Noracin walked at the back of the party. He didn't like being relegated to supportive duty, but his body still felt stiff and unwieldy from his repeated healing, so it couldn’t be helped. He could walk fine, but he would still not be able to contribute much in any kind of tricky fight. Luckily they hadn't encountered many of those in this delve, as the Dungeon seemed more focused on traps than creatures on this Floor. Either that or it had grouped them all together somewhere, which was another ominous alternative that he hoped wasn’t the case. The Floor was also much larger than most first Floors typically were, which could also explain the encounters being seemingly sparse. Whatever the actual reason he was glad for it, as it gave his body more time to adjust. Every minute that passed he felt a bit better, and soon he thought he would be able to actually be somewhat helpful if a fight actually occurred. Which judging by how the tunnel was widening out and he could see what looked to be a large cave up ahead seemed increasingly likely.

“Watch out in front.” He said. “There’s probably something dangerous up ahead.”

Alerio and Ceria, who were at the front of the group, both turned around and gave him a look that all but screamed ‘no shit’. Ceria even somehow seemed to call him a moron at the same time. All without speaking a single word.

“I’m just saying…” he muttered. A couple of seconds later Alerio held up a hand for them to stop a few steps before the mouth of the tunnel. They all did so, looking between Alerio and the cavern beyond.

“It’s the same trap as last time…” He frowned, then looked up to the roof of the tunnel, then down towards the floor. “Actually, wait a moment. The mana flows through the stone and the ceiling. At no point does it ever flow through the tunnel itself.”

“Then we won’t trigger it by walking?” Ceria asked. Alerio shook his head.

“No. At least I don’t think so. Unless the Dungeon has found some way to hide some mana or make it react in a different location than where it actually is.” He paused. “I wouldn’t put it past Dungeon magic to make something like that happen, by the way. But it would be surprising if it happened on such a low leveled Floor.”

“Hasn’t this Dungeon been nothing but surprise after surprise since you found it?” Athilana asked. “At least that’s what I’ve heard.”

“The girl’s got a point.” Ceria said. “We should be expecting the unexpected here.”

“It definitely makes it more likely. But it does beg the question of why the Dungeon made the trap avoidable over there, but not here?”

“Maybe it wanted us to find the letter, and didn’t want to scare us off by presenting an unavoidable trap?” Athilana suggested. Noracin cocked his head thoughtfully.

“That would mean that the letter’s that important.” he said. “But I guess it’s an explanation that would make sense.”

“It sure sounded important when you read it.” Ceria said.

“The letter is obviously going to be important somewhere in the Dungeon.” Alerio said. “But if that’s the reason it would also imply that whatever is in this cave isn’t that important, and the Dungeon wouldn’t care if he scared us off. Remember we got to the Guardian through the other path as well, so none of this is obligatory to clear the Floor.”

Noracin frowned. “That doesn't seem very Dungeon-like, does it? Making a large cave and not caring if people Challenge it seems strange.”

Alerio nodded. “Exactly. Though I suppose he could be banking on the Challenge being motivation enough for most parties. After all, undertaking non obligatory danger is kind of the whole point of a Challenge in the first place. Facing adversity in order to grow, and all that.”

That was a fair point as well, though Noracin still felt the normal thing was to encourage that risk-taking, rather than try to discourage it by offering a straight up easier alternative with the same ability to clear the Floor. Regardless though it wasn’t that important for right now; this was an investigation, and while they might get away with not deliberately walking into a trap that could be avoided, they were less likely to get away with skipping an entire room. In fact the likelihood of them getting away with that scot-free was zero, and he knew it. They had to go into that cave. He said as much, and after a moment of grumbling he could see them all realizing he was right. Then came the discussion of who was going to trigger the trap. Or possibly not trigger it, as there was still the possibility that those mana flows weren’t a trap at all. He paused, and turned to Alerio.

“I have a thought”, he said. “What if these mana flows are just here to scare people who can detect them, and they don’t actually do anything?”

Alerio frowned in confusion. “What do you mean? The Dungeon put them there just to be intimidating, and for no functional reason? Just in case a Mage walked by and happened to use [Detect Magic] and also happened to be extremely wary of traps?”

“It might not be that far fetched.” Noracin said.

“Most Mages don’t get [Detect Magic] as one of their innate Class Skills.” Alerio said. “In fact it’s quite rare. And since this is a level 1 Floor most won’t use their unlocked Skill slots on it while they’re Tier 1. It would barely ever be relevant.”

“Would the Dungeon know that though? Isn’t the only Mage it’s seen you? And you do have it.”

Alerio blinked, then groaned.

“Now I’m not saying it’s definitely what’s happened.” Noracin said quickly. “But it would explain some things. The mana flowing through the walls and not where people actually walk. The placement being right after the side room that had an almost identical trap you could trigger.The Floor as a whole being very magic-trap dense, encouraging the use of [Detect Magic] as a way of making traversal safe. And maybe some other reasons as well that I can’t think of right now.”

“I get it, I get it. What you’re saying makes sense.” Alerio shook his head. “What can we do differently even if that’s true? Even if it’s true we can’t just rush into the cave like headless chickens without being sure first.”

Noracin opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Yeah, you’re right of course.” He frowned. “That leaves us with having one person take the risk while the rest stay back.” He shook his head with a sigh. “Alright, so who’s going to take the risk? I would volunteer since I can always heal myself, but right now I don’t think that’s the smartest idea.”

“Of course you can’t go.” Ceria said. “It’s gotta be me or Alerio. Which means it’s got to be me. We can’t have the newbies trigger it, and Alerio’s got less health and durability than I do.”

Alerio sighed. “I wish I could argue, but you’re right on all fronts.”

Noracin nodded after a moment, then Ceria took a deep breath and took the final few steps towards the mouth of the tunnel. Noracin noticed for the first time that there was actually a sort of moat at the opening. It wasn’t that wide, just a meter and a half or so, but it was a clear indication of where the tunnel ended and the cavern began. With a shout and a leap, she leapt over the water into the cave… No trap. No sound.

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They waited a few seconds. Still no trap. Noracin breathed a sigh of relief.

“Looks like we’re saf…”

There was a screech of a bat from somewhere by the roof of the cavern beyond Ceria, followed by a thunderous crack, which soon turned into a consistent grinding of stone against stone. Noracin saw a stone slab descending across the mouth of the tunnel at the same time as the singular screech turned into an orchestra. A cacophony.

“Oh you just had to say something!” Alerio yelled.

“No time! Run forward! Don’t let Ceria get trapped with them alone!” Noracin yelled and sprinted towards the shrinking opening.

Half a second of stunned incomprehension and panic, then everyone sprung into action. Aira and Athilana overtook Noracin after a few steps, but they were still several steps behind Alerio who leaped through the opening barely a second after Noracin had stopped speaking. Athilana joined them a few heartbeats later. By now the descending stone slab was covering the top third of the opening, and when Aira reached the mouth she had to duck down to be able to make it across the water. The stone creaked and crumbled. The slab seemed to be speeding up. Noracin swore and forced his unresponsive body to move faster.

Faster.

Noracin screamed and threw himself forward, diving head first through the opening and across the water just underneath the descending slab. He hit the ground hard, tumbling and bouncing across the stone floor until he was stopped by Ceria.

“Woah there boss, be careful.” She said. Noracin smiled despite the pain. He’d made it through.

The sound of flapping wings and disharmonious screeches drew his mind back to the present. He shook his head to clear it and pushed himself up, then surveyed the battlefield. The bats were upon them, diving in and out and being all around annoying, but they’d dealt with bats before, and he was confident they could win even without him at his best. He tapped Ceria on the back, activating a [Healing Touch], then pulled out his mace. His arm felt stiff and tricky to move with any accuracy, but hitting when there were this many bats around was more a question of how often you swung than technique. Even Aira had abandoned her bow and was swinging a short blade wildly around, despite her lack of Skills that suited the blade. A bat dove past his defenses and he felt a sharp pain in his neck as it bit down. He grabbed hold and yanked the bat free, then stomped it dead under his boot with a crunch. That had hurt much more than he’d expected.

“These ones are higher level. Watch out.” he yelled out while activating a quick [Healing Touch] on himself.

That was when the first volley of [Water Bolts] came flying at them. From the left, from the right, even from right behind them. The moat, he realized. It was allowing the underwater creatures to hit them from every angle at the same time. He hissed as a bolt struck him in the side. A second later Aira yelped as one hit her thigh. Ceria was trying her best to shield them, but with the bats keeping her occupied and the creatures being underwater and thus away from her [Taunt], there was little she could do.

Noracin swung his mace wildly, but the hits were coming less and less frequently. With having to keep a constant watch for [Water Bolts], as well as having to activate a heal every few seconds, he was beginning to feel overwhelmed and it was affecting his aim. And his Mana would also be drained quickly if they didn’t find some answer soon.

“Get DOWN!” Alerio yelled. Noracin recognized the tone in his voice and immediately dropped to lay on his stomach. As did Ceria. Aira and Athilana were slower to react, but only by a fraction of a second, and dropped to their stomachs right as waves of flame billowed from Alerios hands towards the bats. No, through the bats. They screeched and tried to fly out of the way, but Alerio moved the flames to cover any attempt at escape. For a moment the cavern was nothing but screams of burning bats, occasionally dying and dissipating into mana with a soft sound of rushing wind. Then half a dozen [Water Bolts] careened towards Alerio all at the same time. They struck true, their water drilling through armor and skin, but Alerio held firm. A second volley followed soon after, causing Noracin to wince and Alerio to wobble where he stood. With a scream of fury Alerio pushed the fires up to the roof of the cave, and the final bat burst into flames. The flames winked out just as a third volley of bolts came flying from across the cavern towards Alerio, and he collapsed down onto his knees from exertion and pain. Ceria and Noracin acted instantly. The fighter moved to cover the mage with her body and shield, while Noracin activated [Healing Touch] after [Healing Touch], to try and restore the man's falling health. Aira and Athilana came up to them and took position on Alerio’s other side to shield him from the bolts from that direction. Alerio himself breathed rapid and shallow breaths, but he was still lucid, and his health was no longer dropping. He even managed to smile.

“Got them.” He said softly. Noracin sagged in relief.

“That you did.” he said. “Leave the rest to us.”

“Go get ‘em.” Alerio said.

Noracin and the rest stood, each taking position on different sides of the downed mage to shield him from incoming fire. …Or water, rather. Ceria with her shield. Noracin with his mace, if he could. Athilana and Aira with their own magic. Noracin wasn’t always able to hit the ones coming his way, forcing him to tank the hits with his body instead, so it was neither pretty or efficient, but for the moment they were able to block all the incoming attacks. They all knew they wouldn’t be able to do this for long though.

“Alright boss, any ideas of how to ‘get em’?” Athilana asked, firing a [Water Bolt]. “I’m down to less than half mana already. I won’t be able to keep this up for much longer.”

“They likely won’t have the mana for a continuous barrage either. But even if they stop we need to find a way to strike back.” Noracin said. “Aira you’re a [Ranger], you think you can snipe them when they go for a shot?”

“The time they go above the surface when they fire is just too short.” Aira said. “If I knew where it was going to pop up so I could have a [Focused Shot] prepared maybe I could land a hit. But even then I wouldn’t bet on it. And hitting them below the water… I might be able to do it, but the water would diffuse so much of the force it would hardly deal any damage.”

“I could try and [Taunt] one when it comes near the surface. That might make it hang around long enough for you guys to hit it.” Ceria said.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Noracin said.

“It will leave you all exposed to all the other attacks though.” Ceria said. She twisted her shield to the left to catch an incoming [Water Bolt].

“I still think it’s our best option.” Noracin said after a moment. “Let’s try it. Alerio, can you roll over towards the edge of the water?”

Alerio nodded, and the party slowly moved around him as he rolled the few steps towards the water. Once there Ceria rotated to stand by the edge and looked down.

“How deep do you think it is?” She asked. “Because I’d get a better lock on it if I was in the water with it and it could actually reach me.”

Athilana bent down to the edge with a frown. “It’s dark enough so even I can’t see very clearly, but I would guess about a meter and a half, give or take a decimeter or so?”

“That’s doable.” Ceria said. She frowned and turned to look down at Alerio.

“You do what you think is best. I’ll cover him.” Noracin said. Ceria nodded and handed Noracin her shield. Noracin accepted it, then turned to Alerio.

“Alerio, could you make yourself as small a target as possible?”

Once Alerio had curled himself into a ball Ceria took a deep breath, then dropped down into the moat. Noracin stood protectively over Alerio, covering him from the right and the back, while Aira and Athilana covered the left and stood ready to strike. It didn’t take long for the nearest creature to notice Ceria’s presence and swim over. Noracin could see a dark outline moving underneath the surface.

“Now!” Ceria called out, activating her [Taunt]. As a non-physical Skill, it was the only one they had that could actually pierce through the water relatively easily. It was still short range, and required both Ceria and the creature to be able to both see and reach each other. But once those requirements were met, the results were obvious. The creature beelined towards Ceria, ramming into her legs head first. The fighter reached down, then grabbed hold and heaved the thing out of the water and onto dry land. The creature was flat, with two large fins and a sharp tail, and Noracin saw it as what was missing if you wanted to turn a bat into a leatherwing. This thing however was not as suited for life above the water, and flapped around wildly as it landed on the stone floor. Aira and Athilana didn’t waste any time, and fired off their Skills in rapid succession. Ceria even lent a hand, literally, as she slammed her fist against the creature's face. It didn’t take long before the thing too disappeared into motes of mana.

“Yeah, take that you annoying underwater piece of shit!” Ceria exclaimed, raising her fist into the air.

“Hold off on the celebrations. We still have many more creatures to deal with before this fight is done.” Noracin said, blocking a [Water Bolt] from hitting the fighter in the face.

“I know. But now at least we know how to handle the bastards.”

That they did. Noracin couldn’t help but smile at Ceria’s infectious enthusiasm. That they did.