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The moment we showed up in the Int-high entrance, all eyes were on us. Nothing new there. But lately, it feels like the whispers are getting louder with each passing day.
"Hey, look at their marks! They've got more! Two marks now!"
"And they are from those Armored Beast Dungeon and the Mighty Demon Dungeon to boot?!"
"Are you telling me a first-year guild has already cleared the two dungeons which even we struggle with?!"
"Sheesh, that's just on par for Brave's guild!"
"Hehe, Brave-kun is truly so dashing when he leads!"
"And look who he's with, all the top performers from the class tournament! A party of five advanced-job members… I'm so jealous!"
"They're already streamrolling in the freshmen year. I can't even imagine their senior years, maybe they will end up clearing all the Int-high dungeons."
"I...I haven't even cleared one yet"
"That's why you ought to shed your sweat under the blazing sun of «Summer Dungeon»!"
"No way!"
"Seriously, for a Rank 1 dungeon, the Summer Dungeon environment is brutally tough!"
"Try harder."
"Damn it, we don't have enough firepower to go to the Mighty Demon Dungeon!"
"Well, it can't be helped with so many people resetting their levels, it's caused a dip in our fighting strength."
"Come on, my dear comrades, come back soon! Otherwise, the juniors will leave you in the dust! Seriously serious!"
The conversations poured into my ears as I finished up at the reception desk. It appeared the level reset wreaked havoc on many guilds' party compositions.
Well, in such cases, it's better to do a lot of quests rather than dungeons. Earn QP and grind the Dojos! (Player's mindset). Though, it's another thing Dojos weren't currently available, unfortunately.
"Everyone, thanks for waiting. The procedures are done, so let's head to the Fairy Dungeon right away."
"The Fairy Dungeon, I'm so excited! I hear we can see snow there!"
"Snow, huh. The weather sounds cold then, Lana-sama. But I'd love to go there at least once."
"I want to visit the Sakura in the Spring zone and the Red Leaves in the Autumn area."
"Mm. I hear the autumn area has abundant ingredients. I want to go."
We're heading into a dungeon with four distinct seasons. While the real world also experienced summer and winter, the dungeon landscapes just had its different charm. They're incredibly rich in nature.
Lana, Ester, Sierra, and Karua each expressed their excitement. It seemed everyone was looking forward to soaking in the seasonal sights! I am looking forward to it, of course!
With that, we dove into the dungeon.
—«The Four Seasons Fairy Dungeon.»
It's a mystical dungeon where you start at the floor unfurled with the spring season, and as you descend to lower levels, the seasons change. The upper levels, floors 1 through 10, had a mild spring climate, blasting the incoming adventurous with sight of budding green leaves, and blossoming of beautiful yellow and white wildflowers all around.
And exploring deeper, you could also stumble on sakura trees zone, all of them blossoming in full bloom. I'd love to visit those later.
To put it short, this dungeon featured significant environmental changes, and the monsters that'd appear were also tied to the seasons. But you must not let their appearance deceive you, unless you sought a painful lesson, so we need to be careful.
Anyway, for now, it wouldn't harm to breathe in this beautiful scenery. It was truly breathtaking.
"What a beautiful place…"
"The wind feels so pleasant."
See? Lana was completely captivated, expressing her honest feelings.
Then there was Sierra. Her elegance was dazzling.
After everyone had their fill of the scenery, I called out to them when it seemed like a good time.
"Shall we start exploring soon?"
"Yes! I've had my fill of admiring it!"
"I'm satisfied."
"Yes. I've thoroughly enjoyed it."
"It was beautiful."
It seems everyone had recharged their spirits. Even Kalua, who rarely shows much emotion, called it beautiful. I could feel everyone's excitement for the upcoming exploration.
"Alright then, let's move out!"
"Ooooh!"
Their enthusiastic replies seemed to embody the anticipation of what beautiful sights awaited us.
A few minutes of walking, and we spotted our first monster.
"Is that a fairy?"
"Those are the 'Stray Fairies' that appear in the upper levels. Despite being called 'stray,' I've never seen one appear alone…"
What appeared were fairy-type creatures: spheres of light with two pairs of four wings. There were... five of them.
Starting from Int-high dungeons, the regular monsters would usually appear in groups, unless they're huge monsters. Since Stray Fairies weren't large monsters, they naturally appeared in groups. So, it has become a tradition to jokingly jab "What about them makes them stray?" by players in the game.
These spirits mainly attack with body slams or use scale powder skills to inflict debuffs. They were easy work if the party had a tank with debuff resistance to aggro them.
"«Impact Bash»!"
"——!"
Sierra used «Art of offense - Quad Aegis of Virtue» to swiftly knock them down with her five shields. We then finished off the knocked-back and falling monsters.
"How are the floating monsters, Sierra?"
"They're a bit hard to hit, but I think it'll be fine once I get used to them."
Sierra opening with skill from the get-go must've been an unusual sight. However, this was her means to get the feel of floating monsters. All the fairy monsters that appeared in this dungeon were all floating types.
Floating monsters were different from flying monsters. The latter had the command of aerial movements, while the former simply levitated nearly one meter above ground. They couldn't fly very high; at most, they can only reach a height where you can poke them with a long reach weapon. In other words, they're monsters that even close-range attackers could reach.
Floating monsters weren't common. The common ones were in the «Ghost» category, but of course, they were definitely a NG for Sierra. So this dungeon was just perfect to train against them. Hence, the opening was left to Sierra so she could familiarise herself with them.
"Oh, here comes the next wave. They have «Fairy» mingled among them this time. Just regular Fairies though."
Fairies are a type of monster, humanoid with two pairs of four wings, about 20cm tall, and mischievous. They're adorable, often themed after flowers. Also, they were generally female. There were male types, but only female types appeared among ordinary Fairies.
"Regular Fairies use debuffs and abnormal status. They also use offensive magic, so be careful."
"Understood."
As soon as encounters with «Stray Fairies» and «Fairies» occurred, Sierra swiftly moved to the front. She then drew all the aggro and maneuvered, while we attacked the floating types with normal attacks.
"Sure enough, it isn't so easy to target them."
"Yes. And their small size and speed also make them difficult targets."
"Mm, shower them with a flurry of attack, and one is bound to land."
"Your weapon is a dagger, Karua. Short weapons apparently have better chances to hit."
Conversely, Ester seemed to be having a tough time with her two-handed spear. And thrusting made it even harder to connect.
"Shield Bash!"
"———!!"
"Thanks, Sierra. Ester, now!"
"«Long Thrust»!"
Sierra knocked down a «Fairy» with «Shield Bash,» and Ester decisively struck it with «Long Thrust'» while it was immobilized by the knockback. Sierra's greatshield seemed easier to hit with due to its size. Hmm, I should try incorporating shield attacks into my regular attacks too.
"Oh, it hit! And then, like this!"
"——!"
Mimicking Sierra, I hit a fairy with my shield, and when it bounced back, I cut it with my sword. It was surprisingly easy to catch a floating monster this way. So, if it's hard to hit, create a situation where you can hit. This was a new approach for me. This is actually getting fun!
We took some time to practice against these uniquely challenging monsters, and once everyone had a good grasp of how to fight fairies, we moved on.
First up, the 10th floor. The Field Boss. This time, we decided to thoroughly clear this int-high dungeon without using carriages. So, we're not skipping the 10th-floor field boss; we're fighting it.
"The guardian of the 10th floor is the boss fairy, the «Fairy Chieftain.» It's humanoid, wields a spear, and is slightly smaller than a human. It's a flying type, but it's much larger than other fairy-type monsters, so it sometimes fights with its feet on the ground."
This one, in particular, was male fairy with two pairs of wings. He was dashing and cool, so it's a must we defeat it.
"It can also attack from above using magic, so when that happens, Lana, shoot it down."
"You can count on me!"
After relaying a few more strategies, we prepared to challenge our first fairy boss.