Davi had no idea how big his shadow vault truly was. He assumed it was infinite in size since he could always place things into it without limit, so long as he was able to get the vault door to be large enough to fit whatever he was trying to stuff into it.
One thing he did know for sure about his vault was that it was a dangerous place. He didn't want to keep the girls trapped in there for long if he could help it. The ice the snake had trapped them in would hopefully keep them put into a state where they would remain unharmed, but he was also having to consciously shift and twist his vault to make sure nothing bad happened to them.
His vault worked more or less like a gigantic limb. He could change its shape and size, allowing him to pull anything that was in it out, but he also wasn't in full control of the vault itself.
With all of this in mind, Davi decided he needed to finish the fight fast.
"Bring them back!" The snake wailed. From up above, something large smashed down, ramming into the top of Davi's head. Despite the force of the blow, Davi remained standing, not even flinching. The snake's tail finally appeared as it flickered into existence, dropping its invisibility. The dungeon boss screamed again, and the tail tore into the ground, sending jagged rocks flying in all directions. "I'll kill you! I'll rip you apart! I'll do it slowly! I'll kill you dead! How dare you take my food!"
"Oh, don't be such a big baby," Davi responded in an apathetic tone and rolled his eyes. "I haven't eaten a good meal for a long time either—" The snake dropped down and opened its mouth, firing a wave of frost. "Uh oh—" Davi didn't even have time to move as the ice smashed over him, covering him from head to toe.
The snake instantly lunged forward and wrapped around the ball of ice tightly, spitting more of its cold mist out and twisting it into a cube shape, just like it had done to the girls. When it was done, it glared down at its creation.
"I'll shatter you into a billion pieces! Melt your flesh from your bones! Devour your brain and heart! And then I'll slither out of here and kill everyone in that town! How dare you, mages, betray me!" The snake growled, throwing a hissy fit as if it were a child. It kept glaring down at the block of ice and then froze when it saw that the block was empty. "What? How! Where did he go?"
A claymore stabbed out of the snake's shadow and rammed into the monster's eye, causing it to scream and roar in pain. Davi's hand then came out of the shadow as he climbed out of his vault and back into the real world. He had activated the spell and used his own shadows to escape the ice at the last second, before he had been frozen. Now that he was out, he twisted his sword and dug it in deeper into the snake's eye.
He often went for the eyes when he fought magical beasts since it was the best way to get an edge and a leg up against them. It didn't matter how strong a monster was; once a vital sense was destroyed, it would freak out no matter what.
"What's wrong? Got nothing left to say to me?" Davi twisted his blade harder, spilling more of the snake's blood. "I thought you were going to shatter me into a billion pieces?"
"Shut up!" The snake twisted its head to the side and whipped Davi off it, also causing Davi to lose his sword, which still poked out of the snake's eye. "Stop talking and die!"
The Ebony Knight tumbled across the ground, and right as he stood up, he was forced to throw his arms up as the snake reared its head back and lunged down at him. Its mouth was wide open, its fangs dripping with venom as it tried to bite through Davi, but the teen stood his ground, dug his heels into the floor, and gripped the sides of the snake's mouth, forcing it open. The snake's body rammed into him, and he began to get pushed back as the two of them had a battle of strength.
"I'll freeze you down to the bone and shatter you into pieces!" The snake growled.
Davi gritted his teeth and forced himself forward. "Do you have any idea how many creatures have said the exact same thing as you? I've fought hundreds of monsters that all think the way you do, and yet I'm still standing." Davi took another step forward, and the snake felt its scales grind on the icy floor as it began to get pushed back. "I've fought and I've fought and I've fought. Over and over and over again. All for a chance to see it. I'm a Dragon Slayer. What hope does a single snake have?" The snake's eyes went wide as it felt itself getting pushed into a pillar, and Davi didn't stop. He kept marching forward, and the stone began to crack and shatter. "Row Shadow Armor." He announced in a calm voice as he activated another spell.
Once more, his magic flared, and his armor expanded, getting bulkier. His gauntlets grew, and his grip became so strong that he shattered one of the snake's teeth. It screamed in pain and pulled back. Its scales flickered, and then it vanished, getting away from Davi as fast as it could.
Davi scowled and punched the pillar in anger, shattering it to dust. "Using your cloaking is cheating—" Davi was cut off as the snake's unseen form rammed into him from behind. He felt its teeth digging into the back of his armor, and he was shoved into the ground. He got back up, but this time from a different side the snake came down and smashed into his side.
Davi was lifted off the ground, and he rammed back-first into a different pillar, and it was the snake's turn to smash him through it, as its tail stabbed into his gut and sent him blasting through the stone and ice.
Again and again, the snake would strike as soon as Davi stood up. It remained cloaked and used its insane speed to circle the battlefield, slithering just out of reach and attacking him from a blind spot. Davi tried to block a few of the strikes, but with how big and flexible the snake was, it'd always be just out of his reach.
A pair of the fangs jutted out, flying past Davi and tearing into the shoulder piece of his armor, ripping it clean off. Ice also flowed out, going across the ground, which started to cling to Davi's legs. He looked around, but it was impossible to see or sense the snake, and with how fast it was moving, by the time he heard it, it'd already be on the other side of the room.
"Did you really think you could beat me!" The snake taunted again and lunged down, smacking out with its tail, which smashed into the top of Davi's head. Davi barely flinched, even as blood started to drip down his face, and he instead calmly pulled out a red piece of paper from his vault and began to silently look at it. "You're dead! You should have given me my meal when you had the chance! Now you'll pay the price!" The snake opened its mouth as wide as it could, and it lunged forward.
Right before it could strike, though, Davi turned and punched as hard as he could. His fist rammed into the claymore that was poking out of the monster's eye, and he hit it so hard that it went all the way through, the hilt vanishing into its skull.
The snake's good eye went wide, and it made a choked gasp and shook, screaming in pain, and was somehow still alive. A sea of crimson came spilling out, and it thrashed around wildly, its cloaking fading. It smashed through dozens of pillars, raining snow and ice down wildly as the pain blazed through its brain.
"You thank Olivia for that one." Davi's voice managed to still the snake as it glared down at him in pure hate. The raven-haired teen lifted up the red piece of paper he had been looking at. "Your cloaking is useless. She's already marked you, and because of that, I know where you're at even when you pull your cheat move."
"How dare you!" Ice and venom gushed out of the snake's mouth and rained onto the ground below. "I will make you pay! You'll pay the price for doing this."
Davi stepped forward and grabbed a chunk of stone from one of the pillars and threw it at the snake hard enough to shatter the stone. The block rammed right into its open mouth, causing the beast to make a choking noise. As the snake was still processing that, Davi stabbed out with his hand, and his armor once again changed, his fingers becoming jagged, demonic claws, which dug into the scales of the snake, allowing him to rip a chunk out.
"Stop it!" The snake screamed so loudly it shattered the ice. "Stop hurting me!"
"What was that you were saying?" Davi asked calmly. "You said I'll pay the price? What price? The price for not listening to you? I gave you the chance to leave. Instead, you picked a fight with me. I think if anyone is going to pay the price, it's you, don't you think?"
The snake stared down at the man, and its snout almost seemed to quiver. "Truce."
"What?" Davi made a face.
"Let's have a truce." The snake spat out. "No more fighting. You go. Leave. Take whatever you want. I don't want to do this anymore."
"You tried to kill me." Davi reached up and rubbed the top of his head, which was still wet with blood. "You cracked my skull open."
"Should have worn your helmet."
"Fuck you." Davi shrugged after a moment. "Fine. We don't have to fight, but here are the terms. You have to take the barrier down that's around Daisy and leave. Go find a different dungeon to take over, one that is far away from any town, city, or village, and never harm a human ever again. In fact, don't go near humans at all."
The snake made a grumbling sound but nodded its head, or at least the closest thing a snake could do to nodding. "Very well. Now go! You are unwelcome."
"Yeah, yeah." Davi rolled his eyes and turned around. "You have until tomorrow morning to leave Daisy or else."
"Of course." The snake watched the Knight's retreating form. "One more thing."
Davi turned to look back at the snake, which now awkwardly angled its head down. "What?"
"You forgot your sword." The claymore began to slowly slide out of the snake's eyehole, along with another fresh wave of blood that made Davi's stomach do a flip. The sword dropped to the ground in front of the snake.
"Oh? Thanks?" Davi bent down to pick it up, and without warning, the snake struck out.
"You idiot!" The snake laughed and made one last desperate attempt to win. Its entire jaw unhinged, and it slammed down around Davi, who was kneeling. Ice began to flicker across Davi's armor and flesh as the snake unloaded a wave of cold directly into him. Davi tried to stab up with his arm, but it was frozen in place, making it impossible to swing the sword he picked up.
The snake shoved its weight onto him, and Davi's face remained blank as he fell onto his back. He was entirely in the snake's mouth, and its frozen breath was coming out too fast for his armor to absorb. It was the Salamander situation all over again, but this time, he couldn't grab a tooth to use it as a weapon. Despite that, Davi's determination didn't fade.
He had been nice to the salamander. It was a simple-minded creature, and so he gave it a clean death, going straight for the brain. The snake would not be given the same execution.
"I had a feeling you were going to do something like this." Davi's words caused the snake to stop for only a second before it got back to attempting to freeze him to death. "I gave you a chance. I even gave you a second one, all because you could talk and seemingly think. You aren't a mindless monster, and it's because of that fact that the only being you can blame for what happens next is yourself. No more bargains." Davi slowly built up his mana, his fiery blue eyes glowing bright, and then he cast his spell. "Row Shadow Vault."
The darkness within and outside of the snake's mouth twisted, connecting with Davi's shadow, which opened up directly beneath him. He was plunged into it, along with the snake, whose eye went wide as the two of them were pulled in. The darkness engulfed them both and swallowed them up, plunging them into the depths. The inside of his vault was almost like being beneath the ocean's waves in the middle of the night. It was pitch black, with little light besides the opening above them, where his shadow had started.
The snake twisted in horror, spitting him out, as it tried to process what was happening. It floated in a sea of black. It wasn't water, but it felt like it. It was cold, too. It was so cold, way colder than anything it had ever felt. The snake felt its blood instantly start to freeze, and the venom in its mouth exploded into showers of jagged spikes. Its white scales began to crack, and its body began to grow rigid and unmoving as ice began to dance across its flesh. It was a creature of the cold, one who brought blizzards, yet at that moment, for the first time in its life, it was freezing to death.
"It's cold, right?" Davi rubbed his chin, watching as ice tried to cling to him, but his mana fought it off. "I really hate the cold." He said lethargically. "I never like entering this place, and I like bringing monsters into here even less."
In the inky black sea that made up the vault, junk floated around. Hundreds of swords, blocks of stone, and mountains of silver and gold were all scattered throughout the realm. Everything he had ever shoved into his vault was somewhere, even if some of the stuff was out of sight. He was able to bring in a section of his vault to the entrance, which is how he could pull anything he needed out of it. Once something went into his vault, it would either have to find the exit to his shadow, which he constantly twisted and moved at different points in the vault, or it would have to get his permission to leave.
The snake awkwardly twisted through the air, its entire body swaying back and forth. There was no foothold for it to slither on, but there also wasn't anything it could swim through. It wasn't water that it was floating in, nor was it air. It was pure and utter darkness, made manifest.
"Get me out of here!" The snake demanded. "I demand it!"
Davi brought his finger to his lip, and he made a shushing sound. "You should try to keep it down."
"Human! I'll come up with a new deal with you! You can keep the girls! I don't care anymore! Just get me out of here!"
"I tried to warn you," Davi said, turning away. "Looks like you were too loud. 'They' heard you."
The snake kept thrashing around and twirling through the cold darkness before its eye finally caught sight of something. Within the endless void were a few buildings that floated, and on one of them the monster saw something. It realized with horror that it wasn't the only beast within this place. Perhaps the human had caught others, or maybe these things lived here naturally; the snake did not know, but the monster did know that it had met its match.
On the roof of a jagged stone tower, which was rapidly floating closer, was a large beast. It stood at eight feet tall, and it had the head of a bird. A hawk, to be specific. Its body looked almost humanoid, though, being thin and frail, and where a pair of arms should have been were jagged wings that stretched out. It had human-looking legs that ended in cruel talons, and instead of flesh or feathers, it was made out of pure mana and shadows. It was black and blue, just like Davi's armor, and its eyes were equally as cold as the man's.
It wasn't alone either. Dozens of the hawk-like creatures were scattered across the walls and roofs of the towers, and more began to appear in the darkness.
The snake let out one last cry, but it was too late.
A roaring screech filled the endless void as one of the hawk-monsters blasted forward, faster than the snake could move. The strange humanoid creature came down feet first, its talons digging into the snake's scales and squeezing down hard enough to crack them. The other shadow beasts copied the first, dozens of the monsters piling onto the snake and tearing into its body.
The snake panicked and thrashed, but it couldn't get to any of the monsters as they began to tear into its jaw and remaining eye. The last thing it saw was Davi, who floated above it in the void.
"In your next life, don't hunt people. Just be a little garden snake. One that won't ever harm anyone ever again." Davi said quietly.
The snake tried to scream, but its mouth had long since been torn off. The birds got a good hold, and then they began to sink, getting deeper and deeper, causing it to get colder and colder, as they dragged the monster away into the realm of black, flying off with their prey.
Davi remained where he was, floating in the shadows as he watched the snake get smaller and smaller, until soon he couldn't see it anymore.
'Sorry. I didn't want to use them.' With a sigh, he swam up and crawled out of his vault, returning to the dungeon. He closed it after and took a moment to catch his breath.
His armor was a little banged up, but other than that, he was fine. He lay there for several moments. Those creatures had been in his vault the first day he opened it. He usually would shift his vault around to keep them on the opposite end so he didn't have to deal with them, because truth be told, they freaked even him out.
He had no clue what they were or where they came from.
Davi panted and caught his breath, letting his mana ease back before he finally stood up. Part of him hoped the snake's death would be quick, but he doubted it. He stalked his way to the back of the room and tore a lot of the ice down, finding a doorway near the back. Past it, he found what he was looking for. The reason most people would enter dungeons.
It was a vault. Not like the one he would create with his magic, though. This was an actual vault. It was wide and filled to the brim with all sorts of things.
In one corner was a massive pile of gold, silver, and copper coins. They were all old and worn down, covered in dirt and grime. Next to the coins was an equally large pile of cash. Some of the bills were modern-day, and others were old scraps of paper, so badly stained and torn they were worthless now.
Besides all the money, there were also many different weapons that were scattered around. Some were as ancient as the coins, like shattered swords, rusted axes, and cracked bows. Other weapons were older-looking handguns or torn-up rifles. Armor and military-looking clothes were also lying around, along with the skeletal remains of poor bastards that hadn't been able to reach the end.
Not all dungeons had vaults, but the ones that did were always filled with strange items like this. It was thought that a vault was a place where the elves would store their wealth and loot in order to hide it from the humans. Vaults were heavily enchanted, and whenever a person died in the dungeon, their items would be transported into the vault, becoming part of the treasure that it held.
None of the weapons looked to be in good condition, and they also lacked traces of mana, so they weren't enchanted or special. Typically, a vault would have at least one magic item, be it a lost spellbook or a powerful blade.
There were a couple of shelves also placed randomly amongst the piles of gold and weapons, but none of the books were in good condition. It seemed this dungeon was full of nothing but junk.
Bad RNG.
What did catch his eye, however, was near the back. It was covered in dust and stood on a pedestal in the middle of the room, and was the only item to have any mana that Davi could sense.
It was a small vial of clear liquid.
Davi picked the potion up carefully and studied it. He wasn't quite studied up, but even he knew what this was. 'So this is what that 'fire mage' guy wanted? Makes sense. Something like this is rare. After all, those birds have long since gone extinct.' It was the tears of a Phoenix.
Phoenix Tears were very rare and considered to be the strongest potion in the world. They could cure any disease, get rid of any curse, and regrow any lost limb or heal any wound. Everything was starting to make a bit more sense now that he saw the potion. Plenty of people would do a lot of bad things just for a chance to own something like this.
"Row Shadow Vault." His shadow sucked up the last of the coins, and he tucked the potion away into it. 'I have a bad feeling.' Davi thought, and his hand clenched into a fist. 'I shouldn't have left Olivia alone with Garon.'