Levi took in the layout at a glance as the door sealed itself behind him. Eleven pillars in no particular pattern. They were the same dark pitted material as the rest of the dungeon, but each pillar was topped by a deeper depression filled with boiling orange goo, the overflow from which slowly made its way down the pillars like melted wax dripping down a candle, gathering at random spots into the explosive globules that would spray the corrosive substance when approached.

The hulking figure, he recognized at once as an ogre. While he’d never seen one as a boss, only as relatively low-level adversaries merely three to five times as strong as a human fighter of the same level, he’d certainly encountered enough of them for chills to shiver up his back.

He'd watched too many comrades torn apart by these creatures to be unfazed, regardless of how much lower level this one was than those he’d faced in the original future.

The reflexive fear only made his determination that much stronger, anger rising within him. He wouldn't let any ogre get the best of him.

The simplest strategy would be to bait the boss into following him, then lead it in a zigzag through the pillars, letting the corrosives burst onto it and slowly wear it down. It would require speed, stamina, and coordination. Levi had two of those things. He cursed his impatience at not waiting for his stamina to fully recharge, but sitting and doing nothing would have stressed him out beyond any danger he faced now.

He whispered quick instructions to Skarm, then drew his dagger and watched. He wished the blade had come with a power stone equipped.

His faithful little minion gamely ran into the center of the room, squeaking at the top of its voice. The boss slowly raised its head, focusing on the tiny irritating intruder to its domain.

Levi couldn't suppress a shudder as their eyes met. The ogre’s pasty face was crossed with jagged scars and it wore a cleaver on its hip, but was otherwise not armed or armored but for a ragged loincloth. Nothing like the fully-armored behemoths he'd faced in the level 60 dungeons of the past future. Level 1, just like everything else in the dungeon.

Skarm ran right up to it when the ogre failed to otherwise react to his presence, then rammed its meaty leg with his pointy little horn.

That got its attention. The ogre roared and jumped to its feet, drawing the cleaver and swinging in the same overwrought motion, slamming it down.

Skarm squeaked in alarm, but jumped nimbly aside just in time. He ran toward the nearest pillar in a flat out sprint, the ogre close behind.

Levi focused hard, bringing the ogre's health bar into view. It wavered and flickered whenever it slipped out of his line of sight, but it was his most important indicator.

No way he was going to let this one get away from him. He'd bring the ogre down to submission levels and make it his second minion. He had to be getting close to level 3 and his next minion slot unlock. If dominating an ogre wasn't enough to push him over, he'd go back into the maze and hunt down every last gremlin hiding anywhere.

Skarm wove between pillars as instructed, squealing and jumping aside every time the ogre's cleaver slammed down, but his extra Spirit point was showing its value as he managed to remain just ahead of the lumbering beast.

Level 1+

(Cave Ogre)

Health 98%

Even playing the pillars to his advantage, the ogre's health barely dipped. Perhaps Levi had read the encounter wrong, and they were just traps to hurt him, not a way to take out the ogre.

Well, then he'd just have to do it the old-fashioned way. Beat it into submission until it couldn't resist any longer.

"Skarm, with me."

Skarm abandoned his weaving path around the columns and sprinted toward Levi. Levi readied his dagger.

He passed Skarm midway, slamming himself dagger first into the ogre's chest. It brought up its cleaver to block, too late. Taken off guard by Levi's sudden attack it failed to mitigate the attack sufficiently and staggered back, health dipping by almost a fifth as Levi savaged its chest with his dagger while Skarm abandoned his retreat and ran around to claw and bite the ogre's legs.

Level 1+

(Cave Ogre)

Health 82%

Judging by the percentages, the ogre probably had around 300 health, so in a straight slashing fight Levi wouldn't stand a chance. Fortunately, he knew better than to engage anything that size on its own terms.

He spun away while the ogre staggered. By the time the beast got its feet back under it properly, Levi had strafed around to the side opposite Skarm, letting them flank it. When the ogre turned toward Skarm, raising a foot to stomp the gremlin into the sand, Skarm squeaked and retreated while Levi leapt in to stab the ogre in the back.

His mundane clothing would provide no resistance to a manablade, and he could see the telltale gleam around the cleaver. It was mana-edged and would slice through him as easily as if it were edged with superheated plasma. They had to keep it from getting a hit in on either of them, he knew neither of them could last more than one or two.

Fortunately, this particular ogre was significantly less intelligent than the higher level varieties. It dumbly chased whoever had struck it most recently, and by judicious use of the pillars Levi and Skarm managed to keep ahead of it.

Barely. It could move very fast when it built up momentum, but fortunately the pillars provided ways to break that momentum. Perhaps that was their intended use, the corrosive traps there to make it a riskier proposition to hide behind them rather than as a weapon against the boss.

Level 1+

(Cave Ogre)

Health 51%

Levi knew the ogre would go into its berserk flurry once it hit half health, spinning its sword in all directions in blind fury. The next time they performed their carefully coordinated attacks he motioned for Skarm to retreat, running to shelter behind one of the recently-depleted pillars that hadn’t had time to become dangerous again yet.

Sure enough, as soon as Levi dealt the next strike, the ogre enraged.

The boss bellowed so loudly the ceiling shook, dropping sand dramatically through shafts of artificial sunlight, and lashed out in a sudden spinning flurry of blows. But it hit no one and nothing. Levi had already leapt away.

He ran, weaving through the pillars, the boss forced to chase furiously after him.

It ran faster than it had before, but as long as he didn’t let it build up too much momentum, he could keep ahead.

His heart thundering in his chest, Levi grinned despite himself. There was a certain thrill to this, the challenge of it. Without any armor or proper weapons, only an inert dagger between him and death, yet in its substance this fight was intimately familiar. He’d spent half a decade training himself through endless life-or-death battles against stronger, larger, and far more deadly foes.

The steps may be different, but he knew this dance and could play it to perfection.

If he made a single mistake he’d probably die. But right now, running one step ahead of the infuriated boss, he felt untouchable.