The rest of the kobold floor went by smoothly. No one fell off one of the ledges and the tricks of the kobolds had been largely figured out by the group. Naomi and Ian continued to give each other glances filled with anger and smugness but that didn’t prevent them from following through with their duties. Especially with James having moved to walk right behind their group.
With them all quietly working together even with some occasional missed shots, unintentional or not, they killed the boss. The boss for the floor was a fully armored kobold. Its armor allowed it to block its snout from an easy attack which in turn slowed down the fight. After a few minutes of fighting, they were able to chip away at the kobold until Naomi got in a lucky shot at the kobold’s eye. The floor portal lit up and Naomi ran through but not before sticking her tongue out at Ian.
The floor portal opened up to reveal a large arena. The wind blew through the arena simulating the cheers of fans, but no living thing stood in the stands nor was waiting for them on the gravel floor. The portal finally closed as everyone finally entered. On the far side of the arena was the other set of portals leading towards floor 16. But they had other things to worry about at the moment.
On either side of them was the sound of creaking and metal scraping as the bars to their first opponents lifted. Carrying large clubs, the trolls stumbled into the arena and began their walk toward the novices. The trolls stood fifteen feet tall and wore little to protect themselves, but it wasn’t needed much since the power of their regeneration was powerful.
“I’ll try and avoid helping too much on this floor, but these bosses and mini-bosses will try and attack us all. Remember to work as a team and find its weak points.”
“Mini? These guys aren’t mini in any way. And their weak points are to be found how? Firing randomly at different points on their body,” said Ian.
“That is how I did it back in the day, but with arrows of course instead of fireballs.”
“And how far did that get you?” asked Ian.
“The twentieth floor before we had to run away through the exit,” James answered.
“We will beat your record,” Naomi said.
“Maybe so. You still have some tough enemies to fight and few of the floors will be easier than this one moving forward.”
James took out his bow and backed up against the entrance portal while the others moved forward. He needed to be in a position in case one of his novices messed up a bit too much.
Ian of course started off the fight with a volley of fire balls towards the troll nearest him. It hit the monster in the chest and staggered it. The troll’s skin smoked as it burned and then started to heal. Naomi fired a few arrows at the open wound but was starting to worry as Derek fought the second troll.
“Derek! We need your help here,” Naomi said as the troll approached Ian. “We need to separate them before we take them down.”
Derek was barely listening as he cut several gouges into the troll’s leg. Wes helped him by blocking against its club. It thudded repeatedly as the cuts began to seal up.
“If they aren’t gonna listen then we need to switch tactics,” said Naomi.
“I’m not doing anything with you. If you run away then I will make sure that you don’t get any loot,” Ian said.
“You are insufferable. Good luck killing the troll on your own. I’m gonna actually be productive.”
Naomi stepped back and started firing arrows into the cuts being made by Derek. They would then get caught in the troll as it tried to heal. This process aggravated the troll further until it knocked back Wes and followed up with a swing to Derek’s head. Derek ducked just barely missing getting hit and pulled his sword back up. A second later his sword met the club, and he was thrown back and rolled into the sandy arena.
“You guys have done flailing over there. Come help me. The fire is doing more to slow down their regeneration instead of those flimsy arrows,” Ian said as he ran around the troll trying to stay behind it.
Naomi shook her head and grimaced as she thought back to how their previous ‘help’ had gone. She looked between the two trolls and sighed. She knew what she had to do despite Ian’s attitude if they wanted to beat the floor.
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“Wes. Get yourself up and block the troll’s attacks so Ian can get a good shot in. Derek. The second troll is a wash at the moment if we can’t deal more damage than it heals at any given time. I need you to help take out its legs while Ian burns the wounds further.”
Naomi switched her aim to the first troll and began firing shots at its eyes. From her examination and Ian’s, she found that they grew back slower than the rest and caused more problems with her aim as a result. Even taking out just one eye would mean an easier time dodging because of the troll’s issues with depth perception.
Wes got back up on his knees and then picked himself up with the weight of the tower shield. The hit had done some damage, but he was recovering it in pieces with a health potion in hand. Taking a few slow steps forward as the pain in his body subsided he took up his spot in front of the first troll.
Ian, seeing Wes taking on the club for him moved back and aimed at the legs. The burns were starting to grow as Derek took his first swings at the troll’s leg. The resulting entered like a knife against softened butter. The wound with its regrowing tissue fell apart as his strike hit bone. Derek grinned as he felt the crunch of bone against his second sword swing. Now the only question was how long it would take until they had to deal with the second troll.
James fired a few shots helping the second troll slow down, but it was still limping its way towards them with its club ready to swing with full health.
Derek chopped at the ankles of the troll repeatedly only stopping for a few moments at a time to let Ian burn the cuts further. After a particularly deep cut, Derek heard another crunch and the troll bellowed out another roar. Its free hand dropped to the ground as it struggled to stay up now that its ankle was destroyed.
“Go for its head. The other troll is almost here! If we take them on at the same time then we may not get another chance like this again,” Naomi said.
Derek quickly reacted and moved to the troll’s side and lifted his sword into the air. With a grunt, Derek swung his sword down as powerfully as he could and with as best precision he could manage. The blade cut right through a part of the neck but did not hit the spine. Regardless Ian stepped in and started burning the wound where he could as the troll lost more blood.
Naomi looked back and saw the second troll. She turned to face it and started firing arrows at its eyes as she had done with the first.
“You guys need to finish it off. I’ll slow it down. Wes, you are with me. Use what skills you can to stagger it further.”
Ian and Derek understood the urgency and sped up the pace. At the same time, Wes stepped back from the first troll now that it was unable to swing effectively and ran over to Naomi’s side. He came just in time as well and held up his shield for the first set of new attacks from the troll. His whole body shook as he held up his shield and let the troll focus on him and his shield. A few more wood chips flew off the shield as the troll released its anger on Wes.
During this time Derek returned to attacking the ankles of the first troll in order to keep it down and low enough for another attack. After another strong blow to the troll’s ankles and club hand Derek struck for the neck a second time. The burnt and charred wound was slowly healing but was limited in scope as the troll’s regeneration focused on everywhere at once instead of vital locations. Derek let out a roar mimicking the troll for a moment and swung his sword down. With a thunk, the sword went cleanly through the troll and into the sand below. A second later the troll’s head followed. With quick steps, Ian ran up to burn the troll a final time making sure it could not resume healing.
The second troll took another swing at Wes forcing him to take a step back to steady himself. His arms were aching and had started to form fractures despite magic reinforcing him to a degree. Arrows peppered the cheeks of the troll leaving only a few lucky enough to hit its eyes. Ian and Derek resumed their fighting after confirming the death of the first troll. It melted away into mana assuaging their fear.
With the four of them all working together the troll was brought to its knees quickly and Derek once again struck at the troll's neck. This time he only needed a single swing to open up a wound in the troll fatal enough to kill it. Ian released a wave of heat over the head of the troll and kept it going until it melted away as well.
“Good job. All of you did great,” James said.
He stepped up and stood where the second troll had just fallen. He looked down and grabbed the glowing necklace that was left behind as loot.
“I’ll hold on to this for you guys because I know that you will fight over it otherwise.” James pocketed the necklace that had changed to a non-glowing state. “Take a few minutes to recover and snack on something. What is the status of your supplies? And Wes hand me your shield again.”
“Derek, Naomi, and I each have a health potion. Wes has one. I am also holding onto three mana potions.”
“That might not be enough to get you to the twentieth floor. Even then you may not finish it. While you completed this floor you almost didn’t. If the trolls had been a little faster than you would have had to deal with two at a time which is almost impossible for newer dungeon divers.”
“We would have made it work. Even if it would have taken more time. It would have just required some of us to act as bait and kite one of the trolls around while the other is being dealt with.”
“I hope that is the case. You have a few more potions left to show me more of your skills. And Wes be more careful with your shield. I don’t expect it to be able to take a full-powered hit from a troll again. At least not without your best reinforcement skills. Regardless you have done a better job with it so far.”