the rocks to melt before my eyes.
Out of ideas, I began to tunnel upwards in hopes the water level would stop rising with me. Luckily, that seemed to work after 4 hours of tunneling. However, instead of caustic water, poisonous fumes filled my little cave. Extremely tired, I kept tunneling until I came across more mole tunnels. This later caused the poisonous fuses to dissipate. I wasn't worried about the mole monsters since they are immune to poison, but they typically create new tunnels away from those filled with poison.
With a somewhat safe place, I rested for 8 hours and planned my next course of action. Even though I am in mole tunnels, it would not be a wise choice heading to the surface given the war between the floor guardian and the hordes of monsters. So, I need to figure out a way to travel in the caustic river for another 10 days with each day getting closer to the source, the Midgardsormr. Even if I brood over how dire my situation is, I still can't come up with a way to reduce fatigue consumption which is the only way to directly fix my problem. Whatever! I'm going to sleep.
-End of Chapter