CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE—DUNGEON GUARDIAN AKARILION VS. ISEKAI ADVENTURER

Water poured down atop Shiro so hard he lost balance and fell onto his chest. He slipped the first time he tried to get up and hit his knee on the hard stones as he grasped his sword hilt and ran after the other adventurer.

Shiro ran down the thoroughfare as fast as he could, but to his right a wave of water rushed toward his escape path. The beast broke the water and slithered into the stone path.

Eyes wide, Shiro turned and ran, jumped for cover behind one of the massive statues lining the walkway. That barely slowed the dungeon guardian, but Shiro was prepared. When it slithered around the statue, he screamed and attacked the boss with an arching slash that put a gash on its scaly face.

Recoiling with a hiss so high pitched, he screamed again in pain as the sheer force of the monster’s cry made his ears feel like they were being augured as he ran back toward the jinni statue.

The dungeon boss came for him with renewed vengeance, its spines and its rough undulating movement crashing the statues on either side of the path into rubble.

Shiro ducked behind the arch he and Ali had hid behind when the demi-spiders had been advancing on them, then darted out and threw his scimitar at the serpent, the blade cutting a blow against a fin on the side of its head.

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The creature recoiled, its neck curving in preparation for a strike. The guardian’s teeth were the size of daggers!

Shiro jumped as soon as it struck. The force of the serpent’s attack sent itself into the water, causing stones and water to rain down on him. He curled himself up, protecting his head and face with his hands.

Why did I not run?

“Fight, coward,” a voice came.

Ignoring the jinni’s insolent command that he fight, Shiro got to his feet and unslung his katana.

“That’s more like it.”

Growling, Shiro searched the water for the beast. Where was it? For the most part, the waters were calm, except for the recent disturbance from when the serpent had tried to devour him.

If that boss gets its jaws atop me, it’ll swallow me whole!

He heard the water moving before he saw the creature break the surface. Shiro stood, staring up at it, his mouth agape. He was too far from anything to jump and hide. In moments the dungeon boss would eat him.

Shiro took two steps back and screamed as the serpent launched another toothy attack at him. He jumped, narrowly avoiding death. He scrabbled across the wet tiles, but the monster was on his tail, screeching and hissing its fury with those green-slit eyes.

The sound of its scales moving across the dungeon floor sounded like a giant stone being dragged.

Shiro ran, but he couldn’t help but glance back.

There it was.

It’s maw.

Wide open and taller than two doors.

He screamed and ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

And then the samurai was knocked forward, slammed against the tiles before something huge and wet slid under him, pulling him back into…

…the jaws of the dungeon boss!

A dark shadow enveloped him and as the knives closed down, Shiro thought he heard the sound of a woman laughing.

“KUUUSSOOO!!!!!”