The entire layer of the cave was just like what people would call a labyrinth in fantasy stories. Although it wasn't as complex, the system of placement of the creatures were the same.
Mobs, Slightly stronger mobs, and a boss.
'The knight seems stronger than the queen, I'll let you handle her." Vernox said, holding the sword in his hand tightly.
Harley looked back and smiled at the group they met outside.
"I'm sorry for before, I think we might need some backup in there." He scratched the back of his head, and Lesley was looking at him as if he was looking at a new born creature.
"Whaa—! What happened to you in that short time? Haha, to be honest I thought you didn't like me." He shook his head, and then a loud thud reached their ears.
"He's in." Harley turned invisible, making his way inside of the cave slowly.
The lizard man quickly noticed Vernox who charged at it without a thought. With a low hiss, the lizard man ran at him, swinging the blade skillfully.
And then they clashed swords.
...
"Oh my God." Lesley seemed quite surprised, seeing Vernox go toe to toe with a creature of such calibre.
He seemed like a true knight wielding a sword, it was beautiful to watch.
Meanwhile the queen woke up because of the serious commotion and her blue, slit eyes immediately went to the creature and Vernox who were fighting.
*Hissss—Shah!*
The queen panicked, feeling a deep pain on her back and she wiggled frantically, throwing Harley off her back.
"A stab is not enough." He mumbled, getting on his feet immediately to avoid a tail slam to the ground.
Now it was really he and the queen, who stood at three times his height and had a really long, scaled tail.
Harley let out a breath, he was much more faster than when he was just at scheme 7, and he's a lot stronger too.
He sprinted to the left, silver sword low and ready.
The queen lizard coiled, her massive body shifting with surprising grace for something of her size. Those blue slit eyes tracked him like twin cold flames.
He darted in, running fast enough to pass a crushing palm of the lizard. Then he spun a true slash at her foreleg. The blade bit scale but not deep. She reacted instantly. Her tail whipped around faster than anything that size should move.
*WHA!*
It caught him square across the chest.
The impact was like being hit by a falling tree. Harley flew backward, slamming into the cavern wall with a sickening crunch. He was having trouble breathing, pain..
Pain exploded through his left side, he immediately grabbed his side to notice that one rib had broken and just a touch made him hiss in pain.
"Damn, Damn, damn..."
One rib had definitely given way. He gasped, tasting copper, and forced himself upright before the dizziness could pin him down. And before him the creature was barrelling towards him, salivating.
"Not… done," he hissed through clenched teeth.
The queen reared, hissing triumphantly, jaws wide enough to swallow him whole. Harley pushed off the wall and charged again. This time he moved low, weaving, using the uneven floor to break her line of sight.
A claw the size of his arm raked down where his head had been a heartbeat earlier, gouging deep furrows in the stone wall. Harley rolled under the follow-through, came up inside her guard, and leaped.
Mid-air, sword raised for the throat—
Her tail snapped sideways like a whip.
He was so close to her neck, but the tail was coming faster.
Just then, a golden light flared.
A translucent barrier snapped into existence like a floating shield. The tail hit it hard, the impact was loud, throwing Harley off guard with a small shockwave.
The mage girl who was beside Lesley—short brown hair, wide frightened eyes—was standing beside the elf girl with both hands outstretched, sweat already beading on her forehead.
The queen lunged at Harley, trying to crush him underfoot. He rolled between her claws, came up behind her neck, and whispered the verse in a single sharp breath:
"Light as a feather, sharp as a blade."
His essence moved instantly, flowing into the artifact.
The silver sword in his grip sang—a high, clear note that vibrated in his teeth. A transparent aura wrapped the edge, thin as moonlight but razor-bright, extending the cutting line by almost a full foot. The blade felt weightless in his hands.
Harley jumped.
He drove the empowered sword down in a two-handed arc, putting every ounce of remaining strength into it.
"ARGHHHH!"
The aura sheared through scale, flesh, bone.
The queen's head came free with a wet, final sound. He cut through!
It dropped like a stone, jaws still open in a silent scream. The body staggered, legs buckling, then collapsed in a slow-motion landslide.
Harley landed awkwardly, one hand pressed to his cracked ribs, breathing in shallow gasps. Blood—mostly hers—dripped from his sword.
Across the chamber, the lizardman knight had frozen mid-swing. Allowing Vernox to sever an arm in that miraculous moment.
Vernox frowned, turning his gaze for a second only to see that Harley had killed the queen.
Ithe lizard man also... saw the queen fall.
Its vertical pupils shrank to needle points.
*REAHHHHHH!*
It roared—a sound so full of rage and grief that the air itself seemed to shudder.
With a brutal backhand kick it sent Vernox flying. The dude crashed against a pointed surface, making him hear a crack in his shoulder.
The lizardman didn't even glance back at him. It charged at Harley.
Full sprint. Sword trailing low, murder in every stride. Killing intent rolled off it in waves, thick enough to choke on.
Harley tried to raise his weapon, but his cracked rib screamed and his arm shook. He wasn't going to make the block in time.
"Harley—MOVE!"
Vernox's voice cracked across the cave like a whip.
The overgrown lizard was almost upon him.