(Zhenya Pov)

The second boss fell. Not as easily as the first, but easy enough to tick me off on some peculiarities. Simply put, things were going smoothly. Not to say easy, goddess knows we’re still walking on a razor’s edge. But more like subtle things working out in our favor.

Course, this is all a drop in the bucket compared to everything else, but still, it’s unnerving. Not that I would ever consider bringing it up at the moment.

Fredrica was already on edge about this pseudo Flowering Night. And Nickolas... Oh, poor Nickolas. The guy was about to have a full-on panic attack! Honestly, the only thing keeping his head in the game was reaching Sushila.

With the boss dead and dusted. Its roots dissipated from the earth, leaving it to collapse into a drop. Fraught with the catwalk-sized roots signature of this floor’s monstrous trees.

Despite the countless paths leading down, our descent wasn’t simple. These things snaked and knotted around each other to the point of incomprehensibility. But if apropos of nothing, Nickolas and I made for a great mountaineering team. We even hit it off, trading climbing stories.

And Freddie made for a good anchoring point...

I won’t lie. Breaking through and seeing the third floor made my head go numb.

We were hanging from giant roots, that through some illusion, didn’t punch holes into the sky but instead made it seem like they came down from the celestial on high.

With a mix of climbing and trekking to the bottom, we landed in the middle of a serene floodplain. A glorified reservoir with large patches of lakes and pools that the sky tentacles greedily fed on.

Contrary to these gluttonous faux trees. The native plant life laid beneath the tides, in pools and shallows, gently jutting out. “This doesn't look so baaaaa!-” And there goes Fredrica...

“Stupid thing’s deeper than it looks.” Eventually, we managed to fish her out. And from what she’s bellyaching about, we were only at the tip of the iceberg.

This wasn’t ground we were standing on. It was an interlacing of various stems crawling up from the depths. Of which she couldn’t see the bottom of.

None of us wanted to suggest diving in, but a quick tour of the area said otherwise. And so it was. “But, how exactly are we going pull this off?”

“Ah!” Nickolas pulled out his encyclopedia, happy to finally get use out of it. Flipping to the right page, he nipped a couple of pods from one of the jutting stems. “These right here should do the trick.”

Following his lead, I placed it in my mouth, making sure not to swallow. “Right, if anyone needs to keep something waterproof, put it in this bag.” Crossing that last cautionary tick off his list, Nickolas alighted in self-satisfaction.

Wading into the shallows, step by step on the sloped inundated stem-weaved path, we walked until fully submerged. And to my amazement, the bud provided oxygen as I took awkward closed mouth and nose breaths. Even more amazingly, these stems had an alien pull to them that kept us from floating away. Scary is my first thought, but since it’s working in our favor, meh.

Kicking off, I was able to swim as usual, and landing on the stem grounded me again. Neat.

Light-emitting seaborne plants flashed like stars in the distance, schools of fish rushing by, the heavy caress of water on my skin. The deeper we ventured, the more I felt like we stepped into another world.

Keeping my wits about, we eventually reached the seabed. Treading near I studied a sack which seems to be the root of at least one of these many stems. Giving it a few pokes revealed that contrary to its rough-looking exterior, the sack was quite squishy and resilient to pressure. Wonder what would happen if I stabbed-.

As I reached for my knife, a sudden beat reverberated through me like a kick to the head. ‘What the-

I-Is that a meteor?’ “Mmggh Mgghhhh hggg.” Fredrica tried pointing out a tiny colorful blotch on the hulking mass as it bounded through the murky depths. Before just giving up and forcefully snapping my neck.

Wait, is that Su?

Yep, that purple hair is hard to miss. And is that meteor made of moss? Algae? Whatever it was, she was shredding through it like paper.

And there they go... ‘We should follow her.’ I gestured with my head at the two equally stunned adventurers.

Fredrica kicked up a sand cloud behind her. We tried keeping pace as to not leave her behind, but she exasperatedly waved us off, annoyed at the babying. ‘Gotcha, Freddie.’

Kicking off the ground, Nickolas and I swam after the death ball. Past floating kelp and sliced sea stalks(?) the clump consumed all in its path only to pay it in toll to a flash of Sushila’s blades.

This cycle repeated until she ran the clump into the ground, leaving a crater in its wake. Shredded, it writhed under Su until she put a knife through its craggy core. Nickolas looked on blankly as the corpse untangled itself, letting its parts drift loose on the currents.

Sushila noticed us soon afterward but didn’t seem to care as she swam upwards.

Nick went after her while I went back for Freddie.

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Trudging back up the path, we surfaced to the sound of Nickolas yelling. “Do you even realize how worried we’ve been!” No reaction from the shut-in assassin. “Su, please just tell me. Tell us what’s going on.” Unresponsive.

She continued limping about, searching for ghosts, body riddled in wounds. It’s a wonder she’s even standing, let alone beat whatever the hell that was. “And how did you manage to pull this floor’s boss out of its room!”

Ah, that makes sense... That was a boss, three floors down. And she just soloed it...

Fredrica loosened her armor to an emptying-ly loud flood, catching Nickolas’ attention. Marching before the two, she dropped to a knee and. “Nickolas, Sushila. I apologize for causing you trouble!” I followed up with my own apologies bringing the two up to speed. About, Nirve, the ring, and our trying to find the room.

“So you were peeking around the past, were you?” The death glare hurt.

We messed up big time, breaking our promise with Nickolas.

“Haaaaaaah” He lets out a huge sigh, seeing us repent. “Not like getting angry will help us. We have Su. We just have to escape now.” Nick says as the person in question dives in again.

She immediately came floating back up like a dead fish.

Dressing her wounds, we finally got her to hold still. “Su, please... I’m so sorry about the ring. That guy Nirve. He said it would get a reaction out of you, but he said nothing about-.” She shoves a palm up my jaw shutting me up.

“Not fault- Nirve young- Lacks understanding-”

“You don’t blame us?” She nods just as I feel a chill slap me on the back.

“Dungeon’s spirit angry- just leave- wants me- failed- repent.”

“Hush! We’re getting you out. End of story.” I help sling her over Fredrica’s shoulder as the dungeon violently contorts, stopping just short of pulping us.

Climbing back up, the sea below roared itself into a froth. Chasing after us as it carried along its monstrous spawn. Can’t get careless. We were ahead of the pack, but monsters, albeit in sparse numbers were jumping down from the upper floor.

Most made a miserable splash, hitting the bottom. But those that stuck met my steel and Nick’s arrows. And for what it’s worth, Freddie's fists could fuck things up. But that was a last resort. She was already working double-time to make up for her armor and Sushila's weight.

So this is what it means to earn the ire of a dungeon. Not quite, that ‘certain something weird’ hit me again, with some monsters conspicuously tripping here and there.

Blasting a path back up the hole we descended, a violent corpse flower awaited us. Freddie bit back a curse. Course, the boss would respawn at this very moment!

“Hold your breath!” Nickolas suddenly yelled out as he lobbed a bomb at it. Exploding into a brown mist, whatever it was packed with, it incapacitated the thing.

“Weedkiller!” He yelled at me as we hurried back through The Giant’s Grove, this dungeon’s second floor.

Water started seeping through the ground, gushing from the boss room. Heralding a familiar ball amalgamation of plants. “Up!” Freddie backed against a tree. Hopping on her cupped hands, she tossed us up like that time with the little pig.

Catching the semiconscious Sushila, we dropped Freddie a rope and used our combined weight jumping off the branch to hoist her up. Three to one in weight like a scale, our side was just a smidge heavier.

The water was still rising as we crossed from branch to titanous branch.

Tch. How do we get out now? We stood at the summit of the last tree before the next floor, nowhere to go.

But like I said. Right now, things just always seem to work out for us. “I see an opening!” Nickolas pointed at the false sky as it cracked and crumbled back into earth and rubble, revealing the first floor.

Despite crumbling away, the ancient root-bound plants that have long since filled every inch of earth they resided in held the ground together. As the ceiling now peeled back like opening the center of a book.

We glanced at each other and nodded. “Now!” We all jumped and clung on for dear life as the peeled floor hit the side of the wall.

Climbing up, we were one more floor closer to safety.

Same as the second, our first-floor sprint unfolded in much the same manner. The water level rose, bringing with it the terrors of the third and waterlogged monsters from the second.

Luckily this floor was shorter than the second letting us escape before the exit flooded.

We reached the dungeon lobby only to find the exit sealed off. Seriously, this sentient basement is really going to drown itself to get us!

Up? It’ll work out somehow. Goddess knows we’re on a lucky streak today.

“On the flower store!” I called the other two over. As the death water creeps higher.

Against the clock, we managed to tear the roof off the small building. And seeing as it was made of, *knock* *knock*, some sort of softwood, once the water rose, it took the pseudo raft up with it.

Various parts from the lower floors started to bubble up, and with them, the third floors boss. Who seems to have assimilated the second and first floor’s bosses.

Great, the thing has a mouth now. *Unholy screeching*. Multiple mouths.

Fredrica left Su in my care as she took the first barrage it slung at us. The mouth-tipped umbels and seaweed quickly followed, wrapping around her shield, gnawing at it.

Meanwhile, Nickolas took potshots in hopes of keeping the main body at bay. As for me, carrying Su, I was left on scrub duty. Shooing small monsters away from our raft, least they capsize us.

So were our struggles as we rose towards the ceiling, which opened up. Not with crumbling earth like before but with bark and branches. “How high does this dungeon go?!”

This question was all but buried by the boss in front of us. Right. Slashing at one of its appendages trying to pull Su from me, I notice a bubbling clump of driftwood next to it, almost like... “Nick, There!”

He quickly switches his shot and, *Boom!*. An explosion of air rocks our raft and tears through part of the boss amalgamate’s body revealing a similar clump to that we just exploded.

“Hey, Nick! Pass the weed-bomb!” He is surprised but capitulates anyways. I leave Su in his care and call for Fredrica to pull her shield back.

Doing so renders the numerous umbels and other plant appendages taut. Now to pull off the stupidest stunt of my life.

Running up the newly taut path, I close in on the amalgamate. But it catches on and releases its grip on Freddie’s shield, flinging me into the air.

Taking aim. Time creeps to crawl, and my sight sharpens. A red glow reminiscent of the core Su stabbed earlier pulses in its mass. Aim. I wind back and fling the sucker. It sticks and explodes, sending the amalgamate reeling, revealing the bubbling clump.

“Nick! Take the shot! The bubbles!” I don’t need to speak any further. He looses his arrow. Hitting its mark. The wood hisses and explodes times larger than the first. Guess the sucker really tried to assimilate anything it could, taking more than one air sack.

Falling, I see a bright light open up. The top. Before I can even splat against the water’s cold surface, the force of the blast sends me-. Scratch that, all of us rocketing into the sky.

The sun? It sears itself into my eyes before I blackout.

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*Poke* *Poke*

“Aghh.” Waking up, my body feels like crap. Wait. *Gasp* Why is it so hard to breathe? Someone shoves a familiar tasting bud into my mouth. Ah, yes. Good ‘ol oxygen.

“So I take it we’re alive then?” I open my eyes to see Fredrica next to me, with Su laying by my side.

“You idiot!” She slaps me then hugs me. “How did you even come up with that harebrained scheme?”

I explained that while we were underwater, I wondered where the air bud stems came from. And after some looking I found it.

The large, bark-y air tanks. A jiggly but hard exterior. It sat at the seabed, extending its bud up to collect air. “So you know, after seeing the first one explode and the situation we were in, I had to take the gamble.” And sides, it seems like the Goddesses were looking out for us today, but I kept that to myself.

This earned me a bonk on the noggin and another hug. Any case, after Freddie calmed down, she brought me up to speed. Or more succinctly, she simply told me to look over and down where we landed.

Nickolas being the least haggard of us, helped me up and walked me over the plush bushy floor we found ourselves on. Makes for a nice bed.

There was just a steep drop. Looking over, it was all white... Up. White. Pillowy. “We’re above the clouds!” The other two look on at me wryly, already having gone through the same shock.