“He said that if we want to proceed further, we need to reach the top of the volcano.”

So the wolf paid for his treatment with information huh? And not even that useful one, since it was pretty obvious that the volcano was the only place we could choose as our destination. It just spared us some time we would otherwise spend on searching entrances around the slopes. There was however, much more important information I got from this exchange.

Apparently Felicia could understand monster’s speech, which was a bit weird, since even I, as an actual monster can’t understand what they have to say. But this must be an ability she got only recently, since she didn’t talk to me at all before I got my [Telepathy]. But again, she doesn’t talk much, so she probably didn’t have anything to say.

Now that I think of it, we shouldn’t let that wolf run off so easily, he should at least give us a ride. It was big enough for Felicia and me to sit comfortably on its back, and he probably has enough stamina to run all the way. I wouldn’t even be surprised it he was the boss of this part of the dungeon.

Hmm, we didn’t go through any stairs since we entered that confusing caves, and this is already third separate environment we stumbled onto. Do these count as separate floors, or are these all a part of a huge one? I sincerely hoped that they were separate floors, because then the difficulty would rise gradually. If this was actually one huge floor, there could be a case where we met an enemy much stronger than us.

Speaking of enemies, there are some right in front of us. Well, they should be enemies, since it would be kind of hard to expect something friendly to suddenly jump out of lava and block your way.

[Lava battle dancer mouse]
[Lvl: 34]
[Status:]
{
HP: 381; MP: 110;
Strength: 324;
Intelligence: 247;
Agility: 653;
Vitality: 298;
Defensive ability: 190;
Offensive ability: 531;
}
[Skills:]
[Appraisal failed]

Apparently, it’s another mouse, and apparently, it has a weird prefix again, and quite a number of them at that. If I remember correctly, the previous ones were assassins and game me some uncomfortable memories. If possible I would like to avoid fighting them, but it probably wouldn’t be possible, mainly because one of them is already encased in ice from Felicia’s attack.

Since it already began, I didn’t spend much time waiting for the mice to attack I quickly spun my thread, which of course caught on fire as soon as I finished making it, making me burn my ass quite severely.

[Conditions fulfilled. Changing title [Literal moron] into [] ]
[Error. Target is over-qualified for existing titles, reverting to existing one.]

…

No comment from my side.

Anyway, I spun my thread again, [Ethereal thread] this time, because there wasn’t really a way for it to catch fire. Since it wouldn’t do a real damage when being made out of only mana, I gave it the darkness attribute with [Darkness creation]. It was pretty similar to my usual dark thread, but lacked the physical damage.

I got a bit too engrossed in creating the weapon, even if it took less than twenty seconds and when I finally came back to battle with my senses I saw carnage. There were multiple bodies of mice lying on the ground, some of them pierced with icicles, some of them with crushed skulls and some with charred remains of what seemed to be roots going through their bodies.

While I stood there with all of my eight eyes widened, Felicia was dancing wildly between the enemies. It was them who had the title of dancers, and yet she was much nimbler and skillful than them. I swear I could see the mice throw fireballs at her, only to be countered with miniature snowflakes in air produced by her magic.

[Obtained enough experience. Level risen to 13]

And I was getting experience from her fighting. I wanted to join her, but I was simply too frozen in awe to do anything else than stare. Three mice came at her simultaneously from different sides, only to be impaled on spike-like roots suddenly growing from the seemingly barren ground. They caught on fire soon after, but that dealt no additional damage to something that could swim in lava.

Before my next breath came, there were two more enemies swinging their claws at her from the front, but they also met their demise quickly, as they didn’t see a trap she placed with her thread. She could produce a spider thread, even though she was a catkin, and she could use ice magic to preserve it for a short while in this environment.

Even if it was only a moment, it was enough for her to swing her yo-yos. I gasped when the toys failed to hit both of the mice, but after less than a second it was clear she aimed for it. The strings connecting the crystal toys to her fingers were a weapons too, and they cut through these two mice like a butter, while at the same time crushing skulls of other approaching enemies.

I was even more dumbfounded at this sight when I realized these mice had about double the stats of Felicia. It was probably the result of her training in the auxiliary mana muscles and mana coat. Still, to think it could have such a powerful effect. It really pains me to lose such a high level technique.

Suddenly, there was a change in the battle, Felicia got herself surrounded on all sides with a swarm of mice. She couldn’t just jump over them, since they could simply block her in air with their agility, so I readied myself to intervene. I was literally in the middle of starting to run, when my dropping jaw nearly made a hole in the ground.

Felicia was suddenly in air, out of reach of any possible jumping enemies. It wasn’t a jump, she was clearly flying, and what was even more terrifying, that somehow a dark clouds were surrounding her. They gathered at a frightening speed, covering the whole battlefield and then even more of this lava floor. I could feel the overbearing temperature drop to the acceptable levels, and then even lower.

I was protected by the ice spell Felicia casted on me, but I could clearly see the lava flowing around us slowly start to solidify. The mice were clearly frightened, trying to escape into the lava, hurting their heads when they tried to dive into now solid hard obsidian. It was only then, that another change occurred. From these dark clouds, a snow started falling.

It was slow at first, with only a couple of snowflakes reaching the ground, but with every second, more was starting to fall. Then came the wind, carrying the snow with it, making the temperature drop even lower, and carrying the now bountiful snow everywhere, effectively creating a blizzard.

It wasn’t until Felicia cancelled her spell, that I could finally see the aftermath.

[DM’s pov]

WHAT THE HELL? SHE FROZE A WHOLE FLOOR!?? A FREAKIN LAVA FLOOR!?