9

My muscles relaxed completely. I fell into a light sleep not long after. It felt good to sleep. I was so far past exhausted I really couldn't think properly. I hoped my mind would be able to put itself back together properly with a few hours of sleep. 

I woke up with a start hours later. I hadn't realized I had fallen into deep sleep, but the floor was still empty, and nothing bad had happened to me so I didn't really need to think about it too much. My muscles tensed up as I stood up. I tested my stiff body quickly. Checking for any bumps or bruises. 

Besides sleeping on the stone floor I felt great. I got moving again. Rotating the empty hilts of the soul fangs quickly in my grip before proceeding to the second floor. Now I had cheap armor, and a decent set of blades to work with. Having weapons boosted my confidence a good amount. 

Light enveloped me before I was teleported to the second floor of the dungeon. The second floor was completely different then the first floor. This floor resembled a thick forest in the middle of the night. There was even less light on this floor then the last one. I would have a hard time seeing the monsters on this floor. 

Once again I wished for the bow that granted me the ability to see in the dark. It would be super helpful about now. I guess I would have to rely on my intuition for now. I stepped carefully around the thick carpet of tree roots. Not wanting to break my ankle in these slightly oversized shoes. 

I wasn't all that prone to broken bones. A major twist in my ankle would still reduce my mobility even if I could mostly ignore the pain. I couldn't see where I was stepping. I was very careful not to step on the tree roots, but there was only so much I could do when I couldn't see where I was going. I found out that the lack of monsters wasn't actually a lack of monsters the moment I tripped on my first tree root. 

A branch swung around. Smacking me in the back with a spiked limb. The armor barely protected me from being impaled. I was thrown clear of the one tree straight into another. This tree lifted up a root to slam me in the middle as well. 

The soul fangs ignited as fiery mana formed their blades. I slashed the root of the tree before it could hit me as I fell. How I'd managed to be composed after being struck? I didn't know. Didn't have the slightest clue. 

My mind was weirdly clear, and combat focused since that ice magic had been channeled through me. Psychotic violence had become a constant part of myself. My bloodlust hadn't been triggered yet. I wasn't entirely sure I could manage to trigger it again. Focusing on the feeling of bloodlust had worked once, but I wasn't sure it would work again. 

Bloodlust wasn't an actual skill so I couldn't control it even if I managed to trigger it. It would spiral out of control every time it was activated. I would have to fight this entire forest. The roots were weak compared to the branches. The bark on the trees was ten times stronger then the roots. 

It felt like getting slapped by extra thick iron bars. The surface of the branches could change quickly as well. Turning from flat bark to sharpened spikes in an instant. Those spikes slammed into my armor hard. I was light enough that I was thrown away from each attack. 

That was the only reason my armor hadn't been pierced yet. I frowned to myself again. Launching another set of powerful attacks in all directions as multiple tree limbs lashed out at me. I liked the soul fang I really did. What I didn't like was the fact that the soul fangs were burning through my mana at an accelerated rate. 

I could feel my mana output increase each time my blade made contact with one of the tree limbs. That meant the blades needed to be that much sharper each time my blades made contact to cut through the limbs. I understood that on a primal level so I really couldn't complain, but that didn't get rid of the problem. I only had enough mana to kill one of these trees, and I could literally see them starting to regenerate from my first attacks. I needed to kill one of these trees to give myself ground to stand on. 

A safe patch for me to rest on while I dealt with the other trees. I was slapped again hard. Throwing into the other trees again. That was too many times to be a coincidence. These trees knew how to work together. 

The trees couldn't move so they had to figure out a way to defend themselves. They chose cooperation. It made sense when you really thought about it. I was barely maintaining order in my mind with all these hits coming from multiple trees at once. I could barely hold myself together. 

Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. Parry. 

I was barely holding on as I got my ass kicked. How many more hits was I going to take before I regained control of my body? Add on the fact that the trees showed absolutely no signs of hostility before their attack had already started. That meant I had absolutely no warning before I was already taking the hit. Unlike the other monsters I'd fought so far these were way harder. 

It was the no warning part that really got me. I couldn't tense up for the attack. I couldn't predict when to counter. I had to rely on my eyesight alone, and that wasn't really working for me. It was too dark in here. 

I'd thought the bugs were a pain, but I could fight back against them. These trees reacted to my movement. Striking me the moment I made contact without warning. There was no hostility. No muscles to watch, and therefore no way for me to predict how it would move.