Dungeon Noble - Squire

Once they were prepared, they moved on as a group, Felix trailing slightly behind them with a neutral expression.

The opening Jake had seen led them through an area that was almost a replica of the first, with the same number and type of monsters present.

Using the same tactics as before, they were able to clear the room without too much incident. The need for Rhew and Alan to focus down the Enhanced lizard was starting to eat into their reserves, though.

Alan was down to half his arrows, while Rhew was starting to look a little strained, even with her taking it easier at the beginning.

The third cavern was exactly the same again, and though that was good for their Wyrdgeld, Jake was starting to get worried.

The fourth floor held roughly fourteen monsters in total, whereas there were over thirty on this floor. Not to mention that three of them were Enhanced.

“I’ll deal with the Enhanced this time,” Jake said, drawing his dagger and nodding to Alan to kick things off.

It was time to mix things up a bit.

Alan hesitated slightly at Jake’s declaration before nodding and taking his shot, his eyes glinting with Wyrd as he sent an arrow flashing through the air to strike the monster in the side of the head.

As before, the response from the monsters was unanimous and direct, but this time, the smaller lizards were immediately under fire from Alan and Rhew.

Jake had swapped his dagger to his right hand in preparation for the charge, not wanting to risk using his weaker arm. He’d noticed that all of the lizards had a tendency to dip their heads and protect their eyes but otherwise didn’t dodge ranged attacks.

Cocking his arm back, Jake waited until the creature was almost on top of him before throwing his dagger, planting it right at the base of the lizard’s neck.

The Hidden Fang dagger cut through the scales with a burst of power, digging in deep enough to pump its poisonous energy into the monster.

Dismissing the dagger, Jake resummoned it and threw it again. Lots of practice meant that Jake could place the dagger exactly where he wanted to, so this time, he aimed for a weak spot beneath a joint.

Despite not being a throwing knife, the dagger was perfectly balanced for what Jake needed, and as the monster reeled back from the first hit, the second sank home.

Swapping his sword back to his right hand, Jake turned his focus to the smaller lizards attacking them as the Enhanced slowly sank to the floor.

The dagger had been strong from the start, but adding that extra rank to the Boon had definitely helped strengthen the poison.

Without the Enhanced supporting them, the remaining lizards were taken down with little issue. The few that came close to landing a hit were blocked by one of Nepthys’s shields, though she was running out of Wyrd for them.

“So much Wyrdgeld,” Rhew said, grinning to herself as she hurried between the fallen monsters, drawing out the Wyrdgeld from them. “I wonder how much more the Guardian floor gives on this tier.”

“Somehow, I doubt we’ll be finding that out for a little while,” Jake muttered as he eyed their bedraggled state. They’d all taken minor injuries at one point or another, and while Jake’s clothes were in the worst state, Karl wasn’t much better.

For a first attempt, he felt they’d done well, and he knew they’d do better next time, but this floor was tough. Each of the three fights was manageable on its own, but there were too many monsters for them to manage without Skills.

“Everyone ready?” Jake called out as he moved to the door down to the next floor.

“Could we take ten minutes so I can rest?” Rhew asked hopefully.

Felix cleared his throat to get their attention, making Jake start a little in surprise. “Knowing how long you can rest before the Dungeon deems it too long is an art, so I won’t judge you on this. I believe you could take ten minutes or so now, but that would be all for the next floor or two.”

“I think we should take it now, or we might not get that chance later,” Nepthys said with a slight shrug. “I could use a few minutes as well.”

“Rest it is,” Jake said, drinking deep from his water flask before taking a seat on the warm rocks. He was down to half his water already, so he could only imagine how important logistics became when delving into higher tier Dungeons.

The meat they’d been given could be cooked up if they had the right supplies, but that would be a much longer rest, and that didn’t seem to be allowed at this point.

Jake wasn’t the only one struggling with the heat; everyone had their water flasks out as soon as they sat down. Between all the fighting and the heat, none of them were in particularly good shape, though Nepthys seemed the best of all of them.

Considering that Felix looked perfectly fine in the heat, Jake could only guess that more ranks would give more resistance to issues like this.

“I’m running low on Wyrd. How are all of you doing?” Rhew asked after a minute of catching their breath.

“I’m alright for the moment,” Jake said, turning his focus inwards as he tried to judge how much Wyrd was left within him. It was a bit of guesswork at the best of times, but he could at least get the right idea.

“I’ve used up just under a third of what I have,” Nepthys said, shrugging a little at the surprised looks they gave her. “I’m a higher rank, and my shield is quite efficient if I use it in short bursts.”

“I’m under half,” Karl said a moment later with a heavy frown. “My Skill is quite intensive, so using it on those Enhanced has brought me down a lot.”

“It’s powerful, though.” Jake was quick to reassure Karl, not wanting him to underestimate how much help he provided. “We couldn’t have done so well without you.”

Karl nodded his thanks and gave Jake a small smile as he perked up a little at the praise.

Alan was next to speak, but the Scholar didn’t look happy about his answer. “I’m basically out as well. I’ve been using my Skill as much as I can. I’ve been thinking, though. Should we use some of our Wyrdgeld to recover? It might help us make it further?”

They all fell silent as they considered Alan’s question. It was a tough one, as every Wyrdgeld was needed for their tax, but more progress did mean a bigger reward.

Their biggest challenge to improve their delves was gaining either the Wyrd reserves to push on for longer or the power to get further without needing to use their Wyrd. Consuming some of their rewards would help with that first option.

Thankfully, Jake’s Boon didn’t take Wyrd; it was all included in those Manifestations. So, while his dagger was all but used up, Jake had enough Wyrd to infuse his blade at least once or twice for the next few fights.

“You know how I feel about it,” Rhew said, shaking her head immediately. “I need every coin, so unless I know for sure it will help us get further, I’m keeping them.”

“I think if anyone were to do it, it would be one of you two,” Jake said, gesturing between Alan and Rhew. “The three of us use Wyrd, but not as regularly as you. If you want to restore some now, I won’t stop you.”

“Not this time,” Alan said eventually. “I think we should consider it for the future, though.”

“Agreed,” Jake said, the others, even Rhew, nodding as well.

With the decision made, they lapsed into a companionable silence for a time.

What felt like barely a minute later, all four of Jake’s companions flinched at the same time and grabbed their weapons, with Jake following suit a moment later, unsure of what was happening.

“That pressure you’re feeling is a warning from the Dungeon. I’d suggest you move on,” Felix said, his gaze coming to rest on Jake as a small smile tugged at his lips.

Jake quickly wiped his confused expression from his face and got to his feet, eyeing the others carefully as they hurriedly began to head to the door down to the next floor.

It was only once they were all through the door and on the other side that the others all sighed with relief, making comments to each other about how uncomfortable that had been.

Jake did his best not to stand out, assuming that this was another facet of his Class and an interesting one at that. Depending on how much longer he had per tier, that could be very useful.

The new floor started off as a long and winding tunnel, one that was twice as wide as the others they’d seen but with large pockets of steaming water along the sides. There were quite a few deeper holes along the walls as well, giving lots of options for concealment.

To make matters worse, there were pools of steaming water across their path as well, so they’d have to be careful to navigate them.

“There’s snakes in there for sure,” Karl said with a sigh. “I hate hidden enemies. They’re almost as bad as rats.”

“I can see a few from here, but I don’t really want to get close enough to do a full count,” Alan said, frowning as he looked along the winding tunnel. “They’re pretty scattered, it seems, but there are a lot of them. There’s something up ahead as well, but I can’t quite see it from here. The steam is too thick.”

“Is it a monster?”

“No, the tunnel changes. It looks like it either widens or links to a cavern. That’s all I can tell from here, though.”

“Do we take the snakes here or push on and see what that is?” Jake asked, looking to the others for their thoughts.

“We’ve never seen a benefit from ignoring them, so I vote we start killing them now,” Karl said, his gaze lingering uncomfortably on the steaming water. “I don’t like this setup at all.”

After a quick discussion, they settled on engaging the closest snake and seeing how the rest reacted.

Rhew’s magic would likely fail to overpower the steam, so Alan moved closer to one of the first stretches of water and lined up a shot.

The moment the arrow hit the water, Jake knew they’d fucked up somehow.

It was almost like the pressure he’d felt in the Challenge, but this time, instead of a growing weight, it felt like a pair of eyes watching him.

There was an element of anticipation, of hunger, to the attention that made Jake’s skin crawl, and he adopted a ready stance as he looked around for the source.

“Got it,” Alan said, turning back before frowning as he took in Jake’s posture. “What’s wrong…”

Water thrashed across the path as patches of water all along the tunnel shifted violently. At the same time, a snake launched itself from the water toward Alan’s back, its jaws snapping down on one of Nepthys’s shields mere inches from his neck.

“Back!” Nepthys cried out as she grabbed Alan and pulled him away with one hand while cutting deep into the thick neck of the snake with the other as it fell to the ground.

The water continued to bubble and boil as more snakes came racing out, and it wasn’t just that patch. Jake saw a dozen or more snakes emerge from the nearby sections of water, all of them moving swiftly across the slick stone toward them.

Jake had started to move up to help Nepthys when he saw four more snakes emerge from the pool. Caught out of position, he froze with indecision before cursing and backpedalling to put himself between the snakes and Alan.

“Fucking hidden snakes!” Karl growled angrily as he batted one of the monsters aside as it tried to strike up at him.

Jake dodged a few strikes of his own, infusing his sword with Wyrd and beheading each snake as it fell heavily to the ground.

Ice sprayed past Jake, striking a number of snakes that were just emerging from the water, but it had little effect. The amount of movement within the pools had sent steaming hot water everywhere, and it was interfering with Rhew’s magic.

Alan’s arrows were having more of an impact, with him firing as quickly as he could while Jake and the other two fighters did their best to keep the snakes at bay.

A dozen or more snakes had already died to Jake and Karl, with a similar number in front of Nepthys, but there was another score or more closing rapidly with them.

Inevitably, one of them didn’t manage to dodge a strike, and Karl cried out as one bit deep into his ankle.

Distracted, Jake misjudged the cut on his next attack, getting boiling blood across his hand and making him recoil away.

Karl was brought down first, his missing hand leaving his left side exposed to attacks. Rhew was second, the resistance to her magic leaving her unable to fight off the snakes that came for her.

One by one, they fell until the snakes turned their attention to Felix.

The last thing that Jake saw was Felix calmly grabbing a snake mid-strike with his hand and using it to bat aside another before throwing it into a wall and drawing his sword.