The Dungeon's Worst Little Mistake

"Oh, thank goodness! If this one was more riddle doors and puzzles, I would have thrown a fit." Bug complains as the group comes to a large door.

"Looks like a sub-boss room. Your lost minion is in here?" Susan asks as she steps off the insect's back.

"Should be… Also, you call them sub-bosses?"

"Mhm. That's the official term decided by the Adventurers Guild. You get a reward for killing them after all."

"Oh, I've been calling them mini-bosses." Bug states as she climbs off and then stores away her mount.

"Why mini? They aren't usually small, are they?"

"No, not mini, like small, but because they aren't full bosses. They aren't the main one."

"Yeah, not main. So, they're sub."

Bug just gives Susan a look. "… I prefer, mini."

"Is it because you're short? Mini-Necromancer."

"Shut up…"

Susan can't help but to feel a little happier after getting to pick on Bug a little, but the Mini-Necromancer pushes through and forces a change of subject.

"Anyways! We need to get through this to get Bob back. And I better be able to get him back…" Bug says as she gets a worried look on her face.

Susan just looks back over at the small army of the Undead that is filling the halls behind them.

"So, are you going to just send them in and swarm the sub-boss?"

"Nope." Is all Bug says as she pulls Susan's sheathed sword out of thin air and hands it over to her. "You are."

Susan is more than happy to be getting her sword back and grabs it quickly before Bug might change her mind. Her side has been awfully lonely without it hanging from her belt.

"Want to see what I'm capable of? Test out your new minion."

"You're not my minion. And yes, I want to see what you can do now that you are a Ghoul. I've seen what you could do as a human, and now I want to see if my investment has paid off or not."

"…"

Susan considers trying to refuse. She probably could if she wanted to. Bug gave her free will after all. Could test and see if Bug was being genuine about that or not. Test the lengths of her new leash and how much Bug is willing to put up with… But…

Susan really wants to swing her sword right now, and to be honest-

I wonder how strong I am, now?

"Fine. What about my armor?"

Bug pulls out a sack full of armor pieces, mostly leather, some metal, a lot more than what was originally just Susan's. A second sack comes out with chainmail inside.

"Take your pick. The stuff you were wearing should be in here somewhere. I sold anything that was too damaged to be used anymore, though."

Susan takes the bags full of gear and is surprised as she barely struggles to lift them. They almost weigh nothing in her arms. Taking them off to the side, she starts digging through and fishes out several pieces that will fit.

"My chest guard?" Susan asks as she sorts through.

"Got shredded in our fight. I sold it."

"Thanks… Guess this one will do. Elaine, you want any armor?"

The girl in question is busy playing rock, paper, scissors with Billy and turns when she hears her name called. "What?"

"Do you want armor?"

"Why? I have shell. Shell keeps safe." Elaine says like that makes all the sense in the world.

"What about for your human half…?"

Elaine just looks down at herself in confusion and then pulls up the hem of her green shirt to show it off, revealing a cute little belly button in the process. "Already wearing shirt, though?"

"A… ok." Susan gives up and goes back to equipping herself. She'll try again later.

Right now, she is itching for a fight.

Once she is all geared up, she approaches the door along with Bug and Elaine. The army of zombies hang back and wait with the patience of the dead.

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Bug looks over and asks, "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Cool, then open the door. You're taller than me…"

Susan looks from the Bug and to the door and back again, and… yeah. These metal doors weren't really made with short people in mind. She can't help but to snort out a laugh.

"Ha, mini."

"Shut up! I won't be short forever… I'm going to make myself taller when I get the right spells…" Bug complains to herself in a mumbled whisper.

Leaving Bug to pout as Mimmie pats her head, Susan moves forward and turns the wheel on the door to unlock it. Pushing it open, it swings into the room on squeaking hinges in much need of an oiling. Much to form with most of these sub-boss rooms, the occupant has yet to show themself yet and won't until everyone has entered the room.

They advance inside, and after the three of them go in far enough, the door behind them closes and locks. From the other side of the room, the next door opens, and the sub-boss emerges, its own door locking behind it after it enters.

Standing nearly twice as tall as Susan and easily dwarfing Elaine and Bug both, a truly massive and muscular Lizard Man readies himself for battle. Equipped with leather and iron armor, similar to what gladiators would wear in the arena, he holds a long spear and round shield in both hands.

Body covered in scars and rippling with muscles, the sub-boss roars out a challenge and bangs its weapons together.

"Ok, Susan. He's all yours." Bug states with a disinterested shrug and a gesture towards the lizard. As far as she is concerned, the sub-boss might as well be a pissed off puppy just waiting to be kicked aside.

"Oh, I wanna fight! Let me, let me! I wanna eat it!!!" Mimmie cheers as she is looking at the Lizard Man and salivates.

"No, he has twice the levels on you. You'll get to fight, but we need to grind up your levels first."

"Oh… can I still eats it, though?"

"We'll take the body and have it for dinner, yes. I'll try making lizard tail soup."

"Yay!"

The poor boss watches the two casually discussing eating it and tries to roar at them again… they aren't scared or even looking like they are going to fight. In fact, the two of them are just waiting in a relaxed manner, looking at his body like they are trying to pick out the best cuts of meat…

The sub-boss takes a nervous step back and looks towards the only person in the room that is actually ready for a fight. Susan draws her sword and gets into a stance, raising it above her head. Ok, he is just going to try and ignore the other two in the back and fight her instead…

Readying to meet the challenger head on, shield raised, spear leveled, the boss lets out a growl to signal that it is ready for glorious combat! Susan takes a step forward…

"No using Skills." Bug interrupts, ruining the moment for the two of them.

I wasn't planning on it. Normally, a sub-boss like this would need at least a full party to beat. Most adventures can't 1v1 a boss of this strength. I could have, using skills to close the gap, but most people wouldn't. I can tell just by looking at those scales. It can take some blows, and that stance… It has some skill, unlike the normal Lizard Men. But now… I can feel it. My body is flooding with power! Boss monster or not, I don't need to use a skill to win this fight. I'll start by testing his strength and his shield arm. See how fast he is so I can get in some practice with my new body!

Planning on holding back some and taking it slow, Susan moves forward and suddenly, much to her and her opponents apparent surprise, finds herself right in front of him. The distance of half a room had been crossed in an instant, and Susan can feel as the muscles in her legs had torn from the sudden burst of speed. The pain is muted, she can still stand, and much to her surprise, the damage is already mending itself, healing so fast that it is almost as if it never happened.

Their collective surprise causes both fighters to faulter, but only for an instant. The Lizard Man strikes out with his spear, attempting to stab Susan in the throat, but she quickly twists out of the way and brings her sword down in response.

The sub-boss is quick to defend, raising his shield and taking the hit. With a loud clang ringing through the room and bouncing off the walls, Susan's blade is stopped.

But her sword is currently in contact with the floor, the length of her blade vibrating after smacking the nearly indestructible bricks of the Dungeon, both of her arms broken, bones only held in place by her vambraces and already rapidly healing.

The sub-boss is motionless, shield still raised as one half and a hand falls to the floor. His spear arm goes limp next, spear falling from his grip and clattering to the floor beside the half of a shield, knees starting to buckle. Then, with a sickening sound of wet meat and bone sliding against each other, his body falls into two halves, split from shoulder, down to about halfway through the opposite thigh.

The sub-boss blinks as it lies on the floor, confused. It hadn't even seen her sword move. One moment it had been raised, and the next, it was gone.

With a wet cough full of blood, his vision goes blurry, and he dies on the floor. His death was painless and nearly instant after hitting the floor, not even feeling as his spilled guts fell from the two halves of his body and became a mess of intestine spaghetti, coloring the already red bricks in a deeper shade as dark blood and brown shit spilled out all over the floor.

Susan is just standing there, looking on in shock at what she just did as the puddle of filth spreads and wets the soles of her boots.

What? That speed… It's almost as fast as if I had used a skill. Did I just… do that?

Bug is running forward and yelling as Elaine is freaking out with her.

"Ah! Why'd you cut his guts!? The meat! Mimmie, quickly grab the tail, I'll cut it off before it can go bad. Hurry! If we're quick, maybe we can save some of the rest of the body!"

"Save the meat! Lizard tail soup! Save the soup!!!" Mimmie is screaming like her child is caught in a burning building.

As Bug is quickly carving away at the corpse and trying to save what meat she can, Susan can only stand there and look at her arms, watching as they twist back into shape and heal right before her eyes. Just staring at the hands holding her beloved sword and finding alien things in their place.

They are still her hands, yes. It's not as if they have changed to become like that of a monster's in appearance, save for the black nails on the end of her slender fingers. But these aren't her hands.

It doesn't matter how many years she had practiced that swing until perfection. Until her hands had bled from torn open callouses and her fingers shook from the effort of prying opening her grip.

With her hands, she could have never made a strike like that unaided.

Susan had fully expected the shield to stop her sword. She had expected to dance with her opponent for a few strikes as she tested herself. She had been holding back. Yet now, despite an inch of iron, hard scales and bones, and armor to boot being in her way, her opponent is dead on the floor in two neatly cut halves…

These aren't her hands.

It's only now. Now that she has fought. That Susan is finally, truly letting it begin to sink in.

I… I really did die, didn't I? I'm a monster now… I'm not human anymore…

…

Off to the side, Mimmie is cheering as she holds a big, fat, juicy cut of lizard tail above her head like she's a certain fairy boy that just pulled a treasure out of a chest.

"We got it! We saved the soup!!!"