Chapter 366: Floral Dungeon Part 2

As everyone prepared to defend themselves Aito was the first one to notice the major change in the surroundings. He pointed up towards the ceiling getting the rest of the group to look up as well as the giant flower that hung from above them started to slowly spin at first. The large petals started spinning at a fast enough pace to create a breeze throughout the room as if it was some sort of natural ceiling fan that started up the moment they walked into the center of the room.

The small gusts of wind that were being created started to have an effect on several other flowers in the room. The vines would sway a bit with the wind while some of the smaller flowers that were attached to them began to fall off and get carried away by the wind. Soon the group was surrounded by several flowers that floated in the air and were being moved around the room. It looked like a scene straight out a whimsical fairy tale for kids as all of the flowers twirled around them.

After a minute or so of this the flowers moved in a specific direction following after each other as if they were being controlled. The flowers started to attach themselves to a wall on the other side of the room from the entrance they came in through. They stuck onto the vines along the wall which started to move as well creating a pattern with the flowers. It didn't take long for Joshua and the rest of the group to figure out that the flowers were being positioned in a way that they would line up and start to form words.

"Well this is different. I guess the dungeon is creating a message for us to read before we can go forward." Henry said with interest as they all waited for the flowers and vines to stop positioning themselves. It was a colorful sight, but Joshua put that at the back of his mind as the words finally settled to the point where they formed a message for his group to read.

[Welcome to the Dungeon of Flowers. You are the first to enter this place and if you succeed then you shall be the last. This is a onetime dungeon that shall fade away when completed. Because of this the reward gained from such a place will be specially aligned with the dungeon and will be unattainable anywhere else.]

Joshua was shocked by this. He had come across a dungeon that always gave the same reward, but this was the first time he had heard about a dungeon that could only be cleared once. It did make sense that the dungeon could only be explored once since the moment they destroyed the source of the corruption inside of the place then things would go back to normal. Well as normal as an overly grown forest with trees the size of sky scrapers around could be. Joshua put that thought to the back of his mind before he continued reading the message.

[This dungeon has dangers all around so be prepared to defend yourself at all times. Don not full yourself into believing any place is safe to rest otherwise be prepared to die in your sleep. As long as the source of corruption remains alive within these dungeon walls then you cannot rest. After entering past these vines there is no turning back until you have completed the task set before you. Good luck with your challenge of this dungeon brave explorers.]

"It seems we've got a rather tough task ahead of us." Ivan said as he finished reading the message along with everyone else. "We won' be able to rest well the moment we go forward."

"Then we'll just have to clear this place as quickly as possible. " Robin said with a prideful tint in her voice as she looked towards Joshua. "We can always have guards at the ready if we ever truly need to take a break. We just won't be able to do so for very long."

Joshua nodded in agreement with these words before turning to look at the rest of the group that all seemed ready for him to make the decision on when to go. "Well then we'll be here for a while, but this is a good chance for you all to grow stronger. Let's see what this dungeon has to offer." Joshua said with a smile.

The moment Joshua had made his decision the dungeon itself seemed to notice this fact as the vines along the wall with the message started moving once more, but this time they weren't forming another message, but instead made a large archway out of the flowers that lead to an entirely new room for them to explore. Joshua could see flowers and leaves floating around in the room beyond the archway, but couldn't really make out anything else from the distance. Joshua signaled for everyone to get into formation before walking towards the arch way with his scale blade at his side prepared to take on any enemies that decided to go on the attack.

When he reached the archway and looked through he saw a sight beyond his imagination. It was as if he had walked into a new world that was completely made up of flowers and plants of all shapes and sizes. The area was enormous and was in the shape of a giant sphere that was large enough to take up the space of a large town if not a small city to some extent. The walls of the sphere were covered in all sorts of forest instead of just vines and flowers like the previous room had been. There were massive trees that were swaying back and forth with the gust of wind that seemed to circle the place carrying loose flowers and leaves in the air each time it passed by.

At the center of the giant sphere was another smaller sphere that from what Joshua could tell was probably where they needed to go. He could sense that the strongest aura in the dungeon was coming from that direction so it had to be a huge part of what they needed to do if they wanted to clear the place. What was weird about the sphere in the center was the fact that there were waterfalls coming out of it that seemed to pour down towards the plants below. At the same time there were similar waterfalls coming out of the top of the sphere that were pouring towards the ceiling.

For a moment Joshua rubbed his eyes when he saw this sight. The water wasn't flowing down from the ceiling towards the sphere, but the other way around which didn't exactly follow the laws of gravity. He funneled some aura into his eyes so that he would get a clearer look at the ceiling of the space to see if there was a reason for this, but he was even more bewildered when he saw trees that looked like they were hanging upside down from his vantage point. This showed him that the gravity in that area was the opposite of the gravity on the other side of the sphere in the center.

Looking around the large space Joshua noticed this seemed to be the case all around it. Up seemed to be the direction that lead towards the large sphere in the center of the space for all other areas. Thinking about it in simpler terms it was as if the sphere in the center of the room pushing everything away from it at a rate that was similar to the pressure gravity would put on a body. When Joshua stepped inside the room he felt a slight increase in the gravity of the place which made him feel a bit more heavy, but it wasn't to a degree that would cause him problems. As others walked into the room they could feel it to, but even the mages who would have the hardest time do to such a shift seemed to just shrug it off.

"This place is beautiful." Monika said quietly as everyone was mesmerized while looking around the area. The sphere in the center of the space gave the whole place an otherworldly feeling. It was as if there was a moon placed directly in the middle with everything else growing around it to form this intricate space. This moon just happened to be made out of plants and flowers instead of rocks.

"It is beautiful. I've never seen anything like it." Julia said getting nods of agreement from everyone else. A gust of wind past by the group carrying a few flowers along with it. Jacob picked one of them out of the air and presented it to his wife who smiled in appreciation and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The display got smiles from the girls in the group and an odd mix of envy and humorous looks from the guys. Adrian seemed like he was going to try to do the same thing as he picked a flower, but because of his dog like attitude he didn't know which girl to try to give it to.

"Well do you guys have any idea on how we're going to get up there?" Joshua said gaining everyone's attention. "I know I can jump pretty high, but there's no way I can leap up to what is essentially the sky in this place. Plus the extra gravity in here will slow down our movements so keep that in mind while fighting guys."

"There must be some kind of passage that allows us to go up to it." Brook said with her even-keeled tone. "Maybe we can use a spell to ride up the waterfalls or something. They must be coming out of that giant sphere somehow and if there's an exit then there must be an entrance."

"I don't think the waterfalls are coming out of there in a way that we can get in." Aito said as he stared up in the direction of the cascading water. His eyesight was far greater than anyone else so Joshua knew that Aito would have a clear view of what was going on around the sphere. It was too far away for Joshua to accurately sense out with an aura pulse. Aito took out a sniper rifle and used it to get a better view of the waterfall before continuing. "There's no way we will be able to use the waterfall to get inside. The water is falling down from a cavern that sits along the sphere. There doesn't seem to be anyway for us to get in through the shallow cavern if our objective is to get into the center of the sphere and not just onto the outside. We'll need to find another way to get inside."

"Alright then we will just have to search this place out for a way to gain entrance into the next part of the dungeon. It may take a while, but we should be able to comb our way through the place in a couple of days' worth of time. Stay close to each other and keep an eye on your surroundings. Anything in this place could be out to kill us." Joshua said with a grim look. He looked around for a brief moment before picking a direction and heading out with the rest of the group following close behind.