Chapter 19: The Forest Designed To Kill

Before I had even reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard water falling through leaves. One thing I saw when I got to the bottom of the stairs made me lose complete faith in any information I gained from The Hub.

This was in fact, not a normal rainforest. It was a jungle. A very dense, and very green jungle. Maybe a different section of this floor was a normal rainforest, and would be easier to travel through. If I knew it was going to be a jungle, I would have brought something better for clearing leaves and stuff than an ax.

I was prepared mentally for this outcome though, I had already completely lost faith in the descriptions that the people from The Hub had given me, and I was tempted just to throw the Bestiary out of my bag right now, but I could use it for fires.

Considering that this floor was most likely wet from top to bottom, finding any dry wood was going to be a challenge and a half. Any dead wood was either already going to be half rotted or soaked to the core. Not ideal for trying to start fires, and in fact, none of this was ideal.

I was not prepared for there to be rain. I just never considered it for whatever reason. My bag had no cover on it, so anything that wasn't inside a sealed plastic container or bag was going to get soaked. I could head back up the stairs and then roam floor three until I managed to find enough stuff to cover me and my bag in stuff that was waterproof, or at least water resistant.

That would take a very long time, as the best I have found is a few plastic bags and containers here and there. Never any specific rain gear. Maybe I could trade for it on The Hub. No, I doubt they would have anything useful, or if I could even trust anything that came from there.

Worse comes to worse, I just end up pushing through, or I will trek backwards and just go back up and bite the bullet. The Bestiary didn't appear to mention anything on this floor either, but I didn't really trust it anymore. The sound of the rain will probably drown out most other noises, at least while it rains.

With no other choice left for me to make, I left the safety of the stairwell and walked into the dense underbrush of the jungle. I instantly felt how all of my clothes started to soak up water from every source they could. This was going to suck.

Turning around to check out my surroundings, the stairwell was gone, replaced by even more jungle. I wasn't surprised, reminding myself that it was normal for the stairwell to just disappear. Something I had regretfully become well accustomed to.

The leaves at ground level were incredibly dense, it was impossible to see any further than directly in front of myself. How people who actually lived near these jungles managed to navigate through them was beyond me. I certainly didn't have the skill for it.

Regardless, I needed to keep moving. I was already soaked to the bone, and staying still at this point was probably going to see me dead from some monster attack. There isn't a chance that this floor doesn't have anything that was going to kill me the first chance it got.

I kept moving through the bushes and tall grass carefully observing where I stepped. Constantly checking I still had all of my gear on me was important, as I knew that it could easily get snagged or a branch and tear my bag or unclip my ax. It was bound to happen if I let my guard down.

I heard a noise on my right as I entered a small clearing. I instantly stopped all movements to minimize the noise I made in order to give me time to assess the situation. The rain was still falling, and the gray clouds blocked just enough of the sunlight that seeing anything far away was unclear at best.

Looking into the clearing from the edge, I didn't see anything immediately dangerous at ground level, so I changed my search to the sporadic tall trees. There was nothing moving behind the leaves that I could see. The rain was moving everything in a way that something could easily hide behind the leaves as they swayed around in the rain.

I knew that I had heard something on my right from roughly inside the clearing, but there wasn't anything other than some larger than average leaves. Nothing really out of the normal for a jungle. Them being the main object in a clearing struck me as kind of odd, so I'll steer clear of them just in case.

It turned out that this was the correct choice. I saw something swing out of one of the trees across the clearing, and come straight for me. It was a decently large chimpanzee, it was holding a wooden spear as it lunged for me across the large leaves.

My weapon was out and ready long before it reached me, but before I had any chance to react, the large leaves in the clearing moved extremely fast, revealing a large mouth-like pit. It was horrifying to watch as the chimpanzee was smacked out of the air by one of the leaves that the creature clearly used as an appendage.

There was a short scream from the chimpanzee and a sound that could only be described as chewing at high speed before there was only the sound of rustling leaves as the creature hid itself under the unassuming pile of leaves. The sound of rain was now the only thing to be heard in the jungle.

What in the world just happened?

There was a chimpanzee that was using a weapon that was about to attack me, but a plant of all things killed and ate it. How did the plant sense the chimpanzee above it, it never touched a single leaf from the plant, or maybe it could sense how far away the poor animal was from the plant.

Note to self. The animals here, despite being able to use tools, might not be the most dangerous part of this jungle. Why? What happened in this hellscape of a jungle that made the plants evolve like this? There is no way that the plants should be able to eat an animal as quickly as it did for any reason.

I left the clearing after that, it was too much for me to think of even going near that thing anymore. Clearings were dangerous in forests as it were, but this was on a whole other level. I mentally made a note of the leaves color and shape so I could spot another one of those pit things, and I would also steer well clear of any clearing I happened to come across.

More noises that I heard over the rain quickly drew my attention while I was walking through the bushes. It sounded like a four-legged creature walking through a bunch of undergrowth. I wouldn't be able to see it until it was on top of me, but that was okay. Unless it immediately overpowered me, I was confident that I could deal a good blow with my new ax.

The first thing I saw was the bright orange. It was a tiger of some type, but I didn't hesitate. The ax head was already slamming into the skull of the creature as it jumped towards me with its fangs bared. Its front legs extended in such a way that its claws would easily dig into me if they hit.

I couldn't dodge, but I could put as much strength into my arms as I possibly could. The ax came down much harder than I had expected. It easily sank through the hard skull of the tiger, as if its skull were made of butter and my ax was a hot knife. The animal went limp almost immediately as its brain was turned into mush with a single strike.

The entire weight of a limp tiger hit my body all at once, but the claws had thankfully retracted. It was heavy, but not that bad. I fell over, of course, but I did some quick checks on myself, and nothing felt badly injured. My right foot, which was my leading one, hurt pretty bad as it took a lot of weight suddenly.

It didn't seem horribly injured and only hurt a little bit while I walked, so I left it as is. Hopefully it wasn't broken, but I would have to walk on it whether it was broken or not, so it was better if I just didn't know. If I didn't see that there was anything wrong, was there even anything wrong?

Dumb medical stuff aside, I was feeling pretty bad about having to leave the tiger here while I kept traveling. The meat I could take from it would be really nice to have, but I didn't think sticking around to carve some meat was the brightest of ideas. It would definitely bring other hungry animals over that I didn't want to deal with, they can just have the whole thing, I brought my own food.

It took a decent amount of time before anything else notable even really happened. It was fairly simple to protect myself or just avoid dangerous areas. Nothing here really seemed to be above my weight class, but there was another glaring issue.

It was starting to get darker, but it was still raining. I knew I was too far in to expect a stairwell to protect me for the night. I had traveled too far from the entrance of this floor, despite it being fairly slow going with all the bushes and small trees.

This was fine though, I just had to find somewhere to rest for the night. I most likely was going to try and avoid sleeping, as I had gotten enough rest before coming down to this floor with my Hub trip.

It was hard to find shelter, as I didn't trust a single plant here, but I managed to put something together fairly quick that partially protected me from the rain. I had cut out a small section of tall grass using my ax around a decently sized tree.

I then used my ax to cut down some of the smaller trees to make a small little box for myself. I used leaves and grass to tie everything so it was sturdy. I placed some of the more noisy plants near the perimeter of my setup, so that I could hear if anything was approaching me. I would use my hearing to defend myself from things once it became too dark to trust my eyes.

I didn't feel that safe, but it was good enough given the circumstances. I kept my bag on my back, and my weapon in my lap as I sat cross legged inside my little shelter. I was tired, but sleeping was going to get me killed here. There was always the danger that I could be attacked here, and I wasn't going to be the idiot who died just because he was a little too tired to stay awake all night.

An all nighter. I haven't actually pulled one since floor three where I was forced to due to the Shadelings. Actually, I even slept on the floor where the creature could blow lights and attack me when it was dark. That was stupid, but I was on my best behavior, so I didn't trigger its anger effects.

I waited around for a while, listening to the calming sound of the rain as everything went pitch black. I wonder if the rain was a constant on this floor, or if I was just getting extremely unlucky. With the rain came the dark clouds blocking the sky, and my hopes for any source of light at all.

There was a bright flash of light, forcing me to close my eyes and I turned my head away on instinct. Next came a tremendously loud explosion-like sound. Lightning. I was wondering if this was a normal rainstorm. I guess it wasn't. I should be fine here, as I definitely wasn't the tallest thing here, so I could just relax.

If the lightning got too close though, I was in danger of hearing damage. Something I would not appreciate. What really sucked though, was that I couldn't just plug my ears, what if some animal tried to sneak up on me once I covered my ears to protect them from the loud sounds. It would spell disaster for me.

I would just sit here and hope that the lightning will stay far away from me. The odds were technically in my favor, but knowing if this floor was going to intentionally try to strike me with lightning was impossible. These floors were just too unpredictable to make accurate guesses like that.

However, it seemed like the lightning was moving away from me, despite my constant worries of the contrary. I could tell because the sound was starting to be heard much longer after the flash than before. I used to know some 'trick' to gauging the distance of lightning based on the difference between the flash and the sound, but I can't remember it anymore.

During the sound of lightning, I heard something coming from the noise traps I set up. I readied my weapon, but made sure I was so quiet I even stopped breathing. Ever since floor ten, I've been practicing holding my breath for long amounts of time. With my life on the line, I really practiced quickly. While moving, I could hold my breath for up to four minutes.

So holding completely still and holding my breath wasn't an issue. I waited to see if it was searching for me, well see in a figurative sense. It was too dark to even see my hand in front of my face, so I was listening as closely as I could to the sounds of rain, hoping to hear footsteps through it.

Whatever it was that set off my sound trap, it was getting closer, as I could hear it walking through the grass. What seemed off to me was that it was either three animals, or an animal with six legs that was sizable. I wasn't sure I wanted to see either, so I kept holding my breath.

Unless the creatures were walking in single file, with was a single animal with sex legs. Extremely odd, but I wasn't going to question this place's evolutionary choices, at least not now. However, it kept getting closer to me, and I was getting nervous. Did it perhaps smell me, and that was how it was going to track me down?

Something with six legs that made these heavy footfalls was going to be a lot heavier than a small tiger, like the one I fought earlier. I was going to have to be much smarter about how I handled this one. I didn't have time to set up real traps, so I couldn't rely on those to help me get rid of this thing.

I probably wouldn't be able to outrun a creature that had evolved in this jungle, but maybe I could lure it to a clearing and get one of the pit plants to eat it. If it came to that, I would probably lure myself into the pit plant instead. It was too dark to see, I was in a real sticky situation here.

I kept holding my breath, but I was nearing my limit. I would have to at least start releasing air from my lungs soon, or I would start choking. The creature was getting closer, but it wasn't going straight for me. My heart was beating quickly due to nerves and a lack of oxygen.

I needed to calm myself somehow, but my options were limited. I just did my best as I listened to the position of the creature. It passed by my tree and kept going, not even acknowledging me. I wasn't going to tempt fate, so I waited for it to keep walking. It did.

Once it hit the sound trap on the other side, I finally let out my breath and started breathing slowly. It wasn't a short amount of time that I just held my breath for, but it wasn't longer than a handful of minutes. I guess my nerves probably made that worse than it needed to be.

What kind of place has six legged large animals though. You know, it is probably the same kind of place where plants will eat entire chimpanzees in under a few seconds. I guess I wasn't as confused anymore, and just straight up worried. I hated this floor.

Not that it was particularly challenging to survive, but just the various wildlife sure gave me a run for my money. Not to mention, I was soaked, and starting to get cold. I was going to probably start facing some serious risks if I didn't warm up. I could just start walking, but it was too dark, and that was a needless risk.

I could try and start some sort of fire to warm myself up, but I've never managed to start a fire in the rain. It wasn't raining too hard, but getting a fire that managed to dry out the wood and then burn it all while constantly getting more wet from the rain was too hard for me. Possible in theory, but in practice, hard. Especially since I would have to do it blind.

It would probably attract unwanted attention from the wildlife though, so it was also a bad idea. I wasn't chilled yet or anything, but I sure wasn't warm anymore. Layering more wet clothes wouldn't do anything for me. It would probably make me colder if I tried it.

So I just needed to wait for the first light so I could get moving through this jungle. I was realistically already halfway through the night, I would just need to make sure I was vigilant enough that nothing tried to kill me. Sleep was not an option, unfortunately.

So I just sat and waited. Whenever something set off my sound trap, I'd hold my breath until they went out the other side, or just left from the noise they created on their own. As soon as there was enough light to see, I was already on the move.

No sense wasting any time. No need to dismantle my shelter, nature would just reclaim it over time, and it's not like I could, or even should bring such a shoddy structure with me. Why do I even really care about this though, for the last ten or so floors, I've just been leaving empty bottles and garbage everywhere since it doesn't matter.

Traversing this floor was rough, to say the least. I struggled with the dense brush and small trees blocking my path. My muscles were tired and sore from lack of sleep and constantly being wet and cold. Thankfully, I had started to warm up now that I was moving a little bit and the sun had come up.

I was a little worried that I was going to freeze to death at the end of the night, but a little fear of death really just wakes you up in the morning like a cup of coffee never could. I missed caffeine, but I've managed this far without it, and even some of the little treats I got myself were caffeine free, just to keep my body clear of the stimulant.

Alas, what I feared had finally come true. I encountered the six legged creature during the day. It reminded me of the Shade Hounde with less rot under the fur, but it had an extra pair of legs and it was almost double the length of the Shade Hounde. It looked directly at me from the other side of a clearing.

I knew what was in that clearing, and apparently, so did the wolf. We had a staring match for a while before it decided I wasn't worth the trouble and it begrudgingly left the opposite way I needed to travel. I shook my head and went on my way.

A quick encounter, but I had no idea that those wolves could be so intelligent. Actually, I would say it is practical, rather than smart. It didn't want to deal with me or the hungry plant in the clearing, so it just left to go find easier prey. Not that I blame it, I'm just glad I didn't have to fight it.

There wasn't much else to do, other than wander the floor to look for the exit. What will the exit look like though, I can't see any buildings in this place, unless I just got unlucky, or they're just very rare. There might actually be huts or things scattered throughout this place.

I wished for something to happen, I was longing for something other than pushing my way through wet leaves as it still rained on. I don't think the rain was going to stop before I found the exit. The sky was starting to get dark, and I was just about to make another shelter for the night, when I saw a slight red glow reflecting off one side of the trees.

Oh… oh no. I walked towards the red glow and saw the exit sign, illuminated by a bright red light. The exit was indeed on a small hut. I was skeptical though, as the door to the next floor looked like one of those doors you would see on a submarine.

A boss floor, and it was going to be dealing with something related to underwater. The door always matched the theme of the next floor. If I spend time at the top of these stairs to dry off and recover, and when I get to the bottom and it is completely underwater… I swear to god.

I had to dry off and make sure everything I had was dry though. Stop any mold and bad stuff from growing on my clothes and skin. Sleep would be nice too, as my eyes were starting to hurt because of how long I had now been awake.

I opened the large metal door. It creaked and groaned as it slowly swung open. I could smell the salt water as soon as I walked into the stairwell. If the smell was so intense up here, I could only imagine how it was at the bottom.

While mentally preparing myself to get angry at the bottom of the stairs, I started the process of drying everything. The next floor was going to be hard, I knew this already.