"I could've sworn we've passed by this rock before." I said, looking down at the oddly shaped rock.
Steven let out a groan, "so we're lost then. How did we get lost when all we did was go straight?"
"Illusion magic?"
Steven looked over his shoulder at me with a saddened look of realization. One of the monsters here was using illusion magic to prevent us from going any deeper into the lair. There was also the chance that Steven was just bad with directions but even then I was paying attention to our surroundings. Not once did we make any sudden turns so I doubt it was that.
"What should we do then? We can't split up because then we'd get picked off one by one." Steven asked.
"I've got an idea. Stand next to a wall." I ordered, stepping back from the weird rock.
I aimed Genki towards the end of the passage and charged up a beam. When Steven moved himself next to a wall, I fired a beam which crashed into whatever was at the end of the path. If my hunch was correct, I should have destroyed the illusion that kept redirecting us.
"Ohh… I see what you were doing. Nice one." Steven said with an impressed look.
"Hold your compliments until we find out if it actually worked. Thanks though." I said, lowering Genki.
The two of us ran down the hallway at full speed. To our relief, we had finally entered a new area. At the end of the open space was a monster that looked different from the previous ones we were facing earlier. The monster itself still resembled a wolf but had knives in the place of claws. It also didn't seem as mindless as the previous monsters. It looked like it was sitting on some kind of makeshift throne.
"That's gotta be the culprit behind the illusion, right?" Steven asked, readying his spear.
"Maybe. What if that's an illusion too, though?" I asked, raising my guard.
"I am no illusion." The monster said, standing up from its throne.
The monster's claws suddenly increased in size, making what used to be knives more like actual swords. As the monster slowly walked over to us, it scraped its claws against the stone floor, creating a piercing scraping sound that echoed throughout the cave.
"You'll find that I'm not like the monsters you defeated previously." The monster said, revealing he had the voice of a male.
"Oh yeah?" I asked.
I could see the monster smirk at my comment before charging towards us. The monster extended his right arm and thrusted it forward to pierce me in the chest. I quickly swung Genki and deflected the attack and went for an attack of my own. The monster let out a snarl before using his other arm to attack me.
"Woah!" I shouted, quickly sidestepping the attack.
I quickly jumped backwards right as Steven ran past me. He thrusted his spear forward but the monster slammed his weapon into the ground with his right arm. The monster raised his left arm to slash Steven while he was vulnerable but I jumped in between them just in time to block the monster's attack.
The monster's arm was sent upwards from the recoil, causing the monster to briefly lose its balance and create an opening for me and Steven to attack it again. Steven thrusted his spear into the monster's stomach while I pierced his right shoulder.
"I can tell you guys aren't even going all out yet. Looks like I'll be forced to use that then." The monster said while jumping back, creating a large distance between us and him.
The monster retracted his blades and closed his eyes, almost as if he was meditating. Two sword-like blades appeared on the sides of both the monster's arms.
"I call this my Blade Form. My master bestowed onto me the power of the sword and this is the result of the power granted to me!" The monster shouted, laughing confidently.
"That looks kinda dumb. You were cooler with the knife claws." I said with a disappointed look.
"You'll see soon enough that this does much more than just change my appearance."