“Sir Udon” Umi softly said my name, I was back in the inn packing our bags quickly.

“Why don’t I learn from my mistakes” I mumbled to myself shoving the monster fur into the bag

“Papa Udon” Vnaa was now trying to get my attention

“Every time, I should have learnt from our first argument, straight after I picked a fight with the town guard captain and almost died” I was remembering the first argument I had with Miko, I let my emotions get the best of me and almost ended up dead, if I had just told Neptune that I didn’t kill the Ice Chimera, Miko would still be here

“Sir Udon”

“Umi, how can we travel up the floors?” I turned around quickly to Umi, I caught her off guard and startled her

“Huh?”

“We don’t have Miko with us, how do we move up floors”

“Well, she is still apart of our party so the dungeon’s requirements are still met”

“Lets get going” I slang the two bigger bags over my shoulders and threw the smaller one to Umi

“We should think this through Sir Udon”

“You heard the over grown squid, floor 10, he took Miko to floor 10”

“I know, but we need to come up with a plan”

“I need to save Miko, it’s my fault” I hated myself even more, I was the one that let Miko get taken

“Papa Udon” Vnaa tugged my shirt

“I-I’m sorry, I just need to save her”

“We will Sir Udon, but we should come up with a plan” How was Umi so calm in this situation?

“We can come up with a plan while we make our way to floor 10” The girls seemed to realise I wasn’t just going to stay put, they nodded their heads at each other and followed me out of the inn and towards the stairs leading to the eighth floor.

“What does the map say about the eighth floor” We had made our way to the stairs and stood still not knowing what lyes ahead.

“It’s named the Merio Floor, it’s split up into five chambers which hold different stores and guilds. Only three guilds are stationed on this floor, the Adventures, The Treasure and The Fertility Guild. Hathor and Eros live on the floor and have plowed a path for anyone travelling around the floor so they don’t get lost, Monsters have also learnt to avoid the dirt path.” Hathor and Eros huh, they are the names of Gods back on earth, I should try and avoid them, they might be helping Neptune.

“Lets go” We headed up the stairs and came out onto the eighth floor, it was exactly like the description said, a cave floor.

“If we follow the path we should be fine correct?”

“Yep, the easiest way to the ninth floor stairs is over here” Umi was leading the way, she held the map and followed the path carefully.

“We’ll head straight through, no stopping ok” We started to run straight ahead

“Papa Udon, is that a town?” I looked to where Vnaa was pointing, it was a small open space that had what looked like to be an inn, a tavern and what I think was a bath house from the bathtub logo on its sign

“All the shops on this floor are carved into the dungeons wall” Umi explained seeing my puzzled look

“We should start to slow down a little Sir Udon”

“Huh, why?” Umi started to slow down and came to walking, Vnaa followed her lead and started walking to

“What are you two doing? Lets go”

“We can’t, look” Umi pointed to the guards up ahead, they looked different from the sailor suit guards on Neptune’s floor

“What are they doing? Do they work for Neptune?” I quickly became paranoid, it wasn’t to far off a guess to say Neptune tried to kidnapped me, but instead grabbed Miko and then set up these traps for me as I made my way up the floors.

“I don’t believe so, the map shows that the path up ahead has two small lakes on either side, it must have to do with that” We slowly approached the guards, they weren’t humans, in fact, they looked exactly like you’d expect a pixie to look, green skin, red hair with flowers scattered through them, butterfly wings and pointy ears.

“Can we pass?” I asked one of the Pixie men, he was wearing what I think was the floors guard uniform, it was well, lets say extremely flamboyant. long skin tight white sleeve shirt covered by a sparkling red and gold cap that folded over his chest, he had skin tight black tights on with a single white line run up the inseam of it, and to finish it off, black glittery boots.

“The tide is high player, if you wish to pass you will have to battle many monsters” The tide is high? Is he saying the two lakes rise like a sea?

“If you wish to fight the monsters you may go ahead, if not, I recommend staying in the inn just over there” I turned to the other guard that just spoke. This one was a pixie girl, but she looked nothing like Claudia, she wore a fish net stocking with crystal white slippers, a black and red feathery skirt with black cloth wrapped around her waist, she wore fish net wrist padding and a tight black and red low cut singlet covered by a leather black short sleeve shoulder wrap. Who came up with these outfits?

“Sir Udon, I think we should stay in the inn tonight” Damn it, but Miko

“Papa Udon, we’ll save Big Sister Miko” Even Vnaa could control her emotions again, this stupid Ghost Seed!

“She won’t be happy with us if we ended up getting hurt while trying to rescue her”

“Fine” We headed over to the town and checked into the inn, it cost 1 Bronze Bear Coin along with dinner at the tavern

“I’ll be back, I need to trade some of our Silver Shark Coins for Bronze Bear Coins” I left the table the three of us were eating dinner at and headed to the bar.

“Can I grab 10 Bronze Bear Coins in exchange for this” I handed the bar keep 1 Silver Shark Coin.

“Did you hear about Neptune’s men being slaughtered” Huh, I sat at the stool and eavesdropped on the conversation two male wolf demi-humans were having.

“Yeah, I heard his right hand man lost most of his men because they tried to take on the Ice Chimera” Those small over grown squids did mention something like that when they threw Miko’s dagger over the mountain

“They only survived because Aquarus sacrificed his weakest warriors while the rest of them escaped” Seriously, and he was Neptune’s right hand man

“No wonder the town is starting to riot, a lot of those men had families as well, to be sacrificed so the strong ones can survive” Sacrifice the weak for the strong, nothing new to me, that happened on earth every day

“Aquarus hasn’t been seen ever since that happened, Neptune might have killed him”

“I wouldn’t put it past that God, he is frightening” The bar keep came back with my change and I went back to Vnaa and Umi

“Everything ok Sir Udon?” Umi asked

“Yeah, I just hope nothing horrible is happening to Miko” If those Demi-Human Wolves were telling the truth, Aquarus might have completely snapped if Neptune kicked him out.

“We’ll head out early tomorrow morning, lets get some rest” We headed back to the room, Vnaa slept in Umi’s bed while I slept in my own.

“Lets go” We woke up rather early, no one in the inn was awake except the night receptionist.

“The guards aren’t there, that must mean the lakes are at a passable level” Umi pointed out. We made our way out of the small town and around the corner to the lakes.

“Keep your guard up you two” The path past the lakes was small, I wouldn’t be a surprise if monsters jumped out the water or tried to pull you in, it would be easy for them to do it

“Umi above you!” I heard the flapping of wings, I turned to see a giant cave bat swooping at Umi

“Got it” Umi pulled her Sea Trident off her back and impaled the cave bat through the chest.

Udon:

*34 Exp Points Acquired

Vnaa:

*35 Exp Points Acquired

Umi:

*40 Exp Points Acquired

“Umi!” I shouted out, I saw a pincer slither out of the water and wrap around Umi’s leg

“Ahh, what is this” Umi shouted out, it looked like a scorpion’s tail

“Get off her!” I jumped and slashed the tail in half with my short bronze sword

“Thank you Sir Udon” Umi and I went back to back, the lakes on both sides were now bubbling, pincers came shooting up out of the water

“We’re surround!” Umi shouted out, the monsters made their way out of the water and circled us

“Vnaa, over here! Hero Appraisal”

*Hero Appraisal Mastery-3/10

Lucky the Mastery Points from Weak Appraisal carried over, it would more then likely turn back into Weak Appraisal if I didn’t have this Ghost Seed

Webbed Scorpion

Species-Pincer Monster

Level-32 Weak

“Sir Udon, what do we do” The Webbed Scorpion’s outnumbered us by over 50, they weren’t overly big, but there was a lot of them

“I don’t know” The Webbed Scorpions closed in on us, this looks bad, how do I fight off that many!

“No…”

“Sir Udon?”

“No…We need to save Miko! I’ll fight with my life!” I swang at one of the Webbed Scorpions slashing its pincer off

“Ksksks” The Webbed Scorpion ran back into the water, that’s it!

“Umi, Vnaa! Cut their pincers off and they’ll run off”

“On it” Umi started jabbing her trident into the monsters pincers

“Vnaa…Vnaa?” I couldn’t hear Vnaa, I turned to find her

“Vnaa!” I saw a small green Pixie Girl with her hand wrapped around Vnaa’s mouth, dragging her into the water

“Umi, get Vnaa!”

“Huh?” Umi turned to see Vnaa and immediately ran after her

“I can’t get pass these monsters!” Umi’s path was blocked off by the Webbed Scorpions

“Damn it! I won’t let you take her!” I charged pass the Webbed Scorpions, I could feel their pincers stabbing my back, damn it! This hurts!

*Low Stab Nullification Mastery-1/10

*Low Stab Nullification Mastery-2/10

*Low Stab Nullification Mastery-3/10

*Low Pain Nullifier Mastery-1/10

Why hasn’t that gone up at all!

The pincers kept making contact with me, I wasn’t giving up though, I already let Miko get taken, I wasn’t going to let them take Vnaa!

“Vnaa!” I managed to make it past the Webbed Scorpions, but Vnaa was already in the water

Vnaa

*Low Cold Resistance Mastery-3/10

“Sir Udon” Umi jumped in behind me, she grabbed a hold of me and swam quickly after Vnaa, I could feel my body temperature drop quickly, we kept on going deeper and deeper.

*Low Cold Resistance Mastery-3/10

“Gagarlenr” I tried to tell Umi I was starting to lose my breath, she couldn’t hear me, damn it! I can’t black out again!

Umi

*High Cold Resistance Mastery-3/10

*Water Propulsion Mastery-1/10

*Fish Mastery-1/10

*Water Movement Mastery-1/10

“Sir Udon, I see light” Umi spoke clearly in the water, she was a water based monster after all

“Hang on Sir Udon” Umi sped up, I could see the light getting brighter and brighter, as the light was getting closer I had no air left, my breath was completely gone, I knew what was about to happen…I blacked out.