The massive space in which Auron now casually sauntered through had the unmistakable feel of a boss room. Cackling like a madman, he swept his eyes over the area for an indication of life. Any and all fear, he would have ordinarily been feeling channeled and warped into an undeserved satisfaction in his new magical abilities. His madness caused him to throw all caution to the wind. The parts of his mind that would usually be planning to use this environment to his benefit were turned off.

"Big bad bossy. Where are you??" Auron taunted the boss he was expecting to see. He greedily drank in his uninhibited emotions fueled by his status debuff. Normally he would have been disgusted by these feelings.

Like a man who had not seen the sun for years, he basked in the slew of emotions running through his body. Giving in to his worst deeply hidden traits as if they were glorious rays of sunlight, touching pale skin that had been locked away.

The madness seemed to cherry-pick only the sentiments useful in a bloody fight. Pride connected to a twisted version of self-efficacy now ruled him, tied in energy only with an all-consuming ferocity.

These terrible traits of mankind's complex array of characteristics made up one's psyche all brought out to dance.

Aurons kindness, compassion, and all of the elements contributing to the struggle of being a benevolent person were locked away.

The dungeon madness did not have all-encompassing control over Auron.

Part of him realized what a mistake he had made giving in, and that part fought against the affliction. In one moment, he was cheerfully calling out the boss, but in the next, he was screaming with all of his being, like some one-man play staring Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Yet no matter how loud or unabashed his performance became, no reaction came.

Finally, after screaming his throat raw, some of the gravel began to rumble around at one of the room's edges. Whatever the boss monster was, it was gigantic, and slow to wake. Infuriated at having to wait for a fight, Auron blinked a grenade into his hand.

"Someone needs an alarm clock. Time to wake up!" Auron said through gritted teeth toward the steadily rising mass of rocks.

He casually tossed the grenade up in the air twice his own height, halfway to the ceiling. As it hit the apex in its rise, Auron held up his hand and charged a wind-blast.

Activating his magic just as the grenade fell back to his height, it flew several times faster than he could have achieved by throwing it manually.

The wind wrapped around the projectile like an invisible gentle palm and whisked it away. In the blink of an eye, the grenade burned across the vast space of the room.

Auron did not hold anything back from the blast; this led to his hand rocketing backward, which caused a sick popping sound as his shoulder dislocated.

Auron looked over at his sagging shoulder with disinterest. With a hard jerk using his working hand, he popped it back into place and cast a healing wind to take care of the HP he had lost from the maneuver.

Peering across the room, he gets his eyes on the grenade just as it arced slightly downward and made an impact.

Upon collision with the far wall, a cyclone was released. The loose gravel in a 10-meter area surrounding the impact zone was thrown about violently.

Auron watched the magic activate, disappointed by the lack of power compared to the one used in his last fight. In the spacious room, they were currently in the magic spread out more, but with the increased range, the power was also dispersed.

With several layers of gravel now displaced, a titanic monster was visible.

Talons the size of a grown man's legs attached to thick tree trunk evocative limbs swam the creature upward as it came out of the ground. The massive creature stood at a height equal if not slightly higher than the previous room's ogre. Its face started at a point so sharp its mouth could be described as a beak if beaks had large flat teeth designed for crunching solid stone. Small beady eyes embedded in its face were locked on to Auron with hatred. The monster's deep red flesh was spotted randomly with black and grey splotches.

Standing on four jointed limbs, it stretched to its full height. Opening its mouth, the monster unleashed a roar that shook the dust from the ceiling. Following immediately after the rumble, inside its mouth, several rows of teeth in its throat slammed together.

Each impact of its ivories caused light shock-waves, its body language was that of a deadly predator annoyed by some smaller prey walking into its territory. With disinterest, it would eliminate the lesser being for its intrusion.

In an attempt to match the beasts scream with one of his own, he calls back in challenge. His eyes flashed red as his inspection automatically activated.

lvl5 Boss monster. Danger level: Very high. Color: Red. Sub colors: Black, Grey. These monsters generally keep to themselves happy just to move through the land and eat stone, but they are incredibly territorial. This species swims through rock as quickly as a fish through water eating anything that enters their mouth.

Had Auron been in his right mind, he would have noted that the creature's mouth seemed to be cut all the way into its neck, giving it plenty of room to swallow him and his 6ft height entirely.

Reveling in the full release of his rage, and now having a target to take it out on Auron charged forward.

The boss monster was not the only enemy in the room. Auron's charge was interrupted as he was pelted in the head with a small rock. The impact caused him to flinch and removed a few percent of his health. Turning around, his eyes practically glowing with fury, he detected several creatures as they popped out.

Much to Auron's surprise, a dozen red and green furry beings brought their heads curiously out of the giant holes covering the walls. His inspection activated automatically once again.

lvl3 danger level: low. Colors: Red, Green. These monsters live under the surface of the earth. They slowly carve paths out with their sharp claws. Due to their weakness, they generally live in large packs and form symbiotic relationships with stronger monsters. Contrary to their look and shy nature, they are carnivores.

Auron dismissed the notification without sparing it more than a glance. Furious at the sneak attack, he began to run toward the holes. His hands were gripped into tight fists with the image of what he would do to their necks when he got there.

As he ran and imagined strangling the hairy beasts, he stumbled over the gravel mix.

Auron had made the mistake of turning his back on the Bulette. In his blind rage, his mind simply passed over the loud suction noise coming from the gigantic land shark.

As Auron ran, he began to feel each step become harder. He noticed some areas of the rock flooring felt sturdier than others. The foundation around him flew toward the boss, starting with the most petite stone, but eventually rocks the size of Auron's head joined in on the aerial race toward the boss's mouth. As one of these head-sized rocks began its journey toward the boss monster, it clipped Auron's shoulder. The boulder did not damage him significantly, but it did cause him to lurch forward and sink deeper into the unstable floor.

Falling onto his hands and knees, he snapped his head back to see what was going on, ignoring the superficial scrapes he had just received on his palms.

The Bulette's mouth was open to its full 2-meter width, and in its throat, a dark crimson vortex formed. The magic looked similar to that around the ogre's hammer. The gravel that sped into its mouth was smashed to smaller pieces by its rows of flat teeth. Even with the teeth sporadically slamming shut, the creature's jaw remained open, and the pull continued.

Rocks began pelting Auron in the chest and face dealing a total of five percent damage before he threw his head down and used his arms to shield from the turmoil racing past him.

The breathable air began to decrease inside the vortex, causing each attempted breath to be a struggle.

Just as Auron's feet started to lift up following the torrent of rocks, the pull ended. Gasping for air and wiping debris from his eyes, he rolled over and looked at the creature. The Red Dire Bulette closed its mouth, but its chest seemed to be puffed up to three times the size it had been before the attack.

The hair on the back of Auron's neck stood up, but he ignored this instinctual reaction, foolishly prideful that the creature's attack left him with almost his entire health bar intact.

Unfortunately for him, that was not the attack; it was the charge up. As the Bulette lungs reached capacity, Auron had just enough time to note that it looked pretty silly before a rapid burst of stones were shot through him.

The stone projectiles ripped through his skin like paper, turning the left side of his body into a bloody mess. Auron could do nothing but shield his head and watch his health bar plummet by 40%. A hundred health points swept away in seconds should have raised warning bells in his mind, but Auron still sat at around half of his total health.

A spurt of blood dribbled out of his mouth and down his cheek. The vermilion hue of his blood was put into stark contrast to the dark purple mana starting to invade Auron's previously white sclera. His madness was still embedded deep in his mind. The damage only increased its dominance.

The Boss monster's skin began to glow red and grey as the colors converged, and the air hummed with the power of mana.

The moles made a tactical retreat wisely when the Bulette had begun its stone attack. Curiously they had not reappeared in the moments afterward, though. Annoyed at the lack of a target Auron turned his attention back to the boss. Finally, he noticed the light show it was giving off.

Usually, one might be intimidated by the humongous monster giving off the telling luminescence of unknown magic, but in Auron's current mental state, he had no time for rational thoughts.

The only solicitude that consumed his mind was revenge for the agony he was currently under.

As he coughed up blood from his puncture wounds that reached deep into his lungs, he winced and cast healing wind. The wind was paltry because he did not put in the mental imagery needed in his rush to get the magic done with.

After a few seconds, the wind died out, having healed ten percent of his health.

With the confidence a fool would have from the slight health recovery, Auron rushed toward the boss.

Each step was a fight to grind his feet into the loose floor. Every push was a launch closer and closer.

Auron only made it a few steps toward the creature when it stopped glowing and released its magic.

The ground rippled as red and grey energy spilled out from the beast. Holes began opening around the floor randomly. One of these holes opened right as Auron was placing his left foot forward.

Sprawling unable to catch himself, Auron hit the edge of the hole with his chin and chest.

A shelf of solid rock existed underneath the loose stones. The creature's magic seemed to cut out circular holes into this hard stone, and then slam them back shut. He barely raised his arms up to hoist himself out of the newly made void in the ground. Scrambling up, he had to dig into parts of the loose gravel on top of the hard stone to get out of harm's way.

As he caught breath, he peered down the hole and could see several of the moles moving quickly by. They had formed tunnels in the layer of hard rock under all of the gravel. A humming noise emanated from below as their mouths dripped saliva through sharp teeth. A red glow spotted with green motes of light lit the holes. Even if the fall would not be deadly, those creatures might be. They also seemed to be able to anticipate where he would be somehow.

One misstep and Auron would be eaten alive by these creatures. He raised his eyes to see a better alternative was not waiting for him. The Bulette was once again sucking in rocks. Auron felt the pull from the monster, so he thrust his hands deep in between the stones to anchor himself.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see the mole creatures bringing up all of the small rocks that had fallen into their tunnels. They were replenishing their projectile stones to assist the Bulette.

Better prepared this time, Auron curled up his knees to decrease the surface area his body might provide for the suctioned air.

The creature, made shock-waves of sound as its teeth mashed the mouthful into smaller sharper projectiles. Auron knew what came next, so he boldly braced for the pain. Pulling his arms out, he crossed them in front of his face. His lack of humility, a whispering voice that told him that he could take the damage, and continue to fight.

The beast was intelligent enough to know this as well. Instead of the wide burst, it sent earlier, it only opened its mouth partway and unleashed hell.

A concentrated discharge of rocks ripped through Auron's guard, dealing a massive fifty-five percent of damage to his health bar. With the health hacked away, his sanity also swiftly returned.

Horrified at his reckless behavior and ashamed for giving in to the madness Auron only had enough time to accept that he could not move with his ruined body.

Looking down, Auron could see holes covering almost every inch of himself below where he had guarded with his arms. Next to his dwindling health bar, an angry red group of droplets alerted him he had a bleeding debuff. From his wrists to his elbows, pain screamed out of every nerve. His bracers had prevented puncture wounds, but the bones felt shattered. Blessedly his face remained untouched, but that blessing did nothing to help him out of this situation.

His only choice for escape would be to use wind magic to blast himself away, but the impact from landing would most likely wipe out his remaining health. With the added bleeding debuff, his health ticked down another percentage point. A mental call to Zander did nothing to help either; his familiar could not come out yet. He was alone in this fight.

As Auron accepted that is death would be a result of his stupid actions, he could vaguely hear the crashing steps of the Dire Bulette approaching. In moments like these, a person's true character could be tested. While there had been several points in time, he wanted to give up since coming here, and he was not raised to be that kind of person. If this monster was going to take him, Auron would make sure it died with him.

Charging his magic from the zone in his chest, he pushed it along his broken body, all the way to his fractured hands. More rumbles shook the ground where he was lying went ignored as Auron built up the magic. Remembering what the slamming jaws were capable of, he anticipated the creature's mouth to take him. This would be a swifter end.

As he brought the magic to its zenith, another rumble cracked the ceiling. Auron slowly blinked in confusion as he struggled to lift his head slightly. The slight movement caused him to wince. Now able to see forward, he realized the Bulette had not moved since its attack, and the shaking ground was coming from above.

A roar pierced the earth from somewhere above. The noise loud enough to be heard miles away as a voice entered Auron's ears.

"Auron, don't you dare resign yourself to death!. She sacrificed EVERYTHING to keep you alive!" a rough female voice reverberated into Auron's head filled with anger and what sounded like sadness. The ground continued to shake as another roar shook the dungeon.

"Red?" Auron whispered as he fought the loss of consciousness he knew was coming.

The roar froze the Boss monster and its helpers. Auron took the brief moment to redirect his wind magic to himself. All of the power he was building up completely converted from destruction to healing with his redirection.

With this intentional change, something clicked. His hold on the magic was easier likely due to his blue gemstone. The shift from wind blast to healing wind seemed simple, but this was the first time he had this much power concentrated into the healing spell. *Bing*

Congratulations! Through manipulating and charging your own mana, you have grasped a higher understanding of the arcane. New path unlocked. Error. Level requirements not met. Breach of the Agreement detected.