As the doors slowly swung open, Auron had his mind on overdrive. His eyes scoured the floor, walls, and ceilings for every slight distance the doors crept apart. The boss was in the same position on the far side of the room that it had been when he left. Noticing several of the Bosses helpers, he observed them shuffling in and out of various holes. They would spread out around the entire space when the battle started. Popping in and out, they chittered at each other. The noises sounded almost like human bickering.

The ceiling was littered with un-moving wisps, their multitude of colors lending a combined light that was a shade of yellow-white. A giant crack bisected the ceiling from whatever had attacked from above.

He perceived that the smaller holes in the walls were likely caused by the boss monster's stone attack. While Auron walked lightly into the room, he considered a stealthy approach. The doors, opening all the way with a bang, betrayed any chance of secrecy.

Something odd flickering behind the boss momentarily caught his attention. An entire section of the wall 20 meters wide was untouched—no holes from any attacks or openings for the moles to crawl through. A faint red glow emanated from the center of the wall, but the boss's bulk blocked any hopes of viewing the source.

A roar of challenge followed by the smashing of its teeth from the boss swept Auron's attention back to the fight. As he stepped forward, a blinding white pain erupted from the back of his skull momentarily stealing his vision.

Critical hit preformed by Under mole. 3X damage.

Auron cursed at the 12% of health he just lost so soon into the beginning of the battle.

Just above the doorway, a mole had popped up and thrown something heavy at them. With a mental prod to Zander, a light cyclone surrounded the two, mirroring their movements and keeping a specific distance. Auron hoped it would be enough to thwart any projectiles as he cast a quick healing wind to restore his lost health.

Confirming his hopes about the wind shield, one of the moles threw a bone shard in their direction, and it was redirected harmlessly to their side.

Rushing forward toward the beast, he struggled to gain momentum on the gravel floor. As he managed to gain some speed, the smallest of the rocks became caught in the whirlwind formed by Zander, while the larger and heavier head-sized stones did not budge. The two became wrapped in the small minerals and debris that unintentionally lent them the appearance of a living storm.

Fighting to increase his pace, he closed the distance by half as he then executed a sharp turn at an angle away from the boss.

He now rushed away, but not precisely back toward where they started. Successfully aggroed, the boss opened its jaws wide and began to draw power into its mouth.

The magic inside the Bullette's maw, a Red and Black vortex of mana, transformed with the corresponding combination. The result was the gravity-defying black hole that Auron had grown to fear.

He noticed as he was stepping forward, his momentum was being stolen by his foes magic.

As he fought against the drawing force, he realized he would not get far enough away to enact his plan.

Auron's feet lost the ground, bringing his struggles to the air. He flailed his arms around in trying anything he could to get back down. Zander had to slip part of his tail into one of the holes made from his previous fight to avoid being stolen by the force of the magic.

Sounds from the beast's teeth play a sick symphony of crushing that obliterated everything that entered its maws. Auron's insides turned to liquid at the thought of his fragile body entering, and the end result that would occur.

Just when he began to fear the worst was inevitable, the boss stopped that phase of its attack.

"Zander! Split now!" Auron shouted as he roughly landed a few meters from the bulky creature. He flipped around to face the being and watch his plan.

Auron was entirely awestruck. The sight of his palm-sized familiar facing off against a beast hundreds of times more massive than his little lizard body.

Zander flew on a cyclone toward the monster as he started to glow a profoundly dark, almost defiant green.

Auron felt a wave of rage roll of his partner threatened to knock him off his feet. How could something so small be able to carry such all-encompassing wrath? Before Auron could reconcile his own fear toward the unchained emotion, Zander's voice Boomed out as he mentally projected his thoughts into the room.

[How dare you harm my partner.]

As the Dire Bulette released its deadly slew of rocks crammed into its mouth directly at them, Zander lept into the air with a confident flourish, flipping forward he whipped his tail in a line vertical to the ground.

Auron had no time to appreciate the passion his familiar had on his behalf. Following the route Zander traced, was a powerfully concentrated gust of wind, so immense Auron found it momentarily hard to breathe.

The condensed air met the rocks blowing them asunder as a boulder would split water in a river.

Continuing forward, the wind pushed aside everything in its path, unstopping until it reached the boss's face. The force that the wind brought with it managed to lift the beast's front bulk off the floor. While it did so, the wind ripped down the massive monster's flesh shredding the upper layer of its thick hide.

Thrashing its talons forward to regain balance, rage, and surprise apparent, the Bulette landed back down. Its weight caused the entire floor to shake slightly.

The wind did not seem like a compatible element to attack its hide, the creature only received slight damage from the elemental attack. Though the vortex left its mark, no blood was visible. Auron appraised that the hard outer shell of the monster negated much of the blast's potential damage.

Auron pushed himself up and dexterously caught Zander out of the air. The precise movement likely aided by his new gloves and their bonus. Placing his tiny green ally on his shoulder, he turned to put the monster at his back. Using the boss's slight disorientation to his advantage, he began to run again.

The boss wasted no time in activating its next ability. Swaths of red energy accented with grey began flowing off it in waves. The boss roared, and holes started opening around Auron.

Placing one hand on Zander to anchor him in place, he barely managed to jump over a hole forming in his path. The last-second jump surrendered Auron's center of gravity, causing him to stumble forward.

Instantly after landing, another hole opened up in his path. Just as he tipped forward to see the moles' hungry eyes and teeth at the bottom, he drew mana into his hands. Green energy flowed to his palms as his head and chest enter the hole.

Tucking toward his feet, he shot the energy backward and down at the lip of the ground. As the wave of wind hit, he was thrust out of the hole. The head over feet shift caused him to somersault on the gravel. One out of three wind blasts left. His mental tally was necessary to keep track as he tumbled forward.

Coming to a stop, his face hit the ground first. A chunk of HP was ripped away by the rough landing, and his right incisor fell in a gory pool forming in front of him.

Auron cursed loudly as he wiped the blood from his nose, mouth, and several cuts. Noticing how far he made it away from the creature, he smiled, showing off the missing tooth. All he had to do now was wait for the next expected attack.

The Dire Bulette had killed many trespassers to its master's lair. It took no joy or pride in how powerful it was. Why take pride in the gifts nature had given. He could just as surely have been born in the shell of those ravenous creatures that feasted on its kills. All the boss monster wanted was to go back to resting and eating the minerals it found at the dungeon's floor. The foolish trespasser smiling confused the boss.

Contrary to its looks, it had terrific eyesight. That being may be out of the range of its Crimson pull, but it can easily hit that space by exhaling the crushed contents. The monster's thoughts were all it had. It was unable to speak because it was not gifted the proper parts for communication. The boss mentally sighed at the waste of a good meal of rocks. Once again, he began to draw in stones, dust, bones of previous enemies, and several of the glowing lights from the ceiling. Its two primary attacks choreographed and set to happen one after the other as the master of this dungeon commands. He did miss the master. Lately, there had been no communication. Ever since, the two creatures wrapped in white violated his master's core. The boss was so very tired of this repetition without the master, this life was lonely. A long rest after the fight would be much appreciated. Pain and death were not something it would ever enjoy, but it would follow its biological imperative and do what was necessary.

As the flow of materials was drawn into the boss's mouth, Auron summoned three of his wind grenades. Remembering the use of wind blast from his madness consumed battle, he tossed them up and shot all three toward the boss's mouth attack path.

As the creature's rows of teeth slammed down to crush the debris, it took no notice of what entered. The grenades flew deep into its mouth Just as the rows of teeth slam together, activating the wind magic inside their crystalline housing. A vortex multiple times the force of the one caused by the ogre erupted inside the Boss monster, fueled not only by the Green mana but the power seemed to increase as it interacted with the red and black vortex.

The first two rows of teeth were devastated by the blast, the large flat bone-like objects acted like shrapnel, ripping through the room.

Auron ignored the notifications he received from several of the moles being killed as one of the teeth struck him in the shoulder. The wind of Zander's shield did little to slow the tooth, and he was knocked down by the blast.

With the impact, Auron's shoulder was dislocated, and fifteen percent of his health bashed away.

Looking at his health bar now closer to sixty percent than he would like Auron locked eyes with Zander. "Healing wind?" he said, clutching his shoulder in pain. He and Zander cast their combined magic in succession. His shoulder painfully popped back into place, and his health bar goes up to full very quickly with the combined magic.

Auron slowly walked over to inspect what he assumed would be a dead boss when the ground began to shake slightly.

"There is no way that the monster survived. Those grenades would have done 900 damage," Auron said to Zander, as horror slithered into his voice.

Piles of gravel, now built up around the point of the explosion, reminded Auron of Sand dunes, although he couldn't remember where he had ever seen one. As they struggled their way up one of the gravel dunes, another rumble vibrated the room.

Coming over the peak of the mound of rocks, Auron was now able to watch the boss slowly rise. Its massive limbs splayed out widely shook the room with each attempt. The damage done to it from the grenades was unmistakable.

The beak of the Bulette's mouth was permanently blown open. Where teeth once were, fountains of blood poured out of the creature's mouth. Its once pointed face was shredded to the extent that it almost looked comical if one could look past the horrifying sight.

Auron stood shocked at what he had wrought. He hesitantly summoned his dagger. He was prepared to end the battle as he stumbled down the side of the hill. Now close enough to almost touch the gargantuan creature, he notices it had wetness near its eyes.

These eyes did not seem like those of a beast. Small Hazel globes the size of his own head stared back at him. Tears flowed down its face only to be met with blood from the creature's wounds.

Horrified by the understanding that this creature not only felt pain but had some amount of intelligence in its gaze sent shivers down Auron's spine.

He hated this world. His heart was flooded with pity for the creature. Without a thought, he raised his hand and cast his last Healing wind. He hopped at the very least to lessen its pain.

Warning, you can not heal a hostile entity.

Angry at the system, he remembered his Healing wind grenade was indiscriminate in its healing. As he moved to summon it out of his ring, Zander began to glow dark green.

Zander felt his partner's hesitance and watched as Auron attempted to heal the boss. [Auron! It is the monster's life or our life!] Zander shouted this over their connection as he blocked a swipe from the Bosses claws with a blast of hard wind. The claw attack, unseen by Auron until it was so close he could feel airflow.

The attack seemed to wake Auron from his stupor. With a sigh that shook his whole body, Auron slowly stepped back toward the rock mound closest to him.

Crouching against the newly made gravel dune, he gripped his dagger with a white-knuckled fury. Auron's eyes matched the monsters as he set his blurry vision in line with where he wanted his knife to strike. His anger was not directed at the beast. No. They were both puppets in whatever grand scheme this whole world was. He was angry at the reasons for their fighting. What was all of this pain and death for? Experience? This was not a game. Life is precious. Not something to be taken callously. Auron felt sick with the reality he currently faced. Whatever options he had, he would still try and handle his life with compassion. As sick as it made him, his only option was to put this creature out of its misery.

Carefully this time, he only put in half power to Thrust slash as he charged it to his left hand. The blue gemstone he had connected helped in regulating the power. His right hand pointed the dagger at the creature's eye as he activated the magic and left the ground. The magic exploding apart the dune he used as a backstop from the force as he flew into the air.

"I am sorry," He whispered to the creature as he soared. The noise was likely unheard due to the sound of his own wind.

Auron shot true. Embedding the blade into the creature's eye, his arm followed up to his elbow due to the attack's power.

Placing his feet on its head, he pulled the dagger out with a squelching noise, he ignores the notification that confirmed his kill and collapsed to the ground.

"I hate this world," the whisper escaping his lips as he fell. He felt the madness creep back, offering relief from the cutting pain of his current emotions, but this time he forcefully turned away from it. His own reservoir of purple mana violently met and rejected the external force. He had no wish, but to feel the guilt he deserved for his actions.

Zander, knowing Auron was out of the rest of the fight, made quick work of the few remaining helper moles. His small size and wind magic allowed him to enter the holes and clear them out with a few blasts.

Auron was inconsolable as he sat and watched the body of the Boss monster begin to dissolve. Zander sat with him in silence, allowing him time to process his emotions. He waited there for a while before Auron started to speak quietly. "Zander, what right do I have to kill these creatures." After a long pause, Auron continued while staring at his blood-soaked gloves.

"If they were mindless monsters... I guess I could come to terms with it, but you saw the same thing I did. Am I just supposed to give myself into the madness and become a killing machine? I don't even feel like myself in that state I... I hate it." Auron spoke softly, not bothering to wipe the tears flowing down his face as he looked at his familiar.

Zander seemed distracted for a moment, he did his version of a gentle smile at his partner. [See if this changes your mind.]

A light startled Auron as it emanated from the center of the boss. A being made of what looked like fifty wisps danced out of the creature. Its frame was a warped space that resembled a small human. Auron squinted at the brightness as he realized he was looking at something beyond understanding. The creature twirled and flew around the room, stopping in front of Auron's face, his investigation activated unbidden.

Penitent Soul

As the creature reached out to touch his face, Auron flinched, part of him wished for this to be the end. The creature continued, unabated by the flinch, and wiped his tear.

The soul shook its head in an exaggerated 'no' motion as if in response to Auron's body language.

When it made contact, his skill showed more information.

Penitent Soul- a collection of soul fragments that were combined to return the consciousness of a monster. This creature no longer revels in violence, and have paid their debt. By the binding terms of The Agreement, they are now free to become something new.

Auron gasped. Some part of him realized that he just learned a great secret of this world, but he did not know enough about the world to understand the relevance. Storing that information for another time, he watched the creature dance around the room, as part of his guilt melted away.

The creature stopped at the back wall that Auron noted previously as untouched. The Soul made a motion that looks just like a bow at the center of the wall. Auron stumbled up out of the crater and walked closer.

With the entire surface visible, he made out a giant red orb set into the wall. Lines of pulsing energy spread out from the orb-like veins and disappeared into the rock. In its entirety, whatever this was looked like a heart to Auron.

Activating his inspection, Auron stared in wonder at the object.

Red Dungeon Core

No excess information seemed to appear explaining what this was. The soul seemed to notice something and began frantically attempting to grasp the center of the orb. The souls partially intangible hands found no purchase on whatever it was trying to move.

Walking closer, Auron could see What looked like a purple spike driven into the center of the core. The creature was doing everything it could to pull at it, clearly distressed, but unable to take it out due to the constitution of its body.

Auron did not hesitate to help the Penitent soul. Throwing a quick look toward Zander, seeing he was equally baffled, and no disagreement, Auron grabbed the spike and pulled.

With the foreign object barely moving, he grabbed it with both hands and placed his feet on the wall, pulling with his strength. Even with his entire body weight and the full force of his arms and legs, the spike did not budge. In a last-ditch effort, he activated his Strength runes. Upon activation of his runes, the energy inside the spike seemed to react. Slowly the foreign object moved out until about halfway. At that point, it then shot out with no resistance. The quick-release at the end of its length caused Auron to fall backward.