My hands were Itching to begin this dungeon crawl, but beside me Alex was still freaking out. I sighed as I holstered my pistols and grabbed the sides of her face. I pressed my lips against her, which stopped her ravings. Her body instantly relaxed as I wrapped my arms around her.
I slowly stopped kissing her as a softly whispered. "It's going to be fine. The dungeon wouldn't have sent us here if we couldn't handle it. After all I'm one of those crazy bastards who hunted Velocinids. And I did it all by myself."
She nodded as she listened, and grew more resolved.
"Besides" I said "They are way easier than those damn Rosethorn Constrictors."
"You fought a Rosethorn!?!"
"Of course, where else would I have gotten my cloak."
Of course, she didn't know that neither fight had been easy, nor that I had won by sheer luck. But this time I was not alone, so the fighting should be much easier.
.
.
.
As I traveled in stealth, I could hear deep breathing coming from behind me. I found it kind of ironic that a cat girl had no talent with stealth missions and could not help but shake my head.
The farther I traveled in the darker it got. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, it simply reminded of my cave. It did not take long before I encountered an enemy. It was a rather small winged creature. It reminded me of if a fairy had bread with a goblin. It was small, and uglier than the backside of a Sudiopus.
[Sudiopus]
An aquatic beast that lives in the deep ocean absent of any light. It is known both for its ugliness. And it's delicious taste.
I could see an aura of darkness that surrounded it, sucking in anything that was not darkness. My Bestiary once again proved its resourcefulness as it gave me a summary of the beast.
[Light-Stealing Imp]
A twice evolved Beast aligned with darkness magic. They have a mischievous nature, and like to desecrate areas that were once considered Holy. They are weak to Holy magic, and are extremely fast.
Once I had retrieved the information I returned to Alex's side. As a cat girl she naturally possessed the ability to see in the dark, but as I was stealth my sudden arrival caused her to jump. She slapped me as I laughed at her, but soon calmed down when I told her or the beast I saw.
"A light-stealing Imp? that means we must be in a church that has fallen to the beast tides. We could literally be anywhere in the world. We are fortunate though, as a twice evolved beast the beasts give a lot of experience, but they are relatively weak. Their biggest strengths are their speed and the ability to steal the light causing their enemies to fight in the dark. Both of which we can counter. Perhaps the Dungeon truly does know what it's doing."
She traveled with more confidence as she led the way to the beast. I followed behind, staying in steal to strike at an opportune time. The imp soon noticed Alex's presence as it dashed forward at an incredible speed. Alex was able to counter attack thanks to her [Hammer Time] ability, swatting it towards the wall with her mallet.
The beast splattered against the side, but its body quickly reformed. Our surroundings grew a little lighter as the Imp reformed. Before it could recover Alex was in front of it again, her maul striking the imp again and again. Each hit caused the room to grow lighter.
Eventually the imp stopped reforming, and its body disappeared in a pixilated fluster of energy. Nothing dropped, and there was no notice from the system. Alex looked at me as I thought about it and answered. "We only get rewarded at the end. The more floors we clear the better our rewards will be. Let's keep going."
The first room was the easiest. It only had a single Imp. When it was killed light had returned to the room. Once again, a slight holy presence could be felt. The presence soon gave me a headache so I did not linger in the room. but from the way Alex knelt I could see that it was beneficial for her and did not rush her.
Less than five minutes later she joined me in the hall to the next room. It was long enough for our eyes to once against adjust to the darkness. The next room contained two of the imps. This time we attacked together; the Imps were easily suppressed by our combined attacks. And the room once again was purified with holy energy. The scene from before repeated and I used the time to Investigate the third room.
The third room had four imps, which would make the process much harder. When I returned Alex was already ready to go. I discussed with her for a moment before we quickly came up with a strategy.
The strategy was rather unique, most people would have thought we were mad for attempting it. I Entered the room alone, my guns blazing as I began to die orb after orb at all of the imps. They began their mad dash towards me, but I easily dodged between their fast strikes. When I had successfully annoyed the imps, enough Alex rushed into the room. The imps noticed her, but were too caught up with attacking me to care. When she swatted the first imp it took some pressure off me and I was once again able to fire my pistols at the imps.
Like this we slowly proceeded through 3 more rooms and finally cleared the first floor of the dungeon.