“I can see that you guys have been enjoying yourselves.” A familiar voice came from the shadows, startling Team 0 out of the daze they had fallen into.
Having just returned from their second to last dive in the Saratoga dungeon, they were all exhausted, both mentally and physically.
Miss Walker walked out of the darkness behind the rec room’s door, eye-smiling at her students. “Have you been making good progress, then?”
Gathering all his remaining strength, James sat up. “We’re almost there.”
“Oh? So G-rank is in sight, eh? That’s good, because if you want to have a shot at taking down the Radiant Guild, you should hurry up. They are starting to crack under the pressure, and I’d expect them to accept the Ten Thousand Eyes’ offer within the next few weeks.” The masked woman revealed, drawing groans from everyone.
Already, the self-imposed mission presented several complicated steps. Adding in a time constraint only made things more difficult.
Well, it’s not like we didn’t know, but it still sucks. If we had been able to keep grinding here for a while more, I bet we could get to E-rank in a few months. Maybe a year, considering the gap in necessary experience…
Ezekiel, now sporting a thoughtful frown, rubbed his temples. "We did learn a lot during this time, Miss. We managed to sync our movements better and establish multiple combination attacks for every situation. Also, we established good tactics to cover each other while in the open.” He recalled their recent experiences in the Saratoga dungeon.
Gesturing to James and Lauren, he continued “I have found that concentrating my buffs on James, while Lauren serves as distraction, has great results. He can capture an entire herd’s attention that way, and we can whittle them down in the confusion.”
Taking over for him, James added “Maria and Daniel developed a ‘Hammer and Anvil’ strategy. He corners and engages the beasts, ensuring they are focused on his shield. Meanwhile, Maria unleashes a concentrated stream of fire, melting through the creatures’ mineral constructs, rendering them vulnerable to physical attacks. This makes it possible to quickly sweep through a herd. It was actually what we did today. We got three whole levels out of it.”
Miss Walker hummed, seemingly happy with their explanation. “That’s good to hear. Developing different tactics for the same enemies is important, because it’ll give you more flexibility fighting similar monsters.” Then, she clapped once. “That said, I’m more interested in the numerical gains. How much more do you need to reach G-rank?”
They all looked at each other before James answered “One last dive, and we’ll all be there. Lauren and Ezekiel have actually already passed level 50, so by this time tomorrow, we should be done.”
Miss Walker eye-smiled again, a satisfied, proud thing “Good job, kids. I know it’s not easy to keep fighting again and again, every day for weeks, but you are almost there. Just a little push and we can get out of this smelly little dump.”
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That morning, the poisonous mists that hung over the plains southeast of Saratoga were thicker than usual.
Having spent the last few weeks trawling through it, team 0 didn’t need directions or a map to know where to go. They had systematically cleared the herds closest to the edges, since they were the weakest and most isolated.
Lately, however, they had been delving deeper, taking on numerous groups. James’ brazenness in acting as bait and Maria’s fiery walls seemed to do the trick in convincing the horses to follow them away from the dungeon's center and into the more sparsely populated rim, where they could battle it out to their hearts’ content.
Today, however, they were determined to aim for one of the biggest fishes. Only once, through the whole experience, they had been forced to retreat. That happened when they had gotten a bit too cocky and decided to fight a herd where it was, rather than leading it into an isolated spot.
That had ended up calling another, larger and stronger group, which forced them to disengage and retreat to avoid a genuinely dangerous situation. The massive emerald-studded stallion and its mares had worked in unison to prevent any sort of teamwork on their part, and their individual strength was such that they couldn’t try and take them on without risking casualties.
The defeat of that day had left a sour taste on all their tongues, and they had agreed that they’d go look for that specific herd as their last fight.
From that day, they had pushed hard, raking in the levels and bringing their skills to the next step. All in preparation for this one fight.
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They entered the deeper recesses of the dungeon and the ambient light dimmed, refracting through the many translucent mineral formations scattered throughout the area.
The tableau their target was in was especially foggy, limiting their vision. Their plan, however, didn’t need their physical senses to work.
James would coordinate their movements all through the fight. Because of their last experience with this specific herd, they knew to expect great teamwork and powerful attacks meant to scatter and pick them off one by one.
Team 0 approached cautiously, with Daniel at the fore, his shield held steadfast. Maria’s fingers twitched with suppressed energy, ready to invoke the destructive blazes she had learned to control so well. James, muscles taut and ready, kept his mind tranquil, entirely focused on the coming fight.
Ezekiel murmured beneath his breath, white light subtly caressing and empowering each team member, while Lauren, nearly a shadow, melted seamlessly into the fog.
As they got within a hundred feet, the emerald stallion lifted its head, multifaceted eyes gleaming with an intellect and malice that seemed almost antithetical to its stoic exterior. It neighed a resonant, crystal-like sound, alerting the herd to the intruders.
Without hesitation, Daniel surged forward, his shield a bulwark against the cascade of crystals that threatened to smash into them.
He held steady through the barrage, though they knew it was only a distraction meant to allow the beasts to get close. That was why Maria, with a slightly deranged grin, called upon her element, a spiral of fire materializing before her. With a fierce command, it plunged into the cluster of Mineral Horses, creating a cacophony of shattering crystals and anguished neighs.
Despite their robust, mineralized exteriors, the intense heat caused fissures to snake across their forms. Yet, they persisted, unyielding in their onslaught.
Again, another tassel of their plan moved forward as Lauren emerged from the fog, brandishing her knives, the blades whispering through the air as they found their mark, exploiting the fractures created by Maria’s firestorm. She focused her hits on the stragglers, those that had been hurt more by the redhead’s attack, taking them out of the fight entirely while the rest continued their charge, heedless of their comrades’ fate.
Ezekiel’s light brightened further as he cast more buffs on James, who lowered his head and charged forward, meeting the monsters’ assault with his own.
James's fists, empowered by the buffs and his intense willpower, collided with the first of the mineral horses, creating a shockwave that resonated through the expanse.
Such was the power of his first blow that he sent the leading mare flying back into her herd, head completely pulped, arresting the majority of the charge at once. Taking advantage of it, he didn’t allow them to reorganize, attacking without mercy.
With every strike, James broke through another layer of crystalline defenses, killing another beast, but each also drained him, who was acutely aware that the herculean stallion was still on the offensive, heading directly for Daniel.
That, too, was part of their plan. Their first fight’s tactic had served them well, after all, and there was no need to change it here, since they had managed to interrupt the entire herd from charging the Tank down like they had done during their previous encounter.
Daniel moved with military precision, placing himself squarely in the stallion’s path, until the very last moment, when he shifted to the side with surprising agility for his bulk, his shield glowing brightly with the Bash skill, sending the beast crashing to the side in one hit.
Through beads of sweat dotting her forehead from the intense heat she manipulated, Maria maintained a conflagration that separated the herd from their leader, preventing any monster from interfering and causing even more chaos. Her flames danced and twirled, licking at the mineral horses, further exacerbating the damage they sustained from James and Lauren's incisive strikes.
However, the emerald stallion was not to be underestimated. It righted swiftly and charged again, thunderous steps shaking the earth, its eyes fixed squarely on Daniel. Despite its armored body, it moved with a grace and speed that belied its size, its multifaceted eyes reflecting not only the light from Maria’s fires but an unnerving calculation.
That was the moment they had all been waiting for. James yelled out “Switch!” And the curtain of flames opened up, allowing the Thakinetic and Lauren to pass through, while Daniel and Maria went to deal with the scattered herd. Their duty had been done as they managed to break the stallion away from its companion, severely weakening its defensive options.
Indeed, James had observed that despite its massive offensive capability, the horse much preferred to let the mares deal with the coming attacks. This worked well in their herd, since they moved in unison as one, but when a more intelligent opponent found a way to separate them…
Lauren flitted through the fog, her knives flashing in the filtered light, slick with blood. Her blows weren’t enough to end the massive creature, and more than once, she was forced to retreat lest she be impaled by an emerald spike, but they slowed it enough that James was able to complete his own attack.
Having dumped over a hundred mana points into his fist, he felt himself straining to keep hold of it. His mind crushed that little part of him that complained about the difficulty of it all and instead ran at the stallion, swiftly closing the distance.
Ezekiel’s buffs granted him enough AGI and grace to dance through the emerald spikes, never slowing down until he was right before it.
James’ eyes locked with the horse’s. An unspoken challenge passed between them. The stallion, undeterred by the stealthy assailant that continued to harass it, charged at James, its hooves crashing down with a force that seemed destined to end him.
His empowered fist met the crystalline hoof, causing a massive explosion as all the stored mana was released at once.
James was sent flying back, painfully rolling on the gem-littered ground, until he stopped against a rock.
He pulled himself up with no little effort, ready to take on his enemy again should it be needed, but his senses told him he wouldn’t need to. Indeed, the beast was lying on the ground, wheezing in agony as most of its lower half had been blown off by the last blow’s strength.
Two daggers, appearing from the mist, cut off its throat and ended its struggles, lifeblood spilling freely. The light soon left its multifaceted eyes.
Despite their victory, however, the fight still was not over. The remainder of the herd, free from the stallion's domineering control yet enraged by its fall, regrouped and charged as one despite Daniel’s best efforts to keep them separated.
Maria, her energy nearly spent, conjured one last, desperate firewall, but its strength was only enough to burn the first two mares.
Ezekiel stepped forward, a serene calm overcoming him despite what looked like impending doom. His hand traced an arc before him, white light illuminating the fog.
And then, silence.
The horses, whose thunderous charge had threatened them so just a moment before, were moving as if in slow motion, barely faster than a regular person walking.
“What the fuck are you waiting for? I can’t keep this up forever! Go kill them!” The White mage yelled, sweat profusely falling down his brow.
They complied, swiftly ending the fight once and for all.
In the ensuing silence, as they all struggled to regain their breath after the herculean effort, James smiled, looking at his status screen.
Oh, yeah baby. That’s what I’m talking about.