Chapter 32:

The progress bar showed us moving forward at the same three-quarters of a percent for the first room. We kept walking in the tunnel as I considered how we wanted to approach the ten larger badgers. We couldn't do the same thing where we all split up. That might be more efficient for damage output, but we needed to work together. After I collected my thoughts, I spoke up.

"Okay, no charging at this time. Bjorn, you're in front. Helga immediately to his right. Jonas, and then me to the left. After taking shots, you can stay close enough to be able to touch and heal any of us. We're going to have to make a stand at the entrance. There are ten in there, twice the size of the ones we just fought."

Everyone grunted or grumbled a reply, but no one had any questions. I moved into position with everyone else. As we neared the entrance, I could smell the badgers before I could see them. The musky scent told me exactly what I was getting into, and when we got to the entrance of the tunnel, we formed up. The four of us formed a wall between the badgers and Astrid. Astrid immediately started firing, her bow arrows zipping between the narrow gaps between us and sinking into the badgers. The elemental effects started taking effect. Little explosions ripped chunks of meat out as the arrows struck or electricity stunned them. But things that she hadn't been able to do when we were up close.

Of the ten, only eight made it to us, but that was still two for each of us. But the limited space left made it difficult for them to get through. I had placed Bjorn at the center for a reason, and Helga, with her longer sword, to hold one edge while I held the other.

I figured Jonas was probably the weakest fighter because I had just higher stats, and Helga had a full-on sword. His lack of a real weapon was an issue, so I put him in a position where Bjorn and I could protect him while still holding the flanks. We had to, but it didn't quite work out as well as I thought. There was no time or space to even consider what anyone else was doing as three crowded around my position, and I slashed with all I was worth, forcing them back with my dagger.

One on the right lunged, and I stabbed it, and it backed off. Then, the one on the left was coming. I managed to get my hand in there and halt its momentum before I could bring my blade back. But during that time, the middle badger lunged for it again, and I had to kick its chin with my foot, pushing me slightly off balance and forcing me to take a step back to keep everyone off. But right before I thought I would be overwhelmed, the badger on the most extreme side got an arrow through its eye, and it flopped over dead. And now I only had two badgers to focus on.

Keeping them at bay wasn't nearly as difficult as trying to kill one. I simply slashed and pushed and slowly gave ground, making sure that I didn't get far behind Jonas and letting neither of them slip past me. Another arrow came in and killed one; this time, I attacked, pushing forward. I slashed several times at its face, distracting it before I could instruct him with my hands flashing over its eyes. As before, I was able to stab up through its jaw and into its brain, ripping the dagger out. I looked around and saw that all ten badgers were dead.

Astrid was standing between Bjorn and Helga, a hand on each of them, gashes closing up on all of them. Jonas had fared rather well. Bjorn has taken the majority of the charge, as have I. But somehow, I managed to remain uninjured, where they had not. Gasping for breath, I leaned against the dirt wall and slid down into a squat as I tried to come down from the trance-like state I had entered. My adrenaline pumped, and my heartbeat came down from the sprint-like pace it was at.

When Astrid let go of Jonas and Helga, I forced myself to stand back up. "Right." Not wanting to appear too frazzled, Jonas was sitting on the corpse of the one he had killed, looking around grumpily. I walked over a few steps and held a hand out to help him to his feet. He groaned as he stood up and stumbled slightly.

"Astrid," I called.

"I'm on it," she said and came over, finding a gash torn in his pants and a nasty cut deep into his quad. She touched it, and it healed, but only halfway before she had to take a step back and put a hand on her head.

"Whoa! Low on juice. I'm gonna need a minute," she said, and I guided her to the wall where she sat, as I had been just a few minutes ago. I looked over to Bjorn and Helga.

"You two all right?"

They both grunted in reply.

"You think these teeth are worth the same as the ones previously?" I said, looking at the fangs all around us.

Jonas spoke through gritted teeth as he braced against the pain in his leg. "They did weigh them last time, so maybe."

I grumbled but assisted Bjorn in removing the teeth. "Twenty coins would be nice. With this, we might have four or five coins apiece, which would be a good start on getting gear."

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I wondered if this was also only three-quarters of a percent further. It was significantly harder than the first one. I looked around to see if there's anything else interesting in the cave, but it was simple plain dirt. Still, I felt accomplished. I didn't have any real knowledge of tactics, but under my direction, we had executed a plan and everyone had survived and it worked out. But now who knows what we're going up against.

***

It took almost a full two hours for Astrid to be ready to move again. We had long since picked out teeth and urine, cut out the badger's claws, and skinned a couple before realizing it. Once the pelt was removed, the whole thing disappeared into nothing more than dust. After about half an hour or so, we looked better, but she said she was still regenerating her magic. Mana apparently was slow to accumulate, especially on early levels, and getting below a certain threshold massively decreased or increased the accumulation time.

While we waited, we each checked over our weapons repeatedly and paced. No one talked much. But I could feel that the combat had brought us together somewhat. Helga didn't feel the need to sit next to Astrid all the time and would occasionally exchange a couple of words with Bjorn or Jonas as they passed by. I eventually dug out some small pebbles from the side of the cave and practiced juggling. Previously, in my old life, I had been able to juggle three balls for a couple of seconds, which I had picked up as a trick to amuse my children. But here, with my massively increased speed and maybe my focus attribute, I was able to keep six spinning in the air with relative ease. Little pebbles, too. Nothing big and easy to catch. I had to nimbly grab them out of the air with two or three fingers.

Really, I wanted to carve out my status ritual and see what it changed. Had I gotten to another level yet? Had I increased my stats from training and all, that seemed unlikely. But maybe I'd gotten my dagger proficiency up or something like that. Something, right? Should have some sort of accomplishment for finishing one or two runs, maybe even working with the party, but I held off. I still haven't figured it out yet. Still, Loki was definitely not necessarily welcomed in polite society, and I wasn't about to out myself as a follower of his when I didn't have to. When we left this cave.

Eventually, progress had two percent, and I sighed in relief in the black void, knowing that each room wasn't a set percentage. Still, we had a long way to go.

"A boss room. Damn it!" Astrid swore.

"A what?" Bjorn asked, confused.

"Big solo monsters in the challenges, bosses." She explained briefly, and Bjorn nodded in apparent understanding.

"We're going to need to be careful about this. I think any solid hit from this will at least take us out of the fight entirely but probably kill us. Astrid might be able to bring us out if one of us is hurt?" I looked at her questioningly, and she nodded.

"But that would slow us down even more. So, we need to come at it from multiple angles. Bait it and force it to chase us around the room while Astrid hits it from range," I said, laying out the bare bones of a plan.

"Just like fighting a bear," Bjorn said. "Get it agitated first. Once it gets too close to me, someone needs to wound it enough to peel it off."

"We can rotate through the four of us," Helga added, and it seemed he had some experience like this. Jonas and I both agreed and looked at Astrid.

"Hmmm, I never asked, but how are you doing on arrows?" I inquired.

She plucked one out of the quiver and showed it to me. "I actually have a relatively unlimited supply. It takes mana, but I won't run out. Though it does eat into how much I can heal the more I fire."

"All right, let's try not to get hit," I said. Slowly, we fanned out into the room until Bjorn and I were on opposite sides of the cave from each other. Astrid stayed a little way in the tunnel, and Bjorn stepped forward. The bear-sized badger swiveled its head as he stepped into the ambient light away from the shadows of the edge of the cave. Bjorn let out a roar, and right as he did, Astrid started letting arrows fly. She knocked, drew aim, and released quickly, all in one smooth movement that didn't take more than a second and a half. An arrow flying true each time.

It was rather hard to miss the large target, and she didn't seem to be particularly aiming for any one spot. Its eyes were too narrow, and its head was too bony. The one time she did try, it just skidded off the skull, leaving nothing more than a scratch. Punching deep into its hide and side seemed to be the most effective strategy. It ignored them, but I could see blood starting to mat its fur before its lumbering strides had even reached Bjorn.

Bjorn swiped at its face with his knife, well missing by feet as he danced to the side, just keeping the badger's attention on him as he danced around. When Bjorn had been dodging for 20 seconds, Helga came in and attacked the badger's hind leg with a heavy two-handed slash. Her blade was a bit deep but stuck, and she had to rip it out and roll backward to avoid the spinning swipes. All the while, arrows rained down into its body.

Stuck for a second, it hissed and disappeared, leaving the punctures to bleed profusely. Now, the badger was chasing Helga, who was not nearly as nimble as Bjorn when it came to ducking and dodging. Her speed attribute simply just wasn't trained enough. After only a couple of seconds, I was running in and stabbing the badger's tail with my knife. With my little knife, that seemed quite inefficient.

The badger roared, all the pain we had managed to inflict seeming to have no effect but to make it angry. And when it turned its beady red eyes on me, I could feel the hate pouring off of it.