Chapter 10

The staircase leading back up took us about the same distance as one flight's worth of stairs in a two-story house would before we came to a dead end. I expected about as much, given how far we fell when we triggered the trap and by how the tunnel we crawled through felt fairly level and how it didn't take us any deeper. So, while I lost my bearings in the fall, the exit had to come out roughly where we were before the trap. Meaning that the exit had been camouflaged in some way to prevent adventurers from seeing it and skipping the trap to head straight for the chest. And thanks to how everything in the dungeon looked almost exactly the same, it was easy to imagine everyone passing right by it.

        The wall before us looked as smooth as any of the others in the dungeon at first glance, but I made sure to check for a part of it that was a slightly different color or that was hidden by the minimalistic blue hue of light that still reached us from that hidden treasure room. I was looking for any indication of the existence of a hidden door. So, I pressed my cheek to the wall and started looking for a button of some sort or a lever to pull on. I found what I was looking for almost immediately. 

        "There we go."

        I pressed the brick that was just barely jutting out of the otherwise uniformed wall and it sank into the stone. The wall, now a door, slowly lifted itself into the ceiling, revealing the familiar inexplicable lighting we had been fighting by all this time.

        Yua and I leapt out of the room as soon as we were able, just in case the door might come crashing back down on our heads if we were too slow. It stayed open, however, as proof that we survived a fatal trap.

        "Yua, can you still hear the boss?"

        While Yua already confirmed that she was still eager to fight the boss despite what happened, we had been down there long enough for another Adventurer to have challenged and beat it. She told me the bosses respawn every hour, so the worst we'd have to deal with would be to wait until then. Figuring that she could use a longer break than she let on, I at least wouldn't have minded a pause. She tilted her head back in the usual way and listened. Not long after, she nodded back.

        "Yes. We are actually closer to it than we were before the trap."

        Since she was still so eager to continue the fight, and because I didn't have much choice with her acting as our guide, I let her lead the way.

        So, the trap was both designed to kill if it could, but also to reward those that paid close attention to their surroundings by letting them skip straight to the boss? I could see why that could be a good thing, but why leave such a shortcut so close to the boss room to begin with? If we hadn't fallen down there, we'd be fighting the boss already. We may have even finished by now. Something like that should have been near the beginning of the floor. Was it was meant to deter us from pursuing the boss so it could gather the strength needed to break free? Why else would it choose to confine itself instead of roaming the halls like the rest of the monsters?

        Then there was the fact that the trap hadn't been sprung by anyone else yet. Sure, Yua did have to step on a specific plate before it activated, so other Adventurers could have easily side-stepped the trigger completely by accident, but if not, then that meant nobody even fought the boss yet today. Unless, there was a different route we could have taken to it. I should have paid more attention to the path we were on instead of leaving it all to Yua.

        Without running into any more monsters, while I complained about the poor level design to myself, Yua led us straight to a large pair of doors. The walls and floor of the dungeon so far had all been as plain as could be, but these large stone doors were carved with a much more intricate, almost menacing design, that were complete with seemingly unintelligible runes and symbols befitting that of a seal placed on boss room to keep its inhabitant locked up tight. The way they stood out most likely would have caused new Adventurers like myself to grow cautious, too cautious, and in their caution, make the mistake of giving up on the spot. But since Yua told me what was supposed to be in that room, I was more excited than worried for once.

        A bigger, stronger wolf was still just a wolf.

        …Maybe I am getting cocky.

        "Are you ready, Master?"

        I drew my sword and nodded. Yua nodded back, grinned and slammed her fist into her palm before walking towards the door. Despite them being tall enough to almost reach the ceiling and clearly being made of the same stone as the walls, Yua pushed them open without issue. Given how she handle that huge chunk of stone that fell on us, this must have been nothing for her.

         The stone doors grinded against the floor as she pushed them and a gust made mostly of dust and stagnant air rushed out at us. I shielded my eyes from the dust storm, but I could still feel something hidden deep inside what looked to be a large empty room. It was a disturbing presence that made my spine rattle. I never really put any stock into the fantasy trope of feeling an enemy's presence, but the moment she opened the door, I knew without a doubt that something was there waiting for us. Maybe it was just my classes helping me to detect the danger we were putting ourselves against.

        Yua looked back to me, clearly feeling it too, and once more asked with her eyes if I was ready. I nodded and we went in.

        The boss room wasn't too different in design than the rest of the floor. The main differences were that the room looked to be around five-hundred feet square, while the walls stretched up about three stories into the air, meaning the Dimensional Step that brought us to the first floor actually took us much deeper than I thought it did.

        The only other ornamentation in the room was the light source keeping the stone walls and floor lit with a bright orange hue. Where the rest of the dungeon had been lit by some unseen light source, there were two large braziers burning hot with bright red flames as thick as the trees in the forest.

        The light of the flames crawled across the floor, digging its bright red tendrils into the stonework and up a massive paw furred with the same metallic-grey strands that shielded the wolves we fought earlier. I followed the attached limb up its body and to the head of the beast it belonged to and found two giant, glowing eyes glaring down on us tiny intruders. The boss wolf was no less than twenty times my size. When it stood to meet its challengers from its lazy prone position on the floor, I felt a sense of vertigo watching it rise up to make me even smaller.

        It was much, much larger than I was expecting. I thought it would be at most twice the size of the other wolves, but this was absurd. How could this thing be the boss of the first floor?!

        And it was already growling at us. Of course, it was. There was only one room and one open door. There was no way the boss wouldn't have noticed us enter. Not with ears that big.

        It looked to us, its eyes sharp and ready to perceive even the slightest shift in movement. It was ready to pounce. But unlike its smaller counter parts, it seemed a bit more cautious. Perhaps it was intelligent enough to be weary of those with the skills needed to push past its weaker counter parts before openly challenging it.

        Staring up at it, nearly dropping my sword from fear of its menace, I was consumed by a single question: How the hell did Yua fight this thing by herself? It looks like it could literally swallow her whole!

        I looked at the boss's info box while trying to force my knees not to shake. Even more dissimilar to the other wolves both in and out of the forest, this one's info box was stamped with the image of a crimson skull next to the name "Proud Great Wolf." I guessed the skull was meant to indicate that it was a boss, since its level was the same as ours at only level 5.

        But then, how did Yua manage to beat it by herself before? She had to have still been only level 3 or maybe even lower when she challenged it.

        "How did you manage to fight this thing by yourself?" I asked, wishing I had sought more information on it before we entered the boss room.

        "I kept dodging its attacks and striking the same spot on its hind leg over and over until it broke and it couldn't move. After that, it was defenseless."

        Without any more snark, Yua answered as soon as I asked, taking up the same fighting stance she did earlier against the wolves. It was a simple plan of action and she seemed set on using it again.

        If the boss respawned every hour, did that mean she'd actually fought it multiple times using the same tactic? If so, that was more reassuring, but it didn't ease my worries by much.

        I readied myself the best I could as well, thinking I might try the same with my sword. Almost as if the Great Wolf had noticed us silently agree to fight it this way, where it waited for us to show we were ready for the sake of its supposed pride in lieu of attacking the moment it could, it pounced.

        With a growl loud enough to shake both my heart and resolve, it barreled not towards me, but towards Yua. I doubted enemies that respawn could retain the memories of their slain former selves, but it almost felt like the Great Wolf held some kind of grudge against Yua as it completely ignored me and stampeded straight towards her. Or, maybe, its canine instincts just kicked in when it caught the scent of a cat.

        "Ha!"

        With a shout, Yua ducked down low to the ground when the Great Wolf's massive paw swept at her head. She used her squat position to shoot herself under its massive body and towards the Great Wolf's hind leg and exactly like she said, she punched it full force.

        "Iron Fist!"

        With a thud that sounded like it would have turned my bones to dust if swung anywhere remotely near me, Yua hit the Great Wolf so hard that it momentarily lost its footing and had to leap back to another corner of the room where it tentatively tapped its hind paw against the stone to see if the leg could still move properly. It could. Yua readied herself to square off against it once more, waiting like a professional boxer for her opponent to attack so that she could counter it.

        Amazed with her skill and bravery, I thought to check the Great Wolf's info box again. Seemingly only now that some damage had been done to it, its life bar appeared. Apparently just that one punch took about a tenth of its life. Her level had definitely increased a bit since the last time she fought it, so I could only imagine how long it had taken her back then.

        The Great Wolf howled loudly, as if pleased by the existence of a worthy opponent. It leapt at Yua again.

        Once more, she dodged when its fangs tried to snap down on her and leapt behind it. I felt her punch's force through the air and the Great wolf stumbled again, its hind leg momentarily curled up defensively against its body. It seemed to have a distinctly hard time fending off attacks to its rear.

        But how was this possible? Where did she learn the sort of bravery needed to face such a creature? I can't even hold a conversation with someone without fearing I might mess it up or that my mind might just go blank, and yet, she's throwing herself against a monster that looked like it would eat her as soon as it saw her.

        Was fighting just that fun for her?

        I shook my head as she dodged yet another swipe aimed this time for her torso. As much as I wanted to give into the fear and leave this to the more experienced party, I couldn't just let Yua be. Regardless of how skilled she was, she was risking her life in this fight, all for my selfish want to keep her at my side. I couldn't accept this.

        Squeezing the hilt of my sword hard enough to make its guard rattle and wanting to show Yua that I could help her, more than I wanted to show the wolf, I ran towards it so it couldn't leap away to safety and slashed at it as hard as I could with my sword. Its hitherto undamaged front paw didn't so much as wobble when I struck it, as if the cut I made in its flesh was no more severe than a paper cut. My hands strained against the grip of my sword as if I'd just hit a steel beam, but when I withdrew my blade, a large red gash appeared just above the Great Wolf's right forepaw.

        It growled hatefully at me, as if it were actually expecting to face off against Yua alone and was about to lunge at me with its fangs bared, but I heard Yua shout her ability's name again and the Great Wolf's posture broke as its leg was struck again. The sickening crunch of a bone snapping followed right behind it.

        This time its howl sounded pained beyond belief. It scrambled, now unable to walk properly on its three still-working legs and swept at Yua again. This time faster and harder. Feral now that it understood the danger we posed. She barely dodged it this time, but her fierce look didn't change as its paw sored close enough over her head to ruffle a few stray strands of her chestnut hair. She squat down briefly to pull power into her legs and charged at its broken hind leg again, but the Great Wolf had other ideas.

        Instead of falling for the same trick a third time, the Great Wolf rained down attacks on her without end just as wildly as a real, scared and dying animal would. Again and again it snarled and tried to cut her in half with its claws or to swallow her whole with its bite. Unable to finish her attack, Yua could do nothing but dodge.

        I couldn't tell if it was doing so on purpose, I don't think I could have managed it if I were as injured as it was, but the Great Wolf was slowly pushing Yua into the corner of the room.

        With its back to me as it focused entirely on Yua, it left me an opening I'd have to be stupid to neglect. I charged after it and slashed at the broken leg that dangled grotesquely behind it. As if it had already decided to abandon the lost limb, it ignored my attack entirely and continued its onslaught towards Yua.

        It wasn't acting like a normal animal. It was a monster.

        "Agh!"

        Yua's pained cry drilled into my ears when she was struck by its paw. She barely managed to block the blow, but it still sent her soaring through the air and further into the corner of the room. As much as it must have hurt, she quickly got back to her feet so that it couldn't capitalize on her pain and pummel her further into the ground.

        Seeing her pushed farther and farther into the corner scared me. But when I saw her grimace as she clenched the arm she blocked its attack with, and when I saw thick red blood seep from between her fingers, anger filled every inch of my being.

        She spent this whole trip showing just how strong and proud of herself she was. I didn't want her to lose that pride. I didn't want her hurt or in danger, but such things came with this profession. It couldn't be avoided. But watching her stand there, forced into a corner and unable to move in the sorts of flashy ways she needed to make use of to dodge the attacks of a beast so large, I forced the hopelessness of the situation out of my mind and charged.

        I promised to protect her. That was all that mattered.

        I unleashed a flurry of blows to its leg. Unlike the earlier wolves, which were taken out by us easily and didn't even have a chance to bleed, the Great Wolf's leg sprayed fountains of blood with each strike of my sword as I cut deeper and deeper, trying to drag its attention away from Yua. If I could cause it enough pain, surely, it'd forget about her.

        I sliced through its thick flesh and fur, severed tendons and muscles and yelled through the spray of blood before finally cutting its leg off completely.

        The severed limb flopped to the floor, but did not disappear.

        "Ah!!"

        Just when I was sure I had caught the monster's attention, I was dumbstruck when I heard Yua cry out again. The damn thing still cared more about the person who broke it and left it in that vulnerable state than the one that capitalized on the damage!

        Why? The damn thing was half dead now because of what I'd done!

        "Shit!"

        The Great Wolf lunged for her again. Her confidence in her abilities shaken by the repeated blows, Yua was slower to respond and mistimed her dodge. She was knocked back and slammed against the wall again.

        "Fuck!"

        I yelled at myself when I saw her health drop down to match the great Wolf's fifty percent mark.

        There had to be something I could do. I worked my brain as fast as I could until I thought it might actually overheat before I could come up with a plan based on what I had at my disposal.

        Then, as if I had the answer the entire time, I remembered what happened to the branch in the forest when I first tested my magic.

        "Fire Ball!"

        I didn't waste any time worrying about how silly and juvenile it felt to actually chant a magic spell and aimed at the center of Giant Wolf's head. The ball of flames shot forth from my hand and flew exactly where I needed it to like a homing missile and struck the Great Wolf in the back of the head.

        The ball itself carved out about another tenth of the Great Wolf's health all by itself and, just as I thought it might, the fur it seemed to be so proud of caught fire. The flames coating it and the sickening stench of burnt hair both spread throughout the room. The Great Wolf howled, whined, in agony. Its movements muddied by the lack of its hind leg, it bucked and jumped and shook its head awkwardly, as if thinking the flames spreading across its fur were just a bit of water it could shake off if it tried hard enough.

        When this didn't work, it blindly slammed itself against the wall, as if to try and use the stone to snuff the flames. Another quick peek at its health bar showed that the constant burning was causing it to take more damage over time, just like anything on fire should.

        Using the distraction the best I could, I ran to Yua's side and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her close to my chest. Thankfully, she was still conscious and breathing quite heavily from overexerting herself, but the large gash in her arm and the blood streaming down to her fingertips was of greater concern. If the Great Wolf's claw had sunk any deeper, she may have had to have the arm amputated. A thought that I wasn't sure she realized herself as she watched the flames engulf our enemy, a fierce battle glare still shifting her beautiful face into that of a warrior.

        Without a need for testing my hypothesis, I was certain that if the flame was able to burn the Great Wolf's fur and cause constant damage while it raged on, it would eventually die even if we didn't do anything. So, letting her blood loss go untreated would end in the same result.

        This seemed like the sort of obvious statement anyone with a rudimentary, but working knowledge of the human body would look at you like you were an unrepentant idiot for questioning. But with this world based partially on video game logic, I couldn't just assume all my knowledge from Earth still applied here.

        The sight of her life bar steadily decreasing was all that mattered.

        I jammed my hand into the invisible item box and yanked out the potion I started in this world with and uncorked it with my teeth, while trying to ignore her sudden bewilderment at seeing my hand disappear and reappear the way it did. Her health was decreasing much slower than the Great Wolf's, but that didn't matter.

        The sudden magic she had never seen before and the sight of the potion that appeared out of thin air snapped her back to her senses.

        "Master, forget about me! You can't just turn your back on a monster. It's too dangerous!"

        "You need to drink this."

        "But that's yours! I told you, if you die, I'll…"

        "Don't be stupid!"

        I yelled and she immediately stopped protesting. Her shoulders raised with surprise and her ears twitched. Wide-eyed, she stared at me.

        "I told you already. I won't leave you to die. Now shut up and drink!"

        I forced the circular top of the glass bottle against her lips and tilted it back to force her to imbibe the liquid. She fought me on it, but only for a second. She parted her lips and the red liquid quickly drained into her mouth. Some spilled down her chin and onto her chest, but the effects of the potion were instant, just as I'd hoped.

        As she drank, not only did her health bar start to rise again and blood stop gushing from the open wound, but the gash itself started to seal shut like an army of invisible surgeons were threading the edges of her skin back together. By the time she downed the entire bottle and had to come back up for air, her arm was as smooth as it was when I met her. There wasn't even a scar left to prove that she had been hurt in the first place.

        "Good. Now rest here and let me finish this."

        "Wait!"

        I turned back to face the wolf through the cloud of smoke and cinder billowing from its body and saw that its health was already down to twenty-five percent of its original value. That was more than enough for me.

        I ran straight for the beast at full speed with my sword poised to strike. While I treated Yua's wound, the flames had spread to the Great Wolf's eyes and the intense heat seemed to have liquified the once glaring orbs, as it didn't show any sign that it saw me charging for it. Neither did it seem to smell me over the scent of its own burning flesh clogging its nose. Its ears had already burned down to useless stubs that didn't even look like they could move anymore.

        It was completely blind to both me and my attack as it continued to writhe and lash out at nothing in its panic.

        I slashed its snout when it dropped its head, still trying pointlessly to quench the flames devouring it. The cut bisected its upper lip deep enough to leave its fangs permanently exposed. The intense heat of the flames caused the newly severed flesh to curl in on itself. Its blood instantly boiled, sizzled and popped on its flesh the second the heat touched it.

        I slashed again and again, not willing to give the great Wolf a chance to fight back any more than it did when chasing Yua and it stupidly chose to ignore me. Its health bar started plummeting, thanks to both my assault and the still thickening flames.

        Finally, after a continued succession of strikes at any part of its body I could reach, I struck the blow that ended the Great Wolf's howls of pain by thrusting my sword up under its chin, skewering its tongue and pinning it to the roof of its mouth.

        A despondent gurgle belched up from within its throat only once, before its last three limbs gave in and it started to collapse. Wary that its massive body, still alite with fire, might fall on me, I abandoned my sword instead of attempting to pull it out and took several long steps away from the falling wolf to avoid being crushed.

        Its lifeless body continued to burn for several long seconds after I watched its health bar finally hit zero. That same moment, the once terrifying monster exploded into a burst of light so overwhelming, that even the flames coating the fur that used to exist on it were left looking dull in comparison. Along with its body, the flames engulfing it faded from existence as they no longer had anything to cling to and devour.