Hidden quests were rare and Hana could already tell that the cadets were eager to take on the challenge. And it wasn't just them. That bothered Hana more than anything else.
"If it's up to us, we'd like to take the quest," Willow offered. Kieun and Mara nodded behind her. "This is an opportunity we can't miss out on."
"Glad we all agree," Jinyoung called out from behind Hana. "Here we go."
Hana thought to interrupt, but before she could Jinyoung accepted the quest on behalf of the party and every member received a notification.
QUEST: Thin Skin (I)
OBJECTIVE: Defeat the MID-BOSS while taking minimal damage.
FAILURE: Take on too much damage.
REWARD: 1000 GOLD
A tense moment lingered. The cadets looked to Jinyoung and then slowly turned their gaze to Hana.
She'd never been through this particular dungeon before, but as an instructor she'd done her research in its entirety.
It was a thoroughly explored D-tier dungeon. The Academy had books written about the mobs, the interior tunnel structure, and the mid-boss. The underground shopping mall was a maze of corridors branching passages. Man-beetles patrolled the longer corridors while bigger creatures lurked deeper in. The large open spaces that had once been home to performances and events were crawling groups of monsters. Located just beyond the checkpoint was an open atrium. The lair of the mid-boss.
The mid-boss was the Queen Bee, a large insectoid roughly the size of a minivan. Comparatively, the beetles earlier were smaller than shopping carts. Thanks to its massive weight, it could simply swing its weight around and deal massive damage in close quarters while it fired its stinger to hit targets at range. And if it ever found itself surrounded, it could rapidly beat its wings to create a powerful area-of-effect (AOE) gust of wind that sent everything in its immediate vicinity flying back.
Hana bit her lip. The monster was weak against long-ranged attacks, but Willow was only equipped with a light-crossbow. Otherwise, they'd have to wait until it used its AOE attack and then counter-strike while its guard was momentarily lowered.
Kieun had a short spear while Mara had a longsword giving them roughly the same range. Jinyoung only had a short sword, but he could use [dash] to move quickly. Either in to take advantage of an opening or out to avoid an attack. And Hana had skills to bolster the party’s defenses and reduce any damage taken.
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This might work.
Finally, the shield knight broke the silence. "Fine, but you all do as I say and we do this my way. Understood?"
The last bit was aimed at one cadet in particular. And Hana wanted to make sure he heard it.
“Okay.”
***
The beetle carapace in his hand made his skin crawl, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Hana had made it clear that Jinyoung and Willow needed something to defend themselves in case the plan went sideways.
The party slowly made their way through the corridor with care. There was debris everywhere and picking the quietest path through the detritus was necessary if they were going to make this work. The party needed every advantage they could manage. Specifically, they needed the element of surprise.
Eventually, the path cleared but the rubble remained. Chunks of the walls and ceiling found themselves scattered across the floor. The party made progress, painfully slowly until they reached the open atrium.
A large intricate glass dome let the sunlight outside come streaking in, past the upper floor into the basement floor. Ceramic doves hung in the center, or at least some of them did. Most were shattered on the ground. The upper floor was accessible by a stairs on the north end while one of two escalators reached out from the center of the basement floor up to the upper landing.
Perched at the entrance of the upper floor was the Queen Bee.
Each party member saw a small gauge appear in their system HUD, presumably to measure the damage the party had taken.
Damage Taken
[llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll]
That’s new.
“Okay,” whispered Hana. “Just like we planned. Everyone get in position.”
Kieun and Mara flanked the atrium while Hana took cover behind a collapsed coffee cart. All it took was a silent nod and Mara moved in with their longsword. The Queen Bee immediately spotted and moved quickly to intercept.
The cadet was surprised how quickly something so big could move. Instead of jumping down from the 1st floor, it jumped into the basement floor crashing into the tile and showering Mara with debris. They reacted blindly, responding with a spinning cut that CLANGED off the Queen Bee’s head.
“Mara, get back!”
Kieun moved in and thrusted in. Hard. The Queen Bee was knocked back a few feet while the short spear reverberated in his hands.
“Willow, now!”
On cue, Willow took careful aim and fired at the hulking insect. Center weight.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
Four useless bolts clattered to the hard tile and Hana rushed in. Something was wrong. The Queen Bee was a D-Tier monster at most. It was weak against spells, but also physical attacks. A cut from a longsword, even a mediocre one, should’ve cut straight through. And Willow’s crossbow should’ve made it a pin cushion.
Things went wrong fast. The Queen Bee moved frighteningly quickly and slammed the weight of its body against the column Kieun was bracing behind. The concrete column shredded like paper and Kieun was thrown sideways into a shop offering free samples on weekends. While Willow worked to reload the crossbow, Mara moved in with a heavy cut that would’ve cleaved a tree in two. Instead, the Queen Bee shrugged it off and Hana came in with a heavy [shield bash] that pushed the enormous creature sideways. Somehow, the massive thing recovered quickly and took direct aim at Hana with its stinger.