Descending Floors, II

We opened the gate to the fifth floor.

We were now stranded on an Island.

The door behind us disappeared as it did on the previous floor.

"Are we doing a quest in a Survival Channel or something?" Ren complained with a sullen expression.

"At least we can wash our bodies here properly… or not," Mai tried to lighten the mood, which was soon back crawling to the ground when a monster with the body of a shark and the head of a monkey leaped from the water.

"Ah… I just want to go home!" Sean was now sucked dry of all his life energy.

***

On this floor, monsters rose from the water, that is to say, bat-spiders were non-existent here, whereas we had to kill five-hundred sirens.

As for the monkey-sharks, on the third day, four of them came to the surface, they also had four legs.

We clearly had an advantage over them on solid grounds so we easily killed them off.

As for the food rations, we tried to preserve them by eating the shark part of the monster, it truly tasted like exquisite fish cooked by the best chefs… or we just hadn't eaten anything besides dried meat, fruits, and some military-packed food for the past week.

***

On the fourth day, the gate appeared at the same spot where it brought us.

Since the water was clean of anything right now, we scrubbed ourselves and played around. After all, the gate was waiting for us.

After almost drowning each other in the water, we finally dried ourselves, put on our clothes, and made our way to the next floor.

"I know I said this a week ago but… are you all ready?" A mischievous grin etched itself on my face.

"Is that supposed to be a smirk? Because it's looking disgusting…" Mai poked my ribs with her elbow.

"Tch, I tried being considerate and showing some positive expressions."

"Hey, don't get sulky now, Helis," She bent down to look at my face from under. "It feels like we were born for this, so of course, we are!"

***

We moved forward and soon basked in the unexpected view of the sixth floor.

The air was rich in nice smells and scents of flowers, pollen, leaves, and grass.

Birds were calling as their wings fluttered.

Cricketing from insects could also be heard.

And in front of our eyes, a large forest stretched out to the end of the world, or so it seemed.

Tall trees were all around us, their end couldn't be noticed from down here, some were covered in moss, and the canopies blocked some of the sunlight from reaching us.

Vines were all around on the ground.

"Whoa… this is beautiful," Haruka was the first to speak since we got here.

We were flabbergasted and entranced by the sight as if someone took it from a movie and put it out here.

On some of the trees, fresh fruits could be noticed.

"Ah, we can finally eat normal food and not dried ones, I'm sick of them!" Mai shifted her body towards that fruit, only to be pointless since something with immense speed took it with itself.

"Huh, what was that?" Mai shockingly looked at our side.

"I don't know, I think it may have been a bird or something akin to it," I stated my thoughts and raised an opinion, "I think we should camp here tonight. It does seem like a safe zone."

"I agree."

"Yeah…"

"Let's do so."

I heard different affirmations and nodded my head with proudness at the coordination between us.

I looked to my right and unconsciously let out an, "Ah?" Grabbing Soobin's attention.

"What's the matter…? I see, it was about time we saw of this again," She eyed the wooden board, "There seems to be quite some stuff written here this time."

"It certainly does seem so." I agreed and continued to read everything the board–the dungeon would convey to us.

"Hello there, fighters. Have you trained your bodies properly? Because from now on things are going to be different. I hope you enjoyed your stay with the so-called Bat-Spiders and the Sirens, or whatever you call them."

"You have accordingly cleared floors 1-5, I give you applause. But that's only the first part of the famous Perpetuity Dungeon. From now on, consider its difficulty shooting up some times higher."

"Now, that is not what I like to see…" Soobin muttered, exhaustion already visible in her eyes.

"This floor is the easiest right now from the ones to come. That's the warning from this lenient being who created this dungeon. Oh, and one more piece of advice, Grendels appear every five hours and stay in the vicinity for ten minutes. Do be careful not to get found out."

"Well then, I hope you may clear this dungeon without trouble, and offer me a wonderful show!"

***

Sigh.

I slumped to the ground butt first.

So, on this floor, the main difficulty is going to be the Grendels, huh…

So they have a cool-down of five hours and an activation time of ten minutes. I can only guess this floor isn't one in which we have to kill monsters to unlock the gate to the next floor.

This is why I hate dungeons and labyrinths! Everything has to do with clues, uncovering, and discovering different things with different difficulties.

It's such a drag.

We set up our tents and selected who and until when they'll stay watch through the night.

"I think I'll stay watch for the first four hours with Soobin."

"Huh?" Mai looked at me with a bewildered face, "Aren't I supposed to stay up?"

"Where did you get that idea? Listen, I am going to stay watch with Soobin in the first shift, while in the second it will be you and Sean, this is the most appropriate combination currently." I told her the match I thought of and continued to explain why.

"I chose the first shift to be with Soobin since, in the next four hours, the chances of a Grendel appearing is one hundred percent. I as the strongest in our group currently, can face off against the monster if it finds and targets us while Soobin can cover for me with her fire spells." I gave my reasoning.

"Khe–" She spat, "This makes me all the angrier since it makes sense!" Mai accepted her defeat bitterly and soon after everyone closed off for the day.

Although I and Soobin were now left alone in each other's company, getting to further know each other through our deep talks.