We had prepared in every way we could with armor, spells, and potions prior to heading down. I was confident if push came to shove, we should be able to escape. I also had some hope that the king would be able to help in some kind of fashion. Perhaps he was chained to the pillar, and I could just cut him down or something. At least, that’s what I imagined.

“Huh? Another door?”

We walked down the stairway only to find a door at the bottom of it. Thankfully, it was open. The problem was that it shouldn’t be there. Although I was only basing this off of what I had seen in a handful of dungeons, the last dungeon boss room was always sealed outside the safe room. It wasn’t perfectly clear why the last boss room differed from the others, but I always had a feeling it had to do with the difficulty. The bosses were tests to make sure you were worthy to attempt to challenge the source of the lore, and the final boss room was the actual attempt, once you were deemed worthy of trying.

After testing you so vigorously, it’d be foolish to then cause you to die without even being able to see the final challenge. Perhaps the battle was intended to be a multi-day battle involving rotating teams. I didn’t really know. Only the curses could understand their own existence. It was like trying to understand why a tornado went one direction instead of another. I’m sure a smart person could eventually come up with an answer, but it would mostly be guesswork.

Taking a breath, the entire group stepped in. I gestured for Faeyna to come with us. I originally was planning on leaving her on the stairway, but the doors worried me. When they closed, she might not be able to get experience if she was beyond them. I knew that the boss room could interfere with Return. It might be able to interfere with Portal too. I had never really had the time to cast it to find out. Even though both abilities worked in dungeons, they didn’t work in boss rooms. It was like that strange artifact that Alysia had found. Even blessings were no more powerful than the dungeons they came from.

The door behind us slammed shut. My eyes scanned the room. It was what I expected—a massive room with a tall ceiling and a long row of pillars. Given the natural theme, vines grew up the walls and the pillars. However, it was basically a bigger version of the boss rooms seen on the twentieth level. Either way, it was a massive room that gave us plenty of room to fight. At least, that was what I thought.

Boom! The entire room shook like a large object had just hit the ground. A moment later, a form stepped out from behind a pillar. My eyes went up and then kept going. There standing in the room was a beautiful woman. However, her head nearly touched the ceiling, and the room looked somewhat small with her there. She… was a giant!

“So… another came.” She spoke, looking down at our part like insects.