level 8 cave system

Level 8 is the 9th Level of the Backrooms. This level seems to be an infinite cave system with caverns and dangers around every corner.

Level 8 is made of huge caverns and small cave systems that twist and turn like normal underground systems. Level 8 is very damp, with Almond Water flowing from the walls and ceiling. Stalactites and stalagmites appear to be very common in Level 8. Sounds echo throughout the Level, so it is relatively easy to listen for potential danger, or possibly even attract it if not careful. Level 8 is normally devoid of natural light, but light sources from an unknown origin shine on the damp walls, making the Level slightly glow in select areas.

-backrooms wikidot level 8

They only fell a short distance, and thankfully no one fell over. Their feet landing on a hard surface that was definitely not carpet, and a dim–yet present light graced their eyes.

"Ah! Finally I can see!" Subaru stretched as if he were waking up from a nap, though not rubbing his eyes, as he wanted to appreciate every new second of his regained sight.

Checking their surroundings he found that they were in some type of cave, dripping stalagmites and stalactites doting the floors and ceiling. He attention was once again brought to the folder that has helped them through so many levels so far. Taking it out he attempted to read it, but even with the newfound light it was still too dark to make much out.

"Do you need light? Let me help. Jiwald." petra, now alleviated from her hallucination had finally begun to wind down, noticing subaru squinting at the folder, she summoned a jiwald, but instead of shooting it in a beam, she just concentrated a bit of light into a ball, holding it up slightly to allow subaru to see.

"Thank you. Okay let's see…" flipping through the folder, he stopped at level 7, considering they were in level 6 before,.but the description didn't seem to match, level 7 being an ocean. A slight fear that they might have gotten themselves lost somehow which honestly didn't seem all that unlikely considering that they were just wandering through level 6 without direction. he turned to level 8. Luckily the photo and description seemed to match, and his fear was quickly alleviated…sadly that didn't last long.

"Class 5!? Are you kidding me!?!" subaru griped the folder in frustration and disbelief after all they went through in level 6 (which was apparently a class undetermined) they have to deal with this now!?

Otto: "w-what?"

"Level 8, survival difficulty class 5, unsafe, unsecure, entity infestation!" Subaru read in a more hushed tone at that last part. "Who's in charge of the balancing here? I'd like to have a word with them."

Hearing this, the rest of the group, who were still trying to recover from level 6, and were beginning to relax, immediately put their guard up.

Subaru flipped the page again, taking his own advice to check the next level. "And the exits aren't much better either. Level 75 is probably even worse, and level 9 is just as bad, but it says there are some safer areas so we should still try to get there." he shook his head "remember we're trying to get out of here as soon as possible."

"On that note, we ought ta get movin. You said there was an entity infestation, and i don't wanna get chased by another horde of entities" anastasia interjected, as everyone, (admittedly a bit reluctantly) separated their holds on each other's hands, which by that point, had become a source of comfort; but for the sake of efficiency and speed, they decided to separate. Except for Beatrice and Louis, both taking Subaru's hands as he puts away the folder.

.

They were shown immediately just how bad a class 5 survival difficulty truly was, when they rounded the first corner and were met with 3 massive spiders and a wretch that seemed to be fighting, but upon seeing the group, immediately directed their attack towards them.

Mimi and tivey began preparing an attack but were quickly stopped by anastasia; they didn't want to attract more entities with their screams.

Subaru acted quickly, splashing some of their almond water onto the wretch, as Beatrice took out two of the spiders with well placed minya's; Julius taking out the third, before turning and slicing off the wretch's head, which had recovered from the almond water splash and nearly tackled subaru.

"I really hope that this isn't a bad sign." sighed Otto, as they continued walking, staying extra vigilant for entities. "And you shouldn't just throw our almond water like that! We might have extra right now, but who knows how long it will be until we can get more."

"Yeah sorry about that, I kind of panicked for a moment" Subaru rubbed the back of his neck, regardless of all he's been through he still wasn't perfect after all, and was still prone to panicking, especially after all they've gone through in such a small amount of time, with very little of an actual break. Not to mention the negative effect the backrooms seemed to have on everyone's psyche.

"But at least now we have room for this." Subaru takes the empty thermos and scoops up some liquid from a near-by puddle. "It's almond water, but it's not safe to drink because of all the minerals in it. We might not be able to drink it, but maybe we could trade with it; it's not much but at least it's something."

"Well i guess it's better than having an empty container" Anastasia shrugged, she didn't know if, or why anyone would trade for it, but she wasn't one to pass up on trade opportunities.

Everyone once again began walking, encountering several entities along the way, as they were walking they spotted what looked like a human coming from the other side of a large stalagmite. Hoping that this might be their ticket to salvation, they started to approach it.

The person, noticing them approaching, began to walk towards them as well; but before it could get within 4 meters of them, the ground under its feet began to crack, and two clawed hands reached up from inside the ground, and attempted to grab their prey. It failed to do so however, as the person managed to jump out of the way just before the hands could grab their ankles. The newly formed cracks in the ground, caused them to trip and cut themself on a sharp rock, and start to bleed.

Noticing that the blood of the alleged person was clear, the group quietly shuffled away, using the distraction caused by the reviook to slip into a nearby tunnel.

Thankfully the entities didn't seem to see where they went, and they continued in their new direction.

*crack*

Julius had to quickly jump out of the way of a falling stalactite, as it nearly impaled his foot. "It seems some of this cave may not be stable, I suggest we exercise caution."

Of course none of them needed to be told that twice.

In an immediate show of the caution being exercised, tivey quickly dodged another small stalactite, as they noticed the ground beginning to shake.

Tivey: "Does anyone else feel that?"

Petra: "Could it be an earthquake?"

"An earthquake? Are there earthquakes in the backrooms?" asked mimi, stalactite began to fall rapidly as the shaking seemed to be getting stronger.

"Uh, maybe we should get to someplace more safe before discussing possible backrooms plate tectonics?" Subaru hastily suggested.

"Plate tec ton icks?" Mimi's question was swiftly ignored as everyone quickly began running to find some form of cover.

As they kept running and dodging falling rocks, the shaking seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, until finally, in front of them, they saw what looked to be a giant somewhat seethrough snake with strange features (Wrangler) barreling straight towards them.

Everyone quickly began running as fast as they could, but it was futile, as the wrangler was quickly catching up to them.

"Please no, please no, nonono please!" Anastasia half yelled as a look of absolute terror came across her face as their impending doom approached.

"No please please please, nonono pleaaaah!-"Anastasia, being the slowest runner, was the first to be swallowed up by the snake as if she was nothing. Followed by Petra, then Otto, and the rest soon after.

.

Anastasia: "Well I guess it's better than having an empty container.

"Uh, Maybe we should go the other way, I think I heard more entities in that direction." Subaru, after regaining his bearings, proceeded to direct the group down the other tunnel.

Mimi and tivey raised their eyebrows, as they were pretty sure they had much better hearing than Subaru and they didn't hear anything, but ultimately no one bothered to protest, as it was better to be safe than sorry. They thought that now more than ever.

Luckily they didn't immediately encounter any entities in the other direction. Later on they ran into a smiler but decided not to engage, opting to instead, intensely glare at it while slowly walking past. Well except petra, who refused to look at it altogether.

Observing the tense (and rightfully so) atmosphere, Subaru opted to try and start a quiet conversation. While it might be good to be alert in this situation, being too stressed could have potentially dangerous consequences especially in the backrooms.

Subaru: "Anastasia, you said you wanted to sell almond water right? Maybe we could look into it."

Anastasia: "Oh? I didn't take ya ta be the type of person interested in a business opportunity."

Subaru: "Eh, I don't see why not, it could be fun. We should ask about it if we find another base; with how good almond water is, I doubt we're the only people with this idea."

"Ok it's a deal then" Anastasia held out her hand towards Subaru, who took it into his own, and shook it once.

Subaru: "Deal."

"Can you two stop flirting as we are trying to get through the highly dangerous cave I wonder?" snarked Beatrice, probably upset about the hand she was holding being taken away from her.

"So discussing a business deal counts as flirting now? Or is my beako starting to get a bit overprotective?" Subaru shot Beatrice with a sly smirk as he returned his hand to hers; Beatrice let out a "hmph" as she turned her head away.

Beatrice: "Of course not, I'm merely trying to stop you from attracting unnecessary entities with your foolish noise I suppose."

"Uh huh, sure, sure" Subaru nodded, smirk still present on his face, as they continued to walk. Only getting a few feet before nearly getting mauled by a massive spider dropping from the roof, which was quickly impaled by a minya from Beatrice before it could land on him.

"Now what were you saying I wonder?" Beatrice looked towards Subaru, her eyes half lidded in an 'i'm so done with this' face.

"Th-that was a coincidence" Subaru turned away from the face Beatrice was giving him.

"Uh huh, sure sure" , Beatrice mocked, as they once again proceeded forward.

.

They have been traversing the cave for a while, they've run into so many entities that if this were a video game they would have probably leveled up multiple times by now. not to mention Julius's weird behavior.

Julius had led them down multiple dangerous paths with strong entities, and hazardous terrain, sometimes he even seemed confused about his own actions. And tivey could swear he heard him mumbling something about slithering.

They just stopped for a bit to rest, eat, and drink when tivey noticed that julius wasn't drinking any almond water.

"Why aren't you drinking?" asked tivey, taking a bite of his granola bar.

Julius: "What do you mean? I have."

"No, you haven't, I was looking at you the whole time." tivey raised an eyebrow.

"You've been acting really suspicious, knight; You have misled, and lied to us multiple times now in fact. Just what are you trying to do I wonder?!" Beatrice shot an accusing glare towards julius.

Something inside Julius seemed to snap, as he quickly drew his sword and cut across Beatrice without missing a beat; nearly slicing her in two, as a large wave of mana came erupting from the wound as she quickly began to lose form.

Without leaving a second to react he turned and sliced off the heads of mimi and tivey, who were both frozen in shock. Then released a vertical slice through Otto.

Subaru was too shocked by Beatrice's sudden injury to do much more than give his best efforts (all-be-them futile) to try and stop the mana from spilling out of her, but it was no use, the injury was too big, and her body had already begun disappearing by this point. Louis was also trying her best to help.

Once Otto was down, Julius turned to Subaru and raised his sword to cut off his head, while he and Louis were distracted with beatrice. Anastasia, finally snapping out of her shock–quickly tried to grab Julius's arm with both of hers, but was knocked off easily, as Julius brought his sword down onto Subaru's neck, causing him to return by death for the second time this level.

(*julius was then immediately killed afterwards by louis*)

.

Subaru returned to a while after his conversation with Anastasia. Looking over that facts, such as him not drinking almond water and him sometimes being confused at his own actions, subaru concluded that Julius must have been somehow manipulated by some sort of entity, subaru may not like julius, but he wouldn't put him that low.

He just needs to figure out how to stop it.

This was before the point that Julius started acting strangely so must not be being manipulated right now. Subaru decided to stay extra extra vigilant for anything around that could be doing it, as well as keeping a close eye on julius.

About 30 minutes passed and Julius was starting to show signs of being controlled again, and Subaru was wondering if he was too late. Regardless, using his future knowledge about Julius's bs advice he directed them down a safer path. Still dangerous, as they encountered many entities along the way, but safer than what Julius suggested.

More time passed and Subaru was getting increasingly more worried that he may have messed up, and he began to start thinking of other strategies, when he heard a voice.

-Hey! Hey!! Over here!

Looking to the others in the group to make sure he wasn't the only one hearing the voice, saw that everyone else heard it as well.

The sounds of footsteps could be heard approaching from their left as they turned to see what looked like a security gerd but instead of having a normal head, it was replaced with a camera. Naturally this caused the group to jump back in surprise and put their guard up; preparing for a fight.

Seeing their hostility the strange being put his hands up.

"Woah woah, calm down, calm down, I mean you no harm, my name's Aiden, I'm a resident of the backrooms." the strange entity, now self-classified as Aiden moved both his hands in a placating motion, to try and get them all to calm down.

Mimi: "Are you an entity?"

Aiden: "That is what people like you tend to call me, but unlock many of the other inhabitants, I only mean to help wanderers in need."

Anastasia: "And why is that, what do you get out of it?"

"It's just what I do, I doubt you would understand." Aiden looked over each group member and continued. "But before any of that, there's something i need to do right now before it's to late"

Not waiting for a response, Aiden took out a vial of what looked, and smelled like almond water, and poured it onto Julius's ear. A harsh hiss came from Julius's ear as what looked like a small garter-snake slithered out and tried to get away, but was stepped on by Aiden.

"What was that thing?" A look of disgust came across Mimi's face, as she looked at the ear the snake crawled out of.

Aiden: "This is why I reached out to you. Your friend was being taken over by a paralie, you're lucky i found you in time, or it might have gotten to stage two"

"Paralie?" so that's what it was Subaru was thankful that he wouldn't end up resetting a third time.

Aiden: "Yes, they crawl into your ears without you noticing, and slowly take over your mind. They do this all without you feeling a thing, so please be on the lookout, and if you notice anyone behaving strangely pour almond water on their ear before it's too late; if they get to stage too you won't be able to help them."

Otto: "How do we know if it's stage two? Or if they're being controlled at all?"

Aiden: "When someone is being controlled by a paralie they start to compulsively lie, they won't even realize it, so it is important to be observant to everyone in your group's behavior. When they are in stage two they will start mumbling the words slither and crawl, and by stage three they are completely controlled by the paralie."

"You saved my life, I can't begin to thank you enough, I am in your debt." Julius gave a bow towards Aiden, a look of genuine gratitude occupying his face.

"There's no need for that, the act of saving your life is enough for me." Aiden said, giving two thumbs up.

Otto: "Sorry to ask more of you after what you've done for us but would you mind pointing us to an exit or somewhere safe nearby?"

"Oh it's no problem at all." Aiden then turned to their left and pointed. "If you go that way you will reach two tunnels; go down the one on the left and turn left, than right, and you should reach a safe passage marked by the M.E.G"

"The M.E.G huh, they sure are helpful. Maybe we'll get to discuss an almond water recipe sooner than I thought." Anastasia turned to Subaru, with a ponderous look.

Suberu: "don't get your hopes up too much or you'll jinx it."

Anastasia: "jinx?"

"Nevermind" Subaru sighed.

"Anyway, Realy, thank you so much for all the help you gave us, if we meet again I'll make sure we pay you back somehow." said. Anastasia, even dropping her Kararagi accent in a show of her genuine gratitude, as they began walking to the tunnel

Aiden: "That's really not necessary-"

"I insist'' Anastasia could just barely be heard as they entered the tunnel leaving no room for Aiden to protest less he follow them, which he refrained from doing out of respect for their decisions.

.

They took the directions Aiden gave to them and had just turned the first left when they encountered a faceling. It was an adult faceling and from what mimi remembered, adult facelings are supposed to be nice and she wanted to see one's weird face up close, so she went up to it; but before she could get the chance to even say hello, the faceling lunged downward and grabbed her by the throat and began strangling her.

As Mimi was trying to escape the facelings grip as she was quickly losing consciousness, Petra in a panic, fumbled into her dress pocket, pulled out her gun and fired a shot, the loud bag reverberating through the cavern.

Covering her mouth–Petra immediately realized her mistake.

Otto: "Uh, maybe we should get going"

After giving mimi a few seconds to recover they broke out into the quietest run possible. They ran into a few large groups of entities, but only attacked with quiet minya's from Beatrice and Julius with his sword. They were not about to run from another massive horde of entities if they could help it!, especially with no exit in sight. They got lucky with level 3 and they were not about to risk that again.

Thankfully they were able to slip past the majority of the entities that were attracted to the noise. they also reached the next turn they were supposed to take but after walking a small distance in that direction they found the path blocked by the large–and still moving, body of a wrangler. Subaru getting a slight flash of PTSD, they quickly went the other way.

"We could still get to where we need to go, we just need to keep track of where we are, and try and find another path to where we're supposed to be." Otto was taking note of their surroundings as they tried to look for another path.

"This path is roughly going in partially the same direction of the path we need to be on; we should be able to get to the right place if we keep going this way and take the next left." observed tivey, as he adjusted his monocle.

Right now they were walking on a ledge with a ravine to their right. It wasn't the thickest ledge, but it had enough room for them to walk on, and seemed steady. At least until they felt the ground start to shake, and the floor begin to crack. Noticing that the cracking was only in one area they quickly made a run for it.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a hen emerged from a hidden hole in the cave wall, nearly right in front of their feet. Just as a Reviook emerged from the ground, causing them to fall into the ravine below.

-aaaaaahhhhhhhh

.

*extra*

.

"Omg look" Subaru started as he pointed and ran to a particularly rusty looking part of the cave. "It's IRON!" He then picked up a pickaxe that just-so-happened to be there, and began swinging it at the wall.

Subaru: "common brothers, sing with me!"

"I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole . Diggie diggie hole Diggie diggie hole."

Anastasia: "IS THAT SOME KIND OF PERSONAL ATTACK OR SOMETHING!!?"