"Are you sure that was enough to qualify for a level up?" Finn asked changing the subject.
"Should be. That was a genuine level eight after all. I mean sure I did most of the work with my flames but the sheer fact you survived the thing is a huge accomplishment. Plus there was all those other monsters you killed that added up equaled each of you several times over." I said with a shrug.
"Are we just not going to talk about how he brought us all back to life a bunch of times?" Bete asked seriously.
I scoffed "I did no such thing. Those injuries would have been fatal if I hadn't fixed them but none of you actually died." I said honestly.
"I lost my fucking head!" Bete argued.
"Yeah but neither your body or brain were actually dead yet. If I took over a minute to reattach your head you might have died but I got you in time so you are perfectly fine." I said dismissively.
"I'm with him on this one. Folks don't survive without heads." Gareth said seriously.
"You clearly don't understand how decapitation works. Contrary to how it's commonly believed you don't instantly die when your head comes off. For right around a minute give or take your brain and body are still alive. Your heart pumps blood and you can still think. That's why freshly cut off heads can move their eyes and shift expressions, they aren't dead yet just getting there quickly. I caught your head within this period and reattached it so you never actually died, just flirted with it a bit." I explained to Bete who along with the others looked sick at the information.
"So for a whole minute you are just trapped in your head dying?" Gareth asked with a horrified expression.
I shrugged "More or less. Don't get me wrong here if your brain is destroyed that's the end. You are immediately and completely dead at that point. Lucky you huh?" I said with a smirk.
"You're a fucking madman." Bete spat with a shudder.
"I'm THE madman thank you very much. Are you truly surprised? I haven't made an effort hiding my mental instability you know." I said cocking me head to the side slightly.
"We are wasting time." Ottar cut in impatiently.
"Right right, we should go to the next safe floor to rest up since you lot do need to head back topside tomorrow and it would be unwise to make an attempt at the moment." I said before heading over to the location I killed the rex to collect the strange red flower looking flesh gill things and stone.
With that stuff gotten I led the way to the other end of the floor and took the stairs down. The floor after a rex was always a safe floor so I didn't expect any trouble and wasn't surprised when none showed up. -
The seventieth floor was a vast grassland with a lake in the center that was crystal clear. The whole place practically screamed peace. There was no trees and no weeds or flowers or even animals of any sort. Beyond a slight circulating breeze the floor was deathly still and void of the vitality a normal environment should have. I set up a few beds out of hide and bones while creating a temporary cooking tool that was just some fused bones and a stone a converted on spot that created a small but constant flame.-
I popped my cooking pot over the top of it and tossed in the water and ingredients before waiting for it to cook down. There was silence as everyone rested and/or maintained their equipment. I was doing some spot repairs on the stuff but nothing to actually improve the quality of the stuff. Simple things like fixing the edges of Gareth's axe and Finn's and Shakti's spears. Riveria fussed over her staff's cracks and Bete silently watched the pot bubbling away as he no doubt thought over the three times he'd almost died. Getting decapitated must have been particularly traumatic given how he unconsciously rubbed his neck occasionally.-
The others mostly played off their own trauma by noticing what they were doing and yawning to cover it or acting ignorant. I rolled my eyes at this though as it wasn't THAT bad. I certainly didn't stress over getting splattered into paste or bisected. Though perhaps that says more about how fucked up my own metal processes were compared to a normal persons. Eventually though the stew was done and I divvied it up and turned in for the night. The next morning Ottar waited on the floor while I rushed up the dungeon with the others since they were unable to do it on their own.-
Once we got to the fiftieth floor though I left them and rushed back down since they could handle the rest of the way up. Naturally I left them a few days worth of rations since I doubted they'd move even close to as fast as we were originally. It took me a couple hours to zip down to the seventieth floor again and I rested a bit to restore my cursed energy before Ottar and I made for the stairway to the seventy first floor.-
Once again I felt the floor before we ever arrived but not for the reason you'd first think. It wasn't some material in the air exactly but a full body standing up of hair. Not from danger but from electrical charge in the air. It was pretty clear that the next floor was somehow lightning attributed but until I could see how there was no way to prepare a counter for it. I had to stop at the entrance to the floor as I saw what was beyond it and groaned.