When the door slammed behind them, Kaelrin jumped a little. The entire room was dark for a whole minute. Then, torches lit up on their own, completely engulfing the room.
Inside, the room was massive. Much bigger than what it looked like from the outside. It was clean too. The walls were sturdy with no cracks or gaps at all, and the floor was tiled in a beautiful pattern of blue and black.
A small gasp escaped Kaelrin's lips, and she was filled with awe at the beauty of the room. But it didn't last long as she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
She turned and instantly froze at what she saw. It was the beast she had encountered on her first day. The one that almost killed her.
She quaked as she recalled what they looked like. Four legged beast that were as tall as her chin, with sleek silver fur and deep crimson fangs. She didn't know whether it was their actual color or if it was just stained from blood.
There was a pack of about four in front of her, guarding another door. This one was smaller, and there was a handle on the side to open it, unlike the last one.
Roan stepped forward and spoke toward Kaelrin.
"Well, these guys are gonna be trouble."
She used identify to see their window, and she took a slight exhale.
[Name: (Low) Red-Fanged Coyote]
[Strength: 10.6]
[Agility: 11]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Stamina: 10.4]
[Skills: Heavy Pounce]
Kaelrin was shocked. Seeing that there was a stat at eleven made her tremble. She didn't think that they would be able to pass the trial and turned around to try to escape, but the door wouldn't budge.
They were stuck with four beasts that had more stats than either one of them.
"Don't worry," Roan said. "I'm close in speed, so I'll engage while you deal the blows, okay?"
Kaelrin nodded, still shaking. She wasn't sure if this would work, but since she couldn't leave, she could at least try.
Roan rushed forward and burst towards one of the coyotes. Pulling out a dagger from his pants, slashed at the one closest, creating a thin gash. The coyote growled and turned to face him, the others noticing as well.
Roan immediately turned towards Kaelrin, slipping behind her.
"Quickly!" he yelled. "Use your sword and attack them!"
Kaelrin tentatively pulled out her massive sword and activated amplification as the coyotes charged toward her.
As one pounced, Kaelrin placed the sword directly in front of her, blocking the coyote's piercing red claws. Using the momentum of the knockback, she swung her sword in a big arc, activating downslash and cleaving the coyote in two.
[You've begun to understand blocking with your weapon. +1 Weapon Mastery]
[You've begun to understand using momentum with your weapon. +1 Weapon Mastery]
[You defeated a (Low) Red-Fanged Coyote. +0.4 Stamina]
Kaelrin was shocked momentarily and stopped. She marveled at how much better the rewards were. It seemed like fighting better monsters with more varying attacks and strategies was exponentially greater than beasts with lesser abilities.
"Hey," Roan shouted, reaping Kaelrin back in. "What are you doing? Focus!"
Kaelrin snapped back and looked at the silver beasts that scarred her. She felt a surge of confidence after defeating one in a single strike, and was itching to face more.
This time, two coyotes came at her at once, so, with difficulty, she swung her sword in a grand sideways arch, cutting the stomachs of both beasts and rendering them useless, though not dead yet.
Kaelrin quickly stabbed both the Red-Fanged bastards and turned to see that Roan was just about finished engaging the other one, so she took a second to see the new notifications on her window.
[You've begun to understand the basics of stabbing. +1 Weapon Mastery]
[You have killed two (Low) Red-Fanged Coyotes. +0.7 Agility]
Kaelrin squealed internally and checked for any items the beasts dropped, but there was none.
'As expected,' she thought. 'If I only got two Amethyst Rings after a whole night, I wouldn't get anything else now, but I was at least hoping.'
Reminded, she thought about her second Amethyst Ring and looked at Roan. The considered giving it to him, but she hesitated. She was unsure if she would see him again and so giving it to him was pointless. But, she couldn't use it, so maybe giving it would be fine.
"Here," Kaelrin said. Pulling the ring out of her pocket and walking towards Roan.
Roan turned and looked at Kaelrin, puzzled at what she was doing. Then, he looked in her hand and his eyes widened.
"Where did you get that?" he said in a half talking, half shouting manner.
"I got it when I hunted a bunch of Purple Snappers one night."
"Why aren't you using it for yourself then?"
"I already have one. I can't wear two so I wanted to give it to you."
Roan's expression changed to something of shock, then shifted into gratitude. He took the item and placed it on his finger, admiring its beauty for a moment.
"Thank you," Roan said, his voice much softer now. "You know, you're really lucky. I still had yet to get a single item, and I thought it wasn't possible. Heck, I wouldn't have even thought to check the corpses if I didn't see Jelian do it."
"Who's that?" asked Kaelrin. She had yet to make any contact with anyone since starting the whole journey and was curious about the state of other people.
Roan's face turned dark as he spoke.
"She was the person I originally teamed up with. She pushed me away when we ran into a mid tier beast." Roan took a deep breath, his eyes slightly watery.
"She was my whole world. And I saw her die when I looked back." Roan stayed silent for a while after that.
Kaelrin did nothing, merely watching as Roan recalled the terrible events. She felt really bad for him, but she knew that he most likely didn't want comfort from a stranger, so she let him have his moment.
Once Roan looked like he was feeling better, Kaelrin asked him.
"Well, wanna keep going?"
"Okay," Roan replied, taking one more deep breath and shifting back to his more upbeat character.
"Let's hope we can get an item this time, right? This ring kind of sucks."
Kaelrin hit his shoulder lightly.
"Hey, I got that for you, so I can take it away too."
"Alright, alright. I was just making a point."
Roan let out a small chuckle and opened the door in front of them.
Kaelrin held her greatsword in front of her, ready for whatever came to jump out at them.