Deep within the 12th floor of the Dungeon, a large party of monsters had gathered. Drawn by the smell of fresh meat, a menagerie of the evil-minded creatures had come together to hunt down an enemy that dwelt within one of the largest rooms on the floor. It was mostly Imps and Orcs in the parade, but there were still a healthy number of Bad Bats, a smattering of Hard Armoreds, and a quite a few Silverbacks. Altogether, the monster party created a ruckus of roars and shrieks, their cacophonous war cries echoing hellishly in the underground chambers. They bleated for the blood of their enemies and trampled one another in their stampede to get it. Today, however, they would meet their match.
Standing against the tide were five intrepid figures, four warriors in lilac robes and a tiny cream-colored form. That little white figure sported a comically large backpack and vigorously yelled orders at the front-line fighters:
“Mikoto, on your left. Circle around to protect Ouka. Asuka, cover her rear.”
The fighters danced to the will of their tiny puppet master, supporting each other as they held back the oncoming mob. Ouka’s axe spun in a rapid circle, deflecting projectiles, before he turned the spin into a frontwards sweeping attack. He sliced through two Orcs and an Imp but left himself open to a counterattack from one of the Silverbacks. As the beast sought to take advantage, however, Mikoto appeared on its shoulder. Swift as a shade, she stabbed her blade through a weak point in its skull then leapt away. The Silverback’s body collapsed, blocking the approach of other monster on that side. Ouka took advantage of the temporary blockage to pivot to the left and engage new assailants.
Ouka was the sun, drawing the creatures in and slaughtering them with indefatigable purpose. Mikoto and Asuka were the planets, revolving around him, defending his blind spots, and covering his openings. Like hunter cats, they bounded swiftly through enemy lines, slashing tendons and slipping through attacks from overhead. Whenever they seemed to be cornered, they would often jump over the enemy, and when the monsters tried to focus on them, Ouka would do something to distract them. They held a fragile balance, one that was only possible because of their rearguard support.
The Bad Bats were some of the greatest threats the fighters faced, their sonic attacks threatening to stun one of the adventurers and disrupt their flow. Mikoto and Asuka would down some of them with thrown kunai, but there were too many Bats and neither girl could afford to be distracted by them for long. That’s where Chigusa came in.
The archer’s hands moved like quicksilver, drawing and loosing her arrows with a speed and accuracy that far surpassed what she could ever do before. Quietly, the girl had proved herself the most improved skill-wise of all the warriors, eyes darting across the battlefield and selecting new targets at rapid speed. Any Bat that closed in on the frontline trio was usually downed before it could get close. Any large monster that slipped by the three sprouted an arrow’s fletched tip from an eye or two. Lilli’s commands, backed by her quick wit, was the glue that held all of this together. All the adventurers were working at a furious pace to face the horde, but they were holding strong so far.
Adama was watching all of this from the ceiling.
Take Familia was backpedaling around the room to keep from being easily surrounded, kiting the monsters where they needed them to go. Adama had realized that if he stayed meditating on the floor, he would inhibit the places they could run to, for fear of leading the monsters right to him. So, he improvised. He clung to the wall near the ceiling on the far side of the room, peering through the mist at the carnage below. Tim hung with the strength of the left side of his body, his fingers and boot toe digging into the hard rock of the Dungeon wall like it was soft earth. The Dungeon walls grew tougher as you descended, but the Upper floors couldn’t hold a candle to Adama’s physicality, and he hung there with the stability of a mountain. Tim watched his fledglings like a hawk, Hearthblade gleaming ivory in the right hand, prepared to intervene at any moment.
The fight dragged on, the horde whittled further and further down even as the adventurers grew more and more tired. Chigusa eventually ran out of arrows, even after bringing extra, so she was forced to draw her dagger and enter the fray. The Bad Bats had been exterminated by that point, but without her oversight it became easier for the monsters to encircle Ouka, especially as Mikoto and Asuka tired as well. Ouka roared as he slogged through the sea of enemies, the girls doing everything they could to thin the herd with decreasing success. Lilli was screaming herself hoarse to be heard over all the noise, but she was growing less influential as the party’s order slowly broke down.
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The entire party seemed to forget that Adama was even there as they hacked and slashed with increasingly reckless abandon. Their eyes grew bloodshot as the pressure and stress fueled them to fight with every ounce of their strength. Ouka swung his axe in wide and sweeping arcs, biceps and neck bulging at the herculean effort. His face contorted in one long yell as he squeezed out everything he had. The other three raced around like field mice, doing everything they could to stay alive while also crippling their enemies. Lilli had been banned from using her items, lest things grow too easy, but that ban was lifted in case of emergency. She had drawn her magic sword and was looking around in terror as her friends danced on the edge of disaster, barely restraining herself from unleashing her full fury on the mob.
Then, finally, it was all over. Ouka cleaved diagonally through the last of the Silverbacks as Mikoto cut her way through the last of the Orcs and Asuka disabled the final Hard Armored. The last monster standing on the battlefield was a lone Imp, and Chigusa of all people was the one to stab it in the eye with her dagger, bringing it down to the ground with the full force of her thrust. The end of the battle was a powerful and overwhelming silence, only filled by the desperate gasping of the adventurers as they fought to recover their energy. With glazed vision they looked around, taking time to process the fact that they had won.
Then they let out a cheer.
Fatigue temporarily forgotten, they all broke out into big grins, celebrating their first independent defeat of a full monster party. Tim had, in characteristic fashion, begun to make things more difficult as they grew closer and closer to success. More bait, and of differing types, were dropped, just as the party seemed to get used to what he was throwing at them. Success was moved further and further out of reach as each wave grew harder and harder to compensate for their improvement. Adama reminisced about when he trained Yeirin in the use of the Rippling Sword, bringing out larger and larger boulders as she grew more and more proficient, never allowing her to cut all the way through. He felt his heart twinge a little at the memories of his first disciple and said a quiet prayer that she was doing all right as the fledglings below continued their celebration.
Eventually, he gathered himself and leapt off the wall, into the midst of the fighters, saying:
“All right kids, that was well done, but the show's over. Time to harvest their cores and move on to the next fight.”
To his surprise, the gang shared a few hesitant looks before Ouka looked back at him and said:
“Isn’t it already pretty late? That fight took a while and harvesting this many could take some time as well. Why don’t we gather our spoils and take an early day today?”
Lilli piped up at that point:
“That’s right, Mr. Tim! This is the first day that Lilli has fought as an official member of Hestia Familia, and we were hoping to have a little celebration at one of the local inns. You can join us if you want!”
It was true. A few days ago, Tim had hinted to her that she should try to contact Soma once again to see about buying her way out of Soma Familia. This time, Zanis did nothing to stop her, and Lilli managed to convince Soma to let her go. The paperwork had finished processing last night and Hestia had given Lilli her blessing that morning. All five adventurers all looked at him nervously to see how he would react to their proposition for a small break due to the special occasion. He gave each of them the gimlet eye, watching them quail one by one under the force of his one-eyed glare. Everyone but Lilli looked away in appeasement. She alone continued to beg with puppy dog eyes, and he eventually dropped his glare and nodded, a ghost of a smile running across his face:
“Alright, I suppose you’ve earned it. We can have a shorter day today. But I have more training to do, so-”
“Pllleeeaaasse Mr. Tim? We barely even see each other out of work hours! You work too much anyways. Take a break!”
“…Alright, alright, don’t twist yourself into knots on my account. I’ll grab a few drinks with you. But just a fe-“
That got everyone to break out into a new round of cheers, cutting Adama off before they scurried away to harvest the spoils of their battle, racing against the clock for more time to party. Even Tim decided to lend a helping hand with both the harvesting and the fighting on the way back. They made it out of the Dungeon in record time before racing over to the Guild Exchange. Tim held back a chuckle as he watched the five of them breathe down the poor Guild Administrator’s neck, as she self consciously weighed and examined everything they had brought her. When she had finished and given them a quote, they didn’t hesitate to take the money, divvy it up appropriately, and dash out of Babel. They called for Adama to hurry up as they laughed their way to the favored local watering hole, and even the grizzled swordsman found their energy infectious.
He took off after them at a jog, catching up to them as the party moved out into the night.