The door loomed large in front of us, cut into rocky walls as if placed here by something. Though it probably was placed here by the gods, I realized. The wood was thick and sturdy, long logs connected by thick iron parts at the bottom. A huge ring door handle glistened in the dark, as if calling to me.

  This was it. What we’ve been building toward stood right in front of me. I felt a bit… well, not scared (because I never get scared, duh), but respectful, but I also felt anticipation reach a new level. Who knew what rewards I’d get for killing a monster like this? A new skill for sure, but the equipment was the biggest reward I was looking for.

  “Your levels, Shrimpie. Use your stats.” Crudia half-whispered, looking at her own menu.

  Ah, right. We’ve killed hundreds of enemies, and I must have smelled of fish so much that it would be unbearable in normal circumstances, yet I couldn’t smell a thing anymore. Nose blindness, I reckoned.

  And my reward for all of that waaaas…. 3 new levels. Seriously? All that for just three levels? I knew that getting levels was going to only get harder, but compared to just killing one wolf on my first day, the leveling was already slowing down this much? How the hell did ten players already reach max level? Did they start hunting bosses from the moment they’ve spawned?

  I sighed, doing my best to not think about falling behind, and put all my 6 attribute points into strength. I didn’t even ask Mark - he’d surely protest, but I seriously wanted my strength to rise before this fight. Who knew how hard I’d need to punch whatever was behind the door, right?

  My stats now looked a bit nicer.

  Name: Shrimpie

  Species: Peacock Mantis Shrimp

  Class: NONE

  Level: 17

  Attribute points: 0

  HP: 110/110

  MP: 0/0

  Strength: 39

  Dexterity: 40

  Constitution: 31 (+2)

  Intelligence: 10

  Charisma: 20

  Skills - View

  Equipment - View

  Evolutions - None

  Status effects: Null

  “Hey, Mark! Why did my max HP rise again?”

  “Because the gods decided to grant you a boon of longevity, my dear Shrimpie.”

  “Oh, really?” Finally, the gods recognized my greatness. It was about time.

  “No. Your constitution went up. Your max HP goes up by 5 points for every 5 you spend on constitution.”

  Ah. Sarcasm again. Classy. Did he tell me about that when he explained the stats for the first time? I could not remember for the life of me.

  I checked my potions again, and though I’ve used a few, I still had three ready. The icon of a red liquid in a glass bottle sat there in my inventory, with it’s snarky description showing when I thought upon it.

  All my skills were still ready, and so were Crudia’s, though she said she’d talk later about all of her skills. We’d need to be more in Sync if we truly wanted to be a team.

  “Ready, Crudia?”

  She giggled, her brown eyes wide open, but I could see determination in them, mixed with the fear. “As much as I ever will be. Let’s show them hell.”

  I grabbed the door handle, and swung the door open.

  Nothing was inside. A huge chamber, bigger than all previous combined, was deserted in front of me. Bones were thrown about everywhere on the ground, but a quick scan told me that they were from Carp men as well. Cannibalism, then?

  I cautiously stepped forward, trying to see anything at all, but literally nothing was there, not even stuff that [Analyze] could use. I looked over the walls. Nothing. There were some drawings on them, however. Symbols, but not in any human language. Or at least none that I could speak. Wait, did all animals speak English? As far as I knew, I wasn’t even from an English-speaking area!

  Okay, distraction over. I stepped to the center of the chamber now. Maybe shouting would provoke whatever was here?

  Crudia’s fur was poofed out, her ears completely pressed to her head. “I don’t like this, Shrimpie. Something is off.”

  “But there’s nothing here! Look!”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Mark intercepted. “There should be. This is their base, after all. But maybe it doesn’t appear inside, and you can only meet it outside during the night? What a weird mechanism.”

  “Well, there you have it kids. We’re leaving.” Talisha said, as stressed as Crudia, and she turned to leave the chamber.

  And that was when the door closed with a loud boom. The wood creaked, there was a locking sound. And just like that, we were locked in here.

  BOSS BATTLE

  THE CARP QUEEN

  RANK : UNCOMMON BOSS

  Level : 20

  As you’ve undoubtedly seen, the Carp men are not that much of a threat, especially not on their own. Just look at those silly guys! They live together in these small caves, taking care of their dogs, barely surviving off of scraps.

  That’s not the case for their mother, though. This big old lady has all the qualities that grandmas do : she’s cranky, always cold, and doesn’t like intruders in her home. Yes, that’s you.

  Oh, she’s also a foodie. Her favorite pastimes (if we exclude shitting out Carp men, making carp men, and all of that gross stuff) all include chewing on some new animals. Once again - that’s you.

  Good luck!

  Great. That sounded absolutely perfect. Now only to find where this creature was. Not that it could oppose me, of course. Surely it would just get scared the moment it saw the colors of my skin.

  As if on call, the ground started shaking. And what I thought were just cracks in the ground started opening up. A huge hand, three times the size of mine, reached out from the hole and thudded on the stone. Huge muscles tensed, and the boss crawled out.

  It looked similar to the other Carp men, but if those were a caricature, then this was the real thing. It still had the same stupid look on its face, yet it looked malicious somehow, angry at the world. Its arms and legs were muscular, thick and full of strength. Jeez, my human arms were big, but this was just too much!

  Crudia froze, prompting me to tap her on the shoulder. “We’ve got this, Crudia. Cover me.”

  Her eyes were already tearing up, but she wiped the tears away, and nodded. “Y-yeah. Let’s win, Shrimpie.”

  And I was off. Sprinting toward the creature required me to ignore every signal in my brain that was telling me this was a stupid idea. Shut up, brain. I know what I’m doing.

  Its huge, clawed arm came swinging at me, aiming to swat me away like a fly. I was about to block it with my shield, aiming to catch one of the claws. That was definitely not one of my smarter ideas, because the swipe actually did swat me away like a fly. I flew through the air with terrible speed, and my back hit the smooth rock wall, cracking it.

  That fucking hurt. I looked at my HP, and it was already halfway down somehow. One more attack like that, and I’d be toast. Crudia was probably shouting my name right now, but it was hard to concentrate.

  My ears were ringing, my vision was blurry, and moving my limbs took way too much effort. It was as if they were made from lead. How indignant for a Peacock Mantis Shrimp. My race would scoff if they could see me now.

  I took the healing potion, the thing immediately going on cooldown, and every wound started healing. Gosh, it was taking effect quickly, but now, when every second mattered, it felt as if the thing was healing me at a crawling speed.

  My vision cleared, and I looked at Crudia battling the thing. While she definitely managed to dodge the attacks well enough, the difference in size meant that the boss didn’t have to do much to compensate the difference in speed. I could already see Crudia start getting sloppy, the dodges happening less safely.

  Crudia was strong, but I’d have to help. Nobody could outshine the glorious king in battle!

  Rushing forward, I once again wished I hadn’t used [Dash] already. The thing would be a good combo with my [Bullet strike]. Wait a moment. I’d not used [Bullet strike] since the first day!

  Blasphemous. How could I? It was the only skill that mimicked the speed of my punches from before my transformation. And I didn’t use it since? That damn timer was at fault… But there wouldn’t be a better opportunity for using it then now, that was for sure.

  But where to strike? The thing was massive, three times as tall as I was. I remembered the hole that it left in the Archwolf. It wouldn’t be large enough. Not for this beast.

  I’d have to get higher up, hit its head. But how?

  I finally sprinted next to Crudia, using my shield to block a claw that was about to hit her torso. Just in time. The strike made my arms tingle from wrist to shoulder. Damn, this lady was no pushover.

  “Crudia, can your teleportation ability - or whatever it was in that first chamber - drop me on top of it too?”

  She seemed confused for only a second. “It’s not a teleport! So no!”

  Great. Thanks for the deep, thorough explanation.

  Our guides were shouting about some things I could do, but every damn idea was just undoable. You try closing the distance to attack the knee, Mark!

  I’d have to find a way myself. Damn it, think, Shrimpie! The thing continued its sweeping attacks, and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get a good hit in. The area it could destroy me from was just too large. I dodged another strike, this one without blocking, and an idea formed.

  The thing was attacking in just this one way. It would be risky, but what was safe now, in this damn tournament? “Your dagger. Now!”

  “My what?” She said, shocked, as if the idea of sharing her weapon mortified her to an unprecedented degree.

  Another swipe was coming right at us. “Yes. Now!”

  She hesitated, and I was just about to think that she’d refuse. But then, just as the arm swung toward us in full swing, she nodded and threw one of her twin daggers, pommel up. It swam through the air as if in slow motion to my eyes. Reaching my hand out, I grabbed it from the air, and found a new thing to ponder. Whoever made these shields was a genius. They didn’t prevent me from holding the dagger in any way at all. I looked from my arm to the hand of the Carp Queen, just to find it a step away.

  It hit me like an avalanche, knocking the air right out of my lungs, my whole body hurting once again. I did my best to not lose consciousness right then and there, and I was fairly sure my HP was dangerously low. I couldn’t even take another potion for like 30 seconds. It hurt. So. Badly. I ground my teeth, and tried to use the pain, made it motivation.

  I grabbed the dagger more tightly, and shoved it into the hand that was sweeping me. Green blood spilled over, yet I held on for dear life. The Carp’s queen HP didn’t even move an inch.

  Finally done with its attack, it retracted it, probably going for a sweep with the other. That was my chance. Using the dagger as a foothold, I jumped over on the hand, and sprinted toward the thing.

  Its dead fish eyes slightly opened with realization, but it was too late. I was too close, and the thing had no armor on its face. I readied [Bullet strike], aiming at its nose.

  The thing’s head caved in with a squeal of pain, and its HP went all the way down.

  Holy shit, we’ve done it. I wanted to look at the XP notifications and such, but then I realized I was standing on a very tall monster that was about to fall to the ground.

  Why did I never think about stuff like this?

  I plummeted toward the ground.