"What are you doing?" Amber asked as she saw Arad gathering the monster's healing crystals.
"We need those," He replied.
"I know, but they are too hard to use." She stared at him, "Absorbing their power takes a lot of effort. It's mostly useless."
"I can absorb the magic if I break them with my teeth." He replied.
"The heck? That would crack your teeth," She gasped, approaching him, and opening your mouth.
"She stared inside, seeing one of his back teeth was already cracked. "You idiot! Those are as hard as stone. Did you bite one?"
"Yes, to heal." He replied.
"You idiot! That tooth should be screaming in pain. How are you going to fight like that?" She stared at him. She quickly pulled a healing potion from her pocket, "Drink this,"
"No," Arad pushed her hand back, "Keep it for yourself. I don't need healing now."
"Are you an idiot? I'm saying you won't be able to focus in fights with such pain." She glared at him.
"Pain?" Arad looked at her with a passive face, "It's annoying, but what's the problem?"
"What?" She stared at him confused, "It's painful."
"I'm asking how could pain be a problem?" He tilted his head, "It's telling me about my injuries. Why would that be a problem?"
It was then that Amber realized that something was fundamentally different between her and Arad.
Arad and Amber approached the massive white tower, "Be careful. Unlike dungeons, they get their power by killing people and eating their life force. Labyrinthes get it by keeping people here and feeding on them slowly."
"What?" Arad looked at her.
"Those monsters would have beaten you to death's edge, then kept you alive with their healing jewels to feed the labyrinth." She lifted her staff, "The strongest monster would try to keep us from going higher since it's harder to keep us alive closer to the core,"
BAM! The ground shook, and a massive naked statue of Arad stepped out of the tower.
"GYAAAAAAAAAA!" Amber screamed, wanting to close her eyes but keeping them open. "That Merlin! What's her mind doing!" She pointed her staff at the twenty-meter-tall marble statue.
Arad stared at the statue, sweating, "I don't know, don't look at me."
"We have to fight it, so I'm looking," Amber cried, her face beet red.
"I don't care if you see me naked," Arad sighed, walking forward with his staff, "But," He glared at the statue, "You look nothing like me,"
"What?" Amber stared at him.
"Don't say that!" She cried.
"He's too thin. Probably from before I grew older," Unlike Amber's thoughts, Arad was trying to guess at what point Merlin saw him naked, but he couldn't figure it out.
He then turned toward Amber, "It isn't attacking," He pointed at the statue.
"It's job is to keep us from going up. If we don't try to leave. He won't attack." Amber pointed, "That works for us. Let's prepare an attack."
She pointed her staff and started charging a spell. From a lightning spark, a fireball merged at the tip of her staff.
BAM! The fireball expanded, causing the grass around Amber to burst into flames.
Arad stood a few meters ahead of her, ready to block any attack from the statue.
KABOM! The fireball started spinning, turning into an oval shape like an egg, then into a long spear.
"Arad, this won't kill it in one go, so be ready to block a counterattack." She said, sweating.
"Got it." Arad started spinning the quarterstaff. [Barrier] KNOCK! A crystal wall appeared ahead of him.
"Here I go!" BOOOM! Amber released the fire spear, and the statue started to move immediately, taking one step and bending forward.
PEW! The fire spear missed, barely grazing the statue's head.
"You missed?" Arad gasped.
CRACK! The statue squatted down, swinging a low kick at Arad.
Arad jumped in place, pointing at the statue's second foot. [Gravity]
CRACK! The statue's kick hit Arad's barrier, shattering it. He lifted his arm, to block the hit. BAM! The moment he took the hit, his feet were already out of the ground, so he flew away.
ZOR! The statue's second leg to pulled by the same force sending Arad away as he already caught it with gravity magic. CREEK!
The statue tripped with his foot getting pulled, and he fell head first, its neck cracking under his weight, but it didn't shatter.
Amber gasped, "What?"
CRACK! Arad's body smacked on the ground, spinning mid-air with blood splashing. His left arm shattered, and his right arm dislocated from the pull.
Arad's vision turned black, and he could barely hear anything.
Dragons are more akin to animals than humans. They don't show pain and weakness as it makes them look like prey.
CRACK! Arad cracked two crystals he was hiding in his mouth and jumped.
SWOSH! The statue fist flew beneath Arad. He dodged the attack at the last moment.
Amber swung her staff, redirecting the missing fire spear toward the statue.
"GORAAAAAAA!" The statue growled, swinging his arm to catch Arad.
[Barrier] [Gravity] Arad cast a barrier close to his feet, jumped on it then used Gravity magic to make him levitate a few millimeters above the ground.
Pointing his staff back, [Flame thrower]
Using the spell like a jet, he propelled himself forward, skating on the statue's arm until he reached its cracked neck.
At the last moment, Arad jumped from his barrier and spun midair, swinging his open palm at the cracks. SLAP!
CRACK! "AHH!?" The shockwave made the cracks bigger as Arad used his momentum to roll away from the statue.
PEW! Amber's spear pierced the statue's neck, exploding it into pieces.
"Did we get it?" Amber rushed toward Arad, finding him half unconscious on the ground, bleeding.
"You idiot," She pulled the potion from her pocket and started pouring it into his mouth.
She looked at the smoke, "I'm sure I heard something,"
As the smoke cleared, she could see a naked Merlin lying in the dust with a happy face.
"It's you!" Amber cried.