They had made it down more than ten floors now, and the monsters were much harder. A minotaur with a great axe swung wildly at Jackson. He increased his speed and jumped from its path. He then jumped on its back, aiming his dagger at its throat. The blood covered the nearby wall. He turned and caused another one to burst into flames while Barbara impaled two more with her two large swords.

“All of you BURN!”

On Jackson order, all monsters in his line of sight burst into bright flames. The flames melted the armor of several Minotaurs, each screaming in pain. One of the larger half bulls charged him, knocking him against the wall. Barbara tried to break from her fight, but her opponent wouldn’t let her. Jackson placed his hand against the bull’s head.

“Wind!”

The monster screamed in pain as the place his hand rest exploded from uncontrollable wind. He couldn’t use it in normal combat, but wind did work for close quarters. He moved to the front lines to help Barbara fended off the last of the Minotaurs.

The pair laid against the wall after that fight. Both were out of breath, and sweating. They both took a swig of water and waited.

“How deep is this dungeon? Hey, do you think there’s going to be a boss at the bottom? Maybe a treasure room! We’d never have to look for work again. We could build a house somewhere, raise cattle or something! Stop laughing, we almost died! I didn’t think it be this hard down here that even you were tired. Maybe, are you holding back? I noticed you haven’t taken a single hit! I can rip the armor off you, so you don’t need to be that careful! Actually, what I said was dumb, please try not to get hurt.”

Barbara nodded to him, then helped him to his feet. They pressed on. After four more floors, they found the strangest stairs. They lead to a large door, with a warning engraved in magic.

“Be warned, the master of this realm waits in side. Venture at your own risk. I think my thoughts on a boss was correct.”

Barbara nodded, then went to touch the door. Jackson dragged her back and began to scold her.

“We don’t know what’s in there! Or how the door opens! What if we get dragged into a fight we can’t handle? Think woman, think! I think I heard someone not far behind us, so let’s wait and see if we can get help.”

They set up a camp, and prepared food while they waited. No signs of life came within the first hour. Barbara used the down time to make Jackson practice his magic. The leaf didn’t get ripped to shreds and stayed almost over his hand while he practiced. She nodded and got the book out. Another hour past, and now Jackson had a new task for leaning ice. This time he had to freeze a ball of fire. This proved to be as hard as it sounded. The ice would melt, or the fire would go out. Another hour ticked by, and Jackson had Barbara take a nap. He wanted her at full strength before they fought whatever came next.

A day passed, or at least it felt like one did. The pair were fully rested, and bored. Jackson had mastered ice and was now on water. That how long they been down in this dungeon, waiting at a door for anyone else to come.

“I guess, we aren’t getting any help. Here’s the plan…”

…

A few more minutes passed, and Jackson went to open the door. It opened with little effort, considering its size. It led to a large circular room, with large pillars spread out evenly. Stepping forwards, Jackson created a fire to illuminate the room. It was empty. Barbara followed close behind him and readied her blades.

The door slammed shut, as Jackson thought it might, and a large magic circle started to glow in the center of the room. He cracked his neck and prepared to cast fire on whatever appeared. A giant clawed hand reached out from the circle, and a dark form rose over the pair. It was lizard like, with feathers coming from its head. Its jaw was massive, and its body was humanoid. The giant lizard man was fully summoned and roared to life.

“Burn!”

The spell set the entire lizard man on fire, and it screamed in pain. It moved fast and snapped at Jackson. As its head reached within a few meters of him, Barbara became his shield. She stabbed the swords through the monster’s mouth, pinning it to the ground. It roared in pain, louder than before. It pushed up, and broke free knocking Barbara back. The flames on the lizard man started to die out, and the red crispy scales underneath showed. It scraped some of the scales off, and new ones formed.

“Incinerate!”

This word was stronger than burn, as he could clearly see the image of a person incinerating. After all, his parents were cremated while he watched. The flaming lizard screamed louder in pain from the unrelenting flames that would burn it to ash. It once more swung at Jackson, but Barbara blocked its claws. She laughed slightly as she cut its hand off. John’s blades were no joke. They cut through armor, stone, blades, and traps just on their way down to this level. And now they easily cut through the boss’s flesh. Despite everything however, the boss didn’t look like it would fall soon. A new hand formed with sharper claws.

“Cut open its chest! Then get back!”

Jackson gave his order, and Barbara nodded. His plan was working so far. His idea was simple, they’ll start by studying whatever showed up. Barbara would be his defense while he tried to weaken it with fire. If he thought he found a weakness, he’d give her a different order. Until then, she was to stop it from hitting him.

Barbara’s speed was greater than the monster, making it easy to get close to it. She jumped, and her blade met flesh. The sword cut deep, and slowly dragged down from her weight. With the insides revealed for a second, Jackson used his next spell.

“Explode!”

He opened a larger hole in the monster’s chest but watched as it started to close.

“Incinerate!”

The boss started to burn on the inside, and it lost it balance. It ran into several pillars, then toppled over. After several minutes, it disappeared and a door on the other side opened. They went through. Inside was a single scroll, with the number thirteen in roman numerals over it. Jackson picked it up and opened it.

“Arcana XIII, Death. In all my research, this was the most interesting one. It meant the end… This is what we get for killing that thing and fighting our way through that hell! Tarot card information! Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Jackson started to head out feeling like he wasted his time.