A river rushed downstream on a random pathway on the 25th floor, its water shimmering with a luminous, bluish hue, illuminated faintly by translucent crystals jutting from the surrounding walls. Vibrant clusters of Under Coral grew near the walls on each bank of the river, a mass of branch-like forms growing out messily with their bright coral color sparkling like a jewel.
Suddenly, a dark-skinned hand broke through the rushing surface, its long and slender fingers tipped with sharp black claws reaching for the bank. The claws plunged deeply into the crystal bank, carving jagged marks into the stone-like crystal ground. Another hand followed, desperately gripping the edge, muscles straining visibly.
With a surge of effort, the man pulled himself from the water. Dark-brown hair, appearing almost black, was plastered to his face and shoulders, dripping streams of water that made him look ghostly under the floor's faint illumination. He heaved himself up further, pressing one knee against the crystalline bank, then crawled forward, dragging his weary body fully onto solid ground.
His dark clothes were shredded in places, but he was otherwise unharmed. Yet his body trembled violently as he gagged and coughed.
"Ghaa—ugh!"
A mouthful of water, mixed with drool and streaks of blood, splattered onto the crystal surface. Snot streamed from his nose, dribbling onto his lips as he gasped and wheezed for breath. He shuddered once more, nearly collapsing onto the mess he'd spat out, before rolling heavily onto his back.
He stared upward, amber eyes unfocused and wild, fixed blankly on the dimly glowing crystals of the cavern's high ceiling. Suddenly, a low, ragged chuckle came from his throat, echoing eerily in the vast silence. The chuckle grew louder, transforming gradually into unhinged laughter.
"Heh…heh-ha…Ha—Haha—Hahahaha—!" His laughter swelled, reverberating around him.
"Hahahaha! I really almost died!" He roared, "Holy SHIT! The great Rex Magnus Lapis Beifong, the Red Dragon of Infinity, almost—Gaa!"
He suddenly coughed again, a fresh mouthful of blood spraying upward then falling and splattering across his own face. It dribbled down his cheek, and he slowly raised his hand to wipe his face as the manic energy from earlier disappeared.
He looked at his bloodied palm hovering above his face, then sighed as his arm slumped down to his side. 'Thank god for my Indomitable Will...'
Not long after realizing how deep he was, he ran out of air. He should've been dead right there, but then Indomitable Will kicked in. Before, it just let him keep moving when he should've blacked out or helped him fight through bad injuries. But this time, it straight-up cheated death.
His lungs weren't working, and he wasn't breathing, but he stayed conscious, still moving, still swimming back up with Scavenger's help like nothing was wrong. It was a weird feeling not breathing but still moving, a feeling he didn't understand so he couldn't explain.
But Indomitable Will didn't last forever, and the moment he was about to pass out after the effect ran out, luck came in clutch—he got a new skill.
———
"If I Change into a Swimsuit..."
—Grant the user the capability to survive without breath while functioning at full capacity for the length of time that scales with level
—When wearing a 'swimsuit' and at least 3 meters below a water surface, gain the development ability Diving that scales with user's level
—When wearing a 'swimsuit' and at least 9 meters below a water surface, improve all water-based ability while granting vision equal to when on land
———
It had a weird name but was undeniably useful, and thankfully, Undine Cloth counted as a swimsuit. He was even more grateful that he wasn't wearing anything else besides that and his underwear, or else he would've been dead.
Dead as hell.
'I guess I might've gotten another skill,' he thought as he slowly sat up with another sigh.
Trying to push back the fact that he almost died again, he glanced at his status, his main attention on his new skill. "My fourth true skill, and it's this weird shit."
It was without a doubt an ass skill compared to the other three that were all SSS-tier and above. This one broke that pattern by being an A-tier skill.
'No, maybe even B.' It was highly specialized and only useful when wearing nothing but a swimsuit and underwater. 'Good for exploration and underwater battle, I guess...'
But only if the fight wasn't on his level—he couldn't wear armor over his swimsuit without canceling the skill. For it to work, he had to go in without protection, which wasn't exactly ideal in a serious fight.
'Yeah, it's definitely a C-tier skill,' he thought, running a hand through his hair. "Can't believe a main skill is only C-tier," he muttered, annoyed.
Couldn't he have gotten something better? Like a skill to control water, or turn his body into liquid or something? Instead, he ended up with a skill called 'If I Change into a Swimsuit?' What kind of name is that???
'Maybe I can make an armor that counts as a swimsuit...?'
He decided to forget about it for now and crawled over to the river, dunking his head to wash off the blood. The current flowed past his head, clearing away the blood, snot, and drool from his face.
When he pulled his head out, a large fish was latched onto it—its mouth engulfing him up to the neck, body thrashing wildly.
Rex calmly raised a hand. His claws extended, and he stabbed into its head, ripping out the magic stone. Its body then disintegrated into black smoke as he absorbed the magic stone
[Ram Ventilation Gills (Physical Property): Grants the user internal Ram Ventilation Gills. (Effective after a good night's sleep.)]
He declined it without a second thought.
"Let's just go back to my bag," he mumbled, activating Scavenger. Surprisingly, it was still right where he left it. No one had touched a thing. 'Well, I've only been down there for like... seventeen minutes.'
On lower floors like this, it was rare to run into another hunting party. Not only was these floor large, there just weren't that many adventurers down here, and the spot he left his bag wasn't a popular path.
Though... it was far.
'Damn, how far did this water drag me?' He glanced back at the river, still flowing into the distance, past where he could see.
All streams on this floor led to the Great Falls. If he'd been pulled much farther, he would've gone over the edge—down to the 27th floor. And no skill in the world would've saved him from that fall.
'Maybe I would've gotten a revival skill or some OP defensive skill?' His new skill was definitely the reason he survived the mess his own stupidity caused, but he couldn't help feeling like it was weak—
*Skuttle.*
Rex's ear twitched and he turned to see three giant Blue Crabs were rounding the corner.
"Is it me, or do you guys suddenly look cute?" he muttered with a small smile. Seeing the Level 3 crabs actually made him relax a bit.
The first crab charged, its ten legs skittering faster as it closed the distance. It lunged at Rex, thrusting its oversized claw at his head. He simply raised one hand and slapped the massive claw aside, the force knocking its arm wide and leaving the creature open.
Looking down at the stunned(?) crab, he clenched his hand into a fist and brought it down like a hammer. A loud crack echoed as his bare fist shattered its exposed back, its insides bursting from the gaps in its broken shell, the impact slamming it to the ground, its legs twitching weakly.
The second crab leapt over its fallen ally, claw wide open, and Rex leaned back as the claw snapped shut inches from his nose. In the same motion, he raised an arm and backhanded the crab out of the air, sending it flying across the river.
It crashed into the far wall with a boom, rubble tumbling down as it dropped to the ground, twitching. As that one flew, the third lunged from the side, steel claws open like scissors, aiming for his waist.
He jumped, tucking his legs as the carapace snapped shut beneath him with a gunshot crack. Then he came down, both feet stomping through the monster's back. Its shell collapsed under the force, crushing the magic stone and turning it to dust.
With the crabs dealt with, he stepped onto the first one and absorbed its stone. Then he sprinted a few steps and launched himself across the twenty-meter-wide river, soaring through the air before landing light on his toes on the other bank. Walking over to the second crab, he absorbed its stone too, then kept moving toward his bag, ignoring the drops the three had left behind.
He followed the bank, tracing the river upstream. It didn't take long for another monster to appear. A loud splash broke the silence as a Lamia surged from the water—larger than the Lamia Mormos from the Cave Labyrinth, with a darker blue skin and a deep blue tail instead of orange—cashing a shadow over him and glaring down with crimson eyes.
"HISSSSS!" it hissed, lunging with its arms outstretched and wrapping around his head. Her massive breasts, each the size of his his head, sandwiching his head as she tried to drag him underwater, but he didn't budge.
'…' Rex stared forward, vision filled with blue as the cold, wet weight pressed against his face and the back of his head.
Without a word, he raised his hand and stabbed through her temple, crushing the magic stone and turning her to dust.
'I almost got a boner...' He thought as more Lamia busted out of the water, hissing in unison as they lunged at him.
He quickly took them down, absorbed their stones, and kept heading upstream. And aside from the occasional monster, and the flowing water, everything was quiet. After about three minutes of walking, he reached the end of the path—a wall with a door leading into a tunnel.
The river still flowed upstream to his left, and he if he wanted to follow it he could cross over to the opposite bank which hadn't end. But instead, he entered the tunnel, following Scavenger's guidance. It was no more than seven meters high and four wide, carved from the same dark-blue stone that made up the rest of the floor, with crystals jutting from the walls and casting a faint, steady glow through the passage.
The deeper he went, the quieter it got, until the only sounds were the faint echo of his footsteps and a distant drip of water. By now, the entrance was no longer in sight. After another minute of walking—and killing a few monsters—he reached the end, where a wide stone staircase rose, cutting into the rock roof.
He climbed up and exited into another tunnel. He continued in silence, and the sound of water started growing louder and louder.
'Guess the Great Fall is nearby.' he thought. Afterall, it was the only thing on this floor that could make that much noise.
His guess was confirmed when he exited the tunnel into a massive rectangular chamber. The floor was smooth, with scattered crystal blocks jutting from the sides—some of these blocks towering over him, giving the place a megalophobic feel.
Behind him, a wall rose toward the ceiling, towering nearly thirty meters high, and to either side, the chamber stretched on endlessly. But ahead, instead of another wall, the space opened up into a wide gap—an expanse nearly a hundred meters across separated him from the thundering Great Fall. Light from the cascading water bathed the chamber in soft blue-green tones.
"KAAAAAA!"
And in this chamber, there were sirens and harpies. Hundreds of them.
'Oh, damn.' He hadn't heard them coming up because of the waterfall masking their shrieks. 'This could be dangerous.'
Sirens are the only mob monsters that could hurt him due to their loud sonic scream he has no defense against. And if all of them screamed at once, his head would probably explode. But...
"Hehe~" he chuckled, opening his pouch. "This should be enough to reach pity, right?" He brought out a seed. 'Maybe I'll get the Siren's Sonic Scream~.'
He let go of the seed, letting it drop towards the ground as the bird-type monsters closed in from the air. The moment it touched the ground, his eyes glowed green, and a pulse of energy surged down his legs into the earth.
The ground below buckled, cracks spreading outwards—then *BOOM.*
Thick roots exploded from the ground like spears, launching toward the swarm of harpies and sirens. The first wave didn't stand a chance—roots punched through chests, tore open stomachs, and burst out of backs in brutal sprays of gore as the monsters shrieked in agony.
One root slammed straight through a siren's open mouth and out the back of her head; another impaled two at once, lifting them into the air like trophies as it slammed into another one. Then these dead monsters held by the roots crumbled to dust, absorbed by Scavenger.
More roots followed, twisting and stabbing upward in a wild frenzy, tearing through flesh and bone without pause. Screams overlapped, echoing across the cavern as feathers, blood, and shattered bodies filled the air, while continuously being absorbed by the tree.
"KRRRRAA!"
The rest of the flock panicked. Wings beat furiously as the monsters twisted and dove through the air, trying to escape the rising storm of roots. Dozens swerved mid flight, sharp turns and tight spirals barely saving them as spear-thick roots branched and split, growing rapidly and chasing them.
"EEEEKKK!" A harpy flared her wings wide and screeched, firing a rapid barrage of feathers that shot out like bullets.
The feathers shot forward in a blur, ripping through the thick root spear and blasting it into shards and splinters. But it kept coming, regrowing with each inch torn away, trying to reach her.
She flapped harder, wings beating furiously as more feather shots tore through the advancing wood, stalling its progress—until suddenly, the shredded pieces stopped midair, hovering eerily still.
*CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!* They twitched, twisted—then each fragment turned into its own spike and launched at her from every angle.
"SKREEEE—!" Her cry was choked as spikes pierced her limbs, chest, and neck from all directions. Blood splattered in all directions. Her head drooped, then she vanished into dust and a talon clattered to the ground.
Within minutes, the once vast open chamber had transformed into a chaotic forest of towering stems and sprawling roots, some reaching up to the ceiling and others crawling like veins across the ground. Roots burst out from every surface, creating a maze of shifting wood that filled the space with the sound of groaning bark and snapping air.
One siren weaved through the storm of death, tucking her wings to thread between two roots as thick as tree trunks. She darted through the thicket of trunks and roots, spinning and twirling between them with graceful speed as roots lashed out wildly, trying to impale her. She screamed mid-flight, shattering a few incoming roots with her sonic bursts, only to be met by more from different angles.
At last, she broke through to the edge of the overgrown chaos and hovered about seven meters in the air—just off Rex's left side. He stood completely exposed, no roots shielding him, hands casually in his pockets, with his glowing green eyes continued looking ahead, his nictitating membrane covering them.
Her face twisted into a grotesque snarl as she flung her wings wide. "KAAAAAAAAAA!" she screamed, unleashing a massive, cone-shaped sonic wave that tore through the air, expanding rapidly as it barreled straight toward Rex.
Without even looking, the ground erupted. Thick roots shot up, twisting together into a massive wooden wall.
*BOOM!* The scream slammed into the wall, sending dust and splinters flying in all directions. She kept screaming, her voice vibrating through the chamber as the sonic blast pounded the wooden barrier again and again. But every crack sealed almost instantly, thick roots regrowing in real time, reinforcing the shield with each pulse of sound.
Finally, after a few seconds, she was out of fuel and stopped to catch her breath. But then multiple roots burst from the wall, each ending in a clenched wooden fist as large as her own body, speeding towards her.
Her eyes widened in panic as she twisted midair to avoid the first, spinning hard to the side as it flew past her ribs, almost grazing her. Another came crashing in from the right—she darted beneath it, wings tucking in tight as it barely missed her—*WHAM!* One slammed into her side. "KAAA!" she shrieked, the impact hurling her sideways—straight into another massive fist waiting like a trap.
Her body was crushed between the two fists like pulp. Blood burst from her mouth in a thick spray as her bones shattered with a sickening crack. She let out a final, silent scream before her body broke apart and dissolved into dust.
All this may seem simple, but Rex was basically using all of Indomitable Will's mental compartmentalization to its fullest just to keep everything active. Sure, he didn't have to do all this. One poison release would've killed them faster and more efficiently with less mental strain and mind usage. But a man's dream was to control roots like some elemental god.
He just wanted to have fun after the thing he just went through.
[Author's Note: I know it might feel anticlimactic for the next chapter being him just coming out of the water, but I was feeling lazy and didn't want to write all those. Hehe~. Still, I feel like the chapter was good, and I actually finished this yesterday but didn't post it because I forgot, lol. Anyway, here are two chapters.
Thanks for reading~]