Chapter 14: Clearing the obstacle
The morning sun brought with it a fresh breeze. The previously sweltering heat of the forest had lessened over the week with the passing of the season towards the end of year. The now refreshed dungeon core watched as his favorite, and only, group of adventurer's made their way towards his entrance. It was evident to Lethe now that the group needed the rest from yesterday. Already, their posture and ambience was much improved, each of them carrying a confident gait to their steps.
As the members of the group entered the dungeon, the formation around them sprang up almost automatically. Lethe, being the ever helpful dungeon, and also bored of them just grinding every day, decided to give them a helping hand. Invoking his almost-forgotten [Boons] skill, he reinstated the [Adventurer Boon - Trusted Companions] on the group, slightly startling them while they were getting into formation.
[Adventurer Boon - Trusted Companions | You and your party members have demonstrated a trust that is rare to find in this world, although much more expected in adventurer's than mercenaries. Grants increased effectiveness in working together with your party members.]
Reading the newly received boon, the group of brothers set their shoulders and headed into the dungeon. Similar to their previous 10+ runs over the past few days, they had zero problems clearing the first room. The group's coordination had already been great and now being boosted by the boon and higher level, the 3 [Acid Slime]s were barely able to hold them off for a minute. Heading into the tunnel, and then the second room, the group continued to steamroll through the mobs.
In less than 30 minutes, the group was standing on the ledge leading into the second tunnel and their greatest obstacle in the delve. The rank 3 [Stone Slime] continued to take up almost all of the tunnel, leaving barely enough space for anyone to squeeze through on either side. Its floating shield, stone-like membrane , and slowly undulating core, exerting the pressure of its higher rank on the group.
Looking at their adversary, the party didn't bother to make any new plans. The group had apparently already discussed what they would do, and as they readied their weapons, the [Shieldbearer] started walking towards the slime, his group close behind him. He stood there, ready and waiting, the rest of the party close enough to be able to support him. As soon as he saw that the shield was nearer to the base and front of the slime, the tank started running and then almost instantly doubled his speed, using [Rush] to close the distance between himself and the slime, instantly ramming his own shield into the side of floating one, using [Bash] to double the effect.
Due to the nature of the floating shield itself, even though it was far stronger than what the [Shieldbearer] had equipped, the angle at which he finished his rush, and the subsequent [Bash] the shield was knocked to the side and away from the slime until a musical 'snap' caused it to clatter to the ground, the magic and tether to the slime itself broken due to simple distance. Examining this opening move, Lethe knew that what the [Shieldbearer] had done was not an easy feat to accomplish. As the dungeon core had been focusing on the man, he was able to see that the man had used two skills in conjunction as well as simply physics to cause this effect.
As soon as the shield was untethered from the [Stone Slime], without it even being able to start any form of counter-attack, the rest of the group started throwing their ranged attacks while the [Skirmisher] dashed through the side of the occupied slime and reached its back. Before being bombarded by the multiple ranged attacks, the [Stone Slime] shuddered as its tether snapped, rolling forward and closer to the [Shieldbearer].
As it got closer, part of its membrane gathered and solidified into a stone-like fist, battering the tank on its shield. When the ranged attacks reached it, a silent howl and wave ran across the slime, chips of stone blasted off of its body. Bracing himself behind the shield, the [Shieldbearer] continued to throw in attacks with his sword whenever the fist retracted. Before another volley could reach the slime however, Lethe saw that the [Skirmisher] was behind it and plunged both of his short swords with a [Backstab], resulting in the slime pausing its attacks for a second while waves undulated across its stony membrane. During such a fast start of the battle though, one second was enough for another volley to engulf the slime.
Looking at his mob, Lethe now realized that anatomically, slimes did have a back. The small cores that the slimes had were rather flat, with a circular face on one side, usually the one facing the party. It seemed that the party had realized this minor anatomical aspect of the slimes throughout the past few days and leveraged that into allowing their [Skirmisher] to use a skill on it.
Large chips of stone started to fall off of the slime while the area where it was stabbed, presumably its back, had acidic liquid oozing out. The [Skirmisher] quickly jumped back and started shredding into it with piercing blows. At the front, everytime the [Tracker] shot an arrow, it would split and deeply embed themselves into the slime. Lethe noticed that one of the arrows was real. The other one, seemingly made out of some form of mana, started dissipating soon after it penetrated the membrane, while the physical arrow penetrated deeper.
A sudden flash of light from the [Acolyte], who had so far been chanting under his breath, launched from the top of his palms towards the mob. As the glowing orb of light reached the stony membrane, it split apart the area, the stone seemingly turning into glowing motes of light. Finally, the [Hedge Mage] continued to pepper the slime with blasts of [Flare], one out of every 3 to 4 casts of the spell seemingly dealing more damage.
While the party kept attacking the rank 3 [Stone Slime], the mob itself kept battering the [Shieldbearer].
Initially, it had been using one stone fist to hammer the man into the ground. Now, 4 sets of stone-fists continued to pummel the tank, leaving him absolutely no room to continue attacking. Lethe could see chips of wood flying out of the square wooden shield with each hit, the durability of the shield steadily decreasing. On another angle, the spectating dungeon core saw that the [Skirmisher] had also attracted the attention of the slime, with similar stone-fists occasionally springing out to attack the lithe fighter.
As the encounter kept progressing, the [Shieldbearer] started being pushed back towards the ranged group eventually having to set his stance barely a meter from the [Acolyte]. This, however, caused the man to endure the strikes through his stance and shield arm, and Lethe noted that underneath his leather armor, the skin of his armor started to crack and bleed. He wasn't able to check the condition of the man's bones, but he could guess that it was not doing well. Thankfully, the [Acolyte] was able to rush up and place his hands on the man's back, chanting under his breath. A green glow started to surround the arm of the [Shieldbearer], healing the damage but not outpacing it.
Slowly, the encounter turned into a battle of attrition. The [Acolyte] was able to heal effectively and keep the [Shieldbearer] going; however, the damage from the multitude of stone fists was taking a toll on the man. The damage dealers on the other hand, seeing the situation the fight had turned into, increased their pace, concentrating on attacking faster and harder.
Recklessly, the [Skirmisher] tried to use the same skill it had earlier and [Backstab] the slime. However, a stone fist exited to the side and flew towards the fighter. Seemingly caught between continuing his attack or retreating, the [Skirmisher] tightened his fists around his swords and continued, plunging the weapons into the stony membrane, penetrating the exterior. Before he could retreat though, the attack from the [Stone Slime] had arrived.
Twisting his body, the [Skirmisher] was barely able to avoid being hit in a vital area and was knocked on the shoulder, flying back and crashing against the walls of the tunnel.
Yet, due to the recklessness, the slime had paused once more for a second, allowing the healer and tank to recover. Before the attacks from the monster could continue, a bright glow spread from the [Acolyte] into the [Shieldbearer], restoring him, before the tank held out his sword and once more rushed towards the slime, piercing the slime once more. Before he could get attacked, he bashed the slime with his shield, slightly knocking it back and retreated towards his previous position where he could get healed.
The rapid burst of attacks that started with a seemingly reckless action was the turning point in this encounter. Soon enough, with a final powered [Flare] from the [Hedge Mage], the stony membrane of the slime started to fall apart before the mob stopped attacking and sank down into the ground of the floor, leaving behind 3 pieces of [Hardened Stone] and a handful of coins.
Watching their obstacle dissolve into the ground, a silence engulfed the group, as if they were afraid it was going to return. Seeing the loot it left behind though cemented the fact that they were victorious.
"YESSSSSS!!!!!!!", a loud exclamation of joy erupted from the [Shieldbearer] after which whooping and hand waving indicating celebration erupted from the rest of the group.
They were able to take down a rank 3 mob after preparing for multiple days. They were able to overcome an obstacle by trusting in their strength and their coordination with each other. [Jones and Folks] were finally able to advance deeper into the dungeon.