The vulpeniers were the most common enemy of the last neighbourhood, and they were relatively easy to deal with. They were dodgy but fragile, and being just lvl3 they died from a good hit. The next neighbourhood was where the krutnik came from, and the group decided to keep on walking when everyone experienced how tough those bastards were.

Specifically, when Elise found out that they didn’t die from a single strike and got stabbed in the gut for it. Darryl barely managed to stop the bug from biting into her after that, while Ben and Thomas kept the others at bay. The wound was completely gone after a heal spell and another five minutes, but Elise was less reckless after that.

They still ran into a bunch of the creatures as they traversed the neighbourhood, the frequency suggesting that these creatures were either naturally densely populated or had a much faster reproduction at their boss room than the other neighbourhoods. They still progressed and met the groups encountered head-on, the krutnik being a lesser risk than them running into the Woolf backtracking.

The next neighbourhood also had a lot of krutnik, which raised some eyebrows. With two neighbourhoods between them they had a good buffer before the Woolf caught up, but despite the creatures making for good grinding the party kept moving. As much as the gatherers and reavers netted more experience than most other mobs thanks to being level 4 and 6 respectively instead of the usual lvl2-3 mobs, the gain was properly reflected in the added risk they posed.

“This is most troublesome.” Thomas said. “We’ve seen two neighbourhoods that have these krutnik roaming about, and neither borders the place where Darryl first encountered them. Therefore we may assume that there’s a third neighbourhood that also has these creatures as its main mob.”

“I see. Sounds too unlikely to be just random chance. Maybe those creatures have a high chance of being selected on this floor?” Ben said.

“Or they started in just one spot and spread to new neighbourhoods since.” Darryl pondered.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Thomas said. “They’re higher level than the other mobs around here, hunt in groups and their description says that they’re naturally numerous and fast-spreading.” Thomas said. “When a neighbourhood boss dies, they probably have a leg up on the others, rapidly collect all the leftover mobs and reproduce.”

“I don’t see the problem. They’re higher level and thus give more exp. Sounds like a good thing once we hit the level ceiling of this floor.” Elise says. “Especially as we’re apparently up against some big bad boss we cannot pooooossibly~ face off against.”

“That’s also true…” Ben chimed in.

“Well, that’s the thing. They’ve got three neighbourhoods that we know of, none of which we or the French killed the boss of.” Thomas said. “They had the map of an area to the south when they had only one bronze star, which isn't any of the neighbourhoods we know the krutnik prowl. And if they killed another neighbourhood boss since, then there hasn’t been enough time for the surrounding mobs to flood in yet.”

“Meaning?” Elise asked.

“Meaning there’s either a third party about that killed two neighbourhood bosses, or…” Thomas said nervously. “Or the krutnik invade the neighbourhood and kill the bosses themselves. In which case we’re dealing with an exponentially increasing spread of these creatures until the whole borough is swarming with them.”

“A borough we’re trapped in.” Darryl said in a cold sweat at the thought of it.

“I dunno. I mean, sure, right now they can be troublesome, but once I double my level I can probably one-shot them all.” Elise said. “Not to mention, we’ve got Safe Zones. I don’t see the problem.”

“In small groups with us in proper formation they’re just tough buggers. When they swarm you, though…” Darryl said, touching the wound on his right arm.

Elise uncomfortably glanced at the wound and didn’t argue Darryl in this, instead just giving a non-committal hum.

“Sooooo…” Ben said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that took the group for a moment. “What now?”

“We circle around until we reach the stairway again.” Thomas said. “Check if it’s still open, it will decide whether we’re in deep shit or just mildly inconvenienced.”

“I really hope we’re not stuck in here.” Darryl sighed. “One hit from that monster was almost enough to kill me, so it will definitely take y-

Thomas fired off a magic missile, and it struck a critter with a loud shriek. The glob of acid that the reaver was about to spit at them went wild and splashed against the wall as two more reavers dashed from around the corner.

The screech was inconvenient, it would attract any nearby krutnik to their location. But the reaver hadn’t started combat with it, which had unpleasant implications. The gatherers were predictable in that they always started that way, they didn’t ever use stealth.

Darryl’s shield appeared in his left hand to quickly be equipped. Thomas took out his shepherd’s wand to cast buffing spells before he’d switch to his blinding staff, while Ben had already disappeared in the shadows. Elise readied her bat and hopped from one foot to the other to get her blood flowing, but stayed just behind Darryl. Seems like the acid spit made her more inclined to stay in formation than mere talons and fangs.

The wounded reaver dashed forwards as the other two inhaled deeply for their own acid shots and a fourth one appeared from around the corner. Darryl took a half-step to the side to catch the acidic blobs, and they splattered on his shield. Thanks to his lvl10 shielding boon against elemental attacks, the acid ran down the shield as if it was coated in Teflon rather than corroding the metal.

The dashing reaver fared no better, jumping at Darryl only to shatter on his shield. Though a hive mind, these creatures still learned individually rather than as a whole. Consequently every group of Krutnik they faced lost one member to the lesson not to ram into Darryl's shield.

Elise stepped around Darryl, softly glowing a deep red from the strength buff and with her kanabo raised high. She struck at the prone reaver and it shattered under her might. It had already been at two thirds health from the missile and collision, so a clean hit to its softer belly sufficed to down it.

The other three reavers wouldn’t be nearly as simple. They wouldn’t jump at his shield, and they had few other tricks that took the mobs by surprise. Darryl advanced, seeing that the reavers had no issue staying in place to wait for reinforcements to show up and their acid spit to recharge.

Thomas cast poisonous fog on them, one of the spells that he rarely used until now. Unlike fog cloud it dealt friendly fire as well, and the damage was frankly abysmal. Even rats needed about half a minute to die by the poison alone. But it might urge the reavers to move out of the fog and towards them, and Darryl felt like he could safely advance to meet them at the cloud and keep them in it lest they’d overextend themselves.

They did not. The reavers retreated back around the corner, screeching loudly to attract more of their ilk.

“Retreat.” Darryl said. “Let’s lure them in near a corner, rather than give them the advantage here.”

Two krutnik screeched behind them, drowning out the dying gurgles of the third. Darryl only knew that Ben killed one from the trickle of shared experience he saw appear in his chat.

“New plan, deal with those two before we find ourselves flanked.” Darryl said. He unequipped the shield and ran back, trusting the poison fog to keep the reavers at bay for a while longer, and Elise and Thomas were already running just ahead of him.

The gatherers had been real close, hanging around in one of the tighter side alleys that the party usually avoided. One of them was dead, stabbed in the back before it even knew what hit it. Another was severely damaged, Ben’s Rendering Knife stuck in its back. The third one was still in pristine condition and running after Ben.

Darryl took out his spear and threw it awkwardly at the wounded krutnik. It wasn't a high threat, but it stood quite a ways away from any of Darryl's teammates. His aim hadn’t exactly improved now that he had to use his left hand to throw.

The spear flew and two more appeared, all three going wild and hitting nothing at all. Darryl made it reappear and threw it again, once again hitting nothing. Including his friends, fortunately.

Ben tried to turn around and grab the spear, but the krutnik was too close on his tail. With the reach and damage of his Rendering Knife he might’ve faced the creature, but fighting it with his short backstabbing dagger was a very bad idea. Instead he ran to Elise and slid to avoid getting clipped by her wide swing.

The krutnik made no such manoeuvre and got slapped to the side, thrown directly against Darryl’s shield stopping it cold. Before it could even slump to the ground, Elise struck it again and the bug was crushed between an unstoppable force and an unmovable object.

“You tried to backstab two at the same time, didn’t you?” Darryl said.

“Yeah, it didn’t work and it angled quite awkward.” Ben said. “But you don’t know if you don’t try, right? Didn’t intend for my better weapon to get stuck, though.”

“Reavers incoming, three seconds max! They ignored the poison fog!” Thomas shouted, covering their rear.

“Into the alleys, I can’t stop three acid globs now that they know not to shoot at me!” Darryl said, running to his spear. He picked it up and awkwardly stabbed at the wounded krutnik. Being right-handed was also a skill in this dungeon, and one that really penalised you when you didn’t use it. The krutnik tried to lurch at him but blood splashed from its earlier wound and the critter stiffened from the pain.

After a third poor thrust it went down and Ben quickly pulled his Renderer knife from its back. Darryl made his spear disappear into his inventory and ran after the others into the nearest alley.

The alleys were a lot more narrow than the main roads they usually took, the main arteries being broad enough for four people to stand shoulder to shoulder while some of the side-alleys were barely wide enough for one person to comfortably walk through. Meanwhile the main roads had room for three busses to easily pass one another. And for three reavers to spit acid at them from multiple angles, or even run past to flank them.

Darryl didn’t know if the reavers were smart enough to do that, but if they spat acid from three sides he couldn’t possibly block all of them. Better to force the creatures into a bottleneck, preferably one so narrow his shield could block it entirely.

The alley they were in when the reavers caught up wasn’t quite that narrow, but it would do. The hallway was about as wide and high as an office door, preventing Elise from using her weapon optimally but Darryl quickly gave her his spear to use instead.

“Don’t throw it, you need my gloves for the return trick.” Darryl said, raising his shield.

The reavers appeared from around the corner and almost ran into Darryl’s shield. Elise and Ben struck as the hastily stopping front reaver was wide open, Elise’s thrust scraping over its carapace doing little while Ben struck it in the eye. The reaver screamed as it jumped back with half its face torn up, but their advantage had failed to take it down and the others stopped before coming in reach.

The other two reavers quickly moved to join the first one and they all spat. Everyone huddled behind Darryl’s shield only for the globs to splash against the ceiling. They had to quickly retreat a step back as the acid started dropping onto them.

Damn, these critters were even smarter and more cunning than Darryl feared. They already noticed that the gatherers learned fast and didn’t make the same mistakes twice, but this tactical use of their acid was more than Darryl would’ve sought behind the bugs.

The reavers didn’t hesitate to press the advantage either. The moment Darryl stepped back the whole party bumped into each other with a sore lack of coordination to their maneuvre, and the three reavers bolted forward. The wounded one went for the shield while the other two went for either side and the less protected adventurers behind it.

Darryl lowered his shield onto the ground and took a knee as Thomas’s hands hovered over his shoulders. The thumbs touched each other while the fingers spread out, and flames sprung from them.

The reavers screamed in surprise as the corridor was filled with fire from the Fire Fingers spell, and Darryl felt something bump into his shield. The next moment two somewhat charred and smoking reavers appeared on both sides. Elise reacted quickly and stabbed at hers, scoring a solid gash. Ben didn’t do as well, and only awkwardly scratched at it as the reaver took him off guard and pushed through his Rendering Knife.

Thomas moved his hands to Elise’s side, his spell would do more harm than good on Ben’s side considering the reaver was already on top of the teen, while Darryl toppled his shield forward. The wounded reaver shrieked as Darryl pressed it onto the ground and placed most of his weight on his shield to keep it pinned. It wouldn’t deal damage, but the reaver wouldn't either. Without a hand to wield a weapon with, he couldn’t do much else.

Thomas broke off his spell as a notification of experience gained popped up, and Elise already turned to Ben when it became clear that her reaver wouldn't appear from the inferno.

What happened next was a mystery to Darryl, he couldn’t exactly spare a glance over his shoulder when the reaver began to squirm underneath his shield. He heard grunting, stabbing, Ben’s tiara channelled some damage to him, and eventually there was a gurgle.

Elise sauntered over and casually stabbed at the trapped reaver with the spear. “Okay, I’m starting to see why it would be trouble if these guys are everywhere.”