The Survival of an Inferior

I duck to avoid an attack and quickly follow up with a shot. 

My bullet hits the monster but to no avail.

"I'm done! Where do I cast?" 

I leap back.

"Radz, defend us. When I give the signal, Lena, shoot the spell and Radz, fall back!" I say.

Holding Lena's hand, I aim it at the area where the most amount of shuffling can be heard. 

...

"NOW!" I shout. 

Radz jumps back. The magic circle glows in the air and swirls of blue fire appear from it. The ferocious tornado rapidly expands in the darkness, emitting a beacon of light and hope. 

The fire hits the monster right as it raises its limbs to attack, leaving its face defenceless.

"RAWRRRRRRR!!!!!" The monster roars in pain as it collapses on the floor. The unique flames set the monster alight and provided sufficient light. Unlike regular flames, the darkness struggles to consume the light.

Lena grows pale. We can finally see the monster's appearance. 

It's a huge monstrosity chunk of white tree branches merged. At the front is an abnormally stretched white human face with no eye sockets, its teeth are strands of tree branches. On its back are chunks of bone sticking out, and below its torso is a long ribcage sticking out. 

Several tree branches are laid all across the dungeon, connecting to the monster's body. 

While the light is still present, I search around until I see a small branch of wood.

!!

"Found it!"

I dive for the wood and say "Lena! Hurl a fireball at me! I don't have time to explain!" 

A mass of sphere lava flies towards me. Unexpectedly, the wood I hold swiftly absorbs the flame, igniting at the tip and protecting me.

"RAWRRRRR?!!!!!!" The beast suddenly screams and starts rolling around, its branch limbs wobble and contorts.

-------------------

The light of hope has been ignited.

+50% Defence for all party members 

+50% Dexterity for all party members 

+100% Attack for all party members 

The end is near but never lose hope.

--------------------

The agitated monster screams and starts to randomly attack places with all of its limbs, creating disasters of obliteration. 

Lena starts to cast hellfire again. Radz tries to protect her. 

"Wai-..."

...

I couldn't warn Lena...my mouth won't open when I realise a malicious plan. I switch out the blue mana stone in the cartridge for an orange one.

The monster instantly realises the mana fluctuation.

!!

10 of its limbs swoop in and wrap Radz's arm off guard.

"Lena!" Radz calls out.

"H-Huh!?" 

A sharp branch shoots from behind and pierces through Lena's stomach.

?!!!!!!!

"Arck...h-help..."

However, that left the monster exposed and I slide under its torso. 

*BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!*

The only thing left is to continuously bash the torso with Bullet Hell and spam shots.

"RAWR?!"

Bullet Hell has a cooldown of 2 seconds.

After the constant shooting, a glowing red orb is exposed. I plunge my muzzle into the orb and used Bullet Hell one last time, shattering the orb into many pieces.

"RAWRRRRRRR??!!!!!!!!" The monster cries out in pain and falls back. It then collapses into the void along with the darkness.

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+500000 exp 

Level up!

52->55

+4 free stat 

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Some light finally gleams through the foggy atmosphere. We are on some sort of blue rocks, barely supporting us from the seemingly endless pit.

--------------------------- 

Condition fulfilled, the exit portal is unlocked.

--------------------------- 

A blue floating sphere materializes at the end of the dungeon.

"Ack ack!!" Lena coughs out blood. Radz tries to help her up. "Young master-"

"I know!"

I cut the tree branch piercing her and Radz carries her on his back. "Don't pull the branch out. Let's go, quick."

"I heard the elves are proficient in healing magic, they can help us," Radz say.

"I'm not so sure if they will help us. I'm pretty sure they were trying to kill us."

Now that we can see, we leap across the gaps between paths as a shortcut to the portal.

I take out the orange mana stone and load Jared's soulstone into the cartridge.

The musket starts to discharge slight black electricity as an aura.

"What are you...doing?" 

"Just in case," I reply.

----------------------------------------------- 

Dungeon cleared!

Rank: SS

Casualties: 1 

Monsters killed: 1

Time Taken: 00:32:41

+500000 exp 

+20000 gold 

Boss bonus:

+1 Abyss Dryad Core 

+100 Requiem Wood 

[Material Items will be stored in a separate spatial inventory]

Level up!

55->56

+1 free stats

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==================================

Elsa sits around a large table with several elderly, men, and women.

"We have been given one month but we need to make a decision quickly!" an elderly elf says, slamming the table. 

"I advise against the idea. I would rather die than side with those beasts." A young boy with white hair says. He is the youngest child of the current elven king.

"Cultural appreciation is worthless in the face of survival. We need to join the Demon Lord to survive!" another elderly says.

Everyone throws glances at an old elf wearing a golden crown and robe.

...

The king elf sighs. "The Demon Lord's prime enemy is mankind. However, 50 years ago, the hero blessed by the gods was killed by The Demon Lord himself. Unless humanity achieves total unification or another miracle, I doubt we have any reasons to resist The Demon Lord if we want to survive..."

The king then looks at Elsa. "Elsa, go to the human kingdoms and look at the situation. Afterwards, report back." 

Elsa frowns and looks down. "If there was such a capable person, mankind would have gained the advantage long ago." 

"Not exactly, there is a small chance that another hero is hidden among...any people that have killed The Demon Lord's kin can be called a hero. Recently, rumours that the tenth son Jared was killed started circulating. A high-ranking demon drops a black and eerie soul stone, search for its presence." an elf with blonde hair and purple eyes says to Elsa before sipping her tea.

"Wait..." Elsa mumbles.

?

She suddenly jolts out of her seat and runs out.

????

Elsa runs to the Life Tree and up to the throne room.

When she commands the branches to move aside, a muzzle touches her scalp from behind.

!!!!!!!

"I-Is it...you, Human?" Elsa says.

I glare at her. "I will get to the point. Call for a master healer before I blow a hole in your head." I say.