"Screeee!"
Damn, I thought I killed the boss! Does that mean that the bosses respawn! Why do the bosses respawn! Well, I supposed it made sense. Monsters were supposed to respawn. In fact, most dungeon divers mine dungeons, so if the resources were finite they'd probably not be terribly successful.
With no slave to hide behind, I could only equip Hero and White Mage and keep my distance. There was one option. I could swap with Celeste. Overall, Celeste was far better at fighting this creature than I was. However, could I really do that to her? Even if I left a note or something, it would be really cruel. Then I recalled seeing her on the floor after being swatted like a bug. If I abandoned her, that could end up being her fate. There was no way I could allow this to happen!
"Ah… damn… Exorcism!" I threw spell out at the Shrieking Wraith, causing it to scream in pain.
The one advantage I had this time, other than a slightly faster strike from some gauntlets, is the tons of waters of life. Operation whittle away the boss, let's begin! Deciding to concentrate on Exorcism, I kept my distance, hitting it with exorcise spells. Drinking waters of life a sip at a time, my regeneration ability was incredible. Damage, mana, and even stamina were recovering as fast as I could drink. This meant I could attack him all day.
"Screeee!"
I felt like I could handle his stun attacks a bit better now too. Furthermore, he didn't have any other special skills that had distance. As long as I kept running back and ducking behind columns, there was nothing this guy could do.
The battle was long and grueling, and I drank probably half of the waters of life during the battle which lasted many hours. I would have collapsed a long time ago without the water, but with it, I felt completely bloated, trudging along with some difficulty.
"Exorcism!" I panted.
The spell hit him one more time, and finally, the Shrieking Wraith collapsed to the ground, dying. He did not drop more fairy queen dust. Instead, he dropped something called Wraithbane. It appeared to be a rare ingredient used in alchemy. I tossed it in my ring and collapsed, taking in deep breaths. The doors both behind me and in front of me opened. It appeared like I could go back up. Now I understood why the library was on the ninth floor. If it was on the tenth floor, I'd have to fight the boss again every time I teleported to it.
As for why the cathedrals of the other dungeon were different, that was a baby dungeon and perhaps things hadn't settled yet. As I got back up to my feet, a voice cried out which caused me to nearly trip.
"M-master!" My eyes shot up in surprise.
"It is Master!" Another voice cried.
Lydia and Miki were already running towards me at full tilt. Both girls looked haggard and like they had been crying. There were splotches of dirt on their faces and various cuts and bruises. It looked like while I was working my way down with Celeste, my girls were fighting desperately on their own too. Lydia even looked like she was limping from an injured ankle. Had the village really let them enter this dungeon on their own.
"Lydia… Miki?" I smiled and then started to turn worried. "Oi… slow down a bit… I'm a bit weak…. W-w-wait!"
Neither girl slowed down, and I was tackled by the combined weight of two small girls. It was an instant KO. Pinned under two girls desperately holding me while crying, well, this wasn't a bad life either.