Traces of daylight had vanished, Ajax and his comrades strolled to a dungeon, cavern mud, in hopes of racking up a few scores while others slept.
Cavern mud, a dungeon filled with muddy and slippery grounds, ceilings often collapsing on themselves, poisonous fumes, and hidden sinkholes. Few students have reported stumbling upon hidden pools and rivers on the upper floors; despite the beauty, the upper floors are filled with poisonous slimes, giant spiders, and lurking insects—only a few have explored the upper floors unscathed.
The first floor is filled with endless mud golems, which makes it an ideal floor for students to rack up scores. Students often swarm the floor during the day so Ajax and his comrades saw an opportunity in the night and decided to explore it at night instead.
Upon their arrival, a few golems were slain with ease, and they got out of the negatives in no time, with Skylar racking up over 300 credit scores. Skylar's ice magic, along with Ajax and Lisa's water magic, was a bad match for the mud golems.
Storm immediately proposed, "Why don't we slay as much as we can for now and rest during the day?"
It was a great proposal, so they all agreed and proceeded to slay as much as they could.
Before long, the sun began to rise, and Skylar had over 1000 credit scores, with the rest ranging from 600 to 800. They headed to their respective rooms before people realized they explored during the night.
The night hurried in like it never left; Ajax and his companions once again went to explore the cavern mud dungeon.
The golems were slain effortlessly. Because of how easy it was, they decided to run shifts so they could rest a little.
Something unusual happened: the mud golems began to swarm in one place, collapsed on each other, and began to merge.
It was Lisa's shift; the rest sat nearby relaxing.
"Guys, something is happening," Lisa said, her eyes wide open in terror and her voice cracking.
The golems formed a giant golem. Its body began to break the ceiling as it rose.
It stood in front of them with fierce yellow eyes, huge arms, and, beneath its waist, a melting sand.
They all stood before the giant mud golem, not knowing whether to face it or flee.
"I am not losing any scores today," Storm said with a steady tone and held his sword tightly.
"Nope, I'm not fighting that thing," Ajax said as he shook his head with an eased expression. They all glanced at him in disbelief.
"Oh, come on," he said, pointing at the giant mud golem, "You know we can't win, right?"
No one responded but rather stood in their stance to face off against the mud golem.
Lightning Step—Storm murmured, and with a step, one of the giant's arms was sliced.
Without hesitation, Skylar froze the ground to prevent the mud golem from regenerating, but it broke the ice and regenerated its lost arm.
It instantly swung at them, Lisa blocked its punch with a water barrier, the impact forcing her to lean back. At the same moment, Storm used 'lightning step' to slice its arm, while Skylar froze its body simultaneously.
Ajax stood behind, watching them fight their hearts out.
Two mud golems emerged from the mud golem, reducing its size and enhancing its speed.
Before Storm and Skylar could react to its new form, one shattered the ice, and both struck them simultaneously. Skylar was able to block the punch with ice but Storm couldn't evade in time, it's fist slammed through his ribs.
"Tsk…" Ajax clenched his teeth and held Art and Ax tightly.
Lisa rushed over to pull Storm and started to heal him as Ajax walked towards the golems.
Ajax tilted his head over to Storm and Lisa. "She uses healing magic? Impressive." He thought.
Before Ajax could lunge over to the golems, a golem extended its arm toward Skylar.
Lightning Step
Ajax hurried over and moved Skylar from its reach. She was in pain—her arms were broken from the strike she blocked—Ajax placed her by Storm and asked Lisa to heal her.
He stood in front of the golems once more as they yelled and flailed their arms aimlessly, like clumsy zombies.
"From my observation, the only way to destroy this monster is not giving it enough time to regenerate," Ajax thought, and closed his eyes to concentrate. "And I can do it five times without taking a deep breath. So be it."
He took a deep and calm breath.
Lightning Step! Sliced the golems, and immediately he landed, Lightning Step, and another.
Without a second to rest after his fifth slice, he took a deep and calm breath and sliced the golem. In less than a minute, he had sliced the golems into pieces. Immediately after he finished, he collapsed on the floor, and Skylar crawled over and froze the pieces.
Feeling a bit better, Storm carried Ajax, while Lisa carried Skylar, and together, they left the dungeon.
The sun had risen, and with careful steps, managed their way to the infirmary.
Ajax woke up later during the day—he collapsed out of exhaustion—Skylar and Storm were admitted due their injuries, while Lisa remained unscathed.
After Ajax's recovery, he checked on Skylar and Storm. Lisa already kept Skylar company, this made him proceed to Storm's earlier than he expected.
"Aren't you cute?" Ivy teased with her chin resting in her palm, sitting by Storm's bed.
Ajax knocked, and Storm asked him to come in. His face was etched with both confusion and shock.
"Hey! Ajax," Ivy waved with a warm smile, "I came by, but you were still unconscious."
Ajax took a long glance at Ivy and Storm. "Uhm… I never knew you two were close friends," he tried to connect the dots as he walked in.
"We've been dating for a while now," Ivy grinned and tilted her head to Storm—his thoughts contradicting each other. "Dating? when?" Storm asked, and began playing with his fingers.
Ajax stood in front of the two and shook his head.
Ivy stood up and began to walk off. "I will be waiting for you, Storm." She said and waved.
After Ivy's departure, there was an awkward silence between Ajax and Storm.
Storm finally broke the silence. "So about 'lightning step', "he said, fidgeting with his fingers. "How exactly did you learn to do it?"
[Ugh…]
Ajax took a deep breath. "I can copy skills—just skills—not every skill though."
Storm took a moment but finally spoke up, "We are best friends, right?" His words were desperate for a response.
"Yes," Ajax responded with a calm tone.
Storm took a deep breath. "Let's be transparent with each other." He extended his hand for a handshake, and they exchanged a smile as they shook hands.
They boasted over 4000 credit scores after defeating the golems. The first floor of the dungeon was declared explored—mud golems ceased coming.
A step had been taken, but Storm and Skylar remained at the infirmary for a week. Ajax and Lisa visited them every day and waited for their recovery before venturing into any dungeons again.