<~> CHAPTER 45

The warm heat traveled up my legs as the five of us got closer to the top of the stairs. This next floor felt like an oven compared to the last one. I was used to the heat from the blazing hot summers in my hometown but I wasn't sure how long I would be able to deal with it without being able to run into the cool air-conditioning afterwards. I licked my lips. Just like home, there was basically no humidity on this floor either. At least it's a dry heat, I thought ironically to myself.

When I stepped onto the floor I looked around using the new magic sight that I had using the blindfold. The large chunk of crystal I had tightly tied to my waist shined magical light through the cavern. I could faintly see the walls even outside of where the magical light radiated but the magical light made everything much more rich in detail. It was fascinating to look at but I decided for now that it would be easier to deal with the heat on this floor using my transformed state.

I stretched out to my full height in my werewolf form and cracked my neck. I wasn't sure if this was better exactly but at least I wouldn't be soaked in sweat ten minutes from now. I opened my mouth and let out a sigh. If I stayed in this form I was bound to start panting after long. I wasn't sure which was worse, getting soaked in sweat or panting like an animal in front of my friends. For now I would stick to this form. With luck whatever monster I ate next would make this whole thing more bearable.

With my natural sight, I could see that the walls were a ruddy brown color with bits and pieces of volcanic glass embedded in the walls. That would explain the heat, hopefully we didn't come across any pockets of magma on our travels. The ceiling was comfortably high, but more similar in height to the goblin floor than the crystal cavern floor. It was enclosed but was tall enough that I was plenty comfortable walking around in my wolf form.

I turned to look at the rest of the group and noticed all of them stripping off a lot of their clothes. Maxwell went shirtless except for the small amount of cloth normally between himself and his armor, Aria had taken off her chest piece and top entirely leaving her only in her bra, pants, and leg armor, Luna had switched to a cute short sleeve top with her robes open and wrapped around her waist like a skirt, and Piper had switched to a lighter shirt somewhat like a tank-top that showed off more of her muscular arms and neck.

("This floor is always miserable,") Luna told me with distaste in her voice. ("It's always hot here and my magic doesn't work well on most of the monsters on this floor, since they're almost all fire resistant. I have to use water magic which I'm not as good with.")

("Is there anything worth eating for me? I wouldn't mind some heat resistance,") I asked.

Luna frowned. ("The first thing that comes to mind are those striped horses. When they're alive they have a mane of fire that goes out when they die. There's also this large cat with black fur that breathes fire at you but those are a little bit more rare. The most common enemies on this floor are these small rock golems about the height of my knees, they're burning hot to the touch and they try to burn you by tackling you with their bodies. Those are pretty dangerous for Maxwell because if he doesn't get a break between fighting them, his shield can start to burn his skin.")

I nodded and looked over at Maxwell who was talking with Aria. She was subtly sneaking glances at his muscular chest when he wasn't looking. I tapped Luna on the shoulder and pointed at them. ("See, watch Aria, she's totally ogling him.")

The two of us quietly watched as she took a few more appreciative glances when he bent over to look through his bag. ("Oh gosh! You're right, it's so obvious now that you've pointed it out!") Luna replied excitedly.

("Do you think the two of them are a good match?") I asked.

Luna tapped her chin. ("I'm not sure. Truthfully... I have been keeping her at a bit of a distance since I was worried about her before... And because of my throat, I can't really talk to her the way I can talk to you.")

I nodded. ("True. That must be hard...")

Her small hand reached up and held my larger clawed hand. ("It is sometimes. But I'm used to it.") Her words made my heart ache.

I cleared my throat. ("Looks like everyone's ready. Let's get in formation I guess. Is there anything else in particular about this floor that I should be worried about? Traps or anything?") I asked.

("No traps or anything like that. Just be careful not to follow directly behind anyone if you can help it, a lot of the monsters here have projectile attacks so if someone dodges ahead of you or vice versa then one of you could get hit. There are also a few pools of water around, you can drink from them safely but they're hot so be careful about sticking your hands in them. Oh! And since I'm using water magic on this floor, be careful of steam. I'll try not to attack anything directly in front of anyone but be careful.")

I paused and turned to look at her when I processed the last part of what she said. ("Wait, you can use water magic too?")

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She looked back at me in confusion before she came to a realization. ("Oh! Yes, I can cast some water magic too. I mainly use fire magic because I have a greater affinity for it which makes it more powerful but I can use both. I can also use some wind magic but because of the way I'm forced to cast, it's basically useless... I might have other affinities I don't know about, but these are the ones that I've tried, the most well-known ones. The only thing I'm not good with is terra magic.")

("How do you test for magic anyway?") I asked.

Luna gave me an amused smile. ("Why don't we talk about this more later, it's a little too much to talk about while paying attention to the dungeon.")

("Sounds good,") I replied. Truthfully I was a little excited to hear about it. If I had magic in me, could I use magic too?

Once all of us were ready, we set out in a slightly spread out formation. Rather than being in a line like usual, Piper and Maxwell were in front with Aria and Luna in the middle, I followed from behind in the center. Aria didn't have a bag yet so she was carrying her chest armor under one arm. I assumed she would have to drop it once we started fighting. Maxwell confidently led us in one direction but paused at the forks in the cavern so I figured this floor was similar to the ones that changed a bit but generally moved in one direction.

It wasn't too long before we encountered our first enemies. Four of those rock golem things. Like Luna had told me they were small three-foot-tall rock monsters in a generally humanoid shape. They had red glowing stones embedded where their face would be that lit up when they made threatening noises at us. Maxwell looked like he was about to grab the mace he kept at his waist but instead pulled out his sharp silvery sword. Normally you wouldn't want to cut rock but it seemed like he was about to try it. I ran to the front of the group and slipped my shield onto one arm. My axe was more of a chopping weapon but it shouldn't be too bad against these things.

The closest one flung itself with surprising speed toward Piper who used her shield to fling it away from her. She only had a sword but it looked like she was only planning on defending from the way she stood. The monster she had flung away came near me so I slashed at it with my axe. The axe bit into the monster's side and knocked it away. Maxwell slashed at a different one and his incredibly sharp sword surprisingly sliced right through the thing as if it was made of paper. The top half of the golem toppled over its legs but it wasn't dead. It used its arms to crawl toward Maxwell. The glowing stone in their faces must be their power source.

One of the golems tried to run past me at Aria but Luna intercepted it with a blast of water. Hot steam sprayed off of it as it toppled over to the side, knocked over but not destroyed. I took the opportunity to bring my axe down on the monster's head and I killed it immediately after. Another ran at Aria but the best she could do was bat it away with her shield. She tried to take a few stabs at it but her sword just bounced off the hard rock monster. Before I could make it over to her I saw Maxwell run in her direction so I decided to go to Piper who was trying to knock away the first one that had attacked us. The only way I could tell this one apart was that it still had damage on its side from where I had hit it earlier.

I flanked it from the side and waited for a good opportunity. The moment Piper's eyes met mine, I could tell she knew what I was waiting for. The next time the monster attempted to tackle her, she shoved it back and I took the opening to slash my axe at its head. My aim was a bit off so instead of hitting its head my axe bisected the monster through the chest. Like the one Maxwell had killed it tried to rear up to crawl on its remaining limbs but Piper had managed to pin it down with her shield. I ran over and crushed its glowing face with the head of my axe.

"Piper!" Maxwell called out. The two of us turned to find Maxwell dragging Aria over. Her left hand and the top of her right arm were covered in nasty looking burns. Aria's teeth were clenched and she had tears in her eyes but the tough catgirl wasn't crying. It looks like the monster had gotten around her shield and she was forced to push it off of her.

Without a word, Piper ran over and began healing her while I kept watch. I didn't hear anything coming around so I took a few glances at Piper while she worked. Aria looked like she was taking quick breaths, if she wasn't careful she was going to hyperventilate. The burns were slowly healing back to normal but from the look of it, they were very painful. The only time I had been healed by Piper it didn't last long enough for me to think about the pain.

I looked away and panted. I think the heat was getting to all of us a bit. After the fight, everyone was wiping sweat from themselves and Piper always looked like she exerted herself a lot when healing others. I wasn't sure how exactly the healing magic worked but Aria was munching on some of those awful jerky rations the moment her healing was finished. I couldn't imagine eating something so salty in a place like this, I hoped our water lasted. Just watching Aria drink made me thirsty.

After Piper was finished all of us took a quick break. Maxwell and Luna went to dig the glowing rocks out of the skulls of the golems while I sat next to Aria and looked over my axehead to see if there was any damage. I traced my finger along the edge. It wasn't razor sharp or anything but along the entire head, the axe came to a sharp point and there wasn't any indication of rolling on the edge that would require fixing. Unlike my knife, it didn't come to a thin edge but I was pretty sure that was normal for an axe. It didn't look like the axe was damaged or even blunted despite attacking monsters completely made of stone. I should probably ask Piper and Maxwell about what kind of maintenance I needed to do to keep this weapon in good shape. The thing was growing on me, even if it felt a bit unwieldy at times still.

I looked over at Aria who was gently rubbing the skin of her arm. The places she was burned were still slightly red in a few places but it looked a lot better than when I had initially seen it.

"Okay?" I asked.

She looked up at me, surprised that I was speaking to her. "Oh... Yes, it's .... ...." she said. I frowned, unsure of what the words I had missed were but it wasn't like I could ask her. I just shrugged and looked around. Maxwell and Luna were sitting down off to the side drinking some of their water. I hope this floor wasn't too big because we were going to have issues with water if this kept up. I shifted back to my human form to take a drink of water myself. It was too hard to drink in my wolf form without wasting anything. I glanced at my axe curiously. I had never noticed before but now that I was looking at it through the blindfold, it faintly glowed as well. Maybe it was magical too? It didn't glow very bright compared to some other things, certainly nowhere near as bright as Maxwell's silvery-blue sword, but it did glow. I smiled, hopefully this meant it wouldn't require much maintenance.

I hefted the large weapon back to my shoulder and shifted back into my werewolf form. As much as the heat of this floor was sapping all the energy from me, we needed to keep moving. With a little bit of prodding the five of us were headed down the cavern again. We hadn't been on this floor long but I hoped we made it out of here soon. I wouldn't want to sleep on this awful floor, even if the heat made me a bit sleepy. There wasn't even a fan!