38 Chapter 38: Mistake?
"Am I the only one who thinks something feels off?" Asked Serena
"I feel it too..." Replied Ariel
"Yeah, it's the first time we've descended so low when moving floors, looks like Rose wasn't joking, Things my start to get dangerous..." I said
After continuously walking down the stairs we finally reached the bottom. What we saw was...
"This is..."
"I heard that the biome can change in a dungeon but I never expected this..."
A giant hall with only one path, besides it, was water and no matter how hard I tried to look, I couldn't see the bottom.
"So a water biome huh..."
The 11th floor was filled with water all around. There are no signs of monsters instead of a Giant door which leads to the next room. It looked beautiful, especially that shadows formed due to the light being reflected from the water.
It looks beautiful but... What's the weird feeling in my chest? As if I should head back...
"What are you waiting for? Let's go" Serena said as she pulled me towards to giant door
It's probably my imagination...
"Y-Yeah, let's go," I said as I took the lead
"Don't you think johns acting a little weird?" Serena asked Ariel as the two walked behind
"Yeah, since we entered this floor, something's been off, maybe we should turn back?" Ariel Said
As she said that, I opened the door to the next room, and inside was another hall, with a single path
We followed the path and entered the next room. And again there was another single path. We repeated this another 3 times and eventually stopped
"Okay, what's going on? Usually, there would be some sort of maze or choice but it feels as if we're just walking in circles" Said, Serena
The two girls looked intently at me as if expecting an answer
"Why are you two looking at me?" I asked
"You've been acting weird since we came here, so I thought you might have figured something out. That's what you're good at." Said Serena as she walked ahead through the path
Nonetheless, Not encountering any monsters is this normal? A bottomless pit of water... Wait.I continuously stared at the water. It was clear and clean, not something you'd expect from an old dungeon. It was then that I noticed.
"Don't move." I calmly said
Both Serena and Ariel slowly stopped after they heard me
"What's wrong?" Quietly Asked Serena
Why didn't I notice earlier?
"This path is a bridge, and under it. There are monsters." I said
"And? It's not like they've attacked us." She replied
"What I'm trying to say is. There's only one path to the boss room." I said
"Yeah, we're standing on it." She said
"No, Serena, I think what John is trying to say is that we're going to have to swim down to reach it," Ariel said
"So
"Really? We're going to have to fight Water monsters in the water? Dungeon, Why do you hate us!?" Shouted Serena
"But, she's right, the only john can control the water element, the 2 of us might end up drowning." Said, Ariel
"That's fine, I can create a bubble of air big enough to fit the three of us."
And I won't have to worry about us running out of oxygen as I can just take some from the water molecules
"Is there anything you can't do?" Asked Serena with an annoyed expression
"Either way, I think we should head back, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Don't ignore the question! But you're right we should head b"
I interrupted Serena as I cast 'Velox' And propelled myself to her. I caught her midair and landed with her on my arms near the other side of the bridge.
"That was close." I said as I looked over at The water whip which missed her
"WhWhat are you doing..?" Asked Serena
Her red face calmly stared straight at me, that was not the reaction I was expecting."Look over there," I said as I stared at the whip
The water had taken the shape of a whip and laid motionlessly on the bridge. Serena looked at it and then looked at me waiting for an explanation.
"That water whip thing moved out of the water and tried to attack you. Before it did I used Velox to move you out of the way." I said
"Oh... Thank you..." Said Serena as she looked away
"Ventus"
I cast Ventus and cut the whip in half, however, despite being separated from the water, the whip didn't change its shape.
"I see... So it's not the water that's alive... It was magic, there's either a mage here who can use magic or..."
"Or..?" Serena asked
"Or, there's a strong monster. Either way, we should start heading back. I used up too much magic today" I said
"I agree... Um... Can you put me down..." asked Serena
"Oh, yeah, sorry," I said as I put her down
After I had stopped carrying her, she didn't say anything else.
"Is everything alright?" I asked
"everything's fine!" Said Serena as she faced the other direction
"O-Okay..?"
We walked over to Ariel and noticed that her face was pouting
"Are you okay, Ariel?" I asked
"Yeah, why?" She replied
"Y-Your face," I said
"I don't know, I just suddenly felt a bit annoyed. But I'm glad that Serena's fine, I didn't even notice
the spell" Said Ariel as her expression changed from a pouting one to a relieved one
"We're a party, it's natural. Let's head back, any objections?" I asked
The two girls shook their heads and we went back the path we came. We back through the entrance after crossing the bridge, again and again, and again, until we eventually did it 10 times.
"Didn't we only enter the room 8 times? If we went back ten times then doesn't that mean..." Said Said
"We're stuck. We're in a loop, Looks like it's part of this floor." I said
"Then the only way out is..." Ariel said
"Yeah, We're going to have to beat whatever's down there, to get out. Otherwise, we'll stay stuck here..."
"So that's the boss? It's the first I've heard of this... Usually, we're supposed to fight the weaker mobs before meeting the boss." Said, Serena
"That's the only explanation that I can think of. Either way, it saves us a lot of time."
"Why are you always so optimistic? Water is where that monster's going to be at it's strongest If we fight it in the water we probably won't survive..."
"What other choice do we have?" I asked as I looked down at the water
"Pila aqua," I said as I looked over at the water.
The water opened up and formed a sphere, I moved it around a few times and jumped inside. Serena and Ariel followed right after.
"Yep, we can breathe and talk. This will do." I said as I slowly descended the sphere with us inside further and further down.
"Not even surprised at this point." Said, Serena
"So am i." Said, Ariel
Let's ignore that. Still. Why can't I get this bad feeling off my chest? I'm starting to think we should have turned back... Even rose herself said that there was a huge difference in levels from the 10th to 11th floor. I hope I'm just overreacting...