Sorry, just fixed a stupid mistake I made and somehow missed.

The area had started changing again. The strange smelling mist was the first thing he noticed. It steadily grew thicker as Jack continued walking.

After his little fun with the strange dark silhouette, Jack had kept following the tunnels downwards. They twisted and turned and kept growing slightly taller and shorter. It was strange, but rather reminiscent of the Pthumerian Labyrinth of her majesty's birthright under Yharnam.

Accompanying the changing terrain were slightly stronger monsters. Most notably ants with greater speed and durability. Nothing challenging, but the numbers had thankfully risen.

Can those ants call for reinforcements? It would make sense.

And in his current situation, right in the middle of a strange group of large ants, horned rabbits, and a couple blue moth-like creatures, Jack at last had to pay attention to his surroundings.

But even a hoard-worth of fodder was still fodder, and each monster went down in a single hit.

"Still nothing but small animals and wastes of time! Is there anything that could provide any sort of thrill?"

Another rabbit launched itself at him, only to be grabbed by the horn and thrown at a wall.

Just as soon as it had arrived, the hoard was gone, reduced to ash and a sea of small magic stones upon the floor. A bit of blood had gotten on his clothes, but not nearly as much as he would've liked.

The pouches on his fine leather belt had become full a long time ago with various purple stones, so he just left the stones and most of the drop items on the ground. A few rabbit horns had been used to replace some throwing knives, however.

How long have I been down here? Maybe I sh-

A scream rang out nearby. Probably human and undoubtedly filled with fear. Both the scent of blood and urine became noticeable as Jack approached. It didn't seem like human blood exactly though. There was something else in it, something that diluted the pure coppery aroma.

The scents and sounds all lead down an even longer tunnel. The mist was even thicker there.

What sort of 'monsters' are down there?

A rather interesting scene greeted his eyes upon his descent.

A large, grassy plain stretched out before him. Very thick fog hovered over everything. Pale tree-like structures dotted the field.

Several large monsters with green skin were advancing on a trio of disgusting demi-human things. One with cat-like ears and a scepter of some sort was laying on the ground with a huge gash in his stomach. Blood poured freely from the wound.

Ironically, one with more sheep-like features was out in a different concentration of monsters, fighting with a vicious variety of bladed punches and kicks. A certain sort of amusing, desperate fury adorned the thing's face. Aside from what looked to be a broken arm and many small bruises, likely from glancing blows, it was relatively uninjured.

The last of the trio, what seemed to be a female bearing a wolf-ish resemblance, exhaustedly fought with a curved greatsword in defense of the downed teammate.

They are not going to make it. It would be a waste of time to travel down there.

But... They would reduce the population of monsters before perishing.

"And such creatures don't deserve my prey,"

Three knives had been thrown before Jack leapt from the cliff and landed upon a large greenskin. His Chikage sunk deep into the monster's skull before twisting and ripping out as he dismounted the greenskin and went for another.

Just before his next target came into range, a large tree trunk quite suddenly came into view.

Jack flew backwards into another tree, which resulted in it exploding in a shower of wood shavings and chunks.

His precious Chikage went flying from his hand and landed in the dirt behind him. The Evelynn still hung on his belt, but a large tear had been opened on the outer layer of his uniform where a stray branch of the tree had caught him.

"You wretched creature! How dare you strike me! How dare you strike your better! You tore my coat! Do you know how much this coat costs!?"

Disgusting, repulsive, abominable, damned monster! You will pay for this!

Unsurprisingly, Jack's excessively loud tantrum attracted the attention of every greenskin in the area. They all began lumbering towards him.

He roared and leapt to his feet.

Several powerful shots of quicksilver blew out joints and punched holes in several different greenskins, but none reached a head.

Jack dashed from monster to monster with the dagger from his belt, normally reserved for cutting throats, and began systematically slashing tendons and other non-vital areas in a flurry of steel and rage.

Suffer you miserable animals, suffer and bleed out!

Thankfully, despite the unforgivable transgression of damaging a nobleman's outfit, especially his outfit, the green skinned creatures had one redeeming quality: they had a lot of blood.

It made sense. Afterall, a lot of blood would be required to maintain such a bulbous body.

And the pressure under which the blood was kept was also impressive. With each slice, that pleasant smelling ichor sprayed out in a similar manner to one of the fountains in his family's garden.

Again and again, an eye popped, a torso opened, a throat flayed, again and again. Blood rained down in a sort of visceral downpour. No movement was wasted, but no movement was efficiently killing the greenskins either. Many were merely disabled and bleeding out on the ground.

It was like watching a monster rampage through a group of animals. Malice haunted every strike, and a sickening bloodthirst hung heavily in the air.

The attention taken off of them, the three Demi-humans sat mostly still.

"Wh-What is that?"

Lynnia, the red-haired werewolf, couldn't move much. It was all she could do to speak. Her wounds were healing because of a potion, but fear rooted her to the spot.

Whatever that thing was that had dropped down, it was terrifying. Her instincts screamed to get away.

Margit, the blonde sheep, was in much the same predicament.

Brent, the orange-furred cat-person, was still unconscious, even if no longer bleeding.

As soon as it began, the monsters were gone. A sea of carved up corpses and items littered the floor. A pass parade sent into a meat grinder.

But it still stood. The creature adorned in feather and silver, and soaked head to toe in red.

Five minutes... All of them only took five minutes!?

All of the greenskins laid on the ground in pieces. In the middle of the sea of blood and not yet dissolved flesh, Jack stood. The blood-coated feathers and helm cast a disturbing visage in the strange light.

The three demi-humans still stared. Mustering her courage, the wolf-person spoke.

"M-mister! Can you help us? Our friend is hurt bad. Do you possess any potions curr-?"

The red-furred wolf-person cut off suddenly and visibly shivered when he turned to look at them.

What insolence!

Lofty, harsh and hateful, Jack's voice rang out from the intricate helm.

"Help you? Why would I help you? Stupid commoner! How dare you even ask someone like me for medicine!"

"But please mister! I know we c-"

"And 'potions' don't exist! What sort of uneducated lunatic doesn't know that?"

Before the wolf-person even noticed, he had already crossed the distance and backhanded her.

"Learn your place!"

The backhand didn't have much force behind it, but it accomplished its task. The werewolf went sprawling backwards, and seeing the interaction unfold, the sheep-person went into a rage. She charged at Jack, only to be met with a fist to the gut.

I didn't even swing for that punch. How weak and stupid can commoners be? Damn pests should be groveling at my feet for stopping the greenskins from skinning their corpses, not begging for charity!

"Trash."

The sheep-person fell to the ground, clutching her stomach.

It was a pathetic sight to him. But it was the right place for the commoners to be in the presence of a high-born such as him. Their speaking up earlier still left a bad taste in his mouth, so he gave the wolf-person a light kick in the stomach before leaving.

This is still so boring! And now I've got to find a seamstress or supplies to fix my coat! I might as well call it a day.

Jack's eyes turned back to the tunnel opening from which he had emerged. It seems as though he had miscalculated his descent, as it was a sheer cliff leading up to the opening instead of a slope.

Climbing such a thing would be a bothersome task. Even with the few scattered cracks for footholds.

Thankfully, another opening was somewhat visible on a different side of the clearing. This one had a stone ramp leading to it.

It'll do.

He started towards it, only stopping to take a look back at the pitiful peasant trio. It seemed as though the sheep-person and the wolf-person had managed to get control of the wound and were pouring some strange liquid on the cat-person's midriff. Both of them glared at him with looks that could likely kill.

"Bastard!"

The sheep shouted at him as he left.

Fortunately, he didn't care. To show how much he didn't care, he pointed at the ground in their direction momentarily and turned back around to continue walking.

How moronic. I probably didn't even need to act so hastily. Those weaklings wouldn't have even changed the population of greenskins!

Scoffing to himself, Jack went into a light jog up the tunnel. It had opened into at least five floors so far, but he didn't really care much.

I need to find a library or something up there. And I should be able to exchange these rocks at the guild hall if that pink-haired woman was correct for money. What was it called again? Valis?

Another strange, purple silhouette began emerging from the wall, but was shot almost instantly. It turned to ash in the broken wall, the stone shattered as well.

I should probably stop doing that. I can't carry any more with me right now, but it would be a loss of money to keep destro-

A scream rang out. This one was strange however.

It grabbed Jack's attention immediately.

The scent of something traveled with it. Fear, urine, sweat, breath and…

Vileblood!

Before he even knew it, Jack had begun sprinting towards the sound with reckless abandon. Several shadows and frogs emerged from the walls around him but were quickly left far behind.

Turning a corner, he saw a strange creature standing above a white-haired kid. It looked like some sort of large humanoid with a bull's head and horns. The creature's right arm was raised above its head, likely in preparation for crushing the child into a fine powder.

His Chikage blade was already swinging with viscous speed. Jack hadn't even realized that he drew it. Or that he had run in front of it.

The bull-creature's arm fell limply to the side. Blood dripped freely from the deep slice in the lower muscles and tendons. Then blood spurted from a slice through the muscular throat of the creature.

Letting loose a growl, Jack thrust his hand deep into the bull-creature's chest and firmly grabbed the rock inside and then pulled.

Nerves and vessels loudly snapped as a shower of crimson erupted from the bull-creature's chest. The already dried blood upon Jack's garb was repainted and the child behind him was splattered as well.

Everything had been going so well. The fifth floor monster magic stones were just a bit larger than those of the first four floors, but the monsters were still very manageable. Until the minotaur came.

It shouldn't have been there. According to Eina's lectures, they didn't spawn until at least the fifteenth floor.

But there it was. Popping out from around a corner and chasing him to a dead-end. Then winding up to an attack ever so slowly, almost as if savoring the event.

His knife had shattered when he threw it at the minotaur in a vain attempt to drive it off.

It was the end for him, he realized.

Alone, pressed against a wall, and with soiled trousers. Another casualty of the Dungeon. His goddess would be left alone. His dream left unfulfilled.

Until someone showed up. A very, very heavy blood scent wafted off of them. Their feather coat was the first thing he noticed.

And then the minotaur was destroyed in a few swings of some golden-handled sword. Blood splattered everywhere.

And then they turned to look at him directly.

It was horrible. An intricately carved metal helm covered in crimson without eye-slots stared down at him. His instincts screamed to run.

Only for everything to suddenly go dark.

"Why did he pass out?"

Jack stared at the unconscious child in confusion.

This… This was the child from the plaza.

Well, not my problem-

A small object fell from the child's neck. A pendant on a very old and worn cord. A spade-shaped thing with worn red paint, a gold border, and two reared up golden lions. Jack's eyes marginally widened at the sight of it.

A Cainhurst Sigil? How do you have this?

I'm taking you with me to answer a few questions.

A small tag on a small chain also hung.

'Bell Cranel' huh? I don't recognize that family name.

Picking the child up, he began for the upwards leading tunnel once more.

And then stopped. Again.

Jack felt a pair of eyes on him from nearby. To the opposite side from which he had come, a child stood. A blonde girl about the age of the child draped over his shoulder by the looks of it. The way she carried herself spoke of an experienced warrior. The wolf-person behind her had a similar posture. It was on edge though.

But something was off about the girl. Some scent or aura that didn't quite belong.

A matter for later.

Turning back around, Jack continued walking to the surface.

Ais slightly shivered as she watched the man leave. He had destroyed the escaped minotaur with ease, so he couldn't have been weak. At least a level 4, just by her rough estimate.

Even still though, something about the stranger's visage was frightening. Her instincts went on edge at the sight of him.

Bete, although slightly behind, was bristling as if preparing for a fight. His voice spoke out.

"Who the hell was that guy? Somethin' wasn't right with him!"

Ais on the other hand, was thinking about the boy who had passed out in terror.

I should apologize…