“I can’t believe we’re going to the second floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Nicky’s voice sounded excited.
“This is awesome. We’ll find so much more loot on the second floor,” Flavia was thinking about the possible treasure already.
“You need to remember, the monsters are much stronger on the second floor, Flavia,” Ileena reminded her, getting her backpack ready.
“We’ll just kick their butts just like we did to the Fanged Wolves and Dungeon Crawlers,” the excited bunny girl cheered, flexing her arm.
“You are really excited about it, aren’t you, Flavia?” Vivia had a smile on her face, but the girl didn’t look even half as excited as Flavia was.
“Hah…” Flavia simply grinned wider.
“Second floor. Cool,” Growly was packed and ready to go.
Wow. I almost can’t believe we’ll be going to the second floor of the Magic Dungeon. My body shivers with excitement, but at the same time, I know it will be much more dangerous. I’ll have to do my best. Narias was excited, but also concerned at the same time.
After everyone woke up, the students and the teacher had something to eat and then took stock of what supplies they had left. Even if some of the students were excited about going to the second floor, the party knew they will need to have enough water and food to last them to come back. Nobody knew what the second floor of the Magic Dungeon was like. Narias, Growly, Flavia and Emilia had a quick peek at how the starting area of the second floor of the dungeon looked, but that was about it. They didn’t go deeper into the dungeon or encounter any monsters at that time.
“Well, are you all ready, little hatchlings?” Ranga Dreknor was ready to go himself.
“Yes, sir,” Narias answered for the whole group.
“Alright, lead the way,” the black tiger-looking teacher grinned at him, his sharp fangs flashing.
“Huh? Ah, right. Let’s go,” Narias was caught off guard by the teacher’s comment, but then remembered Instructor Dreknor was not here to lead the group.
The group descended down a path through a small corridor that opened up after the Fanged Whitemane Wolf was defeated. The corridor, or the tunnel, was rather narrow, letting only two people walk side by side at best. Interestingly enough, it was rather well lit up for people to see where they were going. At better inspection, you could see the walls were ‘decorated’ with the Light Crystals. The same Light Crystals the students got for themselves at the shop to make some light. Only the ones here provided much brighter light.
“Wow, so pretty,” Nicky couldn’t allow herself to miss being impressed by it.
“Are these the same Light Crystals we can get from the shop?” Vivia wondered.
“They definitely look the same,” Ileena commented, stopping and giving it a better look.
“They are the same. Or should I say, almost the same,” Instructor Dreknor told the students.
“Really? Wow. So, maybe we could take some with us on our way back?” The tiny girl flashed an idea.
“I won’t stop you, but that’d be a waste,” the teacher added, throwing one hand to the side.
“A waste?” Nicky tilted her head.
“Yeah. Let me show you,” instead of explaining it, Ranga pulled one crystal out, breaking it out of the wall. As soon as he did that, the crystal’s light dimmed until it completely died out.
“Huh? The light’s gone,” Nicky gasped.
“A crafter would need to imbue the crystal with light to make it useful. But they are cheap to get outside of the dungeon and cost less than a Magic Crystal you get from a level one monster. However, in here…” Ranga stuck the same crystal back into the wall, he had more than enough strength to do it, it started to shine bright, just like before. “… the Magic Dungeon imbues the crystals with magic energy to have it provide light.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” this time, Vivia gasped as well.
“Hmph. You’ll be seeing these a lot going forward,” the teacher grinned.
“You mean there will be more cave tunnels like this on the second floor, Instructor Dreknor?” Nicky was curious.
“I think you misunderstand, we are already on the second floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Ranga told the girls.
“What? Already?” Nicky suddenly exclaimed, throwing a glance around her.
“No need to panic, little one. This is only an intersection corridor, connecting the first and the second floors of the dungeon. We won’t encounter any monsters until we reach the entrance to the second floor,” the teacher noticed the worry in the tiny girl’s face.
“It’s alright Nicky, we’re safe here,” Emilia, who had passed the corridor once before, reassured her.
“Phew,” the girl felt relieved.
“We should be going probably. You wouldn’t want to be left behind now, would you?” The teacher told the girls, pointing at the three other students who seemed to be oblivious that half of their group stopped to do some sightseeing.
“Oh, ahm… Yes, we should go,” Ileena marched forward, stepping up her pace.
“Wait up, Ileena,” Nicky rushed after her.
The party descended down through a well-lit corridor. The path was going in a circle for about three floors down, not that anyone could tell how far they went, really. In a short while, the group was standing in front of an entrance to a big, spacious cave. The entrance was protected by a Magic Barrier, similar to the one at the dungeon’s first floor entrance.
“A Magic Barrier?” Nicky tilted her head to the side, feeling curious.
“You shouldn’t look so surprised, Nicky,” Ileena let out a disappointed sigh.
“But I’ve never been here before,” the tiny girl pouted her cheeks.
“But you should know every dungeon floor is protected by a Magic Barrier,” her friend adjusted her glasses.
“I do, but…” Nicky felt like making an argument, but she couldn’t think of any reasonable excuse.
“Well then, shall we go?” Narias turned to the rest of the party before following Growly and Flavia, who had already passed through the Magic Barrier.
“Wooow,” Nicky was overly impressed as she entered the first cave room on the second floor.
Other girls were gasping in amazement as well, even if some of them had seen it before. The cave was big and spacious, about the same size as the main cave on the first floor. Only this one was much brighter and had some plants growing inside of it. The walls were decorated with Light Crystals, providing light and making it as bright as a sun would in the middle of the day outside. The plants weren’t plentiful, but the buds and tiny bushes added a lively touch to the rocky walls. Those were not normal plants that you could see outside of the dungeon, however. Big and wide leaves extended over a meter in length, giving some shade underneath them.
“Welcome to the second floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Instructor Dreknor sounded like he was greeting the students to his own domain.
“Alright!” Flavia jumped, startling a few other girls in the process.
“You don’t have to be so loud about it, Flavia,” Ileena tried to pretend she was calm, but her act to adjust her glasses was just an excuse to not show how happy she was to reach the second floor of the Magic Dungeon herself.
“Wow, my heart is pounding really fast. You honestly can’t know how it feels until you actually come here,” Nicky wasn’t hiding how emotional she was.
“For sure. I can’t wait to fight some monsters. They should definitely drop bigger Magic Crystals than level one and level two monsters,” Flavia’s mind was still on the loot.
“Flavia,” her comment made even Emilia chuckle.
“Which way, Narias?” As impressed as Growly was, the furry bear boy was eager to start exploring.
“Ah, right…” Narias thought for a moment.
“Hey, hey. Shall we take that Zig-Zag route again?” Flavia’s comment was too obvious why she suggested it.
“I think… we should take the right path,” but Narias burst Flavia’s bubble by choosing the furthest right path out of the four available.
“You’re no fun, partner…” Flavia frowned, dropping her shoulders.
“Well…” he simply smiled at her.
I know Flavia wants to go for the boss monster on the second floor, but we have only so much food and water left with us. If we don’t find a Supply Point room with water in it within a couple of hours, we’ll have to turn back and go home. First and foremost, Narias was thinking about his party’s safety.
The group took the right path. It was lit in the same way the main room was. A few plants were growing here and there as they progressed. The tunnel was slightly bigger in size compared to the ones on the first floor, which gave enough room for three students to walk next to each other freely. The light provided enough brightness to see further in front of them as well. After a few minutes of peaceful strolling, Flavia gave the signal to stop, alerting everyone that something was up ahead. Fortunately, it was bright enough to see far ahead. The students could see a cave room opening further in the distance.
“Something is moving up ahead,” Flavia pointed with her finger.
“Is it coming this way?” Narias asked, squinting his eyes in order to see better.
“I don’t think so, but…” Flavia was trying to see better herself.
“What is that?” Nicky, who also couldn’t see what it was from where they were, was curious.
“A plant is moving?” Growly tilted his head to the side, more thinking out loud than asking a question.
“Let’s try to take a closer look, but quietly,” Narias suggested.
It definitely looked like a plant was walking back and forth from afar. The long leaves gave away a similar shape to the ones growing inside the tunnel and back in the main cave near the entrance. Curious to see what it was, the students tiptoed quietly to reach the ‘walking plant’. But before they could get any closer, the ‘plant’ stopped next to another plant and ‘planted’ itself on the ground, with the leaves covering whatever there was under it.
“It stopped,” Flavia pointed out the obvious.
“It looks like any other plant here. Was it really moving?” Nicky had her doubts now that they were closer.
“But I have certainly seen it move a moment ago,” Flavia whispered, feeling slightly annoyed.
Flavia is right. I noticed something moving from afar. It couldn’t have been our imagination. Narias was puzzled, but wasn’t about to dismiss Flavia’s insight. He was trying to see something inside the cave, which still was some distance away from where they were. He paused, trying to remember something. Suddenly, Narias dropped his backpack and sprung to his feet.
“Growly, defense,” Narias warned his friend.
“Huff,” Growly dropped his own backpack and was instantly ready for a fight.
“Huh? What? Where?” Flavia followed Growly’s example, but was yet to realize what was happening.
“Narias? Wait, does that mean…” Ileena picked up on what was happening.
“Yes, it’s the Shadeleaf Boar. Keep your distance,” Narias dished out some orders, readying to cast a spell. “Growly, Flavia, watch out for the adds. Here I go, Wind Blade.”
Narias cast his spell, curling the swing of his hand sidewise. The motion had his Wind Blade curve about thirty degrees horizontally, so it would hit wider to the sides. The spell flew at the bundled-up plants near the entrance of the cave. The reason Narias cast his spell this way was because he didn’t know which was the real plant and which was not.
That was a smart move on his part, because after the first few leaves were cut by the Wind Blade, the spell hit a hard surface, smashing itself against it. A loud squeak followed and a creature sprung to its feet, jumping out of the shade under the bush it was hiding.
“Wow, is that?” Nicky gasped in surprise.
“Be careful! Don’t let it charge us,” Narias warned everyone.
But it was a little too late. As soon as Narias’s Wind Blade hit the monster, it jumped to its feet and dashed forward, its face lowered and its horn pointed forward.
“I’ll take care of it,” Flavia rushed to intercept it. – ‘Swoosh!’ - “Wha… so fast!”
Flavia didn’t expect for the monster to gain so much speed the instant it started running.
“Why you… Hah… Take…” the bunny girl leaped to the side, so she could land a kick on the monster from the side. “Wha… woah!”
However, as short legs as the monster had, it quickly shifted its body to the side, avoiding Flavia’s kick, even if just barely, and kept charging forward.
“Lightning Strike,” Ileena was fast to cast her own spell. “What?”
It hit the monster, but it didn’t look like it did much. The creature was only slightly slowed for a second, but then picked up its speed right away. Another short moment and the monster would reach the rest of the group.
“Wind Bullet,” but Narias wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Icicle Shot,” with Emilia assisting him.
Narias spell hit the creature on its left front leg while Emilia’s spell landed a couple of feet in front of its path, freezing the ground right before the monster stepped on it. The spell combo worked. Narias’s spell interrupted monster’s charge, and the ice-covered ground made it slip, stumble and fall on its side. The boar-looking creature was kicking the air rapidly, its body sliding forward on the ice. That’s when Growly took action.
- ‘Slam!’ – the bear beast-boy didn’t hold back and smacked the monster with all of his might.
The creature was tossed towards the wall, its body rolling twice until it hit the hard surface. As hard as Growly had hit it, the monster wasn’t dead yet. As soon as it stopped rolling, the Shadeleaf Boar tried to pick itself up again.
“No, you DON’T!” – ‘BAM!’ – Flavia landed a powerful somersault kick from above. With how much intensity she put into it, it was clear the bunny girl had a grudge of sorts, probably because the Shadeleaf Boar ran past her a moment ago. The ground shook under the creature from the impact. She smirked right after. “Humph.”
Fortunately, Flavia’s kick was enough to finish the monster off. After its body became limp and motionless, the creature dissipated and vanished into the thin air, leaving nothing behind.
“Is everyone ok?” Narias was quick to ask, turning around to check.
“Yes,” the students confirmed everyone was fine.
“Careful, there might be more of them further ahead,” but it wasn’t time to relax just yet. Narias knew there could be more of them hiding.
“I don’t think there are any nearby,” Flavia informed after a short pause, trying to catch any sound close by.
“So, this was a single stray monster?” Emilia asked, not letting her guard down just yet herself.
“It would seem so,” Ileena said with a sharp look in her eyes.
“It didn’t drop a Magic Crystal. Bummer…” Flavia frowned.
“Wow, you took it down so fast, I couldn’t even react,” Nicky was complimenting her teammates.
“Shadowleaf Boars need to be taken down fast or else they can be hard to deal with,” Ileena commented.
“So, this was a Shadowleaf Boar? It looked… adorable and scary at the same time,” Vivia was somewhat complimenting the monster’s looks.
Shadowleaf Boar was one of the monsters that inhabited the second floor of the Magic Dungeon. They somewhat resembled a normal boar from Anthony’s world, but had other features that normal boars didn’t. First, they actually had leaves growing on top of their backs. The leaves resembled plants that were growing on the same floor, which served as a good disguise. But that wasn’t the only benefit it provided. The leaves offered some resistance against magic attacks too. That’s why when Ileena’s Lightning Strike hit the Shadowleaf Boar, it slowed down the monster just briefly, but didn’t do much damage to it. The leaves absorbed the damage, reducing the spell’s impact.
The Shadowleaf Boar also had a horn on its forehead, which it used to attack its enemies. It wasn’t that big, only a few inches in length, but in all fairness, that was more than enough to make the monster extremely dangerous. The reason being, the creature had an ability to develop a remarkably high speed in just a few seconds from the moment it started running. If anyone was to be hit by the Shadowleaf Boar at its full speed, their body would be tossed away like a pebble, and it would probably be lethal too.
“Well done. You’ve handled it well,” Ranga Dreknor complimented the students when it was confirmed no more monsters were around.
“The Shadowleaf Boar is much tougher than Fanged Wolves or Dungeon Crawlers,” Emilia had to admit.
“Tough body. One hit not enough,” Growly agreed with the Ice Princess, giving away he was somewhat excited about it too.
“I can’t believe it ignored me when I ran to meet it head on. Humph,” Flavia, on the other hand, expressed her frustration about what happened.
“Thank you for your assistance, Emilia. That was a well thought tactic,” Narias complimented her in the meantime.
“Thank you, Narias,” the Ice Princess caught a mild blush, feeling happy to hear her boyfriend’s compliment.
“Hey, I was the one who finished it off,” Flavia pouted her cheeks, feeling undervalued.
“That was an awesome somersault kick, Flavia. You’ve grown really strong,” Narias smiled at her.
“Thanks, partner,” which was more than enough to make the bunny girl grin happily.
“I…” Ileena wanted to say something as well, but she didn’t feel like she deserved a praise.
“I’m glad you slowed the Shadowleaf Boar down, Ileena. It gave us that extra second to cast our spells to trip the monster in time, so Growly could land a hit on it,” but Narias found a way to acknowledge Ileena’s efforts as well.
“Oh… that was… nothing. I… I’m glad I could help,” Ileena’s cheeks were burning red.
“Booh… Now I feel totally useless,” Nicky let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s do our best going forward,” Vivia encouraged both Nicky and herself, knowing she hadn’t contributed to the fight as well.
Niuniax
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Thank you for reading. Leave a comment and favorite the chapter if you enjoyed it. Apologies in advance if you find a weird sounding phrase or a grammar error. These are draft chapters after all.
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“I can’t believe we’re going to the second floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Nicky’s voice sounded excited.
“This is awesome. We’ll find so much more loot on the second floor,” Flavia was thinking about the possible treasure already.
“You need to remember, the monsters are much stronger on the second floor, Flavia,” Ileena reminded her, getting her backpack ready.
“We’ll just kick their butts just like we did to the Fanged Wolves and Dungeon Crawlers,” the excited bunny girl cheered, flexing her arm.
“You are really excited about it, aren’t you, Flavia?” Vivia had a smile on her face, but the girl didn’t look even half as excited as Flavia was.
“Hah…” Flavia simply grinned wider.
“Second floor. Cool,” Growly was packed and ready to go.
Wow. I almost can’t believe we’ll be going to the second floor of the Magic Dungeon. My body shivers with excitement, but at the same time, I know it will be much more dangerous. I’ll have to do my best. Narias was excited, but also concerned at the same time.
After everyone woke up, the students and the teacher had something to eat and then took stock of what supplies they had left. Even if some of the students were excited about going to the second floor, the party knew they will need to have enough water and food to last them to come back. Nobody knew what the second floor of the Magic Dungeon was like. Narias, Growly, Flavia and Emilia had a quick peek at how the starting area of the second floor of the dungeon looked, but that was about it. They didn’t go deeper into the dungeon or encounter any monsters at that time.
“Well, are you all ready, little hatchlings?” Ranga Dreknor was ready to go himself.
“Yes, sir,” Narias answered for the whole group.
“Alright, lead the way,” the black tiger-looking teacher grinned at him, his sharp fangs flashing.
“Huh? Ah, right. Let’s go,” Narias was caught off guard by the teacher’s comment, but then remembered Instructor Dreknor was not here to lead the group.
The group descended down a path through a small corridor that opened up after the Fanged Whitemane Wolf was defeated. The corridor, or the tunnel, was rather narrow, letting only two people walk side by side at best. Interestingly enough, it was rather well lit up for people to see where they were going. At better inspection, you could see the walls were ‘decorated’ with the Light Crystals. The same Light Crystals the students got for themselves at the shop to make some light. Only the ones here provided much brighter light.
“Wow, so pretty,” Nicky couldn’t allow herself to miss being impressed by it.
“Are these the same Light Crystals we can get from the shop?” Vivia wondered.
“They definitely look the same,” Ileena commented, stopping and giving it a better look.
“They are the same. Or should I say, almost the same,” Instructor Dreknor told the students.
“Really? Wow. So, maybe we could take some with us on our way back?” The tiny girl flashed an idea.
“I won’t stop you, but that’d be a waste,” the teacher added, throwing one hand to the side.
“A waste?” Nicky tilted her head.
“Yeah. Let me show you,” instead of explaining it, Ranga pulled one crystal out, breaking it out of the wall. As soon as he did that, the crystal’s light dimmed until it completely died out.
“Huh? The light’s gone,” Nicky gasped.
“A crafter would need to imbue the crystal with light to make it useful. But they are cheap to get outside of the dungeon and cost less than a Magic Crystal you get from a level one monster. However, in here…” Ranga stuck the same crystal back into the wall, he had more than enough strength to do it, it started to shine bright, just like before. “… the Magic Dungeon imbues the crystals with magic energy to have it provide light.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” this time, Vivia gasped as well.
“Hmph. You’ll be seeing these a lot going forward,” the teacher grinned.
“You mean there will be more cave tunnels like this on the second floor, Instructor Dreknor?” Nicky was curious.
“I think you misunderstand, we are already on the second floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Ranga told the girls.
“What? Already?” Nicky suddenly exclaimed, throwing a glance around her.
“No need to panic, little one. This is only an intersection corridor, connecting the first and the second floors of the dungeon. We won’t encounter any monsters until we reach the entrance to the second floor,” the teacher noticed the worry in the tiny girl’s face.
“It’s alright Nicky, we’re safe here,” Emilia, who had passed the corridor once before, reassured her.
“Phew,” the girl felt relieved.
“We should be going probably. You wouldn’t want to be left behind now, would you?” The teacher told the girls, pointing at the three other students who seemed to be oblivious that half of their group stopped to do some sightseeing.
“Oh, ahm… Yes, we should go,” Ileena marched forward, stepping up her pace.
“Wait up, Ileena,” Nicky rushed after her.
The party descended down through a well-lit corridor. The path was going in a circle for about three floors down, not that anyone could tell how far they went, really. In a short while, the group was standing in front of an entrance to a big, spacious cave. The entrance was protected by a Magic Barrier, similar to the one at the dungeon’s first floor entrance.
“A Magic Barrier?” Nicky tilted her head to the side, feeling curious.
“You shouldn’t look so surprised, Nicky,” Ileena let out a disappointed sigh.
“But I’ve never been here before,” the tiny girl pouted her cheeks.
“But you should know every dungeon floor is protected by a Magic Barrier,” her friend adjusted her glasses.
“I do, but…” Nicky felt like making an argument, but she couldn’t think of any reasonable excuse.
“Well then, shall we go?” Narias turned to the rest of the party before following Growly and Flavia, who had already passed through the Magic Barrier.
“Wooow,” Nicky was overly impressed as she entered the first cave room on the second floor.
Other girls were gasping in amazement as well, even if some of them had seen it before. The cave was big and spacious, about the same size as the main cave on the first floor. Only this one was much brighter and had some plants growing inside of it. The walls were decorated with Light Crystals, providing light and making it as bright as a sun would in the middle of the day outside. The plants weren’t plentiful, but the buds and tiny bushes added a lively touch to the rocky walls. Those were not normal plants that you could see outside of the dungeon, however. Big and wide leaves extended over a meter in length, giving some shade underneath them.
“Welcome to the second floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Instructor Dreknor sounded like he was greeting the students to his own domain.
“Alright!” Flavia jumped, startling a few other girls in the process.
“You don’t have to be so loud about it, Flavia,” Ileena tried to pretend she was calm, but her act to adjust her glasses was just an excuse to not show how happy she was to reach the second floor of the Magic Dungeon herself.
“Wow, my heart is pounding really fast. You honestly can’t know how it feels until you actually come here,” Nicky wasn’t hiding how emotional she was.
“For sure. I can’t wait to fight some monsters. They should definitely drop bigger Magic Crystals than level one and level two monsters,” Flavia’s mind was still on the loot.
“Flavia,” her comment made even Emilia chuckle.
“Which way, Narias?” As impressed as Growly was, the furry bear boy was eager to start exploring.
“Ah, right…” Narias thought for a moment.
“Hey, hey. Shall we take that Zig-Zag route again?” Flavia’s comment was too obvious why she suggested it.
“I think… we should take the right path,” but Narias burst Flavia’s bubble by choosing the furthest right path out of the four available.
“You’re no fun, partner…” Flavia frowned, dropping her shoulders.
“Well…” he simply smiled at her.
I know Flavia wants to go for the boss monster on the second floor, but we have only so much food and water left with us. If we don’t find a Supply Point room with water in it within a couple of hours, we’ll have to turn back and go home. First and foremost, Narias was thinking about his party’s safety.
The group took the right path. It was lit in the same way the main room was. A few plants were growing here and there as they progressed. The tunnel was slightly bigger in size compared to the ones on the first floor, which gave enough room for three students to walk next to each other freely. The light provided enough brightness to see further in front of them as well. After a few minutes of peaceful strolling, Flavia gave the signal to stop, alerting everyone that something was up ahead. Fortunately, it was bright enough to see far ahead. The students could see a cave room opening further in the distance.
“Something is moving up ahead,” Flavia pointed with her finger.
“Is it coming this way?” Narias asked, squinting his eyes in order to see better.
“I don’t think so, but…” Flavia was trying to see better herself.
“What is that?” Nicky, who also couldn’t see what it was from where they were, was curious.
“A plant is moving?” Growly tilted his head to the side, more thinking out loud than asking a question.
“Let’s try to take a closer look, but quietly,” Narias suggested.
It definitely looked like a plant was walking back and forth from afar. The long leaves gave away a similar shape to the ones growing inside the tunnel and back in the main cave near the entrance. Curious to see what it was, the students tiptoed quietly to reach the ‘walking plant’. But before they could get any closer, the ‘plant’ stopped next to another plant and ‘planted’ itself on the ground, with the leaves covering whatever there was under it.
“It stopped,” Flavia pointed out the obvious.
“It looks like any other plant here. Was it really moving?” Nicky had her doubts now that they were closer.
“But I have certainly seen it move a moment ago,” Flavia whispered, feeling slightly annoyed.
Flavia is right. I noticed something moving from afar. It couldn’t have been our imagination. Narias was puzzled, but wasn’t about to dismiss Flavia’s insight. He was trying to see something inside the cave, which still was some distance away from where they were. He paused, trying to remember something. Suddenly, Narias dropped his backpack and sprung to his feet.
“Growly, defense,” Narias warned his friend.
“Huff,” Growly dropped his own backpack and was instantly ready for a fight.
“Huh? What? Where?” Flavia followed Growly’s example, but was yet to realize what was happening.
“Narias? Wait, does that mean…” Ileena picked up on what was happening.
“Yes, it’s the Shadeleaf Boar. Keep your distance,” Narias dished out some orders, readying to cast a spell. “Growly, Flavia, watch out for the adds. Here I go, Wind Blade.”
Narias cast his spell, curling the swing of his hand sidewise. The motion had his Wind Blade curve about thirty degrees horizontally, so it would hit wider to the sides. The spell flew at the bundled-up plants near the entrance of the cave. The reason Narias cast his spell this way was because he didn’t know which was the real plant and which was not.
That was a smart move on his part, because after the first few leaves were cut by the Wind Blade, the spell hit a hard surface, smashing itself against it. A loud squeak followed and a creature sprung to its feet, jumping out of the shade under the bush it was hiding.
“Wow, is that?” Nicky gasped in surprise.
“Be careful! Don’t let it charge us,” Narias warned everyone.
But it was a little too late. As soon as Narias’s Wind Blade hit the monster, it jumped to its feet and dashed forward, its face lowered and its horn pointed forward.
“I’ll take care of it,” Flavia rushed to intercept it. – ‘Swoosh!’ - “Wha… so fast!”
Flavia didn’t expect for the monster to gain so much speed the instant it started running.
“Why you… Hah… Take…” the bunny girl leaped to the side, so she could land a kick on the monster from the side. “Wha… woah!”
However, as short legs as the monster had, it quickly shifted its body to the side, avoiding Flavia’s kick, even if just barely, and kept charging forward.
“Lightning Strike,” Ileena was fast to cast her own spell. “What?”
It hit the monster, but it didn’t look like it did much. The creature was only slightly slowed for a second, but then picked up its speed right away. Another short moment and the monster would reach the rest of the group.
“Wind Bullet,” but Narias wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Icicle Shot,” with Emilia assisting him.
Narias spell hit the creature on its left front leg while Emilia’s spell landed a couple of feet in front of its path, freezing the ground right before the monster stepped on it. The spell combo worked. Narias’s spell interrupted monster’s charge, and the ice-covered ground made it slip, stumble and fall on its side. The boar-looking creature was kicking the air rapidly, its body sliding forward on the ice. That’s when Growly took action.
- ‘Slam!’ – the bear beast-boy didn’t hold back and smacked the monster with all of his might.
The creature was tossed towards the wall, its body rolling twice until it hit the hard surface. As hard as Growly had hit it, the monster wasn’t dead yet. As soon as it stopped rolling, the Shadeleaf Boar tried to pick itself up again.
“No, you DON’T!” – ‘BAM!’ – Flavia landed a powerful somersault kick from above. With how much intensity she put into it, it was clear the bunny girl had a grudge of sorts, probably because the Shadeleaf Boar ran past her a moment ago. The ground shook under the creature from the impact. She smirked right after. “Humph.”
Fortunately, Flavia’s kick was enough to finish the monster off. After its body became limp and motionless, the creature dissipated and vanished into the thin air, leaving nothing behind.
“Is everyone ok?” Narias was quick to ask, turning around to check.
“Yes,” the students confirmed everyone was fine.
“Careful, there might be more of them further ahead,” but it wasn’t time to relax just yet. Narias knew there could be more of them hiding.
“I don’t think there are any nearby,” Flavia informed after a short pause, trying to catch any sound close by.
“So, this was a single stray monster?” Emilia asked, not letting her guard down just yet herself.
“It would seem so,” Ileena said with a sharp look in her eyes.
“It didn’t drop a Magic Crystal. Bummer…” Flavia frowned.
“Wow, you took it down so fast, I couldn’t even react,” Nicky was complimenting her teammates.
“Shadowleaf Boars need to be taken down fast or else they can be hard to deal with,” Ileena commented.
“So, this was a Shadowleaf Boar? It looked… adorable and scary at the same time,” Vivia was somewhat complimenting the monster’s looks.
Shadowleaf Boar was one of the monsters that inhabited the second floor of the Magic Dungeon. They somewhat resembled a normal boar from Anthony’s world, but had other features that normal boars didn’t. First, they actually had leaves growing on top of their backs. The leaves resembled plants that were growing on the same floor, which served as a good disguise. But that wasn’t the only benefit it provided. The leaves offered some resistance against magic attacks too. That’s why when Ileena’s Lightning Strike hit the Shadowleaf Boar, it slowed down the monster just briefly, but didn’t do much damage to it. The leaves absorbed the damage, reducing the spell’s impact.
The Shadowleaf Boar also had a horn on its forehead, which it used to attack its enemies. It wasn’t that big, only a few inches in length, but in all fairness, that was more than enough to make the monster extremely dangerous. The reason being, the creature had an ability to develop a remarkably high speed in just a few seconds from the moment it started running. If anyone was to be hit by the Shadowleaf Boar at its full speed, their body would be tossed away like a pebble, and it would probably be lethal too.
“Well done. You’ve handled it well,” Ranga Dreknor complimented the students when it was confirmed no more monsters were around.
“The Shadowleaf Boar is much tougher than Fanged Wolves or Dungeon Crawlers,” Emilia had to admit.
“Tough body. One hit not enough,” Growly agreed with the Ice Princess, giving away he was somewhat excited about it too.
“I can’t believe it ignored me when I ran to meet it head on. Humph,” Flavia, on the other hand, expressed her frustration about what happened.
“Thank you for your assistance, Emilia. That was a well thought tactic,” Narias complimented her in the meantime.
“Thank you, Narias,” the Ice Princess caught a mild blush, feeling happy to hear her boyfriend’s compliment.
“Hey, I was the one who finished it off,” Flavia pouted her cheeks, feeling undervalued.
“That was an awesome somersault kick, Flavia. You’ve grown really strong,” Narias smiled at her.
“Thanks, partner,” which was more than enough to make the bunny girl grin happily.
“I…” Ileena wanted to say something as well, but she didn’t feel like she deserved a praise.
“I’m glad you slowed the Shadowleaf Boar down, Ileena. It gave us that extra second to cast our spells to trip the monster in time, so Growly could land a hit on it,” but Narias found a way to acknowledge Ileena’s efforts as well.
“Oh… that was… nothing. I… I’m glad I could help,” Ileena’s cheeks were burning red.
“Booh… Now I feel totally useless,” Nicky let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s do our best going forward,” Vivia encouraged both Nicky and herself, knowing she hadn’t contributed to the fight as well.
Niuniax
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Thank you for reading. Leave a comment and favorite the chapter if you enjoyed it. Apologies in advance if you find a weird sounding phrase or a grammar error. These are draft chapters after all.
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Extra thanks to nonomo4 and Lynderyn for extra support and help.
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I have another series going. It’s an isekai dungeon exploration adventure with an added haremlit lewdness (just a tiny bit, though /evulgrin).
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