Chapter 153 - Running on Steam

After such a flashy entrance into the ice Castle, the floors above it were pretty disappointing.

For starters, the second floor was nearly empty, besides a couple of Ice Walkers and Yeti's. I suppose most of them flooded down in that first wave that hit us.

We quickly discovered that the rules of the castle weren't the same as the Tower.

Not only were enemies able to climb down from the other floors, but that meant that their levels weren't all that evenly spread. When faced with a level twenty Ice walker, I had to watch my back for the level twenty-five Yetis that flung clusters of ice our way. It was exhausting.

My level had gone up substantially but Arga and Veldor's weren't anything to scoff at either.

They each rose four levels from just the first eight floors of the castle. My theory that they were levelling up faster was pretty much confirmed by that. I concluded that anyone added to my party increases their abilities much faster than normal.

We were on the ninth floor of the castle and down to our last scraps of supplies. We arrived at a strange door after clearing out the monsters in the room.

Arga dropped a glass bottle on the floor and let out a hopeless moan.

“Ah geez…I’m all tapped out of Inferno Charges. What now, should we run?”

“I'm out of health potions too…I hate to say it but Arga might be right, we’re running on steam here. Plus we don't even know how many floors are left.”

Veldor placed his hand over my shoulder. I could sympathise with his grim expression, he probably didn’t want to leave either. He was just saying what he thought was right.

I knew why he was worried, heck, I wanted to agree with him.

It's dangerous for adventurers to fight in a fatigued state, it makes them a lot more prone to dumb mistakes and failures. Usually, empty vials are a good sign for someone to leave the Tower, but for us, that never seemed to be the case.

I brushed his hand away and grabbed both of their attention with a bold face. My eyes bore an earnest glow and my voice carried out the passion I only hoped would get through to them.

“We can't turn back now, not yet! We're close, I can feel it. This floor ahead is the final one, the boss room.”

The door in question was made of solid ice. A chilling breeze escaped under its frame, so cold that it spread a frosty layer along the floor in front of it. It had no details or engravings on it but even without the map, I could tell the boss was behind it.

An ominous aura lurked behind those frosty doors, it stood above all the other beasts and ghouls we had seen in that castle. From the look on Veldor and Arga's faces, I was sure they realised it too.

“Sigh! I guess we can't do much about it if the leader says we have to. Alrighty, we're with you.” Veldor’s tune changed cheery.

“There better to be some good loot in there! All this ice doesn't make for very good weapon materials…if not, I’ll take it out of your share Rei.” Arga's turned comedically gloomy.

With that decided, we continued. Veldor and I placed our hands on the door and its chilling embrace turned my hand numb. We pushed them open and a wave of icy wind brushed over our faces.

I couldn't keep my eyes open. I reached out to shield my face but Veldor was already on it, he stepped up front and blocked the oncoming air with his shield.

“What the…some kinda attack?”

“Nah, it's not damaging us, it's probably just the effect of this room.”

Veldors shield blocked our sights but something had begun to move. A sudden flash from beyond his defence bounced across the room with a lively rush and caused the shadows around us to shift away.

Something was coming.

I gripped the back of his shield and put my weight behind it, offering every bit of support I could. My lips moved as I chanted the skill in my head.

{Stein Guard activated}

“Get ready, it's here–”

Before I even had the chance, the skill I put up had been shattered and a crushing weight collided with Veldor's shield.

I used Stein Guard as a gamble since I didn't know whether the attack would be magic or physical but I never expected both of them to get hit. Especially not for Stein Guard to be broken through so easily.

Whatever hit us, collided with both Veldor and I’s shields.

The top of his shield lowered slightly and we got a look at the attacker.

It was a beast-type monster, it looked to be a dog-lion hybrid. Its fur had a pure white glow to it, while the mane around its head hovered through the air like a fluffy blue cloud.

{Guardian Hound Level 35}

This was the thing that hit us…? If it attacks with its body then how did it break through my skills defence?

Its mane stood up and the glow that resided around it lit up brighter, the rest of its body shined white. Cracks of electricity gathered around it as it moved.

The beast stepped to the right and travelled through the air like it was swimming. Vedlor kept up with it, he anticipated its attack and moved accordingly.

“Arga, step back!”

It raced towards her but she couldn't get away in time, a stream of lightning rushed out of its mouth as the dog barked.

I raised my hand,

“Stein Guard!”

A hexagonal bubble covered over her and shattered the moment it was hit.

“In one hit, again? That's some crazy magical energy…but this is fine, with Veldor and I guarding, we can win.” I muttered to myself.

A looming fear of death weighed over my shoulder. I turned and dodged out of its way without knowing what I was moving for.

A large sword crashed into the ground between Veldor and me. It moved so fast that neither of us was prepared. Veldor tumbled across the ground and the gap between us grew.

There was no magical energy behind it but it was strong enough to send a heavily armoured guy like Veldor flying. The bloodlust alone curdled my stomach, I could tell something sinister had arrived.

My eyes rose from the icy cloud that rose and an information screen cut through it. My eyes widened in horror as I read from one word to the next.

{You have located the Boss of the Dungeon}

{Ice Walker Commander: Karmish The Great}

That Guardian beast thingy isn’t the boss…?! This hardly seems fair, fighting two monsters at once! Just one was enough but this second one…

“This guy’s a monster…”

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Author Notes:

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