The Dungeon Town of Hidden Haven sat near the eastern side of the Dungeon, a little ways from the tunnel that leads from the surface to the cavern. To the west is the Great Forest, where large, ape-like creatures, the Great Apes inhabit. To the south, one would find the Silent Woods, a curious place where not a single creature was sighted, a place where there were thought to be only trees, at least until recently, where some of the 'trees' were revealed to be the creatures inhabiting the area. Then, to the north, there was the Rocky Hills, an area with steep inclines and nothing but rocks. While not a single plant or creature could be seen at first glance, proceed deep enough, one might find a tribe of green-skinned humanoids. They seemed to possess some form of intelligence and used the natural formation of the hills as a defense against other creatures. On this day, the Henrietta Company headed into the very same Rocky Hills, seeking out the cavern recently discovered within the area.

"Eek!" a shrilled shriek echoed throughout the cavern, along with the sounds of shifting armor and frantic footsteps. "What the heck is yer problem!?"

Rushing at Henrietta despite her complaints was a creature with a slender, elongated body, its skin so thin and stretched that the outline of its misshapen spine and ribcage can be easily spotted. The sole location on their body that wasn't slender was the bottom of their torso, where their organs seemed to have gathered into a bloated pile. As if trying to blend into the darkness, the creature's skin was nearly pure black with a slick texture, glistening in the light of the torch fire like the moist rock formations found in the cavern. Try as they might, however, their lips were somehow peeled back, revealing their eerily white teeth, sticking out from the rest of their black body and making them look like they have a permanent grin on their faces. Their teeth were mostly flat, causing certain groups of scholars to speculate that they might be herbivores at one point. On the sides of their bulb-shaped heads, they have a pair of black, beady eyes sticking out, barely visible in the darkness, though the eyes themselves do not seem to be able to see all that well either. It is unknown how they find intruders with seemingly poor eyesight, though it had been proposed that they might be able to sense vibrations along the ground or feel the shifting air with their thin, sensitive skin. Whatever methods they used to find them, once an intruder was detected, they attack said intruders using their long arms with claws both long and sharp at each end of their five fingertips. The Dungeoneers call these creatures, Dreadlings.

"Just aim for their belly or head!" Auguste shouted from another corner of the skirmish, handling a pair of Dreadlings of his own, with Morganna backing him up, keeping them from surrounding Auguste with her flames as he danced around their reaching claws.

"Easy for you to say!" Henrietta retorted as she jabbed at the Dreadling with her wooden lance to no avail.

Due to their mostly slender body and abnormal flexibility, Henrietta was unable to land a single hit thus far. And as the Dreadling avoided Henrietta's attacks, it struck back with swipes of its claws. Due to their long arms and flexibility, the claws struck her like the end of a whip, and though it could not penetrate her armor, the clashing and scraping against the iron unnerved Henrietta greatly, further affecting her movements.

"Morganna, give 'em a big one!" Auguste yelled, realizing that they can't keep this up, decided to switch it up.

Auguste proceeded to hold off the Dreadlings without support as Morganna built up power. Three seconds passed and the moment he felt a wave of heat at his back, Auguste made a great leap backward. At the same time, a great ball of fire flew over his head and curved into the Dreadlings, erupting into a great blossom of flames. The sleek skin of the Dreadlings, for some reason, was difficult to burn and the flames neither set them on fire nor kill them. It did, however, caused them to reel back as their beady eyes were exposed and unprotected.

Having withdrawn out of their reach, Auguste stretched his hand to the bag of wooden spears strapped to his back. With a smooth, practiced motion, Auguste sent a spear flying at one of the Dreadlings, hitting it square in its belly. With a spear buried in its gut, the Dreadling began threshing and the frantic movements caused the spear to further tear the belly open, leading to blood, intestines, and what was likely some highly acidic digestive juices to spill to the ground, forming a small crater for the blood and organs to sit in. Still, the Dreadling was not quite dead yet, and along with the other Dreadling by its side, they charged at Auguste with abandon.

Sucking in a deep breath, Auguste felt a sudden rush of clarity. In the Dreadling's abandon, its onslaught was straightforward and desperate, revealing gaps in its defenses where there were previously none. In a single smooth movement, Auguste ducked past the reaching claw, coming face to face with the Dreadling. The Dreadling wind its jaws wide open in response, its flat teeth coming down on Auguste's skull. But Auguste was faster, his hefty shortsword pierced through the lower jaw of the Dreadling and went all the way through to the cap of the Dreadling's skull, killing it before he could even smell the creature's dreadful breath.

However, all that effort was spent in killing only a single one. There was the other Dreadling remaining, ready to cut Auguste down as he worked his blade out his slain foe. The sharp claws tore into Auguste's leather armor as if it was but cotton. Thankfully, the chainmail beneath prevented the claws from going further, allowing Auguste to pull away safely.

The remaining Dreadling chased after Auguste as he tried to pull back, winding up its long arm for another strike. Then, came a pop, putting Dreadling's plan on an indefinite halt as a mix of blood and grey matter sprayed across the ground. With the Dreadling focused on Auguste, it gave Morganna room and time to move in and conjured up a concentrated force that crushed down upon the Dreadling's head.

With his opponents taken down, Auguste took a little time to catch his breath and recompose himself. He had half a mind to tell Morganna to go back up Henrietta, but by the time he turned towards her, she was already on her way.

It took Auguste nearly everything to take two at the time, barely maintaining his part of the frontline with support. Had there been one more, the frontline might have collapsed and all of them screwed. Yet, despite being outnumbered, the frontline held, and there was a very good reason for that.

The axe blade glided through the air, gleaming in the amber light given off from the torches on the ground. Never would Auguste imagine that there could be so much grace in such a brutish weapon, but in the hands of Finn, the battleaxe seemed to be cutting through the air like the wings of a falcon, diving towards its prey. Of course, his previous roughness can still be seen, swings performed entirely by brute force. Only about one in ten swings could one witness a graceful swing, but even so, that one swing captivated Auguste, it reminded him of the perfection that was in his master's motions.

One by one, whether his swings be brutish or graceful, the Dreadlings fell by Finn's blade. Due to their grotesquely slender form, a single swing from Finn was more than enough to dispatch each one or even two at a time. If one were to try and escape his reach, Finn would even reach out himself and grab onto them, pulling them back to him with his hand and cut them down as they squirm. With his full set of armor, Finn was starting to look like a fearsome warrior often told in stories.

Ever since the battle with the Great Apes, a transformation could be seen in Finn. Previously, he spent most of his time in the fight being hesitant, rarely able to commit to an action unless ordered to do so. And while he can be formidable once he was able to decide on what he must do, such moments only come when under specific conditions, usually when trying to protect someone. However, simply protecting won't cut in a Dungeon, where it was kill or be killed. As seen in the fight with the Great Apes, Finn was able to become more assertive in combat, taking actions as he saw fit while staunchly protecting a bulk of the frontline. With Henrietta and Auguste supporting him and Gladiolus taking down anything that came through the gaps in between the three, a solid bulwark was formed with Finn at the center.

His eagerness to engage the enemy was not all there was to it, however. His skills were also growing exponentially. From once a lumberjack who knew only to cut down trees, Finn had since become capable of pinpointing where best to cleave into the enemy to make the cleanest cuts. He had, through his engagements with the enemy face to face, learn how to intimidate them using his size and brute force, and while not all creatures could be intimidated, those that were capable of feeling fear rarely failed to falter.

Impressive as Finn was, however, the Dreadlings' numbers did not seem to dwindle in the slightest. In fact, their numbers had grown, slowly overwhelming the party. Even with their bulwark of a formation, they could not hold for much longer.

"Finn, let's go!" Auguste shouted, snapping Finn out of his battle-rage.

With Finn as the rear guard, the party began their retreat. Once close to the exit, a fireball was let loose, landing in-between the Dreadlings and Finn to create an opening for him to break away before the entire party made a run for it towards the mouth of the cavern.

The Dreadlings were quick to give chase once the flame subsided. With their longs limbs and mostly slender bodies, they were quick on the move, easily gaining on the party. While these creatures might live in the caverns and have poor eyesight, they were not incapable of leaving the darkness. They might even chase the Henrietta Company all the way back to town if they had enough numbers on their side.

As they Dreadling themselves were nearing the exit, a pure white orb flew over them, busting into a powdery cloud, filling up the cavern. The Dreadlings paid no mind to it and surged forward nonetheless, not even realizing that they were heading into a trap.

A bolt of fire soon came after, it was not like the great fireball from before and it needn't be. All that was required was a single spark.

A great blast shook throughout the cavern, its force so great that it effortlessly tore the Dreadlings apart, shattering their skull and spine and every one of their limbs. The cavern itself remained sturdy, just as Gladiolus had said it would. He didn't explain exactly how he knew, but apparently, it was some elven senses, that same sort of sense that made it impossible for elves to become lost.

Reentering the cavern, the party found the Dreadlings, their body part strewn about the cavern floor, walls, and even ceiling. They collected the claws of these creatures and promptly headed back to town with their spoils in tow.

***

"Finn, yer did good back there!" Henrietta complimented on the way back. "We wouldn't have gotten so many of them if it weren't for you."

"Oh, did I? I don't think I did all that much," Finn scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed.

"We couldn't have held that many of them at bay without you," Auguste added, patting Finn on his armored back. "You can feel at least a little proud."

"I mean, even so, it's only because of you guys," Finn lightly knocks on his chest plate with his gauntleted fist, "It's because you guys protected me that I can do what I did."

Auguste wasn't sure if Finn was talking about during battle or the fact that they pitched in to get him a full set of armor, but either way, it wasn't completely off. They function well because they had each other, because each of them pulled their own weight. That being said, Finn's improvement and the gap in their skills were gradually widening.

If nothing changes, Auguste thought to himself, I'll get left behind.

It was but a brief thought, one that he quickly shook away. In the end, he could only move at his own pace, no slower, no faster. It was simply how it was, no matter how much he wished otherwise.

***

End of Chapter 57