Wolf

I open my mouth to say something to Sapphire, only to close it again when a flood of information enters my mind. Information that includes everything different about her.

Hmm. Looks like she’s getting closer and closer to a separate being while also somehow being tied to me further.

She’s becoming less of a soul-bound companion and more of a guardian of sorts. Which is still the same thing in a way. Just that she’s meant to be the guardian of my domain when I fully become a progenitor.

Sapphire finally looks away from me, the anger on her face fading ever so slightly in the process to be replaced with curiosity about the floor theme. Then she just looks confused about what she sees.

“So… where are the monsters?” she asks with a frown after looking around for a few seconds.

“They’re in the rooms,” I tell her while pointing at the tunnels. “And the rooms are… very different from the previous floor themes.”

She tilts her head slightly in confusion, seemingly having forgotten about her anger due to her curiosity.

Well that’s good.

“Just follow me and see for yourself,” I tell her while beginning to walk towards the closest tunnel.

After a brief pause she follows after me and we enter a tunnel. And immediately after that we both appear on what looks like a crater on a moon. Except one coated in ice and… surprisingly covered in lunar ice elemental energy.

Huh.

This is a surprise.

Well, the lunar ice aside, the usual barrier appears around us and the viewers after that. And the viewers look rather surprised by the lunar ice, the same as I was.

But I just feel like this place is a second home to me.

It makes me feel kinda happy.

Anyways, Sapphire quickly realizes what’s going on after looking at the viewers. And the very first thing she says has me covering my mouth to hide a snicker.

“Well this is annoying,” she mutters.

After totally not snickering at her response, I turn to look at the monster we’re facing, only to find a rather large surprise in the process.

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The monster in question is a large crab with a pale blue shell that is letting off lunar ice elemental energy. And unlike all of the other monsters we’ve seen, it’s not even paying any attention to us.

“So…” I mutter before tilting my head slightly, “…is it going to attack? Or… what?”

Sapphire just shrugs.

Then we both stare at the thing for nearly ten whole seconds before coming to the conclusion that it is in fact not going to attack. Meanwhile the viewers look confused. To the point that the cheers are quieting down a little.

Although a lot of people are still shouting out Sapphire’s name, trying to get her attention now that she’s back. Apparently having given up on trying to get me to look at them.

But Sapphire isn’t even bothering to look their way, clearly taking after me in more ways than one.

“What do we do in a situation like this?” Sapphire asks, sending me a glance, but I just shrug.

“No idea,” I answer her while staring at the lunar ice crab thing.

I cross my arms while tapping my feet.

It would be rude to kill the thing when it’s not even trying to attack us, much less kills us. But at the same time, I’m not really sure how we’re supposed to get back to the dungeon without killing it.

“Dad, do you think that could work?” Sapphire asks, making me glance at her only to find her pointing at her teeth, then at my face.

Hmm.

I turn back to the monster again while rubbing my chin and muttering, “Maybe…”

After considering it for a few seconds, I decide that it won’t hurt to try. So I begin walking over to the monster. And once I make it within a meter of the crab, the thing finally turns to look at me. But instead of attacking, it just tilts its head and watches me approach.

If I’m being honest with myself, I can’t help but feel a tad bit sorry for this thing at the sight of its current head tilt. Despite being a large monster, it’s rather cute.

Plus it has my lunar ice element.

I wait for a few more seconds, just in case we get teleported away or something during this time, then when nothing happens, I step up to the crab and crouch down a little next to it.

“Sorry fella, no hard feelings,” I tell it before shifting into my hunter form and opening my mouth to chomp down on the crab’s leg. And right away, the crab lets out a loud screech as I see a pale blue light beginning to spread from my bite through its body.

Then I open my mouth again and step back.

Maybe if the thing is considered an ally or subordinate of mine, the dungeon will teleport us back.

I watch as the pale blue venom spreads through its body, making the crab roar in pain as it collapses to the ground and begins convulsing. And when cracking sounds begin to echo from the creature’s shell, I step back more until I stop next to Sapphire and stand with my arms crossed.

Then we both just stand here watching as the crab transforms into… something else.

The shell begins to turn into fur while the creature’s body grows larger and larger. Meanwhile its eyes begin to glow with a bright pale blue light, and the lunar ice element within its body grows stronger and purer.

Lastly, the crab’s pincers begin to leak lunar ice element, and also seem to obtain some of my venom.

I don’t manage to see anything about the creature beyond that though as I quickly find myself teleporting back to the dungeon the moment it opens its eyes.

Sapphire and I just kinda stand in front of the tunnel in silence, wondering what happened.

There wasn’t any reward, and we were just teleported away.

“Guess we don’t get a reward for allying with a monster,” Sapphire says, and I nod my head without a word.

We continue staring for a few seconds before we both shrug and move on to the next tunnel.