Chapter 26 First Key!

Despite how much of a task master the elf prince was, he was an effective teacher. The other elves were able to harvest the materials of the dungeon with ease since Oz worked nonstop at clearing monsters. She wheezed, doubling over to get her breath back. The air was frigid, it felt like her lungs were freezing. 

"Don't you feel the cold?" She sneezed. Nahern looked over from flicking off the blood from his blade. A dead ice troll at his feet.

"Of course I feel the cold, but it doesn't affect us as badly as you. Little Saint. You need to bundle up more." He walked over then, pulling her fallen mantle back up over her chest. The odd touch suddenly made her feel shy.

"Now, you need to work on that posture. Keep your fist tight, follow through like so." Nahern stepped back, showing her how to protect his hand as he punched the ice encrusted wall.

The entire wall shuddered, a crack developing from where his gauntlet struck. Oz squeaked, actually dancing backwards as the crack flew right up into the ceiling.

"That shouldn't be so hard for you."

"Are you insane?" Oz yelled, "There's no way I can punch something that hard. My strength stat is far from that high."

Nahern rolled his eyes. "Then we must level your stats up higher and higher."

Oz sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "I knew this was going to be a long day."

Nahern smiled. "It will be worth it in the end, Little Saint. I promise."

Oz nodded, but she wasn't so sure. She had a feeling that this was going to be a lot harder than she thought. Even with her bonus stats. The training her Grandfather gave her years ago wasn't enough. She was going to need to take actual lessons at this time.

"So how much further in?" she groaned.

Deep down she was annoyed she was hovering just on the cusp of leveling up. If she could get to level eleven or better twelve today she would call it a complete win.

He lifted his arm, pointing down the path.

"Down that way will be the boss."

Oz looked down the path. It was long and winding, and she could see the faint outline of a figure at the end, pacing in the dark. She took a deep breath and nodded.

"Let's do this."

They started down the path. Oz couldn't help but cling a little to Nahern, only for his body to heat of course. The lower level was just a massive boss room, already cleared out of high ranking materials.

As they got closer, Oz could see that the figure was a large, hulking creature. It was covered in thick scaly sheets of ice, and its eyes were glowing red. An Ice Drake. Not quite a dragon.

"That's it," Nahern said. "The boss."

Oz swallowed hard. "Big boy."

"You think so? It is rather small for an ice drake. But what it makes up in size, it makes up in speed." Nahern said. "But don't worry, I'm here to help you should you need it.."

They drew their weapons and charged at the boss. The creature roared and swung its massive tail at them.

Nahern ducked out of the way, but Oz wasn't so lucky. The heavy ice ball on the tail tip caught her on the shoulder, and she cried out in pain. Stumbling backwards and hissing from the cold throbbing pain.

"Oz!" Nahern shouted.

Oz shook her head and got back to her feet. Squeezing down on her throbbing shoulder, it wasn't broken thankfully. Just hurt like crazy.

"I'm fine," she called over. "Let's do this."

They charged at the boss again, and this time, they were able to land a few blows. But the creature was too strong, and it soon overpowered them.

Nahern was sent backwards, and Oz was about to be struck down when she heard a voice in her head.

"You can do this," the voice said. "I believe in you, kiddo."

Oz looked up and saw a bright light. The light grew brighter and brighter, until it was blinding.

When Oz could finally see again, she felt not a single ounce of pain in her body. Her fists were then surrounded by a powerful aura.

"Don't you give up Ozzie," the voice said.

"Gramps?" She whispered in complete and utter shock. But before she could take another moment to focus on it, the ice drake charged.

A blast of ice sent in her direction.

This time she dodged properly, rolling on her freshly healed shoulder. Bringing her fists up, she charged at the creature, and this time, she was victorious.

It felt like a surge of raw power as she punched with all her strength, it felt like her arm was a compressed spring and she released it all at one tiny point right in the center of the ice drake's kettle bone.

The boss roared in pain as her fist went right through its icy scales and pierced its heart. The creature collapsed to the ground, dead.

She gasped, holding the creature's heart, hot blood spraying her face.

Oz turned to Nahern, who rushed over to her.

"I did it," she said, spitting out some of the foul blood that splattered into her mouth. The remains of the boss dissolved back into the dungeon, leaving her with the glowing magical core in her hand and a pile of icy scales.

"I defeated the boss."

Nahern frowned as he looked over her gore covered form. "I knew you could do it," he said. "But you have a bad habit of covering yourself like a toddler."

He covered his nose with the edge of his cloak, eyes rolling as she simply shook herself like a dog would. Splatters of blood and gore flew off her, dissolving into atomized dust.

She looked down at herself, "Can I get another one of those baths like last time?"

There was a sudden light that had her squinting, "Ow my eyes!" She yelled, shielding her eyes from the light.

When she looked back, instead of the magical core in her hand, was a sparkling prism.