Blood sprayed into the air as I was knocked back. The Rogue fell to the ground as the massive lizard warrior ripped its blade from the eviscerated body.
The massive stroke had almost split the now dead adventure in half. I could barely raise my shield in time to block the next fast strike, and I was pushed back.
"What is wrong with that idiot?" I called out.
This party consisted of the best adventures I could find, but what would I expect in this city? Not one of them worked together, and each thought they knew best.
So far, this tactic of not having a plan has done fine. The problem was that this was the boss room, meaning we had finally reached the Core, and things were not going well.
"He was trying to protect you!" The fighter yelled back.
"A Rogue trying to protect a Tank?" I said in indignation.
I couldn't talk, this was a fight to the death, and now the lizard was moving away from me. The vicious scaled lizard man had turned and was heading straight for the healer who was standing alone.
He was by himself, with no one to protect him, dipshit. I sucked in a deep breath and filled my lungs before letting out a roar of words.
"HEY! YOU! WALKING BOOT LEATHER!" I screamed out.
I unleashed my voice in a deafening scream, a specialty of mine. This specific tone was saved for monsters and drunken men with wandering hands that they were not fond of.
It had been over six months since the massive maze-like structures appeared from nowhere, stopping all wars. That ended up turning every idiot that could hold a stick into an adventurer.
"ROAR!" The massive creature shouted at me.
I was tall for a girl, but this thing was huge. At least two and a half meters tall and arms like a tree, but it moved like a dancer.
As I charged, I inclined my shield and deflected its strike, then rammed the monster. Our warrior thought it was an excellent time to attack after I disengaged, so at that point, I spun off the lizardman and managed to get between it and the priest.
"Ahhhh!" Screamed the warrior as the lizard man smashed through his weapon.
As the warrior rushed head-on to the monster, the lizard effortlessly decapitated him. As his head fell to the ground, blood spewed like a fountain.
The lizardman had stepped aside to let the headless body finish its descent, but the monster was momentarily distracted. I threw up a hand to deflect the blood-spraying, but I didn't blink.
It was down to two of us now, so I had to move. I dialed into the moment and dug my feet into the ground as I dashed forward, but I still couldn't figure it out.
How could they be so stupid? Nothing mattered as I charged, the sounds of chanting coming from behind me.
The man was praying to Healia for healing, but everyone but us was already past that point. I held my mace in a lowered position; I would have to rely on the healer to patch me up if we survive.
Suddenly, the lizardman flung his sword, but I dodged it. Too late, I realized what I had just done.
The sounds of chants cut off in a gurgling noise. I had no time to look back. This thing was so confident that it felt it didn't need a weapon to face me.
That made me mad; too many times, I had kicked my brother's asses for the same attitude. Girls are weak and should stay home, girls don't need to fight, but this girl was a fighter.
I dashed forward and crashed into the monster, bashing the thing to the ground. Instantly, I could feel the claws tearing into my skin through the basic chainmail I wore.
Red hot fire tore at my body, and I could feel the pain trying to overtake me, but I wouldn't stop now. I would not die before I had the chance to touch the Core!
I started to smash my mace into the lizard's pointed face with devastating effect. Having a pointy face wasn't that good vs. a mace.
I felt the pressure slowly let off as the claws fell out of my back, but I didn't stop; I couldn't. I smashed until there was nothing left.
Blood and bits of flesh stood out from my black hair, and I weakly flipped them off. I stood, but with great difficulty, wincing at the pain.
I could feel the blood trickle down my back, but I wasn't going to die from this. My breathing was still fine, unlike the rest of my party.
A group of idiots, but they had been the best idiots I could find around the Guild. It was becoming harder and harder to find good help these days.
Having a party wipe like this wasn't uncommon; more people went in dungeons than came out, but it was still unsettling. It also didn't help for the next time when I had to find an entirely new party.
People might consider me bad luck and not want to join me. Still, these men had made their beds, and now they lay in them.
There was no reason for people to die needlessly. You only needed to clear the first room of any dungeon, and then you could turn around and leave, but most didn't.
The entire world had been lulled into the chance for a random gift. Yet no one had ever got to the end of a dungeon, yet. The reason was on the other side of this door I stood in front of, the Dungeon Core.
I pushed open the swinging metal door to reveal an empty room. Save for one half-meter tall glowing red gems in the middle of the room.
I was starting to feel light-headed, but maybe this would give me a way to stop the bleeding or to get out of here. I was not meant to deal the final blow or get into wrestling matches with monsters.
So, I didn't want some fancy weapon, maybe a good pair of boots?... I was really starting to slip.
I staggered over to the core and put my hand on top of it; I had no idea what would happen. No one had ever made it this far, so there weren't even legends yet.
What I did was the right thing, and the crystal began glowing brighter. Suddenly, A blood-red message popped into my view, like floating words with a light behind them.
'BLOOD SERVANT SYSTEM ACTIVATED'