Letting out a high-pitched squeak as if it were offended by Dax's words, the giant rat monster gets down into a block start. Briskly turning to Dax, ready to jump toward him to push him out of the way, I'm barely able to stop myself when I see that he's already jumping out of the way.
With his legs flung out in the air, I watch a furry figure blur past me, slamming itself into the wall.
With the room shaking violently, I search frantically for Dax. It was only when I heard the giant rat monster let out a groan that I turned to look at it.
Standing beside the said monster was Dax, his fist outstretched towards the head of the toppling monster.
Falling to one knee, the monster shakes its head vigorously, trying to gain some semblance of real consciousness again. Stepping towards the monster, Dax whips his other fist around, slamming it directly into the skull of the giant rat monster.
Leaning backward after the heavy blow, it looked for a moment that the boss was completely falling, but at the last moment, it brought itself forward. With its bones cracking as it corrects itself, the giant rat monster prepared to stand. But to greet him were the relentless heavy blows Dax delivered.
Striking mainly at its head, the monster's body went limp. The monster tried to fall to the side, but Dax would grab it by the head, reset it, and then strike it a bit more. During his strikes, Dax suddenly halted and held out two of his fingers.
Plunging them directly into the eyes of the monster, Dax managed to get a violent reaction out of the dying monster. Letting out a pained screech, the giant rat monster brought its muscled arms up, trying to protect its already gouged-out eyes. It was while the giant rat monster brought its arms up to its head that it struck its arms out slightly, trying to push Dax away.
But what looked like a love tap from my perspective, sent Dax crashing into the closest wall.
Coughing out a mouthful of blood as his back struck, Dax coughed painfully, "Finish the job, Edwin!"
Struck by his words, I held my sword close to my body, slowly turning my head to recovering rat monster.
Taking a shaky step forward, I can't help but scream to myself, 'Why am I hesitating so much?!'
The problem lies with Dax. He made my life so comfortable while climbing that my previous wimpy demeanor returned. I didn't want to kill anything if I was paired with someone who had the ability to protect me and kill every problem that show up.
"Edwin!! I swear to God!! KILL IT!!" Dax shouts angrily, trying to collect himself.
Taking another shaky step forward, I lift my sword above my head, ready to strike down. Letting out a shout, the monster looks at me with its black beady eyes and I find myself having stopped my stroke of the blade just moments before I struck the skin of the rat.
With tears forming in my eyes, I stumbled away from the giant rat monster. "I can't…" I fall to my knees, "I can't do it."
Laughing at my own incompetence, the rat monster was finally able to collect itself.
"Dam*it Edwin!!" Dax had finally recovered, positioning himself in a fighting stance.
The rat monster stood there, however, unbothered and cracking its neck. Raising both hands above its head, the monster grapples at a stalactite, its muscles bulging as it tries to rip it from the ceiling.
Rushing forward at seeing it so exposed, Dax starts to punch its abdomen with all the strength he could muster. He even threw in a few kicks here and there, but no matter what he did, the monster didn't even budge slightly. In fact, the monster was so uninterested in the actual love taps that Dax gave it, that it just kept trying to tear the stalactite from the ceiling.
With the longest screech it produced till now, the stalactite finally came free, giving the giant rat monster a blunt weapon.
Staring down at Dax, the monster wound its arms back, ready to swing forward with all its might.
At a speed barely visible to the naked eye, the monster swung over the ducking Dax. Causing the water to fly up behind the swing, a dry cone of land was revealed for a split moment.
Staring down at the cowering Dax, the monster tilts its head in confusion, wondering how it missed. Letting out a soft squeak, the monster simply brought its impromptu club above its head.
Seeing that his death was imminent if he didn't move, Dax dove to what could possibly be the only safe place, under the legs of the monster. Using the legs of the monster to leverage himself, Dax pushes himself as far away from the monster as he possibly could. And it was a good thing he did.
The monster, swinging hurriedly, swung beneath its pelvis, causing the land directly in front of it and behind it to become revealed. Dax had gotten extremely lucky in how far he traveled because had he been closer, he would've lost both of his legs.
The monster, however, was not as lucky. Not being able to control the strength of its downward swing, the monster swung the stalactite straight into where its reproductive organs would be. Releasing its grasp on its impromptu club, the monster slowly grips at whatever lay beneath its cloth.
Whimpering, the monster fell to its knees, its chin resting against its torso.
Seeing it vulnerable, Dax scrambled to stand and then proceeded to stomp his way over to me. Slapping my face, I nearly fell into the water if it weren't for Dax holding the pommel of my sword. Gripping my shoulder hard enough to feel like it was about to break, I let out whimpers of my own.
Pushing me away harshly, I fell away, my sword still firmly locked in the grasp of Dax.
Stalking his way back to the monster without sparing me a second glance, Dax swiftly executes the rat monster. With the blade striking true against the neck of the monster, I watched as Dax started to slowly saw his way through. The giant rat monster had already died even before its head had come completely come off.
Kicking the monster forward, it fell without resistance into the water that was now stained red with its blood. Finally glancing at me who was still foolishly seated in the water, Dax huffed angrily.
Dropping my sword right down next to the corpse, Dax marched his way into the proceeding restorative floor, not bothering to help me.
Swallowing hard, I snap my vision away from the birch door, desperately searching for my sword in the water to distract myself. Getting myself down on all fours, I carefully touch the area where Dax dropped my sword. Feeling the touch of cold metal, I reel my hand back before diving back in and recovering my sword. With my sword now recovered, I bow my head down deep to the monster, low enough that the tips of my hair got bathed in the bloody water.
Standing up with water dripping down onto my face, I follow Dax.
Getting greeted by a site precisely the same as the one after the boss on floor ten, I desperately search for Dax. However, there was no need to search for him long. With the sounds of rocks crunching behind me, I whip around just in time for Dax to grab at my collar and slam me into the just-closed door.
Staring deep into my eyes, I could see that Dax was desperately holding himself back from pummeling me into a bloody mess.
"You're a bast*rd, you know that?!" Dax huffed heatedly, "You almost killed BOTH of us just~ because you wanted to uphold your f*cking moral compass!"
Biting my bottom lip hard, I find myself unable to meet Dax in the eye.
"I gave you the change to get the revenge you deserved!" Dax let my collar go and started to pace back and forth in front of me, "But what do I get in return… Oh, that's right, I nearly get KILLED!"
Stepping right back up to me, Dax harshly pokes his finger between the gaps in my eyebrows.
"Do you have ANY idea how scared I was?!" I flinch. "I thought… I thought that you'd be reliable enough… but… I guess not…" Dax's voice starts to turn mute.
"I'm…"
Dax quickly hushes me, "I'll give you the next ten minutes… If you're not gone by then… Well, I'm sure you can guess what'll happen."
"But… what about your promise to train me?"
The look on Dax's face nearly shattered my soul as it was one of such pure disgust and hate.
"You really have the nerve to ask about training after everything that happened." Dax had to calm himself with deep breaths, but it proved unsuccessful, "F*ck you! WE survived because of luck and because of MY own competence! You disgust me, Edwin! GET OUT!!"
Pointing towards the stairs that were visible even from here, I try to find some way to salvage the situation. There's no way I'd survive if I went to the higher floors, I needed someone to train me… I needed Dax to train me…
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I tried multiple times and failed to come up with something.
Knowing I didn't have a chance anymore, I started to trudge to the door, my footfalls heavy.
"Hey, Edwin…" I turn to Dax, my hopes skyrocketing but soon after, they plummeted right back down with Dax's next words, "Don't find me when you reset… Even if I don't know you… Don't you dare rope me into something like this ever again…"
"But what if I can stop something like this from ever happening again?" I can't help it.
Making a strained expression, Dax rolled his eyes, "Then… and only then… do I give you permission. But I highly doubt that'll ever happen."
Dropping my head in understanding, I despairingly make my way to the next floor, Dax's eyes punching through me the entire way. At the top of the stairway, I couldn't stop myself from turning back and staring at where Dax stood.
"I'm sorry…"
With the familiar feeling of nausea hitting me, I feel myself splash and then sink after entering the next floor. With a myriad of emotions running through my mind, it only hit me a few seconds later that I hadn't stopped sinking.
Looking down, I stare at muddy water with my feet most presumably stuck in the mud.
Trying to drag my legs out, I find it incredibly difficult to do so. Only after a few minutes of effort am I able to stand near the top of the probably endlessly deep mud. Looking around while walking in circles (to prevent myself from getting stuck again), a see a few sparse bald cypress trees with knee roots above the waterline.
Finding it a miracle that I hadn't been attacked by a monster yet, I find myself frozen when a ripple in the water starts to move toward me.
Without a second thought, I turned away from the ripple and desperately tried to run away. But with the mud smothering my movements, I soon realized it was useless.
Turning back to the ripple, it inches ever closer until it suddenly stops. Slowly, I watch as the monster appears from the muddy water. The first thing revealed was a long, algae-covered shell with three distinctive rows of spikes and raised plates. Lifting its head from the water, it revealed its beak-like mouth and flabby neck. Its skin was a brownish color.
Letting out a clicking sound, the monster's neck began to extend outwards revealing its staggeringly long length of around six feet. Letting out a few more clicks, the neck of the monster retracts, once again giving it a flabby appearance.
"It looks slow… maybe I can handle it…" I nod to myself, not knowing the absolute horror that I'd soon be put through.