Heroes Always Defeat the Dungeon Boss

The sound of stone being dragged echoed from the dark corridor behind. It ended with a heavy thud that left the whole chamber in momentary silence.

Maria took a deep breath as she continued to heal the party of three.

Celeste’s sword clashing against a monster’s claw soon broke the silence. She parried each strike, countered with precision, and defeated one monster after another.

“Did you see?” Did you…” Celeste glanced back toward Maria. Her words stalled as she watched her give the three adventurers a caring smile. They looked up at Maria in awe while a golden hue healed bruised bones and deep gashes.

“Thank you for hanging on for so long,” Maria whispered.

The three adventurers remained without word, but their eyes showed a gratitude that words couldn’t describe anyway.

More monsters lurked in the dark edges of the chamber. One came fast with a strike, catching Celeste off guard while her gaze still lingered. A protective barrier surrounding the eager young knight shattered upon impact.

“Keep your guard up!” Kaelan called out as he weaved through swiping, sharp claws.

“Right!” Celeste shifted her focus back toward the enemies.

Maria’s eyes darted between the three adventurers she healed and her fighting companions.

Thomas casted one flame attack after another with clinical chants. “Maria, don’t worry about us!”

“Focus on healing them,” Kaelan said. His daggers pushed against the enemy. “We’ll hold them off.”

Maria did as asked, but even as she healed the battered party of adventurers, she continually erected protective barriers on her companions. And when that wasn’t enough to prevent injury, she prayed to activate quick healing spells from a distance.

Her chest ached, but she couldn’t let up. “Sorry… Just a little longer,” she told her companions before turning her attention back to the injured party. She focused her mana, making her golden healing spell circles light up with intensity.

Finally, the three were able to stand. Maria rushed them toward the corridor leading to the heavy stone chamber doors, but before they could even cross into the darkened path, something repelled them.

‘A… barrier?” It glowed with a red hue and strange markings. Maria pressed her hand against it. The force pushed back, burning her hand the more she tried to push through.

Thomas glanced back. Tsk. “It’s what I feared… We’ve been sealed inside.”

Kaelan looked at Celeste with a dry look as she slashed down another monster. Even she seemed to now understand that rushing in wasn’t wise.

“S-Sorry…” she said, past a nervous chuckle.

“Then… what can we do?” Maria asked.

“The only way to break the seal is by defeating the dungeon boss,” Thomas said. “We have to clear this room.”

Maria glanced at the three adventures, their cheeks were sunken and eyes hung low. They’d been healed, but they needed to rest. To recover.

“They can’t wait that long!” Maria pouted. She narrowed her eyes as she placed her palm against the barrier, ignoring the pain.

“There’s no other choice.” Thomas turned to the three adventurers. “Just stay to the side until…” His eyes widened at a new sight.

Maria had just finished muttering a prayer. A shrieking sound came first, then a large golden arrow followed, tearing through the barrier. The blast illuminated the dark corridor before crashing against the large stone doors at the entrance. They came crumbling down.

Everyone in the chamber remained frozen in disbelief. Even the monsters seemed hesitant after a heavy draft shot back with flickers of gold.

Phew. “I’m glad that worked.” Maria smiled while everyone else hung their mouths.

The lingering adventurers were able to escape safely. They repeatedly thanked Maria while she happily waved them off, reminding them to follow the marked and cleared path back.

But something had changed within the chamber after the remnants of her divine magic spell faded. The clashing sounds from before had gone, and the air was filled with an eerie silence. She turned back toward the center of the chamber, where her companions remained frozen, no longer from Maria ignoring the notion of a sealed chamber.

“Is that… the boss?” Celeste asked, words finally escaping her throat.

From deep within the shadows, a figure loomed, stepping forward into the low light.

An Ashen Dire Wolf?

It wasn’t the great threat Maria had expected for a dungeon boss. She should’ve felt relief, yet her arm hairs stood on edge underneath her tunic sleeves.

Kaelan gripped his daggers tighter, and Thomas did the same with his silver staff. Celeste took a cautious step forward, her sword held firmly in front, ready to strike.

The more Maria observed the beast, the more she realized something was wrong.

The creature was canine in shape, with rough fur the color of old bone. Its body was lean and muscular, but it was larger than an Ashen Dire Wolf; with teeth far more jagged. Its back could probably hold half a dozen of the chapel children, though there was no way Maria would ever allow any of them to go near that thing.

“Yes, it’s the true dungeon boss…” Thomas finally confirmed.

Maria’s heart raced when she looked the creature in the eye. For a moment, it appeared as though nothing was there, just dark, hollow sockets. Yet, as Celeste circled the creature, its head followed, watching her.

Eyes were there, a deep black that absorbed almost all incoming light but reflected none back.

It gave off a strange presence. One that made Maria’s stomach feel just as hollow. A familiar presence, she felt something similar when she pulled the miasmic sword from the dragon’s paw. As the creature neared, Maria's lungs burned with every breath.

Celeste sliced through the tension as she lunged forward with a strike. They clashed repeatedly, Celeste holding her own. The creature was uncanny in its erratic movements.

Maria had never seen such a thing, but her companion’s reactions made it clear that it wasn’t because of her lack of experience.

“What is that monster?” she asked. It for sure wasn’t an Ashen Dire Wolf, that much was now certain.

“The Pale Hound,” Thomas muttered, as if he didn’t want to believe his own words. “...An Aberration.”

Kaelan’s eyes widened at the words, but he remained focused on the battle ahead. He scanned for an opening while the creature flailed through Celeste’s heavy blows.

Maybe Maria’s knowledge of such things was lacking compared to Thomas, but she had heard the term before. Mostly from old stories Father Goren would tell when she bundled by the fireplace as a child.

Spooky fables meant to serve as a warning to kids and keep them from venturing far from the village. Aberrations: foreign creatures beyond the natural order. Beyond monsters, beyond mythical beasts.

She should’ve believed those tall tales after all.

“Such a thing… Why is it here?”

Thomas shook his head. “I’ve never seen one myself. Only read about them. But apart from a few spots in Demon Lord territory with heavy miasmic presence, sightings are scarce.”

Without warning, a gust of wind blew by Maria, almost making her veil fly off. She widened her eyes. It was a figure, a body that had flown by her.

“Celeste!” Kaelan yelled.

The young knight's body crashed against the stone wall, kicking up rubble and dust. Maria rushed over as Kaelan and Thomas fought the creature.

Maria winced at the sight of Celeste. Her plated armor was cracked. Face bloodied and bruised almost beyond recognition. She still breathed, weakly, with a wheezing sound, but how many bones had shattered?

If not for Maria’s protective barrier that took some of the hit, she feared if Celeste would still be alive.

Her clenched hands quivered, but Maria took a breath and prayed, deeply. An intense glow repaired Celeste’s injuries with every passing second. Maria’s breathing laboured, but she didn’t let up until Celeste was finally able to speak again.

“Maria…?”

“Shhh. It’s okay,” Maria whispered. She turned back toward the unnatural creature, glaring at it.

Kaelan and Thomas took a step back as Maria’s golden mana flickered around her with every step forward, disturbing the air.

“C-Careful, Maria,” Thomas said. “That thing… Aberrations are miasmic in nature. Where’s divine magic—your powers push things toward the word’s natural order, that thing doesn’t belong to that order.”

His words made sense to the uneasiness Maria felt. The uneasiness that she had been feeling since they neared the boss chamber. But it didn’t matter, just like it didn’t matter that just looking at the creature burned her eyes.

Thomas glanced at Kaelan. “We can try to flee… You grab Maria, I grab Celeste.”

“...It’s too late for that.”

Maria’s heart raced as she stood before the creature. Her face grew hot.

A concentration of light formed from her extended hands, morphing into layers upon layers of radiant concentric rings as she muttered a prayer. She wasn’t fond of using divine magic for attacking spells, but she was even less fond of what the creature had done to Celeste.

“I doubt you understand me… so I can’t just ask you to stop hurting others.”

The creature took a step back as Maria’s presence overwhelmed the chamber.

Then, a blink of white. Kaelan and Thomas covered their faces, Celeste did the same as she leaned against the stone wall. But no escape was possible from the blinding light.

There was no sound, not even after. Only fine black ash remained where the Aberration once stood.