The cave room was in sight from where Narias’s dungeon exploration party was, so they pressed forward. The encounter with the Shadowleaf Boar stayed on everyone’s minds. What stuck to the students most was not how fast the monster could run, or even that the leaves on its back could protect it from magic attacks, but its hiding ability. The leaves it had were almost identical to the plants that grew on the second floor, which provided an ideal cover to hide in between them. Knowing that, Narias stopped his party just before entering the cave room in front of them.
“I can see three Shadowleaf Boars,” Flavia whispered, after taking a look around the cave.
“Yeah, but there could be more hiding around too,” Narias added, pointing to several places where the plants grew.
“It is not so rocky compared to the first floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Ileena made an observation.
“Do you think it is intentional, so the monsters have more space to run around?” Nicky touched her mouth with one finger.
“Most probably,” Ileena added.
“Ok, there’s only three Shadowleaf Boars in the cave, but there could be more,” Narias informed, others paying attention. “I think the best way to deal with them is to not allow them to charge at us full speed. We need to stick to the walls and close the distance between ourselves and the Shadowleaf Boars as fast as possible.”
“Yes, I think that would be the best way to do it,” Ileena agreed.
“Good plan,” Growly was getting ready.
“Alright, just give me the signal, partner,” Flavia stretched a little.
“Ok, let’s assign who attacks which monster. Flavia and I will take the one on the far right. Growly and Ileena, you take the middle one. Emilia, Nicky and Vivia, you take down the far left one.” Narias gave instructions.
“Ok,” everyone agreed.
“But wait until Flavia and I engage our target. The other two Shadowleaf Boars will either focus on us or run into hiding, which will make it easier for the rest of you to deal with them,” the group’s leader made another suggestion.
“That’s a very good idea. It’ll give us some time to cast our spells,” Emilia agreed.
“Ready? Let’s go,” Narias nodded at Flavia.
“Hayaaa!” That’s just what the excited bunny girl was waiting for.
Flavia leaped from the cover and dashed forward towards her assigned target. As it was to be expected, her presence alerted the other two Shadowleaf Boars in the cave. Instead of running to hide however, the other two monsters turned their attention to the bunny girl and charged forward. That’s exactly what the students where hoping will happen.
“Wind Bullet,” Narias shot his spell at his target, hitting the monster right under its nose and making it stumble.
with two additional leaps forward, Flavia quickly reduced the distance between herself and the monster, landing a powerful kick on its side. - ‘Kick! Smack!’ – The Shadowleaf Boar was kicked and thrown to the side on the ground.
At the same time, the rest of the group sprung into action as well. Emilia was quick to cast a spell to freeze the ground near the other two Shadowleaf Boars, however, one of them managed to run past it at the last second without slipping. The other one ran right on it, stumbling and tripping down under its own feet. It was the one that Emilia, Nicky and Vivia were assigned to take down too.
“Wind Slice, Aqua Surge,” Nicky and Vivia followed up with their spells right after.
The Shadowleaf Boar that escaped Emilia’s spell was charging right at Flavia who jumped in to finish off her own target. She could see the other monster running at her, but for some reason, ignored it.
“Flavia!” Narias shouted when the boar creature was only a few meters away from her. “Wind…”
- ‘Slam! Bam!’ – Narias was about to cast his Wind Shield spell to protect his bunny girlfriend when Growly popped out of his curled ball and slammed the monster flat with both of his paws.
“Thanks, Growly,” Flavia grinned, which gave Narias a hint she trusted Growly to intercept it.
“Flavia… Huh? Flavia, behind you!” Narias was about to shake his head, but then saw something which made him extremely worried.
“What? It’s not dead yet?” Flavia turned around to see if the Shadowleaf Boar she kicked was still alive, only to see another monster hanging midair, about to jump directly on her face. “Eek!”
“Wind Shied!” This time, Narias finished casting his Wind Shield to protect her.
He was just in time, because the fluffy looking monster, a size of a rabbit, sank its teeth in it. It bounced back instantly, pushing itself away with its paws from the still intact shield spell.
“Rhabitooth!” Narias yelled to inform everyone else.
That was a really bad timing, because the three Shadowleaf Boars were still alive.
“Dang it,” Flavia exclaimed, not knowing if she should go after the new monster or try to finish the Shadowleaf Boar off, which was about to charge at her again.
“Flavia! Growly! Take care of the Shadowleaf Boars!” Narias issued an order.
“Lighting Crush!” But Ileena beat him to it. She cast her strongest spell to finish the Shadowleaf Boar that Growly smacked earlier.
“Right. On it, partner,” Flavia jumped at her own target, seeing Ileena blowing away the other boar monster.
“Growly, the Rhabitooth!” Narias left his two girlfriends to deal with the Shadowleaf Boars.
“Huff,” Growly curled into a ball again and rolled after the fluffy monster.
Rhabitooth was a rabbit resembling monster. It was of a similar size, maybe slightly bigger, had grey fur, long ears and legs. But that was about it. Even if the Rhabitooth had long ears, they weren’t growing as straight as the ones that normal rabbit would have. The Rhabitooth ears were growing away from each other, giving an impression they were horns and not ears. The front two legs were longer too, almost the same length as its rear legs, helping it move around really fast. But the worse part about the monster was that it had big, sharp teeth and could open its mouth really wide. The creature’s bite was as strong as it was painful, able to tear flesh easily, making it a really dangerous monster.
“Ice Block,” in the meantime, Emilia was going on defense.
The three girls took care of the Shadowleaf Boar, but were attacked by a Rhabitooth soon after as well. The monster was fast on its feet and was able to jump far and high, avoiding the spells the girls were throwing at it. As nimble as the Rhabitooth was, and evading the spells thrown at it, the creature was also having a hard time reaching either of them. Emilia’s defenses were impenetrable, with Nicky and Vivia throwing spells at it to keep the monster at bay.
At the same time, Growly and Narias were engaging the first Rhabitooth. Narias cast his Wind Shield, so the monster wouldn’t reach his teammate with its jump. As soon as the fluffy creature bounced back, Growly jumped at it to give it a not so gentle slap. The bear boy missed his first attack, but when the scenario repeated itself, Growly adjusted his swing and landed a direct hit, blasting the Rhabitooth into the wall. His hit was strong enough to kill it too.
Wow, I never want to get slapped by Growly. Narias mind made a mental note to itself.
“Hah, too slow. Take… that!” Flavia jumped up to avoid the boar monster’s charge and then kicked it with her feet from above as she landed, flattening the Shadowleaf Boar to the ground. That was enough to finish the monster off as well, since she kicked it once before already. But Flavia wasn’t flexing as she used to in the past. Flavia had learned her lesson and stayed focused to continue the fight. “Ok, next.”
“Fire Ball,” after Growly slapped the first Rhabitooth, another one jumped out from under the plants further away. Narias was quick to cast a spell to not let the monster anywhere near his teammate. Unfortunately, the second Rhabitooth was quick on its feet. It jumped away, leaping towards the wall and away from the hot ball of fire.
“Lightning Blast,” right at about the same time, Ileena finished off the Shadowleaf Boar she had blown away with her Lightning Crush spell. Monsters on the second floor were much tougher than the level one and level two monsters on the first floor. One hit wasn’t enough to take them down, especially when they had resistance to magic attacks.
Ok, now that the Shadowleaf Boars are dealt with, all we have to do is kill the last two Rhabitooths. Narias threw a quick glance to see what was going on with the rest of his teammates, noting there was another one of those fluffy monsters where Emilia and the other girls were.
“Fire Ball,” he cast another of his fire spells, hoping it would hit the Rhabitooth this time.
Unfortunately, it didn’t. The fluffy monster probably knew instinctively that getting hit by fire wouldn’t end well for it, so the creature didn’t even try to get close to Narias as it avoided the spell. Instead, it leaped towards the wall, jumping down on the ground and then on the wall again. The Rhabitooth wasn’t simply on the run to evade Narias’s spells, it had chosen a new target and it wasn’t Growly either.
Damn, we’re spread out too much. It’s difficult to coordinate our attacks like that. Narias was trying to think of a tactic, but wasn’t sure who of his teammates to pick. Oh no, Flavia.
“Flavia! It’s coming your way!” Narias finally caught on with why the Rhabitooth was running away from him.
“I go,” Growly curled into the ball and rolled after the monster.
“I’ll help too,” Ileena was some distance away, but the Rhabitooth that went after Flavia was closer than the one the other three girls were engaged with, so she decided to join Narias.
“You’re really jumpy, aren’t you?” Flavia wasn’t intimidated by the jumpy monster. She was fast on her feet as well. The bunny girl jumped right at the Rhabitooth that was coming at her, throwing her left leg back to deliver a backward somersault kick from bellow. “Haah! Eh? Wha…”
Her backward somersault kick was perfectly executed, but Flavia didn’t hit the monster. Instead of jumping at Flavia, the Rhabitooth dove down from the wall with its last bounce, avoiding the hit completely. That was bad news for the bunny girl, because she was yet to land on her feet after her kick. The fluffy monster jumped from below, about to sink its teeth into Flavia’s thigh.
“Wind Shield,” but Narias wasn’t about to allow that to happen, being quick to protect his bunny girlfriends cute behind. The Rhabitooth was about to hit the Wind Shield when something totally unexpected happened.
“Ileena, watch out!” Nicky, as well as Emilia and Vivia, yelled their lungs out.
As soon as Narias, Growly and Ileena turned to go after the Rhabitooth that dashed towards Flavia, the other Rhabitooth left the other three girls be and rushed after Ileena instead. The girl with the orange-striped hair had her back turned to it and couldn’t see the fluffy monster coming at her. Having a hard time to get close to one of the three girls, the Rhabitooth quickly picked a new target when it saw the other students turn their backs to it. The worst part was, the monster was really fast and was able to reduce the distance between itself and Ileena with only a few jumps.
“What?” Ileena turned around after stopping, making it even easier for the Rhabitooth to reach her. “Lightning…”
She was about to cast a spell, but it was evident she won’t make it. The Rhabitooth was in the middle of its jump and would reach her before she finishes casting her spell.
Ileena, no! I have to… but Flavia. Narias focus was split in half. He wanted to cast his Wind Shield to protect Ileena, but if he was to do that, the Wind Shield that was intended to protect Flavia would disappear and his bunny girlfriend would get hurt instead.
“No! Wind Pressure Blast!” Narias didn’t remove his Wind Shield spell to protect Flavia, but chose to blast himself to where Ileena was. It all happened in a split second, almost instinctively even. Narias didn’t think, he reacted, wanting to protect both of his girlfriends.
“No… Wha…” Ileena covered her face, with the Rhabitooth being less than two feet away, its sharp teeth flashing in front of her eyes. Right then, Narias appeared in front of her, offering his arm to the monster to save his girlfriend. “What? Narias? NARIAS!” Ileena screamed in horror as the Rhabitooth’s teeth sank into her boyfriend’s wrist.
Narias slid a few feet forward due to his Wind Pressure Blast spell’s force, with the fluffy monster also hanging on his arm. The Rhabitooth kicked and plucked, trying to, what it looked like, rip a bite of Narias’s flesh away. Narias had his back facing Ileena, so she couldn’t see how badly injured her boyfriend was. Even so, Ileena’s face was so pale, she couldn’t look more horrified even if she was to see a real ghost. But the real confusion was that Narias wasn’t screaming from pain or anything like that. Instead, he raised his arm with the Rhabitooth still sticking on it and aimed his other hand’s palm in front of the monster’s face.
“Fire Blast,” a burst of fire shot out of his palm, blasting the fluffy creature away and burning it to crisps in the next second. All who saw it were stunned, not able to grasp what actually happened. Except Growly and Flavia. They cooperated to take down the Rhabitooth they were engaged with, and so didn’t see what was happening behind them. Narias then turned to Ileena to check if she was ok. “Ileena, are you ok? You weren’t hurt, were you?”
“Wha…” She stared at him without blinking, face still being as pale as a white sheet of paper. “What are you saying, Narias? Your arm! That Rhabitooth had bitten your arm and yet you…”
“Oh, yeah, it did, but…” Narias raised his arm to show that his wrist was totally fine. “Apparently, it wasn’t strong enough to bite through my Whitemane bracer armor.”
“Your… Whitemane bracers?” Ileena was still in shock.
“Yes. They are really amazing.” Narias smiled.
“You… that was reckless! Why would you do that?” Ileena jumped on his neck, tears running down her cheeks. “I… I’m so glad the Whitemane Leather Armor protected you. If it wasn’t for your armor…”
“What are you talking about?” Narias hugged her back. “I would’ve done the same thing even if I didn’t have this armor on me. I would never allow you to get hurt, Ileena.”
“You…” Ileena hugged him tighter, her face changing from white to normal, to cherry red color. “Thank you, Narias. I… I…” She whispered the last words into his ear.
“Ah… Ileena?” Narias’s face, as well as his ears became steaming red. “I…”
“Narias! Are you- Oh…” Emilia rushed to his side, interrupting whatever Narias was about to say back to Ileena, but then stopped seeing both of them were ok. The Ice Princess brushed her snow-white hair to the side, catching a mild flush as she noticed how tightly Ileena was hugging Narias. “I guess… you’re ok.”
“Hey, hey, what happened? Huh? Oh, shucks… she always manages to get ahead of me,” Flavia appeared, wanting to know what had happened, but then frowned, pursing her lips after seeing the scene.
“No more monsters on this side,” Growly informed, coming closer.
“Oh, that’s right. I don’t think there are any more monsters left on that side of the cave either,” Nicky realized she should let everyone know that as well.
“You’re really something else, I tell you. That was definitely reckless, but I assume you knew your armor would protect you? Grrr…” Ranga came to talk to the students, throwing a few glares around to make sure the cave had no more monsters around.
“Not really,” Narias said after Ileena had finally let him go. “I wasn’t thinking about anything else other than protecting Ileena.”
His words splashed some extra redness on his girlfriend’s cheeks.
“Really?” The teacher raised an eyebrow, then showed a brief, satisfied grin. “Well, well…”
“Is everyone ok? Did anyone get hurt?” Narias used the moment of silence to ask his teammates if they were ok. All of them confirmed they weren’t hurt, allowing Narias to let out a sigh of relief. “Great. Let’s check if the monsters dropped anything.”
“On it,” Flavia sprung to her feet in an instant.
The rest of the students followed. Growly went to look around the cave in hopes of finding some other treasure, leaving the Magic Crystal hunt to the rest of his teammates. The party was lucky this time. They have found two Magic Crystals that the monsters dropped. Those were dropped by the level-three monsters, so were slightly bigger than the previous ones they had found on the first floor. Growly was in even bigger luck. The blacksmith’s apprentice found a Soft Steel Ore deposit and managed to obtain two small chunks of ore out of it.
“Way to go, Growly,” Flavia was extra happy about it. After the treasure hunt was over, the party gathered to have a short rest. The excited bunny girl couldn’t sit still, however. “So, which path will we take next, Narias?”
“I think… we should turn back and go home,” his answer surprised even Instructor Dreknor.
“What? Why?” Flavia exclaimed, definitely not expecting him to say that. The others had equally puzzled looks on their faces.
“Well…” Narias scratched his cheek, gathering his thoughts how to explain his decision.
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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The cave room was in sight from where Narias’s dungeon exploration party was, so they pressed forward. The encounter with the Shadowleaf Boar stayed on everyone’s minds. What stuck to the students most was not how fast the monster could run, or even that the leaves on its back could protect it from magic attacks, but its hiding ability. The leaves it had were almost identical to the plants that grew on the second floor, which provided an ideal cover to hide in between them. Knowing that, Narias stopped his party just before entering the cave room in front of them.
“I can see three Shadowleaf Boars,” Flavia whispered, after taking a look around the cave.
“Yeah, but there could be more hiding around too,” Narias added, pointing to several places where the plants grew.
“It is not so rocky compared to the first floor of the Magic Dungeon,” Ileena made an observation.
“Do you think it is intentional, so the monsters have more space to run around?” Nicky touched her mouth with one finger.
“Most probably,” Ileena added.
“Ok, there’s only three Shadowleaf Boars in the cave, but there could be more,” Narias informed, others paying attention. “I think the best way to deal with them is to not allow them to charge at us full speed. We need to stick to the walls and close the distance between ourselves and the Shadowleaf Boars as fast as possible.”
“Yes, I think that would be the best way to do it,” Ileena agreed.
“Good plan,” Growly was getting ready.
“Alright, just give me the signal, partner,” Flavia stretched a little.
“Ok, let’s assign who attacks which monster. Flavia and I will take the one on the far right. Growly and Ileena, you take the middle one. Emilia, Nicky and Vivia, you take down the far left one.” Narias gave instructions.
“Ok,” everyone agreed.
“But wait until Flavia and I engage our target. The other two Shadowleaf Boars will either focus on us or run into hiding, which will make it easier for the rest of you to deal with them,” the group’s leader made another suggestion.
“That’s a very good idea. It’ll give us some time to cast our spells,” Emilia agreed.
“Ready? Let’s go,” Narias nodded at Flavia.
“Hayaaa!” That’s just what the excited bunny girl was waiting for.
Flavia leaped from the cover and dashed forward towards her assigned target. As it was to be expected, her presence alerted the other two Shadowleaf Boars in the cave. Instead of running to hide however, the other two monsters turned their attention to the bunny girl and charged forward. That’s exactly what the students where hoping will happen.
“Wind Bullet,” Narias shot his spell at his target, hitting the monster right under its nose and making it stumble.
with two additional leaps forward, Flavia quickly reduced the distance between herself and the monster, landing a powerful kick on its side. - ‘Kick! Smack!’ – The Shadowleaf Boar was kicked and thrown to the side on the ground.
At the same time, the rest of the group sprung into action as well. Emilia was quick to cast a spell to freeze the ground near the other two Shadowleaf Boars, however, one of them managed to run past it at the last second without slipping. The other one ran right on it, stumbling and tripping down under its own feet. It was the one that Emilia, Nicky and Vivia were assigned to take down too.
“Wind Slice, Aqua Surge,” Nicky and Vivia followed up with their spells right after.
The Shadowleaf Boar that escaped Emilia’s spell was charging right at Flavia who jumped in to finish off her own target. She could see the other monster running at her, but for some reason, ignored it.
“Flavia!” Narias shouted when the boar creature was only a few meters away from her. “Wind…”
- ‘Slam! Bam!’ – Narias was about to cast his Wind Shield spell to protect his bunny girlfriend when Growly popped out of his curled ball and slammed the monster flat with both of his paws.
“Thanks, Growly,” Flavia grinned, which gave Narias a hint she trusted Growly to intercept it.
“Flavia… Huh? Flavia, behind you!” Narias was about to shake his head, but then saw something which made him extremely worried.
“What? It’s not dead yet?” Flavia turned around to see if the Shadowleaf Boar she kicked was still alive, only to see another monster hanging midair, about to jump directly on her face. “Eek!”
“Wind Shied!” This time, Narias finished casting his Wind Shield to protect her.
He was just in time, because the fluffy looking monster, a size of a rabbit, sank its teeth in it. It bounced back instantly, pushing itself away with its paws from the still intact shield spell.
“Rhabitooth!” Narias yelled to inform everyone else.
That was a really bad timing, because the three Shadowleaf Boars were still alive.
“Dang it,” Flavia exclaimed, not knowing if she should go after the new monster or try to finish the Shadowleaf Boar off, which was about to charge at her again.
“Flavia! Growly! Take care of the Shadowleaf Boars!” Narias issued an order.
“Lighting Crush!” But Ileena beat him to it. She cast her strongest spell to finish the Shadowleaf Boar that Growly smacked earlier.
“Right. On it, partner,” Flavia jumped at her own target, seeing Ileena blowing away the other boar monster.
“Growly, the Rhabitooth!” Narias left his two girlfriends to deal with the Shadowleaf Boars.
“Huff,” Growly curled into a ball again and rolled after the fluffy monster.
Rhabitooth was a rabbit resembling monster. It was of a similar size, maybe slightly bigger, had grey fur, long ears and legs. But that was about it. Even if the Rhabitooth had long ears, they weren’t growing as straight as the ones that normal rabbit would have. The Rhabitooth ears were growing away from each other, giving an impression they were horns and not ears. The front two legs were longer too, almost the same length as its rear legs, helping it move around really fast. But the worse part about the monster was that it had big, sharp teeth and could open its mouth really wide. The creature’s bite was as strong as it was painful, able to tear flesh easily, making it a really dangerous monster.
“Ice Block,” in the meantime, Emilia was going on defense.
The three girls took care of the Shadowleaf Boar, but were attacked by a Rhabitooth soon after as well. The monster was fast on its feet and was able to jump far and high, avoiding the spells the girls were throwing at it. As nimble as the Rhabitooth was, and evading the spells thrown at it, the creature was also having a hard time reaching either of them. Emilia’s defenses were impenetrable, with Nicky and Vivia throwing spells at it to keep the monster at bay.
At the same time, Growly and Narias were engaging the first Rhabitooth. Narias cast his Wind Shield, so the monster wouldn’t reach his teammate with its jump. As soon as the fluffy creature bounced back, Growly jumped at it to give it a not so gentle slap. The bear boy missed his first attack, but when the scenario repeated itself, Growly adjusted his swing and landed a direct hit, blasting the Rhabitooth into the wall. His hit was strong enough to kill it too.
Wow, I never want to get slapped by Growly. Narias mind made a mental note to itself.
“Hah, too slow. Take… that!” Flavia jumped up to avoid the boar monster’s charge and then kicked it with her feet from above as she landed, flattening the Shadowleaf Boar to the ground. That was enough to finish the monster off as well, since she kicked it once before already. But Flavia wasn’t flexing as she used to in the past. Flavia had learned her lesson and stayed focused to continue the fight. “Ok, next.”
“Fire Ball,” after Growly slapped the first Rhabitooth, another one jumped out from under the plants further away. Narias was quick to cast a spell to not let the monster anywhere near his teammate. Unfortunately, the second Rhabitooth was quick on its feet. It jumped away, leaping towards the wall and away from the hot ball of fire.
“Lightning Blast,” right at about the same time, Ileena finished off the Shadowleaf Boar she had blown away with her Lightning Crush spell. Monsters on the second floor were much tougher than the level one and level two monsters on the first floor. One hit wasn’t enough to take them down, especially when they had resistance to magic attacks.
Ok, now that the Shadowleaf Boars are dealt with, all we have to do is kill the last two Rhabitooths. Narias threw a quick glance to see what was going on with the rest of his teammates, noting there was another one of those fluffy monsters where Emilia and the other girls were.
“Fire Ball,” he cast another of his fire spells, hoping it would hit the Rhabitooth this time.
Unfortunately, it didn’t. The fluffy monster probably knew instinctively that getting hit by fire wouldn’t end well for it, so the creature didn’t even try to get close to Narias as it avoided the spell. Instead, it leaped towards the wall, jumping down on the ground and then on the wall again. The Rhabitooth wasn’t simply on the run to evade Narias’s spells, it had chosen a new target and it wasn’t Growly either.
Damn, we’re spread out too much. It’s difficult to coordinate our attacks like that. Narias was trying to think of a tactic, but wasn’t sure who of his teammates to pick. Oh no, Flavia.
“Flavia! It’s coming your way!” Narias finally caught on with why the Rhabitooth was running away from him.
“I go,” Growly curled into the ball and rolled after the monster.
“I’ll help too,” Ileena was some distance away, but the Rhabitooth that went after Flavia was closer than the one the other three girls were engaged with, so she decided to join Narias.
“You’re really jumpy, aren’t you?” Flavia wasn’t intimidated by the jumpy monster. She was fast on her feet as well. The bunny girl jumped right at the Rhabitooth that was coming at her, throwing her left leg back to deliver a backward somersault kick from bellow. “Haah! Eh? Wha…”
Her backward somersault kick was perfectly executed, but Flavia didn’t hit the monster. Instead of jumping at Flavia, the Rhabitooth dove down from the wall with its last bounce, avoiding the hit completely. That was bad news for the bunny girl, because she was yet to land on her feet after her kick. The fluffy monster jumped from below, about to sink its teeth into Flavia’s thigh.
“Wind Shield,” but Narias wasn’t about to allow that to happen, being quick to protect his bunny girlfriends cute behind. The Rhabitooth was about to hit the Wind Shield when something totally unexpected happened.
“Ileena, watch out!” Nicky, as well as Emilia and Vivia, yelled their lungs out.
As soon as Narias, Growly and Ileena turned to go after the Rhabitooth that dashed towards Flavia, the other Rhabitooth left the other three girls be and rushed after Ileena instead. The girl with the orange-striped hair had her back turned to it and couldn’t see the fluffy monster coming at her. Having a hard time to get close to one of the three girls, the Rhabitooth quickly picked a new target when it saw the other students turn their backs to it. The worst part was, the monster was really fast and was able to reduce the distance between itself and Ileena with only a few jumps.
“What?” Ileena turned around after stopping, making it even easier for the Rhabitooth to reach her. “Lightning…”
She was about to cast a spell, but it was evident she won’t make it. The Rhabitooth was in the middle of its jump and would reach her before she finishes casting her spell.
Ileena, no! I have to… but Flavia. Narias focus was split in half. He wanted to cast his Wind Shield to protect Ileena, but if he was to do that, the Wind Shield that was intended to protect Flavia would disappear and his bunny girlfriend would get hurt instead.
“No! Wind Pressure Blast!” Narias didn’t remove his Wind Shield spell to protect Flavia, but chose to blast himself to where Ileena was. It all happened in a split second, almost instinctively even. Narias didn’t think, he reacted, wanting to protect both of his girlfriends.
“No… Wha…” Ileena covered her face, with the Rhabitooth being less than two feet away, its sharp teeth flashing in front of her eyes. Right then, Narias appeared in front of her, offering his arm to the monster to save his girlfriend. “What? Narias? NARIAS!” Ileena screamed in horror as the Rhabitooth’s teeth sank into her boyfriend’s wrist.
Narias slid a few feet forward due to his Wind Pressure Blast spell’s force, with the fluffy monster also hanging on his arm. The Rhabitooth kicked and plucked, trying to, what it looked like, rip a bite of Narias’s flesh away. Narias had his back facing Ileena, so she couldn’t see how badly injured her boyfriend was. Even so, Ileena’s face was so pale, she couldn’t look more horrified even if she was to see a real ghost. But the real confusion was that Narias wasn’t screaming from pain or anything like that. Instead, he raised his arm with the Rhabitooth still sticking on it and aimed his other hand’s palm in front of the monster’s face.
“Fire Blast,” a burst of fire shot out of his palm, blasting the fluffy creature away and burning it to crisps in the next second. All who saw it were stunned, not able to grasp what actually happened. Except Growly and Flavia. They cooperated to take down the Rhabitooth they were engaged with, and so didn’t see what was happening behind them. Narias then turned to Ileena to check if she was ok. “Ileena, are you ok? You weren’t hurt, were you?”
“Wha…” She stared at him without blinking, face still being as pale as a white sheet of paper. “What are you saying, Narias? Your arm! That Rhabitooth had bitten your arm and yet you…”
“Oh, yeah, it did, but…” Narias raised his arm to show that his wrist was totally fine. “Apparently, it wasn’t strong enough to bite through my Whitemane bracer armor.”
“Your… Whitemane bracers?” Ileena was still in shock.
“Yes. They are really amazing.” Narias smiled.
“You… that was reckless! Why would you do that?” Ileena jumped on his neck, tears running down her cheeks. “I… I’m so glad the Whitemane Leather Armor protected you. If it wasn’t for your armor…”
“What are you talking about?” Narias hugged her back. “I would’ve done the same thing even if I didn’t have this armor on me. I would never allow you to get hurt, Ileena.”
“You…” Ileena hugged him tighter, her face changing from white to normal, to cherry red color. “Thank you, Narias. I… I…” She whispered the last words into his ear.
“Ah… Ileena?” Narias’s face, as well as his ears became steaming red. “I…”
“Narias! Are you- Oh…” Emilia rushed to his side, interrupting whatever Narias was about to say back to Ileena, but then stopped seeing both of them were ok. The Ice Princess brushed her snow-white hair to the side, catching a mild flush as she noticed how tightly Ileena was hugging Narias. “I guess… you’re ok.”
“Hey, hey, what happened? Huh? Oh, shucks… she always manages to get ahead of me,” Flavia appeared, wanting to know what had happened, but then frowned, pursing her lips after seeing the scene.
“No more monsters on this side,” Growly informed, coming closer.
“Oh, that’s right. I don’t think there are any more monsters left on that side of the cave either,” Nicky realized she should let everyone know that as well.
“You’re really something else, I tell you. That was definitely reckless, but I assume you knew your armor would protect you? Grrr…” Ranga came to talk to the students, throwing a few glares around to make sure the cave had no more monsters around.
“Not really,” Narias said after Ileena had finally let him go. “I wasn’t thinking about anything else other than protecting Ileena.”
His words splashed some extra redness on his girlfriend’s cheeks.
“Really?” The teacher raised an eyebrow, then showed a brief, satisfied grin. “Well, well…”
“Is everyone ok? Did anyone get hurt?” Narias used the moment of silence to ask his teammates if they were ok. All of them confirmed they weren’t hurt, allowing Narias to let out a sigh of relief. “Great. Let’s check if the monsters dropped anything.”
“On it,” Flavia sprung to her feet in an instant.
The rest of the students followed. Growly went to look around the cave in hopes of finding some other treasure, leaving the Magic Crystal hunt to the rest of his teammates. The party was lucky this time. They have found two Magic Crystals that the monsters dropped. Those were dropped by the level-three monsters, so were slightly bigger than the previous ones they had found on the first floor. Growly was in even bigger luck. The blacksmith’s apprentice found a Soft Steel Ore deposit and managed to obtain two small chunks of ore out of it.
“Way to go, Growly,” Flavia was extra happy about it. After the treasure hunt was over, the party gathered to have a short rest. The excited bunny girl couldn’t sit still, however. “So, which path will we take next, Narias?”
“I think… we should turn back and go home,” his answer surprised even Instructor Dreknor.
“What? Why?” Flavia exclaimed, definitely not expecting him to say that. The others had equally puzzled looks on their faces.
“Well…” Narias scratched his cheek, gathering his thoughts how to explain his decision.
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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