The dungeon was a bit weird when it came to hearts in monsters. Some you would think of possessing one had their stones in that place and others you could think less needing of them would have them. There was no definite pattern here either as it was as if the dungeon was wishy washi about the idea and went back and forth randomly. Anyways I collected the dragon heart and we moved on into the heavily packed mountains. My ice came in clutch here as getting swarmed by the Raiju was not a fun experience. -
Once we adapted to their frankly ridiculous speed they became much more manageable. Having to deal with the avalanches from the mountains getting struck particularly hard in certain places made this much more difficult. The thing that made me worried however was seeing some of the Raiju get killed by those many ton boulders smashing into them. The reason this worried me was because dead monsters meant loose stones and loose stones held the potential for variants to pop up. We hadn't seen any so far but I wasn't going to trust that it hadn't happened in however long the dungeon had this floor set up.-
We fought almost nonstop as we trekked deeper and deeper across the floor and even we got tired eventually. I split out a deep long tunnel in one of the mountains with my technique and sealed it shut after creating air holes to the surface so we could rest and recover. We ate dried jerky and fruit for out meal since we couldn't risk a fire with the oxygen levels in this cave. After eventually waking up we set out again. It was a slog to say the least. Being merely low level seven monster meant we could stomp them individually with a smidge of effort but in groups like this we had to put in a lot more.-
We got to the stairs at the end of the next day and camped out on the stairs for the night before bracing ourselves to do it all over again. The seventy second floor was much the same as the previous floor in design but had a new monster species. Thunder vipers I called them, feathered serpent monsters well over a dozen meters long and as thick as a school bus. Did I mention they flew? Cuz they did. -
This meant in addition to the Raiju swarming us we also had to pay attention to the sky for these sparky green flying snakes with fangs like spears that tried to divebomb our asses with venomous gaping jaws. That venom was no fucking joke either. Not quite as bad as the Knuckelavee's toxin but uncomfortably close. Thankfully it was nonreactive to anything inorganic so it just hit the stone and slid into the cracks harmlessly. Ottar got bit once and I had to straight up amputate his right arm to save him as the spot on his wrist the venom got in blackened and rotted visibly while spreading up his arm.-
We ended up splitting the burden as I took the Raiju while he took the snakes. There were no new monsters for this floor and the next two floors but it still took us seven days to reach the end of the seventy fourth floor. My smoke collection was nearly seventy percent full to maxing out my stats and I knew this was going to be the end of our expedition one way or another.-
When we stepped onto the seventy fifth floor I sighed as one of my concerns was proven true. There coiled around the singular mountain with it's body partially concealed behind thunder clouds was a massive winged serpent like the thunder vipers but many times bigger and having six wings along it's full length. Unlike the solid green of the thunder vipers this creatures scales and feathers were vibrant in many colors like a peacock almost. If I didn't recognize that the thing was a variant of the thunder vipers at a glance I'd have had to be blind. It noticed the intruders of it's domain as a massive manor sized serpent head lower through the clouds and stared at us with a flickering of it's forked tongue.-
"I don't think we can fight this and win." Ottar said gravely from next to me as sweat dripped from him.
"Normally I'd agree, but compared to what's coming I think we have a better shot here. Try not to die." I said before blasting off with my flames at full power towards the serpent.
"Peccatum Superbiae!" I yelled as I buffed myself as much as I could.
The golden slitted pupils narrowed slightly and I almost couldn't react as that massive head shot forward in a blur towards me mouth open wide as lightning rippled across it's insides.-
I raised my weapon sideways and clashed with one of it's towers fangs with an explosive impact though the final result was me getting launched backwards and into the side of the floor at easily mach four. I felt my body shatter on impact and had to burn some energy to fix it and then immediately dodge as that head slammed into the spot I just was.