After defeating the group of foxes, we took a break next to the foreign magic circle, closely examining it in the meantime. It seemed to be related to the four basic elements of fire, water, earth, and air for some reason, indicating that this ritual site was used for combining those elements for purposes unknown to us.

Given two of the elements were already around in the shape of water and earth foxes, I could only assume the ritual would empower those in some way, maybe even combine their elemental powers.

It was just a theory, but not one without evidence, as a sudden series of barks revealed. A group of fiery beasts came running down the volcano’s slope, some of them made out of pure fire, others two-tailed and seemingly crafted using pure molten rock. Now only air foxes were left for my idea to be confirmed.

“Be damned!” Alfred cursed before readying himself for another fight.

His sword almost immediately went up in flames again, draining his mana in the process. I could only hope the break we had taken had been enough to replenish his resources at least somewhat. At least I seemed to be ready, the single spell I had cast in the previous fight not nearly being able to touch even my heavily shrunken mana pool.

“Behind me!” The paladin once again commanded, before making himself as big as he could, seemingly in the hope of drawing the fire elementals' attention.

And he had it. All of the foxes soon attacked Alfred, some with balls of fire they slung around their fiery bodies before tossing them at their assailant, others simply by charging at him in an attempt to face him in a melee battle.

I did my best to assist the paladin in his struggle, forcing out my water-attributed mana and launching spouts of water toward the foxes that were made out of pure flames. Soon later I was rewarded by a series of surprised yelps as the monsters perished in a cloud of mist, dropping ruby-like monster cores at their demise. With each explosion of steam, I was rewarded with a warm feeling washing over my skin and through my body. My mana pool was slowly growing, I felt it settle into every fiber of my being rather than just my chest. Defeating these monsters was somehow making me stronger!

Knowing this much, I quickly engaged the foxes that were made out of molten rock only to immediately find out they were giving me a much harder fight. Although I attacked them over and over again, forcing out most of my mana in the process, it did barely anything other than change the monster’s colors to become much darker - I managed to do basically no damage at all.

Having realized that much, I instead focused on keeping Alfred in combat by healing him over and over again. My help certainly was needed, as each of the monster’s attacks left molten rock coating the man’s thick armor, making him scream in pain.

Luckily for us, Alfred’s holy flames left the foxes yelping out in pain, indicating that they were indeed causing some kind of damage to the molten bodies of the monsters. Before long, the first few of them went down, leaving behind nothing but large puddles of lava and shiny crystals waiting in the middle of them.

Alfred quickly stepped out of the danger zone before striking his sword down again, cleanly beheading an attacking fox. With only three of them left, we had already already won the fight. I just had to spray the monsters with water over and over again until they slowed down, their glowing bodies having dimmed down to a blackish red instead.

It took the paladin barely longer than a few minutes to finish off these last foxes, only to fall to his knees immediately after. I was just about to shoot a healing spell toward him, fearing the worst, but Alfred quickly made me stop my magic with a single wave of his hands. He wasn’t injured, only exhausted - deeply so.

“Goblins, hu?” He scuffed. “Are you sure this dungeon is as young as you claim it to be?”

“I was with her when Cilia selected her as the dungeon avatar.”

“Somebody has been feeding her well, then. She shouldn’t have access to that many monsters yet. And I haven’t even started on how big this room is!”

“...”

“We will tell the head priest.”

“But-”

“One more room,” he interrupted my protest. “When she isn’t in the next room, we will return at once!”

“Yes…”

We rested for about half an hour, far more than long enough for our mana reserves to fill up again. By now the foxes would likely have reappeared several times over if it wasn’t for us still being here. But as soon as we entered the next floor, our way back would be cut off, forcing us to fight our way out. So Alfred’s suggestion was already a huge commitment on his part, and certainly more than I could ask of him, especially with what he had gone through.

It didn’t take us long to reach a bridge other than the one we had used to come here in the first place. Same as the other one, it was made purely from wood, but still looked sturdy enough to easily carry even large groups of adventurers across the lake.

A relieved sigh passed our lips as we finally set foot into the tunnel leading to the next room. It was a short one with only a single bend separating us from looking at the dangers lying ahead of us, but more than enough for Alfred to get to talking again.

“What will you do now,” he suddenly asked me. “It seems like you don’t have your holy magic anymore.”

“So you noticed…”

“Who wouldn’t notice you suddenly starting to spray around water?”

I could only chuckle at this question. Of course he would notice that, he had known me most of my life, after all. So me suddenly gaining a new element of magic was surely a surprise for him.

“I will return to the temple with you,” I decided. “It is all that I know.”

“They will accept you even without your holy magic,” Alfred confirmed with a nod. “You can still heal wounds perfectly fine, and given your new role they will welcome you with open arms...”

“My new role…”

My mood immediately hit rock bottom. Yes, it was an honor to be able to help Cilia out by doing the right thing, but being her champion still would turn my whole life upside down. Who knew how the other priests and priestesses would react? Not only them but the adventurers I used to work with as well. Sooner or later, rumors would make the rounds and they would start behaving differently around me. And I could only hope it was at least in a somewhat good way.

“Let's think about that later,” Alfred cut my line of thought short in a poor attempt to lift my mood. “We got a dungeon to explore!”

“You are right…”

Alfred led me towards the next room, which was already awaiting us with a dense fog that barely seemed to avoid the tunnel as if blocked by an invisible wall. I could still see light shining through the fog, meaning it was still day, but our time was slowly running out. Before the sun was setting, we would need to be on our way back or risk being trapped in Abervale Forest in the middle of the night.

The paladin proudly made his way into the fog, his sword’s blade burning with holy fire. I followed after him, not wanting to be left alone or lose him which was quite a possibility with visibility ranging to under twenty meters at best. Soon I was surrounded by mist to all sides, only Alfred’s dark silhouette still leading the way.

Alfred was careful as he made his way deeper into the room. He not only avoided the ponds that seemed to cover the majority if not all of the floor, but also took long routes around the miniature volcanos we could make out here and there. It was only for the best, it turned out, as one of them suddenly began spewing out boiling hot water. The torrent lasted for several minutes, leaving us staring at it for the whole time. It was only when it suddenly fizzled out that we were reminded of our purpose in being here: finding the dungeon’s avatar and escaping before nightfall.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

A large building waited for us in the center of the room, only its roof being visible in the dense wall of steam and fog. We immediately made our way towards it, carefully avoiding all the dangers that were awaiting us. It was only now that we noticed shadows looming over us, blocking the sun from time to time.

Alfred immediately prepared himself for combat. He stood there, sword ready to slice his enemy into pieces, only to soon realize the shadows were not moving. It took us way too long to realize they seemed to be floating pieces of rock rather than monsters simply waiting for a perfect chance to attack. Still, floating rocks were strange, to say the least. I had never even heard of a dungeon using them.

The paladin seemed to have the same opinion about the weird terrain features. “I do not like this at all,” I heard him mumble. “Stay at my side!”

I immediately did as I was told, searching for the protection of my friend’s wide back. But our fears were unfounded as it turned out, with not as much as a single monster or trap being there to block our way toward the wooden structure in the middle of the room. It was only when we had almost reached it that we were forced to make a risky decision, as the large pavilion was standing in the middle of one of the ponds of water, with several of the geysers ready to defend it.

With an audible gulp, Alfred stepped into the pond, only to send me a relieved smile soon afterward. “It is safe,” he decided before reaching his hand out to help me step into the shallow water.

“Thank you…”

We slowly made our way towards the waiting structure, its secure roof promising us a well-deserved rest. Two more explosions of boiling water shot toward the room's ceiling, but they couldn’t hinder us from reaching the entrance of the pavilion.

Alfred took as much as a single glance into the building before freezing, then readying himself for a fight. When I made my way towards him and followed his gaze, I found four aquamarine eyes staring at us out of a dense cloud of fog, one pair being much larger than the other one. Before long, the large pair of eyes began moving, easily towering over us as it did so.

The paladin was gritting his teeth. He seemed unsure if this was truly his fight, but he soon stepped up to face his opponent, water splashing around as he marched towards the pavilion's entrance.

He wasn’t left waiting. Before he had even reached the building, a cloud of hot steam shot out of it, only to gain a vulpine, three-tailed shape soon afterward. The smaller monster didn’t seem willing to attack us. It just watched us from the safety of its nest, not doing as much as a single step outside.

Alfred let out a loud shout as he ran towards the fox, his sword ready to cleave it into two. But before he could do so, the monster simply turned into mist, letting the attack pass through entirely unhindered. When the cloud then gathered to become a fox again, not a single scratch could be seen on the steam creature. If anything, it seemed as if it was taunting the paladin for his futile attempt.

“It's resistant to physical attacks,” Alfred shouted out. “I will need your help with this one!”

“On it!”

I immediately called forth my elemental attributed mana, forcing every single color of it out of my outstretched hands in balls of pure magic. Soon enough a gush of water shot towards the fox, then a burst of flames and even an avalanche of dirt - the elements of all the foxes we had faced so far. The next two bursts of magic summoned a ball of molten rock to my aid, which quickly shot towards the monster which was already busy dealing with the aftermath of my first attacks. The last color of magic I had now access to was a deep white, almost like holy magic, though it lacked its shininess for lack of a better word. When I summoned this one, a dense cloud of steam suddenly shot toward both Alfred and the fox. I was just about to scream out a warning when the boiling hot vapor had already reached the paladin, enveloping him fully.

Seconds passed by as I stared at the scene in front of me in horror. Alfred’s dark silhouette was still to be seen inside the cloud, but it would soon drop to his knees, being boiled alive by my very own magic. Tears ran down my skin as I realized I had just killed my best friend, only for them to be betrayed the very next second as a completely unscathed paladin reappeared from the cloud that had washed over him seemingly without even causing him discomfort.

“That- I can get used to that!” He laughed, before reengaging his opponent, which was still struggling with the aftermath of my attack.

The steam fox slowly gathered itself, now visibly weaker. I could almost look through it now, with only its aquamarine eyes still seeming solid enough. Both of them stared at me, seemingly in disbelief, to then close one after another. Soon, the cloud of mist shot forward once again, much to the chagrin of Alfred, who was still unable to put as much as a single scratch on his opponent's cloud-like body.

Alfred himself was not nearly as lucky. Again and again, the fox shot forth, enveloping the paladin with its steamy body and causing agonizing screams to echo through the room. I did my best to heal my friend over and over again, shooting one watery snake after the other in his direction, but with him being forced into an unfavorable melee battle, it was only a matter of time before I ran out of mana.

In a desperate attempt to free us from the stalemate, I summoned forth another five healing snakes before blasting the paladin’s surroundings with all the magic elements I had access to - all but steam which didn’t seem to have any effect on the monster. Three pain-filled yelps rewarded me for my quick thinking, and a few seconds later I was seeing my reward in a very see-through fox that was seemingly standing on its last legs.

Now even the second, much smaller fox seemed to become restless. It jumped to its feet to send a cloud of steam towards his ally.

“It is healing it!”

Alfred stared at me in disbelief, then he was already dashing towards the almost dying steam fox. He cleaved down his sword, leaving behind a wave of holy magic, only to hit nothing but a splash of warm water as he did so. The monster had avoided his attack once again and as the steam surrounding it slowly cleared it greeted us with a confidence that betrayed all of our struggle so far. The fox looked as good as new!

“Damn it,” Alfred cursed before readying himself for the unavoidable counterattack. “Attack the small one,” he demanded, “now!”

I did just as I was told. Within seconds I had already begun shooting balls of fire and molten rock towards the wooden pavilion that was now proving to be a deathtrap for the much smaller steam fox. The monster quickly spread itself out thin, trying to avoid the worst of my attacks, but when it finally reappeared after mere seconds it looked visibly exhausted.

An angry growl could now be heard from the larger steam fox, as its aquamarine eyes met mine for the first time since stepping into this room. It seemed unsure what to do about me, whether it should attack me or keep attacking the paladin instead, but before it could make a choice, a voice reached my ears, making me stop in my tracks.

“Stop it,” it demanded. “Please, stop it!”

The steam foxes immediately ceased their attacks. Instead, they were both shooting forward, passing by us as clouds of boiling hot mist without as much as causing us a single blister. Soon they gathered around a new silhouette that had somehow found its way into the room without us noticing. It had a human shape, with two large ears much like my own waiting on top of its head.

Alfred was just about to step between me and the intruder when the fog suddenly cleared somewhat, allowing us to see who it was that had interrupted our battle. Red hair now greeted me, together with an all-too-familiar dress.

Even the paladin seemed to be able to grasp who this stranger was. “It is the avatar,” it shot out of him.

Alfred immediately made his way to my side, trying to protect me from the supposed danger. But instead of fearing an attack myself, I couldn’t help but make my way through the shallow water myself. Within seconds I had already reached the girl and slung my arms around her body. She just let it happen, without uttering as much as a single complaint.

Even the two foxes seemed to be sure the danger was over now. Instead of watching me with wary eyes, they began healing each other, before licking their long-gone wounds. They somewhat looked like lovers while doing so, making me feel more than a slight bit of regret for attacking them in the first place.

“You are fine,” I couldn’t help but cry out. “You are really fine!”

The girl suddenly squirmed in my grasp, trying to look in my face, but as soon as she had managed to, her fluffy tail began waving from one side to the other, very much like my own. She had recognized me. She knew who I was!

Alfred could only look at us in confusion, before making his way to the pond’s shore and onto dry land himself. The two foxes watched his every step but decided not to intervene when the paladin just sat down once he was close enough to overhear us. There was way too much to explain…