Dungeons Online

The group finally managed to speed up in hopes of adhering to their schedule. 

With the decision to let Tom soak all the mana from the stones in hopes of pushing him to the breakthrough point of a hundredth level, they no longer needed to take short breaks between each of the floors.

Breaks that, although short on their own, quickly started to amount to yet another portion of their lateness. 

"Okay, I'm off for the boss," Tom announced as soon as the group reached the end of the corridor. 

Right now, they were at the endpoint of the fiftieth floor. A single step further, and Tom would have to face the rank-up boss, one that belonged to the class of monsters of the floors above rather than the floors below. 

"Marvin, remember. You only need to take a quick look at it before retreating," Tom reminded his friend about their plan. "While I shouldn't have any problems with it, we are slowly encroaching upon the monsters that might act in a way that exceeds my imagination," he said. 

"Don't worry," Marvin smiled, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes. "I might be a ball of whining, but I'm not stupid," he said, moving his eyes towards the monster standing in the center of the room. 

It was a monster that Tom had never seen before, despite venturing deep and wide into the dungeon. Not in any of his real adventures, nor back when he still used an avatar to explore this place. 

'It looks kinda like a... faun?' he thought, observing every last twitch of the monster before finally releasing a deep sigh. 'Whatever it is, it doesn't change what I need to do,' he thought. 

"Are you ready?" Tom asked, turning his face around to take a look at his friend. 

"Any time," Marvin smiled, bending his knees a little. 

The time when his head was filled with pointless arguments about his skills was long gone. Right now, Marvin was back to his usual, composed self, ready to make the best of his job before doing his even better to run away to safety. 

"Let's go, then," Tom muttered, taking a stride forward. 

Passing through the barrier usually wasn't any special kind of experience. It felt as if a veil of compressed air washed over Tom's skin, and then he would be already in the boss room. 

But this time was different. 

'Wha...' Tom shrugged, feeling as if just by stepping inside, he slammed his entire body into a wall. 

It wasn't stopping his movements. It wasn't something solid.

It was the sheer density of the monster's aura that the faun continued to calmly release that made Tom's entire insides shiver. 

'Just what is this thing,' he thought, his eyes opening up wide. 

"So you have come," the being consisting of furry, goat-like legs and a perfectly human top-half of its body said, looking towards Tom. 

There wasn't a single hint of fear on its face, nor the usual rage. It had the look of a perfectly sentient being, one that was just as aware of its own existence as was Tom, Marvin, or Cleo. 

In other words, it was just as human as they were, outside of not being a human at all. 

"What are you?" Tom asked, fighting off the thrill that urged his body to retreat. It was a sensation he didn't expect to experience anywhere outside of the very bottom floor. 

"Shouldn't you ask who I am instead?" the goat-like person released a small chuckle. "How rude!"

"Fine, my bad," Tom muttered, lowering the center of his weight and grasping his spear tightly. He already had all kinds of spells at the tip of his tongue, ready to engage at the first moment's notice.

"Who are you?" Tom asked, staring down at the monster. 

"I'm Faunaris," the faun bowed gently. 

"Given that you are sentient, are you willing to let me and my group pass?" Tom asked, still hoping for a peaceful resolution of the situation. 

Just from the density of this monster's aura, there was one thing that he had no other choice but to become perfectly aware of. 

Tom didn't have even the slightest chance in a stand-off between the two. 

"I'm sorry, but that's impossible," Faunaris shook its head. "If you want to pass through, you will have to satisfy my curiosity," it said, gracing Tom with a smile. 

"And I can satisfy it by...?" Tom said, leaving his sentence open to turn it into a question. 

"Isn't that obvious?" Faunaris leaned his head over his shoulder. He then waved his hand...

And a sword appeared in it!

'Does it work just like my spear recall?' Tom instantly recognized the ability. After all, he had one that worked in exactly the same way! 'Or is it a sword creation instead?' he asked himself.

"And it will be a fight to the death, I assume," Tom muttered, barely stopping his knees from giving up. 

"Tom..." Marvin suddenly whispered, making Tom's body shiver. 

The Faunaris turned his eyes to the side, looking away from Tom. 

"It's level is..." Marvin attempted to say, only for his words to end up stuck in his throat. 

"Run away," Tom uttered with the utmost struggle, barely capable of speaking with all the oppressive aura around hampering his senses. 

Marvin didn't need any convincing. The thick drops of sweat trickling down Tom's forehead were enough of a reason for him to realize just how desperate the situation was. 

In the end, the dungeon had its moments when it didn't act in a way one would expect it to do.

"...three hundred fifty-seven!" Marvin shouted, jumping to the back in hopes of crossing the barrier before the faun could react. 

"That's wrong," Faunaris smiled with glee. "You missed a thousand at the beginning," it added, showing the whites of its teeth in a wide smile. 

'It's over.' Tom strangely calmed down. 

Faced with a being so overwhelmingly stronger than him, there was no use in panicking. 

'If it wants me dead, I'm dead,' he thought, taking a deep breath despite all the oppressive aura filling the room. 'There is no use asking what does it do at such a low level,' he thought, raising his eyes with curiosity at this strange being. 

"And to answer your question," Faunaris said, moving his eyes back at Tom, "if you fail to satisfy me, then yeah, you will die here," it announced. 

There wasn't even a shred of mercy in this being eyes. Outside of the hint of curiosity and its overbearing confidence, there was nothing in its eyes at all. 

"Just two more questions, then," Tom said, raising his left hand and showing two of his fingers. "First, are you acquittance with the girl at the highest floor of this dungeon? The one with a lizard-like tail?" 

"Oh, you mean Daria?" Faunaris suddenly opened its eyes a little wider, clearly interested in the matter that Tom brought up. "Aquiatanced, yeah. But she is just a dumb kid that his fucker could easily put into guarding this passage," Faunaris scoffed and even rolled its eyes. "Weak, untrained, relying on nothing but her innate power. A black sheep of the draconoid kind," it explained before shaking its handsome face and moving its eyes back at Tom. "And the second question is...?"

"Actually, now I have more questions..." Tom muttered, biting his lips, "but I believe you won't be inclined to answer them. So let's just go with what I originally intended to ask," he said, reaching to his belt and bringing up a small sack. "Would you mind if I power up before our fight a little?"

Faunaris looked at Tom with his eyes filled in surprise. Then it suddenly laughed off, dropping its sword and allowing it to disperse back into the form of free mana. 

"Feel free to power-up however much you like!" it giggled, amused by the sheer audacity of Tom's idea. 

As if leveling up even a bit right now could change the outcome of their fight!

"Give me a moment, then," Tom nodded his head with gratitude, turning around and walking back towards the barrier. 

"Don't even think about it," Faunaris' voice suddenly turned cold. "This barrier can't stop me if I bother to break it," it warned. "There is no use trying to run away, not after you caught my attention," it added. 

"It was never my intention," Tom rolled his eyes as he replied. "Just give me a moment," he added, passing through the barrier back into the middle of his group. 

"LET'S RUN!" Cleo shouted the moment Tom crossed the barrier. To the side, Marvin was retching by the wall, his body unable to withstand the mere presence of Faunaris aura. 

"There is no use," Tom shook his head. In the short time since he encountered the faun, he managed to come to terms with what was about to go down. 

When he entered the dungeon for the first time, he was prepared to pay with his life for doing so. The fact that it would happen later than he initially expected yet way earlier than he wished for... changed nothing. 

Because the world was never kind. It was a misconception those living in the comfort of the cities could have.

'No matter how much the world advances, this simple truth will never change. Run it, dread it, one's death comes all the same,' he thought, steeling his resolve. 

"Little one, I will need you for this one last time," he said, turning towards the slime on Cleo's shoulder. 

The slime turned grey for a moment, showing emotion of this color for the first time. Nonetheless, it then turned green before jumping on Tom's arm. 

With a whip of his hand, Tom threw the bundle of mana stones in the air before piercing the tip of his main spear into the tip of the bag. 

The stones poured down one by one, quickly coated in the slime's liquids. Then, a small limb appeared out of the slime's blob before touching the blade of Tom's spear. 

In an instant, a raging wave of energy rushed inside Tom's flesh, filling his body to the brim. 

All signs of exhaustion vanished from his body. Then, his entire self exploded in pain of the forced growth. 

This was an experience far more dreadful than simply absorbing the stones. It appeared that multiplying the energy came at a cost. 

'It's like the energy turns less efficient if it's more compacted, more acceptable for a human's absorption,' Tom thought, accepting all the pain that came with his growth. 

In a mere instant, the last hurdle before his breakthrough fell apart, adding the third digit to his level. But it didn't end there. 

As if some kind of strange vortex appeared inside his soul, the raging current of mana suddenly started to vanish inside it.

And then it all ended. 

Tom opened his eyes only to look down at his hand. He could tell what happened, but he couldn't believe just how unlucky he had to be. 

'Casino EX?' he thought, tightening his palm into a fist, 'are you for real?'

But as much of a failure his new skill was, there was no escaping the reality.

Tom turned around and walked right back into the room. He didn't bid farewell to his friends, hoping to spare them the needless emotional struggle. 

"One last thing before we begin," Tom said out loud, grasping his spear as hard as he could. 

"Speak freely," Faunaris nodded its head as if respecting the look of determination in Tom's eyes. 

"Whatever the outcome of our fight will be, you won't hurt my friends," Tom announced. He didn't request it but rather put this matter as a fact instead. 

"You have my word," Faunaris nodded its head again before invoking a new sword in its hand. "Shall we go, then?" it asked, lowering its center of weight. 

"Let's begin!" Tom shouted, mirroring the movements of this being before rushing ahead.