"Jura, shield her!" Zion's voice cut through the chaos, urgency lacing his words. He pivoted, deftly avoiding a set of scythes that swept dangerously close, then countered with a vicious slash of his own, Onyx cleaving through the air. With a well-placed kick, he forced the mantis back, creating a brief respite.
Meanwhile, Jura unleashed a flurry of strikes on his opponent, reducing it to nothing more than a discarded husk. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a shimmering barrier of golden light around Beth, just in time to deflect a lunging attack from one of the smaller bugs. Seizing the opportunity, Beth retaliated, hurling a blast of ice at the creature's exposed face, sending it crashing to the ground.
With Beth protected once more, Zion surged forward, his blade leaving a trail of green innards in its wake as he carved through the swarm of bugs. Across the battlefield, Camila effortlessly dispatched her foes with phantom spears, her movements precise and deadly. Meanwhile, Jura remained vigilant, steadfast in his role as Beth's guardian.
This skirmish marked their third encounter since descending to this floor. Each battle had been against various insectoid mobs—spiders, beetles, and now mantises. Strangely, despite their larger-than-normal size, these creatures posed little challenge, prompting a sense of unease in Jura., that he had been very vocal about.
With a final deft swipe of Onyx, Zion cleaved the last mantis, watching it fall to the ground with the rest of its kind. The downside to bug mobs was they always came in large quantities, meaning this room was now filled with lifeless bodies, and they had no way to dispose of so many.
"This is officially the worst place in history," Beth's voice was tinged with disgust as she brushed aside the remnants of the fallen creatures. "Let's finish up here and move on. Straight to the next level. Who's with me?"
Jura's response was dry, his gaze fixed on the carnage before them. "Nobody wants to linger with these pests, not even a dwarf like me. And I come from a lineage accustomed to living in dirt clods."
"Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon," Camila reassured, counting the hours on her fingers. "It's been what, three hours since we descended?"
Zion nodded in agreement, though inwardly, he wished they had brought a timepiece. Jura, however, seemed more preoccupied with his own concerns.
“What did I say about saying it so clearly out loud, Camila!” Jura shouted, groaning in annoyance. She wavered under his angry glare. “Now the deities are gonna punish us for hubris!”
The group started walking, listening to the complaints and mumbles coming from Jura’s mouth. He had been like this since the second battle, only telling them he was worried about the quality of mobs and not to speak on it more. Zion wasn't sure why he was worried. They should be happy that it was going so well.
“Now that the cat has been squished,” Jura started.
“You mean now that the cat is out of the bag?” Beth interrupted, her eyebrow-raising at his phrase.
“No, Beth, I meant now that the cat has been squished because your sister didn’t just let it out of the bag; she jumped on it,” he emphasized, to everyone's discomfort. Not a scene any of them had wanted to imagine.
He kept going, ignoring the looks of disgust that they were all sharing. “Now that it's out there, I’ll be frank. Most likely, the boss of this floor is going to be insanely difficult. Normally, you want a balanced floor, resulting in a decently stronger boss. Weak mobs like this usually result in a much greater threat, usually one that is above the delvers' skill level.”
They entered the next section of the dungeon while listening, ears open to his words but eyes scanning every crevice as they moved forward. Zion still felt that Jura might be overreacting. Even if they did face a stronger boss, he had faith that they would make it through. He just needed to be more hopeful.
"Mark my words, we'll have hell to pay for our pride," Jura grumbled, dragging Bonemeal behind him like a toddler clutching their blanket. The trio humored the old dwarf, knowing that his grumpiness was just a passing phase. They had come to realize that beneath his gruff exterior, Jura was a man of wisdom and experience.
The layout of this floor diverged drastically from their previous encounters. Instead of crumbling castle walls, the corridors resembled the intricate tunnels of an ant hill. Dirt and clay formed the walls and floors, casting an oppressive atmosphere over the entire level, as if the very earth itself threatened to collapse upon them.
Navigating through this labyrinth proved to be a daunting task. Instead of straightforward halls or intersections, they faced an intricate network of branching tunnels that seemed to stretch endlessly. Some rooms boasted as many as six tunnels, while others offered only two. Complicating matters further, not every tunnel led to a room; some terminated abruptly at dead ends. As a result, they found themselves wandering aimlessly for hours, backtracking at least forty times or more. Frustration gnawed at Zion, who entertained the idea of resorting to drastic measures like caving in walls to hasten their escape from this level.
Their luck changed when they stumbled upon a sizable chamber. Unlike the cramped tunnels, this chamber soared to a height of thirty feet, offering ample space for movement. However, their relief was short-lived as they noticed distinct differences. Each of the three paths branching off from the chamber was as tall as the chamber itself, with symbols adorning the crest of each doorway, shrouding their surroundings in mystery. Thin barriers covered the doors, hinting at unseen dangers beyond.
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Zion was genuinely curious. This chamber presented the most distinctive features they had encountered in the dungeon thus far, surpassing even the peculiarities of the first floor. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the symbols above each door corresponded to the types of mobs they had encountered: a spider, a beetle, and a mantis, respectively.
"Damnit!" Jura's scream echoed through the chamber, punctuated by the solid slams of his sword into the earthy ground. "Of all the blasted things to pull! Oh, your fate is a cruel mistress!"
Zion was taken aback by the intensity of Jura's anger. While they all experienced moments of frustration, Jura seemed to be boiling with rage. His demeanor was far from the usual grumbling; it hinted at a genuine attempt to break down the floor with sheer force.
"Jura, settle down! What's wrong?" Zion yelled, trying to calm the furious dwarf. But his attempt at diplomacy earned him a sharp kick to the shin, sending him hopping in pain.
"What the fuck, Jura!" Camila cursed, shoving the dwarf onto his back. "Calm down and tell us what's going on!"
Jura pointed accusingly at the doorways, his hand trembling with fury. "Those doorways mean one thing and one thing only: a tri-boss floor. Do you have any idea what that means?"
Exchanging puzzled glances, Zion and Camila struggled to comprehend the situation. It was Beth who pieced it together. "It means three bosses," she murmured.
"Exactly! At least someone paid attention in school!" Jura retorted, his frustration evident as he let himself fall backward.
Zion, the pain in his leg subsiding, frowned in confusion. "So what? We just have to beat two extra bosses. It might take a bit longer, but why does that upset you so much, Jura?"
"No, Zion, we can't," Beth mouthed, her eyes locked on the doorways, her knuckles white as she gripped her bow tightly.
Zion furrowed his brow, confusion evident in his expression. "Can't what?" he whispered, his voice barely audible over the tension in the chamber.
"We can't just take time between bosses," Beth clarified, her voice tense. She finally looked at him and Camila, her eyes wide with concern. Despite the respite from battle, sweat glistened on her brow. "A tri-boss floor means we have to defeat all three bosses simultaneously. Each doorway must be entered together, and we can only leave once all three foes are dead."
The sentence hit like an earthquake, wreaking havoc on their resolve. Camila's jaw dropped, and Zion's face tightened in disbelief. "No, not happening. If that's the case, we're marching right back and leaving. We are not doing this," he declared, his eyes brimming with determination.
"We can't do that, Zion. You know this," came the tired words from Jura. "We can't just leave this sphere to its fate when we have the chance to make a difference. That's the job of an adventurer."
"It's not my duty to see anyone here die, Jura!" Zion raged, his anger boiling over at the dwarf's expectation for them to continue. How could Jura expect them to be okay with the possibility of all of them dying to fix the problems caused by the Deities? No way in hell!
He felt a hug from behind, Beth's hands wrapping snugly around his stomach. She rested her head on his back, her voice soothing. "Shush, everything will be okay, Zion." Her words were soft, like the silk of a sheet, and he felt his eyes grow misty, closing them in a desperate attempt to stop the tears.
"What if one of us dies, Beth?" he lamented, squeezing her hand tightly. "What if you lost Camila?"
"Then my life would be altered beyond belief. I would lose the greatest piece of my heart left and never truly recover," she shared, her voice trembling. "But if I left here, wouldn't I be signing her death warrant anyway? Wouldn't the Void spread? No, Zion, we can't leave, and deep down, you know it too."
Did he know it? Sure, the prospect of the Void taking control of this sphere would be horrible, but hadn't it happened before? They had managed to stop it eventually, even if it had cost three more spheres to do so. But was stopping Devastion's plan here worth the risk of losing any of his friends?
That's when it fully hit him. He wasn't angry because someone could die; he was scared because they might die. They were his friends, true friends, and he had only known them for two days. Yet, he felt closer to them now than he had to anyone else except for his father. The thought of losing any of them, even grumpy Jura, made his heart ache deeply.
"I... I don't want to lose you guys," he finally admitted, feeling the arms around him tighten. "I know it's stupid, but losing you would kill me. I can't lose someone else so soon... I just can't," he uttered in defeat, tears streaming down his cheeks.
He felt another pair of arms wrap around him, warm liquid hitting his cheek. Camila was holding him now, her embrace even tighter than Beth's. They stood that way for an eternity, each second deepening a bond that had no right to exist.
“Bonds forged through hardship are always powerful, Zion,” Jura said, breaking the frozen moment. “You truly learn to trust someone when your life is on the line. When that trust is forged in battle, it shapes you like a blacksmith shapes steel. But a sword is meant to cut, even when the most masterful smith shapes it. Swords aren’t meant for beauty; they are meant for action.”
“But a sword can survive any battle; it can last through any stress, as long as it was made correctly. The bond of this party is solid, young, sure, but not fragile. Trust in your friends, Zion. Trust that they can pull through this in one piece.”
He couldn't help it and let a chuckle break through his tears, his body heaving with both emotions. “Your analogies suck, Jura.”
Jura's body rumbled with its own fit of laughter. “Aye, lad, they do. I am not known for my wordplay. But trust my knowledge to get us through. Ok, my boy?”
“I do trust you, Jura, as I trust in everyone's power,” Zion declared, gently untangling himself from the arms of his friends and giving both a look of gratitude. He rubbed his snotty nose, earning an "eww" from Beth. “Teach us how to survive this encounter. Lend us your wisdom once again.”
He bowed deeply to the dwarf, to his friend. Jura could have pleaded with them to leave this dungeon at the very beginning. Instead, he had stood by them through this. And Zion knew he would lead them out of this floor.