James fought the drake again. And again. Each attempt started with hours of preparation as he guided the novices through the first 7 floors before reaching the drake. The results were largely the same each time despite James working to improve himself so he could kill the drake. He even adjusted his summoned arrows to be more deadly and inject the poison faster. Nothing had changed.

Each fight against the drake went something like this.

James started the fight with his poison arrows. He had given up on taking the two or three minutes to fire the arrows one by one but instead launched them in volleys. The volleys of poison arrows held unique tips that buried themselves in the drake. The poison was then actively pumped into the boss. Around the time James’s three volleys were finished Wes and Derek hit the drake.

The next step would be to push the drake back against the far wall of its cave. This would cause the drake to swing around less and slow its advance a little. In the end, they were just delaying the time the drake would push them into the tunnel and kill them. Together Derek and Wes would then block the drake's attacks until a time when their abilities, exhaustion, and skill waned against the drake’s onslaught.

It was at this point after testing in several loops, that James realized was vital to their survival. Whether he fired off his mana arrows before they got exhausted or after the drake would focus on him because of the danger of the attacks. James tried to avoid getting hit but that just meant one of the others would get caught between the two of them leading to more injuries and more often than not, a death.

James lost track of the number of ways he died to the drake. At a certain point, he threw himself closer to the drake to end things faster once he was injured. Its vitality was just too high for them to deal with quickly. At least not how James knew they were now.

A fortnight after James’s first encounter with the drake he found himself walking up to the 24th-floor exit gate once more.

The others were waiting for him in front of the exit gate. They had already slotted the first three gems leaving the last for him. James walked up to the gate and looked down at the portal lock. His grip loosened on the last gem, and he let it go. The gem tumbled out and rolled a few feet away through the grass.

“We will not be facing the drake. At least not for a while. That much is clear to me,” said James. “This time now with this place can be used to prepare. And we will. We have this open space and no monsters we have to face or be bothered with anymore. The rock beasts will actively avoid this area so we can use it to our own ends. Together we are not ready to face the drake. Not without taking casualties. I have walked you all through these last few floors but it has not helped you improve. The drake is a much different foe that will not bend easily to the attacks we give it. So, I will take the time to test each of you and see if we can make some improvements.”

James picked up the spider spear from the grass and spun it around before setting himself in a sparring pose.

“Ian you are first. Come at me.”

James pointed his spear at Ian’s chest and ran at Ian with it. His form wasn’t great but using the strength and dexterity he had James sparred Ian. The first attack went plainly at Ian’s chest as he had just finished summoning a fireball. Ian deflected the spearhead initially and launched the fireball.

James ducked his head and spun his spear around. His spear flew to Ian’s left leg and Ian deflected the spear again and backed up, but James was ready. The spear moved from the left leg toward Ian’s right leg. James let the spear tip run along Ian’s leg and pulled back once the blood had wet the spear.

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James took the spear to Wes next. He used the spear to push him back and used his abilities to move around Wes. It continued for several minutes until Wes started to tire and James was able to knock the shield to the side for more than a second. James spoke to Wes about the experience before moving on.

Naomi was next. Instead of sparring James did something else. He went through her quiver and examined her bow.

“You need to change out your arrows. Something more penetrative against the drake. It can shrug off most attacks. If possible focus on distracting the drake and disorientating it. We will fail if we can’t slow it down while it rampages.”

After a few more minutes of Naomi and James talking and going over her form, Derek got up. James retrieved the spear and they started to circle each other. Derek held his sword up and prepared to attack.

“You still need to watch your feet,” said James as he attacked.

Derek stepped back unable to effectively parry.

“You’ve focused on your strength with the greatsword and the drake will be unlikely to strike at it critically so you need to make sure you can retreat and defend if it charges. You are no longer wielding a saber so don’t treat your weapon like it. You have good instincts so use them.”

The sparring against Derek wasn’t so one-sided. James pushed him when he found openings, but Derek did well overall. When they were done James was exhausted. He sat down in the grass and took out some rations.

“We rest for twenty minutes and then activate the portal. Do whatever else you think you need to do to prepare. Let’s kill the drake.”

James stepped through the portal with focus. He knew what he needed to do and hoped that the others would live up to the task.

He did not win. Though there were subtle changes none of them were big enough for them to finish off the drake yet. But James hoped that he could change that. He had to if he wanted to live a life outside of the time loop in some distant future. For now, he was stuck in the dungeon an artificial world with artificial lighting, and he knew he would not be able to leave for a while.

James returned to the 17th floor. As he retread the path he adjusted his plan. When they reached the 24th floor again James taught them. Using his experiences against the drake and watching them all he taught them. When he had repeated his information with some addendums they fought the drake.

James returned to the 17th floor. He taught them again continuing to add more information. He improved based on what he had seen. Spent more time on the 24th floor sparring with them. When he had repeated his information with some addendums they fought the drake.

Again and again, he went through the same steps. He repeated them knowing he we so close to reaching a major point in the dungeon. When James and the others reached floor 26 several things would change. First, the monsters would continue to grow in strength. Next, the loot would become more personalized. Going deeper into the dungeon would also mean they would be ever closer to an exit if the 25th floor didn’t provide one.

With each loop, James improved his ways of teaching and focused on what each novice needed the most. With each injury and death, they survived for longer. Still, they could not defeat drake. James continued to try anyway.

James returned to the 17th floor. As he retread the path he adjusted his plan. When they reached the 24th floor again James taught them. Using his experiences against the drake and watching them all he taught them. When he had repeated his information with some addendums they fought the drake. Each time he felt them getting closer they seemed to step back in other ways when he could not convey enough information in time.

So, he started to remind them of stuff they needed to improve on earlier. He caught the same mistakes when the novices fought the minotaur boss, the spider queen, the demon fiend, and the frost giants. On the other floors, they could afford to make those mistakes without a drake beating them down. The mistakes only cost them time and a health potion instead of hours for James to bring them to the same point in the loop. Changing things up also helped keep things refreshing for James. These changes kept his mind alert for new changes and avoid complacency. With the change in teaching style and what he knew from the dozen times fighting the drake James was ready once more to face the drake.