311 Rushing the First and Second Floors (1/2)

'What floor are we on now?' asked Argyle.

'This should be the first floor, the easiest of the dungeon. This shouldn't take too long. But let's not exterminate everything we see. I'll be happy to break lv. 50 by the end of this place, so the later floors will be enough for that.' Feeling a bit tinge of regret about forcing extinction upon the jakals, Jack wanted to keep the dungeon intact as much as possible.

'I guess we can make that happen. But if something attacks, then I'm killing it.'

Jack chuckled, 'sure, go for it. But with you in the party, we'll be attacked less than you'd think. A lot of the mobs on this floor are simpleminded. The threat on this floor is if you get overrun by too many weaker monsters.'

'Oh… That sounds boring.' Argyle shrugged.

'At least I can save my energy for this floor,' added Tralon. 'Now let's hurry. I want to get to the fifth floor as soon as possible.'

'Really, why's that?'

'You don't know this, Jack, but the fifth floor is my favorite floor. Both the fifth and the tenth floors are very reminiscent of your adventuring style and are very different from typical dungeons.'

'Now that sounds like fine!' Argyle smiled. 'Where to, Jack? I want to see this fifth floor.'

'We have to reach the end of the tunnel, that's all. But we'll have to hurry, so I think Argyle should rest on Bowzer for a while.'

'Then please, excuse me.' Tralon happily climbed atop the nimble fox.

'Right, then let's go!'

As if a race had just begun, Argyle, Jack, and Bowzer bolted head-first into the dim cavern, not caring about what may try to attack them.

Like Jack had stated before, more creatures avoided the party with a lv. 71 swordsman instead of attacking. Occasionally, they would run into a beast stupid enough to test them, but it always ended with a single swing of Argyle's sword.

The end was quickly found and the circle was activated.

Suddenly, Argyle was perplexed. He and the rest of the party were now outside on a path climbing a mountain. 'What is this?'

'This is the second floor,' answered Jack. 'I told you that I made this dungeon different than the rest. This floor is a bit misleading. Want me to explain why now or do you want to figure it out?'

'Is it misleading but fun?' questioned Argyle.

'Nah, it's just misleading. Starting on the fifth-floor things will get fun and will start to take us a bit longer to complete.'

'Then just tell me so we can hurry up and reach the fifth floor.'

'Wow… You're one pesky pestro, Jack,' laughed Argyle.

'Come on, let's hurry up. Maybe those fools will fall for the stalling tactic and give us even more time,' stated Jack.

Argyle led the way, but Jack and Bowzer remained at his side, letting Jack inform Argyle on where to go and how to find the hidden entrance to the center of the mountain.

Though dealing with the beasts only took a swing of Argyle's sword, Jack was still surprised by the increase in levels. The first two floors only had basic mobs in order to make the daring adventurers exploring the dungeon feel confident about their ability to survive the dungeon, only to take things up a notch in terms of physical and mental difficulty in later levels.

Yet, on the first to floors, the majority of mobs weren't lv. 55. They varied between lv. 56 to lv. 59. And they even ran into a lv. 60 along the way.

This made Jack both curious and worried. Of course, he wanted to see how the dungeon he had created in a videogame had evolved in real life. Also, he was worried about the last half of the dungeon, especially the boss on the eleventh floor. Jack had a way to deal with the boss based in the past, but there was no telling whether past methods would still prove to be functional or not.