Two groups of living beings encountered each other and entered a standoff. Neither had expected to stumble upon an enemy right now, so both were caught off guard. However, the Explorers were more or less ready for battle, being pumped up and having their muscles tensed during the entire descent through the tunnel that separated the two floors. This deer herd, on the other hand, passed by to examine an unfamiliar mana signature.
"Waaagh!"
"Fight!"
The human battle cries emerged from the back of their group, soon resonating throughout its majority.
The deer, who towered in height over any regular human, reacted belatedly, the mana of different elements and colors starting to gather and swirl. This phenomenon was far more visible on the deer that had blue patterns, which signified a Water Affinity. The lines on its fur glowed almost like LED lights. The other three deer had far lower 'intensity' if one were to compare them.
But the action of gathering mana took time, and humans had the initiative. Johann and Marilyn were at the forefront of the group. The two of them had shields and thus felt obligated to protect those behind them from possible ranged attacks, not being overenthusiastic like some other members of their group.
Their caution bore fruit, as before the group's Rangers managed to notch their arrows and before the Warriors reached the melee range to strike the Beasts, the deer with Water Affinity had finished its preparations. With water droplets hovering around it in midair, a floating sphere of water around a meter in diameter was created above its head, with antlers acting as foci similar to the Lightning Stag the humans previously faced.
"Brace for impact!":
Marilyn managed to shout this out just in time before the projectile flew at the humans at unexpected speeds. She put her shield in front of herself, preparing to be flung away yet again if this projectile was of similar strength to the Stag's lightning bolts.
But just half a second before the water sphere reached her, a sturdy figure covered the vision in front of her. Johann unexpectedly decided to take on the hit himself.
"Harden!"
She could barely hear him a single word under his breath before the attack finally arrived. The heavy water slammed into a shield that seemed to slightly glow in yellow, a small amount of rock barely having formed on its edge. Johann groaned as he felt his entire body strain under the impact. He felt his arm go almost completely numb as the rest of his body trembled.
Still, he held. Johann felt himself slide backward slightly, but he had not fallen over on his back or flung away. The very earth beneath his feet seemed to hold him down.
While the defender was recovering his posture, Marilyn was already on the move. Her sword lunged towards the closest green-patterned Beast near her, exploiting the created opening. The Beast clearly noticed her, but it hadn't yet finished forming its attack, causing it to panic slightly.
The woman's weapon stabbed into its chest, albeit not that deep due to having hit a bone. The Beast bellowed in pain and the concentrated mana was released. An abundant green glow left its hooves and spread through the ground beneath it. Various small roots erupted from beneath Marilyn's feet, immobilizing her and almost making her stumble.
She struggled with her feet, unable to quickly get out. Unfortunately for her, the other two green deer were staring at her belligerently. Two sharp roots erupted from the respective sides, aiming to pierce her. Marilyn quickly reacted, putting her shield up to block one. She was prepared to sacrifice her hand to not get her vitals pierced, but the second root never reached her.
The floral tentacle was severed in two midway, the severed pieces falling to the ground. Marilyn noticed Leopold agilely step in with his shortsword, running past her and keeping his gaze on the Water Deer. At the same time, she saw Johann crash past her, holding half of his broken hammer, which looked less like a war hammer and more like a blacksmith's hammer now.
He slammed it heavily into the front left of the deer which caused Marilyn to get stuck. The Beast was wounded much more compared to Marilyn's attack. It stumbled backward, nearly falling due to its clearly broken limb.
'Damn. Just how much stronger did he get?'
The woman wondered briefly, as Johann's strength was greater than before when he didn't have that... crystal on his chest.
She didn't let herself get in thoughts though, finally snapping herself out of the magical binds. At the same time, she heard a familiar whistle as multiple arrows flew past her one after another. A couple of them bounced off the Beast's hide, but most found their mark, and an arrow that had traces of Wind Mana on it pierced deep into its neck.
Marilyn rushed onward towards the target of such an onslaught, the very same one that Johann almost crippled. In fact, the man was still swinging his weapon at it, but the Beast was clearly unwilling to take his hits, evading to the best of its ability. While this may have been an act of stalling for time in any other case, the sight of the arrows that struck too shallow being pushed out of its skin proved its actions to be a viable tactic. If it was a 1v1 that is.
"Restrain this, you grass-eater!"
Marilyn shouted as she pushed mana into her sword, a thing she did quite rarely to avoid blinding her allies, soon causing a familiar flash of light to erupt, blinding the Beast... and a couple of Rangers at the back.
"Fuck, Mary, I told you I would even out our eye count someday!"
Feeling a brief shudder down her spine, the woman nevertheless did not relent. Her sword swept across the deer's neck, just under where Anna's arrow hit. The next second, however, Marilyn's eyes widened as she put her shield forward. The next moment she was flung away with a mighty force as she felt the deer's antlers try to pierce her.
"Ugh!"
Marilyn groaned as she slid across the ground on her back. Sharp pain signaled her the fact that her arm was broken.
Attacking Marilyn created an opening to attack the Beast though. A thing that Johann gladly exploited.
An image formed in his mind as his right arm raised his hammer high.
"Anvil!"
An earthen spike erupted from under the ground at the same time as Johann's hammer fell. The spike did not pierce the Beast's hide due to how weakly formed it was, but it pushed the deer's head upward. Towards the descending hammer.
*Crack*
A wet, mushy sound resounded as the sturdy skull caved in under the sheer force of the Impact. Needless to say, the Beast did not survive. Its body turned to mist made of mana, returning to the place it was born in.
"...Well, at least there isn't a mess to clean up."
Due to low proficiency and lack of time to form an image, the result deviated from Johann's wishes, but the goal was reached nonetheless.
The Warrior flicked the wrist that held the weapon, soon locking his gaze onto the next target. Both of the Nature Deer were under siege by projectiles and melee attacks, and the Water Deer was constantly harassed by Leopold, bearing countless deep and shallow slashes all over its body. It did not have the advantage of high regeneration like Nature Deer, so it was unable to recover rapidly.
On the other hand, Leopold was not that much worse for the wear, only being quite winded. He had to do a fair bit of dodging the projectiles that left many gashes on the ground.
The Water Deer flicked its gaze around the battlefield and saw that its kind was even more outnumbered with the fall of one. Additionally, the hammerwielder was charging at it with the momentum of a boar. And it did what none of the humans expected.
The Beast raised its head and gave a deep bellow, causing every creature to halt for a moment. Exploiting the opportunity, the two Nature Deers broke away from their attackers, retreating backward into the safety of the ferns with wide leaps. The Water Deer held its ground for a moment, as if covering their retreat, before following suit.
The moment it did, the humans already broke away from the momentary stupor.
"It's running away!"
"Catch it!"
"How dare this piece of meat..!"
Obviously, the humans would not let this stand, chasing after them. But Marilyn remembered what reckless abandon earned them when they were finishing up their fight against the Lightning Stag, so she shouted.
"EVERYONE STOP!"
Thankfully most of those easily swayed by emotion had left the group back in the boss chamber. Those who were present here were of more sound mind. So, hearing her voice brought them down from the battle fervor and cooled down their heads. The chasers stopped their pursuit. All but one of them.
One man that was in front of them all heard Marilyn's warning but ignored it or heard it too late.
He just stepped into the large ferns when the ground below his feet glowed.
The man barely had the time to register what happened before multiple sharp roots erupted from beneath him. And into him.
The entire group heard a miserable cry from the man in question, and Marilyn hurriedly made her way towards him. He was momentarily obscured by the large leaves, but when she pushed them away, Marilyn gasped at the sight in front of her.
A crying man was hanging on top of what looked like a bush made of thorny roots. It was gradually waning and receding, and the man was dropped to the ground clutching his abdomen, which now had a hole that came out of his back.
Marilyn relaxed a little as she feared the worst, but the wounded man was still in critical condition. The female leader called out for a healer while checking her surroundings, looking for the cause of such an attack. It took her a bit of observation to finally find it, as it blended in with its surroundings.
Beatrice, the Healer of the 'Cloaks', was tending to the man, as she was the best healer around when Marilyn spotted an abnormality on the ground. She spotted multiple spots glowing in green on the ground in front of her. On a closer look, these spots had a certain shape to them.
'They are... hoofprints?'
The hoofprints glowing in green were spread out intermittently, but they all led in one direction, towards where the deer fled.
Finally, something clicked in Marilyn's head.
"Damn it. These are traps."
Hearing rustling steps near her she turned her head she saw Johann come near her.
"They remind me of mines."
He spoke with a hand on his chin, his brows furrowing.
"Mines? How are they related to the places to mine out ores?"
Johann looked at her with a strange look for a moment before explaining.
"I mean explosives. My father had a thing for them. I remember him telling me that folks before the Awakening there used to be explosives that were buried under the ground, only to trigger when something stepped on them. Not a thing you can find often nowadays."
"Oh. So that's why I never heard of them..."
Marilyn fell into silence for a moment. Johann, on the other hand, continued.
"Well, one way to find out if my theory is correct."
He then picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it towards a distant hoof mine. The moment the projectile landed on the green symbol, a multitude of roots erupted from under the ground in the form of a semi-sphere.
Everyone who gradually gathered around them could only stare with apprehension at the power of the unveiled trap.
"Good observation. The way ahead is entirely trapped."
Marilyn jerked slightly as she heard Leopold's voice that came out of nowhere. The man himself appeared shortly, sliding down one of the large fern leaves. God knows how he got up there in the first place. She continued listening, as he seemed to have more to add.
"Three trapped trails in total. Two green, one blue. Nature and Water. Going that way is foolishness."
The man who was still wearing a mask that covered the bottom half of his face continued speaking in a way like he was giving a report. Short and concise. Marilyn digested the new information, feeling the pain of her broken arm at the same time. She sighed.
"...Looks like we won't go as deep as we would like."
The female leader then turned to the rest. She saw the man who was wounded mostly healed up, and Beatrice, on the other hand, was quite exhausted. The rest of the group had wounded Warriors, some more so than the others, but there were no fatalities. Marilyn nodded at this and spoke loudly so that everyone would hear her.
"I commend your bravery and courage, Explorers! But remember, we are in unknown lands, and we should exercise caution. Let us return to the boss room, as we do not know what dangers may lurk down here."
Her orders were met with various signs of acknowledgment, no one voicing out a different opinion. Everyone was glad to be alive, plus they had gained the largest Nature Crystal so far, which added to the good atmosphere of the expeditionary group. So just a couple of minutes later everyone was either on their feet or supported if they were too tired to stand. The group then moved back into the darkness of the tunnel, unaware of the many pairs of eyes that watched them from above mere seconds before.
Lancelot observed the whole fight as always. He noted that the cohesion and teamwork of the smaller group were better than that of a larger, albeit more chaotic one.
'What do you know, numbers don't always equal power.'
It would be one thing if everyone was used to working together, but during the group's fight with Lorn, he found their teamwork lacking. And now that the... weaker links were cut out, the efficiency and lack of casualties spoke for itself. Lancelot did not plan out this encounter though.
This particular group of deer was the offspring of Lorn's original herd, who left the Stag behind to go deeper. Lancelot would be quite mad if his family left him just like that, but Lorn was surprisingly understanding and did not keep them with him.
'Haa... I guess I need to talk to him one of these days.'
Nevertheless, these deer were born innately sensitive to mana, either a perk of being born in the Dungeon or perhaps a trait of the deer. So they smelled an unfamiliar 'scent' of mana, evoking their curiosity. The deer would have never approached if the mana was that of a predator, but the herd never encountered humans so they wouldn't know better.
Still, Lancelot was happy to see that the buck that led this small herd in particular realized his disadvantage, albeit belatedly. It would be a pity to lose the entire mini-herd, as there were not that many roaming across the Third Floor at the moment. Due to the gestation period of a Deer being longer than most smaller species, they took longer to spawn new offspring, hence the lack of numbers.
But to make up for their shortcomings they adapted, this particular herd having one of the more unique defensive mechanisms.
'Seriously, how did I not notice before? Guess I was more preoccupied with observing the human settlement... Still, these 'mines'... might just be what I need.'
Lancelot pondered in silence, as always. His attention focused on the 'hoofprints' left behind by the deer that retreated.
His gaze was different from that of a human, and he saw the trap for what it was. How it was made. As the mana structure, which was not that sophisticated actually, was laid bare before Lancelot, he mentally slapped his forehead.'
'Damn! How did I not think of this before?!'
These traps were, in essence, a mana imprint. Elemental Mana was stabilized and bound by intent that Mental Mana carried, attaching the concentrated mana to the ground and the mana around it. It weaved into the surroundings, creating a subtle harmony of elements. It was easily disturbed, however. Each living being had a field of Mental Mana around them, and that very field would disturb the binding Mental Mana. The bound elements would then be unleashed once the binding force was gone.
This was quite a simple structure indeed. Any Mage that had the knowledge of the method, as well as the ability to wield elements, would be able to construct such traps. But Lancelot saw the potential that lay beyond a mere explosive trap.
'It can be a sigil! A mean to bind my intent to direct mana without a need for me to directly intervene!'
At this point, Lancelot's nonexistent fingers were trembling, which was shown by a shiver of mana around his Core. He was about to plunge into experimentation, even considering going into the ultra-processing mode. But his considerations were interrupted by a voice coming over one of his mental connections.
Lancelot instantly recognized the voice even before he recognized the connection. After all, who would not recognize their own mother?
'Lan, I'm still waiting over here. Didn't you promise me to tell it how it goes?'
'Oh uh... Well, the group is still not done?'
Lancelot then felt as if he said something wrong, but it was too late, as Matilda was already continuing.
'Oh yes? Then what is it I'm hearing about half of the group coming back on their own, while raving about how Marilyn wants to doom them all?'
'I...'
He then heard a sigh over the connection.
'Lanny... I realize that you may be a bit... different, and find it easy to get carried away nowadays, but please, keep me in touch, okay?'
Lancelot couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. He stayed silent for a moment. Matilda broke the moment of silence, however.
'Okay, let's not focus on this too much. Just tell me how the rest is doing right now.'
The Dungeon's Core felt grateful, and he was sure that his mother felt it too. So he quickly checked on the group that was in Lorn's empty chamber. He reported what he saw soon after.
'Well everyone's fine, but...'
He heard a tense voice of Matilda's.
'...What is it, Lan? What's wrong?'
'...Beatrice is convulsing on the ground?..'
'She WHAT?!'