Finishing our rest, we started pushing the steel door and went in. The crystal cave was in a circular dome. There was but an arena filled with crystal. The boss was in the middle of it, staring at us without moving.
The dome was much larger than the path we took during our exploration. The boss itself was a giant crystal golem about three times larger than the one we saw before. With the three of us walking closer toward it, its eyes started to glow red, looking at us as it roared, preparing for battle.
Serena tested the waters and sent a fast lightning attack against the golem's core. The golem, with its arm blocking the heart, stopped the attack without taking any damage. Serena's eyes widened, seeing that a rank one monster had defended against it.
Taking it seriously, with the core exposed in the middle, Serena quickly used gravity magic, pushing the golem. Unable to defend her magic, the golem fell to the ground, unable to get up. Then, making a needle of destruction, she pierced the golem's core defeating the boss.
She used more than half of her mana reserve fighting the golem. The amount of mana needed to bind the golem took a lot. Due to its heaviness, it needed more power for it to fall.
"Haaa... Haaa..." Serena breathed heavily, tired from the amount of mana used. Nevertheless, it was an excellent way to defeat it.
Olivia made a drink that restored a bit of mana and gave it to Serena. She recovered a bit by drinking it, and her breathing returned to normal.
For a rank one boss, a level two magician would also have a hard time defeating it. You would need to immobilize it to hit its core without it constantly blocking one's attack.
With the golem gone, something came out of it. While it wasn't rare for a boss to drop an artifact, it was still not a hundred percent drop rate. The mana core it dropped was about three times the size of a regular monster, and the crystal ore was of higher quality. It was a generous drop for a boss.
"Serena! Olivia! The crystal golem dropped an artifact!" I shouted loudly, making sure that they heard me say it.
Hearing that, they ran to me as quickly as possible, wanting to see what it dropped. It was a crystal necklace, an accessory that would easily attract anyone. Anyone would be jealous of the person that wears it.
"Serena, you should take it. You beat it without our help." So I gave it to her. I wasn't an accessory type of guy. So it wasn't a problem if I gave it to her.
Taking it, she stared at it. Her eyes were dazzled by its pretty looks, with a smooth crystal chain wrapped around her and a crystal gemstone colored in light pink. She was charmed by its appearance.
"Wow! It's so pretty!" Olivia, who saw it, was in awe of its appearance. However, she had a tint of jealousy seeing Serena wear it. So while she was happy for her, she also wanted one.
"We should check what your artifact does after our exploration." They were admiring the artifact for a while, I didn't want to ruin her moment, but I didn't want to waste time advancing.
The boss was defeated. Upon its defeat, a gate appeared on the other end of the cave. When defeating a boss, you could save your progress by touching a floating crystal near the end of the dungeon floor. Once you feel it, you can teleport to where you left off once you clear the floor.
I can't have them stare at the artifact forever. Olivia and Serena could do it when we get back, attracting their attention as we go towards the gate and enter the second floor.
The second floor was unlike the first floor. Compared to it, this place was kind of lacking. The place we are in is a forest. Like any forest, it was filled with trees. The leaf was green, the soil was dark brown, and the river flowed calmly without any wind passing.
Despite the forest being the most common area, there wasn't a path to know the boss's location, so we had to wander around, hoping we would find it.
"Serena, which path should we take?" It was better for me to hear the opinion of a competent companion. I wasn't someone with a good sense of direction. Olivia also wasn't. She got lost on her way to the academy, so the best choice was to ask Serena."
"Charlie, what about my opinion?" Olivia cutely asked, wondering why I didn't ask her.
"Sorry to break it to you, but you don't have a great sense of direction. Remember when you got lost on your way to the academy? You wouldn't have made it if you weren't lucky to meet me." I rubbed her cheeks like a cute animal.
Olivia, who heard my explanation, remembered that and was flustered from embarrassment. "Please forget about that." Serena, who was listening in, also chuckled.
"Why don't we follow the river stream? We'll always know where we are, and the chances of us getting lost is near impossible." I nodded at her explanation. There wasn't any flaw to her idea, Olivia, who heard it, also agreed.
With none of us disagreeing with her idea, we went in a straight line following the river stream. It was calming walking in scenery like this. While it wasn't as breathtaking as the first floor, the air here felt terrific.
As we walked, I heard noises coming from the bushes. "Stop!" I said an attack could happen any time, and it was better to prepare for an attack rather than run and become unorganized.
Listening to my command, the two of them stopped and froze. Then, realizing what was happening, they looked around, sensing any monster that would attack.
They jumped out of the bush they were hiding in and ran right at us.
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