《Mage's Rebirth》22. Culling
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The Silver Bees decided to take a back seat in this fight, which didn't surprise me.
Judging by their style, they would be culling members rather than keeping the entire crew together. It wasn't a common occurrence certainly, but the Silver bees seemed like the kind of team who would do such things.
I would assume they were going to make the culling after this fight. If any of the members couldn't pull their weight against the beast. They certainly weren't worth having in even more dangerous situations, for instance, against the Shaman and even more so against the Chief himself.
They were right to be cautious with the team. Once again, the archers proved less than useless. If they had better accuracy and managed to hit some of the Brute's weak points, then they would be extremely useful additions to the squad.
However, as they were, they were nothing more than dead weight that did more harm than good. Their arrows flew in all manner of directions hurt our side more than the Brute. Hampering the frontlines movements as they had no idea where the arrows would be flying.
It was quite amusing, actually. The Brutes appearance also brought out the one member of the named that might even be worth a damn in the future.
Yiren had been quiet since the attempt into the dungeon started in earnest. He hadn't done anything more than he had to against the Elites and had otherwise been a substantial enough role player up until this point.
Now seeing that the Silver Bees had fallen back and weren't going to be intruding on the battle, he decided it was up to him to lead the squad to victory against the beast. In doing so, he revealed that he had some skill in leading and considerable skill in combat.
It wasn't too surprising considering his lineage that he would have had some skills. It took some considerable power to reach the seventeenth level. One would have to be a competent body refiner to be able to handle themselves.
The man's blade tore through the Brutes hide with ease. It seemed the simple looking blade was a bit more than he was trying to let on. His experience shown through even more when he began to order the other members of the squad around. Orientating the other frontline members to stop the Brute from moving away and avoiding the attacks, getting the archers to actually contribute to the fight.
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Surprisingly enough, he didn't ask anything of me. Despite his chattiness and friendliness earlier in the day, it was clear he could easily separate and be very professional when needed.
I was on this run for one reason only. Until that point, they weren't going to needlessly waste my mana. Even the worst warrior had that drilled into their head, even more so for the people who had no abilities other than to get hit. Which composed nearly half of the people in the group, the archers very much included.
The Brute was soon whittled down thanks to Yerin and his strikes. It seemed Scout was leading patrols away from the group. Otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense why we hadn't been met with another patrol during the fight. It had taken far too long before Yerin had finally taken control.
"Excellent, all of you besides Yerin and Mage are free to go. Thank you for your assistance to this level. Here are your rewards."
Leader chose that moment to make an announcement that was met with significant disagreement. With any other team, they would be let down to the fifth floor consistently. No matter how they performed, it was always useful for those teams to have an extra few bodies to face the Chief's abilities. Obviously, the Silver bees had no such issues.
She sent out several purses, obviously used to it. A simple glare from her killed off most of the arguments.
Striker decided to step in and be the friendly face of the party.
"We are sorry, but we are planning to go a little deeper than the fifth floor, and we were just gauging who would be able to tag along. You are all free to complain about us to the guild.
I was honestly surprised by how blatant they were.
"That's news to me. You could have been more forthright on your plans to descend further than the fifth floor."
I decided to step in. I figured being a little antagonistic wouldn't hurt, mostly since I had never thought of going below the fifth floor within the next few days. I had done only basic research on the enemies we would face there.
The silver Bees would be a great team to have around for future dives, so I wasn't going to say no, but It wouldn't hurt to get a little higher percentage out of the ordeal.
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"Yes, we have decided that with the team we have now that we can face the boss on the eighth floor. It will still be putting our lives at risk, so you are free to leave. we are willing to alter the share of the rewards past the fifth floor if you prove worthy of a greater share."
I was impressed that she could turn it back to me so quickly. They really had been trained very well. A simple nod was all my response.
I was a bit surprised they wanted to take on the eighth floor. It would put us up against a powerful boss for minimal rewards.
The rest decided that it wasn't worth the risk of offending what was sure to become a powerful delvers group if given enough time and luck. Some of them even thinking they might even be able to build some goodwill towards them when they came back stronger.
I had doubts that any of them would actually be able to reach that level within any reasonable length of time.
They certainly wouldn't be able to keep pace with the group's improvements if my past life was anything to go by. Yerin, meanwhile, might have a chance to be with the group long term. I had been careful not to change anything too much.
It wouldn't replace someone who would eventually be the cause of finding the secret zone. That would be the opposite of what I would want.
Yerin, it seemed, had already been fated to meet them. He had been part of the group before they arrived. If he didn't join the group for good after the run, he would certainly be handy to know. Sammy would need to make his dungeon team at some point if he wanted enough resources to truly become an influential figure in the outer ring.
I had also made sure that they picked up the same number of people they were planning before I showed up, not taking away their chance for fate because of something stupid I did. I had even thought of avoiding them for that reason. The lure of what they found on the twenty-seventh floor was far too much to bear. I didn't want to let a chance like that go.
The new group continued through the floor. With the Silver Bees now actually being active in the fight, we swept through any opposition with ease. The two sisters ripped through the Brutes' shoulders with ease, taking away all movement of those limbs from them.
Then both Scout and Yerin struck simultaneously, Scout cutting the back of the Brutes legs sending it to its knees, then Yerin finished it off with a strike to the neck. It was a very clean way to dispatch the enemies extremely quickly. Yerin seemed to fit into the group dynamic perfectly.
After we went through a few of the patrols, it became second nature to dispatch the enemies extremely quickly. Yerin seemed to fit into the group dynamic perfectly. All four of them made up an extremely deadly team for the lower levels. They would have no issues with anything till the fifth floor apart from the Shaman itself. Even with the Chief, they would be able to deal with it as long as they had some planning and powerful gear with them.
They weren't Body refiners yet, which did surprise me. But their gear would be able to bridge any gap on the lower floor.
Now came the moment of truth for them, how useful would I be for them?
Mages willing to delve were rare and usually went down into the dungeon for the first time with a group of fellow mages once they were in the second year of their magic studies. After that, they were liable to go around with a little more arrogance. They rarely deigned to join any team that didn't already have a mage in it.
I was an enigma to the Silver Bees, now was the time for me to shine. The battle with the Shaman was fast approaching. Now I could see how I dealt with working with a team.
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