It took a half a minute of walking downhill in darkness before the cave opened up and light returned, blinding Maiz momentarily. When he blinked away the glare in his eyes, his surroundings resolved into a wide open, firelit room o stone. They stood at the top of a stone shelf, overlooking the floor a few meters below. Maiz was briefly surprised at the strange beauty of the place--the torches ensconced on the walls cast shadow at the corners, but also made the stalactites and other rock formations sparkle as the minerals within them were lit. The open space contrasted with the darkness and the feel of being underground to give a sense of age and mystery Maiz had never encountered before.

Unfortunately, the paradoxical majesty of the cavern was overshadowed by the horror waiting at the bottom of the stone shelf.

“What the hells are those?” Hugan said, managing to sound much less terrified than Maiz felt.

They were perhaps a dozen creatures the size of cats or jackals, but low to the ground and bulbous. Their abdomens were the color and texture of rock, six legs mottled black an green and bent strangely, joints higher up than the rest of their bodies. Their skin, though certainly meant to blend in with the rock, was smooth and hard-looking, chitinous like that of a beetle. At their heads--which were only distinguishable as the opposite of the rears--there seemed to be a grotesque, wickedly curved appendage like the beak of a bird. Overall, they looked like the cross of a beetle, a spider, and one of Ulion's pets. Mostly the latter. Each wandered around the floor but didn’t move too much, some sort of cloudy fluid dripping from their beaks. Behind them Maiz thought he could see something resting on the ground, pulsing with a red light.

Maiz suddenly realized how incredibly stupid he’d been. Despite knowing what was coming he hadn’t even thought to ask so many basic questions. Better start now.

“What’s that dripping from their heads?”

It took a moment before Ziya answered, not taking her eyes off of the monsters. “Poison. It's quite weak, our Heal is strong enough to deal with it even though it is not meant to cleanse poisons. I think it is supposed to work on very small animals.”

That wasn’t too bad. Maiz opened his mouth again, intending to discuss the monsters’ weaknesses, but then Lila spoke abruptly. “We’re wasting time. Let’s go.”

Without another word, she stepped down off the first tier of the stone shelf, making her way to the pit of insects. The rest of them, followed, Hugan flashing Maiz a somewhat nervous grin. The young man was carrying his shield on his left arm and his short sword in the other without a hint of strain. Maiz easily kept pace with him, not particularly burdened by his staff. Behind them Ziya and Sifet walked a little more carefully, clearly not as nimble as the combatants. However, they all struggled to keep Lila’s pace as she bounded down the tiered ledges with her usual effortless grace.

She waited, however, until everyone had joined her two tiers above the bug-infested floor. She glanced at Ziya and Sifet. “You two know to stay here, right?” When they nodded, she turned her unsettling gray eyes on Hugn and Maiz. “Try to get as many kills as you can, alright? Don’t worry about taking a hit or two.”

Hugan nodded, determination filling his features. He looked like a young hero out of a storybook. Maiz was less sure. Shouldn’t they talk about what strategies they would use, and how they could maximize their experience gains? But Lila was incredibly skilled at this. Maiz didn’t know how many times she’d been in this Dungeon, but it had to have been more than almost any of the other Novices, considering her ability. Finally, he also nodded, and stepped down among the monsters.

It took a moment for the creatures to even notice them, it seemed. Lila appeared to engage her Fast Feet skill, all of her focus on her opponents. Maiz, after a moment of consideration, did the same, though he planned to stop using it after a dodge or two if it cost too much stamina. He also used his Flaming Strike. He had spent hours studying the spell the previous evening, so he tried to apply that knowledge, using his own will to direct his mana into the first layer of the spell, a simple helix of his own unaltered mana. Then the Talent took over, forming the rest of the pattern without his control. Maiz smiled slightly. It had taken him quite a bit of time to get the trick of running his mana around the staff like that. Hopefully, he would be rewarded with more experience today.

As the ribbons of flames coalesced around Maiz’s weapon, the bugs stopped moving around aimlessly, heads turning towards the three challengers. At this distance they were far more grotesque, bodies--and especially faces--alien and organic in an incredibly disturbing way. The creatures made absolutely no noise as some began to move towards the three of them, but their hostility was more than evident as the poison began to stream more freely from the beaks and their disgusting legs began to move more quickly.

Suddenly, Lila ran forward lightly, approaching one of the bugs. It jumped at her, but she dodged with even less effort than usual, bringing the side of her fist down on the creature's back and smacking it to the ground behind her. She circled around it, and lifted her foot straight up until it was parallel to her torso, slamming down again on the creature’s back. The chitin where her foot landed broke with an audible crack, and her foot went straight through the monster's body.

The burst of motion had taken in place in the span of a few seconds, and Maiz had to take a few seconds more to process it. Lila had been as silent as the bugs, the only noise of her attack being the sound of her enemy dying. He turned to his right to see Hugan’s reaction, and saw only empty air. What? Whipping his head back around, Maiz saw that Hugan was also moving towards a monster, shield raised and clearly using Shield Stance. Even as Maiz watched, the creature jumped towards the young man, going for his legs. Hugan didn’t even bother to lower his shield, just taking the impact without a hint of discomfort and delivering a perfectly timed strike down with his sword, stabbing straight through the monster's unprotected head.

Hells. I need to get a move on. Maiz nervously stepped forward as well, singling out an unoccupied monster which seemed to be heading towards him anyways. He still had Fast Feet so he wasn’t worried about being hit. He increased his pace, before he realized that he was already too close to the insect. Crap. He prepared to backtrack, holding his staff out and trying to ignore the obvious shaking of his own hands. Then the creature jumped at him beak-first. Maiz’s Fast Feet engaged, forcing him to hop to the side with unnatural speed. Luckily, the motion didn’t seem to drain too much stamina, meaning that the monster didn’t have a very high Dexterity. Still, it took Maiz a moment to reorient himself after the quick exchange, and by the time he realized that he should strike the monster, it had already reoriented itself towards him. Even as Maiz looked at the thing, it jumped again. This time, when his skill sent him backwards at a diagonal, he tracked the monster carefully, watching it land behind him, near where Lila was fighting her second--or third-- monster.

He swung his staff down with as much speed as he could muster, pulling one end up towards him as Lila had taught. He had intended to hit the creature on the head, activating his Flaming Strike and killing it. But he missed, hitting the stone floor next to the creature and triggering the spell. The resulting blast knocked the insect to the side, and, cursing himself under his breath, Maiz chased after it. He cast Flaming Strike again, but failed to properly direct his mana. Before he could try again, he finally he caught up to where the monster had fallen, and raised his unenchanted staff. Wait. It’s not moving. A slightly closer examination showed that, indeed, the creature appeared to be dead, and in another moment Maiz noticed the flashing purple icon that indicated an experience gain. Nice!

But his self congratulations were cut off as he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Almost instantly hs body twisted and fell flat of its own accord, laying his arm across the slick ground. Hells. Scrambling to his feet, he began casting Flaming Strike while eyeing the second monster now facing him. Yet even as he almost completed the first layer of the spell, the monster jumped again, and Maiz sidestepped, Fast Feet pushing him to react faster than he would have otherwise.

Unfortunately, the surprise accompanying that move caused Maiz to completely lose hold of his mana, and he winced at a flash of pain in his head as the spell stopped abruptly. No time. He after a moment’s consideration, he stopped using Fast Feet, switching instead to Shield Stance, and began casting again. The bug jumped at him again, beak slashing at his chest, but Maiz wasn’t as fazed by the impact, feeling it as though through a few layers of cloth. More importantly, the hit failed to disrupt his balance, though the pain of the actual cut he received was quite noticeable. It was still a little better than he would have expected, like a nasty gash from a kitchen knife. Either way, prepared as he was, the hit was not enough to distract him and Maiz was able to finish his spell and once again wreath his staff in flame. Immediately, he moved in on his opponent, disengaging Shield Stance and slamming down his staff on the creature’s midsection.

The blow actually connected--perhaps because Maiz had chosen a bigger target--and the flash of fire destroyed the insect’s chitin, killing it swiftly. Having learned from the last one, Maiz was immediately wary as he looked for more monsters. He activated Fast Feet and began casting Flaming Strike as he swept his eyes around. He was getting a bit tired, though he thought most of that had been from Shield Stance rather than Fast Feet. These things did not have the Dexterity to match his Agility, so Fast Feet was not as big a drain on his stamina as usual. As he finished casting his spell and his staff was once again surrounded in ribbons of flame, he used the extra height to look around. He was concerned about how many more bugs they had left to fight. Where were--

Another flash of movement appeared in his vision, and Maiz ducked, poking himself with his own staff by mistake. Thankfully, this didn’t trigger the spell, and he quickly sprang up again, whirling to face the bug that had come at him. Then another creature jumped at him from the side just barely in his peripheral vision. He skipped back from this attack with a startled yelp, and was left staring at two monsters both re-orienting themselves towards him. His breathing, heavy from stamina loss, quickened. He could handle one easily enough, but the second? It would be on him before he could recast Flaming Strike, and he would have to take at least one more hit before he could cast the spell.

But past the bugs, Maiz saw Lila and Hugan both standing, both seeming poised to spring forward. As he noticed them, he tensed, half-expecting them to kill the two creatures he was fighting. They didn’t. They simply waited, and upon noticing this, Maiz had a flash of realization. They're waiting to see if they'll need to save me. And almost instantly, his resolve hardened.

They won’t.

After a thought like that, Maiz felt like springing forward for an attack, but he didn’t. He waited. Sure enough, seconds later, a monster jumped at him. This time, Maiz was expecting the move, and was able to consciously--if aided by his skill--direct his body to dodge diagonally, slipping past the flying creature and towards its fellow on the ground. Maiz slammed his staff towards it, not even caring if he hit, and spun immediately even as the spell activated. The second creature was already reorienting itself on him, but Maiz didn’t give it the time, jumping forward himself and smacking at it. He probably hit it only once or twice, but it was enough to keep it from retaliating. As he rained down blows at and around the giant insect, he cast Flaming Strike. It was no different than when he’d used the spell against the dummies in the training hall. When the spell’s pattern sped up to red and the ribbons of fire appeared, Maiz’s next blow blew the monster away, killing it.

Breathing raggedly heavily, Maiz looked around for more opponents, but there were none. Of course. Why else would Lila and Hugan be standing around doing nothing? Speaking of, where--

“Well done.” Lila’s voice drew Maiz’s attention back to her position, right up against the wall of the stone shelf back up to towards the entrance. “Now get over here, get Healed, and get ready. The next set is coming.”