The chest was quite a bit different from the others that I had seen so far. It was covered in moss and kept secure by a root that stretched all around its body. Blocking any from an easy opening.

Leader cut through the root with ease. It was the first attempt from the dungeon to block the Delvers' rewards. Most boss chests from that point on would be blocked in some way, escalating in difficulty as the levels went on.

For now, it wouldn't be much of an issue to access our spoils. Which was quite a lot for how quickly we managed to take down the boss.

We each would get a minor health potion for our troubles. We also received a wooden shield from the boss with a green sheen surrounding it, highly reminiscent of the Nature's wrath spell from the druid. We came to a pretty unanimous decision for Yerin to receive the shield.

His abilities would only be magnified with a shield. Plus, when he had been in his talkative mood, he had regaled us all about his training with his father.

Which while focused on many weapons, his primary focus had been with the sword and shield. It was only his financial situation now that deprived him of a shield. Having to sell the few his father had to prepare for his delve.

Now he was back to his full power according to him, but beyond that brief outburst of thanks, he returned to his stoic countenance he had taken on since the dive began.

We went back the way we came.

The forest seemed to moan at us on our way back, obviously unhappy we had taken away their protector. The chieftains forest didn't have the same feelings, as deathly silence returned as we went past the crossroad.

Having Scout along honestly was like cheating. Even in the forest paths, we never ran into any issues without Scout's heads up.

We were more than prepared when he kited the first shaman group towards. I wasn't sure how he avoided the Shamans' long-range attacks, but here he was, bringing a Brute and a Shaman behind him.

There was no need for too complicated a formation with the patrols. We would simply funnel the Shaman towards me while the others swooped in and dealt with the other combatants. My fight with the Shaman was a near repeat of the last levels boss fight. It still didn't have any skills that could be damaging. That would change in the boss fight, but for now, I could deal with whatever the Shamans threw at me all day.

Once the Shaman had returned to the ground, I moved forward to see if the others needed any help.

I needn't have bothered. They had dealt with the Brute as quickly as I had dealt with its friend.

We soon barreled over the rest of the patrols in great time.

I was delighted I had gone down with a team. If I had been by myself, I would not be dealing with the patrols nearly as well. The Druid fight would have also been a lot more complicated. I wouldn't have nearly the speed to keep up with it in its Nature fighter form.

"Is everybody ready? One misstep here, and we will have the entire camp breathing down our necks."

Leader once again was the one to speak. Her face as ever was severe. Now It definitely had a reason to be. Staring out into the open plain that held the Chieftains village. There were only a few root huts surrounding the stone watchtower that kept the Chieftain.

The lore was that the Satyr tribe had moved into an old mine. The Chieftain had taken over the watchtower while the rest had to resort to rebuilding the huts that once existed before. The druid had helped quite a bit with construction as the roots seemed to be the only thing keeping the structures together.

It was quite interesting.

Two larger patrols were circling the village at all times. Each quite far away from each other. The patrols had grown in size to equal the boss battle of the last floor.

Of course, there would be no problems with Scout leading the way. He managed to kite the large group over to an outcropping of trees a few strides away from the patrol route, allowing us to descend on the group.

They didn't last for all that long afterward.

Satisfied we had kept it quiet, we began moving around the forest's outskirts. There weren't many similar places to ambush the enemy.

So we settled for a part of the plain that would be out of earshot from the village. Which was the only thing that mattered when dealing with the patrols in the first place.

Having to fight them in the open clearing was a little more complicated.

The Shaman had decided to stick behind the group this time. Allowing it to empower one of the brutes before I managed to take it out. Since they now had to focus on dealing with the Brutes. I was directly facing the Elites all by myself. Of course, that had never been an issue for me. So a barrage of mana bolts once again ripped them apart.

I was so glad to have focused so much on improving my control skills in the past. I would never have had such a smooth journey through combat in the lower levels. Hopefully, those skills would only magnify as time went on.

Turning to the group, they had managed to put the lesser Brute down to the ground. It was still alive and crawling towards them. I was surprised it could survive such a massive amount of damage. Its hooves had now returned to the dungeon, so it wasn't having an easy time of it.

They were dealing with the temporarily more powerful Brute with quite a bit of skill.

Yerin certainly couldn't keep up with the Brute blow for blow, but he was more than capable of taking or diverting the attacks with his new shield.

It was when he blocked one of the Brutes attacks on his shield, the massive arm shook for a single second, which allowed for Scout to attempt the second attack I had seen him make.

With the same burst of speed I had seen before, he ripped through the air, and with his dual blades flashing, the arm suddenly dropped to the ground. He was too fast for me to see, but he had disabled the Brute incredibly quickly.

Maybe I had been wrong about them being body refiners. Such feats seemed beyond the abilities of a mundane man.

The Brute, in response, decided that now was the best time for it to use rampage.

Just like that, its already formidable strength nearly doubled. Yet it seemed it was no more intelligent than the beast I had faced on the fourth floor.

The dark ichor that moved through its body began to pump out at an incredible rate. The blood coming from its arm became a river, almost becoming an attack in itself when Yerin had to move away.

The beast didn't last long after that. Striker moved back from harassing the more powerful foe to finish off the crawling Brute. Meanwhile, Leader and Yerin kept their distance and lead the dying Brute on a chase around the clearing. Its roars were just far enough away that the village shouldn't hear its death throes, but even still, Scout began to move towards the town to make sure.

It was only a few seconds later that the beast finally fell. The ground had been littered with Satyr blood.

That disappeared into the ground along with the bodies of the whole patrol. The dungeon at work was still quite the sight. I would give a lot for similar cleaning magic.

It also gave us a few coins for our troubles.

After picking them up and regrouping, we began to make our way back towards the village. Scout returned with a simple nod, signifying that we had managed to remain undetected.

I was truly spoilt on this run. I had no illusions that I had been fortunate with this group. I imagined the next few runs would come with a lot more complications. For now, I should be focusing on surviving this one.

The village was undisturbed as we made our way back to the vantage point.

With a final nod from everyone, we made our way down to the boss fight. We would be facing a small army inside the village limits: ten Elites, four Brutes, and two shamans to go along with the Chieftain.

There was a steep rise in difficulty between the rest of the floors and this boss battle.

The extra numbers might have helped, but I was more confident in this strike force.

Scout and I both proceeded first. Now that I had proven I could take care of myself, I was left to move to my position above one of the huts around the watchtower. I had slightly loftier goals. There was a rumor that some lovely treasure could be found on the top of the tower.

They would be awaiting my signal before they charged into battle. Scout was trying to take out as many of the Elites as possible before the battle began. With that, I stepped into the village.