Iris was flabbergasted. Her mouth was open, and her body trembled.
"What kind of entity could defy the law of respawn?" Iris muttered.
She rummaged around the corpses scattered everywhere within that chamber. Arlo looked as clueless as I was.
"What's wrong?" He asked the librarian.
Iris was too busy inspecting the dead furry creatures. They looked like giant, strong monkeys with reddish-black skin, covered in thick hair all over their bodies. Their fangs were as big as an adult's arms.
"No, this shouldn't be possible…" Iris kept on muttering out of surprise.
Arlo tapped Iris's shoulder to gain her attention, "Tell us what's wrong, please?"
Iris gazed at Arlo with her anxious, emerald eyes. She rubbed her chin and sighed,
"Dungeon monsters don't just die. They will never actually die because of a certain law. Dungeon monsters will always spawn again. But, as you can see…"
She pointed at the corpses, "There is no alive monster here."
"What?" Arlo looked puzzled.
"And there are a lot of monster corpses. Could it be that…" Iris paused as she was pondering.
"My hypothesis is, the genderuwo got slayed every time it respawned. Until it couldn't respawn anymore."
"These monsters are called genderuwo?" Arlo asked.
"Mhm, and a genderuwo could kill a party of 10 easily. It's not easy to kill a genderuwo." She answered.
"I don't really know what happened here. I think it's better for us to hurry," her voice was resolute.
Then we continued our journey. We exited the chamber by turning right. Then, we walked down a hallway for a long time until we could see a light emerge at the end of it.
"We're close to exiting this dungeon. Anyone need rest?" Iris stopped walking and asked us.
I wanted to nod and admit my exhaustion. But, I didn't want to burden them. Arlo looked at me,
"Are you tired?"
"Not really," I shook my head.
Then we continued walking. It took us some time to reach the exit. By the time we reached the exit, my legs were left sore.
But, I continued on, trailing Iris wherever she was leading me to.
"The moon temple is near. We'll just go from here to the west."
I couldn't bear the idea of walking anymore. I wanted to complain; I really wanted to. I was just a weakling, after all.
Iris whistled and shouted a name, "Nugget!"
Then, a fluffy creature ran towards us, a wolf as big as a mansion. I remember feeling scared because of the size of the fenrir.
I couldn't deny that the fenrir looked elegant despite its intimidating size. Its white furs looked as delicate as cotton.
It sat in front of us and bowed its head. Iris patted its head and talked to the Fenrir, "Please take us all to the moon temple."
It sat itself on the ground after hearing Iris's words.
"Let's go," Iris climbed the back of the fenrir.
We followed her and sat ourselves on the fenrir's back. It was such a comfortable place to sit; its fur was so clean and soft.
"Hold tight!" Iris said.
I immediately held on to Iris. Arlo was behind me, but I think he was holding on to the fenrir. Because I couldn't feel his hands on me.
"Go, Nugget."
The fenrir ran with the speed of light, immediately teleporting us to the destination. I could feel the world spinning too fast, and my stomach got upset.
"We're here," Iris informed us.
It was too much for me to handle. So, I got off the fenrir as soon as it sat itself on the ground and puked.
Arlo and Iris soon followed. The fenrir bowed its head, asking for some pats on the head. Iris patted its head and said,
"Now, stay here and wait for me. Okay?"
The fenrir's tail wiggled, indicating happiness. Iris then pointed at the huge steel gate in front of us,
"This is the moon temple."
As Arlo looked at the gate, I couldn't help but notice his nervousness. I think he was as scared as I was.
"Mateo, let me in. I brought some important news," Iris shouted, breaking the silence.
"Mateo! Mateo! Just open the gate already!"
She sighed and punched the air out of stress.
"Mateo, come on!"
All of a sudden, the gate opened mysteriously. Iris went in first, and then Arlo and I trailed along.
I could see a ruined garden. Petals of flowers scattered on the ground, and the flowers, along with other plants, were in a state of chaos.
A statue of a woman stood at the center of the garden, also in ruins.
"Damn, what happened here?" Iris chirped.
Then, she entered a building in front of us. Me and Arlo trailed along with her.
The building was ancient and made out of stone. Moss grew everywhere inside that building. But, what was shocking wasn't that.
I could see a tall girl with a tomboy short hair standing. Her sword was dirty with blood, and her demeanor was cold.
Her black hair was shining gracefully along with her black pair of eyes.
On the ground lay the lifeless bodies of humans dressed in robes. The scenery was pure horror, my feet were struggling to support the weight of my body.
"What did you do to them? Who are you?!" Iris shouted at her.