Chapter 6
As Izumi passed through the giant doors, she found herself in a large circular room, held up with stone pillars. The room was light with torches, which burned with pale blue flames. The walls were decorated with carvings of snakes.
But none of that interested Izumi. What immediately caught her attention, was the monster that guarded the exit.
Standing on the other side of the room, clad in thick metal amour, was a giant, four-armed gorilla. The amour was design was akin to that of a medieval knight, with four massive swords strapped to it’s back. Above its head was a red label which read: [Guardian of the Boss Room, Four-Armed Gorilla Knight: Cesar]
“Cesar” locked his crimson eyes on Izumi, baring his teeth with a loud growl. The growl grew louder and louder, until the beast let out a powerful roar. Then with an absurd burst of speed, the Gorilla Knight was already upon her, two of its massive fists raised to strike.
Izumi barley register in time, and having no time to dodge she brough her arms up to defend. The beast fists smashed against Izumi’s arms with such force she felt her bones painfully rattled throughout her body. The punch pushed her back, her feet skidding across the floor. She stood her ground, attempting to nurse her arms which stung with pain.
The Gorilla didn’t give her much time to recover, charging at her again with another double punch. Izumi managed to duck in time, the punch missing her by an inch. The beast’s fists became embedded into the wall behind her, leaving a massive crater where her head was. Using this opportunity, Izumi struck with a punch of her own, which managed to push the monster back slightly. However, the armour was thinker and heavier than she realised, so it the mostly was barley pushed back a few feet.
The Gorilla then raised his arms into the air, and bringing them down on Izumi. She managed to catch them, and held strong as the ground beneath her cracking from the pressure. Izumi pushed back, but she could hardly make the monster budge.
Caesar hefted his arms back up again, and brought them down on Izumi. This time though Izumi ducked to the side, and swung her fist around, landing solid blow on the beast’s right temple. This had more effect than her previous attack, the monster stumbling to the side, holding his head.
(The armour might be tough, but the helmet is defiantly not as sturdy) Izumi then looked down at her hand, blood dripping from her knuckles. (but I can’t afford to be carless. I don’t think, my hand is broken, but it still hurt like hell. So regular punches aren’t going to work, and the Dragon’s Wrath might not be long enough to completely through it. And “Caesar” is faster and stronger as I am. So how the hell am I gonna beat this thing?)
The armoured beast recovered, and turned to face Izumi, before he began to beat his four fists against his chest, metallic banging filling the room. Caesar threw another double punch, but Izumi ducked tom avoid it, slid underneath the monster, and kicked him in the leg right behind the kneecap.
The Gorilla was knocked off balance and dropped to one knee, and Izumi wasted no time jumping into the beast’s back, and wrapped her arm around his neck. The monster tried to grab at her, but his own amour hindered it, and Izumi began to punch at the beast’s head. She used every ounce of strength to drive her fist into to the side of Caesar’s helmet, leaving a fist shaped dent. The blood from her knuckles splattered against it, some of it getting into the armoured Gorilla’s eye.
Izumi kept going, but one of the Gorilla’s hands managed to grab her arm, wrenching her from his back and throwing her off, burying her body into the nearest wall.
Izumi’s vision went hazy, barley recognising the tasted of her own blood as she coughed it up. As she attempted to dislodge herself from the wall, she saw the Monster rushing at her. Izumi attempted to summon her weapon, but she was a second to late as the monster smashed all four fists into her.
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!!” She screamed in pain, her body being crushed against to wall and the beast’s punches. Caesar then began to unload a barrage of punches, each one like a cannonball crashing into Izumi’s body. Izumi tried to fight back, but could barely move as the monster kept up his attacks, slowly losing conciseness. He then grabbed her limb body, and tossed her aside like a rag doll. Her body bounced across the floor, stopping just next to the opposing wall.
With what little conciseness she had left, Izumi turned to look at the monster, which had stopped his attack to try and wipe to her blood from his face.
(Everything hurts. I feel like I just got ran over by a damned train) She coughed up more blood, willing her body to move, but it wouldn’t. (I-I can’t give up here. I’ve got to get up. I have to) still her body wouldn’t respond (Dad wouldn’t give up. All Might wouldn’t give up. Even fucking Katsuki wouldn’t give up!) And that did it. She could see him now, looking down at her laughing. That mere filled her with anger, causing a new rushing of adrenalin to course through her veins.
(I have to do this. I have to beat this monster, and get stronger!) Izumi forced her body up, shakily getting to her feet (I have to do this. I will prove everyone else wrong)
Caesar managed to wipe away most of the blood, and charged at Izumi, ready to finish her off. Izumi turned to her foe, and braced herself. Her emerald eyes began to glow softly, but with the green, a small barley noticeable hue of dark purple appeared.
(I will make Mom and Dad proud!)
Caesar lifted his fists again, ready to strike, closing in fast.
(I will be A HERO!)
At the very last second, with seemingly practiced grace Izumi sidestepped, the monster’s attack missing by mere inches. Izumi then grabbed Caesar’s arms. Then using his forward momentum, Izumi spun on the spot, swing the monster around. Izumi kept going, building up momentum more and more. The smell of burning rubber reached her nose, as the friction from her spinning was burning the soles of her shoes. Izumi then twisted her body, raising Caesar into the air. With all that built up momentum, and all of her strength stat, Izumi swung the beast into the ground, with such force the entire dungeon shook. Blood and body parts exploded from the armour on impact, painting the walls of the room crimson.
[You Levelled Up!]
[You Levelled Up!]
[You Levelled Up!]
[You Levelled Up!]
For a few moments, Izumi didn’t react. But as the adrenalin rush faded, her thoughts cleared, and she looked over Caesar’s body. Her eyes widened as she realised what she had just done.
The move she had just used against Caesar, was what she called “The Hurricane Impact”. It was a Super move she had come up with years ago, made to take an opponent’s own speed and strength and use it against them. But that wasn’t all that surprised her. It was the fact she had never actually used it. Ever. (So, how in the world did I just do that? I’ve never even precited that move before, so, how in the hell did I just pull it off perfectly first time?)
(Is it the System? No, nothing so far that I know about it should let me do that. Maybe my Intelligence stat affects my knowledge of fighting? That makes the most sense, but there has to be more to this) Izumi could have spent hours dwelling on it, if not for the fact that with her adrenalin rush nearly completely gone, she began to register the pain she was in. Her body felt like lead, and every movement hurt like hell. She somehow made it to the wall where she had been slammed into. Izumi summoned new bandages from her Inventory, and began replacing her old ones.
(Even though my Health stat has gone up, I’m still pretty banged up. and I Haven’t even thought the Boss yet) She looked over to the Open door on the other side of the room, which lead to a stairwell down into the Boss Room.
Dungeon Bosses where the strongest monsters in a Dungeon, and if Caesar’s strength was anything to go by, Izumi wasn’t feeling that confident. (My fatigue is gotten really high as well. I need to take some time to rest before I even think about fighting to Boss)
So while she waited for her fatigue to go down, Izumi decided to have a bite to eat. And fun fact about the Inventory; it keeps food warm and cold. So she had a delicious home-made Kastudon to look forward to.
[Fatigue: 8]
After a decent meal and time to recuperate, Izumi was ready to go. She managed to get to her feet, and made her way to the door to the Boss room. But as she was about leave, she stopped.
Her legs had stopped right on the border of the exit. She wanted to move forward, but she just couldn’t. She looked down, seeing her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Why were her hands shaking?
“It’s cause your afraid, isn’t it” a voice said.
Izumi turned to her right, seeing a familiar figure. Herself. But this Izumi was deathly pale, with dark bags underneath her eyes.
Izumi turned away, not fazed. “Oh it’s you. I was wondering when you’d show up”
“So cold, Izumi. I’m hurt”
“You aren’t real. You can’t feel pain. So cut the crap. What the hell do you mean I’m afraid”
The Other Izumi snickered “Not all pain is ‘physical’. You of all people should know that”
Izumi gritted her teeth “Answer the question” she all but snarled.
The Other Izumi held her hands up defensively “No need to be hostile. The answer is Quite simple” She then leaned in, close, getting right into Izumi’s face “You’re afraid to die. That’s why. You’re afraid you’ll die and leave Mom with no one to look after her. Happy?”
Izumi looked down, a pang of sadness running through her “No. No I’m not.” She stood there for a moment, still stood on the edge of the door. “But yeah. I guess I am afraid”
The Other Izumi smiled “Then why bother? What’s the point of fighting the Boss if you might die? You don’t need to get stronger, just go home and-“
“And what?” Izumi cut her off angrily “Go to back to school, so Katsuki can beat the shit out of me again, and be able to do nothing about it? and live my life knowing I passed up the opportunity to become a Hero? To help others? Fuck Me”
“Fuck you? Nonono! Fuck me! You’re an idiot! Just look at you. you can barley even stand, let along fight. You could die down there”
Izumi didn’t respond for a moment. Instead, she stelled herself……..
And crossed the boundary.
She started to make her way down the stairs, flipping her Other self off. “Then I guess I won’t die then!” she said with a smile “Oh, and go fuck myself!”
The Other Izumi simply stared at her, before disappearing into nothing, as if she was never there.
This had to be the longest stair case ever.
After five long minutes, Izumi finally reached the bottom of the stair case, and into the Boss room. Well, calling it a room was a bit of an understatement. The “Room” was massive, easily able to fit all of her school into it. It was held up by dozens of large pillars, each covered in thick vines and moss, and the humidity was far worse than it had been before.
Izumi looked around, scanning for the Dungeon Boss, but found no sign of it. (just where the hell is this thing?)
Then, her heightened senses noticed something. She spun to her left, but was to slow to raise her guard as something big slammed into her. Not even Caesar’s punches compared to the force of the strike. It slammed Izumi into the wall, before disappearing into the darkness of the Boss Room.
Izumi gasped in pain, dropping to the floor, holding her chest, as it felt like three of her ribs were broken. She looked up, and saw a pair of giant burning orange eyes looking down at her. From the darkness, a gargantuan Serpent emerged with thick blue scales, barring it’s blade like fangs at her with a loud “HISSSSSSSS!” Above its head, in deep crimson red read the monster’s name: [King of the Swamp, Blue Venom Fanged Kasaka]
Izumi pulled her body up, barley managing to get to her feet. She did her best to ignore the pain, standing tall, taking a battle stance. “So, You’re the Boss I take it?”
“HISSSSSSSSSS!!!” was Kasaka’s only response, before it raised its body, poised to strike.
“I’ll take that as a yes” Izumi readied herself “THEN LET’S DO THIS!”
As Kasaka dove down towards her, Izumi charged forward, ready to meet the monster head on.
(I’ll win this fight! I’ll prove it to everyone, to myself! That I can be a HERO!)