Fulfilling Conditions

As the succubus stood there petrified from the basilisk acid and Sophia and Zain's mother blinked a few times before turning to face Zain. Their jaws literally dropped out of shock with their eyes as wide as you could imagine. There was a moment of silence all around before his mother spoke.

"Did you think before you did that?" was the question his mother practically yelled at him.

"Yes, I did, did you want to be hit with the magic that it had building in its hand? Have you ever known me to craft something that I would use in such a situation that would allow splash back?" Zain retorted, getting heated for trying to keep everyone as safe as possible and then getting ostracized by his own mother.

"No, but if something that reckless is going to happen then a little more heads up would be nice." His mother was just angry at this point, and he saw it was going to go nowhere fast.

Zain, realizing the predicament he was in, just shrugged to her and started searching for the exit to the next floor. Sophia came beside him and started helping him search as if they had been in this dungeon for who knew how long. They had been underground since they entered. The time was starting to get distorted, and it can be very disorienting to deal with.

After making their way to the outer wall near the back of the chamber, Sophia asked Zain the only question she could think of that would explain his actions. "Why didn't you use your gun?"

This question hit him hard as it was a question that he had expected his mother to ask, but knowing where the curiosity was coming from, he answered anyways. "You two were in the shot and I didn't want to risk a ricochet hitting either of you."

Sophia, seeming accepting of this answer nodded and continued in the search for the door. The search continued for a bit while they also recovered from the previous floors. As they scoured every inch of the floor and walls looking for an exit of this floor, something came across Zain's memories before the continued.

"So, does anyone know what usually classifies as defeating a floor boss? This is my first dungeon after all." Zain's words echoed through the Floor boss's room reverberating through everyone's head.

"Usually death constitutes their defeat." Sophia responded calmly.

"And petrification is not usually classified as dying, correct?" Zain asked, trying to figure out why they still hadn't found the way out of the room.

"Normally it is classified as a suspension as you can't regain mana for spells while petrified, but it is curable and sometimes even goes away naturally for those who are resistant to magical poisons or have enough mana left to fight it." His mother was confused at the questions thus far.

Zain pulled out his five shot revolver and walked over to the succubus who was standing there in the same pose as she was turned to stone in. Every detail of her was just as she was the moment she had been turned to stone.

A basilisk was no joke, and their petrification was known widely as one to be feared. Zain had merely found an adventurer who had happened to kill one and paid what the guild would for one of its fangs from the head on a whim none the less, good thing it came in handy.

These memories circled his mind as he made his way up to the succubus who was still stoney and silent. He placed the barrel on her head, closed his eyes and murmured "The silent type till the end. I guess you really were fighting with all you had."

As he finished speaking, the stone around the spell that was about to hit Sophia when Zain turned this ting to stone started cracking the stoney structure around it. Zain looked and saw the cracks spreading and it was reaching the head, so he let off two shots. One quickened the cracking which was starting on the head, and the second one penetrated the first causing the sculpted face to cave in on itself, starting the crumbling of the whole statue as he walked away to continue looking for the exit.

As he walked off from the statue, along the wall opposite the entrance they came through, another doorway appeared. Zain tilted his head a little confused as it had not been this easy on the other floors.

Was this a trick or did the dungeon feel some sort of pity for the rag tag group that came along with him? Either way Zain was on full guard as he approached the door. He looked through and saw darkness.

Looking over to Sophia he asked genuinely curiously "Can you produce light?"

"Yes, I can. But is it a good idea to keep going at this pace?" Sophia asked, worrying about everyone's vigor and stamina.

Zain was silent for a moment the responded in a calm collected voice "I wish to know what lies ahead of us. I wish we were more prepared. We need to conserve resources where we can, and we need to preserve stamina and strength where we can, but this is not a situation where we can sit idly by waiting for reinforcements." Zain paused to take a breath as he felt his temperament dropping rapidly then continued, "We were told three days after we entered here that the dungeon killers would be here. That's all of three days for us to clear this dungeon. I don't know how much time has actually passed here, but we are only on floor three of who knows how many."

"This is why I am asking. We don't know what lies ahead and we don't know how many floors there are. Normally, a dungeon consists of a labyrinth with puzzles and traps with a dungeon boss guarding the dungeon core. If you beat the boss, you might gain recognition from the core to enter and then you can literally kill the dungeon." Sophia explained to Zain trying to be rational.

"Okay then, what do you propose?" Zain asked almost rhetorically.

"I don't know" Sophia responded, trying to maintain composure.

Zain turned to face the other three "So if anyone needs a break at the moment please speak up. I want us out of here and back topside as soon as possible."

No one responded to this. Zain proceeded to take a torch off of the wall and started through the doorway followed by the rest of the group.