The Second Dungeon Floor
When the team entered the rat's cave, they were brimming with confidence. They had already defeated the Hell Rat once, and they had become considerably stronger since then.
All of them were boosted by Elo's improved skill "Leaders Authority", and Gorden and Ella had even leveled up once each.
They didn't think they could lose to the rat this time.
When the rat saw them, it once again squeaked loudly, but this time, everybody was prepared.
When the rat rushed forwards to attack them, Gorden took a few steps in its direction, to get its attention.
When the rat saw the seemingly helpless human, its eyes lit up with yellow light, and it became even faster.
When the rat was about to bite him to death, a small knife appeared in his hand. His arm struck forwards, and the knife penetrated the rat's right eye.
Because of pain and confusion, the rat didn't bite but just collided with Gorden, which send him flying for a few meters. But when he hit the ground, he just jumped up to run back to the rat again.
As soon as Gorden and the rat had collided, Ella jumped at the rat and swung her big bone weapon at the rat's forehead. Because the rat was still a little stunned, it couldn't retreat in time. The bone hit its head with full force, and the rat had to take a few steps back.
When it realized that defense wouldn't help, it transformed into its berserk form.
When the rat's eyes and crystals started glowing in red light, the combatants already knew what was coming.
As the crystals at the rat's neck started moving, Ella ran after the rat.
She lifted the bone in her hands over her head while her body started shining in red light too.
When she swung down her weapon on the rat's neck, the loud crash could be heard, and the rat's spine broke under the considerable impact.
As soon as the rat's massive body hit the ground, it disintegrated into a cloud of dust, and a screen appeared in front of Elo.
"Ding"
"Hell Rat (dungeon boss, hard) has been defeated.
The resources are being transferred to the leader of the team."
"You resaved:
-9 rat meat
-1 dungeon key (1)
-1 soul gem (rare)"
When Elo saw the screen, he was surprised.
"We didn't get the ancient box this time; I think its most likely that the bosses do not always drop the same stuff."
When his teammates heard that, they seemed to be disappointed. They had hoped to obtain something that would help them.
Elo was about to say something else when he suddenly saw a small door in the wall on the other side of the cave.
"Look at that; I think there is a gate. It could be the entrance to the next floor of the dungeon."
When the other saw the door, their eyes lit up with interest. Ella, who had dashed in the door's direction, was the first one to reach it, and the others joined her quickly.
When Ella started speaking, she sounded very excited.
"The door has a small hole in the middle, do you think that's a keyhole?"
Everybody looked at Elo, in which's hand a small metallic key appeared.
"Let's test it out."
When he tried to put the key into the keyhole, a screen popped up.
"Ding"
"You are about to enter the second floor of the dungeon, do you want to proceed?"
Only when Elo agreed in his mind, did the small key finally enter the hole, and a faint "Klick" could be heard.
As soon as Elo started turning the key, the door burst into thousands of little stones and dust, and a bright light blinded them for a few seconds.
When they opened their eyes again, they had been transported to a totally different location.
The walls of the cave were no longer made of orange-brown dirt. The periodically placed torches enlightened a perfectly symmetrical tunnel, which was made out of black stones. Even with the fire of the torches, the whole floor seemed to be freezing.
Behind the team, a white glowing portal had opened.
It looked like they had been transported to one of those medieval western dungeons, where criminals had been imprisoned and tortured.
Even the creature in front of them looked like it had escaped one of those dungeons. It looked like a fat man, but it didn't have a face, and not even one hair seemed to grow on its body.
Instead, there were thousands of small cuts on its body. Elo flinched when the wounds suddenly opened simultaneously, and the creature started roaring loudly.
While Elo took one step back, the others had already prepared for battle. They were all holding their weapons and looked at the enemy attentively.
As soon as the creature took its first slow step towards the group, Ella darted forwards to intercept its path.
When she swung her weapon onto the creature's head, Elo only heard a dull sound. As the fatty tried to punch at her, she evaded with ease.
-"This thing seems to be a real tank, it didn't seem to care if it gets hit, but its also to slow to hit us. But with such a high defense, it will wear us down fast."-
Gorden, Ella, and Lara hit the creature repeatedly, but when it finally died, all of them were panting heavily. It was just like Elo had predicted.
"Ding"
"Damaged Flesh Golem (hard) has been defeated.
The resources are being transferred to the leader of the team."
"You resaved:
-5 spoiled meat
-2 soul gem (rare)"
"Because of the high defense of that golem, you are already out of stamina."
Elo looked at his teammates with care. Gorden, who was almost lying on the floor, answered Elo, trough his breath.
"Yes, you are right. This thing is to tough for now. We need stronger weapons to defeat them without being exhausted for the rest of the day."
"We will have to think about a solution, but for now, let's go back to the camp and take a look at what our new friends have built."