Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 78: The Leaky Caverns (Part 3)

"Are all of these things really crystal crabs?" Richard asked as the group stopped at the entrance of a large room that was completely covered in the light-blue crystals from before.

"Most likely, but at least they at seem to be docile until attacked." Christina replied before looking at Koko. "So please don't attack them."

"But what if these things are the only monsters in the dungeon?" Koko asked with a pout.

"I'm sure there will be something else. Otherwise, this wouldn't be a dungeon." Christina reassured her, and Koko once again relented to her friend's reasoning.

"They actually might be aggressive normally, but they're all just scared of Koko and are hiding underground." Richard commented from the side. "I would be to if I watched one of my friends be completely shattered by a single kick."

"You trying to say something?" Koko asked.

"I think I might join them..." Richard shied away from her challenge.

"Come on. They might be docile for now, but there's no telling if something will trigger their aggression." Christina stopped their conversation before leading the way further into the room. And thankfully her evaluation of the creatures proved correct as none of the crystal crabs attempted to attack them.

"Here's just hoping that there isn't a crystal crab boss that's going to make all of these guys attack us all at once." Richard said his thoughts out loud from beside them, and while Koko wasn't all that concerned about it, Christina seemed to stand a little straighter before she finally stopped and turned towards him.

"You don't really think that'll happen, do you?" Christina asked.

"Other bosses have done it before." Richard answered. "Though I've never seen one do it personally."

"Should we play it safe and destroy them?" Christina asked for their opinions.

"I can start breaking them?!" Koko asked excitedly.

"Let's get inside of the entrance first, that way we can limit their numbers." Christina ordered as she started walking back the way they had came. "Richard, it's going to be dark again when they're all gone."

"I'm on it." Richard replied immediately, and soon they all had his spell surrounding them again in order to light their surroundings before the group reached the cave entrance and Koko finally realized the problem with Christina's 'limit their numbers' plan. That being, while Christina and Richard would be annihilating the crystal crabs that attempted to come at them from the room ahead, Koko was stuck in the back with nothing to do seeing as her friends could possible hit her with their spells if she was up front.

"First the giant ent and now this..." Koko cried internally.

"If you have any ranged abilities at all, I'll gladly switch with you." Richard offered from up front, and all Koko could do was sit down and pout as her friend knew that she didn't have any but had asked anyway.

"These things can tunnel through the ground, so it would help a lot if you watch our backs." Christina casted her a sympathizing smile. "Sorry."

"It's alright. I understand where you're coming from." Koko waved the apology away before standing and preparing to fulfill her role as the rearguard. "Alright, let's do this!"

"Okay then, Richard, if you could send a large attack towards that large cluster of crystals on the far wall." Christina instructed.

"Though not large enough to collapse the dungeon." Koko made sure to point out.

"I'm not stupid enough to do that." Richard immediately shot back at her before he faced forward and focused on the task at hand. Though even despite his reassurance, Koko still became worried when the fireball he unleashed blasted against the next room's far wall, making the cave that they were standing in tremble underneath their feet as all of the crystal crabs that had been in the impact radius fell out of the wall.

"Are you sure you're not stupid enough, because it sure seems like you are to me!" Koko yelled at him as she nervously watched the ceiling for any signs of collapse.

"I'm sorry! I just slipped up on the amount of MP a little!" Richard apologized, though thankfully the ground soon stopped shaking and Koko wasn't as angry as she was before.

"Aaah! I'm angry at you but I can really say anything seeing as I triggered the ambush earlier!" Koko yelled in frustration.

"Guys, we have more important things to be worrying about right now!" Christina called out, and both of them looked forward to see that all of the crystal crabs that had been in the room ahead of them were now swarming towards their cave. And as the first few monsters started climbing inside of the tight space, Christina started making her swords shoot golden beams at them, killing at least one at a time with each beam before Richard joined in as well by hurdling icicles at them. And seeing as her friends seemed to be holding back the tide perfectly fine, Koko turned around to discover that she wouldn't be as bored as she'd first expected as several of the crystal crabs that they had passed on the way were now coming towards them. Though they weren't just coming from the cave's entrances, but the walls, floor and ceiling as more and more of the creatures slowly revealed themselves.

Running forward and planting the bottom of her foot on the first creature's back, the crystal shattered instantly before she kicked it a few more times until the crab disappeared completely. And after spotting a few of them crawling on the ceiling above her, Koko kicked the next crab that came within range into the air until it collided with those crawling across the ceiling, causing the small group that had been attempting to bypass her to fall to the ground where she quickly shattered both their bodies and crystals. Though the killing of their brethren didn't seem to deter them as the crabs at all as a large one appeared at the far end of her cave with its crystal making what looked like a solid wall of the material.

"It's getting a little crowded back here!" Koko warned the others as she continued her defense, though she knew it was only a matter of time before the made it past her and attacked her friends from behind.

"Push into the room in front of us! We've almost killed everything there!" Christina ordered, and Koko slowly started backing up as her friends advanced, making sure to do everything she could to slow down the wall of crystal. However, her punches and kicks strangely didn't seem to be as effective on the large crystal crab as it had been on the smaller ones before she was finally pushed out of the cave to see her friends finished what was left of the smaller monsters.

"Where the heck did all of these things come from?!" Richard asked as he helped Christina kill the last few crystal crabs in the room. However, now they were all forced to face the large crystal crab which had pushed Koko back, though the pair's attacks seemed to be just as ineffective as Koko's had been.

"They must have been completely buried in the rock when we passed by them." Christina replied. "But the bigger question is what this thing in front of us is..."

As Christina finished, the large crystal crab finally reached the edge of the of the cave and entered the room in an eruption of dirt and rock as it burst through the floor. And while Koko had expected for the monster to be stronger than the others, she hadn't expected its size as the creature finally revealed itself with it's main body being twice as tall as Christina and with it's legs stretching out until it filled nearly half of the large room that they were in. Though while the creature's body was large, the crystal on it's back was massive as the giant cluster started flickering until it began to shine intensely enough to illuminate the entire room in a light-blue light.

"Hey, uh... I don't see its nameplate..." Koko said hesitantly, knowing that the fact that she couldn't was a bad sign as the giant crystal crab in front of them let out a shriek that shook the dungeon just as much as Richard's fireball had.

"Gornic the Crystal Crab Queen... level fifty-four..." Christina replied slowly. "Prepare yourselves, it's a boss monster!"