The sound of blades crashing against each other could be heard all around me. Bolts of magic were flying continuously, so much so that they illuminated the dark cavern-like structure we found ourselves in.
Continuing our exploration in the dungeon's third floor, we managed to reach the door that leads to the boss. And by progressing after it, we'd be officially in the deep region.
Though the creatures dwelling in here would be stronger, our party was more than capable of handling them.
But truth be told, in terms of strength, we were more than fit for the deep part of this floor, what really amused me was how much natural cohesion there was in our party.
Everyone has at least some fighting experience and is more than capable of fighting by themselves, so reducing the enemies' formation to allow for 1v1s has proven to be effective for the girls, who make quick work of opponents with similar strength.
But when facing a true group battle, with no plans that make us have to adapt on the fly, such as the raider group we are dealing with right now, it becomes clear how much our party works well together.
Mia is confident she can deal with anything in her way, so she charges forward, making it so that Licia and Claire accompany her to maintain formation, of course, I do too, along with Anna.
With our frontline advancing, Beatrice and Ellie get the distance needed to provide support.
What ensues is a disruption of the enemies caused by Mia's overwhelming speed and strength.
It's clear to anyone that she really knows what she's doing, though her advances could be seen as reckless, she's always aware of her surroundings, attracting strikes to herself, which she promptly dodges, leaving an opening for an ally to counterattack, all the while, she repositions herself to keep the pace up and aims at the next target.
Keeping up with her is exhausting for me, but Licia and Claire seem to have no trouble with it.
I've thought about this before, but they make a really good pair. When taking care of Mia's flanks, they show how in sync they truly are, almost as if they have known each other for years, each of their movements complements the other without hindering them.
I can't compare with that, but surprisingly enough, I also found myself a good pair.
Maybe due to not being as experienced, Anna makes use of her sword's length and her high defense to support the others from a different position, becoming a lone beacon that the enemies have no choice but to try and break through if they want to reach the backlines.
Thanks to my speed, I can help both groups at once, so I'm always analyzing where we might be at a disadvantage so I can provide support. Often, this leads me to lend a hand to Anna. Her strength is impressive and thanks to her Claymore effects, it's quite easy to destabilize the enemies, making them easy targets for picking, even when in great numbers.
Our rear is also quite solid, I've yet to see Ellie miss a single shot that wasn't blocked by magic, add to that her calculating ability, and it's almost like she can see the future with how much she predicts enemies' positions.
Seems like she's used to fighting in groups too, with how much goes on at once, it would be easy to get lost, but that hasn't happened yet.
On this floor there haven't been many mages for Beatrice to compare against, if anything, surprisingly enough, there has been a bunch of archers mounted on Lunar Glowstrikers that Ellie seems to take personal offense to, striking them down before anyone else can connect a strike.
Still, Beatrice does her job well, both when attacking and when supporting. Whenever I'm away from Anna, it seems like she helps a lot by casting water tentacles or moving fire pillars to help finish off opponents.
Thanks to how effective our party is, we can even deal with a larger number of enemies, like the 15 or so monsters that we faced in this last standoff.
Mia's disruption and Anna's ability to hold off multiple enemies at once lowered the difficulty of this battle tremendously and we ended up unharmed, though tired.
I wouldn't say our party is perfectly in sync since there are some mistakes here and there, mostly due to timing. But overall, it's way better than I would've expected considering we've not been in a party for long.
Mia: "You did pretty well... seems like training with me is paying off for you huh? "
Miwen: "How could I not? Your caring touch is- "
Before I could finish what I was saying she bumped me hard on the shoulder.
Mia: "Great, I'll increase the intensity then."
Miwen: "Aw! I take it back alright? It's intense enough already."
Though I'm joking around with her, it's true that Mia's training was quite good, I can't say anything about the results, but though her methods are pretty practical, she also gives me a lot of good advice.
On that note, before I ended up with her spartan training regime, it was time to head back for the dungeon entrance.
Today's raid result was quite surprising, everyone managed to level up twice, making some of us just one step away from the cap of this floor.
We also got lucky enough to have 2 mana orbs drop, making up for not getting one yesterday and raising our earnings to $240 today...
Back home I went to train a bit with Mia and saw that Ellie was also undergoing training.
I've never even tried to use a bow before, but I became interested in it after watching someone so skillful.
Ellie: "Um... perhaps... do you wanna try?"
Miwen: "Eh? Nah... I doubt I'd be any good."
Though her form is beautiful, it seems like every delicate movement of hers is meaningful when she holds the bow, making it seem pretty complicated to replicate.
Ellie: "It's fine! I'll help you out!"
She became really energetic all of a sudden, and though I've noticed that she's a bit shy around me, this time, she was touching me all over to help correct my position.
Ellie: "Now, when you draw the bowstring towards you, try to keep an anchor point like the corner of your mouth, it'll help you achieve consistency whenever you're shooting."
I tried to follow her advice as best as I could and aimed at a marking she had done on the side of the house she lives in.
Miwen: "Oof... almost though."
Though I didn't hit, it came really close.
Ellie: "Are you sure it's your first time?"
Miwen: "Yeah, why?"
Ellie: "Um... it's just that the mark is really small you know?"
Oh, I see, she's trying to comfort me. She's such a nice girl.
Miwen: "It's all good, I'll be sure to hit it next time."
Ellie: "No, but... we're quite far..."
Seems like she wants to make it less difficult for me so that I get more enthusiastic about it after managing it. She's actually quite the caring teacher, unlike a certain wolf girl who only knows how to up the difficulty.
Miwen: "I like learning with you Ellie, I'll come try it a bit more when I have the time, if it doesn't get in the way of your own training of course."
Ellie: "I... wha?... No... not at all..."
Seems like she got confused by something, or maybe she's really shy. Whatever it is, it was quite fun, so I'm looking forward to next time.
Before that though, it was time to start making dinner for everyone, and Ellie accompanied me back.
Since Licia was quite good already and Ellie was there to help her, I decided to sit this one out so I could see how these two would do by themselves.
Claire: "Eh? You're not in the kitchen today?"
Miwen: "Uh-huh, there's something I want to check, so I'm leaving it to then."
Claire: "I see, so you've also learned about the magic of slacking off."
Even though I earned some teasing thanks to it, I wasn't slacking off, as she put it. On my phone, I had received a reply from Roy about the AOG, and that required my utmost attention.
It was a dubious source, coming from a friend of a friend, but it seems like the Army Of The Gifted is now under a dual leadership. The old leader is still the public face, but internally, decisions are split between the leaders.
Nothing much has changed in the directions the AOG was already going, and everyone's treatment seems to be the same as it was for now, but since it's not been very long since these changes happened, it's probably too soon to reach a conclusion.
Licia: "Um... did you not like it?"
Miwen: "Ah! Sorry. It's great, I just had something in mind."
I ended up thinking about it all the way up until dinner, and even after, it didn't leave my mind.
The AOG as an organization... why would they suddenly decide to have two leaders? And though it's not a well-kept secret or anything like that, it's also not being announced anywhere, so...
It feels like something will come from them in the future.