Is the dungeon boss a dog?

Inside a small six-tatami mat room, three people are silently doing their own things. There are two young men while there is only one young woman in the room.

Both the young men are sitting cross-legged in the lotus position. One has short brown hair while the other has long golden hair.

If Haruhiro and Anna could see them, they would recognize them as the people who suddenly showed up and saved them from the assault of so many zombies before.

"Hmm?"

The young man with brown hair suddenly opened his closed eyes. This man's bright golden eyes seem lost for a moment as he stared into an empty space.

The girl with white hair sitting not too far away from the young man looked at him with concern written all over her face. She was just reading a book when she felt something wrong with the man with brown hair. He was just concentrating on his daily work but it seems that he encountered something.

She wants to know what it is and if he's in danger but she knew better than suddenly interrupt his thoughts. The girl can only stare at him with her gray eyes filled with worry and apprehension.

Another pair of eyes then shone brightly, he looked at both the young man with brown and at the young woman.

He then asked in a serious tone, unlike the aloof tone he was using back when they met Haruhiro and Anna.

"What happened?"

The young woman woken up from her dazed state answered, "I don't know. He just..."

She wasn't able to complete her answer because the young man with brown hair suddenly stood up. On his face is a deep frown as he said, "I didn't expect him to reach that place so soon. Why is it that place?" His muttering under his breath is heard by the two with him. They now understand the cause of his strange actions. He is obviously worried for the young man that received his workmanship.

"What place are you talking about?"

The young man with golden hair looked at the man with brown hair weirdly. Clearly he knows what place the young man with brown hair is talking about, however, he kept his mouth shut not wanting to invite troubles to himself. The young woman could see their hesitation, she knew immediately that they're hiding something from her.

"What did you do?"

"I swear I didn't do anything excessive."

When the man with golden hair heard what the other said he couldn't help himself and cursed inside his mind. 'Fuck. Are you an idiot? Why did you say that of all things that could be said?' He looked at him in disdain and then pity when he remembered how this friend of his has never really been good at lying to this young woman.

"Tell me."

The young woman with white hair said as her gray eyes stared at him ferociously as if wanting to murder the young man with green eyes. He looked at her eyes and seeing that she's ready to hurt him anytime soon he sighed. Even if he lied right now she would still find out if the young woman in front her used her ability.

He then told her everything that he did and once he finished, it isn't just the young woman. Even the young man with golden hair looked at him in anger. They wanted to curse at him and make him undo what he did but both knew that they could no longer change what's happened.

"I know what you're both thinking and yes, it's all up to his will to survive."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Haruhiro played around it for a while before finally giving up. He sighed and said in his mind to contact Ava, 'What do I do now? This is as far as I know that I'm supposed to do.' The instructions were written in the journal on how to find the tunnel leading to the boss room, however, it was incomplete. It just mentioned how this green gem could open the passage that's hidden behind the altar.

[Host is advised to crush the gem.]

He frowned when Ava mentioned that he had to crush the gem, one has to know that if this isn't the proper way of opening the entrance of the tunnel then they would surely not be able to fight the dungeon boss. Still, thinking of the help the System or Ava has been to him he gritted his teeth and decided to just do it. He directly crushed the gem on his palm.

Waiting for a few seconds and seeing that nothing happened, Haruhiro frowned. 'Was it really the wrong way to open the entrance?' That thought quickly disappeared from his mind when he opened his closed fist. The gem has become green dust in his hands and as if alive, this green dust glowed and mysteriously flew away from his hand.

The green dust circled around Nanako and Haruhiro before finally disappearing into nothing. They thought that that was it but soon felt that are wrong. The floor started shaking weakly before the dust that's been accumulating for who knows how many years was blown away by an air current from below ground. Haruhiro and Nanako moved away from their spots quickly.

Nanako was busy moving that she didn't notice how the floor they were in caved in and from where it once was, the stairs leading downwards appeared. Haruhiro saw all of this happen at the corner of his eyes, it seems that trusting the System is really right.

He, however, didn't notice that ever since he encountered those mysterious people he has been hesitant in trusting the System and even trying his hardest not to rely on it too much. This event though that showed him how the System is still leading him to the right path caused a bit of his trust on it to return.

"Here it is, let's go Nanako."

"Nn."

He led her down the stairs and it took them quite a while before reaching the bottom of it. Nanako felt relieved that they reached the bottom of the stairs and was about to say something to Haruhiro she saw how he suddenly started to throw his knives.

Enemies!

She reacted quickly this time and summoned her flames, she turned to see to start facing the undead but what she expected did not appear. Instead what she saw are three creatures that are running towards them in all fours, they also have a tail and a pair of ears that could be commonly seen on those dogs. 'Are those dog-like creatures our new enemies?' She thought to herself, the reason that she called these creatures "dog-like" is because they were only forms and not the real thing.

Nanako felt that these creatures looked somewhat familiar and then remembered where she saw these creatures before. Haruhiro's knives went straight through the creatures, not harming any of them in the slightest. Nanako saw the creatures getting closer and panicked in her heart a little but because of the battles so far she has accumulated enough experience to understand that panicking in times like this would result in either the two of them getting hurt. She calmed her panic-stricken heart and attacked using her flame arrows.

The creatures wanted to dodge her attacks but Nanako attacked quickly and repeatedly. When the first volley of her flames was launched she has already summoned more flame arrows and when the creatures dodged her first volley, her second volley of attacks has been launched and was about to hit the creatures.

They were unable to dodge her bombardment and suffered from it, seeing all this happen Haruhiro secretly nodded in his heart. He could already feel relieved to leave Anna and Yasumi's safety to her, ordinary zombies would no longer threaten her as long as she could summon her flames and that the zombies would not spam her with their numbers.

Haruhiro also noted how her attacks worked while his did not. His mind analyzed the information he has observed from the exchange right now and came up with a theory. Wanting to know whether his theory is correct or not, he summoned his shadows and attacked the still recovering enemies and just as he expected. The enemies were pierced by his shadows without a doubt because he received the notifications from the System.

[Shadow Wolf Cub killed, obtained 23 Greed Points.]

[Shadow Wolf Cub killed, obtained 20 Greed Points.]

[Shadow Wolf Cub killed, obtained 24 Greed Points.]

Nanako saw Haruhiro kill all the enemies with just one strike and confirmed her suspicions, the creatures were indeed like Haruhiro's ability. Shadows, however, they seem to have a definite form and can't change theirs like how Haruhiro could. Since she confirmed what they were she now wants to know the second thing she wanted to know.

She looked at Haruhiro and asked with a serious expression on her face, "Haru-chan. Is the dungeon boss a dog?"

That question made Haruhiro who was about to move to collect the Greed Points halt his movement. At the same time, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Why would it be a dog? He understands that these creatures do look like dogs but still...

He looked at her weirdly and just said, "Yes" before returning to his task in collecting the Greed Points scattered on the ground. Haruhiro placed it all in his Inventory and checked the current amount of his Greed Points.

[Greed Points: 1,786

-The system's currency]

Haruhiro is obviously happy with the rise of his Greed Points and really wants to buy some items from the System's Store, however, he controlled the urge to do so.

They should first finish this battle.