Too easy. It was to be expected that the first floor would hold little challenge. The kobolds that the party had faced were only a challenge for newbies. For experienced level 1 adventurers such as Kori, Oben, and Castor, such an ad hoc ambush wasn't even necessary to win a fight against kobolds. Still, always pressing every advantage one could take was always a good habit.

With Kori's shout, the kobolds were taken aback. They were entirely unsure of what this adventurer was doing. All eyes were on the charging catgirl as she rushed them down with her greatsword. Using the full force of her run and the rotation of her hips, her sword cleaved into the first kobold's neck. Had the kobold been taller, he would have taken the brunt of the blade with his chest. It would have slowed the swing to a grinding halt. The entire force was carried through instead. The second kobold that Kori had targeted shared a similar fate. The thrust penetrated the mutt's skin directly below its neck. Slumping to the ground and aching for breath, it struggled at its neck to try to fix what had ailed it. It was futile.

Oben charged in alongside her. Striking the nearest kobold, he cut deep into the torso of the now-decapitated mutt that Kori had dealt with. Halfway through his swing, he felt a hard crunch against something nestled deep inside of it. Too hard for bone. His blade then stopped. The headless kobold's body began to wild and wither. Its muscle had lost definition, skin had dried, and its fur became thin and dry. Then, it began to turn into dust. The entire process only took one or two seconds, but Oben's blade became free fast enough for him to react to the kobold's fight back.

Castor's dash had been masked by Kori's rapid aggression. All eyes were on her, so he could easily slip behind the pillars without being spotted. The kobold he targeted didn't see it coming, and that was in every sense of the phrase. The nape of its neck had been skewered, the spear dancing between vertebrae. With a firm pull, the spear came out and the kobold slumped onto the ground.

By now, the kobolds had gotten over the shock and awe tactics that Kori lead. The kobold now closest to Oben had rushed him on all fours. It attacked the only way it knew how: going all in on simple moves. It leapt into the air, its maw aimed directly towards the throat of Oben.

The kobold closest to Castor had turned around at the sound of its comrade colliding with the ground. Similar to Oben, this kobold rushed at Castor on two feet. Leaping at Castor, it held its arms outstretched in an attempt of slashing at the lowered spearman's face.

The two remaining kobolds had attacked Kori to the best of their ability. While the difference of armament was great, it didn't dissuade the surviving kobolds. They charged the catgirl together with zero thoughts of their future. The one on Kori's left had claws ready to slice into whatever it could and the one on her right had its maw open, tongue wildly waving, and slobber pouring out.

_{Late Morning///Floor 1}

---

Well, this chain of events was hardly surprising for Varanense now. Casually pulling back the string of his oversized crossbow, he watched as the three warriors cut through the kobolds almost immediately, reducing numbers by half within seconds of the fight starting. Nice to see everyone was still energetic. There was a click as the bowstring locked in place, and Varanense hummed a cheery tune as he strolled into the room, largely ignored by basically every adventurer and monster. Pressing his back against the closet pillar, the archer eyed the situation briefly. One on Castor, one on Oben, two on Kori. Normally, he wouldn't have even bothered approaching while the fight still raged, so certain their victory was.

But then again, things lined up oh-so well.

The air in the dungeon was always stagnant. The distances he was working with may as well be considered close-range. Both targets were distracted and locked in place. It was, as his father used to say, free real estate. Varanense calmed his heart. Counted the beats. Raised his crossbow. Sighted it properly. Wondered if Dahlia prepared lunch for them. Prayed that Floor 2 was just as easy as this.

Fired.

It was not like a ballista bolt. It was a ballista bolt, thrumming through the air like a harpist's fingers through the strings. With hardly a sound, it shot through the body of the first kobold before flying towards the next, the sheer force of each bolt penetrating unarmored flesh with ease. If all went well, it would be two for one. If all went perfectly, the bolt would still be intact at the end of this. If all went poorly, it'd be one for one. If it went to hell, Varanense can just use this as an excuse not to contribute in the next fight.

Really, this shitty archer was alright with any and all results.

By some miracle, the bolt didn't strike centre of the flying kobold's body. Had it struck dead-on, it would have shattered stone and bone, a much harder target than simple flesh. Instead, it passed through the beast's entrails. While the entrance wound was a clean, bolt-sized hole, the exit wound was much worse. It tore and ripped flesh. Blood spewed from the new orifice as viscera had been carried out by the projectile. But the kobold didn't die. It was merely knocked off course and landed to Oben's right. That didn't mean it was some super kobold or that kobolds were extraordinarily strong. No, the mutt shivered and tried to crawl away from the swordsman he once tried to attack. It couldn't get any strength to do so. All it could do was splatter blood and move dust.

The second kobold was significantly more lucky. As clear of a shot it was, the chance of striking two targets with one bolt, one of which had been moving at an adequate speed, was unlikely. The bolt cleared over top of the second kobold's head and struck the wall with tremendous force. It barely sunk in. It quickly fell out of the newfound hole and rolled into the ground, unharmed by the hard collision.

---

---

Swift and brutal, Kori stepped to her right to avoid the slashing claws of the kobold on the left and to direct a thrust into the awaiting toothy maw the kobold on her right had so kindly presented to her. Unlike her usual boisterous personality, Kori's bladework was simple and straightforward, flowing from one move to the next with little flourish in between as her choice of weapon would little allow, lest she find herself quickly becoming tired and exhausted, a state that was unconducive to efficient dungeoneering or mothering of rambunctious mages who figuratively blew their load in every little skirmish. Thrusts, cuts, and footwork were all practiced to a rigorous and repitive degree with discipline gained from a lifetime of laborious farm work, then honed and fine-tuned after countless ventures into the Dungeon and facing its dastardly denizens.

Thus it was with practiced ease that Kori let the weight of her blade continue to propel itself forward to her right as she shifted her body to face the adversary on her left. With a slight adjustment of her grip and a pivot of her feet, she used her legs and core to drive a cutting slash toward the clawing kobold, caring little whether its pair was still attached the to tip of her blade or not.

---

---

From his lowered stance, Castor watched as the kobold blindly charged at him with a leaping attack. From Castor’s position, he was ready to receive such a direct and linear attack. He wouldn’t take any chances against the wildly swinging monster. Leaping back, Castor extended his spear and raised it against the oncoming kobold bracing the butt of the spear against the dungeon floor. Hopefully, the weight and momentum of the already airborne kobold would impale itself on the spear. As the kobold landed, Castor released his spear in a fluid movement and deftly drew his shortsword. The shortsword in his arms looked like a glaive as it cut through the air at the neck of the hopefully immobilized kobold.

It was obvious that the first floor wasn't to put up any difficulty. The kobold writing on the ground had met a quick end to Oben's nodachi. Even though the kobold on the ground struggled, pleaded, and tried to avoid death with everything in its power, the skull-faced warrior's blade was simply stronger. Its head was separated from its body and the pained whimpers had been replaced by a deafening silence.

Kori's simple bladework made quick example of the mutts attacking her. Simple moves were always called the fundamentals for a reason; they worked. The first kobold that she had attacked let its guard down. This was something that kobolds had been known for. They were nothing more than dogs on two legs. To attack, they would leave themselves open to any counter attack. The simple thrust that Kori had prepared had easily sliced through the roof of its mouth. The flying kobold's body went limp while its skull was skewered on the shieldmaiden's blade.

The second kobold didn't fare any better.

By swinging with such force, the mutt attached from brain to blade had been thrown off. The second kobold, which had been approaching just as rapidly as the flying one, had its skull meet with the side of Kori's blade. With a crunch, it cleaved into its skull. Had the kobold been wearing a helmet, it would may have not acquiesced its demise. Dogs didn't wear helmets, though. The force of the blow had carried the mutt off of its feet and into the pillar.

Castor's simple moves were both defensive and offensive; they were trademarks of the spear. The force of its charge had only caused it to meet the pointy end of a long stick. It was skewered on it. Castor's fancy move of planting the spear and finishing it off using his shortsword also bore fruit. The kobold was unable to avoid a blade coming at its neck. Using the genetic freak's natural breadth, the blade cut deep into its neck. However, the head wasn't removed. A mixture of hard pelt, fat, and spine had stopped the blade in place. Was it a bad angle? Even though Castor had struck it at a good angle, the unsecured nature of the spear had only worked against him. The spear then began to fall with kobold and sword attached.

And the room was clear. No more kobolds. Almost instantly as combat finished, the short and (now that the party had discovered) incredibly fast pallum porter quickly dashed from corpse to corpse. In her hand was a strange knife; it was incredibly thin, but had great surface area. It was constructed from a pitch black material with edge on one side and hook on the other. It was obviously not meant for combat; it looked like it would shatter if it ever had to block anything. The speed of Penn was incredibly. She cut into the chest of each kobold with extreme ease. From their now opened chest cavities, she extracted a single crystal. It was about the size of one's thumb and faintly glowed with magic. Upon removal of the stone, the corpse would begin to fade. Muscle would unstrand and wither, skin would tighten and dry, and bone would crack and turn to dust. Within seconds, the body would turn to ash and blow away in the nonexistent wind. One kobold, however, hadn't completely faded away. The kobold that had met its end to Varanense's arrow and Oben's glory stealing mercy killing had left behind its skin. No blood was left to taint the fur as Penn shoved it into her oversized backpack.

"Good work everyone," Penn assured them even though it was a cake walk of a fight, "the hole down should be just in the next room or so. There aren't any stairs or anything for this hole, so you're going to have rappel down a rope. Or learn how to. Trial by fire, you know?"

---

---

Sliding down the rope, the party would first notice that it was practically the same floor as before. Dirt and stone were still the primary material the floor had been constructed of. The same blue lights illuminated the halls. If there was any difference that the most astute of adventurers could see, it was that it was slightly darker and the halls no longer felt straight and gridlike. While the rooms remained unturned, the grid-like maps of the first floor had been replaced more free-form paths. Simple curves and diagonal halls. That was the main difference of the second floor. It was much easier to get lost as a result. This time, however, Penn made no attempt to help the party navigate. She would still answer any questions they had, but now the onus of navigation was much more on them. Well, at least making the path they would follow. Penn didn't want to get lost and die on the second floor because she wanted a bunch of adventurers to navigate, after all.

The question made itself apparent: what path would the party choose?

_{Late Morning///Floor 2}

---

"Hm," Varanense murmured, inspecting the bolt that had fallen onto the ground once the battle was over. It was unharmed by its impact, and though it was a bit grisly and disgusting-looking, the bolt could certainly be reused. He slotted it into his quiver again, before turning to the others. "19 shots left, guys. I'll be calling it a day once I'm at zero."

Without anything else in the way of explanation, he waited for Kori to rappel down first, before following in after, carefully and cautiously shimmying down the rope. Once everyone was down, Varanense was the first to prod Penn for maps, laying it down on the ground for everyone to see. He crouched down, eyes immediately flickering to all the purportedly 'safe' rooms, and decided that they sounded like a good thing to do. 'Avoid'? 'Monster House'? No thank you. 'Risk'? 'Danger'? Haha, was he a joke to them? Taking out one of his bolts to act as a pointer, Varanense turned to the rest of the party and said, "Since we're all new to this, let's take a simple route this time, ok? We'll just snake by this safe zone down here, then loop down towards the next safe room down there, check out the big room over in the middle, cross over to the safe zone on the other end, and then just copy our steps back here, yeah?"

He nodded. It was case closed, as far as he was concerned. "Heard there were even sightings of Minotaurs down on the Second Floor, and I don't fancy outrunning any of you guys, so yeah. Safe's the way to go, all in agreement say 'aye'. Aye."

---

---

The serious and cool face Kori had unmasked while in the midst of combat was replaced by a wide toothy smile once more, genuinely happy that everyone managed to come through unscathed even if their former foes posed no threat to the frankly monstrous party. Dahlia had mentioned that ability-wise everyone here was already well qualified to become level 2 and in the short skirmish, it seemed like that was true. Then again, kobolds and goblins weren't a particularly high benchmark to compare against.

But that only meant that they had to push themselves even harder! Part of it was the looming debt that shadowed her, but there was a deeper desire within her that wanted to see just how far she could go. While she loved everyone in her familia and certainly enjoyed her time with them, her time with them was more often spent making sure they don't blow themselves up than not. With this group, even if they were a bit disjointed and had little teamwork, was still just freshly gathered and would likely only get better together over time. Castor and Varanese were both a bit worrisome in how they seemed to only care about themselves for the moment, Obenn was definitely masking something with his airheadedness, and Kori supposed she herself could be a bit suspicious, but it was nothing they all wouldn't be able to overcome together with a bit of bonding.

As Penn scurried around collecting their loot, Kori gave her a thumbs up and walked next to Obenn, her hand automatically and unconsciously already tousling the hair on the back of his head (mostly because she would have to reach for the top of his head, and that would've been uncomfortable) as she guided him to the next floor. Putting on an even wider smile, she said "I'd only be a martyr if I end up dead right? And seein' as I'm not yet, just let Big Sis Kori and everything will be just dandy nya!" And with that, she quickly repelled down to the next floor.

---

---

The rest of the party soon followed. Kori took that time to stretch out her limbs and rest on her blade since there wasn't a sheath for it anyway, not that there'd be a way for one to rest comfortably on her frame anyway. Ears lazily twitched as she listened to Varanese and Obenn in turn before she chimed in with a "Oooor~, we head straight down and and then take a left to go straight to the Third Floor nyan. I mean, our ultimeowt goal is to get to Level 2 right? I'm sure meowst of us have already gone through the first four floors, so no reason to see if we can't push ourselves a little bit further for our first little outing nyan." As she spoke, her eyes drifted each person in the party, gauging their reactions, though her eyes rested on Dahlia for just a moment longer than any other in the group.

---

---

The party had decided on a mostly safe route. Thankfully, the map was true to the actual layout. While things were occasionally closer or further than they appeared, they ran into little trouble on their way to the third floor. The party was unable to decide on a single way, so they ended up taking a mix of both routes. Luckily, they were practically the same routes; Varanense simply suggested a longer way around Kori's route. It didn't quite matter, however. Both rooms ended up intersecting at multiple points, so it was a lot simpler to take Kori's way. Still, the party went out of their way once or twice only to spot nothing of note.

They safely reached the entrance to the third floor; another hole in the ground with a rope heading downwards. One by one, they went down.

---

---

The third floor was similar to the first two. After all, there was little variance between the first four floors. The most notable changes were that the earth was no longer pure dirt. The occasional sharp rock and random hole gave way to break the bland silhouettes of each room. The bright blue lights that had listlessly floated in each room and hall were slightly darker—something that only the catlike eyes of Kori could easily notice. Really, it was just more of the same. Let Penn fumble around her maps for a second as she found the right one, then just find a good route to the next floor.

Except it wasn't going to be that easy.

As the party gained foothold in the trapezoidal room, a large, mud-covered tail had erupted from the ground. About the size two men long, the tail hooked around the unsuspecting Kori and pulled her into a hole. Thanks to a mixture of half-plate and the cat-warrior's innate vitality, she was relatively unharmed from the pull. Save for the fact that she being pulled into a hole, Kori was no worse for wear.

That's when Kori saw it. A large lizard four men long was waiting for her inside. Its maw reached across its head, seemingly large enough easily fit a man in its gullet. This was no ordinary lizard, nor was this a floor boss. No, this lizard didn't belong on the third floor. In fact, the lizard came from somewhere further than any of the adventurers had previously reached.

If there was one thing for certain, it would be that this was no time to slack off.

_{Late Noon///Floor 3}

---

That was a giant lizard.

Goddamnit.

"Shoulda stayed on the second floor," Varanense grumbled, before he immediately dashed to the side, stopping just short of the wall. Drawing out a bolt, the archer slid it into his crossbow, pulled the string back, and then...waited. The angle was bad. The monster was in the hole, after all, and a lizard's tail was basically detachable to begin with. Well, the melees can do what they can to save Kori. What he was waiting for, though, was when the monster poked its head out of the hole.

His finger stayed beside the trigger, but never on it. Controlling his breathing, Varanense took shallow, calm breaths as he waited for an opportunity. Dahlia will bail them out if something too crazy happened. No need to worry about it.

---

---

After reaching a consensus, the journey to the third floor progressed smoothly, with nothing of note that required too much of their attention beyond putting one foot in front of the other. Of course, that didn't excuse them to discard any caution for no matter how familiar the upper floors of the Dungeon may be, it was still a malevolent, dangerous being that held danger around every corner, or in Kori's case, under the very floor they stood on.

The cat person was pulled down into the hole with a yelp as she instinctively loosened herself up to twist and turn in ways where she avoided the majority of the debris coming down, landing on the dirt floor in an unsteady three pointed crouch, her other hand holding her blade by its edge in a reverse grip. In the dirt and darkness, her pupils immediately dilated, heterochromatic eyes almost glowing as she faced a creature she never expected to meet anywhere on the third floor.

Kori suddenly became aware of the blood pounding in her ears, almost deafening, yet clarifying every scrape of the creature's thick claws on the soft dirt, the flicker of its tongue as it tasted the air. Her tail twitched from side to side, keeping her balance as she stood and held her greatsword before her, feeling the shuddering vibrations of the beast's breath. Her chest ached as her heart beat wildly at first too fast, then too slow as her grip tightened on the blade to still the trembling of her limbs, her body moving into a low stance.

She was terrified. She was ecstatic. She was alive.

A predators grin widened onto Kori's face as she began moving back deeper into the hole, two differing-blue eyes burning in the darkness as she gazed at her prey, hoping to draw the lizard closer towards the hole and into the waiting blades of her other party members. "Come on!" She loudly taunted, her thick rural accent bleeding even deeper into her speech than it already was. "I'm dyin' ta see what cuttin' inta a big piece of chickenshit will be like nya!"

Kori's attempt to taunt the creature didn't quite work. Well, it was to be expected. After all, lizards didn't usually fall to petty taunts. Usually. Rather than turn to strike Kori or attack her in some other way, the large lizard quickly scuttled forwards out of the hole. With its large claws scraping the edge of the dirt floor, an avalanche of dust, mud, and stone had been launched at Kori. It wasn't enough to injure, but it was enough to really peeve her off.

Unfortunately, Oben's strike was impaired by the same dirt flurry. He was unable to ascertain the moving lizard's new position. His blade struck the edge of the lizard's skin, unable to pierce its unnaturally rubber-slime skin. Instead, he would have to attempt to balance as he unnaturally fell.

Castor quickly moved to the side of the lizard, taking position of the flank. Recklessly charging in against such a dangerous threat would be suicide.

Words came from Penn. A chant of magic, in fact. Standing as far as possible away from the lizard, a sigil of magic formed at her finger tips as she stared down the giant lizard.

"Gaia's time-worn flesh unformed and rebuilt over the infinite expanse of time, create new form under my guidance. Seek true the point of no return and embrace order within my words..."

It was a fairly long chant, so it would require some time to complete.

The lizard, meanwhile, did something odd; like a hammer, its massive head stretched and rose up. It then slammed down, cracking and breaking the dirt floor. Then, it opened its large maw to envelop the dirt it had loosened. Chomp. The lizard's gullet had expanded to nearly twice its size. It was about to do something.

_{Late Noon///Floor 3}

---

He had the angle again.

Shallow breaths, steady heart. He was an archer, a sniper. Had no reason to approach, no reason to be brave. His worth was in his accuracy. Speed, power, penetrating force, all that laid in his equipment. He aimed.

Only have one job, Varanense.

And fired.

A heavy bolt, fired from a massive crossbow, shot across the room, over the hole, and right towards the lizard's left eye. Monstrous or not, the eyes were a common weakpoint, after all. He just hoped everyone else would follow up afterwards, so the massive creature didn't aggro on him.

"Hey, Dahlia, you will jump in if things get terribad, yeah?"

Schllllgh.

The bolt that had Varanense had fired sunk deep into the lizard's eye. Even though Varanense's crossbow was more like a handheld ballista, the bolt quickly lost speed as it passed through the lizard's dense eyes. Even though his crossbow could easily pass the flesh and bone of smaller creatures, the sheer size and density of the lizard was enough to be an even match. The lizard, however, didn't respond. Even though it had suddenly lost some of its vision, the lizard stood it's ground and continued to hold the considerable amount of dirt within it's gullet. It was a good attempt, but it wasn't enough. Not for this lizard.

His call for help went unanswered. Dahlia was much more of a spartan teacher than her demeanor made her out to be, apparently.

Oben's blade struck the beast's stomach true. However, that didn't mean that his blade penetrated. The first thing that Oben noticed was that the lizard's flesh didn't feel ordinary. It didn't feel as though he had thrust through the flesh of an animal. No, it felt entirely wrong. As though he was thrusting into a thick slab of rubber, his blade was instantly slowed by how thick the lizard's hide and flesh was. His blade was partially stuck 4 inches within the beast's midsection.

And without a considerable amount of effort towards pulling it out, his blade would remain stuck.

---

---

Kori let out an exasperated exclamation of complaint as the beast seemed to ignore her completely, instead choosing to fill and distend it's belly in an uncomfortable manner with an even more uncomfortable amount of dirt. Varan remained comfortably above away from it's attacks it seemed like and Castor was skulking out of it's sight. That left only Oben as it's only clear target, especially after his blade seemingly got stuck in its gullet.

Protective instincts immediately flared seeing him standing alone in front of the giant lizard, but as nimble and motherly as she may be, she liked to think she wasn't too self-sacrificial or stupid. There was no telling how wide the lizard's attack would be nor how soon it would release its move, so there was no telling whether she'd run fast enough to either push to drag him with her away from the attack. She could very well save him, but she could just as easily get them both caught in the attack.

Instead, the best course of action that she possible was to use to the falna granted to her by Hecate while moving into a spot that should be relatively safe from the lizard's attack, which seemed to be behind the lizard itself. Her legs automatically moved into action once she had decided her course, all the meanwhile extending her hand out to Oben, her mouth chanting the arcane words that would grant him her divine protection.