Brandt responded immediately. “Ok, everybody through the door. Quickly, now.”

“No,” Daniel answered. “There aren’t too many of them. I made a mistake, but we can take out a bunch of these monsters. They aren’t any bigger than a kitten.”

Brandt turned towards the [Hero]. “You want us to take on sixty newts at once? Even with this increased speed, that’s a huge risk. What if Orrin’s buff wears off mid-strike.”

“Then we better get to it.” Daniel took off running. Orrin could just make out the snow in the distance moving slightly as something zipped underneath it.

Brandt wasted no time arguing and leapt right into action. “Madi, Orrin. Jump back through the door as soon as you run out of mana. Jude, we rush them. Fall back before you take too much damage. Go.”

Brandt ran forward, with Jude on his heels.

“I guess we’re doing this,” Madi said with a twinge of fear in her voice.

“If you get hit, I can heal you,” Orrin responded. “I don’t know how much help I am going to be here.”

I really need to get some long-range attacks or multi-target attacks that don’t cost as much as [Lightstrike].

Orrin looked at his hip and considered his options. I could take a MP potion, but that would only give me ten or so shots from [Lightstrike]. A Regen potion means I can’t drink another until we rest for the night, and I’m sure Brandt wants to get further in than the first floor before sleeping...

With a sigh, Orrin took an MP potion out. His damage output wouldn’t really be worth much. Wasting his one daily Regen wasn’t practical when they could all just retreat.

He drank the potion and reattached the empty bottle to his belt.

His MP had slowly been rising but the extra hundred gave him a quick boost of confidence. At least he wouldn’t be useless now. He started forward, waving Madi on with him. “Let’s go do some damage at least.”

A minute later, they caught up to the three fighters. Dozens of small-dog-sized amphibians were already in pieces or flattened.

The newts were about two feet long, off-white in color, and moved across the top of the snow like a water strider. Orrin used [Identify] on one as it popped out of the snow a few feet away.

[Snow Newt] HP 20/20

“They only have twenty health?” Orrin drew his sword. Maybe I can get some experience.

He swung at the nearest and missed completely. The newt tunneled back into the snow.

“Get back!” Brandt yelled. “Just tell us what direction they’re coming from under the snow.”

Orrin felt useless as he shouted instructions while watching his [Map]. Madi was able to take down a few newts with her spells and threw colored markers where he pointed out in between getting all that good experience Orrin was missing out on.

After another minute or two, the three fighters slowed noticeably. What once was a flash of metal became a slow moving sword that Orrin could follow with his eyes.

The newts started pushing harder. Over two-thirds of what had been on Orrin’s [Map] had been dealt with, but the remaining twentyish newts struck as one.

Jude let out a yell for help as five of them swarmed over his body and climbed towards his unprotected face.

Orrin froze as he watched. One bit Jude’s neck, and another slipped around his arm and tried to gnaw on the fingers holding his hammer. Orrin had nothing but [Lightstrike] to attack with and it would take twenty shots to take down one of those newts.

Jude started to laugh.

“They can’t do any damage to me,” he chuckled. He reached up and grabbed on without hesitation and squeezed. The newt popped as Jude crushed its head in his hand. “The kid’s wards stop all the damage. It feels like a tickle.”

After that, Jude started chuckling, as he played whack-a-newt in the snow. Daniel joined him, stabbing the moving furrows that cropped up. Brandt stood near Orrin and Madi. Orrin tossed out a few [Lightstrike]s so he wouldn’t feel completely useless.

Experience Gained: 25 XP (5 XP x 5)

He’d shot five of the newts before Daniel and Jude finished them off.

The two trudged back through the snow. They had left the stomped down section surrounding the original battleground to chase a few remaining newts down.

“See.” Daniel put his shortsword on his shoulder and looked over the carnage. “Piece of cake.”

Jude was grinning like an idiot. “Brandt, can we do that again? I took out fifteen of the slimy bastards by myself. That adds up really quick when I’m not worrying about my health.”

“I got twenty,” Daniel bragged. “Not including the ones somebody else hit first.”

“Only eight,” Madi chimed in.

Orrin was pissed. “I got five, but only half credit for them.”

Brandt looked exasperated. “Sure. That was fun. I even got enough experience to level, but you guys, that was dangerous and-“

“Level twenty?” Daniel cut him off.

“...Yes.”

“The quest?” Daniel asked.

“I haven’t had time to look at my messages,” Brandt said.

“Orrin will tell us if anything approaches.” Daniel was bouncing from foot to foot in excitement. “We can talk about how to do this better next time, but check that quest.”

Brandt shook his head and his eyes unfocused as he read his own blue boxes.

“Well?” Orrin asked.

“The quest is completed but it just says ‘Reward Not Available,’” Brandt answered finally.

Orrin’s heart sank. He’d been hoping that the quests would let him get something; even just one level of [Sword Proficiency] would make him worth more in a battle.

“Sorry, Daniel.” Brandt put his sword back in its sheath. “I know you were hoping that it would still reward me.”

Daniel shrugged. “Can’t win them all, I guess. Now how about we take advantage of this place and farm some more experience?”

Brandt sighed at the looks on their faces. “I can’t say no, can I?”

Jude picked his hammer off the ground and twirled it. “This is going to be fun.

There were exactly 200 [Snow Newts] on the first floor. Orrin kept track. He was in charge of [Map], leading the group back over the grounds they had covered. With the wards working as well as they did, Brandt eventually began to loosen up and started a wager with Jude and Daniel on who could kill the most.

Obviously, Daniel won.

The final count was: Orrin with 14, but he only got half experience for each one. Madi killed 23 and Jude took out 30. Brandt and Daniel were tied at 32, when Daniel took the last three down using his [Wind Blades] skill to take the lead.

Experience Gained: 70 XP (5 XP x 14)

Orrin slumped into the snow.

Utility Warder 145/900 XP AP: 2

Useless. Orrin thought to himself. I barely got any experience.

“Hey Brandt.” Daniel caught the knight’s attention as they used snow to clean the blood and gore off their blades. “Are these things edible? Or is there anything we should harvest from them to sell?”

“Eating monsters in a dungeon will kill you,” Brandt responded. “While they are still in the dungeon, they are tied to the magic creating the dungeon. Think of them as more... mana constructs. Something happens to them when there is a dungeon break. That’s what drives them to run from the dungeon in the first place. Outside, you can cook anything you want...” Brandt kicked the newt with his toe. “...although why anyone would want to try with one of these is beyond me.”

“So that’s why bringing your own supplies is so important,” Jude said as he joined them. He had splattered a newt with a stomp of his boot. The mess had gone up his pant leg and he’d had to go off a distance to wash the pants off a bit. The left side of his pants still looked wet.

“Good thing we’ve got Orrin then,” Daniel sat down next to him. “We really loaded up before we left, huh?”

Madi, Brandt, and Jude looked confused.

“Because of his storage,” Daniel elaborated.

“He brought nothing but a water bottle,” Madi pointed out.

Orrin stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out one of the roasted chickens he’d swiped from the Catanzano kitchen. Steam was still rising from the meat.

“What...how...where?” Brandt’s eyes were wide.

“I thought you guys knew,” Orrin said with a shrug. “I’ve got dimensional storage.”

Jude started laughing again. “I’m never going on another dungeon delve without him.”

Madi’s eyes narrowed and she looked at the chicken. “Did you steal a Veskarian game hen from the kitchen?” she asked incredulously. “That is for a state dinner my father is throwing.”

Daniel joined in on Jude’s laughter. “He took all four.” Daniel wiped his eyes. “Anyone hungry?”

After eating two of the chickens, which Madi explained were an imported delicacy, they made their way back to the door.

“Just step through and wait,” Jude said. “We can rest up a bit more and then try for floor two before we call it a day.”

“What’s on floor two?” Orrin asked. They’d spent almost an hour lounging about, but his MP was still lower than he felt comfortable with. He’d taken a look with [Identify] and Daniel, Jude, and Brandt still had over half of their [Ice Ward] running and the full [Ward]. Still, each had suffered almost 100 points of damage from the newts. No wonder people usually just run for it.

“[Frost Apes],” Brandt answered from behind him. “But this one we really do have to run for. We don’t have the ranged attacks necessary to take them down. Get inside and I’ll explain.”

Orrin pushed against the door and stepped through. Inside was a twenty by twenty foot square room of ice. Ice floors, ice walls, and another ice door on the opposite side of where he entered.

“Don’t stand in the doorway, O.” Daniel pushed him into the room. Orrin took a step and slowly slid across the ice-skating-rink-like floor.

“So...this is weird,” Orrin said as he stopped his momentum against the far wall.

Madi and Jude entered, with Brandt following behind. He dragged a few of the dead newts in with him.

“Set up some blankets against the wall there,” Brand said and pointed. “I’ll get a fire going.”

“In this small room?” Orrin asked. “Won’t that...kill us?”

He had paid enough attention in chemistry to understand carbon dioxide. Or was it carbon monoxide? Or both?

“No.”

“I’m gonna need more of an answer than that.” Orrin retorted as the group started laying their sleeping rolls out on the ice.

In the center of the room, Brandt had knelt down and was running his hand over the ice. He drew a small knife and slammed the butt into the ground.

“Something in the dungeon allows the smoke to escape,” he explained as he started crushing a small circle. “I just need... to get... to the floor. There.”

Brandt finished shattering the layers of ice and pulled the chunks out. Only an inch down was a layer of rock or marble, Orrin couldn’t tell. He tossed the four newts into the small depression and started using a flint to make small sparks.

“Don’t you need wood to-“ Orrin’s question stopped in his mouth as the fire caught and the newts went up in a blaze.

Brandt grinned. “The upside to all these ice monsters is they all burn rather easily. We should get an hour from these few bodies. The bones take a long time to burn out completely.”

Daniel leaned in close to Orrin. “Magic fuckery.”

After the fire was flickering brightly, Brandt sat down on the bedrolls laid out.

“This will be our routine,” he explained. “Get to a safe room and rest. Even if it’s just for Orrin and Madi to get their mana back. There is no reason to rush. I’ll do my best to bring a body or two, but some floors are going to be cold. It’s why we brought these.” He patted the makeshift bedding they all sat on. “It’ll keep the worst of the cold away.”

“Orrin, how much food did you actually bring? And water?” Brandt asked.

“I’ve got another two chickens... sorry game hens, “ he answered while getting a quiet glare from Madi. “I also have a barrel of water and-“

“A barrel?” Jude asked. “Just how big is your storage? I’ve only heard of small [Legerdemain] skills.”

“Jude, let him finish,” Brandt demanded. However, he looked stunned too.

“What’s a [Legerdemain] skill?” Daniel asked. “I’ve seen that somewhere.”

As Jude and Daniel started talking, Orrin barreled on. “I also stocked up on jerky, like you suggested. I put in a few fruits that I saw at the market. I also have Daniel’s sword, but honestly, he can’t use it unless I’ve buffed his strength all the way up.”

Madi let out a sigh. “You brought that hunk of metal in here?”

Daniel turned from his conversation with Jude. “Gerty is not a hunk-“

“Anyways,” Brandt cut off that conversation before it started. “That much preparation could get us well past level ten but you knew we aren’t going further in that that. Why bring so much?”

“To be prepared,” Orrin responded and gave Brandt the Boy Scout salute. Brandt blinked in confusion and Daniel stifled a laugh. “Seriously though? I just didn’t want to have to turn back because of food or water. Let’s push until we have to turn back, you know?”

Brandt nodded a bit. “How much longer do you need before you can cast more spells?”

“I mean, I can cast spells now, but if you are asking how long until I’m topped off...” Orrin checked his status. “Two hours.”

“Recast [Ice Ward] on us then,” Brandt suggested. “You said that was the only thing that took damage, right?”

“Yeah.” Orrin cast it right away. “We’ll have to wait an extra twenty minutes, but you all took about eighty to ninety points of damage. Especially Daniel. He took one-twenty.”

“Because I was in the thick of the battle,” Daniel said and raised his fist in victory.

“Because you were arrogant and didn’t trust your party,” Brandt retorted. Daniel lowered his head. “In a fight, we should be standing close and covering each other’s blind spots. Next fight, we do better.”

“Floor two won’t know what hit it,” Daniel promised.

Jude just shook his head. “You want to tell him or should I?”

Brandt’s smile came back. “No fighting on floor two. The apes stay up in the hills. We have to run through a valley to the door on the other end. It’s only two miles long but they throw blocks of ice that hit hard and knock you backwards. If you go down, get up quick. If someone else goes down, get them up. A fallen target stirs them up into a frenzy. They’ll target that person.”

“Can’t we just go up the hill to them?” Daniel asked.

“If you want to try and climb up a two hundred foot sheer cliff while dozens of large balls of jagged ice shatter on your back.”

“You can just say no,” Daniel muttered.

“No.” Brandt continued, “We run. Like I said, it’s only two miles. There isn’t much snow, so it won’t be as hard. But watch out for the black ice. Some parts of the trail are slick. Again, remember to get up as fast as you can. We need to try to stick as close to each other as possible.”

“Should we go in the same order as before?” Orrin asked. “I’m not too sure Madi or I should be in the back. I can’t lift you in all that armor.”

“That’s a good point,” Jude answered. “Send those two up front to pick the path. The three of use can run right behind them.”

Brandt pursed his lips together but didn’t argue. Wisely, as Madi was glaring at him, as if daring him to not treat her as a normal part of the party.

“Everyone rest up then.” Brandt laid back. “We’ll start when Orrin is ready.”