Desaray promised Becky she would do her best to be back within ten minutes then entered the stairwell. She could hear the roaring and thrashing about coming from below. “Is it still on the first floor?” Desaray was unsure, but she did wonder if this was the case. 

Not wanting to charge right in, she slowly made her way down the stairs keeping her body low. She wished this was one of those stairwells that she could peek out over, but it was probably because it wasn’t that was keeping the monster busy. At each turn, she would peek around the corner, and only when it was clear did she begin moving down the stairs again. 

The roars and struggling got louder and louder. By the time she reached the third floor, she had to stop moving forward as she could smell the stench from the monster’s body as if it was right on top of her. 

Desaray did not want to be caught off guard, so she backed up a few steps to the previous landing, where she took off her backpack. She then took out her phone and switched the camera into selfie mode. Once she was set, she went back down the steps and to the bottom landing, to the third floor. She took a deep breath and edged her phone out over to the stairs leading down to see what she could see. 

In her camera view was a gray hairy arm flailing about. It seemed like the monster had gotten stuck. Her scaly lips curled up as she realized she was one lucky dragon. She quickly ran back up the stairs to her backpack and put her phone away. She could not let her treasure get damaged in a fight so after a moment’s thought, she picked up her backpack and went up a few floors, and stashed it in a corner. Only then was she willing to leave it behind. As she went back downstairs, she stopped off on the third floor to grab a fire extinguisher. 

This fire extinguisher was going to play a key role in her fight as it was going to be used as a means to instantly blind the monster while she began her attack. She had no idea how strong she was, but she hoped she was strong enough to deal some damage to this monster.  Because of the close quarters and her lack of training with her ice breath, she did not think it would be good at this time to use it. She had to wait until she understood her own abilities better before using it at any time. Although it did come in handy in emergency situations. It was just the charge time that was keeping her from using it.

After working out her plan in her mind, Desaray took a deep breath and finally stepped out around the corner. She pulled the pin and readied the fire extinguisher as she made her way down the stairs to where the arm was gripping the wall. It was a huge arm that took up quite a bit of the space between the two walls, which made Desaray feel even luckier. If the monster was not as big as it was, she would never be able to get this close without fearing for her life. 

After taking a second deep breath, she let it out slowly and decided it was time. She only needed to be careful of its claws; the rest would be easy. She dashed forward  jumping over the flailing claw, and using the wall as a springboard, she aimed the fire extinguisher nozzle at the large eyes that were now staring right at her and squeezed the trigger.

“Roar!” The large monster was angered by the sudden stinging sensation in its eyes. It began flailing about even more violently, but every time it opened its mouth, it sucked in a mouthful of a strange substance it had never encountered before. It began to choke on the air it was taking in, and at the same time, it suddenly felt a heavy impact on its head.

Desaray smashed the fire extinguisher onto the monster’s head, sending the monster’s head into the stairs with a loud thud, even cracking the cement it was made out of. This caused a pained roar to escape the monster’s lips. Desaray did not stop there, though. She jumped up and swiftly spun her body around, landed back on top of the monster’s head, and jabbed her claws into the monster’s eyes, making sure to permanently blind it. 

The monster’s head raised up as it howled in pain, almost knocking her backward and down the stairs. Desaray did not wait for it to try to reach up and attack her but instead jumped off its head and landed in front of it as she watched it flail about and grab at the top of its head, thinking that she was still there. She waited for the right moment and rushed in once more right as the monster reared all the way up, exposing its chest, using all her strength, she stabbed out with her claw, penetrating the monster’s chest and breaking through its bones. She felt an oddly shaped object in her claws, clenched down on it, and pulled with all her might. 

Blood sprayed all over her as her claw exited the monster’s body, drenching her from head to toe. In her hand was a blue pulsating object that she immediately crushed. The gray monster stopped flailing back as its body went limp and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

[You Defeated A Gray Back]
[Experience Points Gained….]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Desaray stumbled back a few steps and looked at the massive body that was now limp in front of her and then at the system messages and let out a laugh. “Hah! Hahahaha! I did it! Hahaha! I even got 2 levels!”

She was happy. But she knew one thing. If this monster was not stuck like it was, she would not have been able to kill it so easily. No, it is more like she would have become a snack for this monster.

Desaray did not dare stick around as she quickly returned to where she left her backpack. But when she arrived, before she picked it up, she looked down at herself and frowned. She knew Beck and the others would freak out if they saw her like this. “I should probably wash up, but If I do not hurry back, Becky wil…”

“Desa!? What happened?! Why are you covered in blood!?” Becky was right on cue. She stood in front of Desaray and began checking her over but got confused when she saw no wounds. 

“I am fine. The monster was stuck in the stairwell, and I used a few tricks to my advantage.” Desaray explained. She looked down at herself and sighed. “Is the water in the apartment working?”

“Yeah, let’s get you cleaned up.” Becky nodded and went to pick up Desaray’s bag for her, only for her claw to get slapped away before they could even touch it. She looked up at Desaray with a confused expression. “Desa?”

“My treasure…” Desaray used one of her claws to pick up the bag, trying to be careful not to get blood on it before walking up the stairs, leaving a very confused Becky behind. 

Although it did not take much time for her to figure things out. “Treasure? Wait!? Dragon. Treasure… Hahaha!”