Weâve made it to the third floor, and this is where weâll be camping today, in a dead end to be exact. This is normally not recommended, because it leaves us with no way out if monsters appear, but weâve decided itâs better this way because our party is small, and thereâs a chance that we could be attacked from multiple directions otherwise.
Only two people will keep watch at a time. We could have only one person so everyone slept more, but thereâs always a chance that they wouldnât be able to deal with whatever comes to attack, or even fall asleep.
I start wondering if I can fortify our position with Earth Magic, and I guess I sort of can. I canât use dirt from the dungeon as is, but if I spend more magic energy to refine and maintain it, itâs possible to build defensive walls.
Then I start thinking that I might as well block out the entire passage. I could probably do it with a few mana potions.
But in the end, I canât build something on a scale that would actually be helpful for our defense, so I abandon this idea.
We start a fire, eat, and two of us go to sleep right away without chatting for a bit first. Weâre in for the long-haul, so resting is also work in a way.
The crackling sound coming from the fire echoes in the quiet dungeon. Itâs actually a quiet sound too, but it seems louder when itâs the only sound I hear.
Iâm standing watch with Mia. It looks like a poorly balanced combination at first, but I have skills. This way, Mia can go to sleep if she canât stand to be awake anymore.
âHow was exploring the dungeon today?â
âIâm tired. But I feel like Iâm a bit, just a bit, more confident. I guess.â
Mia can fight goblins and wolves one on one. She didnât finish them, but she definitely held her own. Iâm sure knowing she can keep up with a wolfâs speed gave her a boost in confidence. Hikari and Sera are actually faster than wolves, so Mia was probably used to that level of speed before encountering a wolf anyway.
We keep talking, and I see her get drowsy. Sheâs trying, but sheâs starting to doze off.
Ah, itâs no good. I keep talking to her to help her stay awake, but eventually she canât even talk properly and is knocked out. Fell asleep sitting down.
Thatâs not going to be good for her body, so I help her lay down.
By checking Map, I can see that there are clearly less monsters here now than during the day. Some donât even move. I guess their activity dies down during the night too. I figure it will be the opposite for undead type monsters.
But itâs not like monster activity has stopped completely, so we still need to be at least somewhat alert.
Maybe other people use the monsters to tell the time. Or maybe there are actually less monsters at night because theyâre hunted during the day.
I think back to the monsters we fought since we reached the third floor.
Goblins appear on this floor. Sometimes, but rarely, there will be a fighter or a mage mixed in those groups, but most of the time theyâre hunted the same way as the ones on the first floor. What needs special attention are those mages. We have to be careful not to let them use magic. Hikari and Sera can use throwing attacks, but I asked them not to so Mia can practice her Holy Arrow.
Weâve come across four mages so far, but she only used Holy Arrow once. Or rather, she only completed it and fired at a monster once.
The other times her concentration was broken halfway through, or she stopped it because she thought the monster was about to attack her. Iâm sure sheâll be able to activate it on the spot once she gets used to it, but itâs still hard for her.
Trisha was teaching her, but she canât quite get it. From what I can see with Magic Energy Detection, it feels like she still canât control her magic energy very well.
Mia can use her magic if sheâs calm, so I guess itâs just a matter of doing it until sheâs used to it and her concentration wonât be broken. The problem is all in the time between starting to cast a spell and the spell being activated.
I asked her if she canât use it without an incantation, like with Heal and Recovery, but she says she canât. She says she doesnât know why, but she feels she canât do it, at least not yet.
â â â
The next day, Mia apologizes profusely when she wakes up. I just tell her not to push herself too much.
We camped on the way to Majolica, but we were pretty relaxed then. And of course, the same canât be said for the dungeon.
Hikari and Sera are in front, but itâs hard for Mia not to be nervous. Walking around feeling nervous the whole time, something Iâm sure sheâs never experienced before, and having to fight monsters on top of it must be pretty tiring for her, even if she doesnât notice it.
Hikari and Sera saw this coming, so theyâve been giving her advice.
After a while, we find the staircase to the fourth floor, and take a break before we go down.
The fourth floor is a wolf floor. The difference between this and the second floor is in how many appear at the same time. Before, we used to encounter two or three, but now they walk around mostly in packs of five.
We come across a wolf wandering around alone, probably because it lost sight of the others, and packs with more than five, but those are rare.
That said, itâs still not a problem. Did they actually overlook two of them on purpose so they would attack Mia? I try to step in and help, but they urge me with their eyes to stop.
I do just that and just watch Mia, deactivating the magic barrier for now.
The necklace I gave her before is broken, and I still havenât given her its replacement. I talked about it with Sera before, and she told me that Mia would probably rely on it too much, so she should go without it for the first few floors.
Miaâs equipment is good too, so maybe it will be good for her to feel what itâs like to be attacked.
Yes, I know, itâs kind of rough.
Mia moves her staff skillfully, and that combined with her footwork restricts the movements of the wolves.
Sheâs moving around in a way to make it so she doesnât have to fight both wolves at the same time. She canât land the decisive blow, and sheâs attacked by the wolves a few times, but she doesnât waver. Mia just grits her teeth.
This goes on for about ten minutes, until one of the wolves goes down to a clean hit from Miaâs staff, and the other is finished by Hikari after being blown away.
Mia lets out a sigh of relief and crumples to the ground. Thereâs sweat on her forehead, and her cheeks are bright red. But she has a proud smile on her face.
The other two approach her. Are they congratulating her? No, theyâre pointing out things she did wrong and giving her advice. Mia is listening with a serious look on her face.
I donât quite find the right words to say, so I just tell her she did well. But thatâs enough to make her happy and bring a smile back to her face.
That night, we find the staircase to the fifth floor. Itâs relatively close to the last one.
But weâre not going down today. We move to a place a little far from the staircase, and set up camp. I havenât heard of monsters moving from floor to floor, but adventurers might come through here.
I thought about using the device on the fifth floor and going back to the city, but weâre advancing faster than I expected, so weâre going to stay here to get used to camping in the dungeon.