Tap…Tap…Tap

  I groaned inward as my pole tapped against the maze's floor. Five dead ends and three hours after the mini-boss room, I wondered if I could create a spell to make background music. Another three turn around, and another hour later, I was willing to spend any amount of gold to buy and lug around the first musical instrument I found. The only sound in the dungeon was the light tap tap taping of my pole against the hard-packed ground.

  It was in this mindset almost wholly checked out as I turned to take the left passage where two paths met, for the gods only knew how many times my Danger Sense knocked me back to reality. A heartbeat later, a javelin as thick as my forearm cut through the fur on my tail, passing inches for my head.

  Adrenaline hammered in my veins as instinct took over. I dropped to all fours, my tail puffing out, covering my actions just in time for a second javelin to blur through the space my chest was. I fought against my instincts, spinning around and forcing myself to rush forward, my wide eyes scanning the long tunnel before me.

  There, standing at the end of the hall and just outside of its room, five hundred feet away, was an odd creature. It? He? He looked at first glance to be a satyr, but looking closer destroyed that illusion. His legs ended in paws instead of hooves, where ram’s horns should have sat on his head instead, a set of antlers fit for any great king of the forest grew from his temples, framing the wolf skull he wore as a mask. Above all this, it was made clear as a javelin grew from his raised hand that his entire body was carved wood.

  ‘Damn, Fae.’

  Slowly, I reached up and closed my visor, my eyes locked onto the empty sockets of the wolf's skull. His arm cocked back before, who could only be Oberon, hurled his javelin at me. Mana flooded my body as I threw myself to the left, teeth chattering as the javelin slammed into the ground. I was thrown against the wall from the impact. I scrambled quickly back to my paws. My claws sank into the packed ground before I rushed forward. My vision narrowed as my heartbeat seemed to slow.

  Thump…thump…thump

  Another javelin formed and sent, blurring my way. My muscles burned stamina as fuel while my lightning-clad body leached forward, pulling me clear of the impact zone. Oberon didn't seem to like that very much as a second javelin grew from his off-hand. Groaning internally, I kept to my headlong sprint towards the final boss.

  I bounced off the corridor wall, dodging the first javelin. The second aimed to catch me in midair. Due to the added flexibility of my new armor and having my tail push against the wall, I was able to shift just enough to have the tip of the javelin first impact against my outstretched forearm, shifting its path higher and sending it sailing over my head and pushing my arm into my chest.

  Landing oddly, I stumbled on, losing a bit of speed. I flung my arm forward, lightning dancing along my claws before arcing into Oberon's chest. His body locked up a javelin in his hand, shattering as he convulsed, buying me enough time to get halfway to him, close enough that Analyze finally worked.

  -Oberon lord of the Hunt-

  Level: 15

  ‘Fuck.’

  Adding to the horrible news, my left hand fell on a tripwire. Apparently, traps started at the halfway point. I rolled to my right, buffeted by the wind of a swinging log trap. As soon as I was back to running, I had to Charge forward dodging the incoming javelin. I shot off two quick casts of Bolt in return. The first slammed into an incoming javelin, and the second was backhanded, causing the magic to slam into the ground in front of Oberon.

  “GODS DAMN FAE BULLSHIT!!” I bellowed as the ground dropped out from under me.

  My helm helped obscure my site of the bottom of the pit but didn't hide the fact that solid ground was just fifty feet away. My body twisted in air, pulling my feet forward, my arms fully extended as I readied to smash into the wall of the pit fall. Danger Sense helpfully reminded me that Oberon wasn't just sitting idle. Two javelin tore through the air aimed at my falling form.

  Only having time to throw out one spell in panic, I cast the only spell that might act as a wall. A five foot cube of water formed on top of the lead javelin, pushing it out of its deadly trajectory. It held its form just long enough for the second javelin to smash into it, sending water and wood splinter through the hall.

  I slammed heavily into the hard packed wall as my claws dug into the wall, stopping me from sliding lower into the pitfall. I groaned softly, shaking my head quickly turned into a full body shake like dog that just came in from the rain. One by one, I shook out my limbs, working out the stiffness. Slowly, I started to climb up the cliff.

  With about ten feet left to climb, the ground started to shake clumps of dirt raining down onto me as the wall I was climbing started to crumble. Cursing, I scrambled at the loose dirt, clawing my way up the last ten feet and dragging myself onto stable ground. Danger Sense screaming I jumped forward onto my hands, dodging over one of Oberon's javelins only for the javelin to detonate as it slammed into the ground behind me and set me tumbling through the air.

  My eyes locked onto the ground as I twisted through the air. My body contorted my tail, twirling to help aline my body to land on all fours…

  Snap

  …unfortunately I landed on a rope. A long branch that had a wooden stake tied to it came whipping around before slamming into my back piercing through my armor and hammered home in my back. The edges of my vision started to darken, my vision tinting red as my teeth chattered against each other. I ripped myself off the stake, dropping to the ground.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  -Warning-

  Bleeding: -5 hps

  Glaring at Oberon, I darted forward my armor, soaking up my blood slowly repairing itself. Each step pulled at the wound, causing a point or two of damage. Oberon twirled his javelin, finally having realized that my reaction speed was high enough to dodge it and the traps. Metallic emerald patters light up over Oberon's javelin and arm before he stabbed it into the ground before him.

  The ground bucked under me, forcing me to come to a stop and dig my claws into the ground, holding on for dear life. Danger Sense went crazy. Wooden stakes burst from the ground under me. I pushed hard against the ground most of the spikes, slamming into my armor a few punched through and more stabbed into my legs. I hit the ground hard, and my legs collapsed as the cluster of spikes cracked before erupting, sending wooden shrapnel in every direction.

  Groaning, I kept an eye on Oberon as he grew a new javelin. Quickly casting Minor Self-heal , my bleeding came to a stop, and strength flowed back into my legs. I pushed myself back into a sprint. Only a quarter of the distance remained between Oberon and myself before the ground started to violently buck again.

  Knowing what was coming, I Charged forward, barely making it clear just before the spike cluster busted from the ground. Rising up, I shot off two quick Bolts back to back. Oberon caught the first with the tip of his javelin, the weapon detonating in his hand. The second caught him in his chest, blasting away some of his bark armor. Oberon glared at me as the bark slowly regrew.

  Sprinting the last bit of distance, I pulled my khopesh free, channeling my favorite spell Bolt through the blade. Charging forward as soon as Oberon was in range. Golden emerald patters light up all over Oberon's body. Javelins burst from the ground in a thirty foot circle around Oberon. My lightning-clad body smashed into the forest of javelins, splintered wood, and blood flew through the air. My blade slammed heavily into Oberon's left shoulder, bitting deep into it.

  -Warning!-

  Heavy bleeding: -10 hps

  Four javelins pierced into me, two had punched through the armor on my left arm, one in my forearm on in my bicep, while the others were planted firmly in my gut just below where my armor ended.

  Oberon's fist slammed into my chest, pushing me back as my armor drank in my blood, pushing the remains of the javelins out of my arm. Thick golden sap oozed out around my khopesh firmly planted in Oberon's shoulder, the arm dangling useless.

  ‘KILL it! BREAK it! BATH IN IT'S BLOOD!’

  Pain and rage twisted together, narrowing my world to just the damned fae. Snarling, my right shoulder slammed into Oberon’s stomach, lightning sparked off my armor and into his body as I drove him backward into the boss room. I slammed him down into the ground, mounting the fae.

  My fists lashed out, hammering into the fae's mask, sending bone chips flying. The damned fae pulled on the wooden shrapnel in my stomach, using it as a handle to wrench me off of it. The fresh influx of pain helped push back the rage induced madness. Minor Self-heal pushed the shrapnel out and closed my wounds before the healing energy ended.

  I jerked to the side, dodging the fae's javelin before I lunged at it. My left hand grabbed Oberon's wrist, yanking him closer. I roared as my helm slammed into the fae's face, cracking its skull mask, forcing Oberon to stumble back tears welling up in its eyes.

  I darted forward, gripping my khopesh firmly before jumping up and slamming my feet into Oberon's chest, ripping my khopesh free. Landing lightly, I darted back in hacking down on the fae's right leg. My blade bit into his bark, drawing more golden sap. Oberon whirled on me, his antlers slamming into my chest, knocking me back before his javelin stabbed out.

  I knocked the javelin away once, twice, thrice before pushing forward, sweeping the javelin wide and slamming my pommel into Oberon's cracked mask, shattering it. The fae's hand lashed out, grabbing me by the throat before throwing me deep into the boss room.

  I slammed into a wooden gate bursting through it. Rolling, I popped back to my feet, my head darting around, taking everything in. Four equidistant brazers on the walls bursted to life as I pushed myself back to my feet.

  Dozens of goblins pounded their feet against the wooden stands as they roared for their king atop the walls. Oberon walked past the ruined gates, taking this a signal a pair of goblins started hammering on war drums. A goblin ran over to Oberon, passing him an odd weapon, it looked like someone put an arming sword at the end of a staff about as tall as i was, before the goblin ran off and scurried up the walls joining its brothers in their hooting and hollering.

  Vines as thick as my forearm burst from the ground, growing over the broken gates pulling them closed. I took in Oberon's form as I flourish my khopesh. The Fae looked disappointingly good. His arm still hung useless, but the bleeding had stopped, and worst of all, the fae seemed to be enjoying the fight, a manic grin carved on his face and a mad glint in his eyes. Not knowing how long Imbue Blade will last, I Charged Oberon.

  Vines erupted from the ground between us, attempting to block my path. Lightning lept from me vaporizing the water in the vines, causing them to burst in a sticky cloud and fowl my strike. The flat of my blade slapped across Oberon's shoulder as he darted to the side and dumped the last bit of electricity into him. We turned to face each other, trading blows back and forth until I finally got my first stack of Tempo.

  Ducking under the next thrust from Oberon's sword-staff, knocking his blade higher with mine, I darted in and slammed my shoulder into Oberon's stomach before pivoting behind him from his left as my tail slapped across his face, blocking his vision. The hooked tip of my khopesh punched into the back of his knee as I pumped Flame Breath into my blade.

  Roaring in pain, Oberon threw his elbow at my head as he spun to face me. Gritting my teeth, I took the blow to twist my blade as it was ripped out. The fae's ruined knee gave out buckling as he put weight on it. Golden emerald patterns light up across his body again.

  Instead of running, I stepped closer to Oberon, my left fist slamming into his jaw as the forest of javelins trusted up from the ground. Most of the javelins missed me as I was so close to the epicenter, but the damn fae got lucky as three javelins managed to spear into my legs.

  “BURN!”

  I roared, pushing myself closer to him, taking a blow from his sword-staff to my right shoulder as I dropped my sword to rip my helm off, dumping the last of my mana into letting loose a torrent of flames into the fae's face as I loomed over him. My left hand grabbed the first weapon it found. I brought my hatchet down, sinking it deep into Oberon's right shoulder as he tried to pull himself out of the fire. Tugging at the haft, I pulled us closer as the flames guttered out.

  “Well..” weeze. “…fought, little squirrel. Now…” chough “…finish it so…” deep inhale “…I can move on to the next hunt.”

  Oberon managed to rasp as his charred bark skin flaked off. That same mad joy glowed in his eyes. Flexing feeling into my right hand, I returned his bloody grin with one of my own. I scooped up um khopesh limping to Oberon's side as he bowed, offering up his neck. Taking in a deep breath to center myself as I raised my blade high, I let it out in one explosive move, sending Oberon's head to the ashen floor to the goblin's cheering.