The deep levels of the dungeon always felt wrong. The air turned thick and heavy, pressing against your skin like wet cloth.
Faint glows from glowing moss and crystal veins lit the walls in sickly green and blue, casting long, twisting shadows that made every corner look alive. The ground was uneven, slick with moisture, and the distant drip of water echoed off the walls.
Then we saw it.
It wasn't just some rumor. It was real, right there in front of me. The floor boss towered over everything, its body a nightmare of mismatched parts. Scales like blackened iron covered most of it, but patches of raw, pulsing flesh showed through where old wounds never healed properly. Massive horns curved back from a head that seemed too small for the bulk, and its eyes glowed dull red, scanning us like we were insects. A long, whip-like tail ended in a barbed club the size of a bus. The thing radiated heat and a sour metallic smell that burned the back of your throat.
Just seeing the floor boss up close doesn't let you grasp how dangerous it is. It takes a moment to really process it. Your brain stalls, trying to make sense of something that doesn't belong in the world. And in that short window, if you don't choose to run...
Or if you let your ego and desire for glory take over...
Death is waiting.
So the disaster unfolding in front of me was pretty much inevitable.
Our leader, the swordsman Chronos. The mage Melis. The priest Nikla.
All of them were down, out of the fight.
One swing of that massive tail did all this. The impact had thrown them across the chamber like rag dolls, blood already pooling under them. I should have called for a retreat the second we spotted it. I knew the signs. The sudden silence from the lesser monsters, the way the air grew hotter, but I stayed quiet, like always.
My legs are shaking.
I got lucky. I was hanging back, handling the usual support from a safe distance, and managed to dodge the attack.
If I hadn't, right this instant we'd all be inside its stomach.
The only reason those three aren't getting eaten yet is because its attention is locked on me.
The boss is cautious. It doesn't charge in recklessly after that opening surprise strike. It circles slowly, testing, waiting for the perfect moment.
So I've got just a few seconds. Until it realizes how weak I am, before it decides I'm no threat and finishes them off. I have to figure out how to save everyone in that tiny window.
Can I somehow carry them and run?
No way. One person, maybe. Three? Impossible.
Maybe I can act as bait, buy time, hope another party comes to rescue us?
That's no good either.
If I slow down to lure it, I'll get killed first. And even if it takes the bait, there's barely any chance. Worst case, the rescue party shows up and gets wiped out too.
Yeah... there's only one real option left. Stop trying to run.
The second I make up my mind, the shaking spreads through my whole body.
I take a deep breath and force myself to calm down.
I've got some info on this thing, but the odds of winning are basically zero.
To pull off a victory anyway, I'd have to grab those tiny slivers of chance over and over, hundreds of times.
Don't get pessimistic. The fact that a nobody like me even has a choice right now is already a miracle.
"Transition: 'Puppeteer'"
I finish the irreversible symbolic chant.
And only then do I realize I could have just run away by myself.
I almost laugh at how ridiculous I am.
Am I really that much of a softie? Or is this just normal for a member of Dragon's Wings?
I've got debts to them.
All those days we spent together.
This is the moment to repay it with my life.
Thinking that actually makes me feel a little proud of myself.