A stronger party than the influx of fresh dungeon delvers had finally entered the dungeon. My ‘Identify’ skill had finally leveled up, so I was able to get a more accurate read on each member of their party. They were composed of the usual scout, a sword and shield user, a mage, and another swordsman with lighter armor. The man with the shield wore pieces of full plate armor, resembling half-plate you've seen in games as an in-between for full plate and leather or chainmail. The scout had the usual leather armor and bags, and bandoliers with their equipment. The mage had on a tasseled blue robe with a silver trim on it. Identifying it revealed that it was made from the skin of a warg, boasting improved resistance to stabbing and slashing. Resting on the mage’s chest was a pendant similar to the one that was worn by the guy Chaos killed. I don’t think it’s a symbol for dungeon delvers, or else I would've seen it more often, so maybe it’s for an organization or religious thing.

  ?

  All of their levels averaged around thirty-five, the highest being the mage at level thirty-nine. The scout was the lowest and the swordsmen were both in the middle, the tankier one being a couple levels lower. They had access to a large variety of skills, and they were all decently leveled, especially their offensive skills. For the melee fighters, their weapon masteries were at least level three, matching Pim’s level, but the light swordsman had a level four mastery. They had detection skills, too, even if the scout was the only one with leveled detection skills. The mage has a mana detection skill, but what really catches my eye is his magic skills. He has level five water magic and level two ice magic. Using ‘Identify’ on them only told me that increasing magic levels increases the efficiency of spells, improves casting ability and speed, and allows the user to cast more powerful and intricate spells. Ice magic is a derivative of water magic, so there’s probably more magic offshoots from the main magic types, whatever those are in this world.

  ?

  That basically sums up the abilities of the incoming party of dungeon delvers. I’d say we’re on about even ground with their abilities, but all that means is that we have a good chance to die in that fight. I want to ensure that we can all make it out alive, so we need a strategy that’ll whittle down their numbers. Blinding them would be a big help, but the stronger dungeon delvers are more likely to resist or overcome blindness quickly, at least quickly enough to fight. Their tank would still be a problem with defense skills, so he’ll take more work to take down, even if he’s blinded. The scout’s skills might be leveled enough to allow him to fight without his vision, and the same could be said for the mage. Their mana detection skills could let them throw spells around as long as he locates monster mana. Together, they might even be able to discover any ambush we try to set up. In a direct fight, their light swordsman would be able to overwhelm Pim or Vulcan in a one-on-one, possibly even both at the same time, if his weapon mastery is equal to Leron’s. They’re strong, too strong for us to comfortably handle. No, this is the course I’ve decided to go down, so I’ll see it through to the end. I’ve grown too; my skills have been leveling along with Pim and Vulcan’s skills. I can completely saturate a room with my mana and deploy a ton of glowing orbs around the room at will. I can manipulate my mana at will, sculpting it however I please. I can even increase or decrease its density, enough to even match the latent mana subsiding in the air. Wait, could I apply that to them? I think I can. I think I have a plan, one that could isolate their light swordsman and incapacitate their mage.

  ?

  “Hey, Pim, Vulcan, there’s a strong party coming, and I’ve got a new plan.”

  ?

  Dungeon Delver POV:

  ?

  Making their way through the first floor of the dungeon was the dungeon delver party known as “Torrential Shield". Their namesake came from the combination of their water magic specialty mage, and shield-user, a much less common piece of equipment, as the strength of monsters in dungeons quickly outscale humans, even higher level delvers. This peculiarity was enough to make their name a recognized party, at least in the region they tended to dungeon dive. Today was no different, as they intended to explore the middle levels of the “Hill-Valley Depths”, but they received an added incentive to do so. Garrus, a retired dungeon delver, had offered to hire a capable party to help him retrieve the bodies of his former students from the second floor of the dungeon. They weren’t the ones who took on the request, as they planned to go to the middle floors. However, they offered to clear the way for the party that did take the offer, with payment, of course. They would then stay with the bodies until his party arrived, and then continue deeper into the dungeon. Garrus accepted, and another slightly weaker party took up his offer to escort him there and back, this one a party of five. This party still needed to make some preparations for a quick dive into the dungeon, so they left about an hour behind, leading to the current gap.

  ?

  Now, they were almost upon the final room of the first floor. In a loose diamond formation, they pressed on as their scout was strong enough to handle the weak monsters that appeared. They were on alert, of course, it was still a dungeon, and rumors of a potential dungeon delver killer still pervaded the halls of the guild. Entering the room, they saw a single stone golem standing there, ready to fight. The scout then spoke up once he saw this lone monster.

  ?

  “Hey, Drevin, can you handle this. Don’t wanna chip a knife this early, ya know.”

  ?

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it.”

  ?

  The sword and shield user stepped forward, ready to slam his shield down to get this floor over with. One step, two steps, he got closer to the weakest golem one could find in a dungeon. As soon as he was in detection range, the golem began to walk straight towards Drevin, both ready to fight. Once in range, the golem raised its arm and swung down in a diagonal strike. Swinging his heater shield to meet with the golem’s arm, a loud smack resounded through the room, the golem’s arm being parried away. Then, in the same motion, the bottom tip of Drevin’s shield arced towards the core of the Golem. In an instant, the shield met stone, sending cracks throughout its body. Stumbling back, Drevin finished his attack by bracing his shield against his shoulder and performing a shoulder bash against the golem, causing it to fall and begin to crumble apart. With that, the final trial of the floor was complete, their next stop being the resting place of those kids, yet that was not where this battle had ended. With a disinterested gaze at his dying opponent, Drevin noticed a pale, blue light emanating from the golem’s core. One light, then two, three, until it stopped at five, began to float out of the golem in a ring. The ring resembled small orbs of blue-hot flames, floating in the air, and then it began to spin. Spinning faster and faster, it had now caught the eyes of each and every party member.

  ?

  Drevin was the first to warn the party. “Watch out, I don’t know what’s going on, but it could be a monster or a trap. Don’t let your guard down! Salen, is it magic?”

  ?

  Salen, their mage, responded, watching as the ring began to multiply, floating all throughout the room around eye level and the floor. “I don’t know. I can’t tell where the mana is coming from. I can’t find what’s doing this. I don’t think it’s a spell. They look more like wisps than a fire or light spell.” When the glowing orbs began to surround each of the party members in greater numbers, did he finally realize what was going on? “Wait, they’re not wisps. It’s mana latent to the air, but it’s tinged with monster mana. ‘Mana Detect’ isn’t working because all of the mana is coming from one source. There’s a monster somewh-!”

  ?

  Before he could finish his sentence, he finally noticed something. The mana saturating the room wasn’t completely uniform. There was actually a pocket of space that seemed to have no mana; in actuality, it was the normal latent mana in the dungeon. Salen noticed it, but it was already dropping through the air, from the ceiling down towards the floor. Through the light of the glowing orbs, he saw the increasingly illuminated form of a stone golem descending on Drevin. But before he could warn him, Vulcan the stone golem had landed on target, and with a sickening crunch and scream of deforming metal, Drevin was crushed under the weight of a stone golem. Then the world went white, as each ring of orbs shone with a light bright enough to banish the darkness, finally fulfilling their role.