The Shapeshifter

I was the nearest to the entrance, so I was the one too see what was inside.

Nothing new.

It looked the same as the first floor boss' room. A spacious room with four pillars. There was also a throne and sitting on it was a tall creature.

It was a humanoid horse!

Its legs was still that of a horse, yet its arms was like that of a man. I only said that it was humanoid becaue of its arms. It looked just like a horse that stood on its two legs. Oh! and it also has its pants on. But man, it has a hell of an eight-pack abs. Incredibly ripped, damn.

It stood on its two feet and glared at us with its red eyes.

Its mere appearance caused a slight tremor in my head, but that was it. It also has a similar aura to the Scorpion Emperor.

Both have viciousness and killing intent radiating in their body. Yet, its aura was still weaker than the Emperor.

I seem to have forgotten something. Hmmm.

"Ah!" an shrill scream echoed in the room.

That was what I forgot. I was able to cope with its aura because I was exposed to it because of the late Emperor and the old man. I forgot that my team may not have experienced this kind of thing.

I turned around and saw that Daggers was on sitting on the floor, screaming. Suddenly, a black shadow entered my eyes.

Oh sh*t!

The humanoid horse arrived in front of Daggers. She was clearly terror-stricken by the appearance of the creature and was unable to move.

The horse-man clenched its right hand tightly and was in the act of punching Daggers. What can I do? I was at the very front of the group and I also let my guard down by turning my back towards the enemy.

I can't let her die! If she dies, all of us follows. There was a bubby feeling inside me that struggles to get out. Before I knew it, I was already running towards the fiend.

The sound of its fist landing on her body and breaking her bones wasn't heard. I only heard a loud 'thud'.

It hit something different?

My eyes lit up as I knew who saved this damsel again. The Shield Bearer!

This guy's really good. Even I could tell that he would have a bright future. I smirked then continued running towards the horse-man again.

The opportunity to attack was quickly taken by Glasses. He shot an arrow towards the horse-man and swiftly nocked another for three continuous shots.

The horse-man busily deflected the arrows and this bought enough time for Shield Bearer and Spear Guy to take action.

Shield Bearer quickly carried Daggers away from the fight and hastily ran back to the fight. As for Shield Guy, he immediately pierced its t.h.i.g.h. I even observed that he did a brutal twist and pull.

This guy was actually smart. He didn't aim for its neck which was obviously high up or its sides that could be protected really fast by its elbows.

Instead, he attacked its t.h.i.g.hs, injuring it quite badly. Therefore removing its advantage of speed against us and also reducing its agilty. Quite a good move.

It howled in agony when its t.h.i.g.hs was injured by Spear Guy. It glared at Spear Guy as it was about to eat him. It then raised its arm to deliver a punch. However, Spear Guy only smiled. He even looked as if he was containing his laughter. (A/N: I imagined Thor, smiling at Hulk. [Thor: Ragnarok] Haha!)

When I saw Spear Guy smiling at it, even I wanted to punch his face.

"You're dead, Horsey! Hahahaha!" at last, Spear Guy was unable to contain his laughter and laughed out loud.

The horse-man actually stopped. I think it understood Spear Guy!

It removed its gaze away from Spear Guy, when a sword was inches away from its heart. The Shield Bearer again! However, the horse-man made a futile attempt to smack the sword away. It avoided its death, but it was still pierced on its shoulder.

This time, Spear Guy, once again attacked. But it was on the exposed side of the horse-man. His spear entered its rib cage.

And again, the horse-man howled in agony. It wasn't the end of the barrage of attacks from the team.

Glasses let loose a salvo of arrows towards its huge c.h.e.s.t. I also saw Daggers enter the fray. However, she only started running and I, already jumped, when I was only a meter away from the fiend.

I did the strongest swing of my life!

Only by a bit though. My sword only passed through its flesh. I originally intended to severe its head, but that's okay. I'm not alone anyways.

As the fastest on our group, Daggers already arrived and stabbed its heart. Only a single stab was unable to quell her anger. So she stabbed non-stop on its heart and soon made a mess of its c.h.e.s.t.

The horse-man was already dead, but Daggers was still madly stabbing.

Oh man, this girl is quite brutal.

A hand reached out to her shoulders and tapped her. Shield Bearer stopped her from any more stabbing, lest it would affect her state of mind in the future.

Just thinking of what her future would've looked like sent a shiver down my spine.

After stopping her, Daggers' shoulders were trembling; she was crying.

Poor girl, must've been a frightening experience for her. Shield Bearer quickly moved her away from the mangled corpse.

This guy, really! I can't help but sigh.

"In the end there wasn't anything to loot. Its heart, that should've been its treasure was chopped into minced meat." as the one who checked the corpse for loot, Shield Bearer stated his findings.

Now that I think about it, Shield Bearer was always the one checking for loots. Maybe he's the most knowledgeable among the group with regards to this matter. Or maybe he's in a tough spot and is in real need of money.

Well after this exploring, he would surely be rewarded by his clan. Good for him.

"Ah- it's okay. We could still bring its corpse to the elders of the clan or we could sell it to the alchemists." Glasses said.

Shield Bearer looked like he still wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by Shield Guy, "Indeed it's okay. At least we killed it with teamwork and none of us was injured."

Shield Bearer simply snorted and sat down.

Seeing that Shield Bearer wanted to rest and out of consideration for Daggers, he allowed the team to rest for a while.

Since I almost did nothing, I immediately sat down and started recalling what transpired.

I closed my eyes and thought of ways to improve myself.

Daggers was walking towards Shield Bearer.

Heh. Is she going to thank him?

"Um- thank you for saving me. Again. If it wasn't for you, Ah-i would've been seriously injured b-both times. Or worse, I could've d-died. S-so, thank you, again." Daggers was stuttering almost every sentence, which made her look cute.

As for Shield Bearer, he was acting as if he was sleeping or his ears weren't working.

Caught in awkward situation, Daggers bowed deeply and ran away like a frightened rabbit.

I couldn't help but smile. Ah! These two. Maybe I should help Daggers, hehe. Shield Bearer, you shouldn't play hard-to-get in front of such a beauty.

I looked away from Shield Bearer and found that Glasses was looking at me. He did an exaggerated wink at me and obviously, I knew what it meant. So I copied him and did an exaggerated wink.

Haha!

Shield Guy was only smirking at us from where he sat.

"Okay guys. It's time to move out! Next destination: the tunnel upstairs!"

Everyone stood up and prepared for the next fight while walking towards the stairs.

It was a spiral staircase and was a bit narrow which made us climb up one by one. It was unlike the stairs from floor one to floor two that looked very normal and was able to fit us all.

I'm having a bad feeling about this. Ever since I saw that dark-skinned pig-man from floor one, I've been having this uneasiness pop out from time to time.

I'm to tell Glasses once we arrive at the top. Maybe he would consider my request of giving this up. Or maybe I shouldn't. I don't want to be held in contempt by my teammates.

I should just keep my mouth shut and tell them to be extra careful.

After our ascent, we were greeted nothingness. There wasn't anything. However, it still made me uncomfortable.

I immediately stopped and voiced out my complaint so that everyone in the group could hear me, and they too, could share their thoughts.

"Indeed, this is strange. Even the elders told us that before every room, there would be monsters defending the tunnel." Spear Guy said.

"Although it is indeed strange, we're already in the last floor of this dungeon and beyond this tunnel is the final guardian of this dungeon. And after that, we would be rewarded by the clan! They might even accept us as disciples and be nurtured! Imagine what would our lives be!?" Glasses said.

As the captain, he really had his voice in the team. His words made the others think twice. They were obviously moved by his speech.

Spear Guy and Daggers didn't think for long and quickly agreed with Glasses. They were tempted by the rewards they would be receiving. I could do nothing but follow them. Since we're already here, why not see it out to the end.

Even though our team agreed to fighting the final boss, we still kept our guard up while slowly making our way towards the room.

Finally, we arrived safely. It didn't look like 'the room' I was expecting it to be. Instead, it was huge rectangular shaped hall. There were ten pillars in total, five on each sides. In the middle, there was a red carpet starting from the entrance of the hall to the very end, which was where the throne was located.

Sitting highly on the throne was a young man, probably similar age as us. The young man was as tall as me, which is considered to be of normal height. His face though, was quite handsome and I think I've seen his face somewhere.

The group slowly walked towards the young man and we were prepared for an ambush. None of us thinks that the young man before us would be the final boss. Instead, we see him more as a dungeon keeper.

When were finally below the steps towards the throne, the young man stood up and his body was beginning to enlarge as tiny insect legs were sprouting on his sides. Then, it greeted us.

"Welcome Humans, to your, DEATHS!"