I would have created an earthen wall to see what it did against this being, but my wall wouldn’t nearly be large enough to stop it. Besides, I would lose an unknown amount of mana if I did that, which I was going to need for my lightning arc.

I feigned retreat to find out how fast this thing could run. A quick glance over at the soldiers told me they wanted to spring into action, but Selleron raised a hand, halting them. He knew that I wasn’t running from this creature to escape. He knew what my speed could be if I tried.

At some point, the large, grey creature somehow just… stopped chasing. I hadn’t seen something like that before. Perhaps this animal possessed some kind of intelligence?

It did thwart my plans slightly as I needed it to keep chasing me for my spell to not break. Having my ability canceled would mean I’d have to build up power from the start again. Fortunately for me, the creature in question wasn’t small enough to hide behind my rear, and I could feel its steps shake and tremble the ground, so I felt like it wouldn’t be too hard to pull this off.

With all these spells and abilities I possessed, to think speed would be my greatest weapon…

“Right,” I said, confident in my plan. I had now gauged my enemy’s strength, or rather, speed. It was time to move in for the kill.

Cellestra nodded, confident in me. I skittered towards the long-nosed creature and fired another elemental blast, taunting it a second time.

Its tusks turned towards me and I instinctively started running, but I allowed it to get close enough so that I could start my lightning arc channel. I knew this was a sturdy enemy, but this spell of mine would take down anything, given I managed to stay in range, and had the mana pool to support its ever-increasing potency.

I took a deep breath as I started the spell and felt the arc connect to my target. Then, the dance began.

I stayed out of reach of the creature’s tusks while remaining close enough to not break the spell. Due to my proximity to the source of the ground tremors, my feet were slightly unsteady, but I managed to ignore it for the most part.

While running, I threw a couple more elemental blasts its way in an attempt to keep it fixated on me to make things a bit smoother.

The small arc of lightning steadily grow stronger and brighter the longer it was active. Cellestra was holding on tighter to me than ever before. Something I didn’t blame her for.

Eventually, sparks flew from the mighty beam of lightning that now connected me and this supposed floor boss. I felt my mana start to drain quickly, but the sheer amount of power that I felt coursing through me and connecting to my enemy told me that this wouldn’t last too much longer.

The light that came with a lightning arc cast that had been going on for this long was intense, almost blinding. My mana pool was taking larger and larger hits to it, but finally, to my relief, the fight ended when my spell was abruptly canceled.

One last trumpeting sound was heard as the ground shook from the massive weight that came crashing down upon it.

I wiped some sweat off my forehead as I sighed in relief. The heat that I experienced from channeling so much power had caused some drops to appear. At the same time, Selleron stepped towards us, slowly clapping his hands.

“Impressive,” He admitted while looking at the elephant’s corpse. “This one is usually quite problematic for newcomers.”

“No kidding,” I let out. “How do people beat that thing in the first place without getting crushed?”

“I’ve seen some parties deal with it,” The captain continued. “Though, I have to admit, most parties use ranged attacks like you did. Only very few managed to defeat it with close-range weapons.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, do you think you can continue?”

“Continue?” I said, my eyebrows raised. “There’s more?”

“There’s a second floor, and then a third and fourth. Do you wish to continue?”

The last fight had been tough, but I felt like I had plenty of mana remaining to go on for a while more. I’d say about half of my pool had been used. Besides, I welcomed the challenge. After being idle for so long, it felt refreshing.

I nodded. “I do. Cellestra, you okay with some more?”

She nodded and answered softly. “Yes.”

I let Selleron lead the way as he walked towards the mountains at the edge of these barren plains. Red, rocky terrain paved the way towards an enormous… cave? Or was it some kind of tunnel? I could see light on the other side.

Clearly, I was mistaken to think the dungeon ended here.

I wondered what the second floor would bring, and how strong the creatures there would be. I didn’t think I would be able to deal with another floor boss like that. I simply didn’t have enough mana remaining.

We walked through what was a tunnel as hypothesized. It was easily large enough for me to fit through. In fact, I reckoned it could fit two of me, side by side.

“Anything you can tell us about this next floor?” I asked, seeing what information I could extract from the captain.

“I think you are smart enough to figure out what the theme of the floor is soon enough.”

Floor theme? Interesting…

We left the darkness of the tunnel behind us and stepped into the light, into something akin to a caldera of a volcano, except that it was dormant, and likely had been for a long time. There was no telling if this had ever been a volcano in the first place. It was a dungeon after all.

The rocky ground and mountains that surrounded us seemed to be covered in the same red-orangish dust, or perhaps it was the stone itself, that made up the ridge we just passed through. I tapped the ground with my legs and found that it was, indeed, rock, which meant earthen spike wouldn’t be possible to use here.

That also meant that Cellestra wouldn’t be able to use the one offensive spell that was deemed “safe”.

We were going to be measured as a team, which should help her out, but we were going to hit a wall eventually. We would have to see what she could do with her own spells. Hopefully, it wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

My eyes ran over the terrain, over the hills and immense boulders laying around. There was no vegetation for things to hide in, but there were plenty of other options available.

“Good luck,” Selleron said, standing still as Cellestra and I kept moving. “I’m confident you’ll be able to clear this floor too.”

That put me to thinking. What made him believe that? Creatures here would be stronger, right?

I realized that that may not always be the case. I mean, the skeletons I fought were on a different floor than the swamp creatures, and they didn’t feel much tougher, if at all. They just needed a different spell to be dealt with. Perhaps the so-called “theme” would benefit me?

I wasn’t going to find out by just standing around. I skittered across the terrain, uphill to one of the boulders lying around and hid behind it. I then peeked around the corner to see… a pack of wolves…?

About thirty yards out was a group of about fifteen grey wolves. Some were sleeping, and others seemed to keep watch. At the edge of the pack was a slightly larger, completely white wolf that sniffed the air before turning its head in my direction. It then howled loudly which woke the sleepers.

That had to be the alpha.

There wasn’t anything else that made these wolves stand out, no matter how hard I looked.

“Whenever you’re ready,” I said to Cellestra, who nodded in response. I then prepared my weapon and cast the imbue elements spell on myself as the wolves slowly and carefully approached. They spread out to form a circle around me, but I wouldn’t let them.

I noticed Cellestra was in the middle of casting a spell, so I waited until it was finished. When a fireball flew from her fingertips towards one of the beasts, I made a run for it. I broke through the enclosing ring, stabbing one of the wolves in the flank as I passed. I ran for a few more yards before turning around.

Cellestra’s fireball had done its job as well. One of the creatures was engulfed in flames and collapsed.

The advantages of having two minds became clear again. I could keep track of how many enemies remained with one, while thinking about my overarching strategy with the other.

Thirteen to go.