After clearing floor 22 and spending some time preparing for our next expedition, the Arrivers were straight back in the dungeon. We took the warp crystal to floor 23 where we were greeted by a vast wasteland vista. The sky overhead was painted a bloody red, and parched earth spread as far as the eye could see underfoot. Below the elevated platform we came in on was a maze of dilapidated buildings. On the other side stood a tower—far enough away that it looked as thin as a needle, but it was still tall enough to be visible.
As I took in the scenery, I recalled what we’d learned from Labyrinth Knights about this floor... In short, it was a death trap.
“Force?”
“On it. I’ll test the waters, just like we talked about.”
With that, Force left the safe zone around the warp crystal. He took one step, then two, three... He walked a short ways, yet nothing happened. Or so it seemed, but just then, there was a glint of light from the top of the tower. The next moment, Force drew his sword. A shock wave rumbled through the air.
“Ugh!”
Sparks flew from the tip of his blade as though he’d just blocked something with it. When Force finished his swing, a small lump of metal fell to the ground.
“I know we were warned about this in advance, but blocking every one of those is gonna be a pain,” he grumbled.
This was why I’d said floor 23 was a death trap. We were getting sniped at. The shooter was probably the boss at the top of the tower, and it would keep firing as we explored the floor. Force was able to block this first round thanks to Mind’s Eye, but a single shot from a magical bullet would be fatal. And we’d be fending those off while dealing with the other monsters on the floor, so we had to be especially careful. Like floor 21 and floor 22, this floor was rather nasty by design.
“Not being able to retaliate is infuriating. I wonder if we can hit it from here,” Erin mused.
She gathered magical energy within the safe zone, then stepped out to cast her spell. A fiery bird appeared from the end of her staff, blazing through the sky in an arc before hitting a semiopaque barrier and dispersing.
“It’s within range, but nothing’s getting through. We’ll have to cross that barrier first,” she reported.
“Figures,” I sighed.
The Labyrinth Knights had warned us of that much already, but it was still worth testing to see for ourselves. After finishing her spell, Erin returned to the safe zone.
We spent a little more time experimenting and learned that the boss had a reload time between shots of roughly five minutes. That checked out against what the Labyrinth Knights had told us. Not even floor 23 was brutal enough to hail sniper fire every second.
When the next bullet came right on cue, Force deflected it again.
“How is it?” I asked.
“They’re not impossible to block. The more my eyes get accustomed to it, the easier it’ll be.”
“That’s great.”
“Can I practice with another shot or two?”
“Of course.”
After losing Jin, Force had grown a lot more cautious in the dungeon. For the better, if you asked me. While he was waiting for the boss to fire again, Sofie reached out of the safe zone and picked up one of the bullets Force had cut out of the air.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I was just using High Appraisal on it.”
“Find out anything?”
“A little something. There’s a curse on this ammunition. It’s not like the enemies of floor 21 who would inflict wounds that couldn’t be healed with holy arts, but injuries caused by these bullets will be difficult to heal. Be careful.”
“You mean Neme won’t get a chance to shine?!”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Nooo...”
Neme was clearly disappointed. I hadn’t had much of a chance to shine on floor 22 the other day myself, so I knew how she felt. Actually, when I stopped to think about it, Neme hadn’t had much of a chance to shine at all since we’d hit the end floors. Not that it was her fault. It was more like the dungeon had grown wise to holy arts. Floor 21 completely nullified them. Floor 22 made it hard for any rearline role. And now floor 23’s main opponent was a sniper trying to pick off the weakest targets. Did the dungeon have it out for priestesses? Whoever’d made it really had a nasty streak.
Ten minutes and two shots later, Force returned to the safe zone.
“I’m ready now,” he reported. “You’re up next, Roslia.”
“I’ll be off, then!” she replied, stepping out of the barrier in his stead.
Under constant fire while exploring the floor, our first line of defense would be Force with Roslia as backup. Force had his Mind’s Eye skill that allowed him to see incoming attacks, and Roslia had Guide of the Holy Sword that allowed her to see the best way to attack with Fractus—including cutting down bullets. If she didn’t make it in time with her sword, she also had Impenetrable Fortress to block the shot.
Meanwhile, our tank, Sofie, was off of sniper duty. She could easily take a bullet with her defensive abilities, but she had no skills or arts to detect incoming attacks. So rather than the sniper, she’d be responsible for handling any monsters that came at us on the ground—a plenty big job in and of itself.
“Hmm... I think I’m good too.”
Like Force, Roslia returned to the barrier after blocking a handful of shots. Unlike him, her Holy Sword Fractus burned the magic bullets into ash, so she had almost nothing to worry about.
“The next test is to see what happens when it targets someone else.”
Since we hadn’t encountered any issues so far, we were going to keep up our series of experiments. Even if Force and Roslia could stop fire headed their way, this would all be for naught if they couldn’t protect anyone else. Sofie could handle herself, but the rest of us could easily wind up dead.
“So, who’s going to be bait first?” Roslia asked.
Neme, Erin, and I all exchanged looks, silently asking each other who should go.
“Come on, Erin,” Roslia cooed.
“Why me?!” she shrieked in protest.
“Oh, you know. I’d totally be willing to risk my life for a friend like you and all...”
“Since when are we friends?! We fight more than we get along! You picked me because you want to see me dead, don’t you?!”
“Excuse me! We’re fellow party members, are we not? I don’t want to see anyone on this team dead! Apologize!”
“Oh... Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.”
“I only chose you because I thought you’d have the funniest reaction to getting shot at.”
“What did I just apologize for?!” Erin yelled, red in the face.
“That’s exactly the kind of reaction that makes Roslia want to tease you, you know?” Force grumbled.