[Tanya von Degurechaff]
"So, mind telling me what we're doing here again?" Tsubaki chuckled as she watched Tanya heat up half a dozen crucibles filled with a quarter ingot of silver each.
Apparently, the Dungeon spawned other precious metals, like iron, titanium, copper, gold, silver, platinum, and pretty much everything that can be mined elsewhere in the world, it can be picked up here. Even the 1st Floor can spawn iron nodes, which wasn't something she'd ever seen before because they were always quickly mined by the weaker parties before being handed over to the smithing Guilds for a small sum; the nodes spawning rather close to the entrance where monsters are few and far in between, and since they weren't worth more than a single 1st Floor Goblin core, the Adventurers sort of built up an unspoken rule about allowing anyone but the children to harvest the nodes.
If Tanya had to guess, it was akin to being "Baby's First Dungeon Experience", as typically the children who went down there were born from couples who were married inside of the familia. The guards on the 1st Floor typically had someone to watch over the kids when they went in with their oversized hard hats, tiny pickaxes, and burlap sacks. It was supposedly super adorable, Tiona gushed about the children on more than a few occasions, but truth be told Tanya had not seen hide nor hair of the charming little tykes.
Not even the Soma trash tried to accost them, so that went to show just how protected the children were if the drug-addled low-lives of the city didn't even dream of going near them.
As they traveled, Tanya had them gather stockpiles of every metal they came across; yes, it wasn't the most efficient as far as weight because of the stone accompanying the nodes, but with Tanya's Heat spell, she was able to bring the nodes up to a perfect temperature to melt the metals. They didn't have molds to make ingots with, but the stone floors and rocks within the Dungeon were perfect, and Tanya cut crisp rectangular blocks out of them to use them as molds.
By the time they had reached the 28th Floor they already had half of a wagon filled with various purified ingots of precious metals, including a few small 1kg Mithril Ingots that were eventually melted together to make a 4.57kg ingot that was kept locked up in Tanya's room. She had a list of all who contributed to finding the nodes and would make sure to split the proceeds between them once they returned to the surface and turned the materials over to the Hephaestus familia.
Tanya's primary concern was the silver she needed to fashion the staves for Riveria and Aiz, and while she would have loved to imbue the carved runes and formulas with mithril, given the disposable nature of the staves using Mithril would be a huge waste, so, silver it was!
The other three smiths that were there chuckled as they watched the interior of the crucibles heat up slowly until the silver started to deform and melt. "I need you four because the runes need to be poured at the same time- don't ask me why this is, because I don't know, but the ritual requires 'many working in concert' to pour the silver, and then they need to be quenched with the blood and magic of the recipient of the staff."
Tsubaki frowned and crossed her arms underneath her breasts. "I might not be a mage, but that is getting very close to the Dark Magic/Mortal Sacrifice laws of Orario."
Riveria for her part nodded her head and hummed. "Yes, while it is borderline, the fact that it requires a willing sacrifice, it is only a small one of blood and Mind to key the staves to the Mind signatures of the user and provide stability for the runic arrays... this is very legal. However, most rituals such as this have fallen to the wayside in recent centuries as most Magic Craftsmen prefer to just use the Mystery Developmental Ability to handle the more complex rituals."
Tsubaki shook her head and sighed as she leaned back against a cushion and began to gripe. "Are you sure you don't want to join the Hephaestus familia, Tanya-dono? We could sure use your help! The fact that you were able to bring those nodes up to melting point within a few minutes and didn't need half a wagon load of coal to get it done is just- augh!"
Tanya smirked and looked up from the wooden, meter-long staff in her hand. "Well, the only downside is that it is sort of taxing, but I would imagine that if I could teach this spell to you, or maybe carve the formulas on a set of Adamantium tongs or something, then it would be excellent training for your smith's Magic stats. The problem is that I am far, far, far from a traditional mage from my homeland, and using this traditional method to make these staves is already pushing the limits of my knowledge."
"I know, I know, you told me that already!" The half-dwarf curled up into a ball on her side and sulked while her fellows chuckled.
Within a minute the silver was at the proper temperature, and Tanya signaled them to make ready; the four smiths grabbing a set of tongs each as well as a crucible. Tanya held on to one end of the stave while Aiz held the other end, and under the blonde teen's direction the silver was carefully, painstakingly poured into each rune while Tanya applied a slightly lower temperature heat formula to each rune after it was filled; the metal quickly losing its viscous nature and settling down to something more solid.
The smiths were incredibly talented, even as the staff started to smoke and burn they poured quickly and efficiently- not spilling a single drop. Once the last rune was filled Riveria took her place and opened up a cut on the palm of her hand and began to drip her mana-infused blood over the runes; the life fluid bubbling and sizzling as the silver took on a soft glowing blue hue. With each rune that was coated, Tanya began to rapidly cool the metals down so that they wouldn't continue to burn the wood anymore.
Less than a minute after they started the first pours the staff was complete, and it was sat in a small trough of water to cool down the rest of the way.
Tanya finished her healing spell and closed the wound on Riveria's hand with a whispered "Spring Vitality".
"Excellent, this one looks good, now, on to the next one." The four smiths topped off their small crucibles with the two still full silver crucibles and they grabbed the next staff; this one for Aiz.
The process was exactly the same, and the results were also exactly the same; although Tanya did have to cut Aiz's palm open for her because when the young woman raised her blade to her hand she froze. Tanya grasped her hand gently and opened up only what was needed to get the blood to flow with a small Mage Blade formula.
When Tanya placed the staff into the trough after healing the Sword Princess, the young teen blushed and bowed. "Apologies. I have never... intentionally hurt myself before."
Tanya squeezed Aiz's now-healed hand firmly and smiled softly. "I know, and I understand. It is different to receive an injury in battle or during training, right?"
Aiz nodded slowly.
After a few minutes in the trough, Tanya pulled both staves out and shook off the excess water before drying them with a heat formula; they weren't pretty to look at with the burnt edges and carbonizing black lines where the flames licked the wood from the melted silver, but she was sure that with some sandpaper, elbow grease, and a coat of varnish they would look rather neat! However, their purpose wasn't to look neat, it was to be used and then discarded.
"Now, to test them and see if they work." Tanya smiled, "Please, both of you run the Interface formula and push just the smallest amount of Mind into them that you can; slowly increase the quantity until the runes and formulas activate."
Riveria gripped her staff in her hand and closed her eyes to concentrate. Within ten seconds the silver began to glow and she gasped. The Interface formula was a mental illusion that was extremely complex for how criminally simple it was to create; it simply created a mental overlay that allowed the user to view the parameters of the formula it was attached to so that the wielder could see what changing the amount of mana did to the variables of the spell.
Tanya herself had long dispensed with the Interface formula because she knew exactly how her spells functioned and could adjust them on the fly without it.
The fact that this even worked at all made Tanya's spirits soar!
It took Aiz a little bit longer, maybe a minute or so, but that was probably because she knew that these staves were fragile and limited use and didn't want to damage it with clumsy Mind handling. A small gasp left her mouth as her eyes looked all around the tent, no doubt surprised at seeing the overlay stay adhered to her vision. "Ah."
Tanya clapped her hands once. "Excellent. Your training for the rest of the evening is to keep this formula active until it is time for bed; you would be best served to keep a hand over it, and when it gets warm release the spell until it cools off. If you can practice this over the next few days until you can keep it active without thinking about it, then it will make utilizing the staves that much easier when the time comes."
The elf princess nodded as a small, genuine smile quirked her lips and a pink dusted her cheeks. "Using a different magic for the first time is... exhilarating, even if this is only a simple cantrip formula. To think that I gave up on learning this decades ago because I thought it to be too difficult."
Tanya did her best to ignore the pink tongue that darted out to wet the woman's lips as she ran her fingers over the silver engraved runes and formulas that flowed along her staff. "Yes, we still have four more days to practice and go over the formula you'll be using with this, so it is my goal that you'll be able to keep the staves active for at least a minute before they burn up and become useless."
Aiz looked at her staff before looking down at Desperate at her side in its sheath. "Would this work for a pure Mithril short sword?"
Tanya blinked and looked at Tsubaki, "I don't know how well such formulas could be engraved into a blade without it ruining the integrity of the weapon..."
"Hmmm..." The half-dwarf crossed her arms and legs as she cupped her chin, "Those engravings were rather deep, so they could introduce from structural deficiencies within the weapon; a pure Mithril club, a cylinder with a handle on it might work- scrolling the runic array and formula at a slight angle and having it wrap around should do the trick. You could sheath the stick with a thin sheet of Adamantium to protect the inscriptions, maybe? No telling what the anti-enchantment properties of Adamantium might do if placed so close though."
"Aye, Tsubaki-sama's got the right of it." The dwarf smith next to her rumbled as he stroked his beard. "Might be a question we'd need to ask Hephaestus-sama upon our return, but if anything it would be a new, exciting project, no doubt!"
Tanya hummed and nodded at the quartet of smiths before bowing to them from her knees, with her hands on her thighs. "Thank you very much for your assistance with this matter."
The four smiths all gave her various grins as they shook their heads. "Nope! Twas an interesting experience, seeing something different in action; goes to show that smithing can take all different forms, which means that there is always something new to see!"
Tanya, Aiz, and Riveria smiled in return and stood up to leave the Hephaestus tents. "Come now, you two, we still have half an hour for your lessons, so let's get to it before we part ways and head off to bed."
At the thought of more math, Aiz pouted fiercely, and Riveria could only chuckle and pull the girl into a side hug as they walked back to Tanya's Tiny Home.
The 37th Floor was, in Tanya's opinion, a complete and utter madhouse.
Five massive, numbered walls stood in the way of their expedition and the entrance to the 38th Floor, and in between those walls was a labyrinth that increased in complexity to the deeper one got into each wall. The entrances to each wall were exactly opposite of one another; for example, if the first entrance on Wall 1 was at the six-O'clock position, then the entrance to Wall 2 was at the twelve-O'clock position. It forced the expedition to fight their way through the maze as there was no shortcut; thankfully, whether you decided to go clockwise or counter-clockwise, there was a path that made it to the entrance either way.
The issue was that no path through was easier than the other, so it pretty much came down to preference; Finn preferred to go clockwise to reach all of the entrances, and thusly had their entire route memorized in his head. They had detailed maps, of which Tanya had her wagon train commanders memorize the route for each Wall in case they ever got separated, but without the perfect recall of her Type-95 marking's recording function, she would be hard-pressed to remember the routes for all.
Within the 3rd wall of the Floor, titled the "Soldier's Room", there was a very large room called the "Colosseum". It was essentially a 100 meter in diameter platform that had two ten-meter wide bridges leading in and out of the room. The platform had a sheer drop that went 50 meters deep and was a black as night. On the platform, there were five large core pillars about five meters in diameter that constantly spawned monsters native to the 37th Floor; there were always 250 monsters on the platform at any given time, and if it dropped below that number, the core pillars would spawn more monsters until it had returned to 250.
The area was unique in the fact that the monsters attacked each other just as much as they attacked the caravan, leading to a chaotic free-for-all melee that looked incredibly unappetizing on its face, however, there were numerous strategies that could be utilized to make it across relatively safely.
With the core pillars being near one another in the center of the platform, Finn and the Executives cleared the left half of the platform off and kept the spawning monsters pushed towards the right-hand side where shit became rather chaotic as monsters cut, bit, crushed, and pushed one another off the edge of the platform and into the pit.
"Keep moving, Charlie Team. The Captain has assured us that once the wagon trains are across and we arrive at the Safe Point under the Colosseum we can come back up and earn some excelia." Tanya intoned into her Communication formula and projected her voice to the third group of wagons that appeared to be slowing down in an attempt to draw some of the monsters to them away from the furball on the right-hand side.
She watched the lead driver chuckle as the security teams for the Charlie wagon train slumped.
Tanya really couldn't blame them- the 37th Floor was home to seven different monsters that were all Level 3 and Level 4 in rank- making it a prime spot to farm excelia since the monsters never stopped spawning. Even the young teen wanted a chance to flex her muscles and test her new Mithril spear-stave. Blutscher, or Blood-seeker, had performed well for her these past few months, but Bluteid, or Blood-oath, felt like it could do just so much more than her first aibou.
She snerked at the chunni thought.
Loup-garous, more powerful and vicious versions of Kobolds, were covered in white fur and used Landform Weapons in the forms of daggers and cudgels.
Lizardmen Elites were more powerful than their cousins encountered on the Higher Floors, and they were often birthed with blue scales and hideous claws meant to tear into flesh and bone; sometimes a Lizardman Elite would be born with purple scales and had hammer-like fists instead of claws, with a ball-shaped bone protrusion on the ends of their tails.
Peluda were land-bound porcupine-dragons that could breathe fire and had a serious toxin in their quills; those were priority targets for Tanya to dispatch as anyone without Abnormal Resist with at least an F-Rank would succumb to the poison and be down for the count for at least a few days. It was theorized that a G-Rank would be needed to be poisoned and remain standing, and only an E-Rank would be able to continue fighting; those with Abnormal Resist D could probably ignore the poison entirely.
The problem with Abnormal Resist is that to rank it up one needed to be poisoned or paralyzed often, and by progressively more potent toxins in order to Rank Up the Developmental Ability effectively. It was one of the main reasons why drop items from poisonous monsters were rather expensive on the markets; Adventurers with Abnormal Resist always purchased them up on the surface and had them diluted to be applied in a controlled and safe environment.
Speaking of Peluas, Tanya fired off a pair of Refracted Beams and slew two of the dragons that were fighting too close to the Delta Train's position, and she cursed and had to fire off another pair of beams with the core pillars spawned off another pair of the monsters near Tione's position at the center. Thankfully, they didn't spawn again, the pillars instead birthing an Obsidian soldier, a lava-golem like monster that had very high defense and the ability to reduce the effects of magic, and a Skull Sheep, a skeleton-like monster with a ram's skull for a head that's entire body was covered in a wool cloak that functioned that optical camouflage.
Tanya let them be as Tione was content to shove their approaching forms into the melee that was behind them; the teen made a note to kill some of those Skull Sheep and take their wool because apparently Asfia al Andromeda and a few other artificers within the city could turn the drop items into something akin to an invisibility cloak.
Now that she thought about it, that wool was probably a key ingredient in Asfi's invisibility helmet that she displayed on the 24th Floor in the battle against Fuck Face.
"Come on, Delta, bring it in. Pick up the pace a little bit." Tanya chided as the fourth and final wagon train was crossing the last bridge, but to be fair to them, their portion of the convoy was mostly Level 2s, so seeing the defensive line slowly collapse to their position and having monsters far above their Level will in the space behind them- even if they had a pair of Level 5s in the form of Beta and Tiona watching their rears- was probably quite nerve-wracking.
When the last of the Executives made it onto the bridge back into the labyrinth of the 3rd Wall, the monsters that were chasing them stopped, as if encountering an invisible wall, before they immediately turned on each other and began fighting again in earnest.
It took an hour to make it down the staircase towards the safe spot underneath the Colosseum.
The Safe Spot on the 37th Floor was a large island about 50 meters wide, once again having two ten-meter wide stone bridges in front of them. The island was surrounded by crystal clear water that was illuminated all the way down to the bottom thanks to the ambient lighting the Dungeon provided. There weren't any aquatic monsters that were known to dwell in this area, and since no monsters spawned it was generally accepted that the space was safe unless one intentionally drew the ire of the Dungeon.
In the middle of the island was a tower-like protrusion that was made up of thousands of Valmarth ore nodes, but it was accepted that attempting to harvest them would spell bad news because of the "order" inherent in the metal kept the Dungeon calm in this area. Tsubaki provided that little bit of lore for Tanya as they set up camp, and to be honest it stung a little bit when she was outright rejected by one of the ideals she strove for; 'order' was very important to her!
Of course, those were just old Adventurers tales, but no one saw fit to try and test them.
When the camp was properly set up, the various teams that could be counted on to handle the fracas at the Colosseum were granted leave to fight provided they had a trio of Executives with them at all times, and Tanya went up with them to fight.
It felt amazing to have Bluteid in her hands! The Mithril and Oathwood drank in her mana and allowed her to cast her Mage Blade formula almost effortlessly, not that the new blade on the weapon really needed it; the thicker, longer, and heavier pure Mithril blade parted the beasts easily with her strength.
When she took her breaks she waited at the bridge and healed everyone with her Spring Vitality spell, giving them the energy to pack in far more fighting than they otherwise would have been able to with just potions alone; Potion Sickness was a thing, but it wasn't something that was experienced unless you were trying to cram a dozen vials of magical liquids into your gut in a short time period. Though, you were more likely to suffer from an overly full bladder and screaming kidneys than you were to experience the nausea, vertigo, trembling, and cold sweats brought on by the ailment.
They even managed to cordon off a small section of the Colosseum for the borderline Level 2s to test their mettle against some Elite Lizardmen and Loup Garous in a safe environment, with Tanya only intervening with a Refracted Beam if they were about to get killed or lose a limb. Yes, there were some pretty serious injuries, but with her healing magics all that meant was there was even more of a reason to not get hit again; besides, their Endurance stats would rise quite nicely once the expedition was completed.
Anytime a monster showed up that had something Tanya liked, she flew out, killed it, and then brought its corpse back to the bridge to harvest it for its parts. She killed hundreds of Skull Sheep and harvested their wool cloaks, the Level 2s that were in attendance who weren't capable of fighting helped her bundle her loot up and have it prepared to move back to the caravan.
They spent almost eight hours fighting up at the Colosseum, rotating out the various teams and fighters until everyone was thoroughly done with it, and then they returned to the Safe Point to bathe, get their weapons and armor mended, and rest.
Tanya, in the meanwhile, continued her lessons with Riveria and Aiz from the previous day; the elf princess was progressing nicely, but it wasn't so much because she had a thorough understanding of the material as she was able to memorize everything Tanya put in front of her.
Aiz was a little bit more difficult, but upon learning that the girl concentrated better after a spar, no matter how light, Tanya and the Sword Princess took to sparring before the lessons; the fighting was far more beneficial for the blonde Aerial Mage, but Aiz seemed pleased with the fact that she could now better regulate her strength- something that had embarrassed her when she sparred with the Cranel boy and Lefiya.
Apparently, knocking her students out with a single kick to the face made Aiz doubt her ability to teach because she couldn't control her strength; it was something Riveria had to console the girl over more than a handful of times during their trip down. With Tanya, she was much closer in capabilities than Cranel and Lefiya were, so she had a much larger room for error that she was able to use to fine-tune her stats to more properly match her opponent's capabilities.
Lefiya had tried to join in on their spars, and while Tanya humored her she did make sure that the young elf knew that the spars were meant to help Aiz get her head in the game for her study time with Tanya; something that caused the young girl's cheeks to puff up in jealousy. "Getting to spend all of that time alone with Aiz-sama, teaching her, eeeeeeeeee! I'm so jealous!"
Well, they weren't 'alone' because Riveria was there, but Tanya had come to see that her repeated attempts at pawning the Cranel boy off on Aiz were at least bearing fruit as the girl was steadily growing more interested in him the more time went on; the fight against the Minotaur that the Vanguard got to experience had done something to those that witnessed it. They were either more pensive, in Bete's case, or they were fired up and wanting to have an exciting battle of their own!
Personally, Tanya didn't see the appeal, as she'd killed two minotaurs without a falna, but she supposed that defeating one while being a normal Level 1 was probably pretty impressive.
"Now, run through that formula again, slowly this time, Aiz." Tanya watched the older blonde close her eyes and focus as she placed her finger against the parchment in front of her and began adding a trickle of mind. The charcoal lines began to glow softly as the formula lit up, "Good, now start by changing the first variable in the equation; it can go as high as 10 and as low as 0.1. I want you to practice moving only this variable until you can move it in one-tenth increments."
The variable began to change, the charcoal dust rearranging on the paper to form a '1.0' before jumping up to '2.5'.
Tanya looked over to Riveria who was doing just that- "0.1" moving to "0.2", and then "0.3", and so on and so forth until she reached "10.0" and began to bring it back down to "0.1".
This particular variable was the "Strength Control" of the Reinforcement formula, and it was locked at giving them up to a 100% improvement in all of their Basic Stats except for their magic.
As the hour of instruction went on, Riveria showed off her mana manipulation prowess, but it was telling that she was more used to handling down to a single "Unit of Mind", which was roughly "10 Motes of Mana" that Aerial Mages were used to working with. "1.0, 3.0, 7.0, 9.0, 2.0, 5.0, 7.0, 10.0, 8.0, 0.5, 1.7, 2.9, 8.8, 9.9, 8.1, 1.1."
Tanya spoke out each variable and Riveria had three seconds to get the formula on the paper to match what she said, and on a handful of occasions the princess was a few motes high or low, but with the whole numbers, she was almost instant. Aiz tried to copy this, once, but she ended up pushing far too much Mind into the parchment and setting it ablaze.
The girl blushed as Tanya put the burning paper into a steel bucket and placed it out on the porch. "I would appreciate it if you didn't try to keep up with Riveria, Aiz. Burning down my house because you felt you were not progressing enough would displease me greatly."
The Sword Princess nodded and grabbed a fresh sheet of parchment and took her time scribbling the formula back onto it, making sure to leave enough charcoal dust on the variable portion of the equation to allow the mana to manipulate it into forming the numbers.
By the end of the second hour of instruction Riveria had moved onto the second variable of the Reinforcement formula and found herself stumbling a bit as this part of the equation had an odd interaction with the first variable; this one went up to 100.0, and when you manipulated the first variable it caused a jump of 10.0 units, multiplying the force of the mana much like a gearing ratio.
It made sense because these formulas were meant to be run through an analog computer like a Computation Orb, and not run 'by hand' so to speak. Not that Tanya didn't train her Mages to know most of their spells so well that they could perform them 'free' to leave their Computational Orb's valuable processing power for the more important spells.
However, despite the initial difficulty, the elf managed to get both variables to go up and down according to her whims instead of them being locked into the 1 = 10 jumps.
Aiz was pretty close to mastering the first variable to Tanya's satisfaction by the end of their training period, and she promised that she would have it down by their next session at the next rest point.
They ended up only staying for about six hours at the Rest Point on the 39th Floor, just enough to recharge everyone's batteries after having completed the mentally agonizing 37th Floor.
The 44th Floor was their next challenge, and while it wasn't exactly a "volcano" as the other Adventurers described, with lave plumes and flows, it was incredibly hot and had a color scheme that certainly looked like a volcano; the monsters were at least lava themed!
Red-furred Almiraj with glowing red eyes wielding obsidian Land-Form hatchets, Super Hellhounds that breathed fireballs instead of using magic (poor Welf was going to be so sad when he eventually got down to these floors and couldn't use his Will-O-Wisp spell), a cougar-like War Shadow made from fire (that had 12 claws on their four limbs instead of only 6!), and a simple rock golem that looked like it was palette swap of the Obsidian Soldier that they encountered on the 37th and 38th Floors; yes, it was stronger, but it was at the top-end of what a Level 3 could face in single combat.
Tanya's outdoor hose did indeed come in handy in spraying some water on a few of the horses that looked like the heat of the floor was getting to them, but the breeds were tough and continued to push on through.
Needless to say, Tanya allowed herself to wander the open space, slaughtering the Fire Shadow Cats and taking their claws; they were by far the most space-efficient and valuable drop items, and each one was worth almost double a Minotaur horn! No doubt Hephaestus would love to have them in her inventory to make weapons for new Level 3s since they had the same properties as War Shadow Claws. Tsubaki and the other Hephaestus smiths were positively giddy- as giddy as Dwarves could get anyway- when Tanya returned with a large sack filled with hundreds of the claws and stashed them in her Tiny Home.
The smiths laid claim to them as part of their Loot Agreement with Finn, which suited Tanya just fine as Tsubaki promised Tanya that Hephaestus would pay her roughly the cost of a minotaur horn for them; the Hephaestus familia hadn't officially been this far down before, and the Fire Shadow Cat Claws were often overlooked for the more expensive loot of parties that could make it down here.
So, it wasn't like she was losing out on a good bit of profit with the "Collective Loot Pool" that the Loki decided on for these sorts of deep dives. Besides, when she could literally gather any drop item anyone wanted, it wasn't like the expedition was going to be hurting for valis once they got up to the surface; they hadn't even started going back up yet, and this was already surpassing the profits of the last expedition by at least half.
When they reached the 49th Floor the dynamic shifted as the Vanguard rushed ahead to combat the huge masses of monsters that roamed the floor as Tanya and her wagon train lined up single file to move back up the stairs to the 48th Floor just in case a large Fomoire pack didn't get drawn to the forward combat group.
The 49th floor was absolutely massive, almost twice the size of Orario, which meant that it was a good 40-ish kilometers in diameter; to scale, Orario was 13 kilometers from the wall to the Tower of Babel, or 26 kilometers from wall to wall.
The terrain was nothing but reddish-brown sand dunes with rocky canyons and outcroppings as far as the eye could see. Thankfully, the ceiling was very high as well, giving Tanya almost 300 meters of vertical movement area. She mainly just sat up high and acted as a sentry, occasionally blowing up a few packs of Fomoire and Refracted Beaming some Sand Imps that attempted to use the dunes as cover to get close.
On one occasion a pack of fifty of the goat monsters managed to close the distance using some outcroppings that Tanya couldn't see from her stationary vantage point, but instead of just killing them all, she let her Guard Teams try their hand with the Freya Archers supporting them; there were a few broken limbs as these monsters were solidly in the realm of Level 4, but the Level 3s worked together admirably to take them down like a pack of wolves would a moose. A few healing spells and they were good as new, some shaky smiles all around.
After that, she established three waypoints for her to fly over every twenty minutes or so to prevent such an event from happening again.
Off in the distance, Rae Levantine was fired off a half dozen times over the next seven hours, with a few noticeably weaker than the others; those were probably Lefiya's castings.
A runner in the form of Tiona gleefully skated the dunes as she ran over with her arms waving. "Come one everybody! The 50th Floor awaits! I'm so ready for a bath right now!"
It took them five hours to cross over the dunes instead of the normal eight that it usually took with the wagons; thanks to Tanya's ability to see the paths the canyons took, they were able to move the wagons a lot faster on the rock than on sand- even if the paths were winding.
Off to the far side of the Dungeon was what appeared to be a cave entrance that was about 10 meters tall and was dark and incredibly foreboding. Riveria commented that was where the Monster Rex Balor resided, and since he was able to fight off Ottar, it was estimated that he was at least a Level 7 monster; as long as they steered clear of his cave, the likelihood of him coming out and bothering them was slim.
When they made it down the staircase to the 50th Floor Tanya was greeted by the sight of a massive pine forest that stretched as far as the eye could see- this was the last known Safe Point in the Dungeon.
The land was mostly flat in the center and became rolling hills and small mountains the further one moved east, and towards the west was a massive mesa that was forested on top. The western side was the furthest away from the entrance to the 51st Floor, but in Tanya's opinion, it was by far the best possible defensive location for them.
Finn wanted to have a camp set up so that they could set out immediately, but Tanya objected, stating that she needed the strength of the Level 5s and 6s to aid her in setting up a defensive position. It would end up taking a whole day to accomplish, which Finn argued was a waste of time since the Dungeon would eventually heal the damage in a few days, however, they weren't expecting to stay down here more than a day anyway, rendering his argument moot.
Besides, she was in charge of the defense while he was in charge of the 59th Floor team, and Tanya argued that since it took them months to get down here after the 24th Floor Incident, they were no doubt prepared for them; if she did anything less than her absolute best, then it could spell disaster, and Tanya wasn't the type to just not prepare.
Spoiler: Mesa view: Pre-Rae Levantine
Tanya and the Executives cleared away a large chunk of the forest on top of the Mesa, and while there was a path that was just barely wide enough for a wagon to pass leading up to it, Tanya- with judicious use of her Mage Blade and some pinpoint accurate Explosive formulas- managed to carve and blast a much wider path to allow the wagon train to ascend safely.
With the wagon train safely up, Tanya turned towards Riveria. "Riveria-dono, if you would please, give me the most powerful Rae Levantine you can muster and clear the surrounding forest."
"Of course, Tanya-dono. Since I'm not under any pressure, I'll be sure to give it my best effort. Give me ten minutes and the area surrounding us will be all cleared out." The elf princess nodded and began to chant while Tanya strode over to the Command area and pulled everyone in, an illusion flickering to life displaying the mesa they were on top of and the surrounding areas.
"The flame will soon be released."
"I have enough fighters capable of fighting off Violas and possibly Virgas to make four teams of four per sector. There will be four sectors divided equally into a quarter." Tanya laid out her plan, Riveria's chanting in the background.
"Creeping war, unavoidable destruction."
"Combat teams, you know who you are, will be designated as AG 1-1 through AG 1-4, AG 2-1 through AG 2-4, AG 3-1 through AG 3-4, and AG 4-1 through AG 4-4. Your responsibilities are to engage the enemy out in the no-man's land that Riveria-sama is currently preparing to clear out for us. I want three groups actively engaging with the last group in reserve to switch out and allow at least one group to rest and heal. It is up to the Reserve teams to pay attention to the states of their fellow combat teams and pick whoever is flagging the most, so keep your eyes peeled."
"The horn of battle sounds aloud, the cruelty of conflict will envelop all."
"Archery groups 1 through 4, the Mesa provides excellent elevation, which would greatly extend the range of your shots. You'll be supporting the Action Groups within your sector of influence, however, some sectors might receive more enemy contacts than others, so be ready to move locations if I tell you too." The Freya archers, as well as the few Hephaestus smiths and Level 2s that were competent enough with the bow to make shots exceeding 500 meters, nodded in unison, "Once the surrounding land has been cleared, I will establish Range Cards for whatever landmarks remain in your area; it should give you a rough idea of where to aim. Once that is done we can set up some targets surrounding us and can practice shooting from such a high elevation."
"The winds will howl, the mirage of flame obscures the bloodshed of battle."
"Magic teams, your goal is the same as the Archery teams, however, as none of you have wide-area destruction magic, I will want you on the ground with the Support teams. There are only six of you, so one will be with the Support team in each sector while the remaining two will be on standby here in the camp to either relieve you for rest or to cover a retreat. Mages 1 through 6, you know who you are."
"The enemy will fall before the might of Alf, their bodies consumed by the fires of strife."
"Finally, we have Support Teams 1 through 4. There are six of you per group, and you contained the less sure archers as well as the potions. Potion handlers, you should have the special vests I had made, but for everyone else who did not gawk over their new kit already, they have pouches on their vests that can carry up to 54 potions; no more of this digging into a pack to search for them." Tanya's eyes narrowed as she gave the group of Potion Bearers a stern look, "We shouldn't have used too many potions on the way down here, so our stocks will be quite full. If I see you digging into your packs for anything other than replenishing your pouches, we will have words."
"Come, crimson flames, the ruthless inferno."
"Should you run low on potions or arrows, signal the archer teams on the mesa for a resupply, and a fresh pack will be run down to you; everything should be laid out exactly the same, so no confusion as to what is where, yes?"
An elf from the logistical section, a Level 3 by the name of Keith, stepped forward with his staff in hand. "Indeed, Tanya-sama. Every supporter pack for this battle has been laid out as you have stated in our briefings before we arrived."
"You are the avatar of hellfire."
"Now, these are our likely enemies." Tanya ran through the abilities of the Viola in-depth as it was the monster she was most familiar with, but she had to rely on information supplied by the various Adventures who had fought the monsters on the previous expedition.
"Sweep completely, bring a close to the great war."
"From what I've been told, unless you have a Level 5's Endurance stat, the acid that fills the Virgas is incredibly corrosive; from what Tiona-dono has informed me, it can even travel up a surface, as she found out when the liquid not only corroded the blade of her Adamantium Urga that was exposed to it, but it eventually consumed the handle and the rest of the blade as well."
"Burn them through, Sword of Surtr - MY. NAME. IS. ALF!"
"The moral of this story is that if this touches you, you should get it off using whatever means necessary- if it gets on your skin? Cut off the skin. If it coats your arm? Cut off your arm. If it coats your legs? Cut off your fucking legs." Tanya's visage hardened, her voice growing angrier the longer she spoke. "If it gets on your head or chest then the best we can do is try to remove your flesh before it consumes your vital organs... however if you see a comrade that is being fucking dissolved by this liquid, do them and yourself a favor and put them out of their misery."
The faces of the Adventurers surrounding her grew hard, solemn, or they turned green as they thought about the first miracle of their escape without any fatalities.
Tanya sighed. "It will be far, far kinder."
"RAE LEVANTINE!"
The world surrounding them grew bright orange as the pine forests surrounding them erupted into an astounding firestorm of which the likes Tanya had never seen before.
In less than 30 seconds the entire forest surrounding them for at least a kilometer was turned to nothing but smoking rock and ash, with the mesa that they were standing on being untouched.
Tanya went through the earthworks and plans to set up a wall around their position and dig a wide, deep trench in front of those walls. The Violas would be able to maneuver up and over them well enough, but the Virgas were slow and seemingly ignored anything that was moving; the trench and walls would slow them down considerably, and allow for them to be dispatched in a timely fashion while the Violas rushed ahead.
When the smoke had cleared enough, Tanya flew to the maximum altitude of 400 meters that the Floor allowed and surveyed the area to the best of her abilities, and with that done they got to work.
Fort Tanya was what the Adventurers had jokingly taken to calling the defensive fortifications they had put in place.
Two hundred meters out from the base of the Mesa were 3 meter high walls fashioned from the pine trees surrounding the No-Man's Land, and in front of the walls was a 5-meter wide, 4-meter deep trench; the earth that used to occupy that trench formed another wall just in front of it. With any luck, the Virga would move into the trench and wouldn't be able to advance until enough of their numbers piled on top of each other to inch-worm over the wall, which would make them easy targets for Tanya to strafe and perforate with her spells.
Outside of the trench line, they had over seven hundred meters of open ground, and true to her word Tanya had targets set out for the Archers to practice hitting from the top of the Mesa.
This would have taken two Infantry battalions weeks to set up, but with the strength and Endurance of the Level 5s and Level 6s, as well as everyone pitching in, they had gotten this all set up in a day.
Finn was frowning the whole time, but even still he took a shovel and started to dig.
This could have been avoided entirely if he'd accepted the help of numerous Level 6s, Level 5s, and Level 4s from the familias who offered to help. That little tidbit Riveria let slip irked the ever-living shit out of Tanya- if she hadn't been there to intervene and accept the Freya familia's help, then they too would have been denied!
The other Pillar familias offered to send them three Level 6's, three Level 5s, and almost two dozen Level 4s and 3s! That would have doubled the firepower of this expedition, but no, they were turned away because of one man's sheer, fucking, hubris.
It wasn't like they weren't going to be fighting hordes of monsters that could dissolve any piece of equipment that lacked a Durandal enchantment, or eat away at their bodies or anything!
Tsubaki, the dear woman, took Tanya's Bluteid and gave it the Durandal enchantment for free to prepare for the upcoming battle; she would have loved to do more, but it was incredibly taxing on her to do just that.
There was a reason why Durandal was such a prized enchantment to begin with.
Tanya seethed as she watched Finn's group pack up and get moving the next morning, everyone looking fresh and well-rested after having a chance to bathe in the spring on top of the mesa, a hearty meal, and eight hours to sleep.
During the two hours that Finn and his group left, the Action Groups and the Archer Groups were practicing their movements, spreading out across their sectors and switching out. In the meanwhile, Tanya thought about Finn Deimne.
She had thought that he rejected the Freya familia's archer detachment because of some long-standing rivalry or disagreement with Alfrigg Gulliver or his brothers; they were all Pallums who rose to power and prominence around the same time, so the possibility of bad blood couldn't be overruled. Sometimes emotions tended to make people not accept help, even if it was logical to do so.
However, the fact that he refused the help from the other Pillar Familias despite Tanya's efforts to build those bridges?
Was he trying to undermine her efforts? Or was it something else?
"You seem to be thinking rather intently, Tanya-sama." A warm, raspy voice spoke out, and Tanya looked up from her observation of the Sector 4 Action Groups.
It was Calliope, the Sector 2 Action Group commander, and the leader of AG 2-1. The werewolf had waist-length, wavy, curly black hair on her head that transitioned to straight black fur on her ears and tail. The woman was incredibly beautiful, her golden eyes were full of cunning, and the off-white of her Adventurer outfit and armor contrasted wonderfully with the sun-kissed tan of her skin.
If Tanya had lesser self-control, no doubt she'd fantasize about dragging her teeth over the six-pack prominently displayed on her midriff; the young teen wasn't one for scars, but the three claw lines from some monster added to her rough but professional appearance.
However, Tanya was a professional through and through, and fantasies about her subordinates were something that she strictly relegated into a black box in her mind. Yes, she never once faltered. She was indomitable, her mind a fortress that her hormones sieged without hope of ever penetrating.
A blush formed on her cheeks as she coughed into her hand. "Yes, thinking about the battle to come."
She tilted her head, "You think they really are going to attack?"
"Remember who we're fighting, Calliope-san, they're opportunists, and if the heavy-hitters of our familia are away trying to make it down to the 59th Floor to confront this mysterious woman, then they would surely strike." Tanya placed her hands on her hips and looked up towards the artificial sky. "Think of it this way: They attacked when the Executives were here, why wouldn't they attack if they were away?"
The werewolf growled, and Tanya lowered her eyes back to the woman. "Those Evilus bastards."
"I agree, which is why I'm not putting anything past them." Tanya crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head, "Until the Expeditionary Team returns and we get back up to the surface, only then will I relax. It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you."
The Wolf smirked and chuckled. "I guess you're right, Tanya-sama."
Tanya nodded and checked her watch before she activated her Communication formula and set the broadcast range for three hundred meters. "All Teams, it is lunchtime, bring it in and relax."
"Tanya-sama! Archer 2 is reporting movement from their sector!" A young human teen ran up to her with a grim look on his face.
Speak of the fucking devil and he shall appear.
Tanya sat her tea down on the table and shot off into the sky, climbing to 300 meters before spinning up her Observation formula and scanning; thanks to the massive No-Man's Land, the movements of the Violas and Virgas were easy to spot. She panned her body and looked all around her, seeing movement for all four sectors. "All sectors, this is Tanya. We have movement on all four sectors; enemy forces estimated at 300 Violas and 100 Virga. Prepare for battle and report to your stations. This is not a drill, I say again-"
Tanya dropped out of the sky and moved to her Tiny Home and began putting on the last pieces of her armor before strapping three full quivers across her back and one to her strong side. As she strode into the middle of the camp she activated her Communication formula again. "Attention: This is likely a probing attack, the numbers just aren't there for this to be the main assault. Keep yourselves tight and kill them as slowly as possible; we don't want whoever is observing the fight to know just how quickly we can kill them. Archers 1 through 4, keep your shots down to just outside the trench line, Mages 1 through 6, hold onto your spells unless it is absolutely needed."
She grabbed her Goliath Rib Bow and took off into the air and hovered at 300 meters. "We need to sandbag a little bit to entice the fuckers to overcommit, and then? Then we tear them the fuck up, do you understand me? They are here to kill us, but we are going to kill them first! Do you understand me!?"
Even from way up here she could still hear the faint roars and howls from the brave mortal below her; their small forms raising their weapons towards the sky.
"Allow me to fire the first shot. Sector 2, please enjoy the fireworks." Tanya spoke as she drew out a white-ended Explosive arrow and notched it into her bow. The Alfhiem bow was a masterwork bow that could place a 1.25-meter long bodkin-tipped Hopewood arrow onto a target anywhere in 650 meters without needing serious elevation.
The Goliath bow?
It would put a 1.25-meter long Goliath Bone arrow onto any target within 950 meters.
With her Guidance formulas, she could range an arrow out to almost 3.5 kilometers, but she did have to put more than just a little elevation on it. Riveria was capable of punching through steel plates out to 2 kilometers every single time once she got used to the bow and the arrows used; her Level 6 stats, impressive elvish sight, and nearly 80 years of marksmanship experience made it impossible for her to miss.
Tanya was probably decades out from matching her, but the additional stats from her Marksmanship skill and her magic made it possible for her to easily pick out a cluster of Virga inch worming along about 800 meters out. The Guidance formula spun up, and it nudged her aim down a few centimeters to account for her elevation, and then the Explosive arrow glowed.
When it was released, the arrow shot out like a white lance and impacted the center of the group before detonating with the force of roughly 10 kilograms of TNT. The three closest Virga were caught up in the explosion, the concussion rocking their forms before the far-sides of their bodies erupted into a spray of viscous purple liquid. The acid-coated their fellows, and from what Tanya could see... the Virga hit with the spray started to sizzle, the monsters convulsing and shrieking until they too erupted in a shower of acid; this chain reaction continued on to kill eight more of the monsters before it stopped.
Tanya activated her Communication formula. "Attention. Targets designated Virga: Confirmed to explode upon death, sending acid all around them. Area of effect looks to be 10 meters. Additional: The Virga's exteriors are NOT immune to their own acid, so if you can puncture them then they can take out their fellows. I say again-"
Tanya returned her gaze beneath her and began her call-outs. "Sectors 2 and 4, Violas are approaching the Line. Prepare for contact, enemies 30, T-minus 20 seconds. Sector 1, Violas approaching, enemies 40, T-minus 35 seconds. Sector 3, 55 Violas, T-minus 60 seconds."
Tanya watched as the Level 4s and Level 3s of the Primary teams worked carefully to dispatch the Violas, careful to appear weaker and slower than they actually were. The Aerial Mage contributed a Hopewood arrow here and there with an Armor Penetration enchantment attached, making sure to keep her covering fire as minimal as possible; it wouldn't do to tip the enemy off that she could do far, far more.
She had four quivers strapped to her person: one normal quiver of Hopewood arrows that were unenchanted, a quiver of Hopewood arrows that were enchanted, a quiver of Oathwood arrows that were enchanted, and lastly a quiver of Goliath Bone arrows that were enchanted. She had 400 arrows on her person and was ready to kill.
Tanya pulled out an unenchanted arrow and took a few seconds to spool up the Guidance formula before letting it loose; the arrow streaking out of the sky to pierce the roof of a Viola's mouth and destroy the magic stone. She slew a few more this way, and after about fifteen minutes of combat, the number of opponents fell low enough that Tanya felt comfortable piercing the remaining that was still a good distance away from the trench line with some low powered Refracted beams; it was honestly cathartic watching the gross caterpillars wiggle and groan before exploding all over their fellows.
The Support teams roamed out and retrieved arrows fired and the Action Groups rested. Tanya touched down at each sector and placed a hand on her Bluteid before casting her "Breath of Life" spell to heal all of the Adventurers that were within a 7-meter radius of her. Better to use Tanya's quickly replenishing mana than the potions or spells of the others.
After half an hour the AGs and SGs were recalled back up to the Mesa where they had a light dinner and took the opportunity to have a quick dip in the crystal clear spring that was up there. She pulled everyone but the sentries in and gave them a quick run-down of the battle.
"We did incredibly well, especially the Action Groups. You all fought like an Adventurer one Level below your capabilities, and that will help us out immensely in the battle to come. Now, there are some improvements that could be made: 3-1 and 3-3, you have a habit of not resting when the 3-4 comes in to relieve you. Take the rest. The next time I see you wave them off I'll skin your ass, got it?"
There were a few chuckles and some playful shoves, but they all acquiesced.
The levity and uplift in morale were sorely needed, as it had only been 8 hours since Finn's group left, and it would likely be another 10 hours or more before they returned.
The prospect that this was indeed just a probing attack wore on their minds, but Tanya forced them to rest in shifts and those that were up were kept busy; the smiths were maintaining weapons, the Archers of the Freya familia were inspecting the arrows recovered, and the logisticians kept a close eye on all of the potions.
It would only get harder from here on out.
The worst part about being right was that being right when it came to predicting the enemy meant that your worst-case scenario was possibly the most likely.
However, Murphy and his boyfriend SNAFU were old friends of Tanya, and she liked to think that she at least knew how to at manage them.
Still, that didn't stop her heart from pounding as she hovered above the Mesa and counted out an attack force that dwarfed the previous group by at least ten times. Probably closer to twelve times than eleven.
"Attention: The real party is starting. At least 3,000 Violas, and maybe... 1,200 Virga. Approaching on all sides, Mages begin whatever preparations you need; I will attempt to destroy as many incoming groups as I can before they reach you."
She began spooling up a Double-Explosive formula, choosing to target a large cluster of Violas that were weaving their way through a fat clump of Virga in Sector 1. "Look to the Adventurer beside you. That is who you're fighting for right now. Not Freya-sama. Not Loki-sama. Not for Finn Deimne, and certainly not for me. The men and women standing next to you. Be strong, fight hard, and if you're scared, dig fucking deep and find your courage, because if you don't then we won't make it out of his hellhole alive."
"For those of you with sensitive hearing, I would recommend covering your ears and keeping your mouths open. Heavy explosives incoming."
The Explosive formula formed in the group, and the Virga and Violas swarmed over the orb a second before it detonated; 4,000 kilograms of TNT erupting and tearing the approaching swarm apart. Everything within 200 meters of the ball was either dead or dying, and the Virga outside that were shuddering and trembling; the Violas squirming about as if punch-drunk.
Tanya turned towards Sector 2 and fired off another, and another at Sector 3, and another off at Sector 4.
With four spells almost half of the attacking force was decimated, but the others were close enough that she couldn't fire off another Spell Compressed Explosive Formula, so she settled for using single casts to chunk them down even further; the problem was that the Violas were starting to spread out, making each explosion less effective than the last.
In under two minutes, she'd blown through half of her mana, but the numbers that reached the trench line were far more manageable.
"This is Tanya. I am going to rest, you know what to do."
Tanya dropped onto the Mesa and landed near Archer Team 3 as it had the largest remaining concentration of enemies, and she began to breathe as she used as little mana as possible; soaking in the mana around her and dyeing it in her colors as she drew and fired one arrow after another.
She moved from one post to the next, downing a mana potion as she flew, and lending her assistance wherever possible.
Every five minutes Tanya flew up to Observation altitude and noted happily that the trenches were doing their jobs quite nicely; while the Violas were able to scale the thick tree wall and the trench, the Virga encountered a bottleneck and hand to climb on top of each other to get over. This slowed their advance down significantly, but the archers had to be careful to detonate the acid-filled monsters once they were well clear of the wall to prevent their fluids from damaging the fortifications.
The issue was that they just kept coming.
The initial wave had been decimated by Tanya, and on three occasions she had to blow half of her mana to destroy the masses of monsters. She was on her fifth mana potion and half of her quivers were empty by the third hour.
It was at the beginning of the fourth hour that she noticed a serious change in the behavior of the monsters: the 3rd sector Violas and Virga became organized, the monsters no longer mindlessly rushing in and trying to scale the trench and walls to get at the Action Groups there.
"Sectors 2 and 4, I need you to donate a team to assist Sector 3! STAT!" Tanya growled through her Communication formula as she released an Explosive formula and a dozen Refracted Beams, the small Commander sucking down a Mana Potion and a Stamina Potion before releasing another Explosive arrow. The monsters were perfectly spaced so that she could only take out a few at a time now, and things were starting to get very hairy as the Archer Team and Tanya did their very best to keep the Violas and Virgas from overwhelming Sector 3.
The teams from 2 and 4 came barreling in, smashing into the Violas like a hammer, but that wasn't enough to save the first member of the Loki familia from falling; Tanya's arrow arrived a second too late, and the Level 3, her name was Sharri, a cheinthrope, was bitten in half.
Time seemed to stop for a moment as the woman's upper torso and arm sailed through the air to tumble into the dirt.
Once her body stopped rolling the action resumed with furious roars sounding through the air.
Tanya was a murder blender, Blutied and her Mage Blade formula cutting a bloody swath through the Viola and Virga, the mage's Passive Shell made impermeable to all liquids and gasses. That kept her from being sprayed even as she ran an Oxygenation formula to keep her breathing, and when she was able to she touched down and retrieved the First to Fall's body and dropped it off with the Support Team 3 to have it moved back up to the Casualty Collection point at the top of the Mesa.
Similar scenes played out as Tanya jetted from one sector to the next, handling large clusters of monsters that suddenly gained more tactical ability. Each time the monsters pushed through there were casualties. Two dead at Sector 4, 1 dead at Sector 1, 2 dead at Sector 2, and then another 2 at Sector 3.
At the very edge of the battle there was a dot, and it kept moving around, but Tanya wasn't able to keep track as she was embroiled in a mad dash to support wherever she could; she had already restocked her arrows once, and now she was down to just two quivers of unenchanted Hopewood arrows.
This dot had to be the tamer. She needed him gone, or else they would all fucking die.
"2-1 and Archer 1, meet me at Rallypoint Gamma. Sector 3, send your reserve team to cover for 2-1. Mesa team, send two Reserve AGs to replace the team leaving Sector 3."
She cursed having to send the Level 2s down to fight the Violas, but damnit there weren't any other options right now! The mages were almost spent, the healer that the Freya familia had sent was already experiencing Potion Sickness, and Tanya wasn't much better off.
When she touched down at Gamma Tanya opened up her mouth to speak and promptly vomited all over the ground.
[Calliope Durma - Sector 2 Action Group Leader, Callsign: AG 2-1]
The werewolf was antsy. Here they were having a meeting while their fellows were fighting and dying around them. Fuck, the Level 2s had been called up to reinforce Sector 3 because Tanya-sama had some sort of mission for them.
Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
"Tanya-sama!" A hoarse voice cried as the haggard form of Killen, Sector 2's Potion Bearer, ran forward with an arm full of arrows in his hands.
When the young teen who was in charge of their defense righted herself, the girl brushing the various potions from her chin, she presented her back to the young man and held still for him to begin refilling her quivers. "We have a problem. The monsters are organizing, and I believe it is the work of a Tamer."
An illusion was projected in front of Calliope and her party- the "Wild Roses"- as well as the leader of the Freya Archers, Dustin Havemar. It showed the amorphous masses of Violas and Virgas slowly moving from a blob into an actual formation; the clumps spacing out, rendering further bombardments pointless. She ran this through each time it happened, and Calliope's eyes widened. "It's a pattern. 3, 4, 2, 1, and then 3 again."
"Indeed, he's moving around the edge of the battlefield and organizing them. The issue is that I'm already running into Potion Sickness, and I'm down to less than half my mana. If I consume any more I'm going to be out, and if I fall, we all fall." If anyone else had said it the werewolf would have thought they were puffing themselves up, but with Tanya-sama, it was a fact.
The illusion changed to show a dot moving around the outside edges of the fight. Tanya raised her arms slightly as Killen had shrugged off his pack and began filling her potion pouches; even if she couldn't use them now, that didn't mean she couldn't take another potion in an hour or so.
"I think this guy might be between Level 3 and Level 4- if he was one of the Level 6 Tamers that we encountered previously he would have already been in our midst." Tanya growled, "I need this fucker dead yesterday. If he keeps organizing and prodding more of these monsters, we're all going to die. You five are the best I can send. I will support you as best I can, but everyone needs fucking help."
The blonde looked at Calliope before turning her gaze to Dustine Havemar, Sasha Rinkle, their half-elf archer, Durbina Wallar, their Dwarven front-liner, and Mary Tost, their Pallum thief and supporter.
"Can you do this?"
The human male tugged on a braid that hung by his cheek, the one with an ivory totem hanging from it, and nodded. "Freya-sama would never forgive me if I left our allies swinging in the breeze. You can count on me."
Calliope turned her gaze to her apprehensive companions; fuck, the fighting had been bad enough as it was! She blinked back a few tears before turning her attention back to Tanya. "We don't have any other choice. Our people are fighting and dying because you can't bombard them effectively enough. We'll do it."
The young teen's face hardened as she nodded and projected an illusion of the overhead map. "He was last spotted here, and will be moving clockwise to possibly here. I will hit it and try to thin the herd before he gets them organized. Be careful though, he might be closer than-"
Calliope's eyes caught sight of one of the white, Goliath Bone arrows from the Mesa, sail out over their position far past wall towards one of the tall pine trees that had started growing again within Sector 3's No-Man's Land.
"Tanya-sama!" Killen's voice rang out, and the werewolf's eyes snapped over to Tanya and their supporter as a double-paned barrier snapped into being. The barrier shattered like glass as a heavy arrow punched through it and speared into Killen's chest, knocking the Group Supporter and their Commander to the ground.
Calliope slid forward onto her knees and watched as the girl's face was spattered with blood from the man's dying last breath. He was gone, that much the werewolf knew, but the snarl on Tanya's face let her know that she was still alive.
The werewolf leader of the Wild Roses snapped the arrow shaft and pulled his body off the woman, who cut the shaft of the arrow on her side with a Mage Blade. The arrow hadn't penetrated her Goliath Hide cuirass, but it looked to be a near thing; if the arrow hadn't lost so much speed penetrating Killen then it was likely that their Commander would have perished, as the nasty barbed point was embedded in her armor... right over her heart.
The thought made her stomach churn, not out of fear or sadness, but out of sheer unadulterated anger. The werewolf felt her beastification tug at her self-control and she let loose a howl into the sky.
This bastard! This utter son of a bitch! She was going to kill him!
It was Mary that grabbed her fist, the Pallum's once bright sapphire eyes were dulled over. "We should bring him back alive. Cut off his arms and legs. Tanya-sama will make sure to get what we need from him."
"Kill him if you can't, he's not worth your lives." Their Commander hissed as she pulled herself to her feet and grabbed Killen's body, slinging it over her shoulder as another Supporter from SG-3 came over and took his support pack.
When the Teams from Sector 3 arrived to fill the gap, Calliope and her wolfpack went hunting.
Their pace was blistering, not since Hina-chan died had she ever felt such rage. Sure, she knew that others were dying in the Sectors, but seeing Killen's death- and the almost successful assassination of Tanya von Degurechaff, the young girl that was keeping them all alive- was jarring to her senses.
Ahead of them, explosions went off, scattering the resistance as they cut a diagonal line through the No-Man's Land to intercept the Beast Tamer before he managed to reorganize the monsters. The initial wave had been daunting with only a few hundred. The second wave made her almost piss herself in fear when they numbered in the thousands. The third and fourth waves were just as numerous as the first- how the fuck were they making so many monsters!?
Calliope roared as her Nosteel greatsword carved through a Viola's body, severing its grotesque head from its stem.
Ahead of her three Virga popped as the Level 4 Archer of the Freya familia proved his skill from the rear of their formation.
Durbina huffed as she smashed her Goliath Hidebound shield into another Viola's body, knocking it over so that her Valmarth-alloy ax could cleave its maw in twain.
Sasha snapped an arrow into the monster core of a Viola that was attempting to snap at Mary as she leaped over that beast to evade another.
It felt like a slog unlike anything Calliope had ever experienced, but they were gaining on him, the man they needed to capture or kill, and that was what mattered.
The Commander's beam spells punched through monsters that were beyond her line of sight, but the further they progressed the less she was able to aid them, but none of that mattered. She grit her teeth and yanked a severed vine from her thigh before downing half a potion, the severe itching the rapid healing caused the furthest thing from her mind as her legs carried her into the treeline.
The scent of the forest was thick with monsters, but there was one that stood out from the rest- the acrid stink of a human in fear for his life.
"This way!" She growled as her team and the Freya Archer followed closely behind her, the numbers of monsters thinning out as they grew closer to their quarry.
Tanya-sama's voice rang out of their clearing as her Communication spell carried her voice. "Away Team, Explosive spell incoming, Danger Close. Seek cover."
The werewolf's eyes widened and she collapsed onto her belly and covered her ears, keeping her mouth open as her fellows landed beside her in the dip between two hills.
The explosion rocked the forest less than a hundred meters ahead of them, the pressure wave sending tree branches and debris scattering all around her. Her ears were ringing, but thankfully her balance wasn't disturbed as she was quickly able to return to her feet and resumed her hunt- the scent was lost in the scent of smoke and charring monster bodies, but she had a direction, and that was all she needed.
They crossed the large crater, and that was when she smelled blood.
A snarl escaped her lips as she threw herself forward and down the hill, uncaring of the Violas that sprouted out of the ground around her- she would trust her companions to deal with them. As she crashed through the underbrush a human male voice cried out. "Violas! P-protect m-me!"
She rounded a copse of trees and caught sight of a human male in all brown garb laying up against a tree as his fingers scrabbled to pull the cork out of a healing potion; his legs and body peppered with shrapnel from the rocks and the trees.
The werewolf howled and launched herself, the ground cratering beneath her feet as she swung her blade- a few vines penetrated her body as the Violas tried to react to her presence- but the human's hands were removed in a spray of blood. A cry escaped his lips as she landed, and her companions followed in right behind her, slaying the Violas around her.
She yanked the vines from her body with a hiss and downed the rest of the healing potion she was using, but upon returning the empty vial to the holster Tanya-sama had designed she realized that she was down to her last one.
Durbina walked forward and removed the man's legs at the knees with her ax before kicking him squarely across the face. She then reached into her pouch and pulled out a potion before shoving it down his mouth; the healing liquid managing to seal the wounds on his stumps. "We need to move, now."
There was no argument from the Away Team as they took the last few seconds to bind the man's limbs and gag his mouth before they started back towards friendly lines.
Already, it was much easier to return, as the monsters were far less organized than they had been before, but they were exhausted, the adrenaline having been spent on the chase.
It was only a kilometer back to the trenches and two kilometers back to the safety of the Mesa, but Calliope's legs felt so damned fucking heavy; it wasn't just because she was lugging the soon-to-be-dead fucker over her shoulders.
The potions they had quickly ran dry, and their wounds began to accumulate.
Mary lost both of her legs when a Virga exploded near her, the vicious acid was creeping up her shins before Durbina took her legs off at the knees and yanked her away; the small Pallum woman pushed through the blinding pain to drink her last potion and stabilize herself. When her stumps were healed over she moved onto the dwarf woman's back and clung to her armor so that Durbina could have her hands free again.
The shield had to be ditched after it protected them from a Virga's acid attack, and as they leaped away a Viola's vine snapped out and took her arm off at the elbow. The Dwarf roared in pain but had enough self-control to keep on running as Marry reached into her IFAK and pulled out the Goliath Hide tourniquet and began cinching it down as hard as she could; it was just enough to drop the blood flow down to barely a trickle, but it was all she had the strength to do.
Sasha screamed as a Viola's maw pulped her leg, but before it could be bitten off completely, the Freya Archer, Dustin Havemar, put an arrow through its head and pulled her free, throwing the crying half-elf over his shoulder as they ran; even the Archer wasn't free from wounds, his body having been punctured at least a half dozen times.
The wall was in sight, and they tried their best to push just a little bit faster. They were so close! Just a little bit more!
Up in the sky, she could see Tanya-sama's approaching figure, their Commander shooting explosive spells and arrows at everything in their way. Calliope approached the trench line that was filled with pulsating, undulating Virga trying to climb over the wall, and the werewolf jumped, planting her feet on one of the monster's bulbous heads before throwing herself and their captive over the wall.
As she tumbled head over heels the last thing she saw was a thin stream of acid arcing through the air, and then all she knew was agony.
[Tanya von Degurechaff]
Calliope screamed as Tanya touched down, and she had to lean into her Mage Reinforcement to give her enough strength to firmly grip the werewolf's head so that she could contour a Mage Blade with one of her backup knives. She ran it over the trembling, flailing woman's face; the blade took off two millimeters of her skin, bone, her eyes, and the bridge of her nose, and she flicked the sizzling flesh away.
While the wound was horrific, with blood and vitreous fluid spilling down the woman's face- it was clear from acid.
Tanya gritted her teeth and removed the woman's arm at the elbow and tossed it away before she did the same with her right leg, taking it off at the knee.
Thankfully, the woman's piercing wail quieted down once the acid infected body parts were removed, and Tanya yanked out two healing potions, tugging the corks out with her teeth before she poured one over the woman's face and poured the second one down her throat; the stumps sizzled and bubbled, but she didn't have time to watch.
They needed to get clear of the wall- Sector 3's Action Group was ranging out to meet them, and Tanya grabbed Calliope by her straps and dragged her and the Evilus Fuck Face who Tanya was going to fucking torture for information until he begged for death.
There was no if's, and's, or but's about it. No dressing it up as enhanced interrogation, or enthusiastic questioning... she was going to hurt this man far more than anyone she ever hurt in her life because he was a part of this madness that had so far killed 22 of her men!
Chewed up, run through, fucking dissolved into a puddle because their fellows were too busy to put them out of their misery.
Once they were far enough away from the Virga-filled trench, she looked back at the five party members and proceeded to stuff them full of potions.
She walked forward and cupped Sasha the half-elf's cheeks. "Sasha- look at me. Look at me! I need you to focus. You're only missing your foot. I'm going to take you up to the Mesa at Archer 2's location and drop you off there; they need your support."
"Archer 1! Return to your post! SG-3, get the wounded back to the CCP, ASAP!" She barked, and everyone listened.
They began a fighting retreat back towards the safety of the Mesa, but damnit the odds were still not looking good.
They had to contract their battle positions twice now, and even with the closer location to the archers, all of the teams had lost multiple members; after the third group of Level 2s took nearly 50% casualties she couldn't risk deploying any more of them; the 3's and 4's were too fucking tired to try and look after them and fight effectively.
However, they made a difference, so their losses were not in vain.
Tanya grabbed the prisoner by his shoulder bindings and Sasha by her hip and took off into the air; the woman cried as she latched onto Tanya's flight harness, and whimpered when she cut her forearm on the barbed arrowhead stuck in her cuirass because she hadn't had time to fucking remove it yet.
She flew up over the ridge and touched down in the middle of the camp, she handed Sasha off to the nearest supporter and then shoved the captive into the hands of the Hephaestus dwarves. "Make sure she gets to Archer 2's location-"
"Tanya-sama, we're almost out of arrows at Archer 2's location!" The supporter cried out, and Tanya reached into her quiver and withdrew all but ten of her remaining arrows before ushering them off, the Pallum supporter picking the half-elf up and carrying her where she could still do some good.
"This man is the Beast Tamer responsible for leading this assault. Level 3, possibly Level 4. He's been neutralized, but your job isn't to keep him in place," The Commander looked the Dwarf in the eyes and gave him an expression that he would remember for the rest of his days. "Your job is to keep him alive, do you understand me, Tival?"
The dwarf grunted and grabbed the man by the back of his neck and proceeded to drag him towards the nearest tent.
Fuck.
She shot back up into the sky and looked around. The number of monsters was petering off, how many had they faced? 4,000? 5,000? No, easily north of 6,000.
It was so bad that the Level 4's from Freya's familia had left their bows at their posts and had descended upon the fighting, their short swords flashing.
She needed something to level the field but wouldn't kill off all of the men she was protecting.
A muffled sob escaped her lips.
Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!
"FUCK YOU, BEING-X! YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Tanya grasped Bluteid and pulled it out of its sheath on her back before slinging her Goliath bow over her shoulders. "Give me time. I don't know when I'll have this spell ready, but it is at least on par with Rae Levantine. I'll signal when it's time to pull back. For the love of all that is good in this world, please, nobody else fucking die on me."
Tears of anguish, rage, and frustration spilled down her cheeks as she began pulling in all of the mana that wasn't being used to keep her flying.
"The winds blow."
"From all four corners of the world."
"It moves the seas, shakes the trees, and buffets the deserts."
She twisted her mana within her body before pushing it into Bluteid, the Mithril and Oathwood drinking it all in, calming the pulsing, roiling mana.
"- face the east as the sun rises."
"- it faces the west as the sun sets."
"Its fury blows down the house of men and batters the shores."
With every beat of her heart, the mana within the save pulsed in time, the twisted ball of mana spreading out and forming a lattice over the top and bottom half.
"The wind is most biting, a howling wolf pack baying for your blood!"
"Shriek out O' mighty wind!"
"Scour the monuments of all mortal kind's sins!"
The spiderweb of mana doubled and then doubled again. The checkerboard lattice of mana started to twist as the spell circle from the Mage Developmental Ability glowed brighter and brighter, easing some of the strain from her body, mind, and soul.
"The monsters shall run in terror at your passing!"
"The frozen wastes bow before your majesty!"
"The rolling plains bend to your will!"
Blood spurted from Tanya's nose as she tried her damnedest to stay fucking conscious while keeping a lid on the bucking bronco that was this spell.
"The clouds move to your whims."
"The Black Dragons beseeches your aid!"
"Your power will rend the face of the world- blow it all away!"
Tanya roared as the mana almost slipped away from her control, but she just barely managed to get the lattice to twist and spin within Blutied as the spellbook had shown.
"FANG LADEN TEMPEST!"
A violent twister formed about three hundred meters out from her position, and she beamed in victory as millions of razor-thin blades lashed out at everything within its path.
The thing that separated this spell from others was that it was a Persistent Spell; kept on the field for as long as one could maintain it- moreover, the spell could be guided.
Tanya slowly dropped altitude as she dragged the vortex of death and destruction along the battle lines, her men were smart enough to pull back and retreat as her magic was unleashed. Violas and Virga were pulled in and chopped into mincemeat- none were safe from her wrath.
She just barely managed to wipe out the majority of the foes within the sector as her spell faded away; only a few dozen remained, and those were swiftly put down as the more fresh Level 4s from the Freya familia ranged out to end them.
She was about 50 meters up in the air when her flight spell sputtered and dropped her, but someone managed to catch her before she hit the ground. It was Archer 1, the man grinning wildly as the forward momentum of his leap carried them through the tree branches and into the crystal water spring.
Tanya sputtered and coughed, her nose burning something fierce as she removed the water from her nasal cavity and lungs as she was dragged out of the water.
"My friends! The monsters are all dead! We have won this day!" The man hollered out, "Rejoice! Tanya von Degurchaff has led us to victory!"
The cheers were raucous and vibrant, and truth be told it was one of the most beautiful things she ever heard in her life. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she staggered to her feet and managed to low bow as the Action Groups crested the road up to the top of the Mesa looking thoroughly exhausted and beat all to shit; most sporting a serious wound and bandages of some kind. "Thank you. All of you for your hard work. Your actions carried this day... without the sacrifices of everyone here, there was no way we would have won."
Tanya, in the end, was just barely able to stave off Mind Down by ingesting a Mind Potion, even if she ended up throwing it back up and coming down with Potion Sickness a few minutes later.
She felt like trash, but she was still awake, and she could think, and that was all that mattered. There was still a lot to do, from organizing the teams over Level 2s that hadn't fought to scavenge the battleground for anything of use, to receiving inventory reports on potions, to looking over the wounded.
Of the 197 members of Tanya's Rear Detachment, 56 were WIA and were being treated; of those 56, 7 were horribly maimed- missing limbs and eyes. The remainder would recover with potions and rest once they were cleared for potion consumption.
There were 33 KIA though, and that was being felt throughout the camp as people did their best to console one another while still getting the tasks assigned to them accomplished. It was small consolation that none of the Adventurers from the Hephaestus or Freya familias were killed, but it was small comfort as she had to stumble towards a brawl in the making as an emotional Loki familia member yelled and screamed at one of the Freya archers for not getting into the thick of it until their arrows ran out.
The victory high didn't last too long, and tensions were running high as emotions started to take control and people began looking for someone to blame for the loss of their comrades.
"Blame me!" Tanya roared as she shook one of the Level 2s by his lapels, "I am the one that ordered him down to that fight! Me! I did! Do NOT blame the archers for doing exactly as I ordered them to do! They did far more good here, on the Mesa, than they ever would have down there- Level 4 or not! I told you that they were not Miracle workers when we left, but It turns out that I'm a fucking liar!"
The Commander released the weeping man and pushed him into the arms of his friends. She looked around at every Adventurer surrounding them. "I'm a liar because those men did perform miracles, far more than any mortal could have ever asked for. They put arrows on target, and they did it with swiftness and conviction. I don't doubt there is a member of the Action or Support groups who weren't saved by them this day."
She worked her jaw and blinked back the tears that burned her eyes. "They save all of your lives, just as you all saved theirs. Because you were out there confronting the threat, they could focus their all on protecting your backs and flanks."
She bit her lip. "No one here is to blame or what happened to those we lost. No one except the monsters and the Evilus fuckers who birthed them."
"Am I understood?" She asked, "Does everyone here know that the burden of this Command falls on me? I was the one that made the decisions. I made the calls that sent our friends, our comrades into harm's way. When I needed them, they answered the call knowing full well that this was all or nothing. I did not make those decisions lightly."
A sob escaped her throat but she managed to hold herself together. "These were measures of desperation, and it galls me that despite all of our hard work and preparation that it was barely enough for us to make it through. That I wasn't strong enough to see you all make it through. So take that anger and sadness in your heart and channel it into something productive. Lean on one another, support each other, and be thankful that the lives our comrades offered up to this hellhole was enough to make sure that we can live to see another day."
Tanya wiped her face with the back of her hand and straightened herself up, drawing on every bit of experience she had to regain control over the emotions swirling within her breast. "Does everyone here understand?"
"Aye, we understand, Tanya-sama."
"We understand, Tanya-sama."
"We don't blame you for what happened to us."
"It had to be done."
Tanya's eyes slid over towards the speakers, and she saw the Wild Roses at the edge of the crowd that had gathered. Durbina had Mary on her shoulders, while Sasha leaned against her side. Calliope had bandages around her face and was being supported by Tival the smith from the Hephaestus familia.
Her throat was so tight that it was almost impossible to swallow, but she nodded. "Thank you."
As everyone collected their comrades and returned to their duties Tanya felt all of the tension leave her body as Dustin Havemar slipped a hand up underneath her armpit and guided her over to her seat and placed a hot bowl of stew into her hands. "That was beautiful, Tanya-sama. Well done."
She let out a wet laugh as she tiredly brought the spoon to her lips and ate.
Tanya hoped that the other team had better luck than they did. She had orders to wait three days, and if they didn't return, it would be up to her to get their men back to the surface hopefully organize a rescue caravan to come back down.
[Riviera - Executive of the Loki familia]
"By the Gods, what happened here?"
The words escaped her lips as she adjusted Tiona's unconscious form on her back.
Their party was damaged but whole. The staves that were given to Aiz and Riveria by Tanya truly proved their worth as the Sword Princess was able to power through the Corrupted Spirit's defenses when her strength and speed suddenly doubled; Aiz cutting through the Adamantium hard petals, vines, spines, and magic with Desperate in one hand and the brilliantly glowing staff in the other.
Unfortunately, the Valmarth blade, even when enchanted with Durandal, met its match with Aiz's astounding leap in parameters- the blade snapping in twain as the young woman's 'Max Gale Ariel - Tempest Cutter' spell blew the monstrous spirit into so much dust.
She was going to have to upgrade to Mithril if she wanted another Durandal enchanted blade, maybe even Adamantium without the enchantment. It was going to be expensive, but that was the price an Adventurer had to pay in order to advance in the Dungeon.
Those thoughts, however, fled her mind as she and the others crested the small mountain overlooking the No-Man's Land Riveria had created less than a day ago. It was an absolute disaster- the trees that had been ashed by her Rae Levantine had started to grow back, but they were growing in dozens of craters- some looked to be almost a hundred meters wide; that was Tanya's most powerful explosive spell, there was no doubt in her mind.
"They were attacked," Finn muttered as he rubbed his chin, "Just as we thought. Although considering I can see the cooking fires it appears that they were victorious."
"If barely; look'at all the monster corpses layin'round. Twas one hell'ova fight from th' looks ov'it." Gareth rumbled with a frown marring his face.
Bete growled and shifted Tione's sleeping form on his back. "Doesn't matter, we'll find out when we get back. No doubt chibi will have a whole presentation waiting for us. So instead of just standing here with our dicks in our hands, let's head over, yeah?"
"Yes," Aiz murmured as she looked down at the burned-down stub in her hand before moving back towards the mesa at a swift jog.
"Such destruction," Leyfia gasped as they followed after the Sword Princess. As they passed through a massive trough in the earth, one that looked like a tornado had created the young elf speculated. "Tanya-sama must have had her back against the wall if she used that Fang Laden Tempest spell she'd been studying the past week and a half. To think that she would get such a complex and powerful spell down in the heat of battle."
"Man, Tanya-sama sure is something, huh?" Raul mumbled as they passed by monster corpses as far as the eye could see. "Anakitty, why'd you stop?"
Riveria slowed her run as she turned to look back at the five Level 4s they'd brought down to the 59th Floor to support them. The cat-kin member of their group was staring at a severed human hand that looked to have been chewed up and spit out.
"Ana..."
The feline Level 4 reached down and picked it up, cradling it in both of her hands as a sniffle left her lips. "Oh, Sevina-."
Riveria inspected the hand, and sure enough, it had a hair-thin Adamantium ring on her middle finger- a present that the half-elf Level 3 had been given by her lover as a gift not a few years ago; the ring itself was the least damaged part of the severed hand.
Alicia Frostlight grabbed the young woman's shoulders and placed her forehead against Anakitty's. "This could just be her hand, Anakitty. We won't know until we get back. Come on, come on."
Riveria felt her mouth go dry, but she still managed to speak the words regardless. "Come, Anakitty. We can find out more about our casualties when we return to camp."
It was difficult getting the young woman to move, but they managed it.
The closer they got the worse the damage became; holes and lines of seared, crystalized earth from Tanya's Refracted Beams crisscrossed the battlefield, and when they finally reached the remains of the trench line, they found it had been torn away by fierce winds and melted by the acids of the Virga.
"The Away Team has returned! They're all okay!" A cheerful voice sounded out from atop the mesa as they drew nearer, and the sounds of hoots and hollers grew louder as they began running up the path that skirted the outside.
When Riveria finally crested the top she saw the beautiful faces of her familia, and while they tried to appear cheerful and triumphant, the dozens of white sheet ensconced bodies drew her eye.
Oh, oh no.
The crowd parted as Tanya hobbled weakly to the front, the poor dear was barely able to stand on her own power. She managed a weak smile. "Welcome back, we are all thankful to see that you're all okay. However, please, come with me to the Executive tent after handing off your wounded over to the Casualty Collection Point- we have much to discuss."