He froze, the beasts froze. An intruder suddenly showed up, out of the blue. The beasts were a bit skeptical of him at first, but when they felt the magic emanating from him was weaker, they growled at him and gazed at him with murderous looks.
Although, they couldn't wait to pounce on him, but they waited for the Chimera to make a move first. And sure enough, it fired a ball of flames towards Lucian.
He ducked, dodging the attack, but now without getting a sear on his side. The light armor he wore did not even last one attack.
"Crap!" He quickly scanned the environment before making one last ditch attempt.
"Seems like they need this soul orb to increase their abilities or something like that. They won't necessarily attack it. Let's try this."
He suddenly twisted his foot and ran towards the orb instead. Immediately the beasts saw this, his intentions were obvious. They ignored the Chimera's opinion and dashed towards Lucian.
"F*uck!"
He increased his pace and kept running towards the orb. A shadow wolf pounced on him from the side opening its maw. He stretched out his hand and sent a ball of fire into its mouth. It whimpered softly before another fireball smashed into its head again, killing it on the spot.
He was almost at the orb; 5 more steps and he'll be in range. The pulsating energy of the orb felt cool against his skin. Like all his pores were being opened and the impurities in his soul was being cleansed.
*ROAR!*
The chimera leapt towards Lucian; its serpentine tail lunged towards Lucian just as he reached to grab the orb.
>>You have discovered Xoth'kara's Maw<<
>>Do you wish to enter the Instance Dungeon?<<
Faster than he could even think, he accepted the request. He'd rather be anywhere in the world than in the maw of the Chimera. His vision suddenly became hazy as he faded out of the Forest of Misery.
The Chimera's tail bit into the hard floor. Now that its precious possession had been stolen, it went on a rampage.
—————
Lucian opened his eyes, the air was damp, water was dripping from stalactites. It looked nothing like the forest he was once in. He took a look around; it was a cave, and whatever beast was living here... it was not to be trifled. The cave was about 5-6 times an adult human's length. It was dimly lit, so it was hard to tell how far the passage goes for. As if responding to his confusion, a system message came up;
>>Quest Received<<
>>Trial of the Dragon's Forge<<
>>Objective: Retrieve the Dragon's Ember from the Forge<<
The moment the quest came up, the torches on both sides of the wall lighted up far ahead, deeper into the dungeon.
He tensed up, his hand resting atop the sheath of his blade, his senses heightening in apprehension. He followed the trail led by the torches, the cold stone floor echoing with each footstep. As he approached the end of the passage, he could see a large door inscribed with runes of flames. As he got closer to the door, the temperature rose dramatically. Heat waves distorted the air, and the low rumble of distant flames echoed through the corridor. A quest prompt immediately appeared before him;
>>Navigate the Trial of Flames and escape unscathed<<
"Why does life have to be this hard? The heat is already this bad from outside. How insane would it be if I stepped through the door."
Sighing one last time, he pushed open the door. Entering the chamber, a wave of intense heat, hit him like a physical force.
>>You're experiencing unbearable heat. Stamina -25%<<