Chapter 371: Floral Dungeon Part 7

By the time Joshua had swam back to the shore and got back together with the rest of the group it was already fairly late. Most of the light in the dungeon now came from the glowing flowers around the lake since the surface of the sphere up above no longer brightened up the area. It was already dangerous going through the forest when they had adequate vision to see what was going on around them. Trying to go through the forested areas of the dungeon now would be reckless since there main source of light came from what could easily turn out to be their enemies the moment they stepped inside any of the forest.

They decided to set up camp near the lake since there were no longer any plants in the area. Titus had already absorbed every bit of the magnolia trees in the area so there was no way for them to be able to grow back. Since there were no other plants around outside of the grass there was no immediate threat and they could take a break. Even so Joshua planned to have everyone back up and ready to go the second the sphere started to brighten up the place once again in the morning. It would take them a while to get through all of the forest to the other waterfalls and he didn't want to waste any of it.

During dinner Joshua got to hear what everything looked like from the rest of the group's perspective while he was under the water. From Joshua's view he wasn't able to see much outside of the beam of light and the hazy view of the cavern where the waterfall came from closing. Aito however got a much better look at what was happening on the sphere up above. The moment the beam of light from the lake made contact with the sphere, the light emitting from it brightened for a moment in a blue tint before turning back to its dimmer standards from the start. The cavern quickly reacted by closing off the waterfall and there seemed to be a blue glow coming from that location soon after.

It was hard for Joshua to make all of this out from within the lake, but Aito had no issue seeing such things with his enhanced vision. From what they could tell it seemed to be an unlocking mechanism of some sort and they would need to finish activating the spheres at each lake if they wanted to see what would happen. Even in the darkness of a starless night Joshua was able to make out the dim blue glow on the sphere where the cavern used to be. It hadn't changed since the beam had been activated and Joshua assumed that was a sign that they were on the right path.

They all had a decent dinner as they discussed what they would do going forward in the dungeon. Henry had some good ideas for how they could speed up their pace while avoiding more danger as they made their way through the dungeon. There were several forest in the dungeon, but there were also plenty of grasslands around for them to use as a path to get to the waterfalls. The only problem was the fact that the grasslands were always surrounded by forest which made it impossible to see exactly where they would be at all times. The trees in the forest were hard enough to see over from a distance and would be impossible to see over whenever they entered a forest themselves. Climbing up the trees wasn't really an option either since any of the trees could easily become corrupted while they were climbing them. The only trees safe from corruption would be the younger ones and they wouldn't grow tall enough to see over the rest of the forest.

Henry decided to map out as much as he could during the night from what he could see of the dungeon. Due to its large spherical shape it was possible to map out other parts of the dungeon from a distance, but seeing the area close by was impossible. Even so Henry could map out certain parts of the dungeon while he had a chance. His only limitations were the immediate surroundings and the area that was blocked off by the giant sphere in the center of the dungeon above them. It made it impossible for him to map out a perfect route for them to take to the next waterfall, but it was a good start.

They all got some rest while posting some guards overnight. Lilly had Tank come out to keep watch overnight since he could easily laze around in the lake nearby. It was more than big enough to accommodate his full-size. By the next morning everyone was rearing to go and full of energy. With a quick meal that gave them a boost in strength they started heading in the direction that Henry had mapped out the night before. Lilly decided to help them out by bringing out one of the bats she had tamed from the canyon area to search the more local area out from the sky above.

The bat wasn't all that powerful as a beast companion, but it was probably the best beast that Lilly had for searching out large areas. With her help the group was able to follow the quickest and safest path towards the point that Henry had mapped out for them to take to the next waterfall. They did have to fight off some corrupted plants along the way, but they had run into far fewer than they had the day before. With the pace they were making they were easily able to make it to the first grassland area that Henry had mapped out the night before which put them on track to get to the next waterfall.

Henry had set up their path in a way that it spent the shortest amount of time possible in any of the forested areas simply because their traveling pace would slow down greatly every time they entered such a place. Not only did they have to try to avoid corrupted plants when in such areas, but they also had to push their way through the densely packed bushes and vines that constantly got in their way. Traveling through the grasslands was just the best way to move inside of the dungeon.

While they moved through each grassland Henry would continue to map out the dungeon from what he could see from above and in front of them to an extent. Since they were constantly moving forward they were able to see more new areas of the dungeon. It was as if they were hamsters in an enormous wheel that spun as they moved. The sphere in the center just kept them from being able to map everything out.

The group also started to let lose a bit more whenever they fought the plants now that they had a better feel for the dungeon. Julia unleashed her flames on any corrupted plants she could as long as there weren't any of the red flowers nearby which made things easier. Titus was the real MVP of the group as they made more and more progress through the dungeon. The plants his spores would create grew stronger and stronger with each enemy plant he absorbed and it got to the point where he could single handedly take on large groups of corrupted plants with just his spore grown plants alone.

It took them a few hours, but they did eventually make it to the next lake area. Along the way some of the new members had gained some more levels and confidence in working together which made clearing out any of the plants near the lake a far easier job. The red flowers didn't seem to grow in the grassland or lake areas of the dungeon so it was easy for Julia to let lose. This time around it was Titus that took care of the magnolia trees that were a barrier to protect the lake. There were other trees and plants in the area this time around that the rest of the group took care of, but Titus let out a roar as vines he grew from his spores covered his body like hardened armor.

Titus then charged straight into all of the floating flowers of the magnolia trees causing them to explode against his armor. The small explosion couldn't slow his momentum as he raced forward while the vines took minimal damage before regenerating within seconds as Titus charged straight through without a care. He then started ripping the magnolia trees out of the ground one at a time with a grin on his face. By the time the fighting had ended the giant gorilla had a lot more plants to absorb.

When everything was clear Joshua jumped into the lake and activated the next sphere creating a similar scene to the last lake they had come across. This time around the beam that shot out was red in color and soon enough another waterfall was shut off with the giant sphere in the center of the dungeon having a red tint around where the waterfall had once been. Joshua quickly left the lake and Henry dried him off with a warming spell that worked wonders. They then got on the move again rushing towards the next lake. As they made their way through the grasslands and forest once more they came across more corrupted plants along the way.

Joshua did take notice of a couple of new types of plants that he hadn't seen before. One was a tulip looking flower that was around the size of a horse. It had two red vines coming out of it that would shoot out and try to wrap around you if you got too close to them. These vines were covered in what looked like poison and could be dangerous if they weren't careful when they approached them. They tended to pop up around large corrupted trees the further they got into the dungeon and would make it hard to get to the trees without dealing with them first.

Another flower that Joshua had noticed while they were fighting their way through a different forested area was a weird type of vine that acted as a support for the other plants in the area. It seemed to be able to transfer aura over to other plants by wrapping around them. This would empower the trees or other large plants they came across in the forest. All in all they had run across a lot of weird sights during the day, but in the end just before night time they had finished unlocking the spheres at each of the four lakes.

The sphere at the third lake had shot up with a brilliant green color that seemed to mimic the wind in the patterns that were around it. The fourth lake had a sphere that burst forth with a golden yellow color that had rock like formation around the sphere. From that alone Joshua could see that each of the lights was supposed to represent a core element of nature. He didn't know if that had anything to do with what would happen next in the dungeon, but when he swam back to shore at the last lake he noticed a portal appear nearby that the entire group could see. It seemed to be the pathway forward to the next part of the dungeon.