Chapter 31 – More Work To Be Done

Almost fifteen more groups of fire hounds exited the dungeon portal before it had emptied the fourth floor. The squad became better and better at fighting off the groups, especially now that they knew not to let them retreat to merge their group with the next one. After the last group was killed off, and no new group exited, they were completely exhausted. Most of them had gained multiple injuries, and the lone guard had had to intervene several times to save them.

“How long do we need to wait for those reinforcements? I thought that high leveled people could move quickly. Shouldn’t we have gotten at least a few more soldiers as back-up?”

“Unfortunately, no. Like I said before, we didn’t expect this to happen for a long time. We actually only have the garrison staff close by. Some of them would be great help, like your trainer, but others aren’t really combatants.”

“What about the rest of the legion?”

“A lot of them are on leave right now. Most of them leave to go to their families all over the continent.”

“So we’re screwed?”

“Hopefully not, there are the other guards, and like I said there are some from the garrison staff that will help. After that we might need to wait till we can either get the support from another legion, or we need to recall enough soldiers to from a century or three.”

“Three!? How the hell are we supposed to hold the line that would normally take three centuries?”

“You’re not. I expect some reinforcements any minute now. Then you can rest for a while, while some of the higher leveled soldiers take over.”

“Rest for a while? What do you mean with a while? I thought that we would be done when those reinforcements arrived?”

“Again, we’re really short-staffed right now. You and the other recruit squad will probably be used to form a temporary century until we have enough soldiers to form two. Then we will split your squads so both of those centuries only have one squad of recruits.”

“Great, so we’re going into real combat against this dungeon break.”

“That’s what you signed up for, isn’t it. To combat monsters, if they’re undead or dungeon monsters.”

After that conversation the next type of dungeon creatures left the portal, making it impossible to speak further.

On the floor after the fire hounds, there were fire cats. Though smaller than the hounds, these creatures were ambushers. Thus they fought on their own instead of in packs. Their stats reflected this.

The one saving grace about them, was the fact that on their own they couldn’t do all that much against a defensive formation. Were there a group of them, they would have easily broken through.

During the dungeon break their numbers were doubled, but still only two cats exited the portal at a time. Thus those cats were easily taken out by the squad.

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“Well, this floor is easy. Why weren’t we allowed to go there yet? I can understand the fourth floor with the hounds, as those are a pain to defend against. But these creatures are just asking to be killed.”

“You recruits don’t know what you’re talking about. The fire cats are one of the most dangerous creatures on the first floors.”

“I don’t see how, they are just so weak!”

“Yes, they are easily dealt with right now, since they have to rush your formation. But remember, these are ambush predators. The fifth floor is overgrown with plants, giving the cats plenty opportunity to strike at you. We lose more recruits on the fifth floor, than on the first ten floors combined.”

“.. Okay, I guess that answers that. Lucky for us that they have to rush us.”

With the cats being spread out, it took a while before the floor was emptied. This gave the second guard enough time to return with some of the staff from the garrison. The first to arrive was their trainer. Along with him were two other staff members, including the quartermaster.

Close behind them were two of the cooks, along with the librarian, and the second trainer. Lastly the second recruit squad arrived. Apparently the guard was sent onward to gather more people to help defend against the dungeon break.

“Well, well, well, look who’s just gotten themselves appointed as the first squad of a century.”

Trainer Quincy was both proud of his squad, but he had also been pretty worried. The first times that the squad went into the dungeon, he followed them at a distance to make sure that they would survive. Since the wall though, he hadn’t done that. They had proven that they were easily capable enough for the fourth floor. So he hadn’t been worried. The fact that they had survived the dungeon break from the inside had even proven that.

“Thank you, sir. We almost didn’t make it. Had you been a bit later to help us out, then we’d probably been done for soon. We’re all exhausted.”

Sam was the only one of the squad that was even capable of responding to the trainer. The moment that others took over for the recruits, they had crashed to the ground in exhaustion.\

“Well, you guys still did a good job. Make sure to rest, because we will need you back as soon as possible.”

“What do you mean? I thought that there would be more than enough people to defend against the dungeon. There should be more than enough soldiers that are as strong as you, right?”

“Yes and no. We do have a lot of soldiers nearby, but none that are on duty. When the legion is rotated out from combat, most of the soldiers are sent home.”

“Yes we know. The guard told us about it. But why can’t you just ask the stronger people of the city to help? Who cares that they haven’t been recalled, it would be to protect the city, including their families.”

“Well, you’re right, but without recalling them they wouldn’t be on duty. They would mis out on several bonusses that would increase their strength.”

“Who cares! They’re still strong as they are. You can fill out the paperwork later, this is an emergency!”

“You know, you’re right.”

When trainer Quincy was convinced by Sam, one of his recruits, he immediately went to work. The fact that a recruit had to convince him that this was the best way to go.

Thus he took a special artifact out of his storage ring. After activating it with a bit of his mana, it connected to a similar artifact in the garrison.

“Sir, Temporary Centurion Quincy here. We’ve arrived at the dungeon. The break is already at the fifth floor, so we need reinforcements as soon as possible.”

“Centurion, I’ve sent out messengers to ask for aid from the nearest units, but it will take a while for them to return.”

“I know sir, but I may have a solution. It was pointed out to me that we have a lot of soldiers and retired soldiers in the city, as well as several other high leveled people. We should ask them to help us, as they can be here a lot quicker than the other legions.”

“We can’t recall them quickly enough centurion, you know that as well as I do.”

“Then don’t recall them. It’s to protect the lives of their loved ones as well. Just ask them to help out here as much as they can. As my recruit said, we can fill out the paperwork later. As long as we can hold out here we have all the time in the world to do that.”

“I’m on it, centurion. Just make sure to hold the line.”

After that the glow of the artifact dimmed, showing that the commander had stopped sending mana in his artifact.