Zayvin waited until the last second to dodge, jumping back a few steps and then up onto the club as she took out a small pouch and opened it. She jumped in front of the Cyclops’ face as it tried to shake her off his arm and emptied the insides of the pouch into its eye while muttering a spell that increased the powder’s weight, making sure it would spread where she wanted it to. Then she grew out her wings and got out of his reach, flying above the battlefield.

Surely enough, she hadn’t retreated too fast since the Cyclops let out an enraged roar mixed with pain. As she looked down she saw the whites of his eyes had become blood red. He was blinded and swung around his club aimlessly, destroying pillars and hitting its own companions.

‘Success! You shouldn’t underestimate chili powder as a weapon.’ She thought evilly. But in her heart she knew she had only been lucky. Lucky that the monster had stupidly underestimated her and let down its guard.

Her companions had managed to avoid the barrage of the blinded monster and kept on taking down its minions even as more of them arrived from the other side of the room. They were all focusing on defense and on keeping the minions from aiding its master. They knew this would be a lengthy fight.

Zayvin took a deep breath moved behind the Cyclops and started releasing spell after spell, causing the Cyclops to tremble from the intensity of the hits.

If the situation had continued like this, everything would have been fine. But sadly it didn’t.

The Cyclops let out a tremendous roar as its health dropped too low and her companions were stunned for but a second. But that time had been enough. His minions overwhelmed some of her demons and aided him in attacking Zayvin herself.

“NO!!Dammit!” she shouted and quickly moved closer to the place her demons had died. She barely managed to seal their souls back into their cores while enduring some hits from behind. Then a huge blow hit her in the back, sending her crashing into and destroying the nearest wall.

She had been too careless and open so one of the stronger monsters had easily blown her away. The impact pressed all air out of her lungs and caused Zayvin to cough loudly.

“Master!!”, her demons shouted loudly, trying to aid her right away.

“I’m fine! *cough* C-continue!”, she gasped quickly. They couldn’t afford to abandon formation here. With much effort she stood back up and quickly downed a healing potion all the while heading back towards the battlefield.

Doubts started welling up inside her. This was too much… they were too strong… at this rate they would lose...and she would lose them all again…

‘NO!’, she slapped her mental self. She couldn’t give up now! Her companions were fighting for her, risking her life for her! If she gave up now it would be like betraying them, right?

She remade her determination. One way or the other this would end here today.

In the meantime the Cyclops had regained its balance and was fuming with anger.

Zayvin kept on dodging and moving around as she resumed hurling her spells at the monster but the effectiveness of her attacks on the Cyclops was decreasing since she had to keep moving so she couldn’t disrupt its balance.

The boss monster had familiarized itself with the tactic of its attacker now and steadily managed to close the distance between them, soon cornering Zayvin with the help of its minions.

“Che….”Left with no choice Zayvin let some of the minions hit her, just protecting her vitals to save as much energy as possible. She gritted her teeth and gathered her mana, waiting for the right moment. Then, as the Cyclops raised its club up high, assured of its victory, Zayvin slipped through his open legs and came out behind the monster, casting a spell at the condensed monster mass behind her.

Loud screeches of pain could be heard as the shadows around them started ripping apart the monsters, but as expected the Cyclops itself was barely fazed by the spell.

Looking around for the enemy that had vanished before its eye the cyclops finally found her again, charging at the devil like a mad bull. Smiling confidently Zayvin was just going to sidestep the reckless attack, but something was holding her down from behind.

“Eh??” Looking behind her shoulder, one of his minions had managed to sneak up behind her and held her down, even as it was bleeding from its head. It snickered evilly at her.

‘Sh-shit!’ She quickly got rid of the annoying fellow but she was delayed too much. She wouldn’t be able to dodge in time!

In that instant something jumped out.

“Mistress!!” Her loyal companion, who had been with her for so many months shouted and pushed her out of the way. It was the small fox. The impact decreased her health slightly but since she instinctively lightened the fall by rolling she only took minor damage.

But her companion turned into blue light and vanished.

“Ali!” she shouted. ‘No!! Even him!!!’

She quickly got back onto her feet, sprinting over to the blue light and sealing him, careful to dodge the attacks raining down around her.

Zayvin then turned around, her eyes raging. She would have to take the risk. She called the few other companions around herself.

“Guard me for a minute. Pukka, distract the boss please. I’ll hurry.”

Faithfully they executed her commands, surrounding her in a circle while a mid-sized winged demon shaped similar to a tiger headed towards the cyclops.

Zayvin kneeled down on the floor and closed her eyes. She trusted her companions completely and believed they would execute her orders perfectly. Therefore she could concentrate mindlessly on the task at hand.

She gathered an enormous amount of magic around herself and began constructing the spell in her mind.

When she opened her eyes again a bloody scene greeted her.

Her own HP was nearly depleted, causing her to quickly drink two of the potions she had prepared for herself even as she dodged an incoming fireball that would have killed her. A cold sweat spread across her back.

Her companions were still alive, but all of them were heavily wounded, telling her that they had used up all their recovery items as well. Some limbs were missing and the pain on their faces was obvious to anyone, but they still preserved, keeping anything from reaching her with a tenacity and desperation unlike any she had seen before.

Even Pukka who was distracting the cyclops had taken heavy damage and at the moment it seemed that the cyclops was playing baseball with the loyal demon.

Gritting her teeth in helpless rage she quickly stood up, tears forming in her eyes.

For her loyal companions that so desperately protected her… she would definitely win!

With a ripping sound magic erupted from her body and enveloped them, leaving behind nothing but a lump of ash. She had revoked them into their cores. She didn’t want to lose even 1 of her companions again because of this twat of a Cyclops!

Thus she had absorbed them back, fueling her spell with the additional mana gathered from them and the magic stored in her belt.

As she was re-sealing her comrades, the Cyclops hadn’t been watching idly and had summoned more minions to its side.

The magic energy was violently flowing around her body, she was barely able to control the violent outburst magic at all.

A thin layer of sweat was forming on her forehead as she concentrated to suppress the eruption of the magic, silently praying that it wouldn’t explode into her face. She then directed it towards her poor weapon.

“Uaaaah!”

With a determined shout she released the magic in a straight line, directly at the Cyclops. Just as the magic had been cast, she flew up higher, forming another weaker ball of magic. She concentrated it onto the approaching minions and released a dark meteor shower, devastating the ground below her. She could hear screams and howls of pain from the minions and debris flew up into the air. She continued casting her spell until she couldn’t sustain it anymore. Dust covered the ground, making her unable to see if she had succeeded or if her enemies were still alive.

Exhausted she flapped her wings and closed her eyes.

She concentrated on her hearing, but couldn’t make out any sound except for the still falling debris in the area. As she waited for the dust to settle, she kept her guard up. You never knew where an attack could be coming from in these cases. That was the only bad part about spells like this, that caused huge destruction, in addition to the limited accuracy, of course.

When the ground was finally visible again she found it to be deserted of any life. Wait, no, that wasn’t quite right. There behind where the Cyclops would have stood she could make out a small, shivering goblin.

Mercilessly she descended on it like a comet, and finished it off by simply stepping on it as it collapsed in fear. Yes, it was cruel, but an enemy was an enemy. They had done the same thing to her race and the humans. So who could judge her for that.

At that moment a few System messages popped up again.

You have cleared the Dungeon of the World Boss Great Cyclops!

Agility + 100

Stamina + 90

Accuracy +85

Fame + 5000

Achievement cannot be registered, since bulletin registration was refused.

Received Title – Cyclops Executioner:

Title cannot be removed.

Effects: Leadership +900

Strength +90

Accuracy + 75

Wisdom + 50

Stamina regeneration speed + 25%

Level up! You have reached lvl 400!

For being the first to reach the current lvl cap, 2000 Fame will be awarded!

10 Status points gained

A new skill has been unlocked – ‘Teleport'

New skill has been learned – Teleport

Teleport allows you to freely travel between big cities you have visited. Able to set 3 custom locations.

Saved locations: Firchten

Requirements: 1000 Mana, Consumes 1 pure Crystal Shard

Cool down: 1 day

Due to your actions you have unlocked….

Too exhausted to read the messages she simply collapsed on the spot after reading the first few. This would prove to be a huge problem later on.

Zayvin simply rested there for a few moments, enjoying the feeling of the cold floor against her sweaty back, then she sat back up with some effort and opened her eyes, tears blocking her vision completely. She was deeply shocked.

The battle flashed back before her eyes. She knew best just how lucky she had been in this fight. Then she was angry with herself. Anger that she was still too weak, anger that she had endangered her important companions, anger at how stupid she had been. She clenched her fists in frustration. Then she decided to lament about her failure later. For now she thanked her luck from her heart that it had let her win this fight.

And she renewed her oath. She would get stronger. Way stronger.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and forced her emotions back for now. The messages had disappeared, but a small happy smile spread across her face due to the messages she had read.

She could now travel around and restock easier. The stats she gained from the dungeon would help a lot as well. In fact, she had nearly maxed out most of the useful stats by now. But the best reward she got, was that she had reached lvl 400. This was the highest lvl you could reach in the game. In her head he was now qualified to play with others. She should be strong enough to protect her party now!

It would definitely be different from the past!

Slowly she got up, ignoring her protesting limbs and happily whirled around in a circle and proceeded to pick up all the drops lying on the ground.

Then another system message popped up in front of her.

The Great Cyclops has been destroyed and revenge for the many deaths it cased has been taken! A holiday to commemorate this event has been called by the representatives of the races and a great feast will be held in every city and village tonight! The authorities are also looking for the hero who has freed them from its oppressive reign!

Another world notification… sighing she ignored it and kept on picking up her drops. She couldn’t stop them anyways.

She had taken all the items on the ground now, including some rare jewelry and gear, as well as a sealed spirit core from the Cyclops. She quickly summoned some magic to form another space for it on her belt and put in in. Now she had 10 demons to summon later…

Then, as she gathered all the treasure in the room as well, she happened upon a magically sealed black box.

She released the seal and found a book and a red orb within the box. Curiously she took out the book and opened it.

Ding!

Forgotten information on the Warlock profession has been recovered. Warlock has therefore been unlocked as convertible class.

Would you like to convert the profession ‘Sorcerer’ to the Secret profession of ‘Warlock’?

“Y-yes” she said excitedly

Ding!

Secondary profession changed to Warlock

Void magic has been unlocked for use

Satisfied and excited that her new class seemed interesting, Zayvin put the book back into the chest and pulled out the orb.

“Identify!”

Failed to identify the item

After failing a dozen more times she gave up and put the mysterious orb back into the box as well and shoved it into her inventory. She’d read it later. She looked forward to experimenting with her new class later on.

She had collected all the treasure in the hall and turned to leave when the room suddenly started to shake and a spiral of light formed in the middle of the ruins that could now hardly be called a throne room, stopping her in her tracks as she promptly fell on her behind.

She really hated walking… but her body was too weak right now so she couldn’t be picky… then the situation ran through her mind again. White swirly energy… a portal! All alerts went off in her mind.

‘More enemies?’ She thought warily as she forced herself up again and got into position for battle.

If an even a little powerful enemy appeared she would be done for… and she knew it.

############################

Hey guuuuys and good morninggg xD

So since you LOOOVE cliffhangers, have another one! :D

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Intermission/Extra 1[/col][/box]

or don't read about our small hero and jump directly to the

EDIT: Check for my writing progress as well as interesting bits about my world here