Thankfully, I didn’t need to climb to descend into the hole. With the power of flight came a number of convenient advantages, and this was one of them. Instead of slowly making my way down, I was therefore able to just bob up and down, slowly lowering myself into the pit.

Strangely, I couldn’t see the bottom, despite my ability to see in the dark. At first, I simply thought that the bottom must be so far away that I couldn’t make it out from this distance, but when I came across a bend in the tunnel, I realised that the winding corners were the reason. The darkened stone blended into itself, hiding the bends until I got close to them, giving the illusion of an endless abyss.

Even with these bends, however, the pit was surprisingly deep. It took ages for me to slowly descend to the bottom, where I hoped to find this dungeon’s boss. Eventually, the tunnel opened up into a large chamber, not unlike the nest I had come across near the dungeon’s entrance.

One of two ways to tell them apart, was by counting the number of nests that each contained. This particular chamber only held one. The other difference could be found in the walls of the chamber. Instead of other tunnels, the walls of this chamber were covered with scales. They weren’t a part of the walls, mind you, they were ‘attached’ to them somehow.

Loose rubble had been piled into a large heap in the centre of the room, creating comfortable bedding for the garbador that rested on top of it. The lone creature was sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of my presence. But it wouldn’t be, for long. For a moment, I wondered whether I was looking at the boss of the dungeon or not, though. The sleeping garbador looked no different from the ones I had already defeated, having the same dark scales, the same leathery skin and the same snout.

Oh well, I thought. Even if it was a normal garbador, the experience gained would be enough for the last two levels I required regardless.

Not willing to lose this golden opportunity, I snuck over to its exposed belly, which was rising up and down as the monster slept. Then, before it could wake up, I struck it with a series of quick stabs. My broken sword just barely managed to pierce its skin, its edge dulling now that the weapon had been destroyed.

I only hoped that would be enough to wear the creature down…

At first, the monster hardly seemed to notice its new wounds, but when the curse mark started to grow, it quickly stirred awake, reacting to the sudden pain with a furious roar. It lashed out with its claws, but I had already made some distance and started scattering whatever pills and foodstuffs I had left in an attempt to distract the beast.

From there, the fight became surprisingly easy. I simply repeated my earlier strategies and let the beast succumb to the curse. It fell to the ground a few minutes later, dead.

I breathed a sigh of relief, though I couldn’t help but feel that the fight had been a bit anticlimactic. Clearly, that garbador hadn’t been a boss at all.

I opened my system notifications, but saw that none had arrived. No level-ups from that? That wasn’t possible! Unless combat wasn’t over-

My train of thought was cut off by a violent rumble shaking the cave. A crack appeared in the cavern walls on my left and right. I watched in stunned awe as half of the entire stone wall seemed to come to life, separating itself from the rest of the stone. The scales attached to it shifted as the stone molded itself into a new shape.

A two-armed golem appeared, only vaguely resembling the rest of the dungeon’s monsters. Two glowing azure eyes had appeared where its face would be, while the rest of its body shaped itself. In the end, the golem stayed legless, only sporting two giant arms that ended in two comically large fists on either end. Its torso, on the other hand, remained smaller, resembling a loose gathering of rocks that stumbled to follow the rest of the beast’s movement.

In the end, I was left with a stone golem wearing scales for armor. The transformation had been fast enough to complete before I came back to my senses. Now that I knew what I was actually going to be fighting, though, a certain calm came over me, allowing me to think. Unfortunately, I knew its stone body to be impenetrable. My broken weapon would suffice if I wanted to break chunks off of its body and I couldn’t see any weak spots either…

The golem took the initiative by ripping a large chunk of stone from the ground and throwing it at me, before following up the attack with a sideswipe. I dashed to the right, dodging the projectile by a wide margin, but dodging the giant fist was a lot more difficult. The entire chamber was filled by it, the earth-shattering as it gave way to the golem’s own strengthened body.

Seeing no other option, I apparated over to the golems face, its attack passing through where I had been just a moment earlier. Deciding to counter attack, I tested the waters by throwing some explosive orbs and mana arcs towards its eyes.

The golem didn’t even squint as the attacks hit it, but seemed stunned momentarily when its head shook under the five consecutive blasts. Strangely, the shaking was followed by a small squeak. It only barely heard it through the cacophony of the fight, but that was definitely a squeak!

I hurriedly dashed backward as the blue glowing eyes lit up and released a burst a energy blasts at me. I evaded the follow-up with some quick movement and an apparition before I was on top of the golem again, using sword laser this time.

Risky, this… After all, if the golem found out where I was, I would be interrupted from using the skill.

I hypothesized that the stone creature couldn’t feel me standing on top of its head, though, so I hoped I would have enough time. As an extra precaution, I summoned Revan to distract it. I hadn’t used him much recently, not willing to become dependent on him, but he came in handy this time.

The golem seemed confused at my initial disappearance, but instantly set his eyes on Revan the moment he appeared. A giant fist came crashing down on top of him, too fast for Revan to dodge. He was buried under its weight, but I couldn’t tell whether he got back up or not, my own attack nearly done.

The mana had already sufficiently wrapped around my broken greatsword, forming a complete weapon with its black smoke. I thrust downwards, releasing the blast at the golems head just a few meters away.

The wave of power washed over the stone, not doing anything initially. After half a second, though, the stone started to crack, giving way to my mana. Surprising, considering the skill hadn’t managed to pierce garbador scales.

I could swear I heard another squeak, but I couldn’t tell its source… After the energy abated, a clear gash had appeared atop the golem’s head, revealing a weak point. Before I could take advantage of it, however, I had to take off into the air to dodge another series of energy blasts. They had curved up into the air, seeking me out and I wasn’t willing to test their efficacy.

Suddenly, the golem’s head shook. Looking down, I found Revan swiping at it with his claws and attempting to bite into it. My skeletal companion looked beaten, a few of its bones starting to crack under, but was otherwise fine.

The golem turned its attention back to the lizard, attempting to slam him down again, but Revan dodged the attack this time, jumping back like a spry cat.

From there, Revan and I traded the monster’s attention, careful not to linger near it. Under the golem’s onslaught, the chamber had been widened and dug out, giving us plenty of space to roam around.

As we fought, we both targeted the golem’s head, as the shaking seemed to stun the creature for some reason. Three volleys of overloaded orbs and five sets of physical attacks later, however, the monster looked no worse for wear. While few marks and dents had indeed appeared around the golem’s eyes, it wasn’t close to falling apart yet. Setting up for another sword laser would be difficult too…

Suddenly, I remembered Revan’s ranged skill. It functioned in a similar way as my [Sword laser] skill, effectively mimicking a dragon’s breath as long as I fed it enough overloaded mana.

Surely, Revan wouldn’t take as long to charge up. Furthermore, the golem wouldn’t expect it.

I gave the mental command to Revan, telling him to get ready, before sending a stream of overloaded mana towards him. While Revan gathered the stream in his opened jaw, forming a black, swirling ball, I ran over to the golem and enveloped its head with my essence manifestation. The black dome was just large enough to cover the massive creature’s eyes, keeping it in darkness. Unlike the garbador, which relied on smell, that seemed to distract it long enough to keep it off of Revan.

A few seconds later I had deposited what little mana I had left in Revan’s bank and given him the go-ahead. My essence dome dissipated as I no longer possessed sufficient mana to fuel it, but it was no longer necessary.

I jumped to the right as Revan released his attack, the swirling ball in his mouth concentrating into a marble-sized ball before erupting into a wave of energy. The black maelstrom shot towards the golem’s head, which wasn’t maneuverable enough to dodge, and washed over it, hiding it from view.

Several tense seconds passed as Revan held the attack.

As the maelstrom dissipated, its effects were revealed. The golem collapsed under its own weight, the light fading from its eyes. The cavern shook as it hit the ground.

By now, I had become paranoid and when I still didn’t receive a ‘battle over’ notification, I knew that feeling to be justified.

The golem’s head was still intact, though it had cracks running all over its surface. I apparated on top of it and hurriedly slammed some overloaded orbs into it. Watching the stone finally crumble apart, a small hole the size of a few people combined revealed itself. Curiously, yet still on guard, I dropped down inside.

Strangely, a set of shining gems had been arranged neatly on a slanted stone surface, almost resembling a stone desk. Above the desk, two giant golem eyes loomed. They were completely lifeless, but… Was that Revan? How could I see him through the stone?

A small squeak broke the silence, breaking me out of my thoughts. I whirled around, sword drawn, and found… a baby garbador?

The tiny armadillo was only the size of a human child. It cowered under my stare, its eyes flitting to the gap I had made in the top of the cave’s head.

I quickly approached, blocking its only exit.

“So you’re the real boss? A tiny garbador? This dungeon must fancy itself a comedian… Now die, monster…” I threatened, rearing back to end the beast.

“Mercy! Spare me, please!” the monster suddenly said, shaking me from my reverie.

“…What?”