Chapter 30: Dungeon (IX).
The fourth floor… didn't bother us anymore after our encounter with the soil snakes.
After that, everything was all peaceful.
"I would have thought this place would have more powerful monsters blocking our way. It was only the soil snakes and even the boars that were nowhere to be found."
"Could it be… because we're nearing the edge?"
I also checked the [Map] app on my phone and realized the further away we were from the ruin., it was loading in more of the area of the map, slowly unlocking and even pinpointing out a few minerals that we recognized from before.
That ruin… could it be that before Elre, someone else has lived in the dungeon before?
"There! It's an entryway!" (Elre) points at the said entryway. He looked so happy seeing what seemed to be the end of our journey. "Hah… we managed to finally get to the very end. Honestly, only a few elves have managed to get this far."
I opened up the [Map], seeing there was not a single red dot warning me of a monster being near made me breathe a sigh of relief. There was only one red dot left… and it was through this huge dungeon door, where on the very top it's been carved a head of a bull and its horns.
"If I'm right… the monster behind this wall should be a [Minotaur]." There were a few skeleton corpses on the side, all wearing tattered armor and clothes. The patterns and inscriptions on it was clear to be owned by the same elven people who's with Elre.
I guiltily looked over to his side, "And… they really did a number on your people."
I could see Elre biting his lip before ignoring me to pay respects to the corpses of his fallen people
"My brothers and sisters…" (Elre) kneels down and clasps his hands together, "I am sorry we could not have given you a proper burial. May your souls be at peace, one with nature. Once I am done with slaying the beast I will bring all of you back… to be one with the trees."
To be one with the trees…
If we can beat this Minotaur, Elre will have to go back and tell his village of the good news.
"We barely managed to get out of the past sections in one piece. It's a good thing your light magic not only patches up wounds but cures poison as well." (Elre) stands up and finally faces me. "I will not go down without a fight."
I don't know if he's suicidal or just thirsty for revenge, I've only fought low leveled monsters and this dungeon should be untouched so who knows how strong a boss level Minotaur should be. "Good to know that you have spirit. I'm actually a little surprised at how unguarded this part of the dungeon is. They're saving the best for last."
Granted that I only have my phone to accompany me… it won't help killing down a beast.
"So before we get inside the dungeon, we have to make a plan." We sat down in front of the final boss' room door and I took a stone to draw a plan for us both. "I have read the minotaur's figure of being half-human. The top of his body resembles a bull and the lower part is his human side."
Elre nodded, "They're supposed to be very huge, strong and carry a weapon… My village's reports were all destroyed but I heard from a rumor that the monster carried an axe. My brother… as you know he has passed so he was not able to fully finish the dungeon book I gave you."
An axe… well that's a dungeon boss for you.
"I wish we could have multiple tries before doing this, we have to compile all of the things we know and come up with a counter plan. Then again… we have to think about the time." When it comes to dungeons, would it follow the generic rules of one?
No exit, has a time-limit and no respawn… I mean the last part should be obvious but how about the boss room itself?
Could its room be deformed using [Earth Magic] so I could use it to my advantage? I really want to make an exit tunnel just in case.
"Once the door closes, we're not allowed to go out am I right?"
"I-I don't know." He answered.
That wasn't reassuring, I took the book Elre gave me and read the page with the [Minotaur] over and over again. I need to find a weakness… anything useful.
Its skin is tough, it has a huge axe and I'm sure that its movements will be slow but each strike would be precise and heavy. We could deal with it using long ranged spells but nothing too mana consuming or flashy.
Ugh!
Thinking of a plan like this is really making my brain hurt!
"Francisca…"
I stopped contemplating the plan, Elre was staring at the corner page of the book where there was a small ugly drawing of a bull on the side. "What is it, Elre?"
The young elven boy takes the book before placing it on his lap, looking distant.
"I… used to draw silly doodles on the side just to piss my brother off. He was always a wonderful artist. My stick figures could never compare to the detail and love he had for documenting his findings through things like this." He brushes on the faded ink, smiling. "Technically the monster is an animal. If you have a bull for a head what do you think it'll do?"
I took in Elre's words, something in it made sense.
"A bull for a head… It might still… I mean…" I stared at the ugly drawing and thought of leaving it to luck. The [Minotaur] is a fearsome creation that only had a bull for a head, and should it have the same intelligence and behavior of a bull while having that bulky body we might have a small chance of winning. "Sigh… we only have one chance of fighting that thing."
I can't believe I'm trusting him, the idea is there but let's just hope that [Minotaur] is really all meat and no brawn.
"Elre, we better make this one count."
…
CREAKKKKK…
We opened the door of the boss room.
Walking into a boss room feels like stepping into the eye of a storm. Your pulse quickens, each beat pounding in your ears as if it's trying to drown out the eerie silence around you. The air feels heavy, charged with tension and foreboding, as though the room itself knows what's about to happen.
Clank.
I could hear it.
"Francisca…" (Elre) takes a hold of his bow, both of our heads slowly looking up to see the monster in all of its glory.
The axe dragged behind the minotaur with a violent metallic shriek-
SKRRRRAAAAAAPE…
Sparks hissed across the stone as the monster advanced.
"You know-! We could still turn back, Elre! I might be in a rush home but I'm not in a rush to die!" I yelled at him, being the voice of reason sometimes is nice.
We're both so low leveled we can't compare to a boss like this!
"If you stick to our plan we can win!" He confidently pulls the string on his bow and soon casts a spell that let's him produce arrows that's made out of wind. "[Wind Magic: Zephyr Arrow]!"
"You're so crazy!"
But I guess this is it!
"If we both die-! I would like to say that knowing you for what felt like two days together wasn't so bad!"
"Likewise!"
I took out a dagger from my [Inventory] and prayed that this will help.
It's not good to get up too close to the minotaur and I doubt I could do much damage using this dagger to any parts of its body. "The only logical thing to do-!"
I take the dagger and put it on my mouth, giving it a good bite.
"[Wind Magic]!" I placed my hands on the ground, planning a big leap. A magic circle appeared below me and with the dagger in my mouth it was hard to say the spell properly but I made sure to correct it. "[Wind Launch]!"
I used the wind as thrusts, launching me into the air.
"Whooo!" I held the small dagger in my hand and aimed. "Elre! Distract it now!"
Elre who was taking his time to aim and shoot, lets go of the string.
Wind arrows flew and hit the target right in the shoulder.
"...ROAAAARRR!"
We made it so mad, it let out a deafening scream and I had to cover my ears because the pain was too much. "Shit!"
As I was in the air, I was intimidated by its scream. It was so powerful that it knocked me back over into the wall, I heard something breaking and it seems that my left shoulder cracked.
Thud!
"Guhk-!"
That son of a-!
I didn't even land a single scratch on him. My first plan was a failure…!
Elre shot a few more arrows to distracat it before running over to me in a hurry, "Are you okay?! Oh goddess-! Can you still fight?"
"Ugh… I mean… this is going to hurt but…" In my past life I've had a few accidents that needed me to plop a bone or two back in place. "Ow!"
I can't make it gently… so this is the best I could do.
"One more time! I know what to do." I took out something that would help block the scream of the Minotaur. "For now, I have no choice but to use a cork screw to plug my ears. It doesn't quite fit the hole in my hear but it will have to do."
I plugged my ears and hopped for the best.
"Let's do it again!" I signalled for him to charge his arrows and he gave a thumbs up back as a reply. "[Wind Magic]!"
I waited until his wind arrows were fully charged and ready to go.
"[Wind Launch]!" I flew into the air once more, this time I gripped into the dagger hard. Elre launched his arrows and shot it through the neck of the Minotaur.
"ROARRRRR!"
I could see it roaring, intimidating Elre as he ran to the other direction for cover. This time the Minotaur is busy and its screams won't intimidate me any longer.
"Hngh!"
I landed on its back.
"Yes!"
I immediately gripped into the Minotaur's back, I could see him being confused and its hands tried reaching into the back to get rid of me but I was quick to climb.
"Bye bye!"
I took the dagger and stabbed it in one of its eyes, blood spewing everywhere.
"ROARRRR!"
"Whoah!"
It started shaking, going wild and then ran into the nearest wall head first.
"Shit! I can't hold on!"
I'm barely grabbing into its hair and if I let go I'll die!
I could see Elre waving his hands around, he seemed to be panicking as he got ready to fire another wind arrow.
"ROARRRR!"
But I didn't realize that the Minotaur was planning something to get rid of me,. The minotaur slammed its massive back against the stone wall with terrifying force.
A deafening KRRRRAAAACK-! erupted through the corridor as jagged fractures spread across the surface like spiderwebs.
Chunks of stone burst outward while the creature violently scraped itself along the wall, its armor and rough hide grinding against the rock with a brutal SKRRRRAAAAAAPE-!
The corridor trembled.
Stone pillars splintered. Dust exploded into the air.
"Hell no!" I immediately let go and thought about casting another spell but there wouldn't be any time so I ran. "Ha… Hah!"
Once I got out of range, I saw Elre firing a few more arrows before seeing me and waved. I couldn't hear what he was saying, I only knew that he looked happy.
"I got one of its eyes!" I yelled, a little happy at the damage that I made. "Now, to take out the other. Without his vision, it'll be a lot easier to take it down."
"...!" (Elre) who was beside me was talking and I couldn't hear anything.
"Oh-!"
I forgot that I still had earplugs on!
I took off the earplugs and apologized to Elre, it might've looked like that I was ignoring him purposely. "Sorry, Elre what were you saying?"
I even cleaned the wax inside my ear just to make sure to hear him properly.
He rolls his eyes, still on guard. "I'm saying good job! But you don't have any weapons left! Leave it to me, I'll shoot it down!"
Elre takes his bow and begins charging up on the arrows once more.
I took a look at the damage he did on the Minotaur's neck. It was only a scratch, I thought it would be more but at this pace we'll be running out of not only mana but also our stamina.
"No offense, Elre, but I don't think your arrows will be enough. Did you see its neck? Your shots barely made it bleed." I said. Judging by the look on his face, he didn't take the comment well.
"But this is all we have," he shot back. "Unless you can pull off the same trick from before. It won't be easy taking the vision in his other eye, look at how chaotic he's being. He's scraping his back on the wall like crazy, you'll die if you do another stunt like before."
"You're right… its screams are also getting louder, I'm not sure if these cork screws would be enough to block it. Using other spells is draining too much mana." I glanced toward the glowing construct forming beside his bow. "Your spell, [Zephyr Arrow]… how much mana does it consume to create one?"
"Not much," (Elre) replied. "You're only shaping wind into a solid form like an arrow so it shouldn't cost much mana."
Wind shaped into form… That was enough. I slowly rose to my feet, ignoring the ache running through my body as the minotaur's thunderous footsteps echoed closer.
"Then…" I tightened my grip on the weapon in my hand. "I'll deliver the finishing blow."
Elre's eyes widened as mana began gathering around me.
The air trembled.
Streams of wind spiraled violently into a single point above my palm, compressing tighter and tighter until the pressure whined like screaming steel. Dust and broken stone lifted from the floor as the current intensified, twisting into the shape of an enormous arrow far larger than any normal spear.
The shaft stretched longer.
Sharper.
Denser.
Its spinning tip shrieked as if the air itself were being torn apart.
Even Elre staggered back in disbelief.
"You're making it that big…?"
"I only need one shot."
Ahead of us, the minotaur turned, its bloodshot eyes locking onto the massive construct forming overhead. The creature roared and charged, dragging its gigantic axe across the ground with a violent-
SKRRRRAAAAAAPE—!
Sparks exploded across the floor as the beast thundered forward.
I took a slow breath and aimed the colossal arrow directly at its chest.
"This ends here."