"Well… this is… pleasant," Hadia said as she followed after Jin through the portal. To their backs was the familiar stone wall that spanned around the border of the floor, but ahead of them lay a sprawling, murky swamp. It had an eerie mist, too, but unlike the last floor, it was much thinner and obscured much further away.

They could easily see the gnarled trees dozens of yards away, and the fact that the floor was covered in dirty-looking water with patches of moss and peat. Once in a while, bubbles seemed to rise from the depths, and a foul odor permeated the air.

"Oh no," Karam grumbled from behind them as he walked through the portal next.

"Yup, the biome that always has some kind of monster lurking beneath the water to gobble up an unsuspecting Champion," Hadia confirmed, not happy at all with this being the second floor option. Past Seasons flitted through her mind as she recalled all of the ones that featured a swamp or marsh biome. A boss that lurked under the deepest parts, hidden monsters in the tree boughs, or the illusion of safety that led to a horrible demise. This was not going to be a pleasant time at all.

"Oooo! Do you think there are tasty fish in the water?" Clover asked, their tiny head bobbing up and down as they perched on Jin's shoulder, looking around at everything and looking completely unbothered by the gloomy surroundings. The little dragon gave a look of absolute smugness as they added, "I'm a fantastic fisher."

"Actually, that's a great idea," Hadia said, looking at the potentially immortal bait. "You won't die permanently, so you can act as our scout and go first."

"I'm fairly certain the king of the group gets to ride the minion and be safe at the back," Clover retorted, shaking his head and making his horns slightly larger and puffing out his chest as if that proved he was more important.

Jin actually snorted a laugh and replied, "So a boy for now. Do we need to get you a little crown just to remind everyone how regal you are, Mister King?"

"That would be excellent, minion," Clover replied with a fang-filled grin. "I do prefer silver, though, for my particular shade of green," he added, holding out an arm as though observing his glossy scales.

With a roll of her eyes, Jin began to retort, "Well, you're going to have to settle for moss in here. Do you want more green or black or maybe—Shit!"

Hadia saw it just a moment before Jin shouted and ducked. She swung her [Mace of Might] just in time to knock the monster off its course of turning Clover into a meal.

The creature looked like a large fish skeleton, at least three times the size of her head, with thin, semi-translucent membranes stretching out as its fins. It didn't appear to have eyes, but its sharp teeth seemed to be dripping with a pale purple venom. Hadia knew that particular color meant it was likely Death magic at work in the monster.

It seemed disoriented for only a few moments while it helplessly flopped against the bed of peat it had landed on from Hadia's strike, but managed to get itself back in the water. From her peripheral vision, she noticed Alim had made it through the portal too, with Liraz at his side, and was already casting his [Mana Barrier] on each of them—starting with Karam, like Jin had told him when he first unlocked the ability.

Hadia muttered her incantation for her [Stoneborn], hoping the Terram creature might at least serve as a distraction from the ambushing enemy, and if it managed to survive, maybe it would be big enough to help keep her feet dry. "From stone you were born, and stone you will be. To stand against—" She swung again a moment after she saw the water ripple and the fish monster launching itself towards her this time. After landing another clean hit, she continued the incantation. "—our enemies and ram them towards their demise. Spring forth from the earth!"

The ground cracked next to her, and a large sheep-like creature with dirt clods instead of wool and rough-hewn stone for horns burst from the fissure to charge after the monster. With its head lowered, the Terram impacted with the skeletal fish and continued its momentum until slamming the enemy into a nearby tree trunk.

Hadia knew there was no way a Crystal Caste anything would be taken down with only that, so she triggered her new [Battering Ram] ability to close the distance and activated her new Execute as well. The head of her mace seemed to become encased in a layer of stone as [Entomb] enchanted it to deal even more Earth and physical damage with her next strike.

The movement ability took her by surprise with how fast she shot forward—still adjusting to the new Caste as well—but that didn't stop her from slamming her mace onto the pinned skeleton-fish's skull. It exploded in a shower of splintered bone as the rest of its body went limp, the glow of Death magic fading almost instantly.

"Nice reaction time there, Dia," Jin said, coming up behind her with her spear in hand, but relaxed as she took in the shards of bone fragments. The Wayfarer glanced back at the water and asked, "Do you know if those travel in schools like other kinds of fish?"

Hadia shook her head. "I don't think they do, but no promises. Monster swarms aren't super rare, like we saw with the Brushwolves last floor, but they're not common either. I think there were a couple of types of fish that spawned in swarms, but I don't remember any Death-attuned ones."

Jin nodded and looked back towards the rest of the group as she switched to signing. "I'm going to just loot the essence for anything until we get to the next base. We should try to move quietly, more than quickly, and Karam needs to make our scents match this bog for now."

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"Hey! I said no secret hand signs!" Clover interjected in annoyance, his long tail wrapping around Jin's bicep as if it were both an anchor and a controller, tugging at her arm to stop moving.

Jin gave a sigh and replied both aloud and with her hands. "It's not really a secret if everyone else can understand. You'll need to learn them quickly, though, because, like I just said, we need to keep quiet. Unless you'd rather become fish food, Your Highness."

Clover grumbled slightly before curling up on her shoulder and retorting, "Fine, but I expect a full translation later of everything I'm missing… And private lessons to catch me up!"

She turned more to face Alim as she paused and asked, "Does that new armor mean you plan to be our tank up front now?"

Hadia finally looked away from Jin's hand movements and the surrounding swamp that could attack at any moment to take in Alim's new appearance. He still wore the silver Sliksilk uniform, but over it was now a layer of what looked like leather armor but it seemed crafted from some kind of snakeskin that was a matte blue-gray color, and floating at his right forearm was a small semi-translucent blue buckler that moved with him as if anchored to the arm by an invisible tether.

It was almost distracting with the way the shield moved as he signed in response. "My Class is guiding me towards that defensive role you described before. I have a taunt and a lot more survivability now, so I can take the front. I'll try to keep my attention everywhere, but I won't hear if something attacks from behind, so I'll need someone to signal me."

Liraz raised her hand up high, and then the little slime companion on Alim's shoulder hopped up and down. Hadia chuckled, then patted the rough back of her Terram that was now docilely standing beside her, waiting for the next command. "If the little slimeball doesn't work, I can have my new buddy here ram into your butt to get your attention," she signed with a smirk.

Alim grinned at the plan. "That'll work, though I'll try to avoid you ramming me at all. I'm just going to try sticking to the dry areas as best as possible while moving towards the center, until the bracelets try to pull us in a different direction. Does that work for everyone?"

There were nods all around, then Jin began to give commands again. "Alright. Alim up front, then Karam behind him. Hadia and Liraz each take a side on Kar, and I'll bring up the rear. Clover can watch my back, hopefully. Any objections or suggestions?"

Hadia patted her Terram's back again before signing toward Liraz, "I'm going to keep this guy on the outside of the formation to act as an extra barrier from an ambush attack. You should probably do the same with your moving box thing."

Liraz nodded as she moved into position, and Hadia noticed Jin shuddering at the sight of those spindly spider legs jutting out from under the box as it scuttled to move where Liraz wanted. With a grin, she quietly asked out loud, "Afraid of the box, Sky Girl?"

"I hate spiders," Jin grumbled, rolling her shoulders as if trying to brush off the feeling. "So creepy. And that isn't just a box, no matter what the ability is called. It's like all my least favorite creatures rolled into one nightmarish terror."

"Come on, it's not that bad," Hadia replied as she gestured to the large box that seemed to be wiggling excitedly next to the smaller girl. "It's adorable, really, especially when you compare it to some of the other monsters we've seen. Pretty sure I'm going to have nightmares about the Ironhorns for the rest of my life with those face tentacles…"

"I'm guessing we're not going to be in for much better on this swamp floor, are we?" Jin asked as she scanned the area again.

Hadia followed her gaze, not enjoying the gloomy half-light at what should have been midday nor the murky waters that hid how deep they might actually be. She let out a heavy sigh and admitted, "Probably not. That first monster being Death-attuned does not have me hopeful, but that could just be a one-off. We don't really know what the true challenge is for this floor yet, and I highly doubt it's going to be as simple as just survival, like the first floor. Aside from the monsters getting progressively more difficult as we climb, with most being low Crystal on this one, the challenges themselves will likely get harder, too. That's why we get more time to clear it as well."

Jin raised an eyebrow at her. "You think the biome itself isn't challenging enough? There's literally zero sunshine, and I don't think it's gonna come out tomorrow." She paused suddenly as she got a faraway look.

Feeling a little concerned about how Jin seemed to zone out, Hadia carefully put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Hey, you okay, Sky Girl?"

Jin shook herself before giving a sad smile and explaining, "Yeah, sorry. It just reminded me of Phoenix, that friend Bas reminded me of. She got obsessed with a musical called Annie for a long time, and the main song she sang all the time was about the sun coming out tomorrow. It was a song about keeping a positive outlook even when things are shitty." The Wayfarer looked down at the spear still in her hands before her face suddenly went blank, and she added, "Doesn't really make the shit stop happening, though." Jin gestured to the swamp around them and pointed out, "We could easily get surrounded and ambushed if things can live under the water that we can't see through."

"Well, you can probably see through it if you focus on actually using your perception ability," Hadia pointed out, realizing that Jin was probably subconsciously suppressing the new sense. There had been interviews done of former Champions who had survived the tower, and the sensation and use of their powers had always been a topic of interest. Fox's Illusion Network was usually available all the time, so once a Season ended, it was mostly replays of past highlights and interviews with the survivors who became celebrities and often Sect leaders, depending on their personal proclivities.

Jin blinked at her in surprise for a moment before she seemed to actually register her words, then gave a crooked smile, "I guess I didn't think about it with the Aura being so new. It also doesn't really do anything directly to us, so it's just kinda there in the background, it feels like." Jin frowned in thought before asking, "I can feel everyone's Aura with my own when I focus on it, but I'm not sure it's actually worth the ability slot. Aside from just sensing other Auras, they don't seem especially useful."

"Don't underestimate the power of Passives," Clover interjected, apparently having been eavesdropping now that he could understand what they were saying. "It's a bonus you don't have to split your focus on early in your Ascension, and later on, they can become a lot more powerful. Some powersets depend on them to even function, which is why learning to suppress enemy Auras can be a game-changer."

"Suppress?" Jin asked, turning slightly to try to see the little dragon. "Like turning them off?"

Clover nodded. "You basically use your Aura to press their own back inside them. You probably don't need to worry about that now, but it can be a useful skill." The dragon perked up a little and gestured with a tiny claw in the distance and said, "I saw ripples! Try pushing your Aura that way and use that new blind-sight of yours, minion!" Clover then rubbed his little hands together and got a predatory grin on his face, and he muttered to himself, "Please be a tasty fishy!"

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