Vreek and I held the shields we had acquired from the Tabaxi from the last floor, between us and the spears coming at us. Two bounced off, leaving some good-sized dents on the inner part of my shield. I was thankful neither of them had pierced these metal shields yet.

When we got within twenty yards I saw a pack of six creatures I guessed were like a yeti. Each of them had red eyes and was covered in white fur. They had a quiver of spears on their back and were throwing them with amazing accuracy.

I saw two fire bolts zip past me. One on my right and one on my left. Each one hit one of the yetis and stunned them briefly. Neither seemed that affected by Turk’s attack.

As Vreek and I sprinted to close the gap. As we ran to meet the two coming toward us, the others started to flank our side. They appeared to have good battle tactics as they moved as a group making it dangerous for Vreek and me to get close.

I could not risk a glance back as I knew the snow would prevent me from seeing what Turk was doing. I knew Dirk was waiting to pop out and help from behind. For now, I just needed to buy time and distract as many as possible.

The two who charged towards us had reached us and they had switched to a two-hand spear method. They stood at least ten feet tall and their arm length made it almost impossible to get close as they jabbed and poked with their spears.

I noticed a white bolt and then another fly next to me off to my left. A screech of some sort erupted and I realized Turk must have used lightning instead of fire. It sounded like that had more effect than the fire ones did.

I could see Vreek struggling and the one attacking him. Even though it was overpowering him, it was not pushing Vreek back. The yeti did not want to press too far and give me his side. As his partner I faced backed up, so did he. I realized Vreek and I needed to work together.

"Form a wedge with me!" I shouted over the wind as I made my way to Vreek.

I could see Vreek starting to move slowly in my direction as he blocked a spear thrust and barely dodged one that was thrown at him.

Another screech came out from the right. I could barely make out Dirk striking down the one on the outside.

"They are falling! To me now!"

Vreek and I lunged toward each other and brought our shields up in the middle. Being left-handed made this work well as his shield and my shield created a solid wall in the middle that let us see off to our sides while still having our swords free.

The two in melee range now were the ones struggling. Dirk was engaged with the last one to the right and three more lightning arrows flew past my left dropping the last ranged yeti.

They realized their comrades had fallen and turned and started running for the cave.

"Get them!" Vreek shouted as he pulled his shield from mine.

We tried to chase, but their stride was bigger than ours, and their feet handled the snow much better.

Dirk tossed two daggers at one of them and hit it in the leg. It barely stumbled at first but after a few seconds, I realized Dirk had used poisoned ones to slow it down. It shouted something, and its last companion tossed its spear at Dirk, who disappeared into a shadow.

I saw it glance around, trying to figure out where he had gone, only to see Dirk appear underneath the yeti's legs and attack him from behind.

Dirk's two daggers were plunged into his lower back and Dirk dragged them all the way down to the back of his knees. The yeti howled in pain as it fell to the snow, leaving a trail of red blood everywhere.

I reached the one who was struggling to crawl along the snow. I was impressed it was resisting Dirk's poison so well, but with a swing of my sword, its head came off and blood-drenched the snow it lay on.

I watched as Dirk plunged the green dagger into the Yeti's spine and twisted. It shook and then fell still.

A few moments later, the bodies started to dissolve. Two large white Yeti pelts appeared on the ground where both of these two had died. I pointed to them, and Vreek nodded as he put his sword away and grabbed them.

"Get the spears!" I shouted at Dirk who was smiling as he came over to me. "Then get in the cave!"

I saw Dirk roll his eyes, but he nodded. I knew he wanted to brag about how that had gone. He had done the largest share of the work, but we needed to get out of the snow. I could feel my body hurting from the snow until I had cut off the head of the Yeti. That meant everyone else was still hurting from it.

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"Man, I owned those guys!" Dirk proclaimed as he cut a hole for his head to go through in one of the pelts. He slipped it over his head, and it reminded me of a blanket we had bought once at a fairground.

"You did well," Vreek affirmed as he watched what Dirk was doing. "That looks like a smart thing to do, but I almost wish I had something for my feet."

I thought back to boots and shoes. We wore them all our lives on Earth but here in this world, we had never needed them. Our feet were tough and hard, but this snow and ice was doing a number on them.

"It sucks there were no hearts again," Turk stated as he ended up following Dirk's example and made him a Yeti outfit.

"What I want to know is why they ran. Were they going to come into this cave and warn other groups?"

Turk looked at me, and his eyes went wide.

"If they are using dungeon agro, then we might be screwed."

I saw Vreek's face contort a little. I knew he understood probably none of that.

"What Turk is saying is that imagine there are scouts watching for invaders. If they see us and believe they cannot defeat us, they will tell all the other yetis... I mean creatures nearby and then we will have to deal with a larger group."

Vreek nodded at me and then turned his attention back to Turk.

"So, what is your plan?"

Turk laughed and shrugged.

"Well, we are in a cave now. The floor is ice, and I know we all feel the effect of the cold on our feet. The pelts will help us not freeze to death up top, but we have to keep moving forward. Dirk will be our strongest person here. Just look at all the shadows."

I glanced to where Turk was pointing and saw he was right. Throughout this cave, filled with ice, were shadows from ice pillars and dark spots. There was a light that seemed to appear dimly at the top of the cave, but with our eyesight, it was still easy to see. For any other race, it would probably be difficult and require a torch.

"So we need to explore slowly and let you two again draw their attack when we encounter a group. Dirk will be responsible for taking out any runner that I cannot."

"Lightning worked better?"

"It did. I think their fur helps against cold and fire. I'm unsure if that will do the same for our pelts, but at least it cuts down on the cold."

Dirk stomped his feet and then smiled.

"I think these pelts are magical. My feet do not feel as cold now after having worn this for a few minutes."

I flexed my toes and wondered if Dirk was right. They did not feel as cold.

"Or perhaps it is we are not standing in the snow," Turk pointed out.

"Or maybe that," Dirk said with a laugh. "Either way, I'll take it."

Vreek and I practiced our shield wedge and found a way to make it work a little better. I kept Light Drinker in its scabbard and tried to get used to the spear. I would rather have something I could throw.

Five hours later, we had finally made it to the pink portal. Dirk was ecstatic after having done most of the killing on this floor. One yeti had stayed until we cut out its heart. Unsure if it would let us take it to the next floor, we had cut it and gave half to vreek and a fourth to Turk and Dirk. All of them said afterward that they immediately were no longer cold.

“Let’s put the pelts in the backpack for now. Part of me is nervous about what the next floor might be.”

Everyone stripped off their pelt and handed it to me. I packed the bag and realized that we were in for a rough ride with four pelts and all the things we had picked up so far. The bag was basically full.

“I think I’m going to drop everything except what we got from the bosses,” I told them as I dumped out the bag. “We can keep the pelts also and see if we need them, but the ore and other things are useless without a blacksmith or someone else who can use it.”

No one complained so I repacked the backpack and found I had easily freed up half of the space and dropped around fifty pounds or more.

“All right let's do this!” Dirk said as I stood before the portal. “Lead the way, Dad!”

I nodded and walked through.

“Fick and frack!” I cursed.

“This is going to be like this every floor isn’t it?” Dirk asked as he looked around.

Turk was laughing and I looked over and saw fear in Vreek’s eyes.

“Vreek, are you ok?”

Vreek shook his head no.

“I can’t swim.”

“What do you mean you can’t swim? How can you not swim?”

Vreek looked at Dirk and shrugged.

“We usually stay away from going over our head in the water. Most goblins drown if we cannot touch the bottom when in a stream.”

Dirk groaned and I looked at Turk, who was trying to figure out what we should do.

I surveyed where we were. We were on a small island, maybe fifty feet around. There were no trees or anything else. Gentle one-foot waves continued to hit the shore before ending their short existence. The water was clear, like a beach we had stayed at in Mexico once.

All around us was just open water as far as the eye could see. This meant everything had to be underwater.

“A labyrinth wouldn’t give something like this without a way for us to beat it. Tell me what you are thinking, Turk.”

Turk nodded and pulled out his bow and walked to the edge of the island. Bending down, he put his hand in the water and lifted it to his lips.

“Saltwater, so this is a sea. I cannot see any monsters yet, but I am guessing we need to find some or what we are missing that will allow us to go to the next floor.”

Dirk stood on the edge of the water and shook his head.

“I would love to get in this and play, but I’m concerned for what might come. There are no shadows in this water around us, so I am stuck where I stand.”

I groaned. This floor was going to be a pain.