"HP is a like a health shield - literally, shielding your health. As long as it's above 0, your life is protected. Something like Divine Grace keeping you from dying in one hit! It's capable of absorbing certain amounts of damage or force based on how big your HP pool is, which is why taking hits depletes the HP pool. There's also been observations that your HP creates something like an extrasensory area around your body.

"You can think of it almost like an invisible bubble around you. When something that might hurt you encroaches on that bubble, it can buy you time to dodge out of the way or block the hit before it harms your body by sensing the approaching danger. Hp helps you roll out of the way of a downward strike, or deflect an axe with a buckler at the last possible second.

"For large area attacks, it can absorb a portion of the mana fueling a spell, or dampen the shock from a physical strike, lessening the damage taken overall.

"What an HP shield does not do, is completely block all damage from ever touching your body." Brigit explained with a bit of a laugh, scratching the back of her neck while Ribbon finished tying off a bandage on the Drakke's upper arm. "You can still be injured. Accidents happen, so it's important to always be alert!"

"Explains how I broke that guy's hand," Kira muttered, glancing down at her clenched fists. "I kinda wondered, there's no way I broke his HP shield, right? It didn't do the shimmering pop thing. So how did I... But I guess it's just how HP works..."

Ribbon sniffled as she finished tying the bandage, tears welling up in her dark puppy eyes. "I'm... I'm s-sorry..."

"It's fine! Your 【 Ward 】 kept it from piercing too far into my skin, so it's just a shallow little cut. We were all caught off guard by that second patrol, don't beat yourself up about it." Brigit patted between Ribbon's ears, ruffling the fur in an affectionate gesture that made Kira's hands itch to do the same thing.

'Kobold fur looks so soft...'

Brigit glanced her way and grinned, gesturing for Kira to come closer. Once the girl was in arm's range, Brigit grabbed her hand and placed it between Ribbon's ears. "Kobolds appreciate friendly displays of affection," she explained with a chuckle, Ribbon's wagging tail lending weight to her words.

Kira blushed. Was it written all over her face, or what!? Out loud, she only managed a faint "Oh" while patting Ribbon's head, the Kobold's fur even more soft and plush than it appeared.

Then Kira looked down, feeling an odd... Sensation tickling the soles of her bare feet. A thrumming, almost. Delicate but insistent, not quite a tickle but not a gentle feeling easily overlooked either.

The tickle traveled upward, crawling under her skin, almost seeming to pull her muscles and the finer hairs on her legs in a certain direction. Unable to resist the urge, Kira glanced toward the tunnel leading out of the room and felt the odd tickle ease a bit. "Guys..."

The look on her face combined with her tone of voice put the other two on alert. Brigit swiftly readied her weapons, while Ribbon hurriedly recast 【 Ward 】 on everyone. All three girls held their breath in the ensuing moments, waiting for whatever it was that set Kira on edge.

Clatter, clatter...

"Ga! Ga-cha!"

"Gado?"

"Boge!"

"Got a new trick?" Brigit whispered with a grin as the sound of cave goblins chattering among themselves echoed faintly down the opposite tunnel. Quite a few more than the small patrol that surprised them mere minutes before, judging by the number of voices and the rising sound of stomping little feet.

Their group of three backed toward the tunnel leading to the safe zone. Kira bit her lip, then shook her head before answering in a whisper of her own. "No new Skill, but never happened before."

Brigit's grin faded, her expression hardening into something more serious. When Kira sent her an inquisitive look, it was instead Ribbon who answered in a very hushed, halting stutter. "That means... It's p-probably an ability you already had. Um... Maybe related to your Class? And that, uh... It never met requirements for alerting you to enemies. Before. So..."

'So whatever's coming is somehow meaner than whatever else I've fought against since becoming a Geomancer?' Kira felt a chill as her mind filled in the unspoken blanks the Kobold left hanging in the air. Considering she went against a Floor Boss... Granted, that was under Ailsa's supervision, but still!

"Sanctuary, quick!" Brigit ordered with an undercurrent of panicked urgency coloring her usually calm voice, and the three of them turned as one to flee. The hall between the safe zone and the first room was relatively short, so it only took a few moments of sprinting for them all to be bathed in the gentle blue glow of Safirite once more. As a secondary precaution, Kira used 【 Earthshape 】 to lift the ground behind them, creating a shoddy half-wall that reached to her hips.

No orders were necessary at that point. All three girls crouched behind the earthen wall, staring intently down the hall...

But the hall was slightly curved, blocking their view into the previous room. Brigit suddenly smacked her forehead with her palm, a pained expression on her face. She ignored the confused looks received from the other two girls, and held out her hand while gently muttering "【 Marble Eye 】!"

A cat's-eye marble condensed in her palm, a glimmering ball of glass with a faint golden ribbon through the middle that had the same beautiful shade and sheen as Brigit's own eyes.

"Kira, throw it down the hall."

Nodding, Kira grabbed the marble and wrapped it in her mana, whispering "【 Throw Rock 】" while chucking it. She aimed for a curve in the rock walls to make the newly glowing marble bounce away toward the Dungeon's first room. Since she didn't use much MP, the projectile whizzed away with just enough force to plink off the rock and plummet to the ground near the entrance to the room, rolling a couple short paces forward before finally stopping.

Brigit brought up a System screen to share the marble's vision with her Teammates, and all three of them frowned at what they saw.

Five cave goblins clustered around something that looked like a much bigger, way fatter, vastly uglier, and infinitely meaner cave goblin. It towered over the surrounding lackeys, with a massive spiked bone club balanced on its broad, meaty shoulders. To make matters worse, one of the smaller goblins had a skull-topped stone staff and mossy robe instead of the typical stone club and moss loincloth combo, indicating it was likely some sort of magic user.

"A Variant group!" Brigit whispered as Ribbon began to tremble. At Kira's inquisitive glance, the Drakke explained further. "Variants are monsters who are places they're not expected to be, or who have developed stronger abilities, strange mutations, or higher intelligence than expected. Sometimes the Dungeon God throws them in his Dungeons to help prepare people for meeting them in the wild."

"T-they're much stronger than usual," Ribbon muttered. "As a g-general rule, Variants are... are..."

"Variants are just a bit tougher than normal monsters of the same type, yes. Beating a Variant group like this will make sure our Boss prize is really good, though! In the wild, or a normal Dungeon, they'd be sure to have valuable parts or items on them too so it's not a challenge to shrink away from!" Brigit smiled, gaze softening as she patted Ribbon's head. "Don't worry, just stay calm and do your part. Trust your Teammates to do their part too. We can do it, if we do it together."

Ribbon hesitated, then nodded with her paws clenched. "Y-yes!"

"Can you Scan them like this?" Kira asked softly, her expression thoughtful. She tried to do it, but Scan wouldn't activate on the images in the view screen.

Brigit paused, then nodded. "Yes. The goblins are mainly 6-F. That caster in the robe is a Mender, 7-F. That'll be tough, that Class starts with proper healing spells..." Ribbon flinched, lowering her ears, but Brigit wasn't looking down and missed the small change in body language. Kira, meanwhile, hesitated before patting the Kobold on the head.

Whatever bothered her friend could be discussed once they took care of the Variant group.

"The big guy?" Kira prompted after silence dragged on for more than a few moments, in which Brigit frowned thoughtfully at the screen with furrowed brows.

"Ah... 10-F. Cave Moglin Crusher, it says."

"Same level as the Floor Boss?"

"Probably similar stats too."

Kira glanced down at the visibly trembling Ribbon, then let out a sigh. "I... Should I fight for real?"

Brigit paused, giving Kira a long look before shaking her head. "No, you need to learn to hold back even in stressful situations. Especially with the Trial starting in a few days, we don't have time to make exceptions for unusual circumstances. This'll be tough, but... Not impossible.

"I'll go in with Ribbon. I'll block the tunnel entrance and use 【 Steadfast 】. The moglin seems like a Leader-type, it'll send the minions out first. Ribbon will keep 【 Ward 】 up on me, and use 【 Dancing Lights 】 in their faces. While their attention is on me, or otherwise suitably distracted...

"Kira. Try to get behind them, all the better if you can remain unseen, and take out the Mender. A goblin healer at this level will be paper to someone with your stats, and sneak attacks do extra damage even if they aren't Skills. Making use of sneak attacks could help disguise your strength, so use it as practice.

"Once the Mender is down, the Crusher will notice you for sure. Keep it busy while Ribbon and I clear up the minions. Think you can do it?"

Nodding her confirmation, Kira glanced at the screen displaying the marble's viewpoint as Brigit turned to coach Ribbon on aggressive lighting techniques. The Variant group stood in the middle of the room, muttering to each other. One paused, pulling a piece of dried mushroom out from the mysterious folds of its mossy loincloth, sniffing the weirdly lumpy bar of fungus before shoving the whole thing in its mouth.

Then the Crusher caught sight of the marble. It ambled over, heavy body creating solid thudding footsteps whose noise echoed back down the curved hall. It crouched over the marble, obscuring their view with its gross, massive feet, then plucked the little glass sphere off the ground.

Brigit severed the connection as the moglin shoved the marble somewhere unmentionable. Poor Ribbon's fur seemed to take on a greenish tinge, and Kira felt her own expression screwed into a mixture of amusement and disgust. Meanwhile, the Drakke seemed rather unbothered, readying her sword and buckler and gesturing with her chin toward the hall. "Alright then, no use dragging this out. Let's go, ladies!"

"【 Steadfast 】!"

Once more Brigit's clear, confident shout echoed off the dungeon walls. The smaller cave goblins were startled, fumbling for their clumsy stone weapons and glancing about in fright. However, the moglin answered her challenge with a fierce roar of its own, raising a massive spiked bone club in the air with one hand as though to flaunt its Strength.

Bolstered by the cry of their Leader, the goblin minions yelled and charged toward the tunnel, where Brigit and her buckler were lying in wait.

"【 Dancing Lights 】!" Ribbon cried out, her voice trembling but lacking the stutter that tended to haunt her words when she was nervous. Four sparks of light blinked into existence in the diminishing space between Brigit and the goblins, each a different size and color. The orbs then zoomed forward, fluttering and gyrating rapidly in the faces of the goblins wielding clubs.

Brigit lifted her sword and roared defiantly, pointing the tip of the blade at the cave goblin in the lead. Kira chose that moment to duck under her arm, keeping close to the wall as she slipped into the dungeon room.

The moglin sneered, picking its nose, obvious disinterest in its beady little eyes. It stared at Brigit, then grunted at its goblin forces in their own language, something that sounded insulting even without a translation. Beside the moglin, the Mender shook its head and sighed as one of the goblins kept chasing one of the light orbs with its club.

Three of the four fighter-type goblins were disoriented by Ribbon's lights, but were not as easily distracted. They tried their best to bob and weave as the lights chased them, swinging their clubs wildly in Brigit's direction, closing the distance bit by bit.

Kira circled around the room, keeping her breathing low and steady. 【 Trifling Presence 】 kept her from being noticed most of the time, unless someone was already on alert, a much higher level, or she otherwise drew attention to herself. Sometimes it meant people would talk without realizing she was standing next to them, and as evidenced by several occurrences in the past, not even the higher level folks like Mister Karl were completely immune to its effects.

For a 10-F moglin who was laughing at its own dumb minions, she might as well have been a faint breeze stirring the mossy hairs on its massive rippling back. The Mender standing in front of the moglin casting its little heals on its goblin allies was even less likely to notice her movements.

Still, Kira took no chances. When the moglin shifted, she sidestepped hurriedly to stay out of its field of view. Even if it was just moving weight from one massive foot to the other, she mimicked its movements to hover in its blind spot. She spared only a second to Scan the moglin and Mender, getting their basic stats before making her move.

【 Monster Leader 】 Lv. 10-F Cave Moglin Crusher Pawn, Monster HP MP 35/35 10/10 【 Monster Minion #5 】 Lv. 7-F Cave Goblin Mender Pawn, Monster HP MP 12/12 15/15

One moment...

Two...

Brigit was having no trouble fending off the goblins for the time being, and the Mender kept hesitating on when to use its healing magic. Its limited mana pool meant it originally wanted to save its surprisingly potent low-cost heals for the Crusher, but just letting its allies die seemed distasteful. Every so often the Mender hesitated before throwing a sparkling cloud of dust toward its allies, their minor wounds healed at a visible pace wherever the sparkles fell.

And each time the Mender used its area heal, the Crusher just snorted with derision, making the Mender flinch and wait a bit longer until the next heal.

Kira shook her head. Healers had it rough, in games and especially in real life. Every day she thanked the universe for not giving her a pure healer Class back in the Gate! It was one thing to be sadistic and let people die in the fire for not moving when it was just a game, saving mana for the tank and causing a bit of salt over gear repair bills, but imagining watching friends burn for real because her mana couldn't keep up with demand...

She shuddered. Yeah, she didn't envy the Mender. Or Ribbon!

Brigit was blocking their blows with her buckler, parrying clubs with her sword, and kicking goblins in the face to give herself some breathing room as they stumbled backwards trying to recover. She wasn't trying to do damage, just keeping their attention and making them angry. Ribbon mostly kept her focus on the 【 Dancing Lights 】 harassing the melee goblins.

Glancing up, Brigit locked eyes with Kira who hovered behind the moglin, waiting for an opportunity to strike the Mender that wouldn't immediately put herself in harm's way. The Drakke nodded in approval, then flicked her wrist.

On her arm, the buckler vanished in a shower of azure sparkles. In its place formed a much larger tower shield, a heavy metal monstrosity that would make her completely unable to dodge so long as she held on to it. It wasn't a normal tower shield meant to be light enough to carry yet solid enough to protect most of an armored knight's body - the one Brigit brought out of her inventory was very clearly an exaggerated siege shield meant to stay in one place as a defender was forced to hold their ground.

It was tall enough to cover everything from the neck down if she stood up straight behind it, and wide enough to block the tunnel entrance completely. The smaller goblins couldn't get past at all, and furiously slammed their stone clubs against the thick metal surface in an attempt to break it down.

The moglin grew impatient with their lack of progress. It waved that huge spiked bone club and took lumbering steps forward, roaring at the little minions who failed to break Brigit's stalwart defense. Seeing its challenge, Brigit grinned and lowered her stance to offset the massive blow she sensed coming her way.

Switching shields took only a second. Ribbon recasting 【 Ward 】 took another second. The moglin bringing its spiked club down on the heavy shield as Brigit ducked behind it took yet another two seconds.

Kira made the best of those few seconds. She rushed forward, clasping her hands together and swinging them back like she was holding an invisible bat. The Mender, perhaps sensing danger or finally hearing her footsteps with those big ears it had, started to turn just as her fists slammed into the side of its head.

The HP shield popped, and its head crumpled inward. Kira made a disgusted face, the force of her blow carrying her another few awkward hopping skips forward. Its head collapsed like a rotten watermelon, with far less resistance than she expected.

But just as much pulp.

Skill Learned! 【 Sneak 】 Lv.1 / 20 ELEMENT BASE COST REAGENT Wind 1 MP per 5 seconds None

Move silently, slipping between shadows to remain unseen. Sound you produce is muffled while the skill is active.

Deal extra damage with sneak attacks on enemies, depending on their level of awareness.

Enemies on alert take less bonus damage than an enemy distracted!

Effectiveness of stealth and amount of damage dealt when sneak attacking increases with skill level.

SYNERGY: 【 Trifling Presence 】 massively increases effectiveness of 【 Sneak 】!

Kira dismissed the notification, flinching when a sudden loud sound reverberated throughout the room.

KA-KLANG-NG!

The moglin's spiked club bounced off Brigit's heavy tower shield, its many spikes screeching as they sought purchase on the smooth metal surface, forcing her back a step but ultimately unable to breach the defense. But as it readied the club for another strike, the moglin suddenly paused. Then it turned, catching sight of the Mender's remains crumpled in the center of the room.

It squinted. Glanced around... And finally saw Kira. Standing over the body of its slain minion, shaking out her hands and looking generally unsettled by how easy it always was to kill cave goblins with just her bare hands.

Kira met the moglin's gaze and purposefully smirked, wiggling her fingers in a taunting wave. 'I should get gloves, or gauntlets or something...' Kira thought to herself, then squashed her own distaste in order to kick the Mender's body and incite the moglin's temper. 'Sorry, little dude.'

The moglin roared. Its club dropped to the side as it lumbered forward in an odd but surprisingly fast charge, bringing the weapon around for a wide swing meant to smear Kira's lanky body into a meaty paste. She bounced back on her heels, shifting the earth beneath the moglin's feet with 【 Earthshape 】 to make it stumble. As it struggled for purchase in the suddenly much softer stone floor, she hopped to the side and put a bit more distance between herself and that big spiky club it kept swinging around.

Turning, the moglin let loose another furious swing, this time scraping the roof of the cave with its club. Rocks and dirt clattered to the ground, throwing grit into the air before the club broke the ground with the force of its impact on the floor as Kira scooted away to safety.

While the skinny cave goblins barely reached Kira's waist, the moglin towered over her in both height and girth even without the massive club. Watching it bear down on her, fury in its beady eyes and wielding a club even bigger than she was, felt intimidating in a way that made her not want to engage in a direct fight.

Luckily, for all its impressive size, the moglin's movements were slow, laborious. Like it was fighting through water, or being restrained in some way until it could only move in slow motion. Kira felt almost zippy in comparison, dodging its blows with a wide margin.

'High Strength, low Agility. Dexterity must be pretty good if it can use the weapon so accurately even though it's slow? Maybe, not really sure how Dex works yet... Mm, I better pay attention then.' Kira nodded to herself, keeping her eyes trained on the moglin's club. 'I really wish I could see flat stats of enemy monsters... I'm definitely faster, at least, just don't know by how much. It'd be nice to-'

She ducked to the side, thoughts interrupted by the pressing need to avoid an overhead slam from the moglin. Kira flinched as the strike hit the cave wall behind her and shattered more of the rock into powder. It left a crater bigger than her entire torso in its wake! 'Yeah, definitely don't wanna get hit by that! It's Strength is even higher than mine. Ah, it's 10-F though so that shouldn't be surprising...'

Kira shook herself, shedding superfluous thoughts like a winter coat after stepping into a warm house. Musing could wait, pondering things in the middle of a fight was the ticket to a face full of spiked mace.

She ducked, avoiding another wild swing. Rock and grit filled the air, causing the moglin to snort, but Kira had already moved back to the middle of the room. Oddly, the smell of broken stone and disturbed earth felt welcoming. Her breath slowed, tension easing out of her body.

As long as she was around earth, around rocks and dirt and plants, everything felt like it'd turn out alright. Running around was tiring, paying attention to the constant stream of attacks even more so, but the cool stone underfoot seemed to pulse with invigorating energy.

The moglin raged as Kira kept getting further and further away from its attacks, dancing circles around its clumsy movements, and it paused to shout in that strange gargling goblin language in between heavy, panting breaths.

Nothing responded.

At the entrance to the tunnel, Brigit kicked a goblin off the blade of her sword, dropping its warm corpse atop those of its comrades as they dissolved into mana, absorbed by the Dungeon. Once the moglin charged off to vent its fury at Kira, she'd swapped back to her buckler and quickly dispatched the minor opponents with Ribbon's support. She flicked blood off the gleaming silver edge, then leveled its point at the moglin's face.

Behind her, Ribbon clutched her staff and stared up at the moglin with determination. Her nerves peaked before a fight, but once the battle started Kira noticed she calmed down really quickly and settled into her role without complaint.

Kira gave a thumbs up. Brigit nodded, and instead of activating 【 Steadfast 】 again, the Drakke instead charged forward while shouting "【 Vigor 】!" at the top of her lungs. Azure light glowed around her body, increasing Strength and Agility, so that the moglin was still bringing its club into a strike position when Brigit slammed her buckler into its massive, jiggling stomach.

Jumping back, Kira used 【 Earthshape 】 to soften the ground just behind the moglin's heels. Combined with the force of Brigit's initial blow, that was enough to make the moglin stumble backwards several steps. The fact it didn't fall was rather surprising to Kira, but Brigit didn't miss a beat.

She swept her sword at the moglin's ankles, slicing them open and sending a shower of blood across the floor, then called for Ribbon. Ribbon was confused for a second, but realized what Brigit wanted and immediately cast 【 Dancing Lights 】, directing colored orbs into the moglin's face.

The moglin swung its club, the movement more slow and feeble from before. It managed to land a blow, striking Brigit's buckler with enough force to send her flying back half the distance of her initial charge. She shook herself, body trembling from the force of its blow rattling through her very bones, trying to force her dazed eyes to focus.

Blood oozed from the moglin's thick ankles, slicking the stone underfoot and sending a stench into the air that befouled the natural and pleasant warmth of the earth. Wrinkling her nose, Kira used 【 Earthshape 】 again, turning the bloodied stone into sharp spikes that pierced the thick hide of the moglin's bare feet and tore its gray flesh to ribbons with each stumbling step.

Brigit took advantage of its uncertain footing, leaping with 【 Jump 】 to kick the moglin directly in its face. It toppled, providing the cushion for their landing before the Drakke used its face as a launchpad to spring away again - but not before slashing at the downed creature's neck with her sword.

"A-are you... Really only 5-F?" Ribbon muttered, and Brigit grinned sheepishly. She opened her mouth as though to explain, only to ruefully shake her head.

"Focus! We're not done."

The moglin stagged to its feet, flinging the spiked club aside and flexing its meaty hands. It glanced around at the three tiny opponents and roared, spittle and blood flying from its mouth. Despite the blood trickling from its wounds, the creature didn't seem tired or injured at all.

Kira sighed. This was gonna be an exhausting fight.