Turns out that my modifications to my guardians don’t amount to much when faced with a vastly more experienced group of invaders.

It took them barely any longer than it took the rookies. Hmm, I suppose that is a good thing. It does mean that I am able to keep up with the people of this world.

Still, it’s a bit disappointing to see all the effort you put into something not result in anything. And it’s not even as if my toads alone could have managed that.

No, it took the synergy of a swamp-like environment, camouflage and the enhancements to do it. And the “it” in this case was basically just stalling. Seriously, they don’t even look winded from that!

Oh well, let’s see how this delve progresses.

And it looks like luck is on my side for once. They don’t even attempt to test out the poison again.

Do they seriously think something so important would have stayed constant when everything else changed? Perhaps they aren’t as professional as I thought. Or maybe the previous party, the one that’s now giving a “guided tour”, was just extra stupid for testing it.

I do wonder what is going on in their minds though. But with how silent they’re being, not even knowing the language would help. Not that I do.

Time goes on, and so does the adventurers’ expedition. And it doesn’t take long for them to arrive at the first fork in the road. Something my dungeon layout lacked the last time.

“What it this?” Ooh, looks like they’re finally talking about something. Probably the fork and, if I’m lucky, that’ll manage to sow the seeds if dissent between the groups.

“We don’t know. It wasn’t here last time,” the ranger from group one says.

Sadly, it would seem that that is the end of that conversation. Well, except for the disgruntled mutterings of the guy who asked. The leader of the new party, I suspect.

Actually, the whole make up of the new group is a bit weird.

They don’t appear to have any variety between their members. Like, none at all. They’re all carrying a sword along with some miscellaneous paraphernalia.

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Is that common here? To have just a whole adventuring group made out of melee combatants? If so, I truly am extremely lucky. I’ll just need to focus on those with maybe a bit of preparation for the occasional diverse group.

But I don’t have enough info yet to base my whole dungeon design off of it. Not that I’d even know how to design something specifically against melee users.

Anyway, that’s not important right now. How far did they progress in the meantime?

Huh? How? Thet haven’t even reached the next split in the tunnel!

This needs further investigation. Surely it cannot be that a more powerful band of adventurers is slower than some newbies.

Well, I suppose that said newbies could be slowing them down. Except that also doesn’t make sense. The only way for them to slow them down would be if they were fighting. But they aren’t. The swords group is clearing out all of the monsters.

Let me see, let me see.

They encounter a group of three toads. They pause for a second and then take them out. The whole affair doesn’t take even a full minute. So far, everything checks out.

Then, they set off down the tunnel again. And there’s the problem!

It would seem that I vastly underestimated how much of a hindrance walking thorough muddy ground is. Especially when you add cutting down vines and occasionally breaking of a stone pillar that’s in the way.

With all that combined, they are basically moving at a snail’s pace.

Well, that’s just plain and simply good. For me, that is. I imagine they are getting quite annoyed with the whole situation.

Oh well, I’ll leave them to it. It’s time to practice some magic. Not real magic. Not yet, at least. I’m only starting with manipulating mana, after all.

***

Alright, it’s definitive. This dungeon is a manifestation of hell, sent out to torment us.

The whole thing is basically unrecognizable from the last time we’ve been here! And I’m even counting the vines into that, even though we only saw those for a brief while before giving up.

Ugh, giving up.

For starters, the whole ground turned into some kind of weird mud. Somehow, the dungeon acquired water to mix with a bit of pulverized rock. And now every step requires at least twice as much effort.

But no, that wasn’t enough.

Both the vines and the frogs, though mostly the frogs, changed their colouration and texture to blend in. They’re almost perfectly camouflaging when still. Seriously, even our enhanced eyes can’t always make them out when they don’t move!

It gave us quite the fright on the first encounter. After that, we knew to be on the lookout. Fortunately, even if we can’t spot them, the Fierce Four somehow manage to do it.

However, it was the last change that’s the most terrifying. Right about the moment we encountered the first fork in the road, we began to tire more easily.

It started off relatively mild, but quickly ramped up. The dungeon developed an aura, somehow. It must be so. How else could it impart such a debilitating effect over such a large area of effect? No matter what we tried or where we went, the lethargy persisted.

The Fierce Four are acting as if they aren’t affected, but we’re beginning to spot sign of weariness on them. At least they aren’t as affected as us, but that only points towards the source being an aura again.

Seriously, what the hell is up with this dungeon?! No pun intended.