We all watched with bated breaths, shocked at the sight of a monster walking out of the open boss room door.
It was tall, nearly 7-8 feet, its two little hands holding a mace, and the six legs scuttered underneath, moving at high speed.
The boss monster, if that abomination can even be called that, looked like a weird merge of all 3 kinds of monsters on the 1st and 2nd floor.
"CHIMERA?!" Eva shrieked out in surprise once that monster was in vision.
Its lower body was of red anthro's, having 6 legs and sturdy protection.
Then instead of that anthro's head, the torso of a goblin warrior was attached.
His little hands were clutched onto the mace.
And if that wasn't enough, out of the torso's neck, a long, thin neck was extending.
It was golden, glittering in the dark. At the end of the neck, a coohen's head was attached, the beak glinting in gold and blood.
Looking closely, I was able to find many blood splatters decorating that abomination's body.
I guess now I know what happened to the group who went before us.
Fear gripped my heart but I felt secure knowing that I had high levelled protectors around myself.
Yet, it was a weird phenomena I hadn't seen on the internet before.
Should I ask Eva?
After a brief thought, I shook my head. They were getting ready to hunt that monster down, and I didn't want to interrupt them.
She did mention it being a chimera though.
I focused on their internal chat, trying to get the insight about whatever that was happening.
"This is a tamed labyrinth, why the hell is there a chimera here? And why now?" Eva was close to panicking.
Claire seemed really frustrated too, her fist clenched onto the sword so tight that it looked white.
"Ah shit! Shit shit shit, does it mean a dungeon break is possible?!" Katie panicked, holding a spear in her arm.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," The other woman of the group, whose name I didn't quite know, petted Katie on the back.
"Regardless, if there is a chimera on merely the 2nd floor, the rest of the labyrinth ain't safe either." Claire shook her head, "This one isn't a problem, but didn't you say Jaq is on 30th?"
"Oh– Fuck! Yes! We need to go assist her! There is no way they can handle a floor 30 chimera!" Katie nodded in urgency.
"Calm down, there is a chance, not a surety, that it is on the 30th floor." the unknown woman sighed.
They seemed quite a weird pair, one was too calm and one was too restless.
Regardless, hearing their words I was sure of one thing.
This leveling trip is over.
And as if to swiftly prove my guess, Claire turned to me with a serious look in her eyes.
"Aaron, leave the labyrinth after we defeat this chimera. It's not safe anymore."
I nodded, "Yes I understand, give me a call when you're done with this."
There was nothing I could do about this.
I was too weak and underleveled to prove to be any help, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't survive the mana density on those deep floors.
Or… maybe I can, with my abnormally high magic stat.
But, I couldn't jump straight to the 30th floor since I haven't cleared it yet. And going one by one till 30 is plain stupid at such an urgent time.
So no matter in what direction I tried to think, there was nothing I could do to help.
I watched with widened eyes, watching as my sexy, slim girlfriend released her strength slightly.
She intoned multiple spells, before disappearing from my vision in an instance.
I turned around in shock, as Claire had already covered the distance between the chimera and herself, slicing her sword in a wide arc.
Neither me, nor the monster got any time to react as blood erupted.
There was a clean cut on the goblin's torso, accurately slicing off the golden neck and head of the coohen.
I blinked and Claire was back with us, heaving slightly with her face flushed in sweat.
Her sword was back in the scabbard at her waist, her right hand holding the severed golden head.
"Sell it after going out," she tossed it towards me gently and I caught the head, instantly regretting it.
No matter the gold plating, holding a bleeding, dead decapitated head of a monster wasn't a very good experience.
But there was a simple way around it as I took out my scabbard from the inventory and stored the head inside instead.
Out of sight, out of mind.
"Mhm, I will sell it." I coughed, sliding the falcata into the scabbard and holding it, "You guys take care, yeah?"
"Of course." Claire smirked confidently, turning to look at the other women beside her.
Haah, I hope I can be among them soon too.
I turned to look at my side just like Claire, but then regretted doing that.
The two men from Katie's group were teary eyed, crying and telling their partners to be very careful and not get hurt and blah blah.
It wasn't that bad of a thing, it was a sweet romantic gesture.
But what made me cringe was the way they were clinging onto the two girls, crying and speaking amidst their broken sobs.
This same gesture would've been a million times better if they were just more normal, like me.
I could see exhaustion flicker in the unknown woman's eyes as she patted her lover and said everything will be alright.
Maybe seeing that I was coping with this the best, I was delegated the duty to help these two losers out alongside me, as Claire and the rest decided to rush to the 30th floor.
"Well, let's go." I sighed, looking at the two men.
We entered the open boss room, walking past the carnage of broken stone flooring, blood splatters across the room and random chunks of flesh as well as torn limbs strewn around.
I even found 3 dead bodies lying in different conditions, one was nearly intact with a beak sized hole in the skull.
One looked to be crushed under the force of the mace, and also injured by the ant legs.
While the last, it was in the worst condition, torn from many areas, chunks of metallic armor covering the gruesome remains.
Maybe being so tanky isn't that good. I would rather be squishy and die fast than die like… that.
I walked a bit into the room, but then didn't feel any presence behind me.
Ugh, what a hassle. That's why I hate crybabies.
I turned around, expecting to see them cowering about the bloody mess.
But no. They were staring at me with blank eyes, just standing there, with no movement, no blinking, no breathing.
Nothing.
As if they were made of stone.