The Abyss

FLORIN TOWN, KINGDOM OF ETRIA

The day began with sunlight hitting the window, but even so, from early on the problems start when I heard someone knocking on my door with what seemed like joy or impatience. Without much time to think about something, the only thing I could do was throw Tifa, who was still sleeping, against the bag that was on the other side of the room. I took the gun and got under the covers, leaving only my face visible. The one who broke down the door turned out to be Karen, the girl who had helped me yesterday and who had paid for me to stay in this room. She was impatient because since she had heard about I would go to the Florin's dungeon, she wanted to show it to me, and mentioned that it was best to go as early as possible. I scolded her because she had scared me, I thought that someone was trying to rob me, I also mentioned that with what she did someone else could have discovered me because I was not ready to go out yet. She apologized and told me that she would wait for me downstairs to have breakfast. After she left, I immediately went to apologize to Tifa for what I did to her, she replied that it would have been easier and less painful if she had simply hidden her with me under the covers, I simply replied unfortunately I didn't have that idea before.

After preparing myself, I went out with Karen towards Florrin's dungeon so I could reconnoiter what was waiting for me down there and plan my descent according to the situation. But I realized that Florin's dungeon, or rather the biggest fucking hellish dark abyss I've ever seen in my fucking life, would be a little more different from the traditional dungeon concept I had in mind. Looking down gave me the same tingling sensation that it gave me when I looked at the cliffs in Atlantis. Is there really a city next to that thing? I think that now I will never sleep peacefully knowing that the inn is close to that hole of almost a kilometer in diameter, it seemed more like an open-pit mining operation, but of such a depth that you could not see the bottom, except a pair of dots lights of completely unknown origin for me.

image [https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/b49zcrxwbzy.jpeg]

"What a view right?"

"All this time and you still don't know what could be down there, the sunlight has never reached there"

"It is generally believed that the elves were the ones who built all that, but even so, there are many structures down there that do not match their design or architecture"

"The dwarves for their part call it the frontier, because none of them say they have ever set foot down there, despite them being from the interior of the earth"

"Nobody knows for sure what is down there, but it is believed that the lower parts discovered so far could perhaps even be from yet another lost civilization"

"Or at least that's what the nerds I normally escort mention" Mentioned Karen informing me.

That shit ain't divided by floors! It is sectioned by regions!

"How do you organize a place as huge as this?" I asked

"Well, the guild divides it by layers, for now it is divided into 6, where the sixth layer is so far the furthest that any explorer has reached"

"It is known that there is a seventh, but no one has returned alive to report that it could be there"

"The layers are not divided by depth or distance, but by ecosystem and age"

"The deepest I have reached has been to the fourth layer, in a six-month journey, and I can assure you that each layer is a completely different world"

"In the third, in fact, there is even a forest that has a magic that makes it look like daylight"

"But it's impossible to even imagine that something like that exists with the view from here"

Oh my God, what trouble did I get myself into!?

"Do you know where the twenty-fifth floor is?" I asked scared

"From what place?"

"From down there maybe?"

"No sorry, that's not what I meant"

"Was he talking about the twenty-fifth floor? yes, from which Ruin?"

"Is there more than 1 twenty-fifth floor!?"

"You don't know what you are looking for?"

"Why did you risk coming to a human town like this in the first place?"

"Tell her it's your test to become an adult"

"Most beastman tribes have stuff like that" I heard Tifa speak from the bag.

"It's my test to become an adult of my town!"

"I thought fox tribes normally take a theory test like human scholars"

"Well, yes, but we arctic foxes not only have to do that, but we also have to show that we are capable of defending ourselves"

"Things about living in the arctic and all that frozen wasteland"

"The problem was me, who went all out and promised them that I would reach the twenty-fifth floor of the Florin dungeon"

"Let me guess, you thought the dungeon was a traditional floor dungeon but did you find that bottomless hole?"

"Basically yes, you are correct"

"Don't worry, this happens almost always"

"In the guild, they even have pamphlets to try to correct this general consensus, but it has never worked"

"...."

"...."

"At least in your case, you could maybe go to the Faer Dath ruins that are the closest"

"The place seems to be an old elven fortress, it has 50 levels, but there is a teleporter on the 25th floor to get outside the dungeon"

"So maybe that could help you meet your goal"

"If you take an item from a monster of that level you could go to the guild to certify that you were there and show it back in your home"

"What do you think about this?"

"Yes, that would be excellent, it's just what I'm looking for!"

"Okay, I showed you where it is."

"But I have to warn you that even so, the trip is quite far"

"It is not a trip that you can do in one day, not at least if you want to reach the 25th floor, so you have to prepare accordingly"

After that, we set off towards the entrance of the dungeon, which was a stone staircase heavily guarded by a large number of guards, but the truth was that it was appropriate given the circumstances, because that black hole could never give good news. I really almost shit myself when I saw that thing for the first time, I thought that Stella had played me again, but it seems that she was actually right, only that she didn't say the part that I had to walk almost 10 kilometers downhill between the entrance and ruins of Faer Dath, and climbing up that 10 will look like 50 for sure. The place seemed like a continuation of the landscape outside the town, but going down, there were birds and other normal animals, but according to what I was told, even though it is the safest layer, there are still dangerous monsters lurking around here. That is why only adventurers from the guild or people with permission accompanied by them are allowed to enter. For her part, Karen, acting as a guide, told me many more things during our trip. Things like, for example, although there are other dungeons in the world, without a doubt, Florin's dungeon was the largest, for obvious reasons, but even so, nothing can ever be taken for sure. Maybe there was another one somewhere not yet discovered. She also mentioned that the trip to the sixth layer had been the largest expedition made to date, with almost 5 thousand people and 3 years of travel, but even so they still had to return due to lack of supplies and because according to themselves, there was the same distance down still to travel. So some say that the pit leads to the center of the world, although that is impossible depending on how I know how the planets work. But still, I agree that this hole is abnormal in every way.

By late afternoon we finally got to the outskirts of the place Karen mentioned and had a look.And the truth is that I was impressed by what I saw because I thought that since I was in a hole the fortress would be small or simple, but nothing like that.It was a huge fortress castle of colossal size.But curiously, if the design did not seem like an elf at all, it seemed more like a castle where the vampire lord of darkness would be expected to live, the one who revived every hundred years and that the Belmonts or the Morrises fought to stop him.The place had an appearance too "violent" to put it in some way, more than defending it seemed built with the purpose of harming anyone who came near.

image [https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7w6cj556wy.jpeg]

Is that really the starting dungeon here? What the hell is this?Anor Londo from Dark Souls?

"What kind of function was the one that had that fortress?"

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"Why was that here? What was it protecting?"

"If something like that was from the elves, how did the humans manage to defeat them?" I ask after drinking some water.

"Are all fox beastmen like this?"

"You are exactly like one of those scholars who come here and ask these questions all the time" Karen said eating some beef jerky sitting

"Are you going to tell me you're not curious about that over there!?"

"You come down here all the time and wouldn't you like to know a little more about this!?"

"Not really, I'm not interested in whatever happened here"

"I'm only interested in the money and getting to the top alive"

"Finding out what happened is for the nobles and people like that"

"If they stop paying for shipping or materials from here, I'll just go to the next thing they pay for"

"Come on, aren't you afraid that they were maybe fighting something like dragons and maybe they're still down there and could come to the surface like a plague that could end the world at any moment?"

"But what kind of imagination do you have girl, you've been reading too many books about knights and princesses"

"In addition, Dragons are things of legends, surely some ancient King invented those things to write them in a super exaggerated book about his experiences and why his family should continue ruling the kingdom"

"Or for revenge against enemies" I said to myself in a breath.

Now that I knew that I would not only face a dungeon but also the journey from the city to it and that it would probably take several days of travel, it was time to return to the surface and prepare accordingly. Obviously, I would need non-precedent food, something to make a fire with, maybe a frying pan, and then there are the tools for the dungeon itself, something that emits light maybe, I would like to have a set of good knives, both for throwing and for peeling something.

I asked Karen about ways to get money quickly and she recommended hunting beasts on our way up.Therefore we got into it, despite the tiredness we had.But I have to admit that it was not bad at all, the number of monsters down here is much higher than outside because almost always there was maybe double or triple the number of wild animals here.The real golden opportunity was when an animal similar to a metallic armadillo appeared, as soon as Karen saw it she started screaming to kill it at all costs so I jumped and threw my small sword at it, but it seems that the monster was really made ofmetal, for my sword did nothing to it.So I went straight to plan B, hitting him hard in the head until a concussion killed him, which this time worked.When I did it, Karen began to jump excitedly, because apparently, these armadillos were worth good money either as material or as decoration, so with the money I might be able to pay her back and buy the things I needed, probably.

While we were still going upstairs Karen mentioned that maybe I should hurry up if I wanted to get something good as the evidence that I managed to complete my test, since Sakura is in town she will most likely plan on going downstairs as well to test her strength one last time before leaving. The latter echoed in my head, how she would react to seeing this place. It's already well known that she's a completionist, but right now there's a dungeon equivalent to video game post-game content, a place you go to test your strength after you've beaten your quest, along with a size that seems infinite. While on the other side we have a girl who knows that she can't be here much longer, because she has to return to Earth too. Surely she must feel anxious or bad knowing that no matter what she does, she will not be able to complete everything 100%. It makes me feel good, I almost even forget, I get tired just thinking that she could be having a bad time. If I can get through these days without meeting her, it will be my victory.

When we finally got back to the city it was already night and my legs were killing me, I have to be careful with the weight of what I carry back upstairs, as it is definitely the worst part. The most impressed seemed to be Karen, as she mentioned that she did not expect me to make the trip without problems, In her words, my body is not made to exercise. And although I agree with her on that, along with the fact that I don't exercise, my physique doesn't seem very robust. But the reason I don't do exercises is because I'm too busy trying not to die to have time to do them.

Almost everything was closed back in the city, but I had to get food for Tifa because she was the one who had it the worst all day, since as Karan was with me all this time she couldn't get out of the bag at all the day. After going to church to inform my family that it seems like I won't be able to communicate every day, I decided to find something for Tifa to eat. I only found a quite luxurious restaurant that was open until late, the prices were completely exaggerated, but on the other side of the entrance, when they closed the restaurant they threw away all the leftover food, so I took the opportunity to take a couple of sweetbreads and fruit. Although that was almost caught by the homeless association that had the place heavily guarded for the same reason. Upon arriving at the inn, the manager scolded me for being so late since she knew that I was traveling with Karen, she knew that I would go out of my way to do something. But she manages to stop her by giving him one of the sweetbreads. Before going to bed, it was the little fairy's turn to have the feast she deserved, for being patient and putting up with me all day. Next time I'm going to put food and water in the bag so it doesn't happen again. Finally when I went to bed Tifa without saying anything flew right next to me and lie down without saying anything. I thought that again she felt sad for her family so I let it go and went to sleep.