"Where is this? It doesn’t look like anywhere on the first floor- or other floors of the swirling sands dungeon for that matter..." Pushing himself up from the ground after having successfully managed to make it through the door escaping from the cube filled with nothing but stairs and doors alongside Scaly, Verdell couldn’t stop himself from voicing his thoughts out loud upon seeing his surroundings. Noting that nothing matched with any of the floors within the swirling sands dungeon that he had learnt about in the past and he knew about more than just the fifth floor and below, also having obtained some information on the sixth floor that wouldn’t normally be accessible to adventures below the S Rank.
In other words, he understood from a glance that he and Scaly had either ended up somewhere below the sixth floor of the dungeon or some strange alternate space not much different from the strange cube they had been stuck inside of a few seconds earlier.
But a single glance at his surroundings told him that the chances of them having ended up within some place that wasn’t a dungeon floor was rather low, as the grey colored landscape they had landed on spread out far beyond a few thousand meters and seemingly continued far beyond the horizon. Not to mention how unlikely it was for such a vast landscape to be part of what could be considered some abnormal space between dungeon floors, there was also the very real presence of monsters roaming throughout this grey colored landscape. Monsters that from a glance were far more terrifying than the two S Rank Monsters that had chased him all the way from the fifth floor of the dungeon to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
For so many powerful monsters to be around and him being unable to recognize his surroundings as one of the dungeon floors he knew about made it undeniable that the place he and Scaly had ended up wasn’t just another dungeon floor, but one below the sixth floor that was already considered a death zone for S Rank Adventurers. The only existences daring enough to travel so deep into a dungeon being those legendary SS Rank Adventurers whom he had only ever encountered once during his time inside the dreamscape city establish by the guild... And that person wasn’t even a passing SS Rank Adventurer planning on exploring the dreamscape but had instead been the mage connected to the guild in charge of ensuring the safety of the dreamscape city who had come to do some checks on potential damage to the magical barrier guarding the city.
As for what exactly this unknown floor of the swirling sands dungeon looked like outside of how grey everything was? It wasn’t exactly anything special and looked like a normal dungeon floor one would find everywhere with rolling hills, lush forests, peaceful rivers connected to equally peaceful lakes and a few mountains appearing every now and then. The only real difference was the fact that everything mentioned was grey, grey grass, grey water, grey trees and foliage. Everything was oddly enough, grey.
On first glance, Verdell was inclined to think that this was just how everything on the unknown dungeon floor looked like, but the second he saw his own arm and realized it was a similar shade of grey as his surroundings, he realized that it wasn’t that everything on this unknown dungeon floor was grey, but instead the grey sun shining up above that painted everything in a monotone grey color.
Looking at the dragon beside him, he also confirmed that she was similarly grey. Having her normally colored scales replaced with what looked like sleek grey scales that made her seem far more intimidating compared to how she had looked just a few seconds earlier.
If not for the fact that he had already realized the reason behind this sudden transformation, he might have even accidentally attacked her thinking she was a monster from this grey dungeon floor that had somehow managed to sneak up on him while he hadn’t been looking.
As for the reaction of the dragon in question? She didn’t care much about the sudden color change her scales had experienced nor the fact that the dwarf in front of her had suddenly become a grey dwarf. Instead, she was far more focused on the monsters in the distance aimlessly wandering through the grey grass without any clear goal in mind.
[Wild Grey Sun Cow, lvl 124]
[Grey Sun Grass Snake, lvl 109]
[Great Grey Sun Lizard, lvl 115]
[Wild Grey Sun Cow, lvl 102]
[Wild Grey Sun Cow...]
Just from a glance, it was clear that these monsters had all at the very least reached the S Rank in terms of strength, with the one referred to as a wild grey sun cow being the most common amongst all the monsters she could spot wandering through the grey grass and because of this, she decided to pick the strongest among them and inspect it. Knowing that she would undoubtedly end up having to fight one of these unique monsters soon.
[Wild Grey Sun Cow, lvl 124]
[Description: The wild grey sun cow, a common monster found in locations bathed in the light of a grey sun. Difficult to find outside dungeons and unique minor planes outside the material plane, the wild grey sun cow has evolved from a normal wild cow after having bathed under the light of a grey sun for at least ten years and having reached a high enough level.
Known for its usage of fire magic cable of producing a grey colored flame that can latch onto whoever it touches and becomes close to impossible to put out even with the death of the wild grey sun cow. It is recommended that adventurers below the S Rank and without a high enough mastery of water magic avoid engaging a wild grey sun cow. Mainly hunted because every part of it is highly sought after among powerful adventurers and nobles alike.]
Reading through the description of the wild grey cow wandering only a few thousand meters from where she had landed, Scaly could not help widening her eyes in surprise. Not because of how strong this monster was, but instead because the description clearly indicated that this monster was weak against water magic. Magic that she just so happened to be the most skilled in.
In other words, she was perfectly suited for hunting down this powerful monster that seemed to be the most abundant on this floor of the swirling sands dungeon, a perfect situation that made her throw out any thought of returning to the first floor of the dungeon just to reach the fifth floor of the dungeon.
After all, her reason for wanting to return to the first floor of the dungeon and make her way to the fifth floor through the secret passage Verdell knew about was not just to avoid adventurers, but also find stronger monsters for her to hunt down... And looking at the powerful monsters now all around her and the clear lack of adventurers, she no longer found the need to try and reach the fifth floor of the dungeon. Intending to stay on this floor of the dungeon and hunt down the monsters here.
As for the grey dwarf beside her, whom she still needed to complete the quest? She didn’t think too much about what to do with him and intended to just drag him along and have him provide some assistance from the side with his magic. After all, though this little dwarf was rather fragile, his magic was powerful enough that even she had to acknowledge it.
If anything, having him aid her from the side might even be beneficial in taking down stronger monsters hidden somewhere on this mysterious grey floor of the dungeon, as she highly doubted the few monsters she saw just now were the strongest monsters on this floor of the dungeon.
On the contrary, relying on what she had experienced in the past exploring dungeons, these monsters were likely to be amongst the weaker ones present on this floor of the dungeon...
RUUUUUMBLE-!
But just as she thought about this to herself, a loud rumbling sound that was all too familiar to both her and Verdell echoed out through the grey colored landscape. Reminding the two of them of the thing they had conveniently forgotten about almost turning the two of them deaf not that long ago.
Of course, the reason why they didn’t think about this rumbling sound wasn’t so much because the two had forgotten about it, but more so the fact that neither of them had heard the loud rumbling sound after passing through the door, as it had seemingly vanished into thin air.
Something that on the surface looked like it might just have been something unique to the strange cube space they had been trapped in earlier, a thought that was only strengthened after neither of them found any trace of what might have caused the strange rumbling sound.