The next two floors were much the same, only with more enemies. They managed to gain another level on the third floor. Then they arrived at the fourth.
"It's a forest," Lilia observed.
"Yes, it's a forest," Elyra echoed.
Dungeons had the ability to house any environment necessary to support its defenders. Bastion chalked it up to space shenanigans as usual.
"Won't this be more dangerous?" Bastion asked. "We can't just walk around blindly. Lilia might die from an ambush."
As a commoner, her stats wouldn't go higher than thirty, even with intense training. Her parents had been adventurers at Rank 1, but they were just farmers' children before that. Their bloodline wasn't strong enough to give Lilia greater stats, except for her Intelligence, which was how she'd gotten into the Academy in the first place. That, and her Rank 2 Mage Class.
"I'm sorry for dragging the team down," Lilia muttered, sulking.
"I'm not saying this because you're a commoner, Lilia. I'm saying it because you're a wizard," Bastion said gently. "Magic classes are always the easiest to take down in an ambush, especially for an Apprentice Rank like you who doesn't even have a barrier spell. Basically, Elyra and I can't guarantee your safety if we're fighting in the forest. This isn't just your problem, it's a risk for any party with a wizard."
"O-oh, right. S-sorry," she stammered.
"That's fine. Have a little more confidence in yourself. You made it into the academy, after all," Bastion said encouragingly.
"Can we just set the forest on fire?" Elyra asked casually, while Lilia fidgeted beside her, pressing her hands to her cheeks.
"Normally we could, except these aren't real trees," Lilia explained, snapping out of her moment. "Dungeon objects resist natural fire. We'd need magic to burn it all down."
"Hmmm… I think I have an idea," Bastion said as he began molding the ground.
"If we can't burn the forest down, then we'll just make sure it's empty."
In front of him, a large megaphone took shape, an earthen construct designed to project his voice through the forest with ease.
"We'll have to fight hundreds of goblins at once," Elyra analyzed, eyes narrowing.
"I think we'll be fine," Bastion replied, constructing a tower for Lilia to cast from.
He followed it up with ramparts around the tower to funnel the goblins toward him, then added pitfall traps with spikes to halt their momentum.
By the time he finished building the mini fortress, his mana was nearly depleted.
"This is amazing," Lilia said, wide-eyed.
"This should be enough to fend off hundreds of goblins with wooden weapons," Bastion said, drinking a mana potion. "Lilia will attack from the tower, I'll block their entry, and Eli will pick off their ranged attackers from the treeline."
"You girls ready?"
"Yes," Lilia and Elyra replied in unison.
"Alright. Lilia, come here and scream into this," he said, pointing to the megaphone's end.
"Why me?"
"Your scream would sound the most helpless," Bastion replied seriously.
Lilia glanced at Elyra, then let out a defeated sigh. A wolfkin's scream might actually scare the goblins away. Hers, on the other hand, would just sound convincingly helpless. She really was quite helpless after all.
"Fine," she said, then took a deep breath. "KYAAA!"
A high-pitched scream echoed through the forest. Lilia definitely sounded helpless.
"That should be enough to get their attention, right?" Bastion asked.
"They're coming," Elyra warned sharply.
Leaves rustled at the edge of the forest, and the ground trembled as hundreds of goblins swarmed in from every direction. Elyra vanished into the trees to prepare an ambush, while Bastion stepped into position.
"Good job, Lilia. Now get up high and watch out for arrows," he ordered.
"Alright."
Within moments, waves of goblins burst from the treeline, tripping over one another and tumbling into the pitfall traps where many were impaled or trapped.
Lilia launched Ice Arrows into the crowd, but they barely made a dent. The traps slowed the horde, but soon they were clogged with squirming goblin bodies.
As the mass closed in, Bastion finally struck. His whip sword lashed out, slicing through goblins with brutal precision. Then he lunged forward, slamming a goblin back into its rushing comrades with a crushing Shield Bash. The force of the impact killed the goblin instantly and bowled over several others, giving Bastion room to maneuver.
Bastion had to avoid getting swarmed. The problem with fighting hordes wasn't the stamina consumption of continuous battle; it was the lack of space. If the goblins managed to dogpile him, they could pin him down and climb the tower.
"Archers!" Lilia screamed as arrows rained down from the treeline.
A shadow flashed past, darting through the crowd of goblins and slicing torsos in half. Elyra had launched her own assault from behind the treeline, tearing through the archers and cutting down the goblins pouring in from the woods.
Her ambush gave Bastion a brief window. With more room to move, he lashed out with his whip sword, catching a goblin and spinning it like a flail to smash apart its kin. He followed up with a sharp crack behind him, then brought the goblin down in a crushing arc using the skill Smash, slamming it into the horde like a meteor and carving a crater through the flood.
Meanwhile, Elyra finished off the last of the archers and slipped silently back into the shadows, letting the tide of goblins resume.
Working in tandem, the trio cut down over three hundred goblins. Elyra stalked and dispatched enemy archers, giving Bastion the space he needed to cleave through the waves, while Lilia supported from above, loosing Ice Arrows from safety.
"That was starting to get a bit much," Lilia commented, smoking a Manaleaf Bastion had given her to help recover her mana.
"I was fine with the number. I could keep going indefinitely as long as Elyra can maintain that pace. What about you, Eli?" Bastion asked, taking a drag from his own Manaleaf.
"I can increase the rate of assaults comfortably, Master," she replied, brushing off her maid outfit.
"Guess we can move on to the next floor then."
After a short break, Elyra scouted the path to the next floor. The stairway was located in the center of a goblin camp in the forest, not far from their current position.
The following two floors played out in much the same way: larger numbers, same strategy, and an easy clear. Although, there was a slight problem.
"They've gotten stronger," Bastion said, taking a break after their fight on the sixth floor.
"Yes. It's not a huge difference, but I can no longer slice through five torsos in one swing. That will slow down my assault and limit the time I can buy you, Master. I apologize," Elyra said, her ears lowering.
"It's not your fault, Eli. Don't feel bad," Bastion said, pulling her into a hug and pampering her.
"Ahem." Lilia coughed uncomfortably. "These goblins could easily overwhelm a well-equipped adventuring party. I think we might be approaching our limit."
"No, we can keep going," Bastion said. "We just need to stop relying on our current strategy. We'll take our time on the next floor." He stood and added, "Before we continue though, status check."
Elyra nodded and checked her status.
[Name]: Elyra
[Age]: 25
[Class]: Maid Assassin (Rank 1)
[Ability]: Inconspicuous Presence
[Rank]: Apprentice
[Level]: 3
[Health]: 50/50
[Mana]: 60/60
[Strength]: 55
[Dexterity]: 75
[Vitality]: 50
[Intelligence]: 60
[Wisdom]: 45
[Charm]: 50
[Status Points]: 3
[Arts]: Dark Magic 3, Sword 3, Dagger 2, Unarmed 2, Light Armor 2, Cooking 2, Cleaning 2, Stealth 2, Traps 1
[Skills:]: Slash 3, Stab 2, Throw 2, Parry 2, Dodge 2, Dash 2, Jump 2, Reinforce 2, Clean 0, Cook 0, Conceal 0, Backstab 0, Garrote 0
[Skill Points]: 3
She looked over her Arts and decided she needed to train Stealth and Traps more. She didn't like her Master taking the lead in dungeons. She was supposed to be the scout, after all.
As for her Skills, Reinforce needed attention. Unfortunately, she didn't have her Master's mana regeneration.
"Level three," they each said in turn.
"Given our progress, we should hit Level 5 by the ninth floor," Lilia commented.
"Really? I assumed we'd need to complete the boss fight," Bastion said.
"Normally, yes. But there are only three of us in the party, and the goblins are getting stronger. We should level up again on the next floor and once more on the ninth."
"Let's hope so," Bastion said before announcing, "Are we ready to go?"
"Yes," they replied.
And with that, they set off to the seventh floor.
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