The third floor was totally normal, just a regular Dungeon hallway with Husks hidden around every corner. Husks were just that, the haunted dead skin of animals, basically a more organic version of Puppets.
They were the kind of Spawns I was glad to ignore. Even if they provided a nice jackpot of free exp, I wouldn't sully my newly cleaned armor again. I walked right passed them and onto the Fourth Floor.
There, I was taken by a mob of Zombies, my old pals. Of course these were the weaker versions, stumbling along already half-damaged and ready to die at last. I pitied them, burning them to scentless cinders.
They wouldn't be rebirthed another time.
I took my time on that Floor, torching the entirety of the Zombie population until there was nothing but gray and green ash upon the cobblestone floors.
I found no Chests as those didn't show in Beginner Dungeons until around the Eighth Floor. Most Adventurers placed Chests secondary to Spawn Drops and Exp anyway.
At last I came to the first Floor with a Boss, the Fifth. The Floor itself was a jungle, trees and vines growing every which way, and tiny larvae squirming beneath my feet.
It was a Floor filled with Murders of Luna Moths. They were beautiful little creatures, lighting up their pathways with a subtle greenish glow, but they had tiny piercing fangs that poisoned.
The things had noses like no other, clouding around anything of the flesh with insatiable greed, flocking to prick it with a million jabs of poison. Then ripping every strip of meat from its bones.
They were a wilder version of the normal Moth spawns, ghastly and dangerous. Luckily, it seemed they counted as undead. Possibly their tiny fangs and bloody appetite qualified them as a type of Vampire.
I followed their clouds of light into the Boss Room, not setting them alight for fear of being mobbed.
The Boss was a Nemacyte[1] all spindly limbs and bulbous dried-out thorax. I shivered at the sight of it, imaging that thing leaping at my face. It certainly would look better as a pile of dust.
I blasted it with a round of fire, and it sprung into action, screeching to its babies to slaughter me. I instantly regretted not killing those Luna Moths when I had the chance, as swarms of them came in to defend their mother.
Its grey-white skin wrinkled as it leaped at me, sharp claws reaching for my eyes. I ducked, trying to ignore the disgusting feeling of crushing millions of larvae, and stuck my dagger in its vital organs.
It screeched again, and its Moths started nipping me in every spot they could reach. I stabbed deeper, it clawing frantically at me but unable to hit me without injuring itself.
I took time to hit myself with a Fireball, igniting the Moths on my flesh, and heating my dagger so it could slice deeper. At last the screeching died, and the pathway to the Sixth Floor was revealed.
I held my body tense, eye twitching uncontrollably, wishing I could purge the feeling of crushed bug guts from my very being. Throwing the twitching body of the Nemacyte Queen off of me as quickly as possible, I ignored the itching sensation in favor of leaving this floor for good.
In the hallway to the Sixth Floor I probably resembled nothing less than a Demon, fire sizzling away coppery patches of blood from my armor, boiling and smoking like an immortal emerging from a death pit.
Oh wait, I guess I was one.
I never stopped on the Sixth Floor, purging thoughts of those detestable creatures from my mind by absolutely annihilating the pesky Undead Wolves that prowled about among the nightly scenery.
The smell of singed fur suitably distracted from most other thoughts, like wondering if Suzui had decided to follow me. I didn't think she would be so much of an idiot to do as I had and go in Party-less.
The Wolves thickened and bulked as I came closer to the next Floor. I hurled more destructive fire at them, but even the scorching heat of a Blue Fireball seemed to be ineffective on these stronger creatures.
I pulled out my dagger, hefting it awkwardly in my non-dominant hand, while beginning the process for the Incinerator Spell in my left.
In the time it took for me to switch tactics, an army of stronger Undead had formed to block the path ahead. At once, they stiffened, lowering their bodies to pounce.
Fifty or so menacing growls later, and a single lengthly howl had them pouncing, aiming for my throat.
[1] Human-sized bug-like creatures that normally live as Symbiotes inside Riftworms