As soon as he exited the waters, Stephen felt the need to dive again. It had been the best feeling ever. His body refreshed and energised in a way he couldn’t remember before. As he moved around and stretched his muscles, the fledgling warrior could feel that some old oddness in his limbs had disappeared. His shoulder blades and knees, which used to pop when he bent too much, were now silent.

He had spent a quarter of an hour swimming in the lake, either in the main basin or the underground cave with the portal. As such, he doubted he could heal just as effectively from drinking the water. Still, he wouldn’t leave without filling as many bottles and flasks as he had with this blessed water.

As it was, he had more urgent needs for now. He was wet and shivering but didn’t have anything to dry himself. His bag had a rag inside, but it was atop the slope and out of sight. On the other hand, his armour didn’t seem a good idea to wear in his current situation. Wearing clothes while you were wet was a good way to get sick. He had already avoided death from dehydration and infection. If he now died because of hypothermia, that would be a terrible joke.

Even worse if he got killed because he went ahead to look for his bag and the rags it contained in nothing but a boxer. The wet suit it was. Which predictably was a real pain to put on in those circumstances.

Before wearing the rest of his armour, though, Stephen went around the lake to gather the bodies of the five frogmen. It was even more unsettling to see the bodies of the two large ones, as their increased size also came with more human-like features. Something which wasn’t so apparent while he was fighting them.

No matter how often he kept telling himself that they were monsters, who would kill all humans on sight as soon as they got the chance, it didn’t make the experience any easier.

Until now, he had only thrown up after the first large fight against the frogmen in the main cavern. At that point, it had been as much for the heavy scent of blood and the number of bodies lying around as the nature of those bodies. Afterwards, against the five cultivating mushrooms in the cave just above, he hadn’t thought much about it. The fighting had been short, and the wounds were mostly clean. It made it easy just to see them as giant frogs, more like the one he had to dissect during biology class.

Now that a more human-like specimen was before him, it was tough to get back into the vibe he was in before. All the enthusiasm from having his body healed and a safe point of a sort where to retreat between the following fights was gone.

Thus, with heavy steps, Stephen returned to the junction leading upward. He stopped to grab his bag and replace his gourds’ water with the lake’s. But the second time he went up the slope, knowing he would need to kill once again humanoid-looking frogs, he wasn’t enthused. The fact that he would have to fight after climbing slippery stairs didn’t help.

Once reaching the junction, he paused, taking inventory of the weapons he had left. It was a blessing he did so, as it allowed him to notice he completely forgot he had prepared throwing knives. The easy access to rocks all around, either from picking them up from the floor or breaking a stalactite on the way, had blind-sided him.

Although the slingshot was practical, it required some time to spin before firing. As for the difference in damage, it depended on the foe, but knives wouldn’t get impeded too much with the general lack of armour.

The realisation was as much a letdown as a way to lift his mood. Disappointing because despite all his preparation, he couldn’t even use the tools he gave himself. Yet it lifted his mood, as it would make the following fight much more manageable. He had gotten somewhat used to those foes, so long as they stayed the same, he felt confident that dealing with them from a distance won’t be too difficult.

The only trouble would be if there were another large group like he faced at the beginning. Because of that, he was tempted to use the traps he had brought and place them on the way down the stairs to escape if he met trouble. However, he wasn’t confident he would succeed in avoiding the traps himself. Contrary to the knives, he thought about using them before but hadn’t seen anywhere it might be an asset.

Not seeing any way to increase his odds, Stephen sneaked up the stairs as discreetly as possible. His right hand lacked a weapon, which he used to secure himself against the wall, not trusting the floor very much. On his left were his shield and spear, his arm folded so that the spear stayed parallel to the ground.

He first saw two frogmen wielding spears, with their backs facing the stairs. It corroborated his thought about the starting point of the dungeon being above him, even if the mystery of his entrance’s location remained. None of the two guards heard or saw him, letting Stephen crawl forward for a few more steps. Just enough that his eyes were at ground level, allowing him to see the cavern’s interior. Beyond those two enemies, the cave opened into another cultivation area, this time for moss instead of mushrooms as in the other cave. All the plants were contained within crates, the walls of the cave bare of moss. A good thing for Stephen as it ensured he remained undetected. It also gave a weird vibe to the area, projecting large shadows behind the two huts built in the middle of the room.

Apart from the two closest frogmen, Stephen could only see another five occupants, wearing a sword on their hips and a knife in hand. He would’ve preferred waiting longer but was worried about getting noticed by his two closest foes.

Taking action, Stephen took hold of two knives, one between his thumb and index, the other between his middle and ring fingers. The first was thrown against the guard on his left, the blade lodging itself in his neck, drawing a disgusting gargling cry from its target. The second knife followed, less accurate but still reaching an unguarded part of the chest. After that, Stephen rushed up the stairs to engage with the other guard, not wanting to fight for any time while standing on those treacherous steps.

A quick thrust in his mid-section was enough to cripple him, after which Stephen repeated the attack, still riding on the surprise provided by his ambush. The right guard was impaled onto the spear and carried away a few steps inside the cave before Stephen stopped, dropping his spear to focus on the left guard.

Although Stephen had only managed to ambush one enemy, not even successfully, his first foe was still wounded enough that the ensuing duel was quickly concluded. The advantage granted by having his shield facing his opponent was a massive reason why Stephen didn’t struggle much. As he was already wounded, the guard couldn’t afford to retreat, yet getting closer wasn’t an option. Stephen only had to take away his choice and dash forward, keeping himself safe from the eventual spear’s strike, then use his machete to slash or stab at his opponent.

He had already noticed this pattern during the first confrontation against them, but their movements were telegraphed and easy to predict.

Seeing the rest of the cavern, the delver noticed his other foes were still far enough away that he felt confident he could throw another few knives. Well-found confidence as he was able to kill two frogmen and incapacitate another two despite not killing them. From that point, he used almost the same tactic as before, choosing to charge at the enemy to his right-most side while hiding behind his shield with his spear, ready to impale his target.

No reason to change a method proven to work after all. The advantage in range and size made it an excellent way to take out a few enemies before he became surrounded.

As all the occupants of the moss cave revealed themselves, Stephen became aware there had been ten opponents. Three of which were carrying spears. He saw the third one at the back of the incoming group.

Having already dealt with four moss cultivators, Stephen only had another three to kill. The first target found himself impaled by the spear, its blade disappearing amidst his entrails. However, Stephen was forced to let go immediately, as he couldn’t draw back his spear quickly enough to be ready for the others. Forced to dodge several sword strikes, the human warrior unsheathed his blade and engaged in close quarters. His shield still proved to be a life-saving tool several times.

The only hardship was against the spear holder, whose quick movement and more extended range turned him into a hindrance. Stephen was almost tempted to let go of his machete to throw a few knives but knew not to act foolishly. Instead, he bid his time and moved towards the enemies, still bleeding on the ground, ensuring he would either rid himself of all but one threat or force the spear holder to get closer.

Ultimately, the lure of seeing his allies die one after the other worked, and Stephen’s foe charged at him in a crazed state. Despite the increased speed, parrying the coming blow and counter-attack with a slash on the back was easy, concluding the fight.

Once again, corpses and loot were put on a separate pile, after which Stephen took some time to rest and look at his weapons. He had to switch his machete for one of the looted swords, his blade too chipped to remain usable. His spear also could be discarded, the shaft showing a few cracks. He could use other spears, so it wasn’t as much of a problem. The loss of his machete, however, was an annoyance. The handle of the swords he looted was very different. Frogmen had huge hands. As such, he had found either sword too short with okay handles or the two swords from the guardians on the bottom cave with unwieldy handles and OK blades. Anyway, it was weird.

Continuing onwards, Stephen noticed the path to the next room was accessible by an upwards slope leading above the ceiling of the current cavern. The slope began at the back of the cave, going up along the wall to the left.

As he arrived at the top, Stephen noticed another two guards on the side of the entrance, facing away from him again. This time, both are killed without alerting anyone. Stephen could see that this new cavern was much larger as he stepped forward. He oversaw the whole place, hidden away thanks to his elevated position and the many earth spires obscuring the path. On his right, a stairway led down to the floor, a midway point giving access to another gallery, with two guards on each side. He could only see them after walking for a bit. The stalactites, stalagmites and columns formed upon their merging made it hard to keep a line of sight.

Below, the rest of the cavern contained many pools of water at different levels, droplets falling from almost every stalactite hanging from the ceiling. A stream could be seen on the left, going down, most probably to the lake where he was before.

The frog-people in this room were either wielding spears, or rather, harpoons, and surrounding the largest pools in which fishes could be seen. The others were busy gutting the fish, knife in hand and working expertly. Twenty frogmen occupied the cavern, with ten splits into small groups of two or three for each task. With how large the cavern was, even larger than the one Stephen referred to before as the main cave, it was tempting to sneak on them.

Another solution Stephen used was to make use of the ground advantage shamelessly. Thanks to that, fighting them wasn’t too hard since he could funnel their numbers through the stairs leading up to him. He first dealt with the two guards, wounding them with well-aimed knives before ending their life by abusing the stalactites and pushing them against the spires.

When the other frogmen noticed the disturbance and decided to go up, Stephen took position to throw knives and rocks at his coming enemies. A couple were killed this way before they reached him, while the others were disposed of without much injury.

By then, Stephen had taken his usual break to gather his loot and return to a good frame of mind for his next fight. He was tempted to taste the fish but thought better of it and promised himself only to try once he was confident all the fighting was over.

The following path mainly was even, leading to a small cavern inhabited by only five frog people. All five, though, were armed and wearing armour. Their physique was the same as regular frog people, but their equipment was comparable to the two guardians in the lowest cave.

Unfortunately for them, they’re looking away from Stephen again, their gazes towards a large stone door. One oddly similar to the one he used to enter the dungeon from the safe room. The first enemy dies unaware of a well-thrown harpoon from the last room, while the others react promptly.

The ensuing fight led to quite a few injuries for Stephen. Their improved armour made it more difficult to inflict passing wounds on their chest. He was forced to drop his shield at some point, facing a similar problem as he did during his first fight. Those annoying frogmen had a sticky grip.

As soon as he confirmed all his foes were dead, Stephen rushed toward his bag, gulping down the water he had taken from the lake. A gourd whole content was spilt onto his wounds, only one from the three he had left unopened.

He didn’t have a good way to compare how effective the water was since his previous usage implied taking a bath, but he could see the effect was much more reduced. They started scabbing only after soaking a rag in the water and cleaning his wounds. The deepest ones were still painful. As for what was the most effective between drinking the water directly and applying it locally to a wounded area, he couldn’t tell. At that moment, his only worry was to heal quickly.

After all, he could recognise the stone gate embedded into the wall. He might not have taken any picture or drawing of the relief and sigils present on the door. Still, it was easy to tell they were either the same or had similar functions.

Since he knew he could open the door from his safe room to the dungeon without any prompt from the system, who could tell if it wouldn’t be the same here?

Another option was for his previous theory on the dungeon’s layout to be false, and it was the door leading to the boss. But then Stephen couldn’t think of why the portal leading to the second floor would be on the opposite side of the floor’s boss.

He was in a quandary about whether to try to open the door or to run away from it.