Finding herself now able to move around inside the red bubble as it continued to slowly drift upwards through the darkness only faintly illuminated by the other red bubbles around them, Scaly was unable to sit still and shifted her position several times with Verdell still sitting on top of her with both eyes now open looking down toward her in confusion. Not understanding how she had suddenly gained the ability to move around and why she was moving around like some restless child that had been given a bit too much sugar.
Although he very much wanted to resume meditating and focusing on recovering as much of his mana as possible before they got to the first floor of the dungeon, he found himself unable to focus with a certain dragon constantly shifting around.
Even if her doing something like this might be considered normal given how the bubble really wasn’t anywhere large enough for a dragon her size and was more so designed for someone adventurer sized to fit inside of, it still annoyed Verdell somewhat that he wouldn’t be able to recover any more of his mana before they had to face the deadly battle that was waiting for them once they got to the first floor of the dungeon and the bubble that had protected them earlier when adventurers attempted to attack them, disappeared.
Hm? Why is the bubble slowing down...?
But as Verdell found his attention shifted away from recovering his mana and he instead began observing the darkness that they now found themselves inside of, the legendary space between floors that he had only had the chance to see a few times in the past, he noticed that the speed at which they were ascending had slowed down compared to the other bubble around them.
Something that became very clear as a bubble containing two very focused bearkin adventurers happened to be floating right past them. Bearkin adventurers who should have been behind them given how they should have started their ascent after them.
Feeling a sense of impending danger upon realizing this, Verdell found himself shifting from a somewhat relaxed state of mind to one of concentration. Examining everything around the larger than normal bubble he found himself inside. Noticing that the slowing of the bubble wasn’t something that had been taking place over a long time while he had been focused on meditating to recover his mana, but instead something that had happened recently, as the bubble slowed down its ascent at a speed visible to the naked eye.
From originally just barely being overtaken by the two bearkin adventurers bubble, several other bubbles filled with bearkin adventurers soon appeared next to them before overtaking their bubble.
If things continued, they wouldn’t just have to worry about more adventurers waiting for them on the other side once they reached the first floor of the dungeon, but they might also have to worry about falling back down to the second floor of the dungeon again
Although this was something Verdell had never heard about happening before, given the current state of the bubble that was inhabited by him and Scaly, he felt that there was a very real possibility of something like that happening.
Feeling increasingly troubled as he thought about this, Verdell found his gaze shifting towards the restless dragon beneath him. Two barely functional brain cells firing off at the same time as he watched how the bubble seemed to slow down whenever a certain dragon moved around. The realization hit him immediately, as he realized that Scaly moving around seemed to slow down the bubble with her movement.
Thinking about it a bit deeper, he realized that the reason why the paralyzing took effect when one entered a bubble to ascend to the first floor was to ensure safe transportation.
But now that there was a passenger without the safety measure in place, the flaw that would originally have remained hidden began showing itself as the bubble began showing signs of being forced back down again.
Knowing that he had to step in and warn the reckless little dragon before she ended up sending the two of them back down to the second floor of the dungeon again, Verdell opened his mouth to warn her. "Stop moving around! You are making the bubble slow down! If this continues, we won’t be able to reach the first floor of the-"
Pop~!
But before he had a chance to finish what he was saying, the red bubble that had safely protected them and gently floated them upwards for the past few hours burst without any warning. Sending the two of them plummeting downward towards the seemingly endless darkness below, past other red bubbles floating upwards through the darkness filled with confused adventurers who looked out towards the two barely visible figures flying past them. Not able to see what passed by them due to the darkness of the space.
The sudden freefall didn’t just take Verdell by surprise, as he used his newly regained strength following the bubble popping to cling onto Scaly like baby koala to its mother, but also took Scaly by complete surprise. Finding herself flailing helplessly midair for a good half minute before finally regaining control as she stretched out her wings and stabilized herself and stopped falling just before crossing the threshold where the red bubbles emerged from.
Although she didn’t know what would happen if she passed that boundary, something within her screamed danger the second she thought about crossing that threshold, so she held herself back and decided to trust her instincts.
That being the case, she didn’t expect the bubble to pop so suddenly and couldn’t help recalling what the little dwarf had been trying to say to her just before the bubble had burst.
If what he said is correct... Doesn’t that mean I’m the reason why the bubble popped?
Pondering this question for a few seconds as she remained in place, she soon enough shook her head and decided not to think too much about it. Even if she was the reason why they had ended up in their current situation, it wasn’t something she had done for no reason. No, she wanted to explore the space between floors and had decided to burst the bubble to accomplish this goal.
At the same time also taking the opportunity to avoid the adventurers who had been chasing after her and Verdell, as there was no way the adventurers chasing after the two of them would be able to chase them to this kind of place.
As for the original goal of reaching the fifth floor of the dungeon? She hadn’t forgotten about that and was merely pushing it to the side for now as she went on a side adventure to bond with Verdell and establish a proper friendship that would allow her to complete the quest she had been given. Yes, that was it! She hadn’t accidentally burst the bubble. No way!
Nodding to herself as she was fully convinced that this was the reason why she had ended up in her current situation, Scaly began flying upwards following the ascending red bubbles. Soon enough, reaching the place above where the red bubbles seemingly disappeared into thin air without rhyme or reason... And like the place below where the red bubbles emerged, she also felt a sense of dread from beyond the space where the red bubbles disappeared. A clear warning that something bad would happen should she cross that boundary.
In other words, though the dark space between floors was endless on the surface, the space she could safely move through was limited to an area stretching around a thousand meters from top to bottom. Going anywhere beyond that would bring an unknown danger she had no intention of testing out.
Not because of fear, but... Because she worried about accidentally dropping Verdell should a difficult battle break out. Yes, that was it, she was worried about the small dwarf on her back. After all, unlike her, he didn’t have the ability to fly and would be helpless on his own in this dark space.
Nodding her head under the somewhat confused gaze of Verdell, Scaly didn’t linger around the red bubbles for long as she soon enough flew forward with great speed. Intent on exploring the darkness and trying to find one of the spiral staircases that she knew was hiding somewhere within the darkness so she could get back on track and get to the first floor of the dungeon.
As for what else lurked within the dark space between dungeon floors? She had no idea and didn’t feel too excited about finding out, as part of her felt that whatever lurked within this dark space wasn’t something she would be able to face head on with her current strength, a feeling that had been made clear when she had thought about crossing the boundary formed by the red bubbles and her entire body was filled with a sense of overwhelming fear.