Three days have passed since Aurora and Rejoke entered the dungeon. This time was measured using the day and night cycle inside the dungeon itself.
Not much has transpired in the three days the two have spent here. They've encountered a lot of monsters, killing some for food and ignoring any others.
Most of the monsters here were similar in power to the monsters outside, averaging around level 5 of the first rank. And due to their low levels, they served no purpose to neither Aurora nor Rejoke.
No exp, no items, only good for food and maybe as fuel for the flame of conversion. But even then, the crystals that her skill would give her would probably all be simple ice crystals, something that she had little use for.
'Even the yeti back then only gave me a simple crystal. The only time I got something higher was from those tigers, and there were like seventy of them.' Aurora thought, her eyes looking forward but clearly unfocused.
During these three days, basically all that they've been doing was walking, running, and sometimes hunting. The dungeon was big—way too big. It took then three days of walking to find one end of it.
A few hours ago, they finally managed to reach the edge of the dungeon. Enclosed by a high stone wall, there was basically no way to get over it, even if Aurora used her magic.
This meant one of two things. Either they came across an obstacle they can't overcome, or they've finally stumbled upon one end of the dungeon. And in order to at least have some peace in mind, Aurora completely ignored the first option and forced her brain to only think about the second one.
However, it soon became apparent that her assumption was wrong, as after only a few hours, the two have found a seeming end to this 'wall'.
'Wait a second. So this thing wasn't the end of the dungeon!?' In the state of inner panic, Aurora quickly ran around the corner, only to see the supposed 'wall' extending in a different direction.
This meant one of two things, again. Either the dungeon wasn't a square and had some strange turns, or the wall wasn't a wall at all, and rather, something the two were supposed to get on.
'Calm down, calm down. It's definitely just that this dungeon is weird. I-I mean, no one ever said that it had to be a square or a rectangle, right?' No Aurora. That's what you call coping.
But, stil clinging onto some hope, Aurora decided to continue walking alongside the other side of the 'wall'. After all, it didn't take too long to go around it—only a few hours or so.
But, after those few hours, what Aurora feared the most came true.
'A-another corner...' Taking a deep breath, Aurora shook her head, her mood instantly plummeting.
'Don't tell me I really need to climb this thing.' She cried out internally. Actually, despite all the signs, she really hoped that she wouldn't have to get all the way up this wall or whatever.
'I can either take my chances with blindly running around this place or climb this thing.' As she gazed up at the never-ending wall of stone reaching into the sky, she couldn't help but want to cry again.
Meanwhile, Rejoke watched everything happen with a confused expression. He really couldn't understand his alpha at the moment. She suddenly went from being all excited to being on the verge of depression.
Albeit begrudginly and involuntarily, Aurora got ready, jumped towards the stone wall, and tried to grab onto it. Thankfully, the wall wasn't in perfect condition despite being clearly not natural. This meant that it had various ledges or damaged parts of the wall that Aurora could hang onto.
'Okay, okay, let's do this.' Nodding to herself, Aurora began to make her way up the wall, jumping from spot to spot.
Thanks to her strength, which was already very high, it wasn't too difficult to climb. Not to mention the small size and thus weight of her body. Comparing her strength to her snall frame just didn't add up, and because of that, it was surprisingly easy to hold onto the wall even without any ledges to grab.
Seeing what his alpha was doing, Rejoke wasted no time and quickly followed her up. He had no idea why Aurora decided to suddenly start climbing, but he knew she probably had her reasons.
Rejoke was much heavier than Aurora, which is quite obvious if you compare the sizes of their bodies. Yet he seemed to have no problems climbing; he even seemed quite skilled at it.
Noticing Rejoke following her up, Aurora decided to not mind him since he seemed to have no troubles with climbing the wall. Instead, she just focused on getting up herself while trying to think of a faster way to reach the top.
'Our pace isn't bad, but considering how tall this thing seems to be, I'm afraid that with our current tempo, it would take at least a few hours of non-stop climbing to get all the way to the top.' Aurora clicked her tongue, not finding the idea of climbing for hours appealing at all.
'I wonder if I can use magic in an effective enough way to not run out of mana by the time we get all the way up.' She fell in though while climbing, thinking of various different ways she could use her magic.
'Creating simple steps is an option. If I created just a small spike or something protruding from the wall's surface, I could probably jump high enough to save some mana.' Deciding she had nothing much to lose, Aurora created a small spike that stuck out of the wall and propelled herself off it with all her strength.
Her small body shot up, and using the gained momentum, Aurora used her paws to basically run on the wall by propelling herself further by making use of the various imperfections on the wall's surface.
Surprisingly, this proved to be incredibly effective. By combining the momentum produced by the jump with her strength and agility, she was able to effectively keep herself moving along the surface of the wall.
Of course, this didn't last forever as she slowly began to lose the momentum she had, but this was just a minor complication. Before she could truly run out of steam, she created another spike and repeated the same process as before.
This repeated itself multiple times. Any time Aurora was about to lose her momentum completely, she would create a small spike that cost her about 5 MP and would use it as a way to once more regain her speed.
In the end, the method was incredibly effective. Spending a total of around 60 points of mana, Aurora managed to reach the top of the wall, leaping above it.
'I did it!' Smilling proudly, the little fox made sure to land back down on the top of the strange stone pillar, placing all four of her paws firmly on the ground.
Gazing forward, her eyes fell on a majestic-looking tenple in the distance. It clearly wasn't close at all, yet the fact she could still see it proved just how huge it was.
'With my current agility, I could arrive there in about twenty minutes if I were to push myself to the limit. And considering my top speed, which is about 70 kilometers per hour, that temple really is pretty far.' She calculated internally, deciding whether she should sprint to the temple or not.
'Alright, it won't take that much stamina, hopefully.' Making her decision, Aurora was just about to take off when she realized something.
'Shoot! Rejoke!' She quickly turned around, looking down from the edge of the high pillar. Her eyes immediately fell on a very small, moving black dot, followed by her sighing internally.
'I'll have to wait for him; if I go now, he might have trouble looking for me.' Deciding to wait for the wolf to arrive, Aurora lied down on the snow-covered surface of the pillar and waited for him to finish the climb.
Surprisingly, it didn't take him too long—only about half an hour. As the panting wolf finally stepped onto the top of the pillar, he immediately slumped down onto the surface, clearly exhausted.
'Hmm, I guess I underestimated him, though he probably used up a lot of stamina.' Letting him catch his breath, Aurora decided for a bit more. Not like waiting was a big deal. At least she would regenerate some mana.
So, after about fifteen more minutes, Rejoke finally stopped panting as if he was about to die and slowly got up on his feet. Seeing the wolf get up, Aurora did the same, and without batting an eye, she turned to the temple and started to walk in its direction.
Originally, she was planning to run. But with Rejoke probably still being very exhausted, she had to change her plans and just decided to take it slowly. A gesture the wolf very much appreciated.
And after walking for about two more hours, the two found themselves standing in front of the huge temple. It was a truly majestic building, styled in a Japanese-like style.
The temple was made out of painted red wood, ladden with gold all around. Despite its massive size, every corner of the temple seemed to be decorated with the utmost care and level of detail.
'Truly, what a sight.' Admiring the beautiful architecture, Aurora found herself lost in the craftsmanship of such a fine level.
Actually, she was maybe a bit too lost, not even noticing the huge blue wolf that was lying in the middle of the temple.
Unlike her, however, Rejoke immediately noticed the large creature and went instantly on guard. He could sense incredible danger coming out of that wolf.
Seemingly noticing his actions, Aurora snapped out of her daze and gazed to the middle of the temple, noticing the large wolf. The beast seemed to be sleeping; however, even then it could hardly hide its impressive aura.
'This thing is different! Not only is it strong, and I mean, really strong, but it's also a magical beast!' Aurora exlaimed internally, realizing that both the temple and the wolf were definitely important.
Moreover, she could sense that the wolf wasn't to be taken lightly. Even her current would have to really try if she wanted to kill it. The wolf was really strong; there was no doubt about it.
'Thankfully, it seems to be an ice type. That's going to make things a lot easier.' With that on her mind, Aurora took a step forward towards the temple.
She was never one to be around the bush or hesitate. The wolf might be strong, yes. But that doesn't mean she's any weaker. She knew that she had what it took to kill the wolf.
And so, with steady steps, she made her way through the halls of the temple, arriving at its middle. The middle was a large open place, quite obviously an arena.
Actually, most of the temple seemed to be open like this. Only the upper floors had normal walls, but the ground floor had only pillars instead of walls.
As soon as Aurora took the first step inside the arena, the wolf's eyes opened, revealing the beast's deep blue irises.
Seeing the intruder in its territory, the wolf got up onto its feet, its eyes locking onto the small invader.
"Auuuuu!" The wolf howled loudly, causing waves of mana to come out of its body and spread into the air.
At that moment, the system sent Aurora an unexpected message, one unlike any message she has seen before.
[You have encountered the boss of the dungeon's 1st floor.]
[Aurus the Wolf of Ice appears!]