- Ch. 27 - A Canary's Troubles (Part 1 of 2)

'F*ck...', she thought to herself as she ran through the labyrinthine tunnels of the 3rd floor. 'This is not good.' While that thought kept repeating in her mind, her frustration and annoyance was bleeding through her thoughts.

Dinah; the Black Canary, was having a good dungeon run a few moments ago... until she wasn't. She's been killing the normal Kobolds, Goblins, and Dungeon Lizards left and right for the last hour, but she knew her luck; or whatever counts as luck for Adventurers, ran short. Why would that be? --- You may ask. Well..., you could look no further than the large, and more intimidating looking Goblins riding giant Dungeon Lizards; like mounts, that were chasing her down at this very moment.

'I knew it was only a matter of time until I found monster variants, but this is ridiculous!!', the Canary thought to herself as she dodged another javelin that was thrown at her with casual ease.

At first, she thought it'd be simple to take them down, but she was proven wrong when they employed new tactics that she's never heard of before or been informed about. These things were definitely a cut above the rest of their normal counterparts. The only things keeping her alive at the moment was her vast knowledge and experience, her usage of the terrain, her amazing spacial awareness, and her speed and stamina. As she shifted her body to the right; thereby dodging the arrow that was meant for the back of her head, her mind was thinking of and rehashing a quick plan to get through this current mess. Thankfully, Dinah has her past experiences with random and dangerous situations to fall back on as she was running through the 3rd floor's tunnels. As she jumped over a small boulder; which gave her a small amount of air-time, thus allowing her to flick a few rocks behind her with startling accuracy, she was shifting through the information her astute observational skills told her about her current opponents.

Fact #1: The giant Dungeon Lizard variants had a tougher hide than their smaller counterparts. Dinah found this out when she tried to knock out one of them with a fast right cross. It only seemed to annoy the large lizard.

Fact #2: These larger Dungeon Lizards were the size of large ponies.

Fact #3: They have shorter tounges, but they are way faster in all fours.

Fact #4: The larger Goblin variants; that Dinah decided to label as Riders, were built like the Dwarves. They had muscular bodies and their beady coal black eyes gleamed with a cunning intelligence in them.

Fact #5: The weapons and armor they wield and wear respectively seemed to be tailor-made for them. Which was a great shock to Dinah, but thankfully she didn't let that distract her the first time she saw them. Otherwise, the spearhead that was heading towards her at the time would've speared through her neck.

Fact #6: It feels like they're trying to herd her towards a certain area; which is definitely bad news, so she needs to think of something fast before whatever trap they've got laid out for her gets sprung...

Fact #7: Her rock projectIles weren't doing any damage at all. The larger Dungeon Lizards are shrugging them off like how an umbrella wisks away water. The Goblin Riders can be blinded, but they've quickly learned how to block, catch, or deflect them after a while.

*Sigh* 'This is getting really annoying...', was her thought, as she plucked a javelin out of the air and swiftly threw it back towards one of the Goblin Riders.

With a quick glance behind her, she was able to take account of at least a couple dozen Goblin Riders and their Large Dungeon Lizard Mounts. The ones she picked off as this running battle continued on for what seemed like 15 minutes already might've been at a good dozen and a half, but she wasn't sure. It was too bad she left behind their magic stones and some possible loot, but her safety was her number one priority.

'I could always retrace my marathon through the tunnels... maybe.'

As her thoughts spiraled through different scenarios, a sudden...

*\!CRACK CRACK CRACK!/*

...resounded to her left as she turned towards another tunnel while she ducked and dodged another set of javelins.

Just when she thought things were already annoying enough, the dungeon deemed it fitting to mess with her even more.

Thankfully, Dinah didn't let this stop her from her Olympic level pace as she bobbed and weaved away from the newly summoned monsters.

'What a sadistic dungeon!!!'

Was the thought that blazed through her mind as the group of monsters that were chasing her were joined by more of their kind.

Without her meaning to, a yellow glow shined from her eyes. She knew that her situation got even more worse than it was, so she inwardly reached for that well of power within herself. She knows that she can maintain the momentum of this running battle for a few more hours, but sooner or later the dungeon itself will overwhelm her with even more of their numbers.

As she picked up her pace while dodging and redirecting even more and more javelins that the Goblin Riders have been throwing at her, the yellow glow in her eyes grew until her irises changed to a golden-yellow.

By instinct; or it could be called an accident, Dinah channeled the Mana that she was inadvertently building up due to her heightened emotions all throughout her body. Even though her control of her Mana was amateurish at best, her instinctive use of it during combat has helped her lessen the dangers of using it even if it's not completely controlled.

With a renewed sense of vigor, a boost of speed, and with her senses being enhanced, Dinah found that it was getting easier and easier to pluck the javelins out of the air and then promptly returning them back to their owners with twice the original power, speed, and the amount of force behind them.

'How long can I keep this up...?'

This question was in the back of her mind while she continued dispatching her opponents. Dinah knows that she can't keep this up for very long. She can already feel the amount of Mana she has in her reserves depleting quickly.

'I think I've got 30 more seconds or so... I'd rather not suffer the effects of Mind Down, so I need to make this count...'