Fame, fortune, magic, wisdom... Endless treasure and bounty lay within the otherworldly depths of the land—depths yet to be conquered that beckon people with the intangible power of curiosity. Be it in the name of hopes and dreams or greed and self-interest, adventurers from all walks of life risked everything to challenge the dungeons.
One of many daring parties was the Arrivers. We’d disbanded for a time after losing one of our own, but we’d since come together again, bolstered our ranks, and resumed dungeon diving. We’d now made it through floor 21, the fateful floor that had stolen Jin from us, and we were finally ready to press further into the dungeon. Normally this would be where things went wrong, but...
“All right! Just a little more to go!”
Surprisingly, we were making smooth progress without any complications.
At present, we’d made it to the end of floor 22. The floor 21 boss was a demon with a magic sword that sealed the holy arts used by priests and paladins, but floor 22 was guarded by a ghost wielding a magic spear with an annoying hit-and-run fighting style. It spent most of its time incorporeal, meaning our physical attacks had no effect on it, and it would only materialize to strike back at us. Its magic spear would multiply for a ranged area attack, raining down countless copies of itself from overhead or stabbing up through the ground below.
While we could use holy arts freely on this floor, this particular attack put our rearline fighters at risk. Yet in spite of that, the MVP of this battle was proving to be our mage, Erin. She was blocking the magic spear’s assault with protective area-wide spells while simultaneously whittling away at the boss with attack spells. She was basically our first line of defense and offense. We’d gathered intel on floor 22 from other dungeon parties who’d cleared it before us, but even so, having a mage with us that could prepare any magic she needed on short notice guaranteed we’d be prepared. That said, the person helping her maximize her potential was the newest of the Arrivers, Sofie.
“Erin! Another rain of spears is coming!”
“On it!”
Erin conjured a magic circle in the air above her, forming a barrier. Spears clad in a bluish-white aura plunged down into it, but couldn’t breach it.
Sofie had a skill called High Appraisal that allowed her to perceive the powers of items, people, and monsters just by looking at them. Thanks to her, we were always able to stay abreast of our enemies’ strategies. It was especially helpful against particularly dangerous gimmicks, like the sealing of holy arts or these super wide-range magic spear attacks. Even though we always scouted what information we could beforehand, there was no way to tell what surprises might lie on any given floor. Being able to analyze our enemies in the heat of battle and react accordingly was a huge boon. Once we hit unknown territory in the dungeon, there wouldn’t be anyone to gather intel from; we’d be completely reliant on Sofie then. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck that we’d gotten her from Leyfa.
“Protection!” Roslia called, using a defensive art on herself.
“An attack like that’ll never hit me!” Force shouted at the same time, using his Mind’s Eye skill to sidestep the falling spears.
The two of them, our paladin and swordsman, were naturally in the fray. Roslia’s Holy Sword Fractus was still effective against the boss in its ghost form—something we’d learned thanks to Sofie’s skill. She really was amazing.
While the rest of us held out against the rain of spears, our two sword-wielders pressed their offensive. The boss was clearly on its last legs. When Erin struck it with her next spell, powered by Neme’s buff, it did the ghost in for good. Its large, looming figure glowed faintly before fading away entirely.
Since the boss wasn’t a melee opponent and had simply relied on the same wide-range attack over and over again, we hadn’t needed a decoy this time. Basically, I’d done nothing this entire boss fight. I figured I could at least use my Enemy Search to let everyone know when the boss was gone for sure, but...
“The boss is no more. It’s safe to relax now.”
Even that job was stolen from me by Sofie. Did the Arrivers really need me...?