Chapter 14 - The boss in the first area

After our short rest Saemi and I continued walking into the forest, Aurora-sama had said that the way to get to the second floor was to defeat the boss, I was pretty confident that we would be able to defeat a boss, after all, according to Aurora-sama that night hunter should only appear on floor 5.

(Doesn't this mean that he was probably much stronger than the boss on this floor?)

With this thought in mind, we continued walking without a definite direction, the sun would set in a few hours so we would have to start getting things ready for bed.

"Makoto, look"

While I was thinking about various things Saemi nudged me and pointed ahead, as soon as I looked where she was pointing, I noticed that the area ahead looked dry and dead, although there were some trees most of them looked burnt, the vegetation was totally dead.

"I wonder what happened here, it looks like a fire happened or something"

Saemi had taken the words out of my mouth, this place looked totally different from the place we were walking a while ago, as I was thinking about what might be going on Aurora-sama's voice resonates in my head.

"Oh, it looks like you guys have reached the boss area"

Hearing what Aurora-sama had said a doubt arises in my head, it's not that I didn't know the term, but it's really strange to hear it in real life.

"Do you mean the area where the boss dwells? Like an area where he stays and he can't leave it?"

Hearing my question Aurora-sama lets out a graceful laugh as she answers me.

"What are you talking about Makoto? This isn't a game, although the name is boss's area this is more like his house, when he needs to get married, he will leave this area, otherwise they stay in this area most of the time sleeping"

Hearing what Aurora-sama was saying I decided to tell Saemi what I had discovered.

"My goddess told me that this is the boss's area, I think we'll be safe as long as we don't get too deep into his territory"

Hearing my words Saemi seemed a bit surprised and anxious but soon nodded.

"What do we do now?"

Saemi asked, and that was a good question, to be honest I wanted to defeat this boss soon, but it is almost dark already, I don't think it would be a good idea to fight an enemy at night when our vision is more limited.

"Let's camp nearby for today, as it's already getting dark tomorrow morning, we both will attack the boss together"

"Alright"

After that Saemi and I built a fire again using sticks, after lighting the fire we started to put the rabbits we still had to roast, while we waited for the rabbit to roast, we sat around the fire, we were both quiet as we waited for the rabbits to be ready, Saemi and I didn't have much in common so there wasn't much that one could say to the other.

"So... where did you live...before we came to this place I mean"

Saemi said trying to start some conversation.

"I lived in the same neighborhood as you"

Hearing my answer Saemi seemed to be surprised by something and started mumbling, even though it was low I could still hear it.

"So... that was why?"

Something seemed to be falling into place in Saemi's mind, ignoring this I continued talking.

"I started living alone after my parents died, their last wish was for me to graduate from that school"

I said while keeping my head down, moving my vision up a bit I look at Saemi's face and realize that she has a sad expression on her face, I'm sure she must be feeling guilty right now, looking up at the sky I see that it is already completely dark, anticipating tomorrow's battle I decide to sleep.

"I think we better sleep Saemi, we need to be at 100% for tomorrow's battle"

Saemi just nodded after hearing my question, with that Saemi and I fall asleep in the forest, the next day I am woken up with the sun rays hitting my face, as soon as I get up, I realize I am the first one up, looking around I see Saemi sleeping, getting closer I start to look closely at Saemi, her black hair swaying according to the breeze that was blowing along with her sketchy skin made Saemi look like a work of art, putting that thought out of my mind I begin to shake Saemi in an attempt to wake her up.

"Hey Saemi, it's time to wake up"

Within seconds Saemi wakes up and begins to look around while keeping a groggy expression on her face, when her eyes stopped on me, she finally seems to have woken up.

"S-Sorry, I was supposed to wake you up"

Saemi said.

"It's okay, it's not like we dictated some rule about who wakes who"

Saemi looked a little hesitant but accepted what I had said anyway, after eating our breakfast which consisted of some fruit we had found, it was finally time to face the boss, we walked towards the boss area and started looking around trying to catch any unusual movement, we had no information about the boss, if it was small or big, if it could fly or hide underground, if it was visible to the naked eye or not, this increased our concern that we might die, but still I was confident.

While thinking about this a little further on I finally noticed something, at first, I thought it was a big red rock but after a closer look I saw that there were scales on that rock, and as far as I know rocks don't have scales, while thinking about how to approach without being noticed Aurora-sama speaks in my head again.

"Oh, it seems that he has noticed you"

I didn't immediately understand what Aurora-sama was saying, but I quickly realized when the ground began to shake slightly, the boss had noticed us, and was apparently not at all happy about our coming.