"Whaaaaa-!"
Falling down into the darkness, Verdell couldn’t do anything other than scream helplessly as he plunged downwards. Knowing that his only hope of surviving this kind of fall was for him to land in some kind of water, as hitting solid ground from how high he was falling wouldn’t be survivable for a fragile mage like himself. The only ones capable of surviving this kind of fall being physically powerful warriors or wind mages who had learnt the feather falling spell that helped slow down ones falling speed.
Of course, certain special and unique classes had unique abilities that might allow them to survive falling from this kind of height, but Verdell didn’t have one of those unique classes that granted that kind of special abilities...
Splash-!
Luckily, as he felt his life flashing before his eyes, he suddenly found himself plunging into cold water, as his death seemed to have been averted. Allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief after getting back up to the surface of the water, though the relief he felt didn’t last long, as he found himself inside a dark space with no sign of light in sight.
Considering that the second floor of the dungeon didn’t have this kind of unique dark space and he had fallen for far too long to still be on the first floor of the dungeon, Verdell could only think of one possibility. "A Cross-floor passage..." as he unknowingly whispered his thoughts out loud.
A cross-floor passage, a passage that crossed multiple floors at once. By far, one of the most unique passages that could be found within a dungeon, as most dungeons didn’t even have a single cross-floor passage... And as far as he was aware, the swirling sands dungeon shouldn’t have one either.
But... From his current situation, it became clear to him that this was wrong, and the swirling sands dungeon did indeed have this kind of unique passage. Even worse, as he looked upwards into the darkness he had fallen through, it became clear that it would be impossible for him to go up through the passage the same way he had come down it. Making the little information he had heard about these kinds of unique passages being difficult to traverse understandable.
Still, getting up through the passage back to the first floor of the dungeon wasn’t what worried him the most. Instead, it was figuring out what floor he had ended up on. After all, a cross-floor passage didn’t just skip one floor but could in some cases skip several floors at once. Landing all the way at the bottom of a dungeon where the strongest monsters resided.
For some weaker dungeons, this would be fine for an experienced A Rank Adventurer close to the S Rank, but the swirling sands dungeon was anything but weak and could be considered one of the more deadly dungeons, as the fourth floor and downwards were deadly even to S Rank Adventures.
For a skilled A Rank Adventurer like himself, the third floor was fine and he could survive with relative ease, but the fourth floor would be a problem for him, while anything beyond that would be a death sentence with his current strength.
Because of this, as he conjured up a small flame to light up his surroundings and made his way to the shore, he couldn’t help silently wishing that he had ended up on the third floor of dungeon, as it would not just be safe for him, but would also provide him with several places to hide away while things calmed down. Allowing him to potentially use the time while those busy hunting down a certain dragon to cross the little distance left before he could reach level 99 and officially take on the class advancement quest, he would have to face to reach level 100.
"Huh? This is... Not the third floor..." But as he slowly followed along the rock walls until he finally saw light appearing in the distance and made his way out of the darkness, he couldn’t help freezing on the spot as a single glance was more than enough for him to confirm that he wasn’t on the third floor of the dungeon like he had hoped.
Instead of the bare desert environment that also existed on the third floor of the swirling sands dungeon, he instead faced a marsh the stretched on for several kilometers without end on one side, while on the other, he faced a dreary swamp that caused every part of him to scream danger.
Although he hadn’t visited this floor himself, he had read through the adventurer guild’s guide on the swirling sands dungeon in the past that contained information on the lowest floor that had been reached by adventurers so far, the sixth floor... And from that guide, he realized that while the floor he was on wasn’t the sixth floor, it wasn’t the fourth floor either. Instead, it was the fifth floor of the swirling sands dungeon.
Even if this floor wasn’t anywhere as deadly as the sixth floor that had claimed the lives of countless S Rank Adventurers in the past, the fifth floor of the dungeon wasn’t safe in any way and had also resulted in the fall of no small number of S Rank Adventurers, let alone A Rank Adventurers, who normally did their best to stay away from this kind of deadly place.
To say his situation was bad would be an understatement, as there was simply no way out for him without being lucky enough to run into a group of powerful adventurers who happened to be exploring the fifth floor of the dungeon.
"Someone is camping over there!? Haha! I’m saved!"
For this reason, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of overwhelming relief upon spotting a group of adventurers in the distance who had set up a small camp on top of a hill to avoid the swampy environment and have the ability to keep an eye out for any monsters that might try to sneak up on them.
But as he began making his way towards the group in the distance, his relieved expression soon changed into one of helplessness as he noticed that the group of adventurers he had believed to be a team of skilled S Rank Adventurers weren’t that, but instead seemed to be a group that had ended up in a similar situation as himself. Falling through the cross-floor passage.
How could he tell this from a glance? Simple, the adventurers gear was overall weaker than his own, while there were even a few weaker adventurers who hadn’t even reached the D Rank among them, a clear indication that this group had most likely ended up on this floor the same way he had.
"Huh? Someone else is coming over? Are we saved!?"
"I don’t think so... It seems like he came from the location of that damnable passage..."
"Another unlucky soul..."
And the words he heard after the group spotted him made everything clear, as they were indeed someone who had ended up falling down the same passage he had. Ending up on the deadly fifth floor of the dungeon.
The only thing that kept Verdell somewhat optimistic about his current situation was the fact that the S Rank Adventurers chasing after him might show up. Not really caring much about being caught now that he had ended up on the fifth floor of the dungeon with no real way out of his current situation on his own.
Unfortunately, as he settled down together with the group of adventurers who shared his unfortunate fate, it became apparent that the S Rank Adventurers chasing after him didn’t recklessly jump into the abyss to try and catch him. Understandable, but still a bit disappointing, as he would have loved to have them with him.
Aside from the S Rank Adventurers not showing up, he managed to learn about the group of unfortunate adventurers who had ended up on the fifth floor of the dungeon ahead of him. Having apparently been swept into the abyss by some kind of heavenly river that had appeared out of nowhere and ultimately swept all of them down into the abyss. Making him understand where the water had come from, though he still didn’t know why so much water had appeared nor did the adventurers.
Outside of that, he also got a good idea of the strength of the more senior adventurers, though he unfortunately found out that he was the strongest one present. Not encouraging, but at least a few of the senior adventurers had also reached the A Rank, while the rest lingered around the B Rank with a few of them being at the top of the C Rank close to reaching the B Rank. Most of them in the process of undergoing their class advancement quest.
Although weak on the fifth floor, this little group did at least posses some strength to survive for a bit in the face of an S Rank Monster...