They were late getting back.

"Where have the two of you been?" Frederica glared at the two of them as they walked into the dining area. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find people in this labyrinth?"

"Getting some special exercise early in the morning?" Circe bounced her eyebrows.

"Pea doesn't even know what that is." Frederica smacked the brunette on the back of the head. "Not everyone is as lewd as you are."

"She has no idea…" Jeru coughed as he read Penelope's reaction. "I meant her, not you. Circe has almost no boundaries and is VERY happy to push—"

Not something I want to hear about. Penelope sighed as she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. It's also not the first time I've been called a prude because I don't like people touching me.

"Oh, I know you're not…" Jeru silenced that train of thought. "You know what? I'm going to be quiet so you can pay attention to them."

Thanks.

"Penelope and I walked the border this morning." Patrick pulled out the top map that he'd drawn. "All of them except E and F are simple hallways on our side, though we're going to have a problem with this column." He nodded at Penelope. "Pen was able to see what the minions were, and they've got a Healer."

"It's called a Deathfly and looks like a human-sized butterfly." Penelope pulled up her menu and looked at the stats Jeru had done up for her. "There are also three different canines in the column that are each a version of the Vair." She held up three fingers. "Gold fur is a regular Vair, and it is your regular melee attacker. Black fur is the Grave Vair, and it has status effects like <Infected Bite>. Last one is the Gray Vair, and it has gray fur." She looked up. "It's the Tank."

"And they're all big enough to ride?" Oakley held up his hand about waist high.

"A little bit taller than that." Penelope nodded. "And they have horns like a bull."

"Lovely…" Frederica grumbled. "Any insight on the monsters leading them?"

"I never saw all of them together." Penelope shook her head. "And when I did see them, they would retreat out of my spell's area."

"So they know we can see them, and they're trying to stay out of sight." Oakley rubbed his chin. "You think they're going to try to swarm us?"

"The higher up we get, the harder these things are going to be." Patrick huffed as he set down his maps. "We've basically capped as far as our stats go, and they're just going to keep getting stronger." He looked at Circe and Frederica. "Which means the first ones to take down here are going to be the butterflies. We don't need combat going any longer than it has to."

"Also, all the Vair have <Pack Tactics>, which increases how much damage they do when they're near someone else with the passive." Penelope looked at Oakley. "So they're going to hit a lot harder than anything we've been up against."

"As long as I can taunt them, I should be able to handle it." Oakley pounded his chest. "I've got my <Stoneskin>, so it's not me you should be worried about." He looked around at the rest of the people from the two groups. "We've got this."

"Sometimes I think you're a masochist." Patrick grumbled.

"Don't you have to be if you're a Tank?" Circe laughed.

"You could also be a martyr." Fae-Anna offered. "Or self-victimization?"

"Or maybe I'm just a tough ole geezer, and I know I can take the beating better than any of you." Patrick grumbled as he left the dining area to get his armor on.

"Since we're getting a late start, we need to get out there." Frederica looked at everyone. "Any questions?" When no one answered, she continued. "Good. Once we finish 19A, Nina will swap in for Aly, and then we'll keep going. We need to get this column done today!"

People filtered out, giving Penelope a chance to head to the meeting point in 18A. Circe ran ahead of the rest of the main group.

"You know, running off by yourself makes you look like you don't want to be a team player." The other woman teased Penelope's red ponytail.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Penelope flipped up her hood to protect her hair. "My people energy is gone." She sighed as she turned at an intersection. She'd taken the exit that led into 17B, so she headed west towards the outer barrier and the passable line that would take her to 18A.

To make directions easier, Patrick had his team go around and write on the floors where the barriers had been which square was which. There were also signs scratched into the walls at intersections that pointed out which way the tunnel would take people. Frederica had thought it was wasted effort in the beginning, but now that they had almost two miles of the Dungeon unlocked, it was easy to get lost if you didn't know where an outer wall was.

"Then you need to make more people energy!" Circe laughed and held up her hands. "I know, you can't just make more people energy any more than you can make a unicorn…" Her eyes bulged. "Do you think we'll see a unicorn down here?"

"Does the Galecorn not count?"

"It was a horse that had a horn in the middle of its head…" Circe thought for a moment. "But it was mean. I want a real one that I can feed carrots and ride around on!"

"You realize that the only thing we're going to find in here are monsters, which means they're things we're going to have to kill so we can get out?"

"Oh…" Circe snapped her fingers. "But what if you had some kind of magic that would allow you to raise it like a zombie?"

Penelope stopped walking and turned to look at her friend. "You want me to make you a zombie unicorn that you can ride?"

Circe nodded. "Think about it! I could just ride into the zones on its back and shoot the bad guys while it stabs them with its horn!" She laughed. "I'd be a one-woman killing machine!"

"First, I have light magic. Pretty sure <Raise Zombie> isn't a spell I would be able to learn."

"Of course not, that's a dark-type spell."

Not helping. Penelope turned her attention back to her friend. "Second, I doubt even if someone had that spell, you'd be able to control the monster."

"What if you told it to obey me?" Circe smiled. "It would work then, wouldn't it?"

"In this hypothetical you're coming up with, sure." Penelope shook her head and continued walking.

"So all we need is to find a dark-type Caster that drops the skill." Circe smirked. "How hard can that be?"

Numbers ran through Penelope's head. "If everything is spread out evenly and if all the dark Casters can only drop a <Raise Zombie> spell, then around 0.12% or one in 864."

"If the next group has double this, then it'll have to happen, right?" Circe grinned.

"If the next floor is twice this size, then there will be 1,552 Shadows, not counting the end bosses." Penelope paused. "But that is a lot of ifs and we don't—"

"As long as there's a chance!" Circe bounced as she continued down the tunnel. "I'm going to tell Pat that he needs to save one of the Galecorns!"

"We finished fifteen days ago." Penelope hurried to keep up with her friend. "There's nothing left of those but the bones."

"OH!" Circe's eyes widened. "You think you could make a skeletal horse?"

"I think if it's possible, it would be a lot easier for someone who is a dark-type Caster to learn it than for us to find one for me to learn." Penelope motioned behind her as they headed towards the intersection where they'd all meet in 18A. "There's bound to be some dark-type Casters in the material squad, and who knows, maybe Riva could learn it."

"She scares me." Circe shivered. "Not in a 'I think she's going to murder us all in our sleep' way, like Dawson does, but in a 'My gammy is going to smack me if I do something she doesn't like' kind of way."

"She does give off that vibe." Penelope stopped at the intersection that Patrick had marked with a big, black X. "But I don't think she'd actually hit you."

"Maybe you're right…" Circe shrugged. "I'll hold off on asking her about it until we've worked together longer." She smirked. "Maybe I can find something she really likes and butter her up first!"

"You do that." Penelope moved into the tunnel to the east. "But right now, I need you to focus. Those Deathflies are going to make this column the hardest one we've done so far."

"I'm not worried." Circe scoffed. "They don't have any of those things that choke us or cause <Fear>, so we should be fine!" She pulled her bow off her back and tugged at the string. "Those bugs won't know what hit 'em!"

"I hope you're right." Penelope glanced to her right, towards the barrier. I've got a feeling something bad is going to happen.

"If it does, then we'll reset and try it again." His words didn't take the edge off of her concern. "Besides, it probably wouldn't hurt to reset anyway."

There's no reason to reset since I'm not going to keep it anyway. Penelope closed her eyes as the others arrived. Let's get these next two columns over with so we know where things are, and I'll think about it.

"You just don't want to relive the last week multiple times." Jeru teased. "The timer on the last floor is a year. Once you get there, a week is going to be like nothing."

I hope it gets easier. All of her mistakes she'd made during the current run arranged themselves in a list in her mind. Penelope pushed them away as she focused on the present. I can't be thinking about going back when I need to move forward.

"Sometimes, going back is the only way forward." Jeru sighed. "But you're in charge of this run, so I'll let you steer. Just remember, there's no shame in going back and trying things all over again."

I know. Penelope opened her eyes when she heard Patrick's grumble. Let's see how well this next run works out for us.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.