The Bloodsaurus’s roar cut through the humid Dungeon air with a teeth-rattling rumble, causing the earth to tremble as the huge creature crashed through the jungle in pursuit of its target. Its thrashing tail sent trees crashing to the ground in dull booms as chaos bloomed throughout the undergrowth. Yellow Pterodactyls circled overhead, screeching out with fury as the entire floor came alive with the sounds of countless livid reptilians. More Bloodsaursuses soon came out of the woodwork and began to join their comrade on the chase. Their five-meter frames towered over any adventurer who dared to face them, and their shiny, crimson hides were a bloody promise of death to all lesser lifeforms who wandered close enough to be torn to shreds. If the noise that a single Bloodsaurus could make was deafening, the noise of the pack was downright catastrophic.
Ahead of this deadly group of predators ran Timaias Adama. As a single humanoid figure, clothed in green and average in stature, he looked almost comical as the huge herd of dinosaur monsters trampled after him. His running speed was nothing to write home about, certainly slower than that of the Bloodsauruses, but what he lacked in raw speed he made up for in footwork. He practically glided over all obstructions, leaping over bushes and swinging from trees with consummate ease. Occasionally, a Pterodactyl would swoop down to bite at him, only to have its jaws clamp down on empty air as he dodged or slid under their attacks. Several times, Hearthblade would flicker outward toward an exposed neck, and a surprised monster would find that its head spinning away from its body. The Pterodactyl population in the air grew thinner.
On the other hand, the Bloodsauruses were as clumsy as they got. They were fast, but they couldn’t turn easily, so they simply barreled through whatever obstacles they encountered. Since the bushes and vines of the undergrowth typically proved much more of a hindrance for smaller foes, this strategy usually worked well. Not so much for Adama, whose efficient movements and agile flips allowed him to stay ahead of monsters who would’ve outrun him on open ground. Whenever the Bloodsauruses seemed to be gaining on him, he promptly whipped out Hearthblade and cut down a few of the smaller trees in his path. It usually took the pack a second or two for the monsters to smash through them, which was more than enough time for Adama to put more distance between himself and his pursuers.
Eventually, the swordsman spotted the tunnel that led to the 30th floor off in the distance. He made his way over there, the pack of Bloodsauruses behind him only growing larger as he did, only to stop right in front of the entrance. He turned on his heels, drawing Hearthblade and facing down the mob with a stoic expression. As they bore down on him, his legs tensed and he leapt upward, activating the Flowing Sword mid-flight.
Adama’s first victim was the nose of one of the Bloodsauruses. He slammed his sword down on the tip of the creature’s head, then used the force to rocket laterally toward the side of another monster’s head. He hit that creature even harder, then used that increased force to spring even faster toward a third opponent. The battlefield quickly devolved into chaos, as the Bloodsauruses twisted around to locate the amazin’ flying Adama before they were the ones hit next. However, they were so close together that they often got in one another’s way, occasionally even accidentally biting or slashing each other in their zeal to catch the elusive swordsman.
In the meantime, Adama was in his element. He shot around like an unstoppable silver pinball, running up and down the monster’s spines and heads and delivering blows that cracked bones. His sword grew steadily brighter as his skill snowballed, and soon his attacks did more than break bone. One Bloodsaurus had its head caved in from the overwhelming force, and another saw its cranium shatter entirely in a fountain of blood and gore. Hearthblade shone like a silver sun as Adama waded through the tsunami of monsters like an irritated Godzilla, sword bashing them open with devastating results. The forest floor was suffused in a crimson tide as the angry roars of the monsters turned into wails of fear.
Eventually, the force of the Flowing Sword became too great, and Adama was forced to cancel the technique, but the damage was already done. Half the Bloodsauruses were dead or heavily injured, and the other half had been thrown into a panic. Rather than activate the stamina-draining skill again, Adama leaned on the Endless and the Hidden Sword to dispatch the remainder. He practiced conjuring and throwing the Hidden Sword as quickly as he could, creating a matrix of blades embedded at the feet or within the hides of the terrified monsters, before a simple ring of Hearthblade produced a resonance that turned much of the enemy to chunks. After another minute of scuffling, Adama wiped out the pack of Bloodsauruses entirely.
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Without further delay, Adama dashed down the tunnel to the 30th floor and did the same thing there. Then he did it again on the 31st. His contests with the Bloodsauruses would help with his growth, but they were primarily geared toward improving his skills with the Flowing Sword. His mind remembered how to use it, of course, but his body didn’t always get the message. Occasionally, he would deliver a strike with more force than expected, or fly further than was ideal, which made chaining his attacks together clunkier than ideal. The skill was designed to flow along naturally, each strike delivered one after another with deadly inevitability. Carving the old muscle memory required for that back into his body would take time, and his escapades with the Bloodsauruses were designed to help with that.
The 32nd floor was a bit more complicated, since Bloodsauruses didn’t spawn there, but Adama did go out of his way to duke it out with a pack of wandering Trolls. Their long, beastly arms scooped up large clods of dirt and hurled them at Adama. He skillfully evaded and got in close. They used their reach advantage to claw at him from a distance. Adama played along, activating the Flowing Sword and trading countless blows with them in a heartbeat. Obviously, it wasn’t long before their hands were paste, and Adama closed in for the kill. They were decent practice, though a poor fight. He did the same thing twice more on the 32nd before moving to the exit.
To Adama’s slight surprise, the greatest danger to him in the forest area was actually waiting in ambush right near the exit of the 32nd floor. His only warning that something was wrong came in the form of a high buzzing noise, and he threw himself bodily to the side just before his entire position was soaked in a corrosive deluge of purple liquid. He performed a combat roll before coming to his feet and shooting out two Rippling Swords, which his opponents gracefully dodged.
The sky had been suddenly filled with a small swarm of disgusting, black-bodied dragonflies. Their bodies were nearly a meter in length, and their tails hung low, bloated with a dark, poisonous liquid. The Poison Vermis was probably the deadliest monster on these jungle floors. While they were small by monster standards, that just made them extremely agile and difficult to hit, and the poison they spurted could melt bone. Even if your defenses were so good that poison didn’t melt you, it could penetrate your system, resulting in a slow and painful death. Even Level 6 adventurers could fall victim to their attacks. Their flight speed was also nothing to scoff at, which they proved by zooming down at Adama and spitting out another barrage.
The minutes after the ambush were nightmarishly chaotic. The world died around Adama as he backpedaled, doing everything in his power to try and snipe the enemies with some layered Rippling Swords. He found some success, downing several with a few well-placed shots, but the swarm was relentless. The rocky sides of the Dungeon wall also took the time to spawn a few more of the deadly insects, which promptly moved to attack him from the rear. Adama responded with a chant. He turned and sprinted at the bugs attempting to pincer him and unleashed a full-power Endless Sword right at the moment of truth. The storm of blades savaged the bugs in front of him before they could attack, while cutting through the other streams of poison that had been shot at Adama’s rear by the bugs behind him, neutralizing the new threat and defending him from the old.
However, that defense was far from perfect, and some of the venom landed on his cheek and shoulder. He shook it off, but not before the venom on his cheek burrowed into his system and started rampaging around. The small dose wasn’t enough to kill him, but it could have weakened him enough that the remaining monsters could have swooped in to finish the job. Fortunately, Adama’s Abnormal Resistance resisted it, giving him time to take a swig from an antidote and form a new plan. He conjured another Hidden Sword and started chanting for another full-power Endless Sword and watched as the remaining Poison Vermis pulled back. They weren’t exactly smart, but they were clever enough to be cautious after what happened to their comrades.
In response, Adama hurled his Hidden Sword right into their center. They couldn’t see it, so they didn’t know to scatter, and one sword-echo devastated a huge portion of the swarm. Shaking his head, Adama killed off another half dozen with a sequence of Rippling Swords before ending the threat entirely with another Endless/Hidden Sword combo. Running into a swarm this large was either terrible luck or another instance of the Dungeon targeting him specifically. He suspected the latter, but either way, the threat ended when the final Poison Vermis fell to the ground, and he made his way over to the tunnel.
A short walk later, Adama emerged into a desert.
