[Fur Boots] = 2 Wood (Any, 0.2-0.35m) + 2 Fur (Any, 0.5-0.6m) + 2 Fur (Any, 0.3-0.45m) + 8 Twine (0.2-0.3m) + [Workbench] (Any)
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Snap.
Jay collided with the stone wall and gasped, his fur leggings shattering against the weight of the minotaur’s fist. Before he could recover, a second punch sent him bounding into the other side.
He blinked through the shock as the club came straight for his face. With a jerk of his roundshield and a [Brace], he absorbed the blow head-on. But then the damage roiled through his arm despite the skill’s power, and the edges of his roundshield cracked, almost into nothing.
Jay’s eyes widened. From a single hit!?
Another attack came in, but he ducked low and [Dashed] before it could land. A fissure spread where the club struck the cairn’s floor.
Stupid, idiot minotaur, thinking that Jay used slow builds! Now, it was his turn to respond. He gripped his spear tight and [Thrust]. Blood sprouted free where the minotaur took the direct hit, but it otherwise remained unmoved.
Jay grimaced. That was the power of his +2 modifier combined with a full [Thrust], and had nearly felled a verdant wolf the night before in a single well-placed jab. But right here and now, this enemy barely flinched against his greatest attack.
The minotaur flexed its wrist and swung. Too slow. Jay [Dashed] again, bounding from one corner to the other where he’d be saf–
The club smashed down. Jay gasped as the shockwave sent a burning wave through his mortal coil, despite the +1 advantage on his full fur armor set.
Desperately, he tried to [Dash] out of the room, but the minotaur had blocked the entrance. With each attempt to escape, the minotaur swung a fist his way.
Snap.
His ears heard nothing but ringing as the blow reached his head, shattering the helmet into dust.
Jay blinked through blurring vision and groaned. This was bad. Very, very bad. He’d come down here on the assumption that the massive well of [Dashes] would be more than enough to escape any fight he could not handle, but stuck at the base of this dungeon, his one trump card became useless. There wasn’t enough room to use it effectively! That left him trapped. Like a mouse. A silly, small mouse. Squeak!
But maybe Jay could use this to his advantage too. Yeah, shrink down to the size of a mouse and power up to his final form…
Another heavy slam reverberated into the ground in front. Again, Jay barely escaped with a [Dash].
Horror gripped him as another epiphany came to mind. Ever since he’d stepped beyond the threshold of this cairn, that strange sense had once again grown in the back of his mind. One that he couldn’t place until this moment. He’d taken it for granted after topping off his Stats at the start of each day, but there was definitely one getting drained faster than normal inside this hellish tomb.
His sanity.
The minotaur barked more of its feral language, growling out some incomprehensible vitriol. It twirled its weapon in hand, ready to deliver the killing blow.
Jay laughed, embracing the madness of it all. If coming into this place had been a crazy plan, he would just have to double down to see it through, using pro gamer skills to surpass this overleveled foe!
He ditched his roundshield and focused entirely on attacking. With one [Thrust] after the next, his muscles suddenly strained as it launched a flurry of superpowered blows. Even when his skill energy well became expended, he refused to relent. As the spearhead pierced the flesh of his enemy, more blood exploded out. Just a little more, and he’d knock this fucker down!
The minotaur grabbed the edge of the spear. The two locked eyes as its biceps flexed.
Snap.
Jay watched without words as the best weapon he’d been able to craft disintegrated into the ether. His enemy remained undeterred, the wounds covering him still so very shallow.
The stone club swooped in for a wide arc. Jay reflexively [Dashed] backward. But the sheer force exuded from his enemy’s weapon was more than enough. Even as it failed to land, the aftershock cut through his damaged armor from head to toe.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
Jay fell to his knees and coughed up blood. Just like that, his entire armor set had been lost, along with the skills that came with it… How the hell was he going to beat this guy now!? His body was so weak. His gear was gone. And he didn’t know what to do…
The minotaur towered above. Its clawed hand wrapped around Jay’s delicate face as it raised him up. He gripped feebly to escape, but nothing could be down against this insurmountable force. Fangs like polished ivory spread wide as the monster grinned.
This was it. Jay had put himself into an unwinnable fight. By riding the high of a single boost, he’d become too bold, too arrogant, with no one to tell him to stop.
For all his thoughts of progressing in this game, he’d forgotten the most fundamental rules. Gear and levels determined power, and he had entered at the absolute bottom of the totem pole. There was no defeating a challenge of this magnitude. Not without first putting in the time to grind and prep. Now, he could do nothing but sit and stare and wait for the end to come.
Crimson eyes glared into his own. Watching him. Judging him. Making him feel so fucking weak and useless. As if he didn’t deserve this second chance after all…
Maybe it was the inescapable death, or the rising insanity, or the stress of knowing his life was about to end, down here in this dark hole… But Jay growled, teeth bared and pupils narrowed into the monster before him.
He wasn’t going to let it claim victory. He couldn’t!
You’ve still got some tools! Jay abandoned any attempt to escape and reached for his bone dart pouch. The minotaur’s eyes flicked down, and his free hand wrapped around Jay’s own before he could draw a single dart.
That left him far too distracted to stop what came next, as planned.
Jay reached into his backpack with his other hand, pulled the modern flare he’d looted, and smashed it against the minotaur’s hardened flesh. A sudden explosion of luminescence blazed into existence, blinding them both. Everything went from light to dark as his eyes struggled with such rapid stimulation.
But it worked. The fingers bounding him recoiled from the same shock, and Jay fell free. Before he could lose his chance, he bolted forth with all his strength, careening through the opening. His enemy’s painful grunts grew quieter as he raced down the hall.
It took a few moments for Jay to recover himself. The dizzying haze subsided faster than he would’ve thought, and the world grew back into focus. Though the cairn was still shrouded under its magical darkness, the marker torches still burned hot, guiding the way.
And Jay ran like his life depended on it. Around one corner, into the next, and onward. Though his limbs screamed with pain and his body was at its limit, he pushed himself forth.
He would not die. Not here. Not in this cold, dark place.
A roar echoed down the hall, freezing the blood in his veins. Within moments, the stomps began closing in.
Jay pushed forth. He still had time and space. So long as he kept moving, he’d break free.
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Could use information too, he considered. With this tiny pause in the fight, he ripped the Guide from its pouch and flipped to the Updates page. His eyes fell to the last entry.
Congratulations! You have encountered the Cairn Guardian. All hail the brilliant master of these sacred halls!
Who’s side are you on!? He quickly doubled back to the Lexicon.
Minotaur Brute (level 16) – A Guardian variant of the minotaurs commonly found within the Evershadow. This boss protects the base of some F-Rank Cairns.
Contains a monster core.
Research still available.
Great. No wonder his weapon could hardly make a dent. This beast was a full two infusion tiers above the best item he could craft. Coupled with what he’d seen from the strength of the silverback gorilla, he shouldn’t have been shocked to see such an insurmountable difference in power.
The horrifying roar of the minotaur grew closer still. Jay quickly thrust the Guide back into its pouch and launched forth. Even with all the agony flowing through his weakened limbs and divorced from the ability to [Dash], he still had the extra vitality from his superior diet and could keep this sprint going. It just had to be enough to reach the exit…
Jay could see it too. Though the magical darkness enveloped the stairs and his first torch had whisked out, he could see the bright light of a sunny day not far ahead. All he had to do was climb the stairs and break through.
The stomps grew louder and more intense behind. Jay’s heart raced, and the sweat spilled from his head as he pushed through this final hump. Jay did not need to turn to feel its overpowering aura getting close. Like the eyes of a predator watching him from nearby brush, the piercing threat of an impending death pressed ever tighter into his soul.
Adrenaline shot into overdrive as Jay pushed through this final hump. The pain numbed a beat, and the world grew back into clarity. He threw all his weight forth as he flew up the stairs, out of the threshold, and into the sunny day beyond. He did not allow himself to stop until he reached the nearest cluster of bushes, and even then, not by choice. His legs gave out the second he reached his destination.
Jay coughed more blood-laced bile as the fatigue hit him like a brick. But it was okay. Now that he’d escaped the dungeon, he was safe. Bosses never left their dungeons.
The minotaur brute burst through the opening and into the light of day with no shits to give for Jay or his video game theories.
His eyes widened as an imminent demise once again closed in… How the hell was he supposed to expect this to happen?
Crimson eyes glinted fury in the midday sun. The stone club rose up, ready to finish what had been started. Jay squirmed where he’d fallen and braced for impact.
Thunder roared. The minotaur suddenly gasped as a chunk of flesh exploded from its shoulder. Both Jay and his enemy turned to face their new challenger.
Another person stood at the cairn’s entrance, with a long cerulean cloak wrapped around a lithe form. Black hair fell over dark skin where the hood closed in, but the brow remained fixed against the monster between. A musket smoked in her gloved hands.
Is that a human woman? Jay blinked in astonishment. When was the last time he’d seen one of those!?
The minotaur gripped the wound it had sustained, just as trapped in confusion as him. The woman remained fixed, waiting without words.
With another curse in its guttural language, the minotaur rushed at her. Its club smashed into the puny creature in front.
…Only for the woman to vanish before it could land. Jay gaped as she appeared behind. Had she teleported or just moved too fast for him to see? Before the moment could be lost, she flicked up the barrel of her musket and shoved in a bundle of gunpowder and paper.
The minotaur spun into another devastating blow. An explosion of leaves and clay whipped into the air as its weapon struck the ground, forming a crater so large that it split a tree in half, even from over twenty feet away!
But the woman had once again evaded the attack, leaping well into the air. As her body twirled above, she calmly finished reloading her musket and landed behind the minotaur, well out of reach of its overwhelming strength. So much speed!
The minotaur kept up its offense, launching into another attack as his enemy found her landing. But before he could get near, the woman reached for her waist and ripped a tiny sealed jar from a satchel. She disappeared into a wall of smoke as the jar broke against the ground, only to reappear elsewhere a second later.
She fired another shot, viscera sprouting anew from the minotaur.
The dance continued for another long moment, but the victor was clear from the start. No matter how quickly the minotaur moved to counter, his enemy always remained out of reach, using a combination of smoke bombs and inhuman speed to keep a healthy distance. With each shot from her musket, her adversary grew weaker until its confident charge slackened into a stumble.
The minotaur finally fell to one knee, blood rolling out from a dozen open wounds, and red eyes struggling to stay open. It glared with contempt.
The woman casually strutted forth, placed the barrel of her musket between the eyes of her enemy, and pulled the trigger. A cloud of gore formed where its face had once been.
The minotaur dropped dead.
And Jay continued to sit and stare, unsure of what else to do. Was she part of the game too? Maybe. If Natura could send manifestations after him, then perhaps the voices that saved him could do the same.
Only one way to prove it. “Are you an NPC?” Jay asked.
Was that too direct? Or too subtle?
She turned to face him, her rage now redirected. All he could do was stand back up before she marched all the way over.
“What do you think you’re doing!?” she shouted, sending him down with a shove. “Who the hell tries to loot a cairn with nothing but basic bitch primal gear?”
He bared his teeth. “You didn’t answer my question.” He wasn’t about to get talked down to by an NPC, especially if this chick was supposed to be his companion for the rest of the quest.
“What do you think, asshole?”
He beamed, his confidence rising. “I think you’re being real defensive right now, Ms. NPC!” If they were supposed to win Annwyn together, she needed to know her place!
Her anger gave way to frustration as she suddenly rubbed her eyes. “You didn’t even think to fortify your sanity before going in, did you? Just walked into the darkness with nothing more than those torches you threw down. That about right?”
Jay paled, once again feeling the weight of that truth in the back of his mind. He quickly consulted the Guide. Sure enough, his sanity had dropped to the low fifties. This mechanic really sucks to deal with…
“Look, I’m sorry about that,” the woman continued. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen an Expat around this part of the island.” She held out a hand. “What’s your name?”
“Jay.” He winced as she picked him back up. “Jay Reis.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Naomi.”
With a brush of dust off his cargo shorts, he pulled out the waterskin attached to his belt loop, this one filled with lifeberry tea. As the elixir rolled down his throat, the cloud in his mind evaporated. He blushed a moment later, now realizing that with his armor all destroyed, he was barechested in the middle of a jungle, all while a grown woman stared on.
“Feeling better?” Naomi asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
He turned away, suddenly embarrassed. “Yeah, sorry. It’s been a long morning.” And it would get longer if he didn’t find something to cover himself with. He needed a distraction. “What did you say about ‘Expats’ and ‘primal’ gear?”
“It’s clear that you’ve just gotten here. Those shorts came from Earth, the bag you’re carrying is made from crude leather, and I’d recognize a flint spear anywhere.” She took a step forth. “How long has it been since your Expatriation?”
“What does that mean?”
“Your death.”
Jay cringed. He’d come to accept that his death was real, as was this second chance at life. But hearing the words out loud – from the first person he’d seen in just shy of a week – was almost more than he could bear.
He blinked back the tears before they could form.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. His head was still swimming.
“I see.” Naomi exhaled. “You still shouldn’t have raided a cairn. Not without better gear.”
“I understand that now. Thank you, by the way.” Jay grinned. “I guess the good news is that with the boss gone, I’m safe to get all the cores I lost down there.”
She shrugged. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, cowboy. You might have bumbled far enough in, but I murdered my share of spiders and slimes before I found you, and the cache was nowhere to be seen.”
“Cache? You mean the blue box with all the stuff in it?”
“Yeah.” Naomi tilted her head. “You managed to loot that box before the Guardian found you?”
“It came right after.” He rubbed his forehead. “Come to think of it, I guess I owe you for saving me. Would you like to see what I found?”
She grinned, the shadow suddenly falling over her face. “I wouldn’t mind having a look.”
“Of course!” Jay bent over and began digging into his backpack. “That’s the least I can do, though I’ve got to be careful. I lost just about everything against that minotaur, and this is the first time I’ve seen stuff that looks so modern or clean. By the way, could you give me a few pointers, Naomi? You seem to know what you’re doing, anyway…”
But when Jay looked back up, a fist flew for his face.