Henry and Ani met their first foe in this world not long after they dove deeper into the cave. It was not a monster either of them had seen before. The monster was rgely a hybrid between a dog and a bat. It had the head, talons, and wings of a bat but the body of a dog, a dog with elongated limbs that is. It was capable of moving with two or all four of its limbs. When it stood on two, it was standing over seven feet tall. It let out a screech that made Henry shudder. It was unpleasant, but that was probably the point of the screech.

  Henry threw a firebolt at the monster. He couldn’t use anything stronger or he would risk causing a cave-in. Instead of dodging the firebolt, the monster lunged at Henry, ignoring the firebolt coming its way. The firebolt struck the monster square in the face and it dropped to the ground. It filed and wailed as it tried to extinguish the fire enveloping its face.

  “It’s not very bright, is it?” Ani remarked.

  “Either that or it’s just hubris. Perhaps its previous foes are no match for it. They might be seeing themselves as the apex predator in this area.”

  “In that case, it’s time for them to learn.” Ani stepped forward and drew a short sword. She had her usual longsword with her but the walls were too close for her to swing it effectively.

  The monster was still filing around when Ani had approached it close enough. It couldn’t extinguish the fmes, no matter how hard it tried. It even rubbed its head against the ground but the fmes refused to fade. Ani did not pity it and swung her sword, decapitating the monster with a single motion.

  “How is it?” Henry asked.

  “There’s a lot of resistance,” she said. “Their skin isn’t that tough but their muscles and ribcage are something to be cautious of. If this was me before, I wouldn’t have been able to even cut deep into its flesh, much less cut its head off.”

  “Hmm?” Henry noticed something on the monster. “Those are bullet holes on its torso.” He crouched down in front of the monster carcass, peering at its torso.

  “What’s a bullet?”

  “Um… how do I put this? It’s a metal projectile. It’s usually around the size of one’s thumb or bigger, but there are smaller ones. There are also ones that are as big as one’s palm or hand. It’s shot from a very complex yet portable contraption, which is called a gun. The projectiles could travel faster than the eye could follow. It’s a deadly and lethal weapon, even in the hands of children and idiots.”

  “Is it something from your homeworld, Henry?”

  Henry smiled wryly. “It is…”

  “So, such a deadly weapon and yet, these monsters are impervious to it.”

  “No need to dread. They are nothing before us— well, as long as this remains the best of their abilities. You are already faster and stronger than these monsters.”

  Suddenly, a loud and booming noise echoed through the tunnel, followed shortly by screams and cries.

  Ani was immediately armed. “What was that? Explosions?”

  “Gunshots. We'd better hurry.”

  Henry and Ani picked up their paces and sped into the depths. As they went deeper, the paths became narrower. Gradually, it became narrow enough to fit only one person.

  “Stay behind me,” Henry said and trod carefully ahead.

  “I can’t swing my sword like this.”

  “Don’t. Use your fist or your leg.”

  “W-what?”

  “You are stronger than you think.”

  Then, a monster dropped down from the ceiling, right in front of Henry.

  “Sly bastards,” Henry cursed. The monsters’ scent blended in well with their environment, which hid them from Henry’s nose.

  The monster snarled and lunged at Henry but halfway into its leap, it smmed into the ground forcefully. The cave shook as it struck the ground hard. The walls trembled violently and the ceiling quaked with so much intensity that pieces of it were breaking off.

  “Shit!” Henry hurriedly deactivated his Gravity spell. “I see… So this is what she meant.” Henry finally understood what Nadea meant by this quest being beneficial to him. He was not able to use most of his abilities as they were much too destructive. Even Gravity was out of the picture. The cave would not be able to withstand the ferocity of his strength. Unless he wished to continue to be limited by his terrain, he would need to control his strength.

  The monster got back to its feet and lunged at Henry once more.

  Henry clicked his tongue and simply reached out and grabbed the monster’s head with ease.

  The monster kicked and cwed at Henry to avoid being grabbed by the head. It cwed at Henry’s face and arms but it left not even a scratch.

  Henry shrugged and clenched his grip down, crushing the monster’s head. He threw the monster carcass to the ground, stepping over it as they continued their advance.

  “Ewrgh!” Ani groaned. “They smell so bad. How are you fine with this?”

  “I smelled worse,” Henry answered. “Just tried not to focus on the smell. Focus on the danger.”

  Ani nodded and followed Henry’s words.

  As they trod deeper, the paths became wide once more, thankfully. Gradually, the path turned into a vast room that stretched on further than their eyes could see. As if the earth grew spikes, thorns, and needles, the cave was riddled with all manners of remnants of erosion.

  “Henry, ahead,” Ani whispered.

  “I know. I see them too.”

  Ahead of them, there were bodies strewn on the ground, mangled and shredded bodies. Blood and bits spttered the vicinity but Henry barely picked up any of this scent. The odour of the cave was far too heavy, overwhelming nearly every other scent.

  “We’re too te…” Ani muttered.

  Henry gave a quick but thorough gnce at the scene. Evidently, a battle had taken pce but it was more of a one-sided massacre. There were bullet casings and also guns. He picked up one of the guns to check on it. He knew little about guns. He simply knew how to use them and maintain them but beyond that, he was in the dark. He barely remembered the names and models other than the few famous ones. Most of the guns here were of the assault rifle and shotgun variety, which made sense. It was a shame that it didn’t bring any heavier weaponry, such as a minigun or an anti-material rifle.

  “Did we fail?” Ani asked. She tried not to show it but she was devastated by the deaths that she witnessed.

  “There are survivors,” Henry said. “Look there.” He pointed at the footprints leading in a certain direction. There were not only footprints of the survivors but also the tracks of the monsters.

  “Let’s go then. They might not have a lot of time left!” Ani said and took off running in the direction where the tracks were leading to.

  As soon as Ani began to run, Henry realised the ceiling was moving— or rather, something was moving on the ceiling. “Ani, watch out!” he shouted.

  Ani did not freeze. She instantly drew her sword as a monster pounced on her from the ceiling. Her sword cleaved right through the monster without much trouble, though this was rgely due to her strength, skill, and also the amazing material the sword was made of.

  As if the death of one of their own was not something the monsters were expecting in a million years, all of the monsters hiding in the ceiling began to cry and wail.

  Henry thought about using his Fire Breath but given the frail state of this cave, he refrained from doing so. “Oh, this is going to be a headache,” he grunted.

  The monsters screeched at the two and lunged at them altogether.

  Ani dove out of the way as the monsters crashed into where she had been standing. She rolled to her feet and swung her sword around, decapitating two monsters that had already lunged at her. Another leapt high into the air, intending to catch Ani from above. Ani took the leaping monster down with a throw of her short sword, catching it in the throat.

  Henry took on his humanoid dragon form and confronted the swarming monsters with physical assault. With a swing of his arm, he turned four monsters into smithereens. As threatening as the monsters might be, they were nothing compared to the monsters of Ulrum, which were enhanced by their Murux-melded constitution. The creatures of Ulrum most likely wouldn’t even be fazed by guns, if one could even manage to nd a shot that is.

  The monsters weren’t fast but they were agile. They couldn’t fly but they could leap and jump quite a distance and height, respectively. There was no formation to the monsters’ attacks but they were relentless and opportunistic. They were smarter than Henry anticipated. They attacked whenever Henry was finishing one of their own. Granted, their attacks never worked but that was only because Henry had nigh-impenetrable defense. Their fangs and cws couldn’t puncture Henry’s skin but the pain was still palpable, even though he had Pain Resistance.

  The monsters struck by Henry went bouncing across the ground and rammed into the stagmites and columns. The entire cave shook from Henry’s unbridled violence and strength.

  “Oh, fuck off… How fragile are you, you stupid cave!?”

  A monster crept up on Henry from behind but it was swiped away by Henry’s tail before it could even lunge.

  “There’s no end to them,” Henry grunted as he pierced a monster’s chest with his cws. The swarm just kept coming. Before he knew it, they were surrounded on all sides. Although he was showing his vicious ferocity and immense strength, the monsters showed no sign of despair. Henry understood then. It was no hubris before. The monsters functioned like a hivemind.

  “Henry, what do we do?” Ani shouted. She was holding her own just fine but the monsters were endless. Even if her strength far exceeded the monsters, her stamina wasn’t boundless. Also, her sword would not keep its edge forever.

  “Stay close to me!” Henry roared. Sparks began flying from his mouth.

  Ani didn’t argue and moved close to Henry, all the while cleaving through all the monsters in her path.

  Henry brought Ani into his arms once she was close enough. Fmes were spewing from his closed mouth.

  The monsters were converging on them. They were not relenting despite the many deaths of their peers.

  “Be prepared to run,” Henry said with a growl. “And hold your breath.”

  Seeing the fmes brimming within his mouth, Ani nodded in understanding.

  There was no other way. Henry spread his jaws wide open and unleashed the fmes biding within. An inferno gushed forth from his opened mouth, plunging the cave into a sea of fire.

  Screech of agony echoed throughout the cave as the monsters were incinerated by the fmes. While the monster was drowning in the sea of fmes, Henry took to the air with Ani in his arms. He flew across the vast area in the direction of the survivor’s tracks. An entrance into a tunnel soon revealed itself.

  At that moment, the cave trembled once again with more intensity than before. It didn’t stop at just trembling. The ceiling was coming down, bringing along with the stactites. Henry had to manoeuvre precisely between the falling spikes as one wrong move would disrupt his bance and make him drop to the ground. He would be fine if he fell into the fire but the same couldn’t be said for Ani.

  Eventually, he made it into the tunnel as the whole ceiling came crumbling down, blocking off the entrance.

  “We made it!” Ani excimed. “That was… too close.”

  “Yeah, way too close.”

  “...How are we going to get back? The way back is blocked and I don’t think we can clear the rubble without causing another cave in.”

  “We passed by a lot of different paths. There should be more than one way in and out.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “...Hopefully.”