Down on the next Floor, Jonah is confronted by a Sword Stag, a large deer monster with carnivorous teeth and curved scimitar blades in place of antlers. The Good Hunter swings with an over headed two-handed chop into the space between its antlers before they could touch him, splitting its head all the way through and hit the ground to cause its own momentum to carry its body over its head. It disintegrates before it could crash into Jonah.
Four more Sword Stags attack from elsewhere. Jonah quickens out of the way of one of them to chop off a front and a back leg, then quickens after the second one to chop off both of its back legs. The remaining two Sword Stags stop to size Jonah up as they each stand on opposite ends across from each other with the Moon-scented Hunter in the middle.
They charge at Jonah, but he quickens aside so that they end up crashing into each other to knock themselves senseless. Jonah decapitates them and picks up their stones, then decapitates the other two remaining Sword Stags to take their stones as well. He next keens his Insight to find the path to the next exit going down and follows until he reaches it and descends it.
Upon his arrival onto the next Floor, he notices something . . .
I knew it. He thought. This area is bigger than above and has been getting bigger the further down I go. It must mean this dungeon is like a cone; so the bottom must be as big as Orario, probably big-
He would have been struck by a Bloody Hive bursting out of the wall where he once stood if not for his Insight and his quickening ahead before that could happen. A loud droning buzz emanates from the Bloody Hive and Deadly Hornets as large as ravens come flying out of its holes toward Jonah, and he quickens away.
Jonah stops to look back but those Deadly Hornets still doggedly follow, and a large swarm at that. He quickens away again, and stops before a dozen Hobgoblins, each taller than him, and a dozen Metal Rabbits. Again, he quickens away upon their reaction to him and he stops within a meadow that has a tree. But instead of being laden with fruit, it is colorful gemstones.
It also has a Green Dragon guarding it that roars at Jonah, who quickens away into some bushes. The brush slows his speed so that he risks those monsters catching up to him. He doubles around throughout the brush and finds a spot to hide and watch.
The Good Hunter watches as the Metal Rabbits gather near the Gem Tree, followed by the Hobgoblins, followed by the Deadly Hornets. Given their baser instinct, the Deadly Hornets attack the Hobgoblins, which in turn swat and swipe around and end up accidentally hitting the Metal Rabbits, which in turn end up attacking the Hobgoblins. This causes the Green Dragon to roar in outrage and stomp around while swiping with forepaws and tail. It does not take long before there are only the Deadly Hornets left for the Dragon to contend with, causing the Bloody Hive to spawn more of those monster insects. The Dragon seems to understand as it makes its way over to the Bloody Hive and belches flame onto it, incinerating it and ending the spawning rate of those Deadly Hornets and goes back to killing off the last of those monster insects. Afterwards, the Dragon returns to the Gem Tree. But not without injury as it grumbles and groans in pain from the multitude of welts covering it. Its eyes swollen shut.
Well now that was entertaining. Jonah thought with amusement as he emerges from his hiding place with Hunter's Pistol in hand and walks over to the now pitiful monster.
The Green Dragon rumbles at the scent and sound of the Moon-scented Hunter who continues stalking toward it. The Dragon opens its mouth in its attempt to blast Jonah with fire only to get blasted by a quicksilver bullet that exits the back of its head. It collapses and disintegrates, dropping its stone which Jonah destroys due to its size.
Leaving the insect shells alone, Jonah goes about the task of picking up the other stones but pauses for a moment to gaze upon the Gem Tree.
Should I take some? He thought, then shakes his head and returns to the task. No, I'll stick with these stones instead because I can at least destroy them if need be.
As if in respond to his thoughts, Jonah ends up learning that he now has too many stones to take.
Yeah, like I figured. He thought while crushing the remaining stones.
His stomach starts acting up.
Hungry. He thought. Better eat a travel bread.
Jonah reaches into his coat and takes out one of those overpriced rations to eat. Feeling better, he next takes a long drink of water and feels relieved.
Eleven left. He thought upon keening his Insight to verify his ammo.
The Good Hunter enters the exit from this Floor to the next one below. It is on his way down that he begins hearing a constant roar coming from down below. He also begins feeling an increasingly moist coolness pervading the air.
Jonah finally enters the next Floor to stand upon a pebbly shore before a river. The walls are a dark blue with light that seems to come from everywhere yet nowhere. The source of that river is a cavern off to one side with the Dungeon walls channeling the river away from the shore. He sees a trail along the Dungeon wall opposite of the river source and walks up to it, then along it. He does not get far when his Insight shows him a huge humanoid monster coming toward him and soon encounters a Troll that almost immediately roars and lumbers toward him at the sight of him with outstretched hands. The width of the path is too narrow to move around effectively, so Jonah opts for an overheard frontal attack as he chops through the Troll from crown to sternum so that it disintegrates but does not drop its stone since it was destroyed by that chop.
The Moon-scented Hunter arrives before the Great Falls.
That's quite the waterfall. I wonder how far down it goes? He mused while staring down into that abyss.
Jonah looks to the rest of the trail continuing downward alongside the waterfall and begins his descent. A difficult task as many of the rocks are damp with algae growing on them, making them slimy and ultimately slippery. At one point the trail turns away to go into the Dungeon wall so that he is going through a passageway.
His Insight shows him eight large bugs about to crawl out of a crevice in the wall near him. Poison Vermis as large as wolves come crawling out.
Jonah slashes them before they could react, leaving a puddle of bright fluid. He destroys their stones and moves on. He exits that passageway to find himself back along that waterfall once more and now has to climb downward once again.
After what seemed like an hour, Jonah reaches the base of the waterfall where the roar of the water is at its loudest. A perpetual drizzle saturates the place, making him damp. He continues walking but does not get very far when his Insight shows him tentacles coming out of the water toward him. He ends up slashing three purple tentacles that attempted to grab him. With keened Insight, he takes out the Hunter's Pistol and shoots at the source of the tentacles. There is a bloody froth in the water and a Drag Octopus floats to the top. It disintegrates and leaves its stone to sink back into the river.
Ten left. He mentally noted about his bullets.
Jonah continues walking, only to receive the image of a huge fish jumping out of the river to eat him. A Raider Fish jumps out toward him with wide open mouth, only to get slashed in two down the middle for its troubles. Three more are revealed and with one huge swing, he slashes those three Raider Fish that attempted to eat him like the first, with one of them dropping a scale that quickly gets washed away.
Further down, his Insight shows him six large snakes jumping out of the river to attack him. Just as he had foreseen, six Aqua Serpents jump out of the river making hissing squeals as they attack, only to get their heads slashed off seemingly simultaneously. Three more Aqua Serpents jump out of the water and they too suffer the same fate as the first six.
Like the first path way back, he spots the trail turning away from the river and into the Dungeon.
A bit of a reprieve. He noted and enters.
As Jonah walks up the natural looking passageway, his Insight shows him a large spike covered ball with a large toothy maw rolling toward him. He keens his Insight while taking out his Hunter's Pistol upon hearing a rolling sound up ahead and a Crystaroth Urchin comes into view.
It rolls towards him, crushing rocks in its path. Jonah takes aim and shoots it through its mouth causing the monster to stop, spasm, and disintegrate to drop its stone that he destroys.
Nine left. He thought of his bullets.
The passageway exits back out to alongside the river once again and Jonah keeps up his journey.
His Insight shows him two humanoid birds and is soon confronted by them. They both have women bodies but with bird-like feet and feathers, and wings for arms. He foresees that one will sing to him and break his mind and the other will sweep its wings toward him to hurl blade-like feathers down at him.
He shoots the Siren before it could sing its deadly song and it falls screeching into the river below with a wound in its chest. The Harpy sweeps its wings toward Jonah, shooting feather bullets down at him but Jonah is not where it wanted him to be.
There is a bang and the Harpy also falls screeching into the river below with a wound in its chest.
Seven left. Jonah thought in regards to his bullets as he continues onward.
Further up, he is confronted by three Blue Crabs with bodies as large as horses, each with a right claw almost as big as itself. He rushes forward and chops off the eyestalks of the first one, blinding it, then leaps over it using it as a stepping stone and fiercely chops down into the second one, between its eyestalks. It collapses and disintegrates. The other crab reaches out to grab him with its huge claw, only to get it chopped off then chopped between its eyestalks as well. The first one is still alive but waving its claws around and Jonah simply leaps up onto its back and chops down between its maimed eyestalks. It also disintegrates to drop its stone, including its shell.
Ignoring the shell, he destroys their stones and moves on.
The Good Hunter arrives before a large oval piece of land within the river that has crystals growing all over it, except his Insight reveals it to be something else and he keens to perceive that land being a large turtle. He leaves it alone and continues onward.
Large flies with daggers sticking out of their faces are next to be picked up by his Insight and Jonah soon hears a loud whining. A dozen Devil Mosquitoes the size of crows come flying toward him. Jonah tenses with his now furled Saw Cleaver, then quickens as he makes a huge swing, managing to get seven of them with one blow. He swings again and gets the rest, then continues along.
Jonah soon finds himself in a wider area, giving more space. He walks through an area where he notices that there are a lot of large round purple crystals with what look like yellow eyes in the center of them, or Light Quartz as they are known.
His Insight shows them shooting beams of light at him, prompting Jonah to quicken at one of those Light Quartz and ram the serrated edge of the Saw Cleaver into it, destroying the crystal. He repeats this a few more times as he quickens to each of them, then presses against the wall.
And none too soon as those Light Quartz begin shooting at an angle in their effort of trying to hit him, but are unable to do so.
So these are monsters too. He thought. I should be fortunate that they are only on this side and not across on the other side as well or I would really be in trouble.
He keens his Insight.
Ah, so they can't keep that up for long. He thought.
They stop shooting and Jonah quickens away, stopping only when he can no longer foresee their attacks. He finds himself in an even larger area.
The image of a bird diving into him causes Jonah to quicken away, just as something bursts against the ground. Images of more birds diving toward him compels Jonah to twirl to face them as he holds the furled Saw Cleaver serrated side up like a shield while keening his Insight and ready to quicken. Despite being within a relatively large space, the river to one side and wall on the other, there is still not enough space to make any attempt to avoid that flock of Iguazu about to dive like bullets at him.
They finally dive at Jonah and he quickens to insure that each Iguazu strikes the blade and not himself; doing the Art of Quickening while keening Insight is no easy task as both require steady concentration.
Jonah foresees the last one homing in on him and manages to snatch it out of the air. He stares at it closely and it indeed resembles a red swallow. It struggles to get out of his grip but he crushes it and it disintegrates. None leave stones, but many leave wings. The Moon-scented Hunter looks down at himself and notices that his coat had not gone unscathed as several holes were punched through the draping part.
Nothing a visceral attack can't mend. He thought.
As if in response to his thought, his Insight shows him a dozen mannish monsters coming out of the river toward him and he looks to the river. A dozen Mermen emerge from the river wielding clubs and stone axes and run toward him, save for one that has red scaly skin who hangs back to direct the others.
Jonah walks toward those charging Mermen while unfurling the Saw Cleaver, then quickens while swinging to chop through several Mermen at once, then the rest of them until only their leader is left alive. The Good Hunter furls the Saw Cleaver, quickens up to the lead Merman, slashes it across its belly, and does a visceral attack. It screams as its blood gushes out all over Jonah, drenching him. The leader disintegrates and Jonah is left holding its stone that he crushes.
The Moon-scented Hunter looks down at the holes to see them quickly shrinking while the blood splashed all over him starts disappearing. Soon, the holes are completely gone as is the Merman's blood and Jonah next goes about destroying those stones before continuing onward.
The trail begins narrowing once again to bring Jonah closer to the water's edge once more. He unfurls the Saw Cleaver as he foresees more monsters coming out of the water. Up ahead emerge seven Afancs, five Dodoras, and a Kelpie. It is soon joined by six Lamias that crawl up to them from elsewhere in a team up.
Jonah quickens into the Lamia chopping through three of them in one swing and turns to repeat with the other three, all in two blinks. Next are the other monsters as they had been hesitant for a moment of which Jonah immediately takes advantage of by quickening at the Kelpie decapitating it, then chains to chop through two of the Dodoras and quicken backward before the rest could react. He quickens toward them again and chops through the rest of the Dodoras before the Afancs could react. He chains again by swinging low, managing to chop through five of the Afancs, then quickens back to avoid the last three attempting to jump him, and suffer the same fate as the rest.
The Good Hunter goes about destroying their stones and moves on.
Up ahead he encounters a section of the river where it looks deep and various currents intersect. His Insight shows him a dozen fish monsters about to rise and attack him. There is a splash and the monsters reveal their selves to be Voltimerias as they next hover above the water's surface. Those monsters make their move as they fly toward him with the intention of biting him in two, only to bite into nothing and immediately get slashed in two and disintegrate to leave their stones behind for him to crush.
Jonah sighs then continues onward. Further down, he stops to stare across the river at a spot up high. His Insight showing him the same thing as he had seen on the Floor that was like the inside of a tree.
More of those monsters. He thought. They're also watching me like the others did from their hiding place. And just like those others, I'm not sensing any hostility towards me. It's best I move on though.
The Xenos of that hidden village watch Jonah walking along.
"I still find it hard to believe that he took out those regulars that quickly and easily!" Leto the Goblin noted with awe.
"Is that all you have to say?!" Rayne the Arachne stated intently. "He was looking right at us despite us being hidden! He's clearly a threat!"
"Only to the regulars or else he would've tried to find a way over here," Fear the Harpy said.
"But what if he tells other adventurers about his suspicions?!" Rayne snapped. "They could come down here scouring the Dungeon for our hidden villages! We need to get rid of him!"
"Rayne! No!" Leto snapped, then sneers at her. "But if it pleases you, he's heading toward Amphisbaena's lair."
Jonah continues walking along as he looks up.
The ceiling is getting lower. He thought, then stares ahead. I guess it must have to do with the exit to the next floor down just up ahead.
The ceiling continues getting ever lower until it is low enough for him to reach up and graze it with his fingertips.
Jonah arrives within a colossal rounded cavern where the river forms into a pond with a shoreline. He walks up to the very edge of that pond while staring at it in puzzlement.
Where is all that water going? He pondered. There must be an underwater passage or else this whole Floor would be flo-
Only to stop his muses as he looks back due to his Insight showing him the entrance closing. There is a rumble and the entrance slowly closes until it stops. Though he is trapped, the opening remains high enough to allow for the casual flow of the river.
The Moon-scented Hunter looks to the pond once again due to his Insight showing him what is to come. The water churns, rapidly increasing in vigor until the entire pond is churning.
A large loud upward splash proclaims the arrival of Amphisbaena.