Hello, Birdie here! I’m so sorry for not updating for such a while! It’s the end of term and all the teachers decided to have all tests the same time (BASTARDS)! I will try my best to release more chapters as fast as I can! But for now, here’s one chap for you. Thank you for reading!

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“Attack from it’s blind spot!”

“The belly is softer! Focus your attacks there!”

“It’s charging the poison breath! Stand back!”

Leaping back into safety, I take cover behind a rock, covering my mouth and nose, while the monster, a creature called Toad King, released a large cloud of poison from it’s mouth. Just like the name suggest it looks like giant toad with green leathery skin, big black round eyes and a set of large horns on the top of it’s head.

It’s main attacks are all poison related and while it’s intellegence and wisdom is not that high it makes up for it with its strength and speed. And just like any king it has its loyal subjects, monsters called toadmen. They are humanoid toads dressed in light armor. They are not as strong as the king but still pose a threat when fighting in groups.

The toad king is the second floors boss. We already finished the first floor that didn’t have any final monster. The second and first floor are nearly identical. Both are crowded with trees and animal-related monster. Most monsters we fought have been a mix of wolves, bears and oddly enough; giant squirrels. At first I was reluctant to fight them but after one of them tried to chew off my head I was more than happy to kill them.

The only difference so far is that the second floor contains a large swamp area, in which me are currently fighting. It smells like old egg farts!

We entered the dungeon just some hours ago but because of Philomenas and the others overwhelming strength we finished faster than I had thought we would. Sadly I have so far only gained one level but luckily I’ve also gained two more levels in healing magic, another level in mana lances and one level with the water beam.

Gret and Leo are fighting head on while Philomena and I are attacking from a distance. Bastion, who is an assassin sneaks in and out of shadows, landing critical hits in it’s weak spots. The only thing I can do to help them is cast minor spells, seals and healing magic, but it’s harder to use on humans than golems, maybe because their bodies are more complex?

They really are pros… Compared to them I really am a newbie. I will try my best not to drag them down!

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Five minutes later the Toad King laid twitching on the ground, dead. Around it lays the corpses of the toadmen that died trying to defend it.

“Hell yeah! Victory!” Philomena shouted from on top of the toads head. She was the one that dealt the finishing blow.

“Good job everybody! You all did great work!” Gret said in an excited voice.

“Thank you master” Leo answered in return before returning to clean his swords.

Sigh, they are so used to this. My hands are still shaking. I’ve become more used to fighting but it’s still pretty darn scary! When the toad king released his poison smoke for the first time, oh god that freaked me out!

“Well done mistress, I knew you could do it!” Rowan says, praising me in an excited voice. “I only wish that you would have summoned me during the battle, because I am inorganic its attacks wouldn’t affect me and the fight would have ended sooner”.

((I know but I want to get better in combat. Don’t worry, I will summon you if the situation demands it)) I say. It’s true, what I said. While I can handle myself to a certain extent I am still very vulnarable and unexperienced. I need to get used to fighting and how to defend myself but I can’t do that if Rowan protects me all the time.

I decide to see if there’s anything I can help with.

Bastion have already looted the toadmen corpses off all their valuables but according to him they only had some low level armor and weapons. The only thing of worth they had were their tounges that according to him are quite the delicacy. I don’t wanna try it out to be honest. I also don’t want to be to close to him. Ever since he called me a bird I’ve been avoiding him the best I can. Of course it’s pretty difficult to do so while you at the same time tries to stick together.

When I approached Leo he ignored me. I am preeetty sure he dislike me. I don’t know why but he’s been acting like this ever since we met. I hope we can become friends.

“Mistress, how about you go talk to lady Philomena if you want something to do?” Rowan comments.

((I refuse to talk to Philomena, she is way to fired up! She may not recognize me and attack!))

Sigh, then the only one left is Gret. It’s not that I dislike him or anything! While I was afraid of him in the beginning I realized after a while he is just a big ol’ friendy… Thingy. While he look scary he have a good personality, a fatherly aura and he cares about those around him.

“Oh Ruth!” he exclaims when he sees me. “This was your first boss battle, right? So, what’s your thoughts about it?”

“I-It had good reflexes and defenses but it relied to much on it’s poison attacks. Also, after a while, its moves became predictable” I say.

“So you noticed it too, eh? While I can expect nothing less from the gal that defeated Philomena!”. Grets laughter fills the air and he bumps my shoulder playfully. I blush and pull my hat down over my face. This only causes Gret to laugh more.

“B-b-but she held back you know? If not I would have been dead by now! I... am not really that strong…” I stutter.

Gret stops laughing and becomes silent. He then takes of my hat and stares deeply into my eyes.

“Ruth, I have been in a lot of fights and I’ve seen hundreds of warriors, from every race, young and old, men and women. I’ve stared into the eyes of death and survived. I know strength when I see it. So trust me when I say this; you are strong, stronger than you think. So believe in yourself”.

Gret smiles, pat my head and gives me back my hat before he stands up and walks towards Leon. I just stand there, dumbfounded. Strong? Me? I can feel the blushing on my cheeks spreading and I cover my face with my hair.

… Thank you.

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Ten minutes later we headed down towards the gate, the area that connects the floors together. The gate looks just like the entrance above, one can say it is a gate itself. It’s a safe area, so while in there no monsters will attack you. This particular gate was locatet at the end of the swamp.

“Second floor; DONE, third floor; next up!” Philomena exclaims, grinning as she stares down the starecase leading to the third floor. But before she has the chance to head down Gret grabs her shoulder.

“Hey Phi, while you and I may ne used to fighting for many hours without rest, think about the young ones!” he says, pointing at us with his thumb. “They need a chance to catch their breath!”

For a second Philomena seems completely lost and just stands there, with a confused look on her face, then she starts smiling.

“Haha! But of course! That was my intention all along! I just wanted to test you! Hahahaha!”

Yeah right.

We decided to put our camp in the safe area around the gate. Philomena lighted a fire while me and Gret prepared the sleeping bags. Honestly I could have made the night without it but Philomena urged me to let her buy me one. “You will hurt your back” she said with a pained expression on her face. She learned it first hand I guess.

Hah, but a nap really would hit the spot right now. I don’t know about Leo but for me i’s just like Gret said, I am really freaking exhausted! That toad king really finished me. I don’t think I could even fight a mandrake in this state! I stare at my sleeping bag with a longing gaze. Soon my pretty, soon we will be together…

Hm? What’s that smell? It smells like… Burning cloth?

Oh god. The camp fire.