The next day, they continued deeper into the dungeon. Even despite their thorough research and the use of Bellarth's navigator skills, it was still time-consuming and difficult to make progress. The next challenge room was the firewall challenge, which was more than a little scary to participate in.
As a summoner, Calista's outfit was closer to that of a mage than a warrior. She didn't wear leather padding or steel armor to defend herself from attacks. Instead, she wore a decorative dress that was long enough to cover everything, regardless of what activities she participated in, a cape to offer extra warmth, and accessories enchanted with defensive bonuses. Her shoes were the same boots that most adventurers wore as it was the most suitable in the dungeon.
This was important as it took time to remove the shoes and socks from her feet before they could start the firewalk challenge. They had to time things appropriately so that they could kill the gargoyles in the room just before the firewalk challenge and then proceed forward. There was nowhere to take their shoes off in the room as the path was one of fiery coals from start to finish inside the room. They'd likely have to fight shoeless after they got into the next room as well, unless the gargoyles were willing to give them the time to put them back on.
Walking across the fiery coals was scary and the panic made her want to pause, but her team leader's reminder made her continue forward at a steady pace.
"Remember, we have to keep walking forward, but don't rush! This should be doable without a fire resistance potion and we don't want to waste a healing potion if we don't have to. Just don't panic and keep going, it will be over before we know it!"
As there were five of them attempting the challenge at the same time, it was even more difficult. They had entered the room one at a time, ensuring they didn't overcrowd anyone else, but their differences in height and foot size made things even more difficult. What was slow for one person was a normal pace for others and vice versa. That led to a few members of her party bumping into each other, leading to a few of them taking minor burns before they made it to the end.
Aramis sighed in relief as they made it into the next [Monster] field room. Cassia, who had taken the lead in the last room, stood guard while everyone else took care of their injuries and put their gear back on.
"Here, Orik, Bellarth, you should both put this herbal cream on. It should help relieve the pain from the burns. You should rinse your feet with water first to remove the dirt or it won't be very effective. Healing potions shouldn't be necessary, but you'll have to bear with the discomfort."
The herbs for healing potions weren't exactly common in forests and not all dungeons were abundant in resources. While they could save on some expenses thanks to Aramis's alchemy knowledge, they still tended to save the expensive potions for emergencies, choosing to prioritize basic medical techniques instead.
It didn't take them long to reach the next challenge room. The last progress has been scary, but not particularly time-consuming. If anything, it was dangerous for them to take too long to cross, just as it would be for them to rush. The rooms hadn't been much smaller than an adventurers' guild might be, so it normally would only take a minute or two to cross, but, even with their slowed pace, it still took them only a handful of minutes to cross the entirety of the room.
The next challenge room was one which Bellarth played the starring role for. What might have caused some confusion and backtracking for normal adventurers was simple enough for them. The only real problem was that they had to walk the entirety of the room in order for her brother's skill to update all of the information and give them the full picture. Once that was done, they easily found the exit and received their reward.
The firewalk challenge had given them a silver mirror and comb set while this one had offered a silk green robe that matched the luxury towels they had received from the tropical parkour challenge. Aramis grinned widely as he offered Orik
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"I'm guessing you'll be offering your robe up as an example for the guild this time too, huh? Personally, I can't wait to see my wife wearing her new robe. Almost seems like a shame that we won't be coming back through here on the way back!"
Orik grumbled incoherently, seeming angry, but it was all good-natured. This dungeon was, admittedly, quite strange. There was a set of stairs at the end of a hallway that connected the entrance of the dungeon to the second floor. It had denied them entry when they had checked it out on the first day they visited. It would seem that only those who had defeated the boss could skip the floor's challenges and head directly up to the next floor. How the Dungeon Master could afford to be so generous, she wasn't sure, but she was more than happy to shorten their return trip.
The only challenge left for them on this first floor was the boss room now. There were even fewer [Monster] fields between the tavern maze and the boss room than there were between each of the other challenges. Considering the dungeon was already divided in half and boss rooms tended to be quite large, Calista could easily guess that the Dungeon Master had simply run out of space to continue building.
"Alright, let's take stock and make a battle plan before we enter the boss chamber."
Cassia announced as they came to the door to the boss room. Most dungeons had proper doors between rooms, but this dungeon simply had large gaps between the trees to make it easier to pass from room to room. After gaining everyone's attention, Cassia continued
"I'll be taking the lead. As all of the other [Monsters] on this floor have been gargoyles, it's likely the boss will be as well. However, there is no guarantee of that and we have to be prepared for a number of possibilities. We don't know if the boss will have AOE skills, minions, or anything else. Assuming it's just a boss that specializes in one-on-one style combat, I'll keep its aggro and take the brunt of the attacks."
That was the usual way they did things, so it was nothing new. Orik spoke up next as he said
"I don't have a lot of [Traps] that will be effective against a stone enemy. I don't have time to set up anything significant either. I doubt bladed weapons will be useful against a stone enemy either. I have some explosives that I can use in a pinch, but I'll have to rely mostly on specialty crossbolts. I've got acid I can dip the crossbolts in and blunted bolts that I can use for a blunt option. There's also the armor-piercing bolts, but I don't have many of those and I don't know if they'd be effective enough to be worth it."
Cassia nodded before replying
"Alright, we'll do that then. Aramis, you use a long staff, so you should be able to take the lead on damage and, Calista, your golem should be able to help out too. Bellarth, if the room is larger, it will take you some time to map things out, right? Why don't you and Calista walk around the outside of the room until I give the all-clear and you can safely head into the center of the room where the boss will likely be waiting."
Some bosses used other methods, but the gargoyles hadn't shown many signs of intelligence. The boss [Monsters] could easily be different from the basic form, but there was still a limit to how different members of the same species could be. With their plan in place, they entered the boss room. Calista immediately summoned her golem, which shook their surroundings and caused the boss [Monster] to roar off in the distance. That allowed them to confirm its location, but they didn't have to worry about a premature fight as the boss didn't leave his post.
Calista didn't get to see the boss fight for herself, but she was later regaled with tales from the others. The boss was a large stone creature with wings on its back, but it was so heavy that it couldn't properly fly. Mostly, it used its wings to deflect attacks and create a gust of wind to attack her party members with. Cassia ended up doing most of the work as she attacked the boss with her large mace and repeatedly used her divine leash skill to keep aggro. Aramis attacked from behind when there was an opening while Orik attacked from the side. However, their attacks were slow and had limited effectiveness. That didn't mean they didn't put forth their best effort, though, just that not every enemy would be a perfect match for their skills.
When the boss was defeated, they had a limited amount of time to look over the center of the room before they'd be risking the boss respawning. Bellarth made quick work of running around the room to finish mapping everything. Then they exited the room, ending up in the main hallway of the first floor of the dungeon.