Chapter 43: Blood petals
On the fifth day since entering the treacherous depths of the dungeon, Mitch and Leya finally cleared the last chamber before confronting the final boss, a driad, a nature elemental.
The chamber’s victory had come at a cost; both warriors bore fresh wounds, Mitch’s armor scratched and dented from days of relentless combat.
Like in the first chamber, when the last of the monsters fell with dying shrieks echoing off stone walls, the entire chamber trembled with an ominous rumble.
Dust cascaded from the ceiling as ancient mechanisms groaned to life, revealing the entrance to the boss chamber, a yawning archway carved with intricate vine patterns that seemed to writhe in the moss’s glowing light.
They didn’t rush forward despite their eagerness. The day was nearly spent, and their bodies demanded rest.
The boss of this tier-two dungeon was known for its ferocity, written clearly in the brochure.
They possessed some intelligence about the boss’s devastating abilities, but reading descriptions of combat maneuvers and experiencing the raw terror of facing them were entirely different matters.
Still, knowledge was armor of its own kind. Understanding what horrors awaited could mean the difference between triumphant victory and becoming another set of bleached bones littering the dungeon floor.
The official guild brochure strongly recommended a full party of six seasoned awakeners for this particular dungeon, but both Mitch and Leya were driven by more than mere coin.
Greed, perhaps, but also an unshakeable confidence in their abilities, confidence that had been hard-earned through countless battles and narrow escapes.
The deeper reason for their partnership lay in Leya’s scarred psyche. She couldn’t bring herself to trust new faces with her life, not yet.
The memory of betrayal still festered like an infected wound deep within her soul. Her former companion, who had abandoned her to die out of greed, made her worry about new faces joining them.