The nearest boulder was just ahead, ten yards away. Stubby little legs poked out, just barely reaching the ground, and one of those legs turned out to be a head. It ponderously turned towards James, and started scooting itself, rotating to face him. The boulder itself was a head shorter than James was, and the small head that had popped out near the bottom was less than a foot tall.

James still didn't want to take any chances. He remembered the Pangolin boss monster from the first floor, how it had rolled at him incredibly fast out of nowhere. He pulled out his iron shield and advanced cautiously, thinking to angle his shield to make the boulder monster roll off the side of the ridge if it came at him suddenly.

The boulder monster stopped and glared at James as he approached, shield first. Three yards… Two yards… When his shield got within three feet of the monster's head, it lunged out on a long neck, and with a clang tried to bite the shield.

Other than a small scratch, the shield was undamaged.

James was startled by the sudden attack and slammed the shield down, anchoring it while he processed the situation, and the head and legs suddenly retreated into the boulder, leaving small holes around the edge at the bottom. He waited a moment, to see what would happen, but nothing did. The boulder just sat there, blocking most of the path. The path by this point was a mere two yards wide, and the boulder was over a yard wide. There was very little room to proceed without pressing right up against the monster.

And the wind was still blowing fiercely.

He continued to ponder what to do and suddenly the head of the monster lunged out again, biting at the shield. Another clang and the head retreated instantly, back into the protection of its rocky shell.

James advanced closer, and put the edge of the shield so that it covered up the head hole of the monster. He started to shuffle to the side, and suddenly the head lunged out of another hole, biting at the edge of his shield before retreating.

He stopped shuffling and made sure his legs were well away from any of the holes.

Carefully minding his balance, he gripped his Earth War Hammer and lined up a strike.

[Technique: Hammer Strike]

[Heavy Blow]

With a mighty overhand swing, he slammed the shallow spike on his Earth War Hammer into the rocky shell of the boulder monster, somewhat off center due to swinging around his shield, but the results were remarkable.

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BOOM!

With a resounding impact, cracks spread throughout the shell of the monster and it squealed from down around James's feet. Small legs poked out of the holes and tried to scoot away from James as fast as it could.

But the son of two Brawlers was already striking again.

BOOM

BOOM

CRACK

Repeated strikes broke through the shell, and the Smith's Hammer tore through the soft flesh within. The boulder monster collapsed, head falling flat to the ground on its long neck. James hefted his shield and carefully stepped around, and relying more on his enchantment than his own brawn, he smashed the monster's head and ensured it was dead for good.

That done, he stepped back a few yards and scanned around for threats. The skies seemed clear, as far as he could see. Nothing was crawling up the ridge at him from either the sandstorm or the firestorm. And the other boulder monsters didn't seem to have moved from their spots blocking the ridge.

He crept forward cautiously once more, and started to inspect the monster's carcass. Pieces of the shell, surprisingly thick, were blowing away in the fierce wind, but James was able to pull out a piece still attached to the carcass and inspect it. It looked like rock, but was lighter than actual rock, and to his surprise [Appraisal] worked on it.

[Appraisal]: Wind Tortoise Shell Fragment, Sylph Essence

Even more surprising was that it went in his magic bag. He, of course, tried to put the whole carcass in and that didn't work, so he spent a few minutes gathering what shell fragments he could and stored them away. Within the monster's guts was a large green magic stone, which he also put in his magic bag.

And so, carefully, always minding his footing and his balance, James traversed the ridge between the two storms, dispatched some dozen wind tortoises, and made it across safely. The path widened gradually and sloped back down to more of the open grasslands with shallow rolling hills, and at the far end was a large stone outcropping, almost large enough to qualify as a mountain, and at the bottom near the center was a familiar carved stone passage.

It was a stressful fifteen minute walk with his shield on his back, constantly expecting another dive bombing hawk monster to slam into him, but he made it across the plains and into the passage. Immediately he set down warding stakes to create a safe zone covering both the entrance and a bit outside, and he carefully explored the tunnel. It was short, only several yards long, before ending in a small room some dozen yards on a side, with a familiar iron door at the end.

The next boss room.

He had brought all his gear with him, save the forge and smelter he had constructed back at his base camp. It felt a bit of a waste that he had already moved on, but his gear was in good condition.

So the Smith decided to take a break. It had been a long day, and he was exhausted, his fatigue hitting him all at once now that he was out of the wind. He set up another ward, just in case, and relaxed, removing his armor and eating a meal and sleeping peacefully for the first time in what felt like ages. The next day he continued relaxing before the iron door, inspecting his armor and hammers, toying around with latch design ideas, and generally just trying to take it easy.

After another peaceful sleep, he felt ready. He had a plan. Fully armored in his Wind Armor and with his trusty Earth War Hammer in hand, he stood before the iron door.

He was just going to peek in, and see what kind of monster was inside. He was certain it would be some kind of windy storm environment, but hopefully visibility would be good enough to get a good look at it, like with the crab boss.

If it looked too tough, he would back out and consider going back to the second floor to collect more clay and sand and think about what he could make to help beat it. And if it was way out of his league, he would turn back and try to exit the dungeon through the old iron mine.

If it looked like he could handle it, he'd give it a shot. Like if it were a tree-type monster, he was sure his Red Iron War Hammer could damage it enough.

James grit his teeth and pulled the iron door open.

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