Three stepped into the dungeon, as usual, he was only wearing the baggy black pants that Emmi's mother made him, tied at the ankles. With a red sash to compliment the colour and help his pants stay on. Behind him were Emmi and Davis, Emmi was wearing brown and red leathers, with steel vambraces and greaves. Davis was wearing cured leather, both of his axes in hand. Following behind them were Sumi and Talin, Talin had the same leather outfit as Davis, although his was tailored to fit his slimmer stature. Sumi was wearing the clothes Emmi's mother had made, the coloured beads stringed in her hair.

Three had left his companions outside and it was the first time in a while that he did not have Crimson at his side, he had to admit that he missed her presence. He had told her to head into the dungeon with Shuffles and Sir Kelly Ton as soon as they arrived. He kept his gaze strained further down the cavernous hallway, his hands clenched into fists as his body was poised to react to any threat. As he meticulously made his way forward he whispered a question to Emmi, “What kind of creature can we expect on the first floor?”

“Mostly wolves, unlike their natural brethren these ones have mutated. They will look... unnatural.”

Three frowned, calling creatures unnatural was a rather broad way to explain what something looked like. He rolled his shoulders as he focused on the task ahead, he was tense. Being alone was easier, if he made a mistake while fighting alone it was no big deal, his defenses were tough enough to cover for almost anything he did. In a group however, if he made a mistake it might cost him the lives of his friends. The realization that is actions would have heavy consequences caused the muscles in his shoulders to tense up.

He froze as he heard something further down the hall, it sounded like claws scratching over stone. He motioned with a hand, the others behind hem readying their weapons. He made his way forward, using every bit of his newly enhanced senses to seek out their targets. He faintly heard the sound of paws hitting the stone, strangely enough, the sounds were moving away from them. He frowned as he continued to make his way forward, his enhanced senses allowed him to hear many things he otherwise wouldn't have. This had the unexpected side effect of making him even tenser, he could here the monsters in the cave but for some strange reason they were not making a move, there were no signs that they were preparing to attack.

He growled as he told the others what was happening, Emmi spoke softly to reassure him. “The abominations in the first floor like to toy with their prey, they stalk them for a while, leading them further down the caves. Causing tension, wearing down their opponents. What strikes me as odd is that you are the only one that can sense them, even Talin with his hearing can't hear them. I wonder if the creatures know that you have enhanced senses somehow.”

The group sank into thought, thinking about the implications of monsters having the capabilities to sense their skills. A monster that thought, planned, and prepared for battle was far more dangerous in battle than a normal one by a serious magnitude. They came here to train however, they would not grow stronger just standing around. So they moved forward, weapons at the ready, eyes and ears peeled for sound or movement. The cavernous hall they were traveling through started widening, the further they traveled into the depths of the dungeon the more the silence grated on them.

The hall spilled into a larger area, for some strange reason there was knee-high grass covering its expanse, the whole field was shimmering in the light of dusk. The glowing mushrooms covering the roof of the cavern shading everything in odd red/blue colours. The entire roof pulsed, the colour of the light changing every so often as the mushrooms emitted light in a steady pulse, making them feel as though they walked inside a beating heart.

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Once their attention was on the mushrooms, Three sensed movement in the grass. He hissed and the others snapped to attention. He swept his gaze over the grass, further away the grass was even higher, some of it might even reach his chest. He could see some of the stalks sway, then he saw a group of stalks rustling to his left. He saw more of them rustling to his right, he lowered his center of gravity and raised his fists.

The others noticed his movements and prepared themselves. Davis and Emmi fanned out slightly to his sides, keeping the flanks of Talin and Sumi covered. Talin put an arrow on his bow, his eyes sweeping the grass. Sumi summoned multiple fire arrows, the fire hovering in the air around her. With a sudden howl multiple shapes dashed forward through the grass, they were fast. The creatures charged them with the speed of a galloping horse, one of the creatures jumped towards Three, giving the party its first look at their opponent.

The creature might have been a wolf, a long long time ago. It had mutated into something else entirely. Its skin was visible in patches as it's fur burst open showing strange fleshy growths, its teeth had grown, becoming unreasonably large. The creatures couldn't even close their jaws, the teeth pierced their own flesh when they did. Its tail had split in two, gorey strings of muscles keeping their tails tied somewhat together. Its eyes crusted with mucus, its jaws covered in dried blood.

They froze for a split second as the hideous creature leaped at Three, Three was the first to recover and lined up a punch, Talin recovered nearly as fast as he did, sending an arrow into its diseased eye. The creature crashed to the floor, still. Three took his eye of the monstrosity as another one charged him from the left. He swung his fist, impacting its jaw as he felt bone crunch under the froce of his punch. Once most of the opponents were within range he inhaled and unleashed a deafening Challenging Cry. The creatures howled in anger as they charged him without regard for their own lives, he unleashed bone-shattering punch after bone-shattering punch. The creatures were drawn towards him as moths to flame.

More creatures came towards them like a never-ending tide. Whenever he was able, Three released a Challenging Cry, trying his utmost to keep the monsters focused on him. Davis was flashing around the battlefield, appearing behind straggling opponents and finishing them off with a well-executed backstab. Sumi with her near infinite mana was releasing an arsenal of spells, throwing fireballs and arrows at anything within reach. The resulting flames in the surrounding grass fell under her control, Sumi had a veritable firestorm under her command. Emmi was swinging her greatsword in wide strong strokes, cleaving opponents in half. Blood splattering her armor as her eyes narrowed in focus. Talin stood there calm as stone, eyes flitting across the plains. Using his unerring aim to take out anything that tried to pounce undetected on his party members.

Three grinned as he fought, he had missed his team. They fought as if they had never parted, he knew which creatures he could ignore, trusting Talin to put an arrow in them. Davis was working to keep anything from flanking their formation, while Emmi was unleashing destruction on the largest groups she could find. Sumi was simply targeting anything and everything she could, setting the battlefield ablaze while deftly controlling the flames to spread away from them and out into the field. Clearing it of the knee-high grass, giving the monsters nowhere to hide.

As Emmi cut the last of the remaining abominations in half the surge of battle died down. He could hear the heavy breathing of the others behind him as he turned to check on them. Emmi had a few scratches, her leather armour torn in a few areas. New scratches covered her vambraces aswell, she was the only one other than him however that had actually been touched by their foes. Three grinned as he looked around at the corpses of the monsters.

“Well they are a lot uglier than I expected.”

The rest chuckled as they looked over the pile of corpses.

“As well as a lot more than I was expecting.” Emmi added, frowning as she looked at the sheer number of creatures.

“Makes you wonder what we will find when we go deeper.” Talin said, gazing further down the cavern, at the unknown foes ahead.