Chapter 35: 33 – True and False

Walking to the entrance of the Tutorial Dungeon, I thought about what we had left to do and how far we had come. We've been fighting the floors in the Abyssal Dungeon for well over 9 years. Yes, we took a little over a year off from the dungeon to build the garden and castle. Still, that's still a long time we've been fighting here.

In fact, in only a week, Navi said it would be 10 years since I was brought here. That seems like such a long time, but so short as well. The majority of the time we were fighting. No vacations. No weekends. We took days off after a hard fight, but there's only so much we can do when there isn't really an entertainment industry. Thus, we fought. 

And now we're reaching the end. Two floors left to clear, and the Abyssal Dungeon will be complete.

Finally arriving at floor forty-nine, we choose a random direction towards some mountains in the distance. This is another open-world floor. Only, it has wyverns flying all over, so Navi can't scout safely. 

Walking along in our armor, we're currently in an open plain. Which means the giant, twenty meter long, yellow flying lizard heading obviously towards us, stands out just a bit.

Air Wyvern - Level 66

I get Seren and my shield ready. "Same as the last ones!"

"""Yes!"""

These bastards look like dragons, but have longer necks and tails from the pictures we've seen. Their heads are also smaller to be able to be supported by the neck. I say smaller, but its jaws could still go around our waists.

As the wannabe dragon flew down, I shot a fireball at it, drawing its attention. With a roar, it opens its mouth and fires a wind bullet right towards me. Raising my new tower shield and bracing for the impact, the air bullet hits like a cannonball. Even with all the power behind it, I merely slide back a foot on the ground.

The girls haven't been still, either. What we noticed with the last wyverns, was that when they fired magic, they pulled up a bit in their flight while raising their heads. This opens their wings up and makes a good midair target.

As soon as it launched the air bullet, an arrow impacted the main arm of its wing and exploded at the same time as a rock bullet tore through the same wing. With the explosion making a hole along with the rock, they kept firing at the same wing. Finally, it began to descend unsteadily, not able to remain airborne any longer.

As it was coming down, Sara and I were already on the move. Running up to the now downed and pissed off wyvern, I pull out my hammer, and Sara a javelin. As it looks at us, ready to bite, arrows and magic begin pelting its face. Pissing it off even more, but giving us the time we needed. Going up to its scaly stomach, I slam the spike into it, puncturing a hole, and then move out of the way. The moment I'm clear, Sara stabs the javelin into the hole, and we both retreat as it roars in anger.

As we're making distance between us, I turn to watch as the javelin explodes, leaving a large hole in its stomach. The tungsten-nickel-iron alloy was much heavier than the previous version. It's also a couple feet shorter and slimmer as well. Overall the changes gave it a bit more penetrating power, better accuracy, and less wasted shrapnel. 

With it now in a lot of pain, the arrows and magic begin focusing on the new hole and work on tearing it wider and deeper. We keep our distance for a moment before it finally falls as the hole in its stomach and destroyed insides take their toll.

"Good work everyone! Let's go taste some wyvern again," I said.

After taking a drink, it dissolves. We grab the drops and move on. With the open floors, it always ends up being a lot of wandering. Since we can see more dots flying by the mountains, that's still our best bet.

While walking, we eventually saw another wyvern in the sky. It's still a bit away, so we get into position.

"Alright everyone. Same as—"

I'm cut off as the dot in the sky disappears, and in the same instant I'm looking at the jaws of a wyvern coming towards me.

"Fuck!" Barely getting my shield up in time to stop the mouth, I swing a bit wildly to try to get any distance I can.

Just as I'm about to connect with it, it disappears again.

"Ahh!" A second later, we hear Sara scream out.

Turning around, we're greeted with the sight of the purple wyvern with it's jaws around Sara's waist.

We all started firing arrows and magic at the damn thing, before it popped out of sight once more.

I yell, "Sara! You alright!"

"Yes! Armor held!" she called back.

Well that's a relief. Without the new strengthened armor, we may have just lost Sara. Even though these fuckers seem to be stronger magically than physically, it's still a fucking wyvern.

Looking all around, we can't see the damn thing. Fucking space-time wyvern.

With all of our backs together and Navi between, we just wait for when the fucker pops up. I switch out the hammer for Seren. There's no way it stays still long enough for our normal strategy to work. Without any warning, it's right in front of me again.

"Here!"

Swinging Seren at the approaching head while pivoting to avoid being bit, I'm able to get a cut on its face. Navi and Ailine both launch dark magic spears and arrows, but against the scaly hide, they barely broke the surface. Sara is able to get the best hit with her spear, taking its left eye, and making it roar.

Another instant, and it's behind us trying to attack Sara again. Spinning around, she gets her shield up in time to block the jaws, and Ailine and Navi both fire on it again. 

Already tired of this fight, I air jump over us and begin to bring my sword down on its neck. Before it connects, it's gone. This is just fucking annoying!

"Here!"

I hear Ailine yell as I hit the ground. As I turn, I watch as she draws her bow and fires directly into the open mouth in front of her and down its throat. The arrow explodes just before it can reach Ailine.

Turning its head with a screech of pain, it whips its tail around trying to swat us away with the tip of it. I'm able to get my shield up, and the momentum of the tail is stopped as it slides me a couple feet on the ground.

Not wasting the chance, the girls begin peppering it as Sara and I try to attack before it's gone.

This time, it doesn't teleport. Not questioning it, I stab Seren into its side, avoiding a half hearted kick. Channeling a water jet from the tip now inside the wyvern, I can imagine it tearing up the area around the sword.

With massive damage in its throat and mouth, and a new wound on its side, it tries once more to swipe its tail at us before falling down and breathing hard. Finishing it off by stabbing with a water jet into its neck, we're finally done with this annoying fucker.

With a sigh of relief, we grab a drink and the items.

"Fuck," I said. "That sucked. Navi, thoughts on why it didn't teleport away that last time?"

She flies over and sits in an imaginary chair in the air. "Hmm… two options. It was either out of mana or with that explosion in its throat it couldn't concentrate to form the image."

"So we either wait it out, or shoot an exploding arrow down its gullet… Wait, Navi, I got an idea."

"What do you want me to make this time? I know how you work, Lia. How much work will I have to do on whatever crazy Idea you have?"

I smile at her sas from behind my helmet. "Well, not much, I think? How about we make some enchanted frag grenades?"

"That… Why haven't we done this before?" She asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Hell if I know. We were always trying to pierce the thing to get the explosion inside, Starship Troopers style. What good would a grenade be if it just tapped its scales? We never thought about tossing a grenade in its mouth, King Dodongo style."

"Darn… Whelp! Let's take a break and make some! You make them and I'll enchant them."

Ailine and Sara just have a seat and watch the skies while we spend the next couple hours making our magic grenades. By this point, they just ignore Navi and I when we get like this.

Once done, I call them both over. "Alright, you two. Here's what we made. With these, it's a stupidly simple weapon. Keep some in your storage or pouch. Just channel mana into it, and it explodes in three seconds. We also put a core from the dragonids inside them so the explosion is even more powerful."

To show them, I took one, activated it, and threw it hard. The explosion was larger than even a grenade on earth, thanks to the added power of the core.

With our armor and diamond face plates, we didn't have to worry about the shrapnel from it, just like a tough, scaled enemy. However, if that exploded in a throat? That would do massive damage.

The girls just stared wide eyed for a few seconds.

Ailine finally speaks. "Lia… Why… Why hasn't something like this been made before?"

"Probably for a couple reasons," I say. "Remember how long it took Navi to work out how to make a timed enchantment that first time? That's not an easy enchantment to make. I still can't do it well. Someone would have to be a skilled space-time mage and have superb magic control just to make the timer so it didn't kill the user. Navi, what combo enchantment do you use for the explosion on this and the lance?"

"Oh, that little old thing?" she said in a terrible southern-Belle accent. "A compound enchantment of fire, air, and arcane! Just fire ends with only something like a fireball. Fun to watch burn, but no substantial boom. Explosions are actually compressed gases expanding at a super fast rate! Fire is just a byproduct or the catalyst. I can even make only water explode with a steam explosion! Eraldlings haven't gotten there quite yet, at least not that I've seen in books. Even your arrows I made are more powerful than the legacy ones. Hard to do, but for me? I make things go boom! Fufufufu!"

Why do I feel like Navi should be on some FBI watchlists?

I'll just ignore her. "Moving on from the psycho fairy, someone would have to have the skill, enchanting knowledge, and the knowledge of how they actually worked. Really, it looks extremely simple, but that's just because of how good our fairy pyromaniac is."

Moving on, we find an earth wyvern. The brown bastard shoots a rock bullet from its mouth that hits my shield. If the air bullet was fired from a cannon, this was fired by a tank.

As the attack with the most physical mass, it's enough to push me off my feet. By the time I got back up, it was already spiraling through the air, shot down by Ailine and Navi.

"Let's try the new grenades out," I said.

"Yes!" Sara took one out.

Sara and I both charge towards it with a grenade in hand. As it sneers at us, it rears back to bite. With its head is coming towards us, we both toss the grenades in its mouth. Its teeth impact my shield, not able to open wide enough for the tower shield. 

It rears back to snap at us again as two concurrent explosions ring out. Looking up at the wyvern, its head and almost a quarter of its neck is nearly severed from its body. Only the scales and skil on the top of its neck are holding it together, with even the spine being blown apart.

We just stare as the corpse collapses. 

"Dalia?" Sara asks, calling my name after being forbidden to use formal titles while in the dungeon for ease of communication in combat.

"Yeah?"

"What Navi creates sometimes frightens me."

"Yeah."

What else can we say when something that looks like a steel baseball is able to do that much damage? The extra strength from the magic in the higher level core all powering the enchantment at one moment really is impressive.

We fought one more air wyvern on our way to the mountains. Arriving at the base of a cliff, we decide to call it a night. Leaving all our armor on, Ailine takes out a large boulder from the big-bag she carries for us. The inside is hollow, giving us an instant shelter. This was about the only way we were able to give anyone a chance to rest on the forty-eighth floor.

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It isn't comfortable, but sleeping in armor never is. We just need something to give a little cover and protection. With Navi on watch, we go to sleep after checking in with our loved ones back home. 

Waking up, we have to decide what our next move will be.

I ask, "What do you three think? These damn open-worlds can go almost any way. Wander like we had to do with the giants? Or try to climb one of these mountains to get a vantage point?"

"I would say climb, Lia. We might see something," Ailine said and the others nodded.

"I think so, too," I said. "Now, we just have to find one of these to climb. They all remind me of the damn Flatirons on steroids. Super fucking steep and just jutting out."

"Then right or left first to try to find a path?"

"Left! We always go left!" Navi shouts from the entrance.

"Then left it is." I stand up, followed by the others and we exit our hideout.

Packing up our boulder home, we start our hike to find a way to the top of one of these mountains. A few hours and a couple wyverns later, we find a potentially good path, but it has one problem. A light wyvern that's flying down at us.

Like the others, it opens with its magic attack. This time a light beam. Impacting my shield, it does nothing. I guess that would make sense. If earth pushes me back because it's the most physical, light would be a lot less than that, even if condensed to pierce like a laser.

Arrows and magic impacting its wing, the Lite Brite mother fucker dies like the others with a grenade in its mouth. It even fired a flash, but thanks to our upgraded helmets with their dark magic enchantment added to the coated visor, it just becomes a normal bright light. Good to know it will even block attacks from a cursed light wyvern.

Hiking up the mountain, we fought a dark wyvern that shot dark magic spears. Besides the space-time wyvern, they all have almost identical opening moves which has made this semi-simple with our new grenades. 

Once we finally got to the top, we looked out over the area. Nothing fucking stood out. Just more mountains surrounding an open grassland with the door in the center. We could see the outer dungeon wall that we couldn't pass like normal on these open-worlds, but no sign of the boss door, no matter how hard we looked.

"Well, shit," I muttered.

Ailine came up next to me. "Another floor we have to wander?"

"That's what it looks like."

Hence, that's what we did. For five days, we wandered the mountains. Fighting wyverns as they came and sleeping in our boulder when we needed to. Then we finally found it.

Nestled in the front of a ravine, was the wooden boss door. It was getting close to a scheduled sleep, and we decided to open it when we woke up. Just to be sure, and because we weren't being forced to fight constantly like the last floor.

Once we woke up, drank from a blood bag, and checked our gear, we opened the door. In front of us was an open area on the other side of the ravine, but there was the boss standing on its rear legs in front of us.

Rainbow wyvern - level 68

I think it would be better named as a 'chameleon wyvern' or 'cuttlefish wyvern' because that would be more accurate. It's skin is cycling the colors of the other wyverns, and not the ROYGBIV of a rainbow. I'm calling BS on its misnomer. Like calling a snake 'poisonous,' it pisses me off for some reason. Snakes can be 'venomous,' not 'poisonous,' dammit! Different distribution methods of toxins, and this shouldn't be called a 'rainbow!' Fuck, I want to kill it just for its name. Why is this fucker annoying me so much? Get ahold of yourself.

It's a bit bigger than the other wyverns, but besides that, it seems pretty similar. We begin the same as with the others. Launching magic and arrows at its wings, even while on the ground. As the holes are torn open, it roars and magic heals the holes as fast as they appear. Well, fuck. If we assume it can use all elements, of course it can heal. It starts flapping its wings and takes to the air. 

I yell, "Sara! Shield them!"

"Understood!"

Sara then acts as a shield for Ailine, and blocks a chunk of ice fired at her. Needing to do something, I use my air jumps to try to get closer to it, only for it to fly away.

"Dammit!"

This fucker is so annoying! Firing magic does effectively nothing to it, and it just avoids me when I get close. I need to get it to not fly or to come at me.

(Ailine, Navi! Hold your fire!) I said telepathically.

Both stopping, I'm still in the air chasing it and begin firing what magic I can. I just need it to look at me, and stop attacking those below. Build some agro.

With my magic, I finally get it to look at me as it begins shooting earth and air magic in retaliation. Blocking it with my shield, I keep making cushions in the air, moving towards it. I look more like someone trying to chase a trash bag on a windy day. It stops, just long enough to almost reach, then moves again, even fucking teleporting once. Argh! I want to kill this annoying bastard!

Finally, after nearly two minutes of air tag, I got close enough to stab Seren into the base of its wing. Channeling a water jet and pulling Seren out in a slashing motion, I'm able to sever the wing. The wyvern roars in pain as it spirals downward.

Healing cuts is much easier than regrowing. It's going to be a land battle for the rest of this. As I follow it down, I land some meters in front of it, having it's full anger focused on me.

It rears back, and as I see fire begin to come out of its mouth, I know I'm too close to dodge but too far to attack. I put all my faith in the stupidly insane armor that Navi and I created. Channeling mana into all the enchantments on the armor, I put up my shield and brace for what's to come.

"""Lia!""" I hear the other three shout.

As I ready myself, I see the ground around me engulfed in flames. Grass all turned to ash in an instant. And here I am, just standing behind my shield.

Similar to the fire and water wyverns, they seem to have a continuous channeled blast of their elements. Taking Seren and lowering my shield to see, it looks like I'm staring into a furnace. Even so, I can see and move and breathe thanks to my helmet. In fact, it isn't even that hot. Just a touch warm.

The blast has only gone on for a couple seconds, but it has its head lowered for it. Running forward into the blaze, I reach the end of the fire, and exit right in front of its face.

If big lizards had expressions, I would swear I saw its eyes open just a bit wider in shock. Not wasting the surprise, I air jump once and pierce Seren through its left eye, channeling a water jet straight into its dinosaur brain.

With half a roar, it goes limp and comes crashing down. As I land I look at my armor. It looks like a mirage from the heat coming off of it. The dragon scales are fine, they don't melt but also don't protect against heat. The outer layer of armor, I don't even want to guess at how hot it is. 

I cut off all enchantments except my helmet so I can still breathe inside of my personal Easy-Bake and won't run out of mana until it cools off. 

Ailine starts running up to me. "Lia, are you alright!"

"I'm fine, Ailine." I put my arms out and turn around to show her. "I don't even feel that warm. Don't touch my armor though, I'm pretty sure it would burn you before you even got to it."

Pulling up short and doing all she can to refrain from hugging me, she still looks concerned.

Navi flies over and starts going around and above me. "Darn, Walrus! You look like you're a blacktop highway on a summer day! Glad all that work held up."

"Me too, Navi. I do want to make an adjustment though. We need some cores in the helmet to make sure that it runs even if I run out of mana. Last thing I want to do is breathe the hot air from outside right now."

"Good idea and an easy fix! This was some nice field research!"

"Yeah. Go ahead and get a bite, girls, I'll be a while yet."

Taking advantage of it, they drink their fill and the misnomer wyvern fades away leaving us a trippy, color changing skin. After about an hour, I feel safe enough to take my helmet off. 

Ailine immediately runs up and kisses me. "I was so worried, Lia."

I hugged her back. "I know. But you know how skilled our flying enchanter is."

"Yes, but still…"

Kissing her one more time, I made a decision.

"Let's poke our heads through and just see if everything we assume is true and what type of floor we're working with."

Doing just that, we enter the door, going to the final floor of the Abyssal Dungeon. What we see in front of us is that we are standing on a flat outcropping on the side of a mountain. In front is a face of a mountain with a massive cave entrance. Right at that entrance is a wooden door.

"Wait," Sara said. "The boss door already?"

"That… Doesn't bode well, but might make sense," I said, as we all just looked at the door. "With each floor, the more difficult the lead-up to the boss, the weaker or more similar the boss is to the other monsters on that floor. If there's a simple path like that cursed underwater one, you get a much stronger and harder boss."

"Then…" Ailine hesitates. "Not having any other monsters or anything else on the floor…"

"Means we have a boss that has a much higher level of difficulty," I finish for her.

""""..."""" We are all silent taking in that information.

Navi breaks the silence, devoid of her usual carefree cheer. "Should we look in?"

I nod. "Not any reason not to. No fighting right now. Let's just make sure of what we're working with."

Walking up to the boss door, we push it open slightly and look through at what's inside.

A massive cavern, at least the size of a football stadium. And in the center is a massive western style dragon that's at least thirty meters long. Dark grey scales and orange vertically slit eyes staring at us. With two large horns and spikes down its neck and back, it had its massive wings pulled to its side.

Dragon - level 75

"Grrrrrrrr."

With it letting out a low growl, we back out of the door, seeing all we needed to.

Closing the door, we stood there for a few seconds. A touch of fear still reached us, even with all we've been through. But that? That was almost twice the size of the wyverns, and wasn't stretched with a giraffe neck like the wyverns. 

This was by far the apex predator of this world. This was something that could bring destruction to anywhere it went. The highest level of any monster we've seen by a good margin. It was a dragon. A true, real, honest to the gods, dragon.

And we were going to kill it. 

A smirk found its way to my face. Bring it fucking on.

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