"
Its body relaxed slightly as a dazed, drowsy look appeared on its face, before I swiftly jammed my blade into the middle of its back and through its spine, a sharp yelp ringing out as its body shuddered in pain, before it collapsed onto the ground with a thud, trembling shakily as it tried to move, to no avail.
"
It crouched down as it closed in and sprang at my legs with a snarl, before I swiftly raised my right foot and drove it down, slamming it onto the top of the Monster's skull, the bottom of its head thudding against the sand before I bit out a chunk off the middle of its back with Devour, a howl of pain ringing out as blood gushed out, matting its fur down.
I turned my gaze ahead as a couple of Hellhounds charged in towards Ariella from either side, a smirk spreading out across her lips as she suddenly shot towards the one to her right.
It growled before leaping straight at her, before she reached out and grabbed both its jaws with either hand, before jerking her arms out with a snap, tearing its head in half as she ripped its upper jaw and the top of its head clean off.
She swiftly spun around as the second one sprang at her from behind, spreading her arms out before driving her fists in towards each other as the Monster closed in on her, her fists slamming onto either side of its head, a squelching crunch echoing out as she crushed its skull and brain upon impact.
She really looks like she's enjoying herself, she's usually so cheerful and upbeat, but she's definitely having fun fighting these things.
Seems she might have a couple of screws loose in there, at least when it comes to fighting. Well, not that I'm one to judge, of course.
"Okay, looks like that's all the Monsters on this floor. Let's take a break after we extract their Cores, shall we?" Suggested Ariella, as I used Drain on the Hellhounds I'd paralyzed, before finishing them off with Devour after cutting their Cores out.
I ate up the rest of the corpses once the others claimed their Cores, before joining them as they sat down in a spot by the wall to take a break.
We were upto the twenty-seventh floor now, so as far as distance through a Dungeon goes, we've entered uncharted territory. In a Low Level Dungeon, we'd have already reached the Boss Room a while ago.
It's been nothing but swarm after swarm of Hellhounds, it was groups of about five to ten across the first ten floors, then around ten to fifteen until the twentieth floor, and since then, we've been encountering packs up upto twenty.
Based on this pattern, we'll likely come across packs of around twenty-five before much longer, and the last few floors before the Boss Room will likely have groups of thirty or so.
That's going to be tough, but manageable.
Ariella's killed over a third of the Monsters we've come across so far, I'd say I've dealt with about a quarter or so, and the rest have been more or less evenly handled by the Lancer and the Attack Mages.
The Support Mages have been really pulling their weight too, the Detector's alerted us to the presence and numbers of the Monster well before we come across them, and the Protector has been using her Barrier Spells to good effect against any large-scale, unified flame attacks from the Hellhound packs.
Granted, Ariella doesn't need protection since she has the passive Elemental Immunity Skill, so flames don't affect her at all.
Well, that doesn't apply to her gear, so it's not completely pointless. And, of course, with Drain, Magical attacks are no problem for me either.
But the Lancer is vulnerable, he has a passive Mid Elemental Resistance Skill, which isn't enough to fully protect him from the Hellhounds' flames.
While they may only be Mid Level Monsters, their flames are pretty damn intense, they're ranked at Mid Level because their bodies aren't all that strong.
Which was backed up by Appraisal.
They have high Agility, plus decent Strength and Perception, but relatively low Vitality and HP.
They're also got a good amount of Mana, so whenever I use Drain on them after paralyzing instead of killing them, well...let's just say my MP stat is starting to add up nicely.
"Alright, we're more than halfway through the Dungeon, sixteen more floors to go after this one, before we reach the Boss Room. We'll slow our pace a bit further and take more regular breaks from this point forward.
On the bright side, it isn't getting any hotter, but it certainly isn't getting colder either. You've all been doing great so far, so keep it up," Smiled Ariella encouragingly.
"I mean, since you guys up front have been doing so well, it's been pretty easy for us back here, I'm actually having an easier time that I did during the Low Level raids," Grinned the Ice Mage wryly.
"Yeah, I have to agree," Added the Wind Mage with a nod.
"And I've barely had to do anything this whole time," Chimed in the Healer.
True, we haven't really sustained any injuries.
Ariella and I have been unscathed so far, the Lancer suffered a few shallow scratches but nothing serious.
Trey and the Wind Mage have also been uninjured, while the Ice Mage sustained a couple of grazes, but again, nothing serious.
Progress has been smooth, we're making good time, Trey has stayed almost completely quiet the whole time...so, all in all, we're doing great.
At least, on paper.
My passive lie detection hasn't settled down for even a second this whole time, I'm not really having any trouble tuning it out at this point, but it's got me concerned.
So far, nothing's been out of the ordinary about this Dungeon, our supervisors don't seem to think there's any cause for concern either...so, then, what exactly is triggering my lie detection?