Being amongst the first to get up and find a good place to grab hold of the uneven ceiling of the eighth floor of the dungeon as ground below vanished and was instead replaced by what looked like a bottomless abyss, Scaly and Verdell managed to secure a good location that allowed them to hold on with relatively little effort while others struggled to find somewhere to properly grab hold of the ceiling before getting sucked down into the abyss below.
In this kind of situation, Scaly wanted nothing more than to take advantage of the situation to cut down the large number of necromancers and flying undead, clinging to the ceiling of the eighth floor along with her, Verdell and the group of adventurers.
But... Unfortunately, the strange power of the abyss that had opened below her exerted a constant force on her that was slowly growing stronger with each passing second.
If she decided to attack the surrounding necromancers and undead, they would undoubtedly retaliate before being dragged into the abyss and throw magic at her. Making it difficult for her to hold on to the ceiling and potentially ending up with her sliding down into the abyss together with them, something she wanted to avoid, if possible, given how she had a feeling that survival wouldn’t be certain once she fell into the abyss below.
And much like her, the others clinging to the ceiling that was now the only intact part of the eighth floor of the dungeon, understood that it was best to avoid fighting for now. Creating a somewhat awkward situation as everyone quietly looked at each other while waiting for the situation down below to change.
How long this change would take was a mystery-
"Everyone, get comfortable. From what I know, dungeon floor formation takes anywhere from an hour to a day or two. The longest recorded instance taking more than a week..."
Or that was at least what Scaly would have wanted to believe until one of the adventurers nearby rudely interrupted her train of thought and decided to inform everyone just how long they would be forced to cling to a ceiling.
Just the thought of clinging to a ceiling for an entire week was enough to make her consider jumping into the abyss down below to see where those who had disappeared into the abyss had ended up.
"An entire week!? We might end up stuck her for an entire week!?"
"Not to mention a week, I doubt I will be able to last more than four hours relying on the undead to hold me up. Especially if the pull of that abyss down below continues to slowly increase..."
"Worst comes to worst, we should still be able to struggle for a chance of life in case we fall in."
"True, holding on longer is better, as every second saved hanging on up here means a second less spent inside that abyss down below where we might get caught up in the floor creation process and turned into a part of the ninth floor."
The surrounding necromancers and adventurers wore a similar look of despair as her upon hearing the news that they might be hanging out together for an entire week, though the information they let slip while lamenting their situation did let her know a bit more about the situation down below. Learning that falling into the abyss below wouldn’t mean instant death and the fact that holding on up here for longer would increase one’s chance of surviving once one fell into the abyss below.
And with the despairing reality of the situation setting in, time began to move forward with the necromancers turning out to be the biggest chatterboxes, as they essentially decided to use the opportunity while clinging to the ceiling to curse their superior for placing them into such a deadly situation while at the same time sharing what little they knew about what they were going to face down below once they fell into the seemingly bottomless abyss.
Because of this, over the next few minutes that soon turned into hours, Scaly found herself learning a lot about what she might end up encountering in the abyss down below.
First, one would end up on a blank dungeon floor with nothing but a flat, empty desolate wasteland with nothing on it still in the process of being forged into a proper dungeon floor by the dungeon core.
At the core of this blank dungeon floor, the dungeon core could be found, but in the state of floor creation, the dungeon core wasn’t an existence that could be messed with, as it had essential turned into a miniature sun more than a thousand meters wide. Capable of vaporizing even beings who had surpassed the SS Rank like the mist serpent and the bone construct under the control of the leading necromancer.
The dungeon core itself couldn’t fight in this state, but it was actively manipulating the blank dungeon floor to create a new dungeon floor and in the process of creating this new dungeon floor the ones that found themselves wandering the blank slate about to be transformed into a brand new dungeon floor found themselves at risk of being molded alongside the empty ground and become part of the new dungeon floor.
As for why the floor above the new floor had been swallowed up by the abyss along with the creation of a new floor? The necromancers discussing the situation with each other had no clue about this and the adventurers listening in from the side also seemed clueless about this. Only knowing that the eighth floor of the dungeon would return to normal upon the completion of the ninth floor of the dungeon. Almost like the dungeon had loaded a previously saved template and popped it back into the eighth floor of the dungeon with a few new additions in the form of paths leading down to the ninth floor of the dungeon.
...
Rumble~!
Five hours since the ground of the eighth floor disappeared and just as she was listening attentively to a great debate between two necromancers about what kind of monster meat was the most delicious of the monsters that could be found within the swirling sands dungeon, Scaly and everyone around her tensed up upon hearing a loud rumbling sound from below-
Swish~
"Huh?"
"The pulling force increased!?"
"Nooo-!"
And before any of them had the time to react, the force that had been pulling at everyone from below suddenly increased several folds without any warning. Prying off several unfortunate necromancers that hadn’t been fast enough to react in the process. Leaving only those who were strong enough or had found a good spot to lock themselves in place behind- or that was at least what Scaly and everyone else had been hoping for, as the second after those few unlucky souls disappeared into the darkness below, the force pulling on them climbed once again.
Not only increasing in strength but also making the ceiling everyone had been relying on to keep themselves in place slippery, as Scaly and the rest watched what looked like some green colored substance start oozing out of the ceiling.
[Dungeon Ceiling Regulating Slime, lvl 8]
[Description: A simple dungeon maintenance slime that ensures no debris or monsters end up nesting in the ceiling. Keeping it clean and without issues. Cheapest ceiling maintenance monster. Only cost 1 DP. Ten times cheaper than a dungeon construction and repair snail and doesn’t require a special storage building.]
Deciding to ignore the rather strange description that emerged as she examined the green slime that had started to cover the ceiling she and everyone else had been clinging on to in an attempt to avoid being dragged into the abyss down below, Scaly soon enough felt her grip on the ceiling slipping as she was dragged down towards the abyss below.
Verdell on the other hand... Didn’t do much as he had essentially been lazily relaxing on her stomach the entire time while she had been clinging to the ceiling. Having used the opportunity to sneak his way over there before the ground below had vanished. Knowing his own limits and just how bad his own physical strength was.
Had he been clinging to the ceiling on his own, he would undoubtedly have been amongst the first few to be dragged into the abyss down below, while now, thanks to relying entirely on her, he had managed to hold on to the last moment before being dragged down.
As for trying to remain in the air relying on flying magic or wings? That was useless, as the second anyone attempted to do that, the force from the abyss below would surge and target them specifically, something Scaly and everyone had already witnessed several times when necromancers had been dragged down over the past few hours alongside their flying undead and had attempted to escape by flying back up to the ceiling again.
So, even if everyone wanted to struggle, the only thing they could do was follow the situation and allow themselves to get dragged into the abyss below. Avoiding anything that might end up with them being directly targeted by the strange power pulling them downwards.