Chapter 51 - 52: 15th Floor
"I\'ll go get the magic stone in the middle of the room, here you two use this to recharge your stones," John said as he handed them the magic stone from the 6th-floor boss.
"Are you sure? After we use it to recharge our mana and staff\'s mana, we won\'t be able to sell it." Said Ariel.
"It\'s fine, that stone over there should be at least worth at least 10x more. Besides, we don\'t have any extra space to fit that stone in the toolbox if we don\'t get rid of this one. I\'ll use the 5th floor boss\'s and recharge mine." John replied as he headed towards the stone.
"O-Okay! Are we heading to the next floor now?" Asked Ariel.
"Yeah, we\'re rushing through the floors of the dungeon. If we ration we may be able to last another week at most... So our only option is to complete it." John said.
Now\'s not that time to be hiding, and John was sure they knew how bad the situation they were in is. They\'ve been doing great, but if they were to encounter something like an even stronger A-rank monster or possibly an S-Rank then...
"Alright, We\'ll meet you at the entrance," Said Serena.
Ariel also nodded.
John nodded at them and went over to pick up the magic stone. It\'s colour was orange and red. A nice-looking mix.
He removed the 5th floor boss\'s magic stone from the toolbox and absorbed its magic power. John managed to fully charge his magic stones in his hand and recharged with a bit of his own energy with what remained in the stone. Shortly after he was finished, the stone broke.
After that John picked up the hell fire\'s magic stone, which was just as big as the spider queen\'s one and put it inside his tool box.
"It\'s size is as big as the 10th floor\'s boss but the power coming out of it is a lot higher..." John muttered to himself.
After that, he checked the door which they had originally walked through to enter the boss\'s room and as expected it was locked.
John went over to Ariel and Serena\'s location after he had sorted out everything he needed to.
"Did you get everything? Was the door locked?" Serena asked.
"Yeah and Yeah," John replied.
"Of course it was." Said Serena with her arms crossed.
"Is everyone ready?" John asked.
"Yeah" Said Ariel as she nodded.
Serena also nodded when John looked over at her.
"Alright, let\'s go." John said as he took the lead.
They descended the long stairs and like before; they were hit by a heat wave. As they went down the stairs, the one thing that stood out the most was grains of sands lying around.
"I hope this isn\'t what I think it is..." John said as they continued walking down.
"A desert..." Said Serena.
"Of course it is, a dungeon is going to magically have a desert underground." John said.
"You don\'t believe me?" Asked Serena.
"No, it\'s precisely because I believe you that I\'m reacting this way." He replied.
"Ah, I see..." muttered Serena.
"By the way, how did you find out it was a desert?" Asked Ariel.
"I can feel it, I\'ve been to a desert before and there\'s sand lying down. Most elves usually live in forests, so we have good instincts." Said Serena.
Just as she said that, they had finally reached the floor. The view of the blue sky filled John\'s eyes. Both Ariel and Serena\'s foul mood seemed temporarily gone as their eyes lit up once they saw the sky.
It was obviously artificial, and they knew, it\'s been a few days since they\'ve seen the sky so they couldn\'t help but be happy even if it\'s fake.
"Let\'s go, we need to find the boss room."
John said as he grabbed onto their arms and pulled them towards the floor. After they left the staircase, it vanished. The door which was open behind them completely disappeared.
John tried touching the air around where they stood before they entered the desert, but it was gone. There was nothing there, it hadn\'t turned invisible, their way back just completely disappeared.
"Oi... Are you serious..?" John asked.
"Our way back is gone!? So we have no other choice but to move forward." Said, Serena as she placed her palm on her face.
"A-At least the 3 of us are still together!" Said Ariel with a worried expression.
"That\'s a pretty optimistic point of view..." Said Serena.
"Yeah, that\'s Ariel after all, hahaha," John said as he started laughing.
"It\'s not funny!" Said Ariel.
"You\'re right about that." Said Serena.
"Not you too, Serena!" Said Ariel.
"No, but yeah, She\'s right. We should be fine as long as we don\'t get separated." John said.
"Yeah, so don\'t do any reckless things, John." Said Serena.
"Do I look like a battle maniac to you too? I\'m not always fighting because I want to."
The two girls looked away as John said that.
"Ah is that so... Okay." John said as he grabbed on to their hands and cast\' levite and velox.
John ascended them straight up. They could see the sun, but they couldn\'t go higher than a certain point with Levite.
"As I expected it\'s artificial, but wow, how can a desert this big fit in a floor?" John asked as he looked around.
"Even I\'m surprised." Said Serena.
"It\'s like a real desert." Said Serena.
Sand everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Water won\'t be a problem with water magic. The problem was food.. They could not spend too much time here.