Trillia pulled her arms through the heavy fur cloak that she had brought. Amelia had just worn much heavier furs for the entire dungeon.

Once more, they stood at the entrance to the ice maze. This time, Trillia kept her mana sight up.

"Do you have a toggle scan yet?" Trillia glanced at Amelia as she began to trek forward.

"No. I don't think I'll get one, either. I have Greater Scan as a mastery skill and an emotion-based scan from my current class. I haven't seen anything for a toggle yet. I'd also be a bit worried about information overload." She looked around as she spoke, her eyes periodically lighting up with mana. "How do you manage?"

Trillia shrugged. "I don't keep it active most of the time. It is really overwhelming. I also spend enough time around Lord Arlyss that I don't want the warning messages popping up in my face every few seconds. I'll have to make a habit of turning it on during dungeons for safety reasons."

Amelia nodded, and the two continued in silence. Ialu sniffed here and there. They used the wolf as a cue for when a tweaked megapede was in the area. They ran into a half dozen of the things.

Despite [Dungeon Addict], Trillia was barely gaining any experience for them. She was starting to understand why most people hit a wall with leveling. The danger grew exponentially, but the rewards did not.

Couple her own high levels with the fact that the system saw her as being in a party now. Well, the experience gains were pitiful so far.

Ialu, thankfully, didn't seem to count. It tempted her even more into finding a monster-taming class.

"There it is." Trillia called out and stopped at seemingly a blank wall. With mana sight on, it had a slight shimmer to it. "Even with my scan toggled, I can barely make out the difference. Red River is really good at hiding stuff."

Amelia scowled a bit before extending both hands.

"Grant me visage eternal. Show me the secrets of the world. [Greater Scan]!"

She snapped at the end of her chant, and her eyes glowed more fiercely. Amelia leaned in, almost touching the wall, and could only gawk. "One of us is going to have to get a scan for traps of some kind. Or find another friend who can fill the role. The only reason I know there's a difference is because you've pointed it out."

"Know anyone who has something like that? Maybe someone could mentor one of us in it?" Trillia commented as she walked through the illusory wall in front of them. The tunnels changed to be far more smooth at this point. Less fighting meant less damage to the walls.

After another hour or so and three more illusory walls, the girls now stood at the edge of a visible barrier. Dark blue and painful to the touch.

"Boss Arena would be my guess." Amelia ran a finger along it and watched as her flesh became nearly solid. She pulled it back as the two of them resto chanted her back to full. "Hmmm. I can probably use Bulwark to get us through. But it's going to be a one-way trip. Or, we could run through and try to heal during the fight."

Trillia nodded off-handedly. "Stand back." Amelia pulled back a few steps, and Ialu followed. Trillia aimed her crossbow at the barrier, fully charged her abilities, and blasted it. The barrier groaned under the strain.

Two more blasts and cracks began to form on it. Trillia glanced back at Amelia, who shrugged and motioned to continue. "Let me Bulwark in front of you."

Amelia stepped in front of Trillia and held up the elemental bulwark. Three more blasts and the barrier shattered.

The bulwark took the brunt of the icy explosion that resounded. The girls heard clapping coming from in front of them. As the cloud of shattered ice settled, they were met with the floor two boss.

The room was a giant bowl shape. Jagged ice lined the entire thing, threatening to shred anyone who fell and slipped into it. There in the center, curled up and staring at them, was another abomination.

The long body of an icy pede but instead of the usual head sat the torso of what looked like an ogre. Twice as wide as an orc, and the torso itself was taller than most orcs. Its skin was an arctic blue with glowing green eyes.

In one hand, it held an indigo gem. In the other was a whip that was covered in ice and shards. Another set of hands was clapping as it stared at them. As the two girls stepped into the room, it reached to its back and pulled out a bow, and knocked an arrow. "Father, no skewer."

The voice was a mixture of chittering and the goblin tongue. Barely understandable.

[Dungeon Abomination - Hybrid Beast - ??] Obfuscated

Notable Traits:

Obfuscated

"Careful. I can't see its level." Trillia spoke softly as she slowly walked the edge of the bowl.

Amelia whispered back. "One forty. Quite the step up. I can't break its obfuscation to see anything else."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Trillia nodded before calling out. "Ready?"

In response, the thing hefted the gem, and a heavy mist filled the room. An arrow thunked into the cliff face under Trillia and shattered her footholds.

Ialu snapped down on her crossbow arm and yanked her back as she began to fall. Amelia slammed her mallet into the ground with a roar.

"[Shattering Sweep]!"

The ground in front of her and all the way down the bowl cracked and fell inward, taking Amelia with it but removing the shrapnel on the way.

Trillia steadied herself and began charging her crossbow. Drawing her rapier and linking herself with Ialu.

"Run interference. Try to draw its attention from us."

The wolf barked a few times before bounding off the cliff and into the mist below.

Trillia leveled her crossbow at the mist and waited for the first sign of the creature.

Her next surprise came when she heard a scraping sound. She looked to her side in time to see half of the creature's body raking through the ice and sending out shrapnel in every direction. Trillia had one choice, jump into the bowl.

She grit her teeth and leapt, doing her best to avoid being torn to shreds on the way down. After the first bound, she saw a glimpse of Amelia.

"[Mana Rift]!"

Trillia appeared next to her friend and let loose with her crossbow in the direction the scraping was coming from.

You're under the effects of [Banshee's Eerie]!

Allies have their Agility doubled.

Allies cannot be confused or charmed.

Enemies must resist the effects of the user's Presence or be stunned until the skill ends!

You're under the effects of [Brianna's Brilliant Barrier]!

The effects of all incoming elemental damage is halved.

Trillia made her rapier vanish, pulling open her cloak and plucking some chords into a tiny harp attached to her belt.

You're now under the effects of [Astra's Amazing Agility]!

You're agility is doubled for the duration of this skill!

Trillia kept one hand plucking away on the strings.

The room became a cacophony of [Minstrel] abilities and scraping, shattering ice.

Ialu howled. Trillia twisted her body and crossbow and let loose in that area. Amelia smashed the ground in that direction as well.

The screech of the creature proved they had gotten lucky. Ialu came bounding in from the mist, followed by a hail of arrows. The creature's torso appeared shortly after.

Trillia had forgotten the whip as it snapped out. She tried to dodge it, but even with her improved agility, it caught her in the side of the face, tearing off chunks of flesh. Her agility saved her from losing an eye, at least.

Amelia reached out to try and grab the whip, which proved a terrible idea. The creature's [Brawn] was significantly higher, and it merely yanked the whip out of her hand, leaving one of her hands shredded nearly to the bone. Both girls immediately stopped their buffing music and began to use [Restorative Chant] on one another.

The creature didn't relent. The bow had been placed on its back, and it had drawn a long trident in its place. The combination of thrusting attacks with the whip as follow-up was pushing both of them back rapidly.

Just as the two of them began to feel steady, the creature's tail swept in from behind them and sent them both flying through the air. The trident struck true and skewered Trillia, who immediately fell into tenacity, the whip lashed out, and Ialu vanished into the artifact.

Just like that, the mist vanished. The creature dropped its weapons as a small horde of healing goblins poured out of entrances far too small for them to appear from. Swarming over the two girls and pumping healing magic into them. This run had ended.

It took Trillia a few minutes to realize they had lost. The barrage of attacks had come in the span of thirty seconds and completely overwhelmed them. Gobbinz put a hand on her shoulder. "We were told that your wolf could be resummoned. Please tell me that we were not mistaken."

Trillia blinked a few times and looked down at her chest. The three holes that had been punched directly through her were slowly closing and healing.

She nodded blankly. "Yeah...yeah, I can summon Ialu again."

Amelia was glaring at the abomination. Who had taken to reforming the bowl into its perfectly untouched cliff face with a razor-sharp descent. "What in the name of Infernus was that?!"

Trillia sat there and continued to be healed up. "Did we even do damage?"

The abomination looked at the two of them, then towards the ceiling, then towards Gobbinz, who nodded. "He says you got him down to about eighty percent of his health."

Amelia walked over and sat next to Trillia. The goblins gave them a once-over before vanishing back into the secret tunnels they used. Gobbinz pulled out two blindfolds.

The girls sighed before snatching them and covering their eyes.

-=- Some Time Later -=-

Once more, they sat in the healing hall. Both of them in front of the fire. "Red River really isn't joking around, is it?"

Gobbinz shook his head. "Father has a half dozen rooms set up after the tenth floor. Each of them could fit about half of the orc tribes in them. They are truly massive. His current plan is that if things get really bad, he can have all of you hide in his depths, and those of us who can respawn will do our best to defend you."

The girls gave him a bit of an odd look. Gobbinz just shrugged. "Ralrouk could have crushed Father almost as soon as he was born. Your tribe could have easily killed us at any time in the first year. You didn't. You protected us and helped us grow. Father just wants to pay that kindness back. That's all."

Trillia reached over and gave the goblin a hug. "Tell him I said thank you. It means a lot to all of us that he cares. It means a lot that we have a plan if all other plans fail."

Gobbinz smiled and nodded. "He says you're welcome. He also said that the two of you should speak with old Mon'tag. He's made it down to the sixth level alone. He can maybe give you some pointers."

Amelia stared hard at the little goblin. "You're telling me that Mon'Tag has defeated that creature alone?"

Gobbinz chuckled softly and bowed. "Lord Mon'Tag has gone through extremely great efforts to see Father grow. He has helped Father design several of our levels and our contingency plans. Evidently, Lady Amara ordered him to do everything in his power to see this dungeon thrive. Grand Alchemist Mort has also been helping a great deal. We have a bunch of raiding goblins who are leveling alchemist as we speak."

Trillia beamed at that. "Being allies is gonna be great for all of us! This just means we have to come up with a plan of attack."

Gobbinz waved once more before he left through a secret passage. Over the course of the next hour, as the girls ate food and recovered their wits, a dozen orcs, and minotaur were hauled into the healing hall in all manner of battered and beaten. One of them had lost an entire arm to something hot.

Amelia couldn't help but grin. "At least we're not the only ones getting our butts kicked."

Trillia nodded. With another glance, the two stood up and began to help with the healing magic process.