The large group spread out as soon as they entered the dungeon, forming into their designated groups. Naturally, Riley and Oscar moved together as one unit, and Caius was up at the front with the others. Azalea hung back near the entrance just to be safe. If any monsters were to appear and attack right off the bat, the others would be able to move to protect her in time.

“Alright, everyone, remember your roles,” Caius said, his voice rising to easily reach everyone in the massive cavern. His voice bounced eerily off the cave walls, reverberating back and giving him a slight delay. “The Sisters and I are the primary strike force. Mages and archers, stay behind us where it’s safe. As for the rest of you, feel free to jump in when you see an opening. If you get injured or need to rest for a moment, join the mages. The last thing we want is someone getting hurt and getting in the way.”

He received grave nods all around, and nodded in his own turn. Then he took a few steps back, falling into rank with Tankbabe and the duo. Azalea saw him cast a quick glance around, looking a little uneasy. She knew he was wishing that their group had more front-line fighters. There were more mages than tanks or fighters in this raid. Even Oscar had elected to put his bow away if only to better complement the melee types.

“Nothing we can do about it, of course,” she heard Riley say to Caius at the front. “The best we can do is play it safe. If it looks like it’ll be too much, we can always withdraw.”

Caius nodded his agreement. “True. Alright, let’s push up. The longer we stand here gawking, the more of our buffs we’re wasting.”

The lead group began to move forward. Azalea and the other mages gave them a few yards before following, and there were at least two fighters on each side of their group, ready to react in case a monster slipped past the guard. The potions and food Azalea had passed out to everyone would increase their strength and agility for an hour. It was the longest buff she could manage, even after some hours of experimentation with her limited supplies. She just hoped it was long enough. If her experience with raids in this game was any indication, it might be, or it might not. Project Terra was just too unpredictable to let her be sure.

The first monster attack wasn’t long in coming. They were less than halfway across the huge open space when a crowd of figures came running out of one of the adjoining tunnels. Over a dozen goblins, Azalea thought, with three ogres as extra muscle. Then, just as they were clear of the tunnel, there was a massive rumble in the earth, and something burst out of the ground behind the goblins. Some kind of worm! It arced harmlessly over the goblins, then slammed back into the ground, burrowing out of sight as quickly as it had appeared.

“Son of a bitch!” She heard one of the solo mercenaries scream. The man immediately turned and ran back to the safety of the line. “Oh hell no, we’re not tak-”

The worm appeared again, a gaping circular maw of teeth and hundreds of pounds of hard chitin armor. It caught the fighter in its open mouth, then slammed back down into the hard earth. The man didn’t come with the beast as it burrowed, but his body did explode against the earth. With a roar of triumph, the worm circled around under the ground, then came up in front of the strike group, rushing right for the prey it could sense.

By sheer misfortune, Caius was right in the path of the worm’s lunge as it came out of the ground, showering them all with dirt and pebbles. But Tankbabe moved with lightning speed, knocking him out of the way and planting her heavy shield. Likewise, that brawler woman’s partner also stepped forward, his shields roughly the same size as Tankbabe’s. Both were too large to be swallowed in one of the worm’s bites, so instead, the monster slammed into them, forcing them back.

Dirt flew in a thick cloud as the two players were shoved back in a straight line, their teeth gritted as they tried to stop the beast in its tracks. They didn’t seem to take any damage, but that lunge of the worm pushed them back nearly two dozen yards. Azalea and the other mages were quick to get out of the way, but their force was effectively split in half, stuck on either side of a massive monster. Then the onward rush of the monster finally came to a halt, and it flailed impotently on the ground, a roar echoing from its maw.

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Quick as a flash, Azalea saw Riley and Caius both turn to start hacking at the thick coat of armor plates the beast had. Their attacks couldn’t seem to break through its defenses. Azalea lifted her staff, conjuring a large ball of flames that she threw at the worm. They broke against his hide, only succeeding in scorching the beast. Next, she tried throwing a few lightning bolts over half a dozen seconds. That, at least, had some effect. The electricity rippled up and down the worm’s body, and its flailing ceased for a moment.

Then the goblins and the trolls were upon them. The massive brutish trolls slammed heavy clubs down, sending the strike force reeling. The entire attack was concentrated on one side, leaving half the lead party unable to do much but attack the worm in their way. Azalea sent a mana bolt slamming into one troll, snapping its head back, and staggering the brute. Caius seized the opportunity while it whirled around, trying to find her, and slashed his sword across the back of the troll’s legs. It went down with a howl of pain, soon to be finished by the fighters around it.

Oscar flashed into view for a few seconds, cutting one of the goblins down with a flurry of dagger slashes. Then he was away again, and Caius and one other sword-and-shield user were charging another goblin. Their shields slammed into the smaller creatures, sending them flying back to tumble into their allies. Another of the trolls fell as something struck it in the face and exploded with the force of a small bomb.

In the middle of the raiding party, the worm had finally managed to break free of its death grip on Tankbabe and the other man’s shield. It gave a roar of fury, slamming against their shields to knock them back, then dove back into the ground, kicking up a thick cloud of dirt as it vanished. Caius saw the worm disappear and immediately screamed an order. “Reform! Make a ring!”

He and the other front-liners rushed to make a protective circle, inside which sheltered the mages. Azalea saw a small figure in red and white Shinto robes hop onto Caius’ shoulder, his body barely big enough to be felt. He patted Caius on the head, delivering some kind of magic, then jumped off him to another, offering more buffs.

“You brought Fluffypie to the raid?” Azalea asked, turning incredulously to Centrogen.

The dragon girl shook her head. “Of course. We wouldn’t last nearly as long or fight as well as we do without him.”

She held out one arm, and Fluffypie jumped to her, catching the arm and clambering onto her shoulders. Again, she didn’t even lose her balance. Fluffypie caught the edge of Azalea’s sleeve, and buffed her intellect and agility, then created a small green glowing orb in one hand. He threw it at the frontliners and it expanded, covering them in its protective aura.

Centrogen caught Azalea’s look of amazement and gave her a fierce grin. “He’s more than just our mascot, you know. He’s well worth the treats we buy him.”

Fluffypie was gone again in a flash, moving to the fighters to their left in a mad dash. Even in the midst of battle with a fierce look of concentration on his face, the cute fox boy was adorable. And effective. Even without attacking, it was clear he was one of the major players on the field. Realizing she’d allowed her attention to slip, Azalea fired off another ball of flames at the small army of goblins. She hit true, arcing the spell just over the heads of the frontliners, and vaporizing three of the goblins in an instant.

“Nice shot, Azalea!” Riley called. He dove into the thick of the goblins, his quarterstaff whirling all around him. He’d really warmed up to the weapon in the last week, she thought, seeing two goblins fall with nasty wounds on their heads. But that was nothing compared to the grace of Caius’ attack. The veteran warrior waded into the goblin’s ranks, his sword rising and falling, taking out a little beast with each swing. They tried to retaliate, but the shield on his left arm was almost an extension of his being, spinning around to catch each attack and deflect it harmlessly.

The goblins didn’t last long now that the front liners were re-organized. Even the troll didn’t stand much of a chance, falling to a nasty black spell that Centrogen. The troll withered away into ash, leaving a few items on the ground where it had once stood.

“Where’d the worm go!” Caius shouted into the sudden silence that followed the quick battle. “Can anyone feel it moving around?”

But all evidence of the monster’s presence was gone. Azalea supposed it had retreated to attack once their guard was down. Caius seemed to come to this conclusion quickly as well. “Damn. How many did we lose?”

“Just the one idiot that tried to reposition when a monster was charging him,” Kyraa called back. Considering how tough that worm was, we’re doing well.”

“Alright,” Caius said. “He’ll respawn quickly enough and get back here if he’s not totally out of it. Leave his stuff for now, and let’s push on!”