I watched Elandris’s expressions for a little, seeing if the question I asked made him uncomfortable. After looking at the body of the minotaur, he turned to me. While I couldn’t be sure if his facial expressions meant what I was interpreting them to be due to his race, I guessed he wasn’t that uncomfortable.

“I am sure you must heard stories about monsters attacking and kidnapping maidens.”

My brain immediately went to the orc raid on the village I stumbled into in my first days.

“I saw it happen.”

I said with a bitter taste in my mouth. Elandris gave me an understanding nod.

“Minotaurs are very notorious for that. They can smell a female regardless of their race from a long distance away. When our Mother wasn’t mature, a great number of them lived in the surrounding area. Our grandparents had to repel them constantly, not without losses.”

…

I recoiled a step back. Hold up. He said that they could smell females. But it went after Elandris.

Well, shit. And I thought Ursara and Blaria were dense. I fucking confused Elandris’s gender! This translator thingy didn’t help either. I thought and spoke in Turkish which had no gendered pronouns and the translator just changed it automatically. The same was true when they spoke too. I really hope elvish didn’t have gendered pronouns or something.

I quickly traced Elandris’s body to discern his gender but I couldn’t get a clear idea. I was normally good at reading this kind of stuff.

“Uh, I mean no offense but when you said they go after females…”

Elandris raised an eyebrow, seemingly intrigued by my sudden hesitation. I cleared my throat awkwardly. His eyes widened when he understood what I meant.

“Oh, I see. I understand your confusion. We seemed to be an exception to the rule as minotaurs would try to get us regardless of our gender. It probably has something to do with our ability to shift genders.”

I raised an eyebrow. While the idea of minotaurs chasing after elves made me sick in my stomach especially considering their size, things I learned made my interest peak.

“By changing genders, do you really mean the biological sex? Or is it more of an identity thing?”

Elandris thought for a second. I guess me being interested in something he saw as just a normal thing was surprising to him.

“It is both. Since we are more spirit than flesh, if one feels like their current body is not fit to their soul they can slowly morph. Female and male elves aren’t different as humans so most of the time changes are not that drastic.”

I tilted my head to the side, trying to absorb new information.

“How long do you mean by slow?”

Elandris considered my question for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. A part of me was amused that he took my silly curiosity this seriously while another part felt gratitude.

"It varies among elves, but the process is gradual. Some may take a few months, others years.”

I was pretty sure Lily would be very jealous that elves could change genders casually.

“Can you choose how you would look? Also if what you said is true, then shouldn’t you also be able to shapeshift?”

Elandris chuckled at my curiosity, seemingly amused by the turn of our conversation.

“We can’t really shapeshift unless it is with magic. What we do when we change is not really shapeshifting but adapting our body to what our soul really is. You can think of it as you if you were born opposite gender and in that case no, we do not get to choose our physical appearance.”

I nodded, processing the information. The idea of a species changing its biological sex wasn’t something I never heard before. Some fish, bugs, and reptiles could do it. And thanks to Lily, I met people with various gender identities before, not that I cared about it. I guess I was too old school.

“How common is it? Changing I mean.”

Elandris considered the question, his gaze momentarily distant as if reflecting on a broader perspective.

"It's not incredibly common, but it's not rare either. Some never change while others change only once. One of my fellow guardians goes through it quite commonly. I myself only went through it once.”

Oh? Interesting. I cracked my neck. Even though I wanted to learn more, I had more important stuff.

“About the minotaurs targeting elves, is that a common occurrence?" I asked, circling back to our initial conversation.”

If it was still continuing I could offer my services as a way to get closer to elves. Elandris's expression grew more serious.

"In the past, when the minotaur population was more abundant, it was a more frequent occurrence. However, as their numbers diminished and the elven settlements adapted protective measures, such encounters have become rarer. It is only in dungeons like these that minotaurs appear.”

Guess feeling bad about it would make me a bad person. Still, if we were to get rid of Nidhogg I could use it to get closer to elves. If I wanted to save this world I had to get people on my side.

“You won’t be alone.”

That’s what Aliera told me before pulling me here. I wasn’t sure if it was a promise or a hint about how I should proceed but I knew from my previous life that moving alone would only end up in failure. Plus, saving a world without one's inside was an absurd idea.

“Thanks for quenching my silly curiosity, Elandris. But unless you want to rest longer, we should move.”

Elandris nodded with a smile.

“Knowledge only increases by sharing so you don’t have to feel thankful to me.”

He pulled an arrow from his quiver and pointed it towards the forest. Other monsters seemed to avoid where we were probably due to fear of the minotaur. However now that it was dead I could see many hungry eyes peering to us behind the tree line. I tightened my grip on the hammer, ready for whatever new challenge awaited us. Elandris, arrows at the ready, seemed poised and focused. “Let them come to us. We can use the terrain to our advantage.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The forest echoed with eerie sounds, and soon enough, the hungry eyes materialized into various grotesque forms. A pack of creatures, different from the chimeras we faced earlier, emerged from the shadows.

They were quadruped just like every creature except the minotaur we fought till now. Their head looked similar to a snake. Despite having oversized eyes which made them look cute, at least for a monster, they kept sniffing the air. One of them stepped outside to the tree line looked directly at us and rattled its snake-like tails, making a rhythmic sound. I thought it was some kind of status effect but it wasn’t. It was a signal as the remaining ones exited out and started to run toward us. Before I could blink, they reached us.

Elandris was faster than me as some of the creatures were shot down by a volley of arrows. Meanwhile, I grabbed one of them trying to claw my throat by the neck as two of them tried to climb on top of me. Of course, Gökbörü wasn’t so keen on them taking his place on my shoulders. One of them was struck down with a single spear as he bit down another’s throat. I had no time to fawn over his close-quarters skills, however. I threw the one I grabbed the others with enough force to break all its bones.

The clash was swift and chaotic. The creatures, though animalistic, displayed a coordinated effort in their attack. Elandris gracefully moved between the trees, firing arrows with deadly accuracy, while I swung my hammer, crushing the oncoming threats. Despite their massive numbers except the several ones that managed to climb on top of me with their speed, they were rather easily dispatched.

As the last of the creatures fell, Elandris lowered his bow, and I took a moment to catch my breath. The eerie calm returned to the forest, broken only by the rustling leaves and the distant sounds of other creatures in the Chimera Garden.

“I thought we would have faced against strong but less numerous monsters as we went further up. Instead, we face both weak but numerous and strong and less numerous.”

I remarked, wiping sweat from my brow. Gökbörü let out a satisfied growl from the corpse he was eating. Guess he had no problems with the situation we faced as they gave him more food. I watched him gorge himself on the intestines of the minotaur. He seemed to prefer stronger monsters, no doubt the effect of his Predation skill. His white fur was drenched in blood and fats. I smiled to myself thinking what would people who called him cute think if they saw him like this. My amusement disappeared as quickly as it appeared when I saw his eyes perk up and a horrible feeling rose up from my chest.

I infused as much mana as I could to enlarge it big enough to cover all three of us without thinking anything else. A familiar scent of ozone filled my nostrils as a flash blinded me. Trees beside us burned down as the lightning struck them down. Elandris and Gökbörü were fast enough to get behind the gigantified shield. The thunder following the lightning was booming, even louder than the attacks of the second floor’s boss. I wasn’t sure if it meant that it was stronger but I was about to find out.

Two pairs of wings, one reptilian and one bat-like cast their shadow upon us. It was massive.

“It’s coming!”

I grabbed both Elandris and Gökbörü and Shadow Walked a hundred meters or so. Shock waves of the creature slamming its massive bodies traveled to us. I fell down on a knee. Damn. Shadow Walking other people was tough.

(Shadow Walk ranked up to D rank. The mana required for use lessens.)

“This… This isn’t nidhogg!”

Well, fuck. I grew too relaxed. I should have expected that the boss could come to us. It is not like it didn’t happen before during my time with Blanche. Also, how did we not notice it? That fucker is huge, bigger than a Behemoth! I pulled the bracelet Morrigan gave to me and infused mana into it.

“Sorry Elandris, but killing this comes before your honor and tradition.”

I thought to myself. The creature must understood that it didn’t get us with that attack as it let out a deafening roar and looked directly at us with its three heads.

“It can sense me. Or more accurately it can sense the Mother’s part in me.”

Elandris explained. I honestly had no idea what he meant and I was too busy trying to take in the creature’s features and it had a bunch of features. All three of its heads were unique. Right most one looked like an orca except with sharp teeth. The middle one looked like a traditional dragon with green scales. The left one had Bug Knight’s face except it was elongated. All three heads were supported with long necks. Its body was quadruped with legs thicker than tree logs. Two tails, one ending with a stinger and the other ending with a blunt weapon resembling mace swayed side to side, collapsing the trees they touched.

“O, Gentle Mother. Give me strength to defeat your enemies!”

With Elandris’s chant, massive roots tore through the ground and wrapped around the hydra. While two heads tried to free themselves green one looked directly towards us and opened its mouth.

“Oh, fuck off!”

I swung my hammer to the ground while infusing immense amounts of mana into it. Using the Gaia Burst, I raised massive amounts of dirt and rocks into the air, creating a makeshift barrier. I was just in time as another lightning strike slammed into the rocks in the air. Elandris’s arrows tore through the dust cloud, carrying large amounts of mana. As they hit the hydra, it roared.

Damn. This will be a long fight.