41 (41) Rematch

"You know her?" Lysine whispered to Kraton. He nodded in reply, if Lysine could see his eyes, she would find a faint glimmer of fear in them.

"She has hot fire, and a sharp blade. She beat me when I was level 7, before you came... She was only level 4 then."

'Fire...' Lysine delved into her memories and the vast expanse of knowledge within them. She had heard about many human clans and large families and their so-called speciality. From her memory, there were many large families with flame-based specialties, and three great families which dominated this element. From what she could recall, there were four families in this continent that specifically trained each generation to wield the deadly fire, one of which was a great family. "Is she..."

"I, Celeste Furore, challenge this dungeon again in order to complete the task given to me." The girl at the door announced her presence as she stepped into the dimly lit Boss Room. Celeste stayed cautious when passing through the doorway, the last time she was here, two metal boots were thrown at her before she even finished her declaration. This time, she sighed in relief when she discovered that no trashy projectile was hurled at her, at least the Boss seemed to have matured.

"Why are you here?" Kraton scowled at her, he had a strange urge to chuck something at this girl, alas there was nothing close enough to him to pick up - It was all Lysine's fault; making him clean the room every other day.

Celeste stared blankly at Kraton, not ignoring the winged Lamia that stood behind him. "To kill you of course." To her suprise, the Lamia let out a soft chuckle which made Kraton seem even more stupid to have asked such an obvious question.

"But you already beat my dungeon, scram before I beat you again!"

"I thought you said she beat you.."

"I lied."

"Liar"

Celeste watched the two bicker with each other, after beating a few more dungeons in the past year, the elders of her family told her a story. According to them, not all monsters were mindless beasts like the former Kraton, at a point in time when they grow and become stronger, monsters seemed to gain intelligence, sometimes rivalling that of humans.

A prime example of this was the immortal race, the moon immortals, fae and other sub-species that fell under the immortal species categorisation; they all had slow to no physical ageing, and all of them had six fingers on each hand.

From the depth communication and conversation between the two Bosses in front of her, it seemed that both of them had reached this intelligent stage, or at least the first stage of it. From what Celeste understood from all of the elders' ancient stories, the stronger a monster became, the more intelligent they grow, of course with some exceptions.

What made Celeste cautious was that Kraton was already very strong when she faced him at level 4, now that she had the skill Analysis, she could see that the two Bosses were already at level 13 and 16. No wonder the dungeon rating was 5-star.

Something in the room made shudder and stay alert, she scanned the room with Analysis, and most of the objects in the room had a simple name such as: 'Stone Table (rectangular)' and 'Stone Chair', all except for a rather stunning crystal. The crystal's information read:

'Pure, Ancient Crystal

Level: ??? Use: ???'

Recalling the two powerful Golems outside, Celeste believed this crystal was what bound the two Golems, or what fed them. But if this crystal was in the Boss Room, then wouldn't the two Golems outside be able to enter the room as well? Coupled with the two actual Bosses, she would stand no chance at all as her flames didn't appear to do any damage to the Golems outside.

"The Great families sent all the prodigies of my generation to challenge all the dungeons in an area in order to assess our ranking, it was pure coincidence that a drew Florid Boulevard out of the hat."

When Celeste stated her reason, the two Bosses fell silent and scanned Celeste. 'Prodigy? What's that, is it the human word for scary people?' Kraton thought in his head.

Upon using Analysis on Celeste, Kraton's eyes almost popped out of his sockets... Level 14! She was the a higher level than Lysine, at Celeste's age, even reaching level 10 was something that could impress, umm.. the heads of the Great Families. What was even more alarming was the rate Celeste had developed, just a year and a half ago, Kraton felt that she was only level 4 or 5, and could only beat him because of her outstanding equipment (and his lack of skills).

As if something in the atmosphere changed, both sides prepared their stances and watched the other's every move. Kraton picked up his home-made club, Lysine brandished her two curved daggers and Celeste unsheathed her exquisite sword and a few glowing embers trailed the slightly curved blade.

A second passed, then five, and then ten. A faint crash could be heard from outside as a blue and green hue glowed brightly between the now-closed doors. As if as a cue, the three figures in the Boss Room sprangf to life. Lysine dashed and propelled herself becoming airborne, a violent gale followed right behind her, upturning the few pieces of debris and dust on the floor. Kraton abruptly stomped his foot, the floor vibrated and the the glowing crystals pulsated in sync with the heavy vibration. This action caught Celeste offguard, in the brief moment after Lysine's propulsion and Kraton's stomp, she lost track of the massive hariy figure.

Impossible, how could such a giant being escape her field of vision, it was as if he had melted into the shadows, even her tier-two analysis couldn't locate Kraton in that instant.

A cold feeling passed down Celeste's back and a massive shadow suddenly loomed over her. She instantly dodged to the side, willing to trust her instincts when vision failed. A blasting crash thundered from the place where she just stood, a cloud of dust cleared away and she saw Kraton's club embedded in a small crater. Such power.

Unfortunately for her, she had no time to admire Kraton's strength as Lysine suddenly darted down from above, she had been circling Celeste, waiting for when Celeste would lose focus on her surroundings. The twin daggers slashed across, aiming to cut Celeste's exposed neck.

*Clang!*

A long, curved sword suddenly materialised, blocking the daggers from piercing through her neck. A few strands of her scarlet hair drifted past the blade of the sword. One strand fell evenly onto the sharp edge, catching Lysine's attention. The strand of hair didn't even seem to land, it broke in two and continued falling, but before it even touched the ground it caught ablaze, the flame devoured the strands from the ends they got cut.

"My turn."