Chapter 26: A Rather Large Beast

It was the moment of truth. After another few days of work that was far too delicate for chubby fingers like hers, Ellena had finished her first pair of gloves. Piles of failures and scraps lay on one side of the workbench and sitting next to them were two ragged, yet finished gloves. They were frayed, they were scratched, but they were hers.

Ellena was hesitant to try them on, worried that she may have gotten it wrong in some way, but it wouldn’t do her any favours to not even try. WIth a deep breath, Ellean squeezed her squishy mitts into the gloves. First, the left, a little tight around the thumb, but it fitted. Then the right, which sat in place almost effortlessly.

Yes, they were rough, but they also actually fitted. She had succeeded in leatherworking. Most armour she could make at this point would do nothing for her as a Mushman. There were surely ways that she could wrap leather around her to make some basic armour, but it seemed a safer bet to wait until she evolved into something more humanoid. If she ever even got the option, that is.

Still, she wanted to give the gloves a whirl and that meant that she could no longer delay her next target in the dungeon. The Mollit Boss. The little Mushman had no proof that the Mollit was the strongest beast on that floor, but considering the general power level it seemed likely.

She poked her head around the corner of the house's front door, not all slyly showing off her new gloves on the door frame as she did and called out to the two inside.

“I’m off to the dungeon guys!”

Samora and Ellephwen both looked up from their respective tasks. Samora was cooking and Ellephwen was trying to dust. It was the most active thing she had done since she returned. Ellena watched as both of their eyes lit up like proud parents. It felt silly, but she could help but grin.

“Ellie, you did it!” Samora commented, rushing over to hold the Mushmans gloved hands in hers.

Ellephwen followed close behind and bowed down a little to get a good look. “They’re not tidy Ellena, but they look sturdy.”

“They’re amazing for your first time Ellie! I can’t wait for mine,” Samora beamed brightly, perhaps worried that Ellena’s feelings would be hurt by what Ellephwen said. She had heard far worse in her old life though.

“Thanks! Though, this is all I have left fwom that massive pile of leathew. That’s pawt of why I’m off to the dungeons. To get my hands on Mollit leather!”

“Woah! Wait a sec Ellie!”

The Mushman paused, turning around. Both Samora and Ellephwen wore worried expressions.

“Ellena, a minor Rat Lord is one thing, are you sure about fighting this mystery Mollit?”

“She’s right Ellie. You have no idea what kind of power this beast is gonna wield.”

Ellena was quite confused. “You two haven’t complained about all the othew dumb stuff I’ve done in the dungeon so faw. Why so suddenly?”

Samora glanced at Ellephwen. “Well. We’re always worried Ellie. Think about it, we threw a bunch of potions at you the last time you actually told us.

The Mushman had to search her memory, but no matter how carefully she scanned she could find no evidence to the contrary. They were right. She couldn’t even use the inability to speak as an excuse as she had not technically informed them about the Rat Lord. Only the Wolf Matriarch. Sort of.

“Huh…” Ellena exclaimed. “I wondew why?”

There was no answer to give. The most likely answer was just pure careslessness. “Well befowe I challenge the bosses on the lowew floows I’ll let you guys know. I can also dwink potions easiew now, so you two weally don’t need to wowwy.”

“Ellie, please. Don’t attempt so many R’s. It’s genuinely difficult to stay serious,” Samora replied, deadpan despite her body shaking.

Ellena cleared her throat. “Anyway… I’m going, so you can give me some mo- some othe- some potions or you can come with me, up to you.”

A flash of joy spread across Samora’s face just as quickly as it appeared. “I’ll come with you El-”

“No,” the Dryad replied, shutting down any notion before it could begin.

Ellephwen ignored the pouting Elf then turned to Ellena, sitting in quite a dignified posture. “We can’t stop you living the way you want, child, but please at least take our concern into account.”

A hesitant nod jumped upon the Mushmans head. “I’ll be fine Ellephwen, just need a few potions just to be careful.”

The Dryad nodded at the Elf, who wandered over to one of the many closed cases in the storage area. What she was grabbing lay on top however, her own potion bag. She walked back over and handed a few over to Ellena, then placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Good luck Ellie, please come back home.”

Finally, after a conversation that almost felt pointless. Ellena was on her way to the dungeon once again, to fight what was mostly likely the toughest beast on the first floor. It also very likely hid the main entrance to the second floor. It was likely that the monsters that lay on the second floor would be on average weaker than the three boss monsters on the first, but they would also likely give more than the average beast on the first floor. This was all pure speculation on Ellena’s part though.

Ellena arrived outside the Mollits room without incident, because there was nothing else that could cause her issue on this floor. She knew what to expect from the beast inside. It was a variant of Crying Mollit she couldn’t even pretend to know. Both the Rat Lord and Grey Wolf Matriarch were obvious, but this thing was a complete unknown.

It towered over everything else on the first floor. She couldn’t imagine the beast fitting through the rocky corridors of this dungeon without crawling on all fours and even then it would leave very little room.

She had given herself the task of killing this beast, but the task seemed almost insurmountable. Still, she was stronger than an average human now and if she couldn’t, there was no way she was surviving the bosses on the second floor.

Ellena stepped into the room, clenching her now gloved hands, hearing the leather stretch. A stench wafted over to her as the huge beast turned around, not horrible enough to cover her nose, but enough to wrench back. The other Mollits did not smell, so perhaps it was just this strange evolution, it would have also explained why there were no others of its species hanging out in the room.

There was no time to hesitate, even with the stench. Ellena darted forwards and aimed a punch square into the stomach of the great beast. She felt the impact, felt the fur flatten and its belly crater, but when she looked up to see his reaction, her vision turned to black.

She blinked, looking around, suddenly the giant Mollit was across the room again and she was in pain. In fact, her health had almost halved. The Mollits hand was raised, as if it had just back handed her.

Which means it likely had and she had been thrown back thirty feet into the rocky wall and Ellena’s punch had left not even a dent. This left her very hesitant, but she still believed that she could win. She just had to move faster.

So that’s what Ellena tried. The beast was slow, it was large and lumbering. This became more apparent the more of its attacks she dodged. Weaving in and out of strikes. The only issue was that if any of them connected with her, the damage would not be negligible.

Every attack she dodged was a punch she threw, but not a single one seemed to bother the Mollit. They would be doing damage, but how much? 1hp? 2? 3? No doubt this giant Mollit had far more health that she did and that much wouldn’t be a scratch to her.

She tried pulling both of her Mushroom shields out. They were sharp and tough, so perhaps one of those could damage the creature, but even that was no look. Both shields practically bounced off the Mollit. One scratched his arm, but nothing beyond that.

Ellena backed up, panting and tired as the lumbering beast barely broke a sweat. She had taken a few knicks and scratches in passing, so was definitely in the way of losing for this fight. She could still feel the pain from the last hit she had taken.

As the two shields hovered around her shoulders and the beast began to walk towards her, an obvious answer occurred to Ellena. The hardest part of her head. The body part she had exclusively used to fight until she acquired hands. Her head. This entire time she had not been using her. Perhaps she was far too excited about the gloves.

The Mushman flashed a grin and darted at the Mollit, using the shield to block his great claws. She jumped up and landed a headbutt straight onto his chin, shattering his jaw instantly. The Mollit cried out and stumbled backwards falling over. The impact shook the entire room.

This was far too good an opportunity to waste. Whilst the beast was distracted, Ellena threw everything she had. Wailing punches and the shields against his face before he could recover, his body shook with every one, and slowly grew more and more bloody. Finally when he shook, dazed and beaten, she backed up a few steps, and launched herself head first into his face once again, damn near shattering it.

“Overall level has increased from [Level 10] to [Level 24]!”

Finally, the Mollit fell dead and Ellena fell backwards along with it, her chest rising and falling as she panted. She reached out and imagined the potion that Samora had given her. Between gasps she pulled its plug and took a deep swig, watching her health and stamina recover rapidly.

Obviously she had received a few general skill increases, but the most important increase was her overall level. The Rat Lord and his entire entourage was worth ten levels. This Mollit alone was worth fourteen. The risk had been well worth it.

After a few minutes recovering, just staring at the ceiling above her, Ellena sat up and stared at the Mollits body. Her plans were to turn this beast to leather too, but that required a whole lot of dragging of a whole lot of body. Though she did also bring the knife with her, she still wasn’t precise enough with it. She’d just end up with a pile of scraps ceiling high and that would prove even more difficult.

So, she sighed. Resigning herself to carry a huge corpse and squeeze it out of this dungeon. No doubt not one beast on this floor would be willing to mess with the one carrying the strongest denizen's body. First things first though, she wanted to confirm and peek at her next destination. The second floor.

She walked around the bonepile and headed for the door behind, coming to large ramp. She descended, her mind wandering to what might be waiting for her. No doubt the younger floors of the dungeon would be pretty rudimentary in design, so she expected it to look very similar to the first, but it would have been nice for something more interesting.

Unfortunately that aspect was as predicted. It looked very similar to the first floor. The only real differences being the corridors appeared wider and there looked to be the occasional floor tile. It seemed as though this floor was old enough to begin to warp.

Ellena used her ever growing vision skills to have a good look as deep as possible into the second floor from the bottom of the ramp. True exploration would have to wait.

She only spotted two monster species. Black Wolves and Razbats. The Razbats were of course higher evolutions that the one above, but nonetheless it was also quite disappointing.

The Black Wolves however whilst not super interesting, were quite worrying. They were a species a few steps above the Grey Wolves in terms of strength. A normal Black Wolf could easy best one or two Grey Wolf Elders. That also meant the would grow her strength that much more. No doubt there was more to see on this floor, more species and more monsters, but for now she needed to get the Mollit boss home.

The Mushman stood in front of the headless Mollit corpse and sighed, walking over to both legs and laying them on her head, holding a toe in each hand. She began walking forwards with the strain dragging behind her. It was doable, but the muscle pain was definitely going to keep her out of action for a few days.

It looked as though the second floor would have to wait just a little longer.