[Floor 11]
[Mission Type – Subjugation]
[Objective – Annihilate the enemies!]
With the mission window as confirmation, my comrades and I faced our enemies.
[Undead Lv.9 x80]
"Corpses!"
Darius shouted with a snarl.
"They look even more hideous than the goblins."
Shanny said with an even worse snarl.
"No matter how rotten they are, though, they still looked pretty much like humans."
Jonah said with a grim face.
Devisha only stared at the moving corpses calmly over her veil.
I raised my hands to the enemies and prepared to cast my spell.
"Undead are product of dark magic. A cruel forbidden form of sorcery. You would only serve the victims well if you kill them."
Second Circle. Maha Agni.
At the end of my sentence, a pillar of flame burst forth from my palms and consumed a row of corpses.
I managed to learn activating some of my spells without chanting them first. Silent casting.
I continued.
"The enemies may be many, but they are weaker than the goblins on the tenth floor, even the ninth. Even so, try not to get bitten or wounded. I suspect their fluid and limbs are somewhat poisonous."
We needed to prepare antidote after we returned. A cure-all solution.
Would we find enough ingredients in the Weekday Dungeons, though?
After hearing my instructions, my comrades readied their weapons and assumed the appropriate formation.
We had discussed and trained enough in the lobby to know, most of the time, which formation suited to which terrain and situation upon sight.
Darius and I at the top of the hill. Shanny, Jonah, and Devisha surrounding us.
A frail skinny corpse that might had been an elderly woman suddenly screeched like a goblin and started leaping over the tombstones as agile as a direwolf.
The rest of the undead followed suit.
They were all making their way toward the top of the hill, toward our party.
Maha Jwala.
I casted another silent spell and sent the surging flame circling the hill.
The blazing slithering pillar devoured the charging corpses and created a great ring of firewall around the hilltop.
Despite the barricade, the undead kept charging toward us, burning themselves.
As the fire consumed them, their bodies and limbs crumbled while making their way toward us. Reducing the enemies to pitch-black dust and dark goo.
Those that managed to remain intact to fight, continued to press on toward the peak.
My comrades were ready to welcome them.
Swoosh!
With great precision Darius rained his arrows down on the climbing corpses.
Alternating between his regular enchanted arrows and the explosives, he managed to claim dozens in matter of seconds.
Those that escaped the arrows, less than a dozen at a time, were immediately struck down by the rest of my comrades.
The undead tried to maneuver through my comrades' weapon with their inhumane strength and agility, but my comrades were much superior in those aspects.
Their swords and spears tore through the corpses' limbs and bodies as easily as hot knife through butter.
It was not a trying battle, honestly. It was simply a matter of exhausting the enemies' huge number.
The trial had already provided us with the perfect starting location at the top of the hill.
Once I formed the fire barricade around us, my comrades only needed to perform their roles.
Darius whittling down the enemies from the rear while the rest killed off those that managed to get close.
It was a straightforward trial. I did not even need to cast a third spell.
We soon eliminated the last corpse.
[Stage Clear!]
['Darius (★★★)', 'Devisha (★★★)' levelled up!]
[MVP – 'Darius (★★★)']
[Reward – 30,000G, Iron Ore (C) x3, Dark Oil]
The bluish-white light immediately engulfed us and we were returned to the mirrored chamber.
I turned to the mirror on the left.
[Climb the tower and save the world!]
[Main Dungeon]
[Floor conquered - 11 -]
The number '11' confirmed the completion of the eleventh floor trial.
We finally did it. We resumed our climb.
Our preparation for the third Quintal Trial had begun.
"What did you all notice from the eleventh floor earlier?"
I asked my comrades.
We needed to list our findings while the experience was still fresh.
Though I supposed we still could retry the trial since it was a subjugation mission like most floors.
But who knows what the future holds. Best we make every moment count.
"There were new enemies. Corpses. Undead, as you said."
Jonah pointed out.
Shanny nodded with him.
"It had been mostly goblins for the first till the tenth floor. And direwolves and harpies. The previous two Quintal Trials also had ogres. But never corpses."
"Unless you counted the reanimated monsters on the tenth floor. And we also briefly fought those knight statues at the temple."
Darius added.
I nodded to them.
"We should start adapting ourselves to fight the undead from now on. And what about the environment itself? Did any of you know where we were?"
Devisha tilted her head, recalling.
"It was too dark. But I noticed the huge city somewhere to our west. And that ocean beyond it."
Darius formed a frown.
"It didn't seem like an ocean to me. Could be a lake or a huge river."
Jonah turned to me.
"Fina, did you recognize the walled city?"
I shook my head.
"Like Devisha said, it was too dark. I could not make out any buildings or landmarks aside from the walls. Let alone a House banner. But it was certainly bigger than the cities we had seen so far in the forged land."
"I doubt the others in Party 2 can tell more than we do. Maybe the twelfth floor will let us get a better look of the city."
He replied with a sigh.
I nodded.
"Hopefully. That city is definitely important. The fifteenth floor might take place there. Just like Loro on the tenth."
With the mention of the third Quintal Trial, Shanny walked up to me.
"I don't mean to rush you, but I just want to know. Have you figured out anything useful from the subquest rewards?"
Jonah suddenly came between us.
"We've talked about this, Shanny. Fina will have all the time she needs to study those artifacts. We won't bother her with these questions."
They talked about this? What exactly had they talked about behind my back?
Despite Jonah's tone, though, Shanny looked him straight in the eye.
"I know, Jonah. I'm not trying to harass her. It's just that now that we've climbed the eleventh floor, it's only a matter of time until we finally reach the fifteenth floor. I just want to know if Serafina thinks she can get something done before then."
Before Jonah could reply her, I put my hand on his shoulder and spoke up.
"Shanny's right to be concerned. Master would probably spend three to five days for us frequenting the eleventh floor before moving on to the twelfth. By the same pace, it would take us about three weeks to climb to the fourteenth floor."
I continued.
"Then we would start preparing for the Quintal Trial. Which might take another week or two. From now, we would only have roughly a month before climbing to the fifteenth floor."
Hearing me sounding her concerns, Shanny asked me once more.
"Do you think you have enough time?"
Dear Goddesses, no.
One month was not enough.
My simulations still went nowhere.
None of the grimoire formula was making any sense to me as of now.
I doubted they would be in a month's time. If I proceeded as I were.
Oh how I wished master had appointed me Vice-Master.
I would delay our climb until I could finally solve one formula. Just one formula. One!
But then again, I was not Vice-Master.
I had to deal against the situation with what I had.
The fairy said master might be testing me. So I might as well strive to succeed.
Focus on what you could do at the present.
If something did not work, try another method. Try another one if it still failed. And another one, and another one. You would eventually find the right way. You only needed the one.
That was what my headmaster often said to me.
I swore that I would make those rewards useful by the time we climbed the fifteenth floor.
I would make them useful even if I had to make the wildlings solve the impossible puzzle for me and let them take the credit!
Now that was an idea.
With an assuring nod, I replied to Shanny.
"One month is enough. It has to be enough."