It was a heady experience, the party quickly realized, to hold the evolution of monsters in their hands. With an idle, almost imperious swing of her hammer, Astrid could create an Iron tier that she could then dispatch with another swing. Those quick movements would give hundreds of experience to every one of the five delvers in her party. They'd continued to engage in the hunt and destruction of the skeletons as such for a while, but before long, unfortunately, or fortunately, as the case may be, Skandr spoke with an obvious reluctance to his voice.
"This is empty experience, isn't it?"
Muti bared her teeth, Felix sighed, and Astrid looked down at the crumpled body of her latest creation. Benedict gave the most apropos response: "Sillypants."
Astrid smiled, remembering that story that Benedict had told of the man who thought himself wiser than the Great One. It was a funny story, but the reality of the tale wasn't just that Sillypants was stuck at the top of Iron, unable to strive further and unworthy of anything else. He'd been offered a Steel tier Class, unremarkable as it was. But, according to the story, he'd been offered two Classes, that of the Warrior and that of the Fool. Astrid imagined that the Fool was a higher rarity than base Warrior, but he'd turned away from one and hated the other besides. More than that, neither of the options had any true future stretched out in front of them. After all, even if he'd become Steel, the evolutionary quest he received there, if he managed to reach level 90, would be impossible to succeed at even if, finally and for the first time, he worked hard and under his own merits.
"The only one of us that's getting any real merits, with all this," Astrid grumbled, "is going to be me, and I don't want the Great One to think that I'm going to be some necromancer warrior thing."
Again, Muti just growled as she looked at the surroundings and gestured in the direction that the next group of skeletons was coming from. They were near the end of the nineteenth floor, and Muti had estimated that there would be two more fights before they entered the battle against the guardians to the twentieth floor.
The party stood in silence for a short time,, none saying what they all already knew. This time of exploiting Astrid's Skill to gain more experience was over. Less than a minute later, Felix spoke.
"I'm happy to be more aggressively frontlining for now. Actually, better said, I want you to back off frontlining." He looked directly at Astrid as he said it, a stubborn set to his shoulders visible even through his thick armor.
"I'm not opposed to that, but a little more information would be nice," she responded. As Felix began to reply, she realized what the answer was, cursing her own slow wit as he spoke.
"I need good Skill offerings, and that's not just for us as a party. I want to grow stronger, catch up and even surpass you. To do that, I'm looking to upgrade my Stance. While I do that, I'm looking at focusing on getting some Skill for dealing with groups, whether that's a better fortifying Skill or another area of effect damage Skill. Need to deal with groups to get an offering that has something to do with dealing with groups, you know?"
"Yeah, makes sense. Of course." Astrid gave her agreement. There was, of course, the fact that Astrid herself didn't want to be a frontliner. Her Class was made for being unkillable and being able take a lot of damage—that was the whole "immortal" part of the "Immortal Warrior" title. Instead of frontlining, though, what she wanted to become was a finisher. As such, she needed to find and exploit the openings in battle, whether accidental or purposeful, that her party experienced and created.
Astrid nodded as Felix hefted his axe and stepped into the front of the party once again. The next group of skeletons was approaching, and Felix was about to have the opportunity to do what he was planning for. As he strode forward, three dozen skeletons marched out of a mausoleum, standing in surprisingly orderly ranks. Behind them stood a surprising cohort of four ghouls, all of them the same captains that the party had seen before, though the overlapping and additive nature of their Skills was immediately apparent in the organization of the Bronze tier monsters they commanded.
Felix stepped forward, several of the monsters falling in on him while the others flanked around him towards the rest of the party. Astrid let him take care of it, trusting in the frontliner she had delved alongside for a year and a half at this point. Was it less than that? She wasn't really paying attention or thinking about that any longer. Regardless of her distraction, Felix activated Guardian's Wrath and forced the skeletons all to focus on him. With the four ghouls working in tandem, the monsters didn't give in, and maybe 15 of their number were able to wrench their attention away from the Guardian. He roared at Muti, "Take care of the ghouls already!"
"You are a demanding man!" she laughed as she dashed between Bronze skeletons' striking blades to fall into the back lines of the undead troops. With quick swipes of her seax, she decapitated the first of the ghouls. She continued to press the attack against the next, and Benedict's Hasty Rebuke washed over the party as well as the monsters. Astrid felt her steps lighten as she picked off two of the skeletons on her journey to annihilate the backline of ghouls alongside Muti. For a brief, passing moment, she considered using Spectre Burst on the ghoul. She'd never tried it yet, the initial experimentations having long since been enough to convince her as well as the party not to test their luck. She continued not possibly endangering her party, instead using Power-aligned mana to smash almost all of its torso apart in one blow. Muti's extermination of a third ghoul followed shortly thereafter, and the weak-willed skeletons all fell to Felix's next provocation with only one Iron tier monster supporting them.
Bones flew as Felix trusted in his armor, Fortitude, mana, and the fortification granted by Guardian's Wrath and Steady Stance. He took several blows, but he never stopped moving, weaving between spears, swords, and clubs.
"Muti! Don't worry about defending yourself, and leave the ghoul to me!"
The Ambusher obeyed Astrid's command immediately as Astrid activated her aura. Astrid grew a sudden familiarity and connection with each of her party members' states. None were injured, but she felt as Muti willingly allowed herself to take a blow from the ghoul's claws as she disengaged from it. Astrid felt her ribs creak from the sudden blow, the breath threatening to move out of her as Felix's dozen of small wounds patterned her body. With a grunt but no use of her mana, Astrid activated Immortal Warrior's Body and smashed her hammer into the ghoul. It exploded into powder, and she turned her attention to Felix, who was surrounded by a small ring of clouds that rattled the bones of his attackers.
Skandr and Felix, working together to dispatch the skeletons, already had destroyed half of the cohort, were a deadly pair, especially while bolstered by Benedict's Hasty Rebuke. Astrid and Muti both added their own efforts to the extermination, and the group of monsters was quickly reduced to so much bone powder.
"That was good!" Felix exclaimed as he looked down at his armor. Astrid knew that he was entirely unwounded, the few hits that he'd taken that she'd even felt wouldn't have been enough to bruise her when she was a level 5, much less now, with her Fortitude as high as it was. With the bonuses from her armor, she was nearly at 200 Fortitude, and though crossing that benchmark wouldn't matter for the purposes of using mana aligned with the attribute, the Fortitude granted by her equipment gave her a tougher, more resilient body as well as quicker regeneration.
With the fight over, Astrid looked at her fingers, wondering if regeneration was, in fact, the right word to use. For healers, they would have to take Skills specifically aligned with regeneration, revitalization, disinfection, or venom cleansing to do any of those things. Those specializations were hard to come by, and Astrid couldn't say that she had any idea what Immortal Warrior's Body would be able to do for her in terms of recovering from disfiguring wounds.
"Not going to test it," she muttered to herself as she finished checking their surroundings. There weren't any undead lucky enough to evade the destruction of their fellows, though they wouldn't have been intelligent enough to attempt to avoid it anyways. All monsters had a deep and overwhelming hatred for every creature that wasn't a monster themselves, they threw themselves at any opportunity to kill. Only the most sophisticated ones at the higher levels could even wait long enough to set up an ambush, much less retreat in the face of overwhelming defeat after they'd already engaged.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, Felix," Astrid shook her head. "Just thinking out loud."
The Guardian shrugged and turned his attention back to Felix and Benedict, who were getting closer to the rest of the party now that the fight was over. They'd long since established that, though the monsters on this floor were incapable of ambushes, the still-nameless party wasn't alone in the Trials. Astrid felt she got a particular reminder of this as Muti stiffened and fell into a ready crouch.
Looking at the Barbarian, she hadn't drawn weapons, but there was a familiar set to her shoulders as she seemed to peer through the mist between graves. Astrid recognized the readiness for a fight in Muti's stance, but, somehow, she could tell that the Ambusher was ready for a spar or a test. In fact, just like the ones she'd always subjected Astrid herself to when they had recently met.
"Should we be concerned?" was all that Astrid asked.
"Not yet. Be ready. You should be in no danger."
Astrid noted Muti's deliberate lack of including herself in the statement as she gestured for her party to come closer. The tightness in Muti's body language obviously communicated the reality of the situation. Benedict rushed forward until was close enough to hover maybe a meter behind Astrid as he looked out behind them, Skandr doing the same on the other side. The scar tissue on Skandr's face, a remnant of the party's, ugly fight against the irregular gnoll chieftain so long ago, was so easily forgotten with how well it'd healed. Something about the faint light here on the nineteenth floor made the different texture of the scar tissue on his face glint, and with that reminder of her failure, Astrid swore to keep her party safe.
"What's happening?" Felix asked as he took his position on the other side of the two more fragile men, the four party members making a diamond shape of sorts, Astrid and Felix at the points with Benedict and Skandr in the center.
"Ask her. But don't distract her right now," Astrid replied as she pointed at Muti. The Barbarian was still, her head turning here and there as she watched through the thick mesh of her helmet's mask to search for something that Astrid herself couldn't see.
With her brief explanation, Felix, Skandr, and Benedict nodded and settled into battle positions. Benedict idly blew a soothing song through his flute, keeping Hasty Rebuke empowering the party. Astrid herself simply waited, knowing that she couldn't trust her eyes to see something that every other member of her party couldn't. Her Acumen was her lowest attribute, which was one of the main attributes for seeing what was hidden. As such, there wasn't much that her eyes could do for the party, except to let her react to things right in front of her face. Just something she needed to trust to the others, she supposed. Even coming to that conclusion was painful, but Astrid had long since known that there was a reason why people delved in parties, not individually.
Maybe two minutes passed, with nothing seeming to happen. Astrid once felt herself begin to relax, but looked at Muti, saw her continued caution, and re-steeled her resolve. Even if it was a false positive, which Astrid highly doubted, there is no problem in keeping their guards up for a short time. Just before she was about to give in and ask Muti what was going on, the Barbarian crouched, faded into a nearly indistinguishable blur, and lunged to the side. Her movements were obviously empowered by her Alacrity-aligned mana, and a fist blurred through the air where her head had just been.
Astrid jumped forward to support her ally, but was rebuffed.
"I am fine!"
As soon as Muti said it, she activated Vital Strike. Her fist glowed with a faint gray smoke, and she punched forward. Only at that point did Astrid get a full view of the attacker, and that was an incomplete one, his form remaining hazy, though she could see his outline. What little view she did get was because Muti's fist drove hard into his solar plexus. He wheezed and stumbled back, but didn't give up. With that first blow, though, Muti's victory was determined. On his back foot and struck by manasteel reinforced knuckles, the man was far from at his top capacity. Muti's fists smashed into his forearms before her foot flashed out in a kick that smashed her shin into the outside of her enemy's thigh. Slowed, but still not beaten, man limped to get a better position, but Muti was as fast and relentless as ever.
Interestingly, as soon as she went to grapple the man, he seemed to gain a measure of strength, twisting her wrist in a way that had Muti hissing in pain. She quickly fought free of his bindings, though he'd gotten a good twist of her elbow in before she escaped. Her left arm hung at her side, not limp, but pained. Instead of going for a submission hold, Muti proceeded to pummel the man, and as his concentration faded, Astrid could finally get a good clear view of him.
As she suspected, a Barbarian man stood before Muti, his deep green hair braided into a warbraid that was only visible where it ended at the nape of his neck, his ears pointed, and his face in a rictus. His sharp teeth were exposed, and Astrid took note of his equipment. He wore no pack, and his armor was all leather. There was no metal to be found anywhere on his body except for dangling from his hip, where two short axes hung. His armor was well padded and taken care of, but it obviously stood several steps below that of every member of Astrid's party.
Unlike every fight she'd had with her, Astrid watched as Muti pulled no punches. She kept her left arm mostly out of the fight, her right jabbing just enough to keep the pressure on the other man as her feet and shins continued smashing into the man's left leg. His mobility suffered and plummeted with each successful blow, and Muti finally feinted with her right fist, pulling him into a high guard above his face before crossing with a vicious left hook that let the steel studs on her left fist smash into the cheek flap of the man's helmet.
She hissed in pain at the movement.
He dropped, unconscious.
Muti nodded down at the unconscious man and stepped back to the party, falling in just behind Astrid's right shoulder. Benedict shifted Hasty Rebuke to Song of Vindication, somehow focusing the healing property to mostly focus on Muti, though Astrid felt the few small aches she retained fade under its influence.
"What do you want me to do?" Astrid whispered. "This isn't really the way that you had planned on getting back in contact with anyone you knew, right?"
"You are the leader. Lead. Be polite, be impolite, happy or angry. Just be Astrid Warrior, and I will continue to follow as I always have." Muti's answer was heartening and showed her trust, but Astrid couldn't help but want to demand better answers than that. Instead, she nodded.
"Felix, you're in the back, make sure nobody ambushes us. Skandr, be ready to give us a storm. Benedict, keep doing what you're doing."
After that, Astrid made the deliberate choice to raise her right fist, the one that held her hammer, and dismissed it back into her equipment storage. Then, she kept her helmet on her head and her shield on her arm as she squared her shoulders, and called out, "Are you gonna come get your man?"
Several seconds of silence answered her, but Astrid didn't move, instead having her eyes flick in every direction. Through her helmet, there was no way to tell that her eyes were moving so frantically, and she fought to keep her body language relaxed. Finally, she laid eye on a shadow that approached, towering over the headstones that made the informal pathways through the nineteenth floor. Three other figures accompanied it, one of them even larger than the rest. When the largest figure strode through the midst of the party, he spoke to her.
"Speak. Who are you?"