Chapter 26: Discipline
Barney’s group continued their progression through the first floor. Several more times, an invisible chameleon fell from the ceiling and landed on the same poor mage. In each case, that event coincided with one form of ambush or another from the alcoves as well as from the front or back of the party. The raw damage anyone received, including the mage, was small. However, the impact to the group’s emotional state and morale was significant.
“Perhaps we should return with a different party composition…” one knight suggested meekly.
“We’re not even hurt yet,” Barney countered, despite being one of the few who hadn’t been directly attacked so far.
“Our mages are slowly going through their MP, though,” another knight noted.
“We don’t even need them. If any of you fall to weak monsters like these, you deserve it anyway.”
Several knights narrowed their eyes at Barney’s attitude but didn’t say anything. The lone knight with prior adventuring experience gazed at the mages with a melancholy expression. The target of all the chameleons, in particular, looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but here. Upon closer inspection, her hands were shaking slightly as they gripped her staff too firmly.
“This is cruel…” As a knight, she was duty-bound to carry out the lawful orders of her Lord. Orders to investigate a dungeon and conquer the bottom floor were hardly inappropriate. Judging from the apparent levels of the enemies so far, the party was more than up to the task. She couldn’t complain they were being sent on a suicide mission unnecessarily, at least, not so far.
But this dungeon wasn’t normal. Whether its unusual will was nefarious or not, she couldn’t say. The way it invited them in yet pestered them throughout suggested a higher intelligence was involved. The way it targeted and intimidated their weakest links was much more effective than any direct opposition. The enemies so far weren’t strong enough to go toe-to-toe with their party, and yet they were being driven into a corner anyway. She shuddered to think of what they’d find at the bottom, if they ever made it there.
As the group pressed on, an invisible enemy dropped from the ceiling again, only this time, it landed on the other mage.
“Look out for the next ambush!” As everyone took their usual positions to oppose whatever was coming, a second invisible enemy dropped, landing on the mage who a moment ago seemed to have been spared. Before the surrounding knights could strike down the chameleon, it bit her leg.
The damage was minor and no status effects were applied. Under normal circumstances, she would shrug off this setback. However, her psyche was slowly collapsing, and each new assault on her had exaggerated impact. When the chameleon bit into her, she screamed and panicked, trying to shake it free. The knights rescued her within moments, and one of the female knights hugged her and comforted her for a moment, calming her down.
The other mage wasn’t happy but she hadn’t been affected to the same extent. She got to work topping off her HP as well as the other mage’s.
Barney came yelling. “What the hell was that!? Don’t panic in a dungeon!”
The knight to respond was the woman who had been comforting the mage. “Give her a moment! It’s extremely draining to take repeated attacks from invisible enemies, I’m sure!”
“Attacks? You call those attacks!?” As Barney prepared to extend his verbal lashing, an invisible enemy fell from the ceiling and hit Barney, mostly just brushing his arm on the way down. “Gah.”
Barney quickly recovered and brought down his sword on the chameleon, killing it. “See, it’s not a big deal.” He turned in the other direction to press the group forward again.
The former adventurer thought it was surprisingly convenient that a chameleon fell in such a way so as to embolden Barney to claim such attacks are no big deal.
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Rufus attempted to diffuse the situation between his party and the group from the Nar Union. “Regardless, we’re all returning to the Holy State. Please enjoy your foray into the dungeon.”
Kat secretly used her magic to sense the other party. They were all around the same level as Rufus and his allies, but at a lower level than the girls. She didn’t feel much need to worry about them or the threat they might pose.
“Let’s just ignore them.” Kat led the other girls as they turned to depart the area on foot. The rest of their party followed their lead as the rude adventurers from the Union called out to them from behind.
“Oh, so the beast girls are the ones leading you around. How laughable.”
Rufus, who had been playing mediator until now, didn’t want his friends, old or new, to be the victim of any inappropriate remarks. He stopped and turned to respond. “You’d be wise not to underestimate these girls, my Union acquaintances.”
“The hell is that supposed to mean? I don’t recognize that crest, but you seem to be a noble. Is the Holy State entirely sick in the head? Do you need us to rescue you from your beast overlords?”
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The thief, who had previously been kneed in the balls, re-entered the conversation. “Yes, actually. The girls have been violent with us.”
“What are you—“ The black mage, ostensibly the leader of the combined party, was cut off by one of the rude adventurers from the union before he could confirm the thief’s intentions.
“So you weaklings need us to discipline them? At least you are honest.”
“Can we just get going already!?” Shiba interjected, stomping one of her feet in impatience.
“Do you enjoy hurting others so?” Rufus asked, not acknowledging Shiba’s request.
“It’s not about enjoyment,” the rude adventurer corrected. It’s about social standing. You’ll never see humans losing influence in the Union.”
“Well, we’re in the Union right now, aren’t we?” the thief asked. “If my party won’t discipline the girls, doesn’t it fall to you to do it?”
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Barney’s party finally reached the stairway down to floor 2.
“We’ll take a short break,” he said.
“Sir Barney, just how many more floors must we pass through?”
Barney ignored the knight.
“Sir Barney!”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I don’t know what level the dungeon is. The Guild wouldn’t let us use the dungeon crystal. There wasn’t time to inquire outside the city.”
Of the two mages, the one who was less of an emotional wreck complained. "How could you lead us on an expedition into a questionable dungeon without accessing its information first!?”
“Blame the Guild! They refused to cooperate!”
“Why would the Guild do that?” another knight asked. “I understand there has been some tension recently, but why would they refuse to share basic information about dungeons? Isn’t that information used to guide young adventurers all the time?”
“That was my understanding as well,” the former adventurer of the party agreed.
“You’ll have to ask them! Well, maybe that won’t work…”
“What do you mean, Sir Barney?”
“Never mind. The dungeon was definitely LVL 2 not too long ago. I don’t know for sure what level it is, but it can’t be much higher than that.”
“That’s all well and good,” a knight acknowledged. “But I don’t know how much longer our mages are going to hold up in this oppressive environment.”
“They’ll hold up until we clear the dungeon. Now do your damn jobs and protect them.”
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DM had been paying close attention to the many conversations Barney’s group held since entering the dungeon. He more or less understood what everyone’s motivations were. As a result, he knew what outcome he wanted for each of them.
DM slowly developed a plan in his mind for how to deal with this threat. If things went according to the plan, he wouldn’t get killed, and he wouldn’t need to kill all the intruders who were essentially innocent either. The biggest challenge was how high-level this group was.
At the rate things were going, the mages would be depleted of both MP and basic willpower by the time they reached the bottom floor of the dungeon. In contrast, the knights were hardly worse for wear. They were frustrated by the circumstances but not battered. They had some limited ability to heal themselves, even without assistance from the mages. One on one, they could easily cut down any minions DM threw at them.
DM wasn’t confident he could wipe out this enemy. His best chance was to outsmart them.
“Wait, what the hell is this thief trying to do?”
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“Oh? I don’t mind.” The lead adventurer from the Union stepped forward, hand on the pommel of his sword. His allies followed his lead. “We won’t kill them.”
“Are we fighting?” Lupy asked, seemingly the only one on her side who was excited about it.
“There’s no need for this.”
“You’re right,” Rufus responded to his friend, the black mage. “Let’s stand aside anyway.” Rufus raised his eyebrows as a signal.
“Oh, uh, fine.”
Rufus’s party moved aside while the Union adventurers closed on Kat’s party. As the party’s leader drew his sword, he turned to the black mage and warned, “You probably want to have healing magic ready to go. We wouldn’t want any of these non-humans to die unnecessarily.”
“Oh, we will.”
“Lupy,” Kat whispered.
“Hm?”
“Don’t kill them.”
“Of course!”
The two parties squared off, five on five. Lupy received a sword with one of her axes, shattering the opponent’s blade. She immediately countered by striking the surprised opponent’s forehead with the eye of her other ax, which wasn’t sharp. Still, it knocked the Union party’s leader out cold.
Kat received a staff from the other party’s white mage with her own. Having stopped the downward blow by holding her own staff horizontal between both hands, she pushed up with good timing, throwing the other mage off balance. As he attempted to recover, she turned her staff to point the tip at his midsection and released a fireball, knocking the wind out of him and dealing considerable damage.
The enemy’s lightly-armored dagger wielder, perhaps a thief, closed on Bandit. With a flourish of his blade, he attempted a downward slash at Bandit’s shoulder. With her superior agility, she sidestepped out of the way and spun around to deliver a punishing roundhouse kick. The opponent managed to stay on his feet as he stumbled in the opposite direction. Bandit aimed her twin crossbows and pulled each trigger, embedding a bolt in both of the guy’s calves, ending his battle.
Shiba faced off against the other party’s black mage. Since the moment the battle began, she lunged at the guy and took a swing at his side with her staff. Perhaps he was not expecting such a blitz because he failed to fire off any spells before taking the blow. Like his party’s thief, he managed to at least stay on his feet after taking the hit and getting knocked a few steps away. He turned around to the sight of Shiba launching a fireball at him from the tip of her staff.
By process of elimination, Vulp faced an archer. Similar to Shiba, she rushed her opponent, sword at the ready. Unlike the black mage, the archer was actually expecting a quick attack and readied his bow while backing up. He released an arrow which struck Vulp’s waist. She ignored it, closed the remaining distance, and slashed him from shoulder to hip, besting his armor and damaging him considerably.
After sheathing her sword, she pulled the arrow out of her body and tossed it on the ground.
“Do you need a heal?” Kat asked her, having just finished her battle herself.
In truth, Vulp didn’t need any assistance. Her regenerate ability would fully heal her injury over the next few moments. However, revealing that fact would be incredibly suspicious, so she accepted healing magic.
For a short while, Rufus’s party observed the aftermath of the battle in silence. Eventually, they came to their senses and rendered limited assistance to the defeated party. Rufus also addressed the thief that instigated these events to begin with.
“It’s like you learned nothing after Bandit dealt you a well-deserved blow.”
“That’s not true at all,” the thief argued. “I learned quite a bit."
“Are you sure?” Rufus turned to glance at Bandit, then turned back to the thief. “If your attitude does not improve, perhaps she will knee you in the balls again.”
“She can knee me in the balls whenever she wants.”
The thief’s fellow party members all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him, whereas the girls were just confused.
The black mage broke the silence. “Why are all my party members so weird!?”