The mood around the command crystal was heavy. Against six adventurers, their initial attack of nine total monster had been repelled easily, losing them three clerics and a paladin.
The loss of Jalx...
The monster had been committed to whatever his task with Hazz, the creepy goblin kid, was but Gi still hadn't expected him to die. Other than Elizabeth, he was one of the strongest monsters that he knew. When he'd seen him use whatever that beserking skill was, their success had seemed guaranteed.
These adventurers were much stronger than they'd expected and there were six of them.
The remaining Coastal Goblin crawled her way out of the river that connected the entire level. Water dripped off of her body, but she wiped at her eyes as she took in deep rasping breaths.
Samba, his Paladin elite, rushed over to her and wrapped an arm around her. She buried her face in his fur, her large ears pushing awkwardly into his robe. With his other hand, he rubbed her head in a decidedly mothering gesture.
Watching the crying woman, it started to hit him that Jalx was really gone. The goblin had saved him from the Leaf Elemental that had corned him on his first day in Igna. Even being in a better position now, Gi wouldn't do the same for another monster. The idea wouldn't even pass through his mind.
"Not a good start...," Kumo said, an irritated look on her face.
Elizabeth snorted, her voice flat and uncaring. "It's a great start. One of the adventurers is already dead. It's unfortunate that there were six of them, but it's manageable. Our advantage comes from having more bodies to throw at them. You just need to stick to your plan."
Samba looked over the crying goblin's head with a sour look on his face from Elizabeth's statement, but didn't counter her. Gi looked down at the view constructed of light from the Encampment Crystal. The bodies of Jalx and his Coastal goblins were still there. The fire mage had been heavily drained, but the chain mailed fighter was a Cleric and all of their injuries had already been healed from the fight. Like Elizabeth said, it would be a battle of attrition against their Aether reserves as no damage they did would truly stick.
He hated her callous view of his clan as expendable, but to a certain extent, she was right.
"Kumo, take the two Clerics that have [Bishop] and [Divine Bolt]. Make sure the other side has a Fighter as well. We can't let them rest."
Elizabeth watched Kumo go to follow his instructions before she turned to Gi. "You need to start deciding which members you're going to sacrifice."
It was everything Gi could do to bite back a retort against the drowned human looking monster. It might just be pieces on a chess board to her, but to him, this was his clan. Every otter that died here would hamper them. Knowing Elizabeth could murder him, he chose a diplomatic answer instead. "I thought you said this was a good start?"
"It is. Your goal at this level is only to survive. It's very unlikely that we'll be able to kill an entire group of adventurers at this level. I'm not risking myself for the attempt."
"So what are you suggesting?" Gi's eyes followed Kumo along the river as she left to go harass the adventurers.
"You have to make the price of wiping us out too high and you have to give them a way out. If they don't have a way to succeed, they might grow desperate and force us into a fight we don't want."
"Can't they just leave the Dungeon? That's what happened last time."
"They can... and they might especially after I face them, but I won't fight them until just before your boss room. Again, I'm not going to risk myself for your clan. That wasn't part of the deal."
Gi frowned. Kumo's group had engaged the adventurers firing off [Divine Bolt] into the resting adventurers. The uninjured rogue was quick to act, diving into the water like he had before. With Kumo's dual rocks, she was able to keep off the rogue as the two Clerics escaped and was strong enough to keep herself alive.
The dwarf didn't seem eager to push his luck while he was alone especially after their swordswoman had died. Having scared off the Clerics, he returned back to his group.
"So I have to kill off my clan and weaken them so you can achieve whatever your goals are. All so you don't have to risk yourself in forcing them to leave."
She gave him a flat stare. "My strength is restricted here. I'm telling you what I won't do and I'm telling you what you need to do if you want a chance. There's no guarantee that they leave even if I manage to weaken them further. At my current power level, I couldn't destroy them if I wanted to."
In that moment, he hated her. He knew she was right, but Danna only had two Realms - Strength and Family. Was getting half his family killed to save the rest really a decision he had to make? What would Danna say?
Elizabeth waited, not rushing him, as Gi sent some Aether to [Danna's Conduit], but no answer was forthcoming. He looked back at the glowing model of the Dungeon in front of him and the adventurers had already engaged the next group of otters. These were three Agility fighters, but they were outnumbered and struggling to keep up. Gi watched as they died one after the other even with another round of harassment by Clerics using [Divine Bolt].
Gi didn't know what Danna would do in this situation. Maybe she'd use her power to find a way to defeat the adventurers, but he wasn't her. He couldn't do that so he looked to the only other guide he had in his life.
The Father. He knew exactly what the Father would do. He was brutal and would sacrifice whatever or whoever he needed that would get him what he wanted.
Gi didn't like that either.
Through Danna, Family. Through Family, Strength.
That was his belief. How could he sacrifice his own family for strength? He had to make a decision though. Whether he liked it or not, his clan was getting murdered by the adventurers as he considered which path to take.
No action was the same as conceding to Elizabeth's desires.
"Fuck," Gi mumbled under his breath. He was so tired of getting tangled in other people's decisions and messes. He'd just started to break out of that mentality as a Ground Clan leader, but here he was again.
If they might die anyways, it was time to take some risks.
Kumo had just returned from the river, popping out in her generic hydrophobic grey robes. He needed to get the rest of his clan moving before the adventurers got close to the boss room. "Kumo," he called out to her and then to the two otters that were at his side. "Wax and Wane."
Kumo joined them and Gi continued. " Kumo, I want you and the twins to get another cleric and run as a primary harrying group. Retreat immediately if things look bad. We need you three in the boss room for the final showdown. I also want you to get a number of Fighters to for the next room. If any otter falls, have the Fighters try to run in and assassinate the squishier members."
"Good," Kumo said, "I was tired of us getting killed. Let's murder them back.
"It will be..."
"...as you command."
The three of them left and Gi spotted Samba still talking with Jalx's Coastal Goblin. Frankly, he wished she'd have died with Jalx. That extra goblin alive was one less otter that he could bring home with him. She'd just lost her entire family. Danna and Tiria both would be horrified to hear his thoughts, but like everything he'd had to consider as a monster, it was either them or us.
He left her for now. Maybe it wouldn't be something that he'd have to deal with at all.
Elizabeth left the boss room to go wait in the adjoining room with two Paladins and one of his three Clerics that had [Danna's Touch]. Even being harassed every step of the way, the adventurers kept moving. In the next room, a Paladin and two Clerics engaged them, but it felt like they were barely able to beat the adventurer's Aether regeneration.
Three Clerics popped up on one side, but they'd barely gotten a volley off before the dwarf jumped into the river after them. They were being hunted down. At the same time, the Paladin in the room was cut down by a whip of fire from the mage in the back, completely protected from the two Clerics in the room by the black steeled guardian.
Slightly out of sync, four otters appeared on the other side of the cavern. Light shot out from three of them, but two of the bursts were much stronger than the other. The light of them curved around each other like two foxes dancing through the woods.
The guardian had been expecting this, but the delayed timing seemed to have thrown him off as whatever he used to slide in the way of the last Clerics' volley was not available. He leapt between the two, but Wax and Wane's bolts were faster than a common Cleric's.
The guardian landed just as the first few bolts passed him by. Realizing he was about to take a hit, the fire mage cut off the fire whip skill he'd been managing and an orb of flames erupted around him.
The light of Wax and Wane's bolt shown bright as it impacted the shield. A geyser of flame erupted and the two elements strengthened each other. The flame shield exploded as the empowered light broke through.
The fire mage's body shot out of the orb from the force of the explosion and he slid across the ground, three enlarged bolts protruding from his shoulder. From the limited movements that Gi could see, the mage was still alive, but he was heavily injured.
Gi turned to command some other otters to go attack the other side, but everyone had already left the chamber to go to their assigned stations other than Samba and the distraught goblin.
He should still have some floating patrols but he wouldn't be able to change anything else from here. He turned back to the light view.
The adventurer Cleric had rushed over to the mage, pausing before healing him. The guardian had already pushed forward to present a bigger target and the swamp mage moved to try and debuff his Elites.
What was their Cleric doing?
She glanced towards the backs of the swamp mage and the guardian. With a sigh, she placed her hand on the fire mage and he gasped for air as her power fell into him.
"Retreat!" Gi yelled at the light view as the fire mage got back to his feet. They couldn't hear him, of course, but he hadn't even noticed that the two Clerics that had been in the room were already dead. That meant his Elites were facing down the enemies full might if they didn't -
Kumo called for the retreat and the others listened but the non-elite that had come with them had moved too slowly and was cut down by a slice from the mage's fire whip.
Gi cursed. He'd already lost over half of his Clerics and he still had two rooms left not including the boss room. It was another three fighters before Elizabeth's and then the boss room.
With apprehension, he watched as the adventurers headed for the next room, clearly concerned for the random attacks by his remaining Clerics. The fire mage was obviously not as healthy as he had been and both the guardian and the suspicious chain mailed Cleric moved more slowly as they pushed for the next room.
Gi felt like he was finally starting to see some impact from their constant attacks.
His Fighters in the next room engaged differently than the last had. Rather than rushing towards the adventurers, they dodged the fire whip and slowly kited backwards away from the guardians. Gi wasn't sure if they were doing it on purpose, but it split them up even more than they had been last rooms.
At the moment the adventurers were spread out the most, Kumo and the twins popped up again, but this time guardian was prepared. He used his skill to slide in the direction of the [Divine Bolt] from Wax and Wane. Despite their increased power, it wasn't enough to do more than push the guardian back a step.
The rogue, instead of engaging Clerics on the other side, appeared behind one of the fighters and stabbed him in the back. The otter dropped limply to the floor and the two remaining otters in the room leapt on the rogue, forcing him into a panicked retreat. Between the two of them, it took all of the rogue's skill to keep them both at bay with his knives. If his otters had been wielding weapons longer than their river rocks, they might have killed the rogue right there.
Meanwhile, a fighter had entered from the other side of the river when the first otter died and moved along the side of the cavern, clearly using [Skulk] like Tiria did as none of the adventurers seemed to notice him. Wax and Wane were still keeping the attention of both the guardian and the fire mage, playing a very dangerous game against the blazing line of fire.
As the fire whip would come towards them, they'd dive backwards into the river before popping up and firing off another blast that would be deflected by the guardian. It was a stalemate, but seeing the powers of his Elites made him more anxious than ever. If he couldn't keep them safe, the clan would be crippled...
The stealthed Fighter finally reached behind the swamp mage who'd managed to slow the original fighters in the room with her spells. Muck coated their legs and the rogue was picking the two of them off as they tried to flee. The swamp mage continued to fire off streams of mud unawares.
A river stone crashed down into her head. It didn't kill her instantly despite the increased damage from [Skulk]. The mage fell backwards, staring wide eyed up at the fight who was pulling back for another strike. The rock swept downward just as the mage cried out in the humans' strange language.
Mud instantly shot up from the floor, completely engulfing her before solidifying into a coffin of dried clay. The otter's rock bounced off the sudden shell, not causing so much as a crack to it. Realizing his opportunity had passed, he started to sprint back towards the river, but a line of fire cut into his back. He stumbled from, steadying himself with one hand against the cavern wall, but the delay left him open to a mace from the suspicious cleric.
Gi's shoulders slumped. It hadn't even been a full hour since the adventurers had come and he was already down almost half of his clan. His planning and foresight wasn't able to overcome the raw power of an unusually high number of adventurers.
Perhaps that was how the pathetic adventures had felt when he'd fought them the first time. Thinking back to that time, he suddenly had a realization as he stared at the light view. That fire mage was the same human as before! The crying kid that had survived.
Did that mean...?
He glanced at the dark steeled guardian, but it was difficult to tell if that was the same man or not. What did it mean that the same humans he'd fought before came again? How had they gotten so much more powerful than even he had in such a short time?
*****
Fader had his shield wedged into the cavern and his eyes kept an eye out for those damn roving spellcasters. Ry was doing similarly for the stealthed Fighters that had shown up in this room. The Prince leaned heavily against Fader's shield, safe from any stray shots. Eitina frowned at the two men.
"My Aether is running dry. I'm not sure how many more heals I have after I take care of Gale."
Exhausted, the Prince nodded. Despite having the most Vitality and Strength of anyone there, Fader's legs shook any time he took a step. With his Shadowed Body, he could keep going with little impact to his performance, but if he was feeling the effects, the others had to be practically tortured. They'd almost been sprinting through this dungeon for the past hour.
"It doesn't make sense," Eitina said for what felt like the thousandth time. She clearly had enough Vitality to complain. "These otters have shown more versatility than should be possible on this level and what the hell was with those goblins? The twenty fifth is supposed to be a single species. With the Prince’s evolved leadership, this should have been simple. Instead, we’ve got one dead and another that would have been if she didn’t have a lifesaving measure as a skill. Those are rare before the next rank.”
“Aberrant,” Fader grunted.
“Stop saying that like it explains everything!”
Despite his exhaustion, the Prince was a born leader and his voice brooked no disagreement. “We can try to puzzle out this mystery later. Trust me. I spent months researching aberrants and the only thing that will help us now is to be as prepared as possible.”
Eitina stared wide-eyed. “Surely, they can’t have more tricks?”
Fader wasn’t superstitious but come on. “Damn it, woman. Are you trying to tempt the First One himself? We haven’t reached the boss room yet and lots of monsters even have sub-bosses. Even if some of those roaming ones were sub-bosses, we definitely haven't seen everything.”
That quieted Eitina. “We should leave then.”
The Prince, whose head had been lolled back against Fader’s shield, suddenly snapped up to lock eyes with her. “No. You know what’s at stake.”
Eitina threw up her hands. “Is the throne really worth your life? Do you think just because you rank up that there won’t be a succession?”
The Prince’s voice was cold steel. “I’m more aware of what’s coming than you are. I intend to make sure our kingdom makes it through alive and I’ll cut through any monster or anyone in my way.”
Fader glanced between the Prince and Eitina and he watched the Cleric of Matar wither against the Prince’s gaze. The two of them didn’t say more though because Gale’s [Mud Coffin] had finally cracked open.