Feeling the creeping edge of death looming over me, I was still.
The umbra domain that had settled made the chill of snow feel even worse and even crueler.
I found myself shaking. Shaking as if steel had been smacked against fellow steel.
But I was no steel blade.
I was terrified.
And still and internally halted.
The only sound was that of tremoring lightning.
The thick hump of fur that seemed to be a leg was strained fully slowly.
Before I knew it, an odd force sent me gliding backward.
The sight of the Behemoth shrunk in my view for a long second.
Vigar.
Watching as a strong and bulky brown leg implanted itself into the ground, causing an outburst of thunder to crawl from under its foot I frowned.
Would that have been my death?
Vigar's force had swept me off my feet and allowed me to safely land around 10 meters back.
Frila was still in the snow dome.
My thoughts rambled on useless strategies as I found myself gazing at the Black Rose.
The Black Rose had been stuck in a Crolo-Ivarian for a while.
Since most of the Crolo-Ivarians had depleted each other out I might be able to scavenge it.
But I wasn't that fast nor that lucky.
The Behemoth of Thunder had changed its target to Frila.
Her face was sickly blank and the last of her sentence miserably slipped from her tongue.
"Beast-shifter..."
She moved to the back of the snow dome.
Using her legs to push her back as far into the snow wall behind her as possible.
Her face was that of primordial fright.
Unknowing of what to do, I ran.
I searched.
I sprung.
I scavenged.
And then I found, standing straight on the battlefield despite the fall of all else.
The Black Rose.
Pulling it out with newfound strength I turned around so fast that I almost lost my balance.
My eyes glistened with burning water. But I wasn't crying or saddened. But desperate.
Using my stumble as momentum I began madly dashing to the scene of the Thunder Behemoth trampling the snow dome with its left front leg.
As its thunder-coated leg drove itself into the snow-dome, half of the snow fell in an instant.
But from the remains and crumbles of that snow, a hidden danger remained.
As the Thunder Behemoth implanted its arrogant left leg into the rubble of snow from the carefully crafted dome, a minuscule and obsolete black flame proved itself.
Raising and obscuring the leg of the Thunder Behemoth in dark, demonic fire and causing yelps and sudden jerks from all across the body of the Thunder Behemoth I watched in shock.
The entire left leg of the Thunder Behemoth had been engulfed in thick-black flames.
From pure rage, instinct, or maybe even knowledge, the Thunder Behemoth discharged who knew how many millions of volts.
All I knew, was that it was blinding.
Blinding and huge.
The sudden outburst of thunder and lightning caused the swiftly exasperating black flames to be blasted out of the way in an instant.
Their remains stuck to the snow in the surroundings, spraying like bonfires.
The Thunder Behemoth had already recovered from the last defensive line before Frila.
Although a faint red mark had been unhealthily besmirched on its front left leg, it clearly did not affect the Behemoth's combat potential as it threatened to once again smash down with crippling force.
I was still too far of a distance to even scrape its winding tail.
One side-sweep from its bony and wild tail would probably end me.
The most I could do was throw the black rose.
The most I could-.
The Black Rose spun through the air tremendously.
Its piercing force was so deep that no wind obstructed it.
I found myself incapable of keeping up with its momentum and incapable of assisting it.
And so, an underwhelming amount of blood exploded and burst in a tiny bout on the left leg of the Behemoth.
Yelping and screeching, its entire colossal figure jumped.
In that time, nothing really changed.
Only that my hopes depleted.
And that my weapon was gone.
Watching whilst spouting bitter curses I attempted to run for Frila.
But I was too late.
The Beast would make its final move in the next few moments.
How would she pass?
Squashed? Smushed? Trampled?
My figure slowed down.
I wouldn't have made it anyways.
Frila was crouched into a turtle at the end of the snow-dome.
Hopeless.
Wasn't this the time for the hero of the story to come in and save the day-.
Boom.
A snow Geiserburst from the ground violently.
The surroundings shook briefly.
The snow blast caused the scene to be temporarily covered in a foggy white before all the snow met the ground once again like a waterfall.
In the place of the half-demolished snow-dome was Red Dragon.
That's right.
Red Dragon.
All I could hear through the snow storm that soon diminished was a snark and a frustrated yet tired look.
"Took a while."
His voice faded swiftly as his golden eyes soured.
His clothes had been burnt to a crisp, leaving them full of holes and devoid of their royal colours and works.
His entire body looked like grilled meat.
Not the nice kind.
The harshly burnt kind.
He did not look like coal, but like brown veins.
His eyes were scathed and seething through the mess that he was.
He hadn't lost any crucial body parts.
But he was aggravated.
Even more so than the beast.
It was to the point where his body seemed even redder than the burgundy red blade that was stuck in his slippery crimson hands.
He had clearly had a not-so-fun bout with the Thunder Behemoth prior to this arrangement.
He stood with so many emotions coursing through him that one could see suns in his eyes.
The two, being the Thunder Behemoth and the Red Dragon, faced off.
Neither wanted to make the first move, aware of the other's combat prowess.
They had both injured their counterpart thoroughly.
Although the Thunder Behemoth was clearly in a worse state, it had far more endurance and durability up its physical form.
Putting the two on essentially even-ground.
I swiftly assumed that Red Dragon was the one who had previously damaged the Behemoth. The Behemoth shifter. Whatever the damned thing was named.
But this dungeon shouldn't be that vast if we were all reunited this fast.
My thoughts yanked themselves back to the clash.
It was a clash far from the one-sidedness against the Yeti.
Tension had risen so far and wide that even my muscles felt stiff.
The Black Rose remained stuck in the thigh of the Thunder-Behemoth.
Pricking it from time to time.'
I had no place in this clash.
As if the battle was starting to pick up, thunder began to rapidly vent off the Thunder-Behemoth.
Its eyes were enshrouded by radiant lightning.
Red Dragon kept his usual stance, but something was different.
His entire body was tense and contracting.
Ready to unleash a deadly technique or two?
My eyes twitched as I saw a strange red bonfire sprout from him.
It sputtered and yanked at the air around it.
Aura.
He too had aura.
I had predicted as such, but seeing it was the real deal.
It was far denser and strengthened than mine.
It seemed to almost, have a life.
A soul of its own.
In the end, it was powerful.
Choking my thoughts as I was trapped in its power.
I took one last look at Red Dragon.
His charred figure was in full view.
His hair had gone frizzy and wild due to the interference of electrons.
Somewhat eerily, his gold eyes followed every twitch, prick, and pang that exuded from the Behemoth's body.
I found that neither side went for a sneak attack
Rather the Thunder-Behemoth began so loudly and blatantly that it felt as though my eardrums were going to burst.
A volatile, destructive, and deafening orb of swirling thunder formed in the mouth of the Behemoth which was now gaped wide.
Thunder rang out from the orb and formed long strings across the scene.
Red Dragon formed a stance.
Carrying his burgundy-blade to his left with both hands.
It was exemplary flat. Not because it was resting, but because it was being so flawlessly controlled.
Soon, the aura circling Red Dragon's figure slid itself into his blade.
Causing it to become vibrantly and sacredly red.
Red Dragon's form no longer seemed crazy despite the look.
It seemed trained.
Or rather he seemed... like someone else.
The Red Dragon had returned.
I saw no imperfections in the wasted man before me.
Pants rang out to my side.
Frila had sprinted from the scene.
But my eyes were still glued down onto Red Dragon's figure.
His breathing was so refined and polished that you might think that he was on a friendly evening walk.
Compared to the rabid and coarse breaths of the Behemoth, it was like night and day.
Soon the orb within the Behemoth reached it's climax. It filled half of the Behemoth's mouth and caused the Behemoth some breathing struggles momentarily due to it's size.
It had grown so dense and deafening that every other sound became null.
As it charged for one last round, It showcased its pure destructive force.
Harshly scorching the top of the Thunder Behemoth's mouth.
I felt the tension become concrete.
My veins were feeling sapped and dry from everything that was happening.
The sound erupted once more.
Shortly interrupted by a silent boom, I watched as the thunder orb was forcefully propelled toward Red Dragon.
Boom.
The deafening noise got closer to me but most importantly, Red Dragon.
No other sound dared to interrupt or interfere.
No other sound but one.
Shing.
Red Dragon was gone.
A red line covered my vision.
It was red.
That was all I could visualize.
There was nothing particularly special about it.
Maybe it was a bit strange and exorbitant but it was red.
And soon, a wave of red burst from the line. Blood that carried an unholy stench even from my safe distance.
The volatile thunder orb crashed into the snow, tunneling down and never being seen again.
The rupturing sounds vanished with it.
As my ears adjusted to the sound my eyes gripped onto Red Dragon's figure.
His sword was in the same position, but it now wavered and drifted. He had become the same old Red Dragon.
He was behind the Behemoth now, but in a bad position.
Exhausted and fatigued from his last strike which had done good damage, but nothing lethal he could only pant.
I watched in dread as a bony, winding tail crashed in from the left.
My eyes winced.
Boom.
Red Dragon's sublime figure was sent flying through the air.
He caught himself with half a backflip.
As his figure skidded backward his grip on his sword remained phenomenal.
A long trail of snow had been left in his retreat.
His aura had reverted back already, somewhat weaker now.
My thoughts were sent a stray as I noticed a bloody and gruesome mark that had formed on the left of his waist.
It seemed to be affecting his stance.
His vision was blurry. His eyes wavered unconfidently. His reactions weren't there.
I felt like something was wrong.
Why was he acting like that?
He couldn't be out of energy.
Right?
My hopes clung to his now fairly distant figure.
My arm had unknowingly reached out to him.
But it did nothing to stop the mad charge of the Behemoth.
Blood droplets clambered and drooped off the Behemoth's charge.
Staining the snow impermeantly.
The Behemoth's body was soon rampaged by thunder.
The sign of its signature thunder charge. The Charge that almost decimated Frila.
Unfortunately, Red Dragon's mind had still not returned as he stood there numbly.
The most he did was hold his blade out with a somewhat defensive form. All emotion and power had vanished into the air.
His burgundy red-blade was still standing. But his previous power had long fallen to deep depths.
Bzzt.
The Thunder Behemoth reached its peak.
Looking like a thunder-titan it charged on all fours.
IItsthunder neither fizzled nor faltered. But only grew to even more monstrous heights.
My hopes still clung to Red-Dragon.
A deafening shockwave ran out.
My mind's core shook for a second.
Seeing Red Dragon's figure now in the air my mind calmed.
In an instant, the Red Dragon had blocked the sudden after-image of the Thunder-Behemoth.
The difference in power had however, sent him into the air.
He seemed vulnerable.
I tried to ignore this thought but it kept resurfacing.
My hopes finally rose once more as I saw Red Dragon preparing a stance.
This is the part where he dices the enemy in half.
Right?
Wrong.
The Thunder Behemoth soared upwards and in one fell swoop, it dived downwards.
It was all one could see on a canvas of white.
With Red Dragon in its mouth.
I could only watch in distress as its mouth closed grotesquely.
A satisfied gulp from the Behemoth sent my hopes down the drain.
It soon began arrogantly making its way toward us.
The top of its figure inflated.
Pop.
Blood spurted like a fountain as its figure stumbled from side to side, slowly falling and stumbling onto the ground.
A steady and lasting crimson rain storm ensued as the blood hit the ground in unco-ordinated splatters.
Dead. Cold. And most importantly, with a certain man standing above it.
With his burns covered in droopy, bodily fluids and blood Red Dragon coughed and spluttered.
His sword and his form had made it out alive.
I ran over nervously.
"It's you?"
My voice felt out of place in this tale.
But It didn't need a place.
Just a bit of confirmation.
"It's me alright."
Red Dragon let out a loose smile before his back gave in.
His figure rested on the corpse of the behemoth, settling on some freshly warm blood-soaked fur.
Frila soon wandered over nervously.
And the 3 of us were back together.
But what next?
Although such a huge event had happened, I couldn't help but wonder.
Fortunately, Red Dragon seemed to have brung some merit back.
His clearly aching and red-wrung arm flung itself upwards with a mysterious purple orb in hand.
Within the orb was a white sphere.
His voice emerged from beneath the orb.
"This. This is how we get out of here. It points us to the end of this place."
I see.
"Nice. That's... good to know."
My voice followed his calmly.
I looked at our savior in the evening glory satisfied.
So we had a way out.
That was all I needed to know.
I looked over at Red Dragon as his body relaxed and his sunken eyes gave way.
A loose smile curved on my cheeks.
I covered my dishonest emotions and looked at this sight one more time.
Burning it in my mind.
Soon, we would be out.
Out of this place.
Ready for some not-life-leveraging experiences.
I was certainly fine with that.
Ecstatic even.
And then, the stress and emotions knocked me out too.
Until it was just our figures lying, resting, and relieving in the perfect white.
Stained by an unruly red-bleached corpse.
(Dungeon Part coming to a close within the next few chapters.)