Chapter Nine: The Elders

"That last battle was intense!" Wundah can hardly see ahead, but glowing insects light the pathway. They've been walking for some time, but have yet to encounter any monsters. The cavern is endless.

"Yeah we had such great teamwork!" Lawa is smiling again, alive on the inside.

She chuckles as Wundah walks in front of her, she notices her footprint on his back and dusts it off, "Was it still there?" Wundah is laughing.

"Yeah sorry!" The cavern opens up, the ceiling is really high up, sunlight pokes through cracks above.

"This place looks really familiar." Wundah notices a towering rock formation, "Oh no." He unsheathes his sword.

"What is it?" Lawa unsheathes her sword.

"Daza!" Wundah sprints towards the formation as a giant snake-like chinese dragon with arms climbs to the top of the formation, letting out a loud roar. The two Adventurers climb its body to the head as it charges a blast, but they shove their swords in its eyes. The Daza sways back and forth, roaring in pain as they hack at its neck, slowly cutting the head off. The body crashes down and begins to wiggle as its head falls to the floor.

"Well that was anticlimactic to say the least." Lawa chuckles while sheathing her sword.

"We did just fight a boss raid by ourselves, and the monsters can't do anything if we blind and chop off their heads, plus we're badasses!" Wundah sheathes his sword as items appear in their inventory.

"That's pretty true, well let's keep going." Lawa walks through the opening, "Shit."

"What is it?" Wundah walks out, the moon is shining brightly in the sky. The landscape is in ruin, black tar covers the floor, a red sad smiley face towers up above, "Shit." Wundah unsheathes his sword.

The two begin to sprint as a beam of fire is shot at them, "Fuck!" They both dive as the molten tar from the beam explodes, sending a shockwave of heat, "A Gorza! A fucking Gorza!"

"We got this!" Lawa holds out her fist as she unsheathes her sword, staring at the black titan of a dragon that towers high above them.

"Hell yeah!" Wundah smiles, bumping her fist. They sprint in two different directions.

The Gorza still recovering from the blast, whips its tail at Lawa, who easily dodges it, the tail sparking the tar on the floor. Wundah slashes its front claw as Lawa runs up the tail towards its back. It flaps its wings and shoots fiery hot tar over the landscape, Wundah is surrounded by glowing hot tar that is about to explode at any second, "Wundah!" She quickly presses buttons on her inventory and as the tar explodes she pops a pill in her mouth. Wundah is covered in dirt by the explosion, the hole he dug protected him from the blast, but he's confused on how he survived with no damage, "I used the only Healing Pill I could make!" Lawa screams, climbing her way up the Gorza who lands back on the floor, trying to shake her off.

"I owe you one!" Wundah screams, rushing back into battle.

"We're a team! You owe me nothing!" She chuckles as she reaches the back of its neck, she viciously slices at it until she can see bone, then she slices even harder. The Gorza roars in agony until its head falls to the floor and its body goes limp. Items appear in their inventory.

"Let's hurry, I'm sure we’re running out of time!" Wundah screams while eating a Stamina Pill.

"Okay!" Lawa eats a Stamina Pill and they sprint across the tar-filled landscape to the towering lava-filled cavern ahead. They rush through the entrance in hopes that they aren't too late to save their friend, in hopes that everything will turn out fine, that they could share tales of what it took to get this far.