Optimizing Your Isekai - Progression Fantasy w/ Slice-of-Life and Biz Building Elements

Chapter 14 - Optimizing Your Isekai



"Sodus, dodge left!" Vidas shouted as a huge, green and white bipedal mantis-like creature came rushing at me, sporting enormous blades on each of its arms.

"Confirmed!" I shouted, diving into a roll under its awkward swing and bringing up my morningstar to parry the follow-up and shoving my shield towards its chest.

It took an aggressive step forward and I quickly moved back to the wall. While it would limit my future options, the sudden loss of opposing force made it stumble.

CRACK

My swing created a huge, weeping fracture on its left shoulder chitin, essentially immobilizing the arm. I shoved again with my shield and dodged to the right.

WHOOSH

The giant monster swung with tremendous force to where I just was, creating enough wind I actually felt it through my armor and clothes.

The shiny scythe of my would-be demise embedded into the wall. I quickly smashed the back of both legs and leapt away as it swung its enfeebled arm at me.

With one arm stuck in the wall, one weakened considerably, and both legs struggling to support its weight, I used a two-handed overhead swing and smashed its head down into its body.

Not sure if that would actually finish the job, I smashed the only good arm, severing it from the body and releasing a spray of disgusting smelling green ichor.

I spun to see Pavel and Vidas engaged with two of the giant mantises and two enormous ants dripping an acidic goo from their mandibles, leaving small pits across the ground.

"Release one of the mantises to me!" I shouted. I knew it might be arrogant but while they were much tougher than the recordings, they also seemed crazed, meaning they were easy to bait into dumb decisions and finish off.

"Are you sure?" Vidas yelled, parrying a blow with his longsword and shoving the mantis into the path of a swinging ant mandible, taking off its arm at the elbow.

"Yes, let the uninjured one at me. I can take it!"

Pavel cleared away from it and I got its attention with a throwing dagger, managing to plunk it between the eyes and causing a sharp 'yarp' that got multiple creatures' attention.

I used one of the blunted daggers as I wasn't quite arrogant enough to throw into the middle of a battle with three of my teammates.

Next time. That was a perfect throw.

I didn't let the exhilaration of killing a monster on my own and my excellent aim lull me into a false sense of superiority.

As the mantis charged, letting out a truly disgusting sound like a rusty nail across a chalkboard mixed with a dog's yelp when you step on its paw, it stumbled slightly.

Romie had shot an arrow, hobbling it somewhat.

"I had it! Focus on your own monsters!" I yelled.

My momentary distraction almost cost me. Regaining some lost momentum, it started an ungainly charge, finishing with a swing of both blades simultaneously.

I misjudged my shield angle, only making solid contact with its right arm and needed to turn quickly to keep my right shoulder where it should be – attached to me.

It still managed to catch on my chain shirt, ripping through a few of the links that were left flowing behind me as I moved quickly.

Realizing I might have fallen into the arrogance trap already, I prepared for a long battle of attrition. I managed to heavily chip both of its blades by parrying with my morningstar but my shield felt slightly inadequate as one of the sharp scythes pierced an inch in.

That gave me the leverage to unbalance the slavering and screeching beast enough to smash a knee while protecting my head from its increasingly frenzied swings and bite attempts.

I opened my mouth for a battle cry with a fierce swing towards its head.

The creature's eyes bulged slightly and spray of the disgusting green ichor went directly into my open mouth, immediately causing me to gag.

As I prepared for a desperate defense while I was trying to eject the foul liquid, Vidas' head replaced the mantis' as he had cleaved it off its shoulders.

I tried to look around and forgot the liquid in my mouth momentarily, which actually caused me to vomit through my now-deceased foe's legs, directly onto Vidas' pants and shoes.

His look of triumph slowly faded to one of annoyance while Inara started literally rolling on the ground in laughter.

She stopped quickly after as she rolled through a small puddle of acid and burned a hole in her shirt at her mid-back. Pavel quickly picked her up and looked her over, finishing with a quick peck on the forehead and a hug.

"Ugh, get off me. This cretin is threatening my virtue!" she bellowed, still giggling.

"Shut the jebbie up!" Vidas whisper-roared. At her incensed look he held up a hand. "Not pissed, just think for a second. That was way too hard for an initial room. I've had boss fights that were easier for a rift of this level. Being loud could call in more enemies. We need to exit and get Tiesa and Jasna's perspective. This is worse than we thought."

Inara's face went from mutinous to contemplative.

Huh, was expecting a bit more petulance. I guess these people really are a good team.

With a wave, Vidas headed back through the entrance into the initial safe room. As I went to follow, the large man turned back, his rough features looking ashen.

"What, did you rethink and decide we should continue? It will mean the best rewards after all." Pavel looked a bit confused.

"No… the entrance is sealed. This is… not good. But it explains The Warriors of the Mark falling. Though maybe they are still in here and we can find them. Long shot but there's hope."

He's grasping for straws.

"I haven't heard of this. Causes?" Romie said, looking concerned.

"I have no idea. I've heard rumors about stuff like this but all of it sounded like nonsense. Maybe this place really has gained a bit of sentience. That would be bad. Very bad." Vidas shook his head like we were already doomed.

"Okay, this is obviously less than ideal but let's sit down and gameplan," I said, trying to get everyone to rally back to the jubilant mood of only two minutes ago.

"At least he can take care of himself," Pavel said, indicating me with his head. "We'd be dead if we had to deal with someone like Br—" at a look, he cut off abruptly, finishing lamely with, "our last client."

"We are going to need to rely on you Terry. Not as a full member of the team but we might need to send some monsters your way," Vidas said.

I explained the concept of a safety valve and we added that to our formations.

"This is going to be tough, but I think we can do it. At least these bracelets are working, I really only got a small bit of null, didn't even distract me during the fight." Pavel put his hand on my shoulder and nodded appreciatively.

"We've got this," Romie said simply.

I expected a joke from Inara but she just looked simultaneously focused and pissed off. "Yes, yes we jebbie-ing do."

***

"Terry, you at the back but also acting as lookout. Shame you don't have a potion belt or we'd give you a few of our stock. The contract included a few extra that we brought." Vidas was wrapping up his presentation, which was slightly awkward in the heavily root-covered brown and green starting room as it was barely large enough for the five of us.

"I've got a storage bag, that should work, right?"

"Oh go on Vidas, there isn't an actual rule, just your own silly guidelines. Besides, that contract was pretty hilarious in everything we got." Inara was rolling her eyes while holding out my hand like I was a doll.

As Vidas plunked down three of the healing potions, two green and one purple that said poison on the side, I turned to Inara. "What do you mean? What did Katarina put in it?"

"Eh, this had Tiesa vibes to me," the young woman said with a large smile. "But it included all sorts of reserved funds we got so we have to cover future expenses. Healing potions, rations, water, two storage items to grab corpses, just everything I could think of and more. Hell, it included backup clothes. I've got 12 pairs of your underwear in my underwear right now!"

At my confused look Pavel sighed. "She stuffs her storage bag inside her clothes and tucks it through her underwear waistband. And yes, she makes that joke all the time."

He put on a high-pitched voice that sounded nothing like her. "'You want this meat? It's been in my underwear all day! Ha, that pillowcase was in my nether regions for the last week you weirdo.' That kind of stuff. I love her to death but, you have to take the god awful with the good."

Vidas looked like he was worried about my loss of respect or something but I decided not to make it weirder and shrugged. "So, we're ready to go then?"

At three affirmatives and one pout from Inara, we geared up.

The dungeon, at least for the safe room and initial room beyond, were a dully glowing green and brown rock with extremely stark streaks of white throughout. The white drew your eye in in such a way that it felt like the matter was simply missing, not a white-colored rock. The light was too low so the team used glow stones. They illuminated the area around a person for about 20 feet (6m) and the light wasn't impacted by shade.

When I asked how that worked, 'magic bullshit or whatever' was essentially the response.

The walls and floor were covered in vines, making footing slightly precarious at best.

Very thankful I can't roll an ankle as a Tier 1, this would have been my nightmare.

Similar to the walls and floor, the ceiling was covered in vines though these sported a number of leaves and flowers across green, brown, red, and the occasional white. Most were sickly looking, wilting like my ex's plants when I forgot I was supposed to water them while she was away. The most disturbing were the flowers that appeared ready to swoop down and devour. They almost had small, anguished faces painted across the leaves in a crimson close to the color of blood.

"They could really use a better interior decorator," I said as we neared the end of the first main room. Inara snorted softly while Romie looked like they pondered how that would work.

I tripped, stumbling slightly.

I swear that vine wasn't there when I stepped.

"Sorry dungeon, I didn't mean it. The place is lovely and you are a wonderful… thing…" I finished lamely. At the incredulous looks, I merely shrugged. "If it's sentient, does it hurt to be nice?"

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #3: When dealing with a sentient monster that may or may not be trying to kill you, politeness might go a long way. Again, pride is overrated.

"Eh, it sounds stupid but whatever. Dungeon, I think you are very pretty and probably give out amazing rewards," Inara said laughing.

"Focus up," Vidas barked. "This place is dangerous, stay on your toes." With that, he hacked down the hanging vines over the exit to the first cavern.

The second room was much more vibrant with large plants everywhere, including some that felt a little too Little Shop of Horrors for me, large enough to eat a person and with what looked like sharp spines along their leaves.

"Let's hold here for a minute," I said. Vidas gave me a sharp look and I shrugged. "I've seen things like this – well simulations like this. What if those plants spray something into the air. We want to know that before we enter."

Just as I finished, one of the plants – it looked like a large fern had added small confetti cannons all along its shafts – shot a mist of yellow pollen into the air. Wherever it touched the ground, little pockmarks formed. "Romie, can you take it out?"

A bow materialized in their hands and they quickly lit the tip of three arrows, lining each of them up simultaneously.

Inara leaned over to me. "They form a triangle of fire, they're not an idiot. Minor enchantments on the bow and the arrows but not that expensive."

Romie fired, creating a beautiful light show as the projectiles danced through the air.

The three arrows swirled around each other and the archer waved their hand downwards just as the flaming projectiles flew over the massive fern; they split into a triangle that drove directly downwards. Right as the arrows were about to make contact with the ground, the fern spewed its acidic pollen into the air. I pulled Vidas and Pavel back as best I could and shoved Inara and Romie to the other side of the opening.

"What the hell was that ab—" Vidas started to roar as a massive explosion of fire rocketed towards the opening.

With no one worse for wear other than some singed clothing – Pavel needed to change his pants lest his butt hang out of his destroyed trousers. Inara campaigned loudly for him to continue as is but lost out – we prepared to enter the room again.

"How did you know that would happen?" Inara asked.

"I didn't. But I've seen people throw flame at all sorts of things and flour is one of the most devastating. Couldn't tell you for the life of me how it works but I realized small particles in the air plus fire might be bad." I shrugged and got my shield and weapon in the ready position.

As we entered, we saw the fern was likely out of commission but the explosion hadn't destroyed it completely.

"These are some resilient buggers. Expect ambush from the plants themselves. Inara, be prepared to cast [Restricting Vines] as it might interrupt control by the plants themselves. Let's carefully clear our way through, chopping down the plants as we go." Vidas started directing us all into position.

It turns out that insects designed to protect certain plants are not happy when you destroy said plants.

We quickly settled into a rhythm of fighting retreat, advance and destroy a plant, move backwards and prepare for the incoming wave.

"Okay, only two plants left to go. I think we are in good shape," Vidas confidently said after we managed to prevent any injuries despite the massively annoying task of killing tens of house cat-sized enraged ants. My morningstar was particularly effective.

He just jinxed us, didn't he?

Indeed he did as the next wave dropped on us from above, a series of spiders that ranged between the size of a normal earth tarantula and… much bigger. Three of them made the ants look small and shot sticky webbing at all of us.

My shield was ripped away almost at the start and I had to fight a stomp-heavy retreat. Luckily, the much-maligned boots I bought from Tilda held up.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Unluckily, Romie was not quick enough and got a bad bite on the neck as one descended without them noticing.

I continued to back up and swing my morningstar down, squishing the eight-legged aggressors into the vine-covered floor.

In all the confusion and melee, the other remaining plant was destroyed and two leaping insects joined the fray.

Surprisingly, they went after the spiders first, killing two of the largest three arachnids. It was a pyrrhic victory as each of the leapers were covered in at least two smaller spiders that began biting them, quickly slowing them down.

Finally, Vidas got behind the last large spider and cleaved it in twain with an upwards slash, sending spider guts and some errant pieces of webbing raining down on all of us.

"Gross," was all Romie said, then collapsed to the floor.

"Antidote. It should work on venoms, we got the good stuff," Pavel said.

"Terry, watch our back, I'll watch our front. Keep an eye on the ceiling." Vidas turned towards the exit into the next room – a round wooden door – without checking to see if I'd comply.

Scanning the room, I saw what looked like a coconut above me growing alarmingly fast. Before I could say something, it fell, directly on an intercept course with my head. I was easily able to dodge it and the round, fuzzy object hit the floor, breaking open. Prepared for an ambush, it was just a solid object all the way through.

That would have hurt.

"OW!" Vidas yelled as I looked at him glaring daggers at his own furry projectile from above.

As we waited a few minutes for Romie to recover, seven more objects fell from the ceiling.

"Uh, dungeon. We are sorry we destroyed your room that you worked so hard on," I said, working on a hunch. Two more growing ceiling bombs stopped their expansion and we had no more attempted assassinations from the sky.

I sent an AAI message to everyone. [I think this dungeon might be insane but not in the way we thought. I'm not sure how we want to proceed but it can hear us and is reacting. Do we have ideas?]

Thus started a silent 10 minute conversation that greatly would have been improved by group chat.

I really guess I'm going to have to create that…

***

[Incoming Message from Inara Maric: No, it's already created, it's just insanely expensive. Generally considered not worth it unless your team operates via AAI or you're in the military. The patent was supposed to expire four different times but the company somehow made 'enough changes' to get a new one.]

Same sodus, different planet.

My first big business idea was not going to work. But I did wonder how open source worked in the Kingdom.

Focus.

Deciding we had pretty much finished our planning, I said, "Okay, let us continue with this challenging and extra gorgeous and brilliant dungeon." We weren't sure how vain or even intelligent the dungeon was but it felt like the right play.

It was not the right play.

Upon opening the wooden door, we saw a room filled with green glowing liquid and a series of square platforms, each about 20 feet (6m) apart with vines hanging down that looked iffy relative to supporting weight.

On each platform stood a different guardian. A giant ant and a giant mantis from the first room on the first two respectively, a large spider from the second room spinning its web in its hand, a plant that was wildly swinging its bulb around like it was a ball and chain, a massive wasp, and finally what merely looked like an enormous housefly.

"Well, this sucks," Romie said helpfully.

"Couldn't agree more. Dungeon, this looks pretty bad, can you drain the liquid?" Inara tried but instead, vents opened above each platform and started to slowly drip more of the green liquid onto it.

The platforms started to melt under what was clearly acid. Fortunately for us, the monsters themselves were also immediately hit with the corrosive liquid and started screeching wildly.

Vidas turned to Romie. "You still have those increased force arrows?"

"Three left. Choose and do it fast." The ranged fighter manifested their bow and quiver, reaching in to the empty hole and pulling out three arrows, two of which they handed to Inara.

"Ant so we have initial clearance, spider so we don't get stuck, and wasp." By the end of Vidas' list, the second arrow was away and the ant was dissolving in the acid below.

The spider fared somewhat better due to its webbing but barely reacted in time, losing three of its legs below.

The wasp seemed only able to hover but its stinger was the only thing that briefly touched the glowing green liquid as Vidas lifted his brother and threw him onto the first platform without a word. Pavel was clearly ready as he landed and pirouetted to catch the quickly launched Inara. He looked at me, "Jump or throw."

"I trust your judgement." Half a second later I was soaring through the air to be caught by Pavel.

Briefly glancing down the center of the platform where the acid was eating a hole, I called out, "Not sure if these platforms will hold too long, it's eating at the support!"

Vidas landed as softly as a cat jumping away from mischief it had just caused and assessed. "Dungeon, this is pretty crappy," he said. And the spouts from the ceiling started undulating.

"Toss me first, I can take a flying swing at the mantis," I offered and Vidas laughed, again launching his brother. I watched as he soared through the air with his spear and shield in the same hand.

Something manifested in his free hand that he launched at the beast and I realized it was the coconut-like weapon from the previous room. It beaned the giant monster in the head, doing absolutely no damage but still distracting it enough for a spear thrust through the abdomen. He quickly leveraged the beast into the air, only getting a few inches off the ground but enough to toss it over the side.

I wasn't sure which was better, the pretty decent rush of essence or the comedic sight of us bumrushing 'the acid room' trap.

It all went well until we got to the wasp, which had climbed back up and was clearly not pleased. The acid somehow made the stinger more jagged and it was all Pavel could do to fend it off. Vidas went to jump himself but I convinced him to have me as the second.

As I landed, the first platform, which had held the ant, fell into the liquid below with a splash and an ominous amount of noise as it quickly dissolved.

"We're on a time limit!" Vidas roared, looking for his own opportunity to jump across.

Romie took the opening where they and Inara were stuck to pepper the housefly with arrows. It simply stood there impassively as they thunked into its body.

The wasp was incredibly fast, easily dodging Pavel's attacks and managed a thrust that he barely got his shield up in time to defend. The stinger pierced through the metal like a hot knife through butter and Pavel quickly pulled back to reclaim ownership of the shield.

I swung for the wings, knowing if we could ground it, the wasp would be a much easier opponent. Scoring a direct hit, I took a second to celebrate my brilliant strategy.

Letting my guard down as it took back to the air immediately.

Oh yeah, magic sarange.

The bite and stinger attack were a blur as I barely dodged its clamping mouth but the stinger was headed right for my abdomen. Pavel blurred, throwing the shield in front of me and getting a stinger through the arm for his trouble.

"Jebbie, you idiot, keep your guard up! What are you doing!" Vidas' less-than-encouraging words snapped me to attention.

As Pavel went to try to get the stinger out, I shouted, "Wait, leave it in. Sorry!" and ran around to the back of the wasp and began smashing into from behind as quickly as I could. It took seven swings and two screams from Pavel but we eventually downed the wasp. The rest of the team joined us as Vidas stored the beast in his spatial bag and gave me a dirty look.

Pavel quaffed a potion but Vidas wasn't about to send him first onto the final platform. We heard two crashes in quick succession – the mantis and spider platforms.

"Let me make this up to you," I said. "I can handle a simple housefly, even if it's the size of a horse. But hopefully it's not a horsefly." The joke fell flatter than a crepe.

Vidas shrugged. "We've got the recording, you said it. Hyah!" he yelled as he threw me at the final platform before I could change my mind.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #4: Don't volunteer to be cannon fodder. Especially to the guy who is probably blaming you for his brother almost dying mere seconds before.

As soon as I landed, the housefly darted at me, staying low to the ground and moving in a direct line. I dodged to the left, diving into a roll, and it immediately backed up and started again, making the exact same charge, though slightly quicker.

I noticed this platform didn't have any acid spout.

Faster and faster it went as I continued to dodge but my stamina was steadily ticking downwards. It was going three times as fast as when it started and was actually getting close to hitting me. There was no way someone could jump on the platform as they would crash into the fly or me, spelling at least one of our dooms.

Finally, I had an idea that was half brilliant, half idiot video gamer.

I lined up with the final platform that held the door to the next room directly to my back as I heard the crash of the second to last other platform.

"If this doesn't work tell—" I realized final words were less important than getting timing right.

The fly charged and instead of dodging, I leapt as high as I could and braced my knees with a slight bend. The fly crashed into me and to both my delight and dismay, it continued forward off the platform. As the massive beast was not Wile E. Coyote, it started to plummet the second it was off the edge but I used the momentum to launch backwards, twisting around to face the exit platform.

My stomach landed hard against the edge and I started scrabbling to get purchase. The vines were slippery and did not seem like they could bear my weight for long.

I managed to get a leg up onto the platform. But it slipped off and I began to lose my balance.

My hand slipped and I started to fall.

***

"Ha, you should have seen your face. Didn't even realize I was right there and you were slipping because I was lifting you." Vidas was in much better spirits now that his brother was mostly patched up – using one and a half of their healing potions, which their leader claimed he'd bill me for later.

At fifteen minutes to recover and eat on the exit platform, we decided to head deeper into the dungeon. The acid was actually starting to rise to a noticeable level and we wanted to move forward rather than risk it. Even if it would be another 20 minutes until it reached the exit platform, which was supported against the wall rather than from below, it was best to not piss off the clearly angry dungeon any further.

Vidas nodded to each of us. "Okay, we're ready. Inara, no traps on the door? Great, I'll pull, Pavel you at the ready."

As he opened the door, it was utter madness.

Even worse than either the first or second room, this one was packed with insectoid monsters – some we recognized and some we didn't.

Each enemy type was in a group of five in their own sickly green spotlight. They were clearly contained there, at least for the moment. Even as we watched, the spotlights started to noticeably expand, and the gaps between them began to shrink.

"Sodus, race against time! We need to clear for the door to appear! This is a way harder version but it's common for this dungeon. Pavel and Terry, take the first group with cover fire from Romie. I take it you won't celebrate early again?" At my nod, he simply dashed off, Inara at his heels.

I could barely see there were seven spotlights in all, some housing familiar enemies and some not. We might have been able to rush through the room, avoiding all the spotlights, but as Vidas said, there didn't appear to be an exit.

The first spotlight was filled with the ants, which were a great opponent for shield users. They were strong but not enough to easily overpower a shield as they couldn't get a great grasp and had a tough time getting leverage for a significant downward strike – ants were built more for lifting than tearing down.

Pavel and I circled as Romie took potshots, managing to hit two in the eye, killing one and half blinding and enraging the other.

"Morningstar will be more effective at cracking than my spear. I'll distract, you smash?" Pavel asked rather than demanded.

I stopped for a full two seconds, trying to access the spatial ring in a pouch around my neck.

Stupid to not have moved this to my bag.

Finally, the warhammer manifested and I tossed it to him. He caught it but gave it a frown. "I'll be even less effective with this, sorry. Let's get to work, time's a wasting!" And with that, he used a shield bash to knock one back against the barrier of the spotlight and I darted in, crippling two legs on the left side and slightly injuring one on the right.

We worked as fast as we could for another minute, eventually getting down to ants that were essentially immobilized.

"Let's move on!" Pavel called but I shook my head.

"Finish the job. Not doing that almost killed me. I've got these, you head forward with Romie." And with that, I ducked and weaved the still quite ambulatory mandibles looking to slice me in half and started the awful process of braining each of the massive ants through their exceptionally hard carapace.

As I finished the last one off, I felt a jolt of pure ecstasy. In my moment of distraction, I felt the ring pull in some more of the essence but I was pretty sure it wasn't from my own essence channels.

Jasna explained the feeling of taking essence from your channels to feed items or spells and this felt different. It's like willfully and happily sharing with a friend, not the metaphorical equivalent of the family dog sneaking a full slice of your favorite pie off your plate when you weren't looking. Damn Heidi, that was grandma's last blueberry pie she ever made!

I think I just broke through to Tier 1.1. Hurray. Now it's time to make like Tommy Lee Jones and go squish some bugs.

I saw the distance between the first and second spotlight had shrunk considerably, probably over 50%.

Well, sodus. Gotta get moving!

Vidas and Inara had slaughtered what I guessed had probably looked something like a cockroach, though the remains were too far demolished to really tell. Inara, Pavel, and Vidas were in the next spotlight and Romie was peppering the fast leaping insects that looked like grasshoppers wielding buzzsaws in the fourth.

I approached and saw the crab-like insects with scorpion-like tails, with only two of the five down. It seemed Pavel was trying to distract two of them simultaneously while Vidas held off the third and Inara did quick in-and-out strikes to incapacitate the third.

"Pavel, coming in on your right!" I yelled, blocking a strike from the stinger with my shield. He would have been able to dodge but might have lost his spear to the pincer of the scorab – see, great at naming things, Loren! – on the left.

"Great timing, these are even harder to take down than the ants. 12 jebbie-ing legs! Or at least what I'm guessing are legs, ha!" He let out a jubilant laugh as, freed up to use his spear, he managed to cut off the stalk holding up his scorab's eye.

The creature went berserk and it was lucky Vidas and Inara had already finished theirs off as it rushed the woman. She feinted to the left, where it didn't have proper vision, leading it to extend its pincer enough for Vidas to cleave it clean off, not having to deal with armor.

"Guys! We are about to have a real problem if we don't thin out these jumpers!" Romie called.

"I've got the last one, you guys go on," I said, keeping the attention of my scorab with a quick jab at its claw and I saw the other three quickly take off.

Okay, perfect time to practice. AAI overlay on and time for my lessons the last two days with Jasna to pay off.

I started with a shield bash and spin to the right, getting quickly to the scorab's left side where it had its smaller pincer. I quickly smashed down, scoring a large crack in the carapace.

I'm not fast enough to get around to the back to incapacitate the tail so I'll knock out the pincers, then I can take out the eyes, then the tail.

I continued to dodge and weave, landing hit after hit on the hard shell, finally smashing into the soft flesh underneath, eliciting a loud screech from the monster. Both arms started to tire from the constant pressure of trading blows, especially from the tail strikes, and my shield didn't feel long for this world.

Finally, I landed the last blow to completely tear off the second pincer and quickly dove in for a strike to the undefended eye. Following up with a second, the monster started to scream in agony. Knowing I didn't need to destroy, only incapacitate the tail, I swung around to its back, making as little noise as possible. It wasn't able to strike backwards so once I landed two strikes, the stinger slumped lamely against its shell.

Finish the job or hurry on? I don't care, not leaving an enemy at my back again.

I took another 30 seconds to finally find the right spot on the shell to smash into its brain and end its ever-present screaming.

There was a reverberating screeching sound and the dungeon floor vibrated for a few seconds, causing me to look around wildly.

"Terry, hurry it up!" Inara yelled as they were entering the toughest battle yet in the sixth and seventh spotlights.

The sixth had hulking caterpillar-type beasts twice as long as a person and able to reach most of that height. They had sharp, dagger-like points on the tips of every one of their legs and chitinous plates protecting all but their legs. It looked like the best way to take them down was to remove the legs but obviously easier said than done when they had over 20 each.

The seventh spotlight contained smaller creatures but they were flinging projectiles at incredible speeds, causing a mostly defensive battle, and the team was keeping the caterpillars in between them and the shooters.

None of the caterpillars were down and only one of the shooters was with an arrow through the mouth. The shooters looked exceptionally mobile and the spotlights were about to overlap, meaning they would have the run of the room.

"Inara, cast [Restricting Vines] on the shooters! If they can surround us, we're done for!" I bellowed, joining the fight. I managed to quickly smash two back legs on the caterpillar Inara and Pavel were ganging up on. I spotted Romie, who was quickly retreating back across the room away from the shooters, holding a limp arm. Hopefully it just got hit and not knocked off. How is that just a simple thought I can have and not freak out now… Focus!

Inara called out something to Pavel and spun away, casting vines throughout the area where the shooters were bunched up. It looked like it fatigued her and she barely got out of the way from the spike that whizzed past her head and another glanced off her shoulder.

Hoping all three of my hunches were right, I kept my shield in front of me and dashed towards the shooters. The shots were forceful but didn't manage to break through the shield. Two did get stuck in and I saw the absolutely hideous looking barbs on them.

Once I got close, I started to swing around behind the shooters, almost pressed directly against the far wall from the entrance.

Nowhere to dodge if I'm wrong. It's been fun. Mostly?

I peeked around my shield and saw I'd been right. All of the shooters were trying to spin to fire at the closest threat – me – but the [Restricting Vines] kept them from turning their projectile cannons on me.

Like a kid with ADHD and anger issues playing whack-a-mole at the county fair, I started wailing on the shooters, dispatching the remaining four in short order just as the spotlights finally overlapped, giving the remaining monsters full freedom of the room.

"Inara, shooters down, what are we doing shot-caller?" I yelled as I flung some red bug flesh from my morningstar and rushed over to help with the caterpillars.

"I'm back in, though probably only at half capacity!" Romie roared over the screaming of the fighting.

"Terry, they aren't that fast. Lure at least one away. Try to get two if you can! Oh god, what is that smell, did you piss yourself to death?!" Inara yelled.

I had the scent bag in my hand and managed to get the attention of all five of the caterpillars unfortunately. I started running away as fast as I could, and quickly stored it in my storage bag. Then I remembered I didn't have proper isolation in there and took it back out and tried to store it in my ring.

"What in jebbie-ing jebbie are you doing!?" Vidas yelled, chasing after the most damaged caterpillar with his brother, trying to regain its attention while arrows peppered the beasts, mostly ineffectually.

Guess the scent bag isn't just for wolves? I really need to get it appraised apparently, might actually be useful.

Finally getting the scent bag into my ring, the disgusting smell started to dissipate though I still stank like I'd taken a bath in a giant outdoor piss trough that had been baking in the hot sun for a few days.

Three of the enraged beasts continued to chase me but one peeled off to chase after Romie after they struck it in mouth with an arrow. I saw from the corner of my eye Vidas leap onto the back of the most injured monster and begin to cleave it in two while Pavel and Inara kept most of its free limbs occupied.

A giant screech came from the dying caterpillar which seemed to send the remaining beasts into even more of a frenzied rage and I had to speed up.

At least I only tired my arms out previously?

Inara showed up next to me, looking like she was on a light jog compared to my sprint. "Hand it over piss boy," she said with a smile. I summoned the scent bag after a second of trying, and went to hand it to her. "That looked like you were genuinely urinating. We're gonna have a talk after this. Byyyyeeeeee!" she called and took the remaining three caterpillars chasing me with her.

I ran to join Pavel and Vidas in trying to save Romie from the giant fuzzy monster of death that was still apparently hellbent on their and only their destruction.

Pavel managed to interpose his shield in front of Romie who was really struggling with an arm that looked more dead than alive, bleeding freely at the shoulder and ashen skin from the visible wrist and hand.

I swung in and managed to cripple two back legs with a strike and went about trying to unbalance the behemoth, taking out as many legs on one side as I could while Pavel and Vidas kept its attention. We quickly knocked it over onto its side and Vidas called for us to help Inara.

"No, never leave an enemy at your back. Finish the job!" I called out in a bit of manic panic.

Too much adrenaline. I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight.

Pavel nodded to me. "I'll distract, you smash the head in." He used his shield expertly and got me into position to finish it off with two quick, well-placed overhead swings to the back of the head.

Shaking gore and ichor off my weapon, we worked with Inara to peel off the next one and repeated the process.

With two to go, I started smiling.

We've got this!


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