James awoke refreshed. His mana had fully recovered, as had his physical and mental fatigue.
And then he had a bad idea, and started executing it.
After a light breakfast of smoked crab monster meat and bread, he took a pick-axe from his magic bag and set to work mining out several hundred pounds of stone from the nearby wall. He positioned the stone near where the door would open, took a break, ate an early lunch, and then armed and armored himself. He put on his Water Armor set, equipped his round [Reflect] shield in his left hand, and in his right hand grasped his Earth War Hammer with the [Heavy Blow] enchantment.
He knew that beyond the iron door was the lair of the boss of the floor. On the floor above, unknowingly, he had faced a giant monster, apparently called a pangolin, which had been similar to another monster on that floor: the mole monsters. Fortunately, he had managed to slay it single-handedly thanks to his Earth War Hammer. But from the stories that James had heard growing up in his village, he knew that most adventurers challenged Dungeons in full parties, and they worked together, especially when fighting boss monsters, because once the party entered the lair, either they killed the boss monster or the boss monster killed them.
Boss monsters were the second most deadly challenge in a dungeon, after the traps.
And let us not imagine that the Legendary Smith was a prodigy dungeon explorer: proper parties of adventurers clear floors of dungeons in a span of time measured in hours. James was doing the same in months. Legend though he became, nobody should be so foolhardy as to attempt Dungeon exploration alone, and there is good reason that such foolishness is forbidden by the regulations of the Adventurer's Guild.
Now armored and armed, and rested and recovered and fed and watered and in all ways possible prepared to face a boss monster, the Smith of Legend opened the door, and immediately put his life in danger.
James pulled the door open, and it swung open easily. First, holding the door, he peered into the room, and was shocked.
The floor was a pebbly beach, the same as the first area of the floor. But while to the left there was a familiar cliff face, thankfully devoid of bird monster nests, and the ceiling was invisible, covered by what appeared to be low-lying clouds, to the right… To the right, there appeared to be a stretch of shoreline, and water stretching on into the distance, to the horizon, beyond what James could see.
Small waves lapped the shoreline.
The beach itself, from shore to cliff, spanned roughly thirty yards by James' estimate. A narrow battlefield, and in length it appeared to be roughly a hundred yards. At the far end, there was an unnatural corner in the cliff, and standing on six spindly legs, with massive claws held above its head, was a crab monster.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
A giant, judging by the distance. The normal crab monsters waved their claws somewhat lower than James' waist.
It didn't show any signs of noticing James had opened the door.
James looked down and noted that just like the upper floor, there was a set of ten steps leading down to the beach. He was still holding the door open.
Thinking himself clever, he wedged the stone he had mined against the open door and into the door jamb, so that the door would remain propped open and he could retreat if necessary. He felt confident that he could take out a crab monster, even a large one, but being able to retreat was always a good thing.
He had his warding stakes ready to go as well. He planned to set up a large, square warded area at the foot of the stairs to give himself room to retreat before fully escaping.
He cautiously proceeded down the stairs, step by step. And as he stepped from the final step onto the pebbly beach, two things happened simultaneously.
First, the crab monster a hundred yards distant noticed him, and started advancing.
Second, there was a popping noise from behind the Smith.
Pop. Pop pop. Pop BANG BOOM BOOM BOOM.
Shards of stone whizzed over the Smith's head, and large chunks struck him in the back of his armor, pushing him forward and making him lose his balance. His armor prevented him from looking back, so he propped himself up with his round shield, enduring the strikes.
One stone chunk struck him in the back of the head, dazing him.
Halfway down the shoreline, the giant crab monster skittered to a stop, wary of the exploding stone.
As the iron door had swung shut, it did so entirely ignoring the stones in the way. Stone forced under compression, especially magically empowered compression, like in a Dungeon, can break violently.
Dear reader, please do not attempt to prop open the boss room doors in Dungeons.
James shook his head in his helmet, putting the pain aside to focus on his next task: the ward. The crab monster resumed approaching now that the door had finished closing and the loud noises had stopped. Quickly he moved, jamming stakes into the pebbles as deep as he could, creating a space five yards on a side as the crab monster reached about twenty-five yards away. He shoved his mana into the warding stakes…
And nothing happened.
No ward formed.
James paled and the giant crab monster continued advancing.
Its shell was white with blue splotches, with claws nearly two yards long and waving in the air well over James' head. Its body, held aloft by six legs looking much sturdier and less spindly than they had from a distance, rushed sideways towards James as its eyestalks remained pointed directly at him.
All of James' plans had failed by this point.
And yet he stepped forward, swinging his Earth War hammer.
[Smith] Class Skill [Nerves of Steel] has reached level 5.
[Technique: Hammer Strike]
[Heavy Blow]
Boom!
With a loud noise, his hammer struck the large claw of the giant crab monster, knocking it to the side.
And then the boss monster swiveled on its dexterous legs, bringing the other claw around and clamping around James' legs, midway between his knees and hips.
And it held him aloft.