Play Fair

Yren raised his sword to block, but it was replaced with a steel shield that took the brunt of the damage. He was still knocked back, but Yren held his footing, and his shield changed back to his long sword.

Yren spared a brief second to look over and growled as he caught a glimpse of Mika killing her second Orc. He turned his focus back to the four Orcs that were now trying to circle him.

"Not likely, tusk-face!" Yren yelled as he rushed the closest Orc, switching to a buckler and smacking the heavy fist to the side that was swinging at him.

With a spin under the arm, Yren was behind the Orc and plunged a dagger into the Orc's back. A quick twist of his knife made that one explode into black smoke, dropping more items.

Seeing another one taken down, all three Orcs roared and started to glow red. Yren knew this was an Orcs special move, Rage, and they would be faster and stronger but more reckless.

"Only two left!" Mika called from her side, but Yren ignored her as he focused on the fight.

These monsters were stronger than him, and one direct hit from one of them like this could nearly kill Yren. The first two went down easy, but the next three would be much more challenging.

They all rushed Yren at once, and the dagger became a long spear. Yren planted the butt of the spear in the ground and skewered the first Orc, but the second rushed through the smoke, avoiding the spear.

"Hot Step!" Yren yelled out and teleported to the left, leaving a burning after image that the Orc ran into.

The creature briefly caught ablaze, but that only served to make it angrier as it rushed Yren. The third Orc was now rushing Yren with hands forward to grab his spear.

Yren grinned and extended the spear for the Orc to try and grab, but he changed it to a rapier at the last second. With a fast and fierce strike, Yren removed the head of the Orc before it could react, and it burst into black smoke.

Mika was still working on her last two, but she was having trouble closing the gap with her short-ranged attack. Yren wasted no time; switching back to a long sword, he rushed the final Orc.

"You're such a cheater!" Mika screamed, but Yren ignored her and darted between two fists to plunge his sword deep into the chest of the Orc.

The creature tried to scream out, but Yren didn't stop moving and spun to the side, ripping out his blade, which was now a short sword. Yren changed the length, so it didn't get caught in the creature's body.

The move Yren did was precarious because a monster can be the deadliest in its final death throes, but the weapon had given him confidence. The moment the creature burst into smoke, the barrier that divided the room vanished, and the last Orc burst into smoke on Mika's side.

Mika turned on Yren with eyes filled with rage, and Yren gulped. It wasn't like he had ever used this weapon before, but it felt like an old friend in his hands.

"You are such a cheater! Why can't you just play fair?!" Mika complained, but Yren was distracted.

[Dungeon room 2 floor 1 Completed!]

[Were-Rabbit Defeated: Special bonus for Non-combat victory!]

[Items Recovered: 6x Orc Tusk, 8x Orc Hide, 1x Strength Jewel]

Pulling out his license, Yren swiped over to his inventory, and the items were there. Yren closed the windows and turned to Mika, who still looked unimpressed.

"This was my first time using this weapon, but the fact that I can change it at will makes it good for me. I have studied and trained with many weapons, so having the right one for every situation is a bit of a dream! I mean, all the weapons are normal common weapons, so against stronger monsters, it isn't likely to do that much damage," Yren explained, but that didn't seem to placate Mika.

"Whatever, you're still a cheater, and I will think of the next game that you can't win at!" Mika declared, and Yren nodded.

"Good, That was a fun challenge, but it was pretty scary. Those monsters could have almost killed me in one hit!" Yren said in an uneasy voice, but Mika laughed.

"That is half the fun, right? And you didn't look very scared to me! I thought you would have freaked out like last time when you first met me!" Mika teased Yren, but he nodded.

"Yeah, but I didn't have a weapon the first time. I can't say that I would have reacted the same way with a normal sword. I don't think that I could have beat you, let alone all of them without taking damage," Yren said thoughtfully, but Mika groaned.

"Whatever, it's not like I want you to die, so you should use the weapon! I just don't like that you always seem to have the advantage!" Mika complained, but that made Yren smile.

His whole life Yren had been taught that monsters were vicious and unthinking, but this one was worried about him. Even though he knew that he was part Dungeon, whatever that meant, the experience made him think too much.

"Thanks, but now what? Do you know what the next room is going to be?" Yren asked as he looked over at the doorway that had appeared on the far side of the room.

That hadn't been there before both times Yren had entered the room. This gave Yren pause, and he was curious about something.

"Blastern is the next monster you will face, but he is pretty nice," Mika explained, but Yren pointed at the new doorway.

"Why did that show up this time but not last night?" Yren asked because the door should have appeared both times.

"Defeating us like this will require you to do more than one quest to proceed. Every monster is different, and some of them only take on quests. Those are usually tough monsters or Dungeon bosses," Mika explained, and Yren nodded, turning to the doorway that would lead deeper into the Dungeon.