They made it to the chamber, it was warmer than the outside. Dawn looked around it as if trying to find something, and then she turned to look at Elias.
"We should rest here," she said.
"Here?" Elias looked around. "You're not worried that more monsters will attack?" he asked.
"No, I'll sense them before they get close," Dawn said.
She sat on the ground against the wall. Elias did the same, he walked to the wall and sat down. He went quiet and turned on the system screen, he wanted to see what this was exactly.
The screen turned on immediately, this time showing a different screen, a stat screen.
[Elias Grimhorn:]
[Level 2]
[Exp: 40/200]
[SP: 1400]
[Stats]
[Mana: 50/50]
Stat:
Strength: 16
Speed: 18
Dexterity: 18
Intelligence: 25
4 stat points
"Is this mine?"
He scanned the stats, it was vastly lower than that of Dawn.
"Am I that weak compared to her? I guess it makes sense why she was able to kill those monsters and I wasn't," Elias muttered to himself, he glanced up, looking at Dawn beside him, she had her head down looking at the ground, not moving or doing anything else like she was some sort of robot.
He looked back at the screen, unlike her he had no skill, no ability, nothing of that sort that he could use. This made him a bit sad, but it was whatever.
"Now what are these summoning points, I saw something about leveling up Dawn," Elias muttered, he wanted to know more about it, and the system seemed to notice that.
[Summoning points: Use to summon new Heroes, or level up current Heroes]
[Summoning limit: 1/2]
[10,000 SP to summon next Hero]
"So that's what it does?" Elias muttered, he was a bit shocked when he saw it, he could actually level up Dawn? He didn't think about summoning a new hero, he didn't have that much SP yet.
He looked up at Dawn, "hey, Dawn,"
She turned and looked at him, "yes, Master?"
"I want to know more about you, your strength, your journey," Elias said.
She looked at him for a few seconds, but didn't respond, the atmosphere got weird.
"Uhm, I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about it, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable," Elias apologized.
"It's not that," she said, and then looked away, not giving a single explanation.
"I see," Elias replied, he looked at the screen again, and then looked up, "I can make you stronger," he said, "uhm, I don't know if you'd want that," he said.
"If you want me to protect you better, then you should," she replied.
"Uhm, it's not really about me," Elias said. "You are your own person," Elias said.
"No, I'm your summon," she replied.
Elias wanted to say more, but she wasn't willing to speak so he let it be.
"Alright, I'll level you up then," he said and faced the system again. "Take one thousand points and level up Dawn," he spoke calmly, and instantly the system activated the process.
Dawn, who was sitting there, suddenly felt a rush of energy through her body, a glowing mark of a circle and a dot at the center formed on her head, her head leaned back, her eyes glowed.
She stayed that way for a few seconds while Elias watched, he didn't know what to do anymore, so he waited in silence.
When it was finally done, her head snapped back forward.
[Level up complete, +10 addition to all stats, new skill unlocked]
"Whoa, she got a new skill?" Elias was shocked when he saw the screen.
He looked at Dawn, who was out of the trance-like state. He rose to his feet and rushed to her.
"Are you alright?" he asked, bending down to check on her.
"I'm fine, thank you for helping me get stronger," she said, she stretched her hand outward and clutched at the wind, "I feel more free in my body now," she stated.
"That's good," Elias said. "Considering my life here depends on you," he said.
She suddenly looked at him, "tell me, how did you end in this situation, Master?"
Elias paused for a moment after that, he looked down at the ground, "it's a long story," he muttered, gritted his teeth hard, he raised his head, eager to say it was nothing, only to see Dawn looking right at him, her eyes told him that she wanted to know, she wanted to understand.
"Sigh," Elias let out a sigh, and then told her everything, what had happened and how he had ended up here.
Dawn grabbed her sword harder the more he told the story, her face remained calm but the vein on her hands bulged more and more.
"So yeah, that's how I ended up here in this godforsaken place where I know nothing about," Elias said, he was about to stand up, but Dawn suddenly stretched her hand and grabbed his own.
Elias looked at her hand and then at her, "what's wrong?" he asked.
She looked at Elias right in the eye, "Master, I'll stand beside you and fight. I understand what it means to be betrayed and used as a tool," she said, "but I want you to promise something to me," Dawn stated.
"Huh? What's that?" Elias asked.
"I want you to promise that no matter what feelings you have for that place, you'll ensure that you exact your revenge when the time comes, and ensure that you show no mercy for what they did to you," Dawn said, her voice dead serious as she looked right at Elias.
Elias stared right back at her, he took a deep breath to calm himself, "I promise that I'll never forgive them, I'll ensure that I take them all down," Elias promised.
"Alright then, Master, I'll be your sword, and I'll bring your victories no matter what," Dawn said.
Elias smiled, "haha, it's weird to hear someone say something like that to me," Elias said.
He got up and then looked around, "we should find something to eat, before it gets late," he said.
"We should, these horned cats aren't safe though," Dawn said as she got up, "hopefully deeper into this dungeon should have something for eating," she said and led the way.
This chamber had three paths that they could leave from, she walked toward one and then took a deep breath.
"What are you doing?" Elias asked.
"I'm trying to find out which of these is the safest and which might have some food," Dawn stated.
"And what did you find?" Elias asked.
"There is a monster coming from the center one, it must have caught a whiff of all the blood from the cats," Dawn stated.
"Wait, what? Then why the hell are we still standing here?" Elias asked.
"Because the other routes lead to dead ends, the only path to follow is the center one," Dawn said and then took a step inside.
"Wait, wait, we can go back, you know, right? We can find an opposite route," Elias suggested.
Dawn looked back, "Master, I believe you are pretty courageous, don't allow fear to overtake that," she said and kept walking.
"When facing something like an unknown dungeon, I think it's best we always choose to run," Elias said but started following behind her.
"It's getting closer," Dawn said, her hands rested on the handle of her sword. "Its strength is similar to the last cat, or even more," she analyzed the monster as they walked.
After a few minutes of walking, Elias could finally see something moving towards them, its footsteps caused the ground to shake.
When it finally came into view, Elias was stunned by the monster, it was a three-headed dog monster standing at two meters tall, a powerful frame with highly packed muscle.
Its fur was black as night and had a shiny coat, its eyes red as blood. The three heads immediately started growling, their spit falling out of their mouths, as it hit the floor it let out a searing sound like the floor was burning hot.
"Now that's not a normal dog," Elias commented the moment he saw it.