A group of wolf-riding goblins as well as one ogre were standing in a narrow road bordered with a rocky slope to the left and a sharp drop to the right.
Their number was increasing as we encountered the next group.
The monsters began to charge toward us. My comrades readied themselves to face them in return.
Before the distance between us were reduced to twenty steps, I waved my hand toward the boulders jutting over the slope on the left side of the road.
[Davah Shashanam]
The earth around the boulders cracked and crumbled into fluid fragments, causing the boulders to tumble onto the road.
Kreee!
Kraahhh!
The huge rockslide swept the monsters to the huge drop on the right, plunging them to their imminent deaths, if not crushed by the boulders' landing.
With smaller boulders now strewn around the road, I signaled my party to move forward.
"Our goal is to prevent the sixth floor valley from being buried. We can't waste time fighting the monsters unless we have to."
I told them.
They quickly nodded and we continued on.
The path soon shifted into the mountains.
The roads were now pitted in the middle of small curved valleys which made it hard for us to see what was ahead in our path.
Thankfully my detection field managed to grasp the lay of the land ahead of us and captured the presence of the next obstacles.
[Goblin Rider Lv.10 x56]
[Ogre Lv.17 x2]
The goblins were about the same as the last. But the ogres had doubled.
Now that the path was pitted against two upward slopes, I could not do the same trick as before. Unless I wanted to block our path forward.
"Jonah, use the explosive to kill the ogre on the left. Darius, the right one!"
Instead of replying me with words, my two comrades immediately performed as commanded.
Jonah retrieved his red-streaked spear from his back while Darius took its arrow counterpart.
With skilled movement they aimed and launched their enchanted projectiles toward the ogres.
Given the narrow space provided by the valley, the ogres could not dodge themselves out of the way despite seeing the projectiles coming.
They instead raised their hands to their face to shield their head.
Big mistakes.
Boom!
Jonah's spear and Darius's arrow pierced the ogres' palms and decimated both the hands and skulls altogether in raging blasts.
The valley shook a moment due to the explosions.
The two ogres tumbled backward and fell on their backs.
One turned motionless while the other twitched for a while before it became as still as its brethren.
The goblins did not seem to care for their fallen allies.
They kicked the flanks of their wolves and charged ahead toward us.
['Tamo (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
Ignoring the notification window, I raised my hands toward the enemies.
[Maha Vayu]
A raging wind burst forth through the valley and clashed against the goblin ranks.
Dozens of them were torn to unrecognizable pieces of flesh.
Those that managed to crash themselves to the edge of the road and avoided the deadly gale were now in the middle of remounting their wolves.
Jonah, Shanny, and Trudy immediately dashed forward while the goblins were in tattered formation.
Darius launched a few arrows to dwindle more of the enemy number before his comrades engaged the monsters head on.
Having faced the same kind of enemies on the eighth floor, Jonah, Shanny, and Trudy had no problem eliminating the rest of the goblin riders.
['Kori (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
A second injury notification appeared.
The battle was turning more intense back in the city.
We needed to hurry.
"Let's move!"
I called my comrades as I ran past the two ogre corpses.
Despite having faced at least a hundred monsters since we left the garrison, we soon encountered another group in the valleyed road.
[Goblin Rider Lv.10 x61]
[Ogre Lv.17 x2]
Given the condition of the terrain remained unchanged, we used the same tactic we implemented on the previous group.
The battle lasted shorter since this was our second time performing the assault.
['Luan (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
Someone from Party 2 this time.
Hopefully Zecht and the others could handle the eastern side. Most of the monster army was focused there, after all.
We continued on through the valleyed road.
Not far from where we encountered the third obstacles from the garrison, we spotted the valley opening up. The huge drop on the right side of the road returned.
At the same time, we began hearing the rushing sound of water.
We must be nearing the dam.
Since my detection field did not sense any monsters just beyond the cliffside path, I halted our advance a moment.
Jonah had lost his two exploding spears on the ogres from the last two obstacles.
The quiver on the archer's back had started to empty as well. He could not retrieve some of the wind arrows he launched.
This would be the chance to replenish their weapons.
I waved my hand and poured threads of mana to an empty space beside us.
The shining threads started to weave into one spot, forming a round glow.
['Serafina (★★★★)' is opening a dimensional portal!]
[Establishing connection to the storage!]
Akin to those in the Weekday Dungeon, a circular glowing hue was formed.
[A dimensional portal has been created!]
As soon as I sensed the portal was properly established, I formed in my mind the objects I needed.
I had become certain that our thoughts could be conveyed to master from how we changed Party 3's leader earlier.
[Serafina (★★★★) is requesting 'Exploding Throwing Spear (B)' x2 and 'Wind Arrow (B-)' x10!]
[Summon 'Exploding Throwing Spear (B)' x2 and 'Wind Arrow (B-)' x10?]
[Yes(selected)/No]
Once master approved the request, two red-streaked spears and ten arrows floated out of the portal and settled gently to the ground.
Jonah and Darius immediately knew those were summoned for them.
After they replenished their projectiles, I waved the portal closed and gestured my comrades to follow me toward the cliffside road.
We stopped as soon we got out of the valley and started to inspect our path ahead.
The mountain trails still curved around as always.
I noticed two more monster obstacles positioned throughout the road beyond us.
The path eventually led to a wooden bridge overlooking a huge dam.
Unsurprisingly, goblins crowded the whole length of the bridge and to the grounds beyond each of its end.
Differ to the ninth floor garrison which looked different when we found it on the tenth floor, the dam was still just the same as we found it on the seventh floor.
Water fountained out from the spill gate on the bottom part of the dam and flowed through the ravine under the wooden bridge, onto the slopes of Surga's northern range.
The stream eventually ended on the small lake sitting at the side of the grand valley leading back to Loro.
Of course, instead of empty as we found it on the sixth to the ninth floor, except for the eighth floor, the grand valley was flooded with thousands of goblins marching westward to the city.
I turned back to my comrades.
"Once we reached the dam, it's halfway point to the sixth floor valley. Let's keep our pace!"
I told them before we resumed marching down the mountain path.
['Jyrgil (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]