These damn ambushes are pissing me off! Ever since Guy's trap making skill leveled up his traps became better and the fights less fun. Most of the time I didn't even need to act or was at most giving support.
The initial 200 or so that entered are now reduced to two groups of six that have only just entered the second floor. They are so darn cautious at all times and only move in proximity to the other group. If we attack one of the groups the other one will soon appear to provide reinforcements.
Realistically, we don't even stand a chance anymore. Navi, can we just leave?
Getting some action isn't the same as getting slaughtered! Guy spied on both groups multiple times and their composition is way too troublesome. The first group has two mages, two swordsmen, one shield-bearer, and one thief.
The second one has four swordsmen, a healer, and a thief. Apart from their numbers and close proximity, the thieves are our main issue. Those bastards can detect and disarm traps made by both the dungeon and Guy.
"Hey, Jade, what would a team of adventurers do when they have to fight a group of monsters that is too large."
"Hmmm, I guess they'd try to split the monsters into more manageable groups by luring them away."
"Couldn't we do the same? Navi, how long will it take for me to revive if you rush it?"
"That's acceptable. How much control do you have over the place I'll revive in?"
Am I the only one here who doesn't get what's going on? What does splitting a group of monsters have to do with where and how fast we can revive?
"Right. We'll set an ambush for the second group with most of the goblins and you. As a diversion, I'll attack the first group with a few goblins and lure them away. After they kill me I'll revive close to you and join in the battle with the second group."
"Will that really work?"
"I can't think of anything else we can do. The first group is way too tanky so unless we can kill the healer in the second group we'll have to die way too much."
"Let's do that then."
"Great. Navi, we leave the coordination of our actions to you."
Conveniently the two groups have begun to speed up their advance. They must be feeling the time pressure until the dungeon respawns all the monsters. While the time for respawn is still a long while off the dungeon needs to be completely or mostly cleared so they can't take too long for the lower floors.
We set up the ambush with Guy's traps and a horde of twenty armed goblins. Then Guy takes the remaining five goblins and heads off.
I should check my status before going into this fight.
Status Jade Lv. 4 sanguine snake
Mp 10+13+10
Strength 3+13+5
Constitution 3+13+3
Speed 6+13+7
Magic ability 5+13+2
Skills:
universal humanoid language, universal monster language, dungeon map, thermal detection
Sanguine bite lv. 3; blood-stealing constriction lv. 2; weak sanguine venom lv. 2; enhanced stamina lv. 5; sanguine boost lv. 2; stealth lv.1; energy fang lv.1; hardened scales lv.2; tail whip lv.2;
So I only level up three times despite the fact that we killed so many adventurers. Looks like killing small fries isn't an efficient way to grow stronger. Some of my skills also leveled up so my overall combat power increased by a noticeable margin.
I don't have to wait long until the second group appears in my thermal vision skill's sight. Despite having increased the speed at which they advanced they remain very cautious.
The thief is shuffling forward while crouching and scans the ground and sides of the cave with rapt attention. He instantly discovers the rope that is set up as a tripwire and even the rock placed in a way it would fall at just the slightest touch.
He motions for his party to stop and moves forward to disarm both traps. Once I judge that he is the furthest away from his party I launch myself at him followed by the horde of armed goblins.
The thief sees us and tries to retreat to his party before I reach him. Fortunately for me, he does so while disarming the falling rock trap which gets set off as he moves back. He is very agile so the rock misses his body and only hits his foot.
However, since both feet are needed to run he can't back away from me anymore and his range of movement is severely restricted. He desperately slashes at me with his dagger and I let him hit me to get in a bite myself. The dagger cuts into my side but I ignore it since I will be able to heal by constricting him.
The goblins charge past me and into the waiting blades of the swordsmen. The four goblins who arrive first are promptly cut apart. These guys are more experienced than the rest!
I return my attention to the thief and try to wrap around him. He throws his body aside to dodge which elicits a sickening crunch from his foot that's trapped below the rock.