"There is a reception party coming. Everyone behind me." I take out of storage the horn spear and the living shield. I got an idea. "Title Change: Bug Bait!" The set title has double the efficiency. And now I am double as tasty. To add insult to injury, I bite hard on my left forearm under the shield. Blood drips before the wound closes by itself.

"What are you doing?" A concerned Helen asks me.

"Protecting you from the bugs. Here they come!"

From the largest tunnels, two blood mantises come. A dark red-brown carapace, eyes at the same level as mine even hunched like they are. They walk on four legs. The third pair is adapted into two four foot long vicious blades that could fit really well in a grim reaper halloween costume. Their jaws drool with some sickly green sticky goo. And of course both come at me.

Their fierceness and speed instill fear even in this hardened troll. I barely have time to raise my shield to catch the upswing from one of them and jab the horn spear to keep the other one at bay. Sparks fly as the scythes slash the shield surface. My spear is knocked aside by the other's blade but the bug lunges and stabs at my exposed chest.

"Eeek!" Helen is startled by the sudden rush of the mantises. She loses her initiative and precious moments are wasted as she recomposes herself.

"Ice Arrow!" Marcy exploits the elemental weakness of the mantises. The magic arrow punctures its long abdomen and some whitening can be seen around the hole.

"Blinding Light!" Zahariel's magic flashes right in front of the multifaceted eyes of the mantis that is scratching my shield. I was protected from the flash by the metal bulwark.

I jab again at the mantis to the right, but it skids on the slanted carapace and only leaves a scratch. It switches targets and aims at Marcy! As If I'd let it have its way! "Taunt!" The mantis is forced to face me and in return it raises itself a few feet above me and brings down both scythes. I avoid being gouged, but two long and shallow rips are left on my chest. The barbs on the back of the scythe grab my skin like velcro.

In a lightning fast move driven by the smell of blood it pulls me in and the drooling mandible sinks into my shoulder before I can even process what is happening. Numbness spreads in my arm and shoulder threatening to rob me of my motion.

Helen begins a long chant. I can't make what it is. She even has her eyes closed so it must be something big. Zahariel uses healing magic on me.

Marcy lets a war cry and pulls out the big guns. "Multishot, Ice Arrow [Blizzard Barrage]!"

The light blue arrow nocked in her bow splits into a half dozen rays and beam to the now partially immobile mantis in its eating frenzy. In this point-blank range, it is doubtful it could even dodge all of them. Two of its legs its head and abdomen are hit and they become partially frozen.

This close to the mantis it is impossible to use the spear. I just let go of it and claw at the joint of one of its forelimbs. The dragon claw is able to sever one of its scythes. The spear clatters freely between the other latched scythe and me.

Zahariel keeps healing me and Marcy finishes the mantis with a well placed ice arrow through its neck.

"Monster Tame!" Helen finishes her chant. Several tethers of magical power flows from her stretched hand to the mantis on my left. As they envelop the mantis, it stops attacking and remains idle. The tendrils swirl around the stunned mantis until they reach its head and bore into it. The mantis lets out a slow clacking with its mandible. Helen's status becomes MP exhaustion and her HP begins to drain fast. Sacrifice aura diverts a third of that to me, but it is not a problem.

"Zahariel, heal Helen with me! - Healing!" "Healing!" Me and Zahariel begin to pour out healing spells on top of healing spells to counter the self-inflicted damage. After a few minutes, the tendrils vanish. A panting but smiling Helen reaches for the deadly mantis and caresses its carapace.

"It worked!" She cheers. "I name you Mittens!"

Helen (Monster Tamer) has gained 3 levels!

Marcy (Mystic Archer) has gained 1 level!

Zahariel (Magician) has gained 2 levels!

Grendel (Super Villager) has gained 2 levels!

12 skill points added.

Skill Shield Master level 5.

Skill Sacrifice Aura level 6. {Proxy} learned.

Skill Taunt level 5.

Skill Healing Magic level 3.

Skill Paralysis Resistance level 5.

Sacrifice Aura {Proxy}

Toggleable. Designate one friendly target.

Absorbs an extra 35% of the damage dealt to this target and 20% less from the others.

While active, increase all damage transfered to user by 50%.

I earned a nice situational technique for sacrifice aura. Also, it seems Helen has a new C-rank pet. And she hogged all of its Exp to boot.

"Hello Mittens, I am Grendel. Nice to meet you. Good having another frontliner with me now. Let us be friends," I tell the now tame mantis in the monster language.

CHOMP!

"Mittens! Bad boy! Spit it now!" Helen is scolding her new pet that just took a chunk out of my forearm.

"Nah, don't worry, Helen. It only stung a little and will grow back in minutes. Let me change my title." I check all the titles... "Guys, I am changing everyone to [Bug Exterminator]. Double damage and double exp for the win."

"For the win? Because of the damage added?" Zahariel is puzzled.

"Nevermind. It's a slang from my world."

Marcy scouts the tunnels, but returns with a frown. "Do you have any idea where to go?"

"How about in the direction of the strongest monster in range?"

"Sounds dangerous." Marcy gets close and leans her back on me. "But also it might allow us to clear this place faster. Lead on, big one."

I focus on my treasure sense and pick the biggest pemadra around. Feels like a B-rank. Maybe its the boss of this floor. If this dungeon is designed like a game, it would also be where the treasure is and where we can get downstairs.

Before leaving I store the body of the other mantis and the pieces. I think I can make nice weapons out of these scythes.

We navigate the maze of tunnels with very little encounters. It seems that all the bugs in this level went outside yesterday to eat their dead cousins. There are a lot of dead ends that are actually when the tunnel splits into several minor ones. It is a pain in the ass.

We sometimes send the rats down some narrow tunnels, but it is dangerous for them, so they return shortly after. They are a good alarm system for ambushes though.

"Grendel, are we lost?"

"I am sure we have already been in this tunnel."

"The miasma level is not increasing anymore. Time to backtrack."

"Tic tic tic tic." I still can't figure out what Mittens is saying. Monster language is a single skill, but has tons of dialects.

I think an alternative approach is necessary. "I am making a beeline for the goal then."

"I think you mite be right, G."

I burn the skill points necessary for [Emperor's Might] level 10. Trigger it on the feat of strength type. 10 minutes left. The B-rank target is... this way. Goodbye wall.

"Helen, reinforce the ground with earth magic while I dig. Pack the dirt."

I begin to punch, claw, bash at the wall and push the debris out. It is a very tiresome job, and the skin over my knuckles break and flay after I met a very stubborn bedrock.

While grinding my claws against the dense rock, the skill effect ended.

"This is not working." Marcy whines. Why is she this much on the edge? It could be the alien aura of the dungeon, but it is like she wants to be spoiled.

"Troll style won't get us past this dungeon. Is there something we missed?" Zahariel gives his always-calm analysis.

Helen closes on a wall and puts her ear next to it. "Silence. I hear something on the other side here. Mittens, break this side, please."

"Tic Tic Tic!" Mittens refuses. I guess its loyalty level is not enough to obey these inane commands that are not part of its nature. I don't even know if there is a loyalty system in this world, but from my game knowledge, it is almost like it.

I think I can give him a good incentive. "Hey Mittens, there are chewy things on the other side. If you break the wall, I will let you eat all of them!"

"What are you grunting to the blood mantis, Grendel?"

"Oh, sorry. I am promising him some tasty food if he breaks the wall."

Mittens looks at me and scratches his mandible with the scythes. "Tic tic! Tic!"

"No. You cannot eat Grendel, Mittens!" Helen scolds him. It seems that the tamer link allows her to understand him.

I take a meat skewer from the storage. "Here, boy. You can eat this." Blood Mantis is a fire and wind type monster, so he would have no problem with the piping hot meat. I pass the skewer to Helen, she takes a small bite out of it and then offers the skewer to her pet.

Mittens greedly devours the whole skewer, both the meat and the wooden stick. "If you want another of these, you have to obey me. I am your master, Mittens." Helen says while training the mantis.

He lowers his head in submission, and turns to the wall. After hesitating for a while, he slashes at the dirt.

In the fifth slash the wall crumbles, and a lot of small pillbugs skitter away from us. 'Small' is just a comparison with the average bug monster we have met until now. They are the size of a basketball when curled. Mittens jumps through the hole and runs after the pillbugs.

We cross the hole too and I am last. I hear some sharp screeches and some skidding sound, like the ones a rubber shoe would make on a polished stone floor. Then several sounds like a tennis racket beating a ball.

I command the rats to stay on the tunnel we dug. "Emory, stay here and guard the rear."

"Homing Multishot!" Marcy shoots at something.

There are some reactions from sacrifice aura. My party is taking damage. In a hurry, I try to get through the hole, but I am too big.Mittens is taller than me, but it is very slim. I think it could crawl through any hole that Helen could too.

Conclusion, I am pathetically stuck on the hole. "Clear the way in front of me, I need to break through!"

Zahariel pushes the girls out. "Move, go ahead. We need to heal Mittens."

Something fast skids in front of me and bounces away. It looked like a black ball.

"They are too fast!" Helen complains.

I finally manage to break through the hole and see a Mittens being assaulted by dozens of bouncing balls. He dodges most of them, but some bash against his carapace.

"Homing Multishot!" Marcy unleashes another magic arrow barrage at the bouncy balls when she recovers enough MP.

"Grendel, Mittens is badly hurt!" Helen cries before casting another healing spell on the mantis. "Healing!"

"[Sacrifice aura {Proxy}]: Mittens" I trigger the technique I learned. More of the damage Mittens take is shouldered by me. "Get on the offensive, I'll cover him. [Bodyguard]: Mittens, Helen, Marcy."

Helen boldly steps forward to heal her pet. "Healing! Mittens, attack the pillbugs!"

Are these bouncy balls the pilllbugs that ran away?

With Mittens in range, I move to block the balls with my own body. The few that slip through Bodyguard have over half the damage redirected to me. This allows the healing to overcome the DPS.

"We will protect you Mittens. You are part of the team. Now do your best and slice open these pests!" I give a pep talk to the red bug.

The blood mantis switches from meek to enraged. With a series of well-placed scythe slashes, several pillbugs split and fall at our feet.

More pillbugs come from small holes on the tunnels, but the situation is already under control. In the end we killed about two hundred of them.

Helen (Monster Tamer) has gained 4 levels!

Marcy (Mystic Archer) has gained 3 level!

Zahariel (Magician) has gained 2 + 4 levels!

Grendel (Super Villager) has gained 1+4 levels!

31 skill points added.

I take some pillbugs and tell Mittens. "Hold on I'll remove the meat and the pemadra for you." I take a skinning knife out and separate the soft flesh from the rubbery carapace. I store the carapaces and give the innards to Helen.

"Here, boy. Good job! Are you hurt?" She feeds mittens with her own hands. This will help training the mantis and to build his loyalty.

Emory and the rats come to me pleading for some bug meat too. I wait for Mittens to be distracted and slip them some pillbug behind his blind spot. In the end I got almost three hundred pounds of rubber-like material.

"I am tired. Can we sleep?" Zahariel took some damage because he was not in the bodyguard range. Just one more level, buddy.

"I think there is no problem in setting camp here. We need to block some of these holes so no pillbugs come to ambush us, but I doubt there is some in range."

"We can also retreat to the tunnel we dug." Marcy points out. "I trust that one better than this."

We set camp, and Helen lays her bedroll next to mine. But right after, Marcy also comes.

"Grendel, can I sleep next to you?" She asks with some shyness in her voice.

I look at Helen, she answers, "I don't see any problem. Please, Marcy, stay with us," she points at a place next to me that is free. I retreat a bit and make way for her. She puts her bedroll, and sits leaning on my leg.

Marcy starts some small talk, "This big guy is surely good to have around, right Helen?"

"Sure, Mittens will be a great addition to the team!" Helen answers with enthusiasm.

Marcy's expression changes for a while, but she smiles and replies, "Yeah, Mittens is very strong, indeed." I notice that she might be talking about me, but it is probably my imagination.

Zahariel jumps in the middle of the girls after that, and the rats invade Helen's bedroll. Like this, we close the curtain on one more day of exploration.