(22) Floor Three

Kraton was escorted through the next room by the two armoured Gargoyles and none of the residing Gargoyles attempted to prevent them from going through. Simply by having two Gargoyles beside him, the rest came to an understanding that the lumbering figure was either a noble guest, or someone they couldn't mess with, either way, it made most of the gargoyles lower their heads subconsciously, submitting to Kraton just like that.

As the three figures reached the staircase down, both guards hesitated slightly and trembled, their footsteps slowing down to a stop right in front of the stairs.

Kraton utilized the pause and took time to cast off his metal cloak, dropping it to the side.

"W-wait, you- you're not a stone monster?! Hang on.. You're the previous Boss!" As if struck by thunder and lightning, the closer Gargoyle exclaimed in suprise after witnessing Kraton's breathtaking transformation from a metallic rock yeti to a hairy humanoid beast.

"Are you going down or not?" Kraton ignored the Gargoyle's suprise and pointed down the staircase. Seeing no reply, Kraton kicked one of them down and followed after the tumbling figure, leaving the other Gargoyle sighing in relief at Kraton's departure.

*Crack*

The Gargoyle had crashed at the bottom and laid sprawled on the floor, not moving a single limb. Kraton had reached the bottom few stairs when he was overwhelmed with a putrid stench. Thinking that the stone Gargoyle had somehow pissed himself, Kraton leapt down and landed in front of the sprawled figure intending to spook him again.

To Kraton's dissatisfaction, the Gargoyle didn't react to much to the sudden landing of Kraton's figure, instead he started breathing deep, but hurried breaths and looked somewhat relieved as soon as Kraton appeared before him. It was as though he hadn't breathed for a long time and Kraton was his saviour.

Upon landing, Kraton felt his back turn cold, it felt like a thousand small, frozen needles were prickling his back, like pins and needles but more condensed.

The staircase was meant lead to a long tunnel which ended in front of the Boss room's doors, however Kraton felt something was off. Not only was their the horrid stench and the strange cold feeling on his back, but there was also sound. This passage was meant to be empty and quiet, with only one Boss Guard stationed at the door, yet there was still quite a lot of noise right now.

Kraton slowly turned round, his eyes were quickly adapting to the dark, however what he saw made him freeze in shock, and probably fear as well.

There were countless serpentine eyes staring back at him from the dark, what also shocked him was that the space behind him was a large, long room instead of the usual slim corridor. He was lucky he didn't have Trypophobia[1] as the scene in front of him was rather fear-inducing.

A random lonely torch flared up in some corner of the room which let Kraton see the culprit of the eyes. Around the room, there were many similar figures, all of them had reptilian eyes but a human body, apart from the snake-like appendage that varied in colour and length between individuals. Some of these beings also had small, fang-like incisors, making their smiles look more vicious and snakey. All these figures were Nagas and Nagis and were carefully monitering Kraton's movements.

"Why doesss such a lowly Gargoyle descend the stairsss, essspecially with an intruder?" A cold and displeased voice hissed from the sea of serpents. All the eyes switched focus to the trembling Gargoyle sprawled on the floor.

"S-s-sorry!" The Gargoyle quickly clambered back up the stairs, crashing against the walls as he went up. Soon the rooms attention was back on Kraton, causing a small shiver to tun up his spine.

"Who arrre you..." The hissing voice was directed to Kraton this time.

"I am Kraton, and where the heck is my Boss Room?" Kraton sounded indifferent, somewhat superior, however deep down he had started to get a fear of snakes and their hissing voices.

Many of the Nagas started whispering to each other, their eyes were full of mocking each time someone repeated Kraton's name.

"Our Queen helped thisss little dungeon grow, fool. You Ssshould thank her and leave.."

A dozen of the serpent figures abruptly darted towards Kraton after that Naga had finishes speaking. They held an assortment of weapons, from curved daggers, to short tridents and spears, yet Kraton remained unfazed by the incoming onslaught.

Seeing this, they increased their vigilance. There was no way a Boss, or former Dungeon Boss would be shocked in place from a dozen attacks.

*Clang*

Before the attackers could see Kraton move, their arms turned numb as they were sent flying, disarmed. The Nagas who stayed behind all saw Kraton's motionless arm reach for his waist in a second, and then swipe across in the next second, such terrifying speed compared to them.

"H-How? You're meanttt to be only level four..." A figure complained in the crowd, quite shocked and scared at the revelation.

Hardly anyone heard this complaint as everyone else started rushing towards Kraton at once. Their crude weapons dully glinted and were all pointed towards the same target.

*Wooosh*

Kraton used the skill 'Basic attack' because he was too lazy to put any actual foce behind his swing. His mace connected with the swarm of Nagas, clearing out the frontline attackers, a second casual swing came around, making the rest of them fly backwards.

Surprisingly, a few of his casual swipes did enough damage to kill the weaker Nagas, not to mention that the attacks which critted would have made even the beefiest Naga there die instantly.

Although all these monsters would respawn, it was still an uncomfortable process, especially for common monsters. Furthermore, most monsters would feel fatigued after dying and respawning consecutively in a short period of time, forcing them to hide and rest a while to regain energy.

Knowing that Kraton wasn't going to leave like human players, the Nagas retreated, eyeing Kraton warily in case he would start a massacre.

"Now then, I'm going down a floor." Kraton lowered his mace and made himself towards the only other doorway in the room. As he approached the sea of Nagas, they parted to give him way, but not lowering their weapons the slightest. The thoughts of attacking Kraton behind his back were dispelled instantly when a single Naga tried it, but was sent hurtling back by a simple kick.

Just when Kraton was about to reach the doorway, a lone Nagi rushed forward. Kraton halted in his tracks and looked down at the small Nagi.

"P-please don't send our queen away... We just wanted to stay in a dungeon!" The Nagi begged Kraton, her eyes were watery and anxious, but she was clearly very scared that Kraton wouldn't care by the way her hands shook and tail kept curling up and pressing against the floor.

Another Naga was also about to come up and bow down, however a larger Nagi quickly took the young one away, carefully not making eye-contact with Kraton.

Kraton waited for the path to be clear again before he walked past. As he descended the stairs, he could hear sobbing behind him, from multiple Nagas.

"P-please" The voice echoed again, whether it was real or in his mind, Kraton did not know.

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[1] Trypophobia: a fear of many holes, normally clustered together.

Nagas are half-human, half-snake beings, the lower half being snake.

Nagi are female Nagas, but as a collective group, I will refer to them as Nagas (I am not sexist, if you have a better word then let me know).