A Salamander, but Mighty

The title is a reference to the first boss in Dark Souls 2, just because I was thinking about him while writing this chapter and the next one. :3

POV: Tamara

The great door that loomed before her overlooked an extension of Sleepy Swamp's gnarled tunnels. It was always difficult for Tamara to give an accurate measurement of everything since her mind was still thinking with a human body and not her current, much smaller one, but she surmised that the room must have been large enough to accommodate at most ten people standing shoulder to shoulder.

“If this world works like a video game, I bet there's a boss back here,” she muttered to herself as she leaned in to sniff the door, “and where there's a boss, there's treasure.”

Yes, but the boss is always a powerful enemy, and it's not like I have a checkpoint where I reappear if I'm killed... she thought, taking a step back, I have a higher level than the monsters around here, maybe the boss isn't that much stronger.

If nothing else, Tamara had managed to level up another level while on her way to the boss door. Leveling up was becoming more and more complicated since at that point the monsters were starting to have - on average - a lower level than her.

“Okay, then, to begin with…” Tamara sighed, “Status.”

___

[Tamara Parker][Salmadrer][Monster (lv.10)]

[Health: 90/90 (70)][Mana: 60/60 (40)][XP: 93/3855]

[TRAITS MODIFIERS]

Satisfied

[TRAITS]

[2 points to place]

► Dexterity: 12 (16)

► Faith: 6 (10)

► Knowledge: 8 (12)

► Resilience: 14 (18)

► Speed: 11 (17)

► Strenght: 13 (17)

[FEATS]

[1 Feat slot free to use]

► Acid Spit 1

► Greater Reach I

► Growth (Lesser) I

► Improved Reach I

► Scale Armor (Lesser) I

► Scratch I

___

She had filled her stomach, struggling to accept having to feed herself like a beast, this had maxed out her stats to the point that she would never have been more ready to venture into the boss arena.

But what am I thinking?!? Assuming and not granting that I manage to win this challenge, what would I do with the treasure? I don't think there is armor for salamander monsters!

The image of a large salamander with a cloak tied around its neck and wearing a plate armor caused her to giggle briefly and lifted her spirits, at least temporarily.

“I can always take a look and retreat, it's not like if I cross the threshold I have to fight,” she murmured to herself, “but just to be safe…”

Tamara concentrated on the Feats box

___

FEAT LIST:

► Acid Spit II

Mana expense for any use of Acid Spit is reduced by 1/5

► Growth (Lesser) II

Increases user’s size by 7.5%

► Nimbleness (Lesser) I

Makes the user move and react faster by 5%

► Nocturnal Habit (Lesser) I

Increases user’s hability to see in any non-magical darkness by 5%

► Obsidian Defence I

Monster obtains the ability to transform its skin into obsidian quills (Mana costs dependant on use).

► Undomitable Will I

Faith increase of 2 points

___

It was inevitable that Tamara's attention would end up focusing on [Obsidian Defense]; the name and description of the Feat clearly lead her to understand that this had to be her second magic-based Feat, the one based on the element [Earth]. This level up was full of Feats that interested her... how unfair: so many useful Feats and only one to choose from!

Maybe it's best if I don't pry too much for now. [Acid Spit] has saved me in more than one situation and there's really no need to diversify, she thought, running her eyes again over the list of Feats as if doing so would help her make a decision. But [Growth] could also be useful, not to mention [Undomitable Will]…

The first Feats she decided to discard were [Nimbleness] and [Nocturnal Habit], for the others she had to take a few more minutes. She also decided to eliminate [Undomitable Will] with the compromise that she would spend her points on Faith, since apparently it really had a secondary effect and her current point on that trait was so low that it was a wake-up call for her.

She turned her gaze to the tunnels she had traveled through to get here: she had rarely found places where an adventurer would not be able to pass without flattening themself against a wall, so there was still plenty of room for her to grow and have more than enough space to move, the problem was that the crevices in which she hid to lay out her ambushes were much smaller...

Not to mention that it was easy to assume that the bigger she got, the more... food she would have to consume to maintain her current bonuses.

Tamara shook her head, better to discard [Growth II] too for the moment.

She was trying to think logically, but she couldn't deny to herself that she was instinctively doing everything she could to find positive reasons to choose [Obsidian Defense]. She kept telling herself that her interest in that Feat was just mere curiosity, that [Acid Spit II] was the most sensible choice since she already knew its effects and how to best use it…

“Oh, dammit!” She exclaimed in exasperation.

SYSTEM: You have chosen [Obsidian Defense I], do you want to confirm? Y/N.

Yeah, give me that and let’s get over it.

SYSTEM: [Obsidian Defense I] added to your Feats list. All slots are occupied, it is not possible to choose another Feat.

As a final act of preparation in case the boss was not too powerful an enemy to face, Tamara distributed the two points on Faith. She waited for the sudden tingle she felt beneath every scale of her skin to pass before she concluded that her body was ready to make some attempt to understand the mechanics of [Obsidian Defense].

Tamara was happy to confirm that the mechanics of her new Feat were not very different from those of [Acid Spit]: concentrating the Mana on the skin evenly was the most complex part, there were no glands in which to infuse the Mana but they were the scales themselves the carrier of magic, so the lack of Mana in some parts of the body would have made her attempts to activate [Obsidian Defense] useless.

When she felt that the Mana was evenly distributed over her entire body as if it were a sort of second skin, she attempted to release the Mana by activating the Feat: the scales became so black that they no longer had any reflection and their flat and slightly slimy shape transformed into sharp quills at least two inches long. Tamara tried walking while keeping [Obsidian Defense] active, discovering that that formidable defense had the side effect of making her a little clumsier and slower.

“I wonder if I can…”

Tamara tried to curl herself into a ball as if she were a hedgehog; her back was much more flexible than the one she had as a human and her stubby legs didn't hinder her too much, so she managed to transform her new armor of spikes into a defensive ball that protected her on 360 degrees.

"It works! It can be done!" She exclaimed excitedly as she stopped the flow of Mana and returned her scales to their usual form, “time to take a look at the Sleepy Swamp boss!”

The small monster returned to the large door, stood awkwardly on her hind legs and placed its front paws and chin on the door and began to throw all her weight against the door in an attempt to open it. Tamara hadn't calculated that her little body was perhaps not ideal for pushing a door, but surprisingly, the door opened with such ease that she tumbled inside.

“Woah!” She shouted in a serpentine cry, “ouch.”

Tamara stood up, moving her head left and right to familiarize herself with the new room: it was probably the largest space she had ever stumbled upon during her exploration of Sleepy Swamp, with another door on the opposite side, with irregular walls that undulated creating a more or less circular space. On the ground there were some groups of stalagmites taller than her and long stalactites similar to cold stone daggers hung menacingly from the ceiling.

Some pools of light had formed beneath points from which the luminous water fell, they were points corresponding to what appeared to be a massive humanoid-looking tree, with two large branches similar to arms reaching towards the sky.

Then the humanoid tree began to move and made a sound similar to a deep, disturbing moan. Tamara immediately inspected the creature.

[Sleepy Swamp’s Core Guardian – Lv: ??]

The system didn't tell her what the boss's level was, but the fact that it was hidden behind question marks didn't promise an easy challenge, she wasn't a fan of RPGs, but it didn't take a genius to understand that the monster had to have an overwhelming level compared to hers. Tamara decided it was best to retreat for the moment, that monster was easily three Luchaels in size - she couldn't stop using the leporan as a unit measure -, she had no hope of being able to chase her into the tunnels of the dungeon.

Then the door began to close behind her.

“Nononononono WAIT!” Tamara tried to rush out of the door before it closed completely, only ending up smashing against its wooden surface with her snout, "oh no... please, no..."

Her little claws scratched uselessly at the door, behind her, the heavy noise of the boss's tree trunk-like legs rumbled as they grew closer and closer. Tamara turned to direct her pitch-black eyes towards the boss, the way back was closed, and the only thing that would reopen it was her victory against the odds.