"I guess we can use this right now." I nodded.
I quickly put down four small Golems resembling silver cubes in the floor surrounding us. Once I infused Mana into them at the same time, they activated, generating a small light barrier around the small, purified area of grass and blue sky.
These were special Light Barrier Drones, as they call them. Once all four are set in a position, they generate a barrier through a formation. They're good enough to protect us from the miasma around us so we can eat more comfortably too.
I quickly brought out some meat from the monsters of yesterday's dungeon. The Salamander and Frog's meat once purified was very tasty. Roasting them over a grill wouldn't be enough, so with Brunhild's help, we created a large bonfire and put the enormous pieces of meat stuck to branches made by Root, roasting them with the flames at the same time as we added spices and salt.
Meat alone wouldn't do, thankfully I brought a lot of premade salad, and also began making some stew as a "side dish" to fill the bigger stomachs out there. I also gave Brunhild a pile of ores and jewels she feasted on to recover her stamina.
The smell of the roasted meat was filling the place, and the dwarves took the opportunity to stretch their legs a bit and walk out of the warm and tight interior of the golems, resting for a small while didn't affected anybody, and helped us keep our morale high.
While resting, we analyzed the battle we just had.
"The power of the Miasma really made the monsters way stronger than I imagined." Partner said. "I still had to use a very powerful technique to finish off the stubborn Mole King I fought…"
"I agree, even my powerful Yggdrasil Judgement didn't killed them straight away." Said Emeraldine. "I guess we'll need to use even stronger attacks or techniques for this."
"At the very least some have shown a lot of growth and progress." I said, looking at Takeshi and Laura. "You two surprised me, were you saving those techniques to show off for later?"
"Yeah, more or less." Takeshi said.
"I am still learning about magic so I don't think they're really as effective as they could be… But I am glad I could help somehow." Laura said happily.
"Grawr…" Nyx began asking praises as well, raising her tiny hands.
"You were also great, dear." I gave her a head pat.
She had helped too. I mostly kept her in the backside, however, as I was too afraid to throw her into the middle of a dangerous battle. Little Nyx was unleashing phantasmal flames and her breath attack at the armies of smaller mobs, devastating them from afar easily.
I had yet to see her true dragon form though, as she doesn't seem to know how to get into it or hasn't tried or thought about it yet. Perhaps in her dragon form, she could had fought against the Mole Kings more easily, perhaps. Though, for now, this little Calamity needs to level up more than anything else.
And talking about Calamities…
"Gyuh… I finally have a family!"
Root was happy to have a new army of Undead Treants with him. Naturally, once I rose them all from their deaths, they became very loyal, so I just asked them to become Root's subordinates from now on so the tree could have his "family".
He seemed to not mind them being actually more dead than he was, and he simply wanted others that shared his characteristics to an extent… although nobody in the Undead Treants had the power to shapeshift through a skill like Spirit Embodiment to become a small and adorable egg-shaped bush spirit of nature.
"Food's ready, let's go eat for now."
Lucifer quickly arrived, as we rapidly went and enjoyed a nice meal with everyone together, filling our tummies. We enjoyed every bite, while talking about the dungeon and our future strategies. I divided myself and used a Phantom Clone to begin doing some alchemy, fusing several materials I had acquired for an item I already knew I would be needing soon.
[You've combined the [White Spirit Tree Branch (C Grade)] x1 [Solar Stone (D Grade)] x1 [Mysterious Potion (??? Grade)] x1 [Underworld Jackal's Fangs (C Grade)] x1 and [Fire Elemental Orb (D Grade)] x1!]
As the item surged from within the Cauldron, I quickly stored it inside of my Inventory, while looking at the other items within my inventory, the ones named [Void-Gazing Eye (A Grade)] and [Forbidden Watch (B Grade)]. These two were also materials and at the same time, could be used like consumable items.
Their effects could activate in a variety of ways, but it was better to leave them be for now and use them when I truly need them. I want to see what awaits us on the second floor before anything else… if its too dangerous, I might use them, but it could also be better to save them for the boss.
Once we finished eating we took a thirty-minute rest before departing. The barrier of light quickly dissipated after that, and once we were greeted by the same and vast wasteland as before, we kept advancing across without fear, reaching the stairs and walking down them fearlessly.
As we reached the end of the stairs, we were greeted once more by a gloomy scenario. Enormous pools of Miasma surrounding us from all places, while an enormous, black forest greeted us. The trees had purple and black leaves, and the trees were several times taller, and more terrifying, yet they were not Treants or any plant-type monster, but it was certainly rather scary, to say the least.
"The Forest of the Second Floor ended becoming this gloomy Black Forest…" Sighed Emeraldine. "These trees have yet to become monsters… They're suffering, the Miasma is eating away at them slowly…"
Emeraldine could hear the voice of the trees, feeling sorrow over their suffering.
"Don't worry, we'll get this done today and all of these forests will go back to normal." I reassured her.
And just as I said that I sensed movement from within the depths of these forests, bird-like beasts began to emerge from within, with glowing red eyes.