Over the next week, we trained our butts off at the undead dungeon. To our surprise when Emma carried Elza the house cat floor boss around on the first floor, the skeletons attacked. I noticed when the adorable critter wasn't around none of the monsters on any level was aggressive. I was beginning to suspect that there was more to this fantastic feline than meets the eye. Whatever the reason the cat could leave its dungeon but had to return for an hour a day to recharge itself. The cat did this instinctively on its own. It now often went out of the dungeon because Emma would feed it fish. Yes, she spent time hunting fish and getting me to create ice in a box to keep it from spoiling. This kitty was tacking all the affection she used to send my way. Gawd Damn greedy little critter coming here and leaving nothing left for me, I inaudibly mumbled to myself this morning. I was starting to suspect I was falling for the ghostly hero that wanted my heart. Then I realized I was jealous of a cat and I got over it.
Having reached level 150 Emma and I would be able to defeat the last floor boss with little help from our elders. As we entered the final boss chamber, we gazed upon the chambers reflective glow. The walls appeared to be made of glass but were, in fact, something much harder. Torchlight saturated the entire room reflecting off the walls. In a small pond, a giant crystalline crocodile with a scorpions tail lay upon the shore sleeping. Or was it an alligator? I questioned. I never could tell the difference between the two. I hope the lizardmen don't have multiple sub-species that look alike, or someday I'm going to look like a racist. Heck, I'm not even sure how one can tell the difference between male and female reptiles by looking at them. An interesting fact is that reptiles sexual organs fully retract inside their bodies. I'd wish anyone good luck on that riddle of a circumstance.
Our group did hand signals back and forth between us communicating our moves and roles in the coming fight. Even though I was our mage, I would take the front. One because I'm the eldest, and two because I can handle myself in a fight and my axes are virtually unbreakable. Sure enough when our archers fire the beast eyes snapped open and with a wave of its claws and a snap of its teeth all the arrows had been destroyed. As lumbering and inflexible as the creature appeared it was rather swift and agile. It took all my effort to parry and deflect its blows. I even had to use wind magic to balance out the required speed and force necessary to exchange strikes with it.
After a few minutes both me and the gator started to tire and that's when Emma struck. She used her Ghostly Flyer class's only potentially offensive power. Well, it was actually more of defensive ability, but it was powerful! After obtaining her new class, she had a spatial orb in her soul similar to my dimensional storage/Inventory. She could only use this power once a day and so far for just a minute or so. The skill cryogenically stored her body in the storage and created a temporary body made of mana. Her soul would temporarily be bound to the mana body and would appear to be a ghost. In this form, she was immune to physical harm, but it consumed a vast amount of mana. She could do everything she could as a ghost in her past life. She could pick up objects and faze through walls unless they are magical.
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Dungeon walls were unfortunately very magical, so she couldn't faze through them. It didn't matter for the battle though as she quickly charged the creature while unaffected by its claws. she stabbed it in the eyes with two small Elorium knives Grillo had made for her to use in this form before it could recover from the shock of being unable to harm her. Emma preferred using her claws in battle as her dragon heritage insisted but that wasn't an option when "Ghosting" as she called it.
Emma did a victory dance that made me question how she could be hundreds of years old. Women's intuition is a scary thing because somehow she knew what I was thinking and stopped to glare at me for a moment before shrugging it off.
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After we defeated our scaled foe, our group began searching for the hidden room where the dungeon orb resided. It seemed no matter how hard I looked that no hidden switch could be found. Not even air flowed from any of the cave walls. Elza the playful dungeon boss went to a sandy spot that seemed like she often laid there and batted at a normal piece of cave cattail-like grass that grew all over the caves. The plant was simply called "cave cats toy" in this world. A secret passage opened and I smacked my head. Of course, the opening had something to do with the damn cat! I should have realized the connection because the plant has "cat" in its name.
When the door opened, I heard a loud bellowing voice say "Get away from my Precious!"
The voice came from a little blue orb about the size of a shooter marble. No one else seemed to notice the voice that blared in my head.
"Don't you take my Elza Bells again!" The feisty orb commanded.
"Enough!" I replied with [soul speak].
"You can understand me?" The voice questioned now in a gentle a shocked tone.
"Of course, I can speak to anything with a soul. Be calm spirit within the orb I have no desire to take your Elza from you. My beloved has just been giving the creature its favorite food because she thinks it's adorable.", I stated while trying to sound like a grand and kind figure. Who knows what benefits a living dungeon could provide my people? Best to be on the entities good side.