My eyes shut and the feeling of weightlessness takes over my body. My senses go dark as I fall down to the floor.

The warm flames from the blast below envelope everything in sight and a grin creeps across my face as I pass out from extreme fatigue on the spot.

The only thoughts running through my mind as I plummet toward the floor are: "I did it. I defeated the Behemoth."

The curious final words of the floor boss get lost in the chaos of my rapidly decreasing active conscious brain power.

Everything goes black...

"..."

Time passes.

"..."

"... Master. Are you finally waking?"

"..."

I lie on my back and a light breeze is flowing on my face.

I let out a cough and struggle to open my eyes.

Everything around me is so bright. There's a pale green tint that fills my vision as I try to visualize my surroundings.

I hear Ember speak through our link again.

"It's been over a full day, Master. You've been completely unconscious since the battle ended."

I stay on my back, letting my eyes adjust to the view above me. There are white clouds, but the sky is tinted with an unsettling green hue.

I feel hard scales beneath me and catch a glimpse of two black wings flapping on either side of my vision.

I'm in the air, riding on Ember's back.

I try to move my hand up to feel my face, but my arm won't budge. Letting out a groan, I checked my status to see my HP at under 100 and my MP at nearly 0.

My arms and legs feel numb while my mouth is horribly dry. I shiver, letting out another cough that sends a sharp pain through my chest and back. I grit my teeth and close my eyes until the pain subsides.

After taking a deep breath in and out, then letting the cool air pass by my face for a moment, I reply through my link with Ember.

"Well, it looks like I won. Good to see you're all right too."

I let out a light chuckle with my eyes still closed. It hurts to even let out a thin smile, but knowing Ember is below me makes me feel a little better.

My stomach feels empty, and my skin feels itchy. Everything hurts, but everything feels numb at the same time.

I'm horribly ill. This must be the worst case of mana withdrawals I've ever felt before.

I lie motionless for over half an hour before building up the strength to open my eyes again.

The white clouds and pale green sky fill my vision again as I activate my storage skill to let 3 items fall out onto my chest.

Two potions and a bottle of water come down with a thud, landing in the opening where my chest plate is broken in half.

Using all my strength, I lift my right arm to bring an HP potion to my lips.

Sweating and grunting, I uncork the small bottle and drink the cool green liquid, letting out a sigh of relief as I immediately feel energy flood back into me.

After this, I let the empty bottom drop to my side, and let my arm fall too.

That was exhausting...

My breathing is heavy, and sweat covers my forehead, but I need to finish what I started.

Letting out a grunt, I reach for the MP potion in front of me and repeat the process. The moment the pink liquid touches my lips, I begin to feel even better.

Still, I have to let the empty glass bottle fall to my side and take a small break before reaching for the water.

This fatigue is brutal...

I begin using self regeneration, but it isn't helping much. I can't exactly heal withdrawals with simple potions or skills. Usually, it just takes food, water, and time to heal something like this.

I reach for the water and drink about 1/4 of it before forcing myself to stop.

With a satisfied gulp, I close my eyes again and fall straight to sleep.

Everything goes black...

"..."

Time goes by, and I wake up feeling somewhat better.

I open my eyes to see the same oddly colored sky with occasional passing clouds. I immediately open my link with Emebr as I struggle to sit up.

"How long was I out?"

My abs ache and my joints crack as I use both arms to keep myself steady while sitting up. Ember responds.

"Only a few hours this time, 7 or 8 at most."

I nod, looking to my side and seeing a huge pile of gear wrapped in what looks like a red fabric. It's perfectly balanced on Ember's back right beside me. I hadn't even noticed until now.

I clench my jaw and lean over to open the cloth to see what's inside.

I use Appraisal.

_____________________

The Flame Emperor's Sword [Fire Aspect][+115% Strength][+89% Mental Strength]

The Wind Tyrant's Dagger Set

[Wind Aspect][88+% Strength][+90% Agility][+79% Mental Strength]

[The Behemoth's Platinum Amulet] +111% Defense

[Horn of The Behemoth]

_____________________

My long dark sword and bright red dagger lay on the velvet fabric next to a small silver rectangle about the size of my palm with rounded edges. It's attached to a tin black string and sits next to a massive curved white horn.

I immediately store my two bonded weapons into my item storage, then pick up the small silver rectangular object.

_____________________

[The Behemoth's Platinum Amulet] +111% Defense

_____________________

It's heavy in my hand, but no more than a centimeter thick, and 5 or 6 centimeters long. The defense buff on it is higher than anything I've ever seen before.

It's completely blank and smooth, just a full bar of platinum with an enchantment on it...

I smirk, taking off my Cyclops pendant that has a 40% buff and replacing it with this one at 111%.

I throw my old pendant into my storage. It holds some sentimental value, so I'll keep it for now.

Lastly, I look over at the large white horn. The item has significantly shrunk compared to its actual form during the fight. This is normal for magic items, but it's still odd to me.

I look at it closely, activating Appraisal again, but nothing comes up on the curious item.

All it says is "Horn of The Behemoth" over and over...

Maybe it's a crafting item of some sort, or possibly just a trophy for those that defeat the 20th-floor Boss. I doubt the latter. All items have some kind of purpose in the end...

I let out a sigh, then roll the horn into my item storage and promptly fall onto my back again, exhausted already.

Breathing heavily, I open up my storage and take out some fruit and dried meat. I chew on it slowly while drinking more water and opening my link with Ember.

"So.... What happened...? Where are we?"

The dragon gliding peacefully through the air responds in a patient tone.

"You've defeated your first Lower-Floor Boss. We've made it to the 21st Floor. Before we were transported to this higher Dunegon, I managed to collect all the item drops and your weapons."

I grin, closing my eyes again and falling back to sleep, letting out a last sentence to Ember before everything goes dark.

"Thank you."

"..."

The next moment my eyes open, I feel pretty rejuvenated, but still nowhere near fully healed. I'm able to sit up almost immediately and stretch my arms and back.

I let out a yawn and bend over the side of the flying dragon to take a look at the view below us.

I'm left speechless at the sight before my eyes...

We're high up in the sky, and everything around us is stained with a pale green tint...

There are white stone pillars as far as I can see.

They're thin, just a few meters wide each, and they reach up high in the air. Some even jut up higher than the altitude we're flying, but a majority can be seen down below.

The tops of them are comply flat and now that I'm coming back to my senses, this entire dungeon gives off a low hum of mana from all directions.

I turn my head around, taking a look behind me to see hundreds of them. There are white stone pillars everywhere.... and nothing else.

The more I look, I begin to notice oddities. Some off in the distance seem thicker than others and even have jagged-shaped tops.

I can't even see the floor below, there are clouds in the way both above and below us.

My hands and feet are still tingling, and everything aches, but I let out a grunt and manage to stand to my feet as Ember continues to gently soar through the sky.

I smirk, breathing in the fresh air around me and squinting off into the distance.

"The Labyrinth is far from its end. One Floor Boss down, many more to go. It looks like after we take a pit stop back on the 10th floor to rest up and check in with the Association, there will be many more floors to climb."