Chereads / This Time I Will Survive: Why is Everything Different? / Chapter 34 - The Second Floor of the Loyal Forest Tower

Chapter 34 - The Second Floor of the Loyal Forest Tower

"Are you feeling okay?"

My mind felt extremely exhausted for some reason. I shook my head to clear my vision. I rubbed my eye and tried to refocus.

Mat touched my shoulder and looked concerned. I had been watching Mat and Callie work their way through the forest. When did I start losing focus?

"Uh, I'm not sure why, but I seem to be tired for some reason."

My excuse was pathetic. Had I used too much mana in that attack. I had not paid attention to my stats and if I used a new attack that required mana, I wasn't sure how my body would fair.

"Maybe we should rest somewhere."

"Don't worry about it. I still have some extra mana potions from when I was dragging Callie through the gauntlet."

"Those really taste terrible. You should get the better flavored ones like me."

"No thanks. I am not gonna pay those extravagant prices just for a better taste."

I pulled out one of the small bottles that fit in my hand and chugged down a mana potion. Some of the fatigue in my limbs did dissipate, but it was almost like my mind was still trying to slip into a state of sleep.

"Strange. That barely seemed to do anything."

Callie brought a hand to her mouth as she yawned loudly.

"I am feeling kind of sleepy too. Should we just stop and take a little nap…"

Mat caught Callie as she fell asleep on her feet.

"I think we are under an attack."

I agreed with Mat and I quickly scanned the area. There were some small birds at the top of the trees. I had mostly just ignored them because they seemed harmless, but maybe they were causing the strange sleepiness that was taking over.

I grabbed Callie's staff that had fallen against a tree and motioned for Mat to follow me. We had been in this dungeon for quite some time by this point. Not only had we taken out the floor boss, but we had been slowly culling the monsters that liked to use the trees to move around.

There were the occasional attacks from monsters on the forest floor, but the majority attacked from above using the trees to zip into position. It was a great training ground for Callie. She was quickly learning to defend herself from any direction.

We passed the location where I had found the hidden room. The monsters we already defeated would just respawn if we fell asleep there. I remembered that I had taken a nap the first time I came to this dungeon as well.

If I had not found this secret room, I would have probably suffered the same fate as Callie.

I felt my eyelids drooping so I bit my lip to stay awake. Mat was yawning behind me, so I picked up my pace a little. We would need to at least make it to the teleportation circle. A barrier in the doorway stopped any monsters from the dungeon from getting through.

I placed my hand against the edge of the dungeon. It felt and looked like a stone wall, but no attacks could penetrate the wall. The trees started to blur together and I began to stumble on the path.

I stepped through the barrier and took a sigh of relief as I paused right in the doorway. However, a heavy weight descended upon me and I landed right on the teleportation circle, only it wasn't the one to return back to the white room.

Red light surrounded us as I managed to shove the sleeping Mat and Callie off me. This was the worst possible situation. I covered my eyes and a new smell hit my nose. I had no idea what was waiting for us outside the original first floor.

A musty scent filled my nostrils and I inwardly groaned. As the name for this tower would suggest, we were on a forest covered floor. The reason for my distaste was the several inches of water that covered the forest floor.

The musty scent reminded me of the time I lived in a small apartment that had mold growing in between the walls. Since Mat had fallen on me from behind I had essentially just soaked my entire front side.

I pulled my arm out of the greenish water as Mat and Callie splashed beside me. The sudden water splashing them seemed to have broken the sleepiness effect that had taken hold of all of us.

"Eww! Why is it wet?"

I wanted to share in Callie's disgust, but she was currently shaking the water off her hands and splashing me even more.

"Yes, indeed. I would love it if you stopped showering me even more."

"Oh, sorry!"

Callie bowed her head and the sudden movement of her body caused ripples to flow across the surface of the water. I followed them to the trees that surrounded us.

Instead of a single large base that normal trees had, these trees had many smaller parts that joined into a whole once above water. Some of the larger trees formed a slight cave at the bottom.

The water was murky at best, but you could still see through the green stained water. I didn't like the looks of this floor. The last floor dropped you in the south part of the woods, so I was hoping this floor operated in much the same manner.

I heard Mat groan behind me. He was holding his side that I kicked to get him off of me.

"Why does my side hurt so much?"

"Maybe you fell on something hard."

Like I was going to own up to viciously kicking him off me in my desperation to not drown. It was much better that he didn't know that he almost drowned me.

"It looks like we are gonna have to map this place as we go. Callie this is unexplored territory. Stick to Mat as much as possible. We don't know how strong the monsters are yet."

My voice was firm so I sounded confident, but I had just caught sight of areas where the water did not quite let me see to the bottom. That meant that we may be attacked from the water.

The swamp dungeons from my past taught me to fear these types of dungeons. Not only would we be dealing with water type monsters, but the footing and constantly being drenched made hunting in these types of biomes dangerous for another reason.

"Mat."

"I know."

"What?"

Mat turned to the clueless Callie. He gave her a faint smile.

"Callie, no matter how long we have to walk, we cannot stop."

Her eyes widened and the look of confusion on her face increased.

"There are monsters in these types of dungeons that attack you the moment you stop to rest."

"Like the small monsters from before?"

"No, it would most likely be the strong ones."

"Okay, don't stop. I understand."

It was like this as we began our trek. I wasn't too sure if the floor was bigger than the first, but it soon became clear that it was much, much larger. The layout of the dungeon floor was just a large test to make you give up or deplete your stamina.

The only monsters that tried attacking were a bug the size of our hands and it closely resembled the mosquitoes that plagued stagnant water. I was able to easily take them out with my knives.

Mat and I began taking turns taking out the bugs. All the while eyeing the deep pools that came up every now and then. I had a feeling that the true monsters were waiting there.

The only thing I did not know was what was there. Alligators and crocodiles were my first guess. Or some hell inspired version for those. Most likely it was much bigger than normal ones as most monsters were.

Regular crocodiles and alligators were pretty large already and way more powerful than the normal human. Sometimes I wondered how the human race survived to this day and age. I think that even more now that we were passed Fall.

At times the water level rose to above my knees and I could tell that it was the worst for Callie who was the shortest of the three of us. Mat would pick her up and carry her in some places.

Eventually, Callie's stamina ran out and Mat just placed her over his shoulder. She protested at first, but we both gave her a look. Healers were not made for this kind of environment. It was only natural that she would give out first.

As I was thinking this, I stepped forward only to run into a barrier. I rubbed my nose and knocked on the camouflaged wall.

"I guess we found the edge. Following this should eventually lead to the exit. The first floor had a doorway exit so this floor should have one too."

Ripples in the water prompted us to start moving forward again. What I would give to have a boat. I briefly examined the trees around us and imagined a precious boat to float with, but I knew there was no way we could craft a boat and not be immediately attacked.

"Are we there yet?"

"I think you are a little too old for that joke."

"I know. This dungeon just feels endless and I'm hungry."

"I have some dried meat, but you are going to have to wait on an actual meal."

I pulled out a few pieces of jerky and handed them to Callie and Mat. They accepted them gratefully and began gnawing on it as we walked. I also started chewing on mine while my eyes were making sure that no monsters were nearby and fancied themselves a snack as well.