28 Chapter 28: New floor (1/1)
Wilhelm, now reinvigorated with adequate rest, decided to start hurling the large rocks away from the frontal entrance. He sat both of his daggers on the ground and used his strong upper body muscles to efficiently open up a pathway. He was a firm believer of always finding a path toward success, but if he couldn't find one, then he would make one himself.
The veins on his muscles protruded out as his arms moved at a deathly quick rate. A small gust of wind was wafted about by the sheer velocity he moved at. The boulders of varying sizes coursed through the air and landed in a relatively neat pile. Some of them cracked upon impact, causing a loud echo to reverberate throughout the small grotto.
His movements continued for an entire hour; he didn't deem his body worthy of rest until the task at hand was completed. Over time, the pile behind him grew larger and larger, while small holes were gradually appearing within the frontal entrance. Dust and darkness permeated from behind the cavern as it slowly opened up, releasing a strange scent from behind.
It smelt of rotten eggs and decomposing filth. The stench was nearly as putrid as the cooked grottenburgs, but Wilhelm persisted. He began to move the rocks in a particular order, forming a rather small hole that only a normal-sized human could pass through. He figured that the spider-domain would prove to be a good hideout at a later date. If he removed every single rock, then there was a good chance that all sorts of monsters would trespass, but this way, it could remain somewhat solitary.
He made a few more preparations before grabbing his daggers and stashing them inside of his loincloth. He then crawled through the slim hole, resulting in all sorts of dirty to attach itself to his body. It was a two meters long passageway, and Wilhelm didn't have too much trouble making it to the other side.
The strong stench was even stronger once he plopped out, not to mention the extraordinarily thick and musky surroundings. Unlike the bottom floor, the current terrain was much more humid, perfect for insects, fungus, and plants to thrive. On top of the less than satisfactory cavern, it was still quite dark.
Small and unused cobwebs streaked across the coarse walls, and a strange liquid fell from the roof. Wilhelm was forced to use his night-eye ability to even perceive the things a few feet in front of him. The new environment was vastly different in comparison to the bottom floor—it gave off a subtle offbeat feeling.
Wilhelm was still wide awake, and most of his wounds had already healed by some miraculous stroke of fate. He was not worried about too much danger, but he still moved cautiously, making sure not to step into any traps. After the skeleton army fiasco, he decided to become much more circumspect around unusual things.
His daggers hung at his waist as he trod along, marking his path with his sharp fingernails. Fortunately for him, he was used to being alone in dark places. If it were an average person, they would've gone insane already. Granted, that's assuming Wilhelm still had a few strands of sanity remaining.
As he continued down the dark corridor, his vision became more and more impaired. The cavern gradually became wider as well, branching out into a few different paths. None of them were very different from each other; they merely smelt peculiar. In contrast to the bottom floors catacombs, it was as simple as turning left.
Wilhelm was a simple man. He knew of his terrible luck, so since he felt compelled to move left, he went right. Although the philosophy used for this decision was lacking, Wilhelm was far too lazy to actually map out his future path. He was much more inclined to go with his gut feeling and find a water source as quickly as possible.
The extensive corridor was even narrower than the last, forcing Wilhelm to slide through, turning his body horizontally. The grime on the wall felt quite icky, but after what he had been through in the past few days, he couldn't even care less. He transversed the anti-claustrophobic passage with a little bit of effort, a shimmering light faintly gleaming from the exit.
His pace quickened as he quickly departed from the ravine-like rocks, scratching his arms in the process. Heated breath escaped from his mouth as he surveyed the unfamiliar terrain, surprise running through his veins. A small stream of flame-water ran through the spacious cave, falling down a relatively large cliff—a natural made waterfall.
At the sides of the stream, small egg-like sacks were present, blistering profusely. They were green of color and looked rather vulgar. The stench was even stronger in the room, presumably being emanated from the eggs. On the other hand, a small sense of danger assaulted Wilhelm as he squinted his eyes.
It was unlikely that there was anything moving about in the room, but the eggs were laid by something of larger magnitude. Who knew how many small creatures would hatch, and if their parent was nearby. Wilhelm was hesitant, but his parched lips and throat was a matter that needed to be resolved.
He used his slender and long legs to tip-toe toward the stream, letting his voluptuous and might beard sway within the wind. Unlike the bottom floor, he could actually feel a slight breeze up here, as if was slowly getting closer to the end of the dungeon.
Like this, he slowly made it to the stream of water, where he dipped his mouth into the water and guzzled it with haste. The burning sensation was nearly nothing compared to his trained physique, so he hydrated himself rather swiftly.
Once he was done, the eggsack to his right warped ever so slightly, slowly congealing. There appeared to be something alive in it, so Wilhelm grabbed his dagger and stabbed downward with no hesitation. It penetrated the egg and caused green blood to splatter all over the place, but the movements inside stopped.
Wilhelm glanced at the dead creature with disdain. However, his arrogance was washed away with the abrupt movement to his right. He glanced upward, observing the hundred of eggs hatch at the exact same time.
”Well, shit.”