The cavern resounded the footsteps of two adventurers. One, had the heavy sounds of metal, touching metal and the other, had distinguished footsteps from the soles of their boots accompanied by a soft rattle of coins and other trinkets from their leather leg bag.

As they approached the dim, dark green-colored lighting of the otherworldly rocks of the cavern, the two figures are discerned to be a swordsman clad in darkened steel armor and a ranger in chainmail under a leather vest.

It was Arka and Mikrim— venturing into the depths of the Mountain Region.

The cavern they ventured in was a craggy environment; dimly lit by many strange, dark green-colored rocks occupying the ceilings, walls, and the floor. It served as their light source on their journey for mountain ores, so they had no need of using a torch.

The cavern has a chilly atmosphere due to being near the mountain's crest. This frigid atmosphere affected Arka the most in her steel armor due to its high, thermal conductivity.

"Are you okay in that armor, Arakar?" Mikrim asked Arka.

"No... I-I didn't know this game's... climate would affect me with what I wear," Arka said, as her voice shook due to the cold atmosphere.

And suddenly, a small, icon outlined in red borders appeared on the left side of her HUD. She focused on this icon to find out its description.

Biting Cold

Your movement speed is decreased

And indeed, when she tried to move one of her arms around, it felt slower than usual as she saw this. It was a strange feeling for her... like she was drunk.

"Hold on," Mikrim said as she saw the debuff appear on her party member's status window. She bent down reaching for her leg bag. She took out a small bottle.

She removed the cork of the bottle. "Pour this on anywhere on yourself," She said as she held out the bottle to Arka.

As Mikrim handed the small bottle to her, Arka began pouring its contents as Mikrim instructed. A purple liquid spilled out from the bottle to the top of her armor, down to her sabatons as the liquid seeped in on her through the gaps.

"What I said probably sounded strange, just now..." Mikrim muttered to herself as she reflexively covered her mouth, grinning underneath it.

After that, Arka's whole body became engulfed in a purple flame, then it disappeared. All this happened in a split second.

Arka suddenly felt the chill throughout her body, and the cold sensation on her armor disappear. She reverted back to normal body temperature. She looked to the left for the debuff icon on her HUD. It was gone.

"Feeling better?" Mikrim asked

"Yeah," Arka said. "What's that you gave me just now?" Arka asked.

"Cold Coating. It's something I learned to brew when during my time experimenting with alchemy," Mikrim said.

"I see... that's some amazing stuff," Arka told Mikrim. "Anything you want in return?" Arka asked.

"You already did," Mikrim said. "This is my payment for you clearing that mob a while ago. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be tagging along right now for some ores," Mikrim said.

"Well, if you put it like that, I suppose it sounds fair," Arka said, with a gesture.

"Yep," Mikrim said. "Well, I'm getting bored. C'mon, let's go!" Mikrim said as she walked past Arka briskly in an eager tone in the cavern.

She does love exploring. Arka thought. After that, she followed suit.

And so, they traversed in the cavern. As they explored its depths, they saw more of the dark-green glowing rocks illuminating their path, and the rough surfaces of the cavern in various, craggy formations. No sign of fungi and other creatures are present. They eventually reached an enormous crevasse, illuminating blue light within. Upon seeing that there are no ores at the place where they stood, they decided to climb down the crevasse using Arka's rope that she has had stored in her satchel.

As they climbed down the rope, the area soon transitioned to blue, glowing rocks illuminating the crevasse, beneath. They eventually reached the bottom with a large tunnel, and a pathway of glowing, blue rocks heading straight. As Arka and Mikrim walked on this pathway, it didn't take long until they reached a wide, open area of the cavern. Upon closer look, they saw the rich mountain ores they've been seeking.

"This is the place..." Mikrim said. After that, she turned to Arka. "We made it," She said.

"Yeah, it was quite easy," Arka said as she nodded to Mikrim. "It's quite pretty down here too," Arka said as she looked around the wide area. She saw the mountain ores shimmer all around and reflect the blue light being given off by the cavern's rocks.

On the other side of the area, Arka could see an archway that leads to somewhere else. She was hoping it was an exit. She will have to investigate it later.

"Well, let's grab as much as we can," Mikrim said as she began to walk to the ore veins.

As Mikrim approached the center, Arka eyed Mikrim's leg bag. "Isn't your bag a bit too small though? Are you gonna break the ore into bits or something?" She said.

Mikrim stopped in her tracks, and turned to Arka. "Yeah, I only want to see what I can make with this through Alchemy, and record it to my index, is all," Mikrim said. After that, she turned away from her. "Now, enough dawdling... Let's get to work!" She pumped a fist as she said this, showing her determination. After that, she began walking across the area in pursuit of the rich ores of the cavern.

However, Mikrim stopped her movements as she suddenly felt the ground shake. Arka felt it as well. Both of them attempt to regain their balance during the rumble.

But the unsteady earth they stood on increased in intensity and no sooner did the both of them end up falling to their knees, and their arms.

"What?!" Arka yelped. Her voice drowned with the earthquake of the cavern.

Suddenly, a humongous, arm erupted under the cavern's ground and towered over the two. The arm almost covered the whole area of the cavern they were in. And then, the arm dropped and slammed onto the cavern floor. It almost smashed Mikrim flat, being inches away from her. A powerful shockwave blew past the two of them, with Mikrim almost deafened by the strong force.

The hand gripped the stony floor.

As the floor broke, another arm shot out underneath. Mikrim quickly crawled backward to Arka, struggling on their balance as the pair sat helplessly, and witnessed the scene about to unfold.

As it grabbed on the rocky surface, it dragged itself up, bursting forth underground.

A gigantic figure stood at about six meters tall in front of Arka and Mikrim. It possesses a body thick, muscular, and wide like a rhino's. Its arms are humongous, enough to grab a whole person's body; it possesses black fur from its forearms to its hands, with sharp claws on each of its four fingers, its legs have hooves and black fur up until its waist, and a head, possessing twisted horns. Its face has a mouth that almost stretches and covers the entirety of its skull, showing its teeth, and eyes full of rage. Two extra heads that have different shapes appear asymmetrically at the sides of its neck that resemble almost that of a human's head.

It giant creature roared at Arka and Mikrim when it saw them both.

As the ground stopped shaking, Arka and Mikrim quickly stood up.

Afterward, the beast charged at them.

"Run—!" Arka yelled. Mikrim reacted to her voice, as both of them turned away from the creature and they both began to escape, with Mikrim going first.

However, the beast is too fast as it eventually covered the distance in seconds between Arka and Mikrim. They haven't even reached anywhere near the tunnel they came from. The beast was able to grab Arka, taking her off the ground.

"No—!" Mikrim shouted as she stopped.

As Arka saw Mikrim stopped running. "It's fine! Go! I'll just respa—"

But the beast immediately threw Arka at the far end of the area, losing any more means of escape for her.

Mikrim saw Arka's HP on her party window. It dropped to 20%, along with fracturing her avatar’s left arm and left leg. A status window appeared of her being debilitated.

As the dust, and rubble of the craggy area settled, she saw Arka, sitting down on the rough ground, unable to stand. Mikrim thought the same as her that it is a hopeless battle, and it'd be best if one of them gets out alive.

Arka drew her sword, as she sat on the ground. Her mind was still focused on fighting.

Mikrim was surprised seeing this. Despite the one-sided perspective and differences in strength, her companion decides to face the beast, all while she can’t stand up to fight.

Once again, she felt the same glimmer of inspiration from Arka.

Arka's facing the creature as she sat helplessly, looking at it straight in the eyes. She pointed her sword at it, as it continued walking toward her.

Arka thought that it was worth giving up all the equipment, items, and money she has earned all for the sake of her friend. Besides, she accepted that it was her fault she got caught.

For such a fight, it was fine whether you win, or lose, so long as you die trying.

However, in the corner of her eye, she saw Mikrim heading toward the beast from behind.

Arka knew what Mikrim was about to do.

"Stop! You'll die!" Arka shouted at her.

"I'm not leaving without you!" Mikrim shouted. "I've got to try... unlike you, I've got nothing to lose!" She said to Arka.

Why of all times, did she decide to fight now? Arka's dumbfounded as she couldn't say another word. She doesn't know if it was because of the beast approaching her, or because of Mikrim's sudden change of mind. A perplexed feeling overwhelmed her; deafening her thought processes.

Mikrim stopped, as she measured an appropriate attack range. She took out her bow and began pulling back on the string.

No arrows? Arka thought as she saw this.

Afterward, a surge of visible, bluish-white energy enveloped Mikrim's Recurve bow. It seems to come from a small bauble attached inside near the grip, and lower limb of the bow. This energy formed a straight shape between her fingers holding the string. It manifested into an arrow made of energy, as its shape vibrated and crackled.

And then, she released it.

It hit the gigantic, six-meter beast at the back. However, it wasn’t enough to grab its attention. The beast was just inches away from Arka.

No way... was that—! Arka thought, after witnessing what just happened. Her eyes are locked onto Mikrim.

Mikrim pulled back on her string again. This time, more of the bluish-white light enveloped and manifested forming her energy arrow. It became more apparent, as the light shows to be concentrated at the tip of this arrow shape. After a short delay, she released it.

As she let go of the string, the arrow divided into multiple, arrow shots, moving in a circular pattern, hitting the creature in the back.

The beast groaned as it felt the force of impact of Mikrim's attack. And then, it stopped in its tracks towards Arka. It diverted its attention toward Mikrim now.

The beast began to rush towards the magic archer.

Mikrim kept shooting magic arrows, as she backed away in swift, careful steps. She shot her arrows, aimed at the creature's face which kept dividing, in mid-air for a spread-out attack.

As the beast turned away from Arka, she felt the system activate the regeneration process after a few moments.

However, this regeneration process in Helsfate would take too long. With the current HP, she has at the moment, healing on rest in Helsfate requires ten minutes before her limbs will be able to move. Another three minutes before she recovers to peak HP. Knowing this, Arka took out one of her emergency healing supplies to speed it up.

She withdrew a Potion of Healing from her bag and splashed it on herself to boost her healing factor on rest. Approximately, this cuts her time for healing her limbs to five minutes.

However, it was still too long of healing for Arka. Just how long can Mikrim hold on?

Mikrim's fingers started to shake during her battle with the cavern beast, as she was not used to an actual battle with a monster in Helsfate. Moreover, a zone boss. She can feel her focus slowly drift away, but also retain it. She was still getting the feel for the spur of battle. She remains resilient. After all, her friend's life was on the line. She decided she'll hold on as much as she can, waiting for her party member to heal.

The beast lunged towards her, and as it did, Mikrim dived out of the way, almost grabbing her the same as Arka. Knowing she wasn’t heavily armored as her, it would just take a single hit for her to die from this creature.

The beast stumbled due to its hooved legs, overextending its arms in an attempt to grab Mikrim.

Mikrim saw this as an opportunity. She quickly crouched with one knee bent, flipped open her leg bag, and reached for what was inside.

She took out another bauble, and quickly undocked the current bauble on her Recurve bow.

After replacing it, she aimed her bow at Arka.

Arka saw Mikrim aiming the bow at her. Mikrim focused on her, and then another shimmering arrow manifested on her bow from her bauble, in the color of green this time. She released it.

As the magic arrow flew in the air, it left trails of green light. It soon struck Arka.

Her HP instantly recovered to about 76% as it landed.

Arka felt her limbs get better, as she heard the bones of her avatar crack and go back in their places. After she felt her disability disappear, she immediately stood up and ran to Mikrim. She stood beside her, with her sword in hand, and a stance ready for battle. Just in time, the gigantic beast recovered from its imbalance, as it turned toward them.

Arka recalled the archway of the area they were in. She took a glance at it.

It was meters away from where they stood. But perhaps if they run now, they can still have a chance.

"This way!" Arka quickly yelled to Mikrim, as she did a careful tug on Mikrim's arm to lead her to their other means of exit. Mikrim was able to follow her lead.

However, the giant beast saw this and attempted to charge forward once more. It went adjacent to the exit that the two adventurers were fleeing for.

Arka immediately noticed this, and she quickly stopped in her tracks. As she did, she quickly moved her arm in Mikrim's way to stop her advance as well.

"Wait!" She said. Mikrim immediately stopped running as well.

As she said this in the nick of time, the beast halted in front of them, blocking their path. It recovered quickly this time without a mistake in its footing as it turned to face them once again.