Azrael opened the door to the Death Seesaws Dungeon and stumbled in hard.
His warm-up had left him so battered that the portal sucked him in and spat him out on the other side like a piece of trash. It dumped him on his checkpoint, and he ended up on his side, staring up while his lungs fought for air.
Mary appeared beside him, calm and graceful, floating there. She scanned the start and end of the dungeon, studied each seesaw, then nodded with satisfaction.
"You'd struggle a lot on your way to the silver chest without an initial warm-up. You did well getting yourself ready without taking a break. It may be an F-Rank dungeon, but the difficulty naturally climbs as the rewards get better," Mary explained.
You call this a warm-up? That was hellish training!
Still too winded to answer, he missed the compliment. He couldn't believe he'd been so easily lured into that kind of brutal training again, but it wasn't like he'd ever had the pleasure of serving a sexy female officer.
All his supervisors had been hard-boiled military freaks who drilled discipline and respect at every turn. Some of that training still surfaced in Azrael, especially when someone caught him off guard.
"Could you lift me up if I'm about to fall? Or should I use Blink like usual?" Azrael asked.
Mary nodded. "You'll have to rely on yourself for now."
"Yeah, fair," he said, nodding.
No surprise, she wasn't going to make this easier, but it was worth a shot anyway. Back on his feet, he looked at the next seesaw.
Its platform was surprisingly long compared to the first set, which felt like a trap.
After Mary's warning, he wasn't naive enough to think it would be easier.
Leaping from his spot, he landed in the middle of the next seesaw and immediately felt himself caught by a weird pull of gravity. It yanked him sideways and threatened to throw him off.
He'd expected it.
At the last second, he shifted his weight and blinked back to the center. The seesaw started tilting up and down beneath him, and he rode it out.
My body's sore as fuck, but I'm too excited to lose right now! Can't lose with Mary watching me!
He'd learned a lot about himself and his powers, but more than anything, his guardian's eyes on him, silently cheering him on (or at least, that was Azrael's imagination), gave him the strength to keep pressing forward.
And he did, clearing the next seesaws at an absurd pace, until something unexpected threw him off his rhythm.
—
A bright red light flared at the starting point of the Death Seesaws Dungeon. It formed into a small door, and a woman stepped through.
Corset-style combat armor hugged her frame, knee-high socks visible beneath it, a deadly black spear strapped to her back.
A serpentine smile curled across her face, framed by red bangs.
Her long crimson hair was wrapped in a bun.
With an annoyed glance at Mary and Azrael, she shouted up at them.
"□ △ ○, ○ △ □!"
What the fuck was that language?! It sounded like a mix of a hiss and a screech!
He hadn't even seen her yet, only heard her. Hearing it didn't do him any favors; it just grated on him.
In the middle of clearing another seesaw, he focused on finding his balance first. Once he had it, he glanced over his shoulder.
In a heartbeat, the anger vanished from his face.
He licked his lips. I could learn how to hiss and screech from you, babe.
"Control yourself, Azrael," Mary chimed in. "A language we are not familiar with… I fear this dungeon is part of a foreign Lord's Domain, or another world. This woman is an alien. Do not mistake her for an ally."
"Hold on, Mary. I see a lot of potential in her." One hand came up in a hold-up gesture, like a meme.
"All you see are her breasts," Mary retorted, her cheeks puffed.
"Humans communicated long before proper language existed, and I know a good way to talk with her!"
"You'll reach her through combat, isn't that right?"
"Yeah, I'll wrestle her tongue!"
The warmth drained from Mary's cheeks. She stared at Azrael with a dead-eyed expression.
The newcomer didn't seem to care that neither of them could understand her and kept shouting. No response came, so she leapt onto the first seesaw.
The gravity tried to shove her off, but she drove her spear into the platform and anchored herself.
Azrael sobered up fast.
Fuck. Her stats probably dwarf mine! She's good. She might steal my golden chest if I don't clear this dungeon now!
But that's the excitement I needed. I have an edge over her with that Main Conqueror thing, and I can't look lame in front of a woman, can I?
Adrenaline surged, and Azrael formed a new, bolder plan on the spot. He threw himself onto the next seesaws and kept going.
As the pressure caught up to him and he came close to using Blink to save himself, he glanced at Mary and smirked.
"Mary, I can't reveal my cards. I'll save Blink in case this woman decides to attack me. I need your hand!" Azrael shouted.
"How clever." Mary tilted her head back with a mix of disgust and pleasure. Or maybe she was only disgusted, but she was so cute it came out looking almost pleased. "Very well. It's time you cleared this dungeon fast enough for this woman to see you as the real deal."
Now the guardian could finally show her skills!