Chapter 57: Final Exam (Part 8)

As I got the blood off my blade, I glanced ahead to the left as a roar of pain rang out, as Ariella broke a Lycanthrope’s arm with a powerful strike to its elbow, a sharp yelp of pain ringing out.The Lycanthrope snarled and slashed at her head with its other arm, which she easily ducked under before springing up and slamming her fist against the middle of its neck, crushing it throat upon impact, as blood poured out of its mouth.

I then turned my gaze back as an alarmed cry rang out, to see one of the Lycanthropes charging at the Attack Mages, having withstood their barrage.

It had taken a fair bit of damage, but it was still very much alive. It’ll be right upon them before they can launch another volley of Spells, and the Lancer is busy fighting another Lycanthrope, he’s got his hands full.

I noticed Hal starting to step forward to intervene as the Monster closed in on them, before I turned around and sprinted forward, taking aim and flinging my blade towards the Monster with a rapid spin.

My blade sliced through the air, closing in on the Monster as it leapt towards Trey, who stumbled back in fear, before a startled yelp of pain rang out as my blade struck the right side of the Lycanthrope’s back, getting lodged into its flesh.

It let out a furious roar before turning its gaze this way, spinning around and snapping its jaws at my head as I closed in on it.

I swiftly ducked to avoid its fangs, before slamming my palm onto its solar plexus and striking it with Mana Pulse, an agonized cry ringing out as its body seized up and spasmed, several trickles of blood running down the sides of its mouth through its fangs.

As it collapsed onto its knees, I stepped behind it and grabbed the handle of my blade, still lodged in its back, before I sharply jerked the blade across, tearing through its flesh before slicing through its spine with a slight crunch, paralyzing it.

Oh, looks like the Lancer took down the one he was fighting too, that does it for the Monsters on this floor.

I used Drain to consume the Mana of the Lycanthrope I’d just paralyzed, before cutting out its Core and finishing it off with Devour.

Hm, looks like this copy of my short-sword is at its limit. The blade is all chipped and it’s got a couple of cracks too, a few more swings and it’ll probably break.

Anyway, as I got done using Devour on the rest of the Lycanthrope corpses once the others finished extracting the Cores, we took one last break before the final push to the Boss Room.

"We’re just going to take a look and then leave, right? So, do we really need to rest?" Inquired the Lancer.

"Well, better safe than sorry, and there’s no harm in taking some time to conserve and recover some energy. And besides, if the Dungeon Boss isn’t a Cereberus and turns out to be a Lycanthrope or something of a similar level, we’ll fight it," Pointed out Ariella.

"Yeah, we can’t rule out either possibility when we’re only working off speculation," I nodded in response.

"I’m definitely not complaining about a bit of extra rest, I’m completely wiped. My legs are killing me," Sighed the Wind Mage.

"Same here, my feet feel so heavy," Added the Ice Mage in agreement.

"Hm...hey, listen up. Just as a precaution, I’ll step up alongside the front line as we approach the Boss Room. That off-putting feeling I got when we entered this Dungeon, it feels stronger now.

So, just to be safe, I’ll join you three at the front. Of course, I won’t actually intervene unless necessary," Remarked Hal, after taking a moment to think it through.

"Sure. I’ve been getting an increasingly bad feeling too, especially after we came across the Lycanthropes," Responded Ariella with a nod.

Yeah, my lie detection has definitely been blaring increasingly more intensely over the last two or three floors. Whatever’s been setting it off is probably in the Boss Room.

I’ve never encountered a Critical Level Monster before, so is that what’s setting it off?

No, that doesn’t make sense...how powerful the Dungeon Boss may be shouldn’t have anything to do with my passive lie detection.

After a few more minutes, we wrapped up the break and began the final push through to the Boss Room. Despite taking regular breaks, the fatigue was definitely starting to pile on at this point.

Not only have none of us been in a Dungeon with this many floors before, but on top of the distance we’ve covered, we’ve also had to content with the heat and sand sapping our energy this whole time.

Getting out of here is going to be a pain, to have to walk back through the forty-plus floors all over again...on the bright side, we won’t have any fighting left to do on the way back, but that’s still a whole lot of walking.

Before long, the tunnel leading up to the Boss Room came into sight. I grimaced as I felt a chill down my spine upon stepping into the tunnel, Ariella and Hal also pausing for a moment, before continuing on.

Hm?

"Hey, what are these on the walls of this tunnel? Vines?" I frowned, as I noticed several thorny appendages growing across the sides of the tunnel.

"Yeah, looks like it," Nodded Ariella, glancing at the walls, before adding, "It’s not hot anymore...actually, it’s kinda cool."

She’s right, the temperature is definitely dropping the further up this tunnel we go. It’s pleasant, but...it isn’t normal.

The terrain and conditions in a Dungeon are supposed to remain constant from start to finish, including in the Boss Room...

"Okay, I sense a presence ahead," Spoke up the Detector, as the end of the tunnel came into sight.

"Here we go...," Muttered Ariella, clenching her fists slightly as she approached the end of the tunnel.

I matched her pace, my eyes widening in surprise as I peered into the Boss Room. There was no sand anywhere, the space looked nothing like the rest of the Dungeon.

While the Boss Room is always much smaller than the other floors, it generally looks pretty much the same otherwise.

But this one’s completely different. It looked more like a medieval throne room, the floor, walls and ceiling tiled with large stone slabs, there were two rows of thick pillars on either side of the room.

And at the back of the room, was a wide, stone-carved throne. Also, the place was covered in thorny vines. There were all over the floor and walls, wrapped around the pillars and even extending across the ceiling.

There was a large mass of vines bunched up on the throne, and in front of it, was a lone figure.

It was a Lycanthrope, but it was being eerily quiet and unmoving, it was hard to tell for sure from this distance, but it almost looks...relaxed, maybe?

My lie detection is going off like crazy, it’s practically pounding in my head, something isn’t right here...

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