After a good warm up, they ate, and got some rest for the fight ahead. Their earlier warm up was literal, traveling through the cold climate of the previous floors was anything but easy…
It finally came time for the promised fight. Bokhoir led a party of the level 3s and above for their first ever strike against the floor full of Monster Rexes. Shurry, of course, came along with them knowing full well just what the next floor was actually like. 67 was labeled Hell, and for good reason.
"Alright everybody, Shurry's given us limited information. We don't need any more, nor any less. Be on your guard, we might come across a powerful foe straight away, or we could even encounter 2 Monster Rexes. This is where we won't simply gain excelia… WE'RE GONNA EARN IT!"
"Damn straight!"
"Let's go!"
"I'm gonna level up today!"
"Let's move!"
The party moved, passing through the way down to the 67th floor. It was an extraordinary long ramp, growing progressively more creepy by the second until… The only sounds that could be heard were the massive monsters who ignored their presence while they were in the passage, but the party knew their presence had been detected.
"Everyone, prepare for a fight right out of the gate. Shurry, how many do you think will swarm us?"
"Doesn't matter, I'll take it down to no more than two regardless."
"Oh? Forge ahead, second vanguard prepare for switching out. Mages prepare buffs then ready your spells after, and healers don't waste your mind. When we start, we're going to hit hard, harder than ever."
The moment came when Bokhoir, followed by the rest of the party poured out of the passage, the sight before them, it was like nothing they'd been able to prepare themselves for. It was, in a word, unimaginable.
The feeling of hopelessness among the party grew, but it stopped at a point. Specifically because of Bokhoir.
"Don't lose heart my brothers and sisters! This is simply a test to prove if we are worthy! Will we back down just because there's more than we expected? That it feels like the Dungeon can't be cleared?"
"NO! We shouldn't give up so easily. This is but a taste of what's to come, and we have so many things to keep fighting for."
"Yeah!"
"Let's do it!"
"Now that I think about it, this place isn't all that bad. The dancers at home are scarier when they're drunk and naked."
"You got that right!"
"We laugh in the face of this absurdity! We will crush it! We will conquer this floor! For ourselves, for our people, for the city, and FOR OUR GODDESS!" … "Follow me, let us begin our adventure! And slay that Red Goliath over there."
The battle began, with a powerful lightning spell releasing on the monster rex. "Captain, My spells hit with the force of level 5, and it only left a mark."
"Good! This thing is a level 7 Monster Rex. Let's rapid fire figure out its weaknesses."
A fire ball hit, did zero damage, and left the mage who'd cast it, with a pout on their face, as they realized they were now regulated to healing others instead. Damn, if only I had at least one more type of spell, or one with more control, and utility?
An Ice spell hit, doing considerable damage in comparison to the lightning bolt. With a clear eyed view, this was easy to spot, Ice was this particular Goliath variant's weakness.
"Alright everyone! It's weak to ice magic!"
The Red Goliath roared as it finally received something more than a tickle. And… It fired a heated sonic blast out from its mouth.
Nernatti countered with her barrier spell just in the nick of time. "Look at me go! I've got the timing perfect!"
"Heh, good work. Now, time to whittle this thing down to size, and kill it."
With the battle in full swing, the sounds echoed around… Help was coming… With a roar from the Goliath, it summoned other monsters from the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling.
"It's summoning helpers!"
"Captain, we have a problem!"
"What!?"
"There's another monster rex on its way over here! And it's bringing a bunch of other monsters with it too!"
"Control the newly summoned monsters, kill them before they make it out of the ground. Mages prepare to cast your spells again. You too fire mages."
"HELL YEAH!! Love my fireball!"
The fight grew more and more intense when the second monster rex arrived. With the addition of another one, it stretched the party super thin, and they struggled to keep control over both battles. Though they were comparatively weak, that wasn't the main issue here. It was all about overcoming the absurd situation they found themselves in. After what felt like an eternity for the whole party, the Red Goliath had finally been defeated.
They switched focus to the other monster; this one was a giant snake-like creature. Its slithering tongue is longer than the height of a small tower. An utterly gargantuan, fast moving creature. Soon enough, they were about to kill it, and another monster rex decided to act… However, this triggered the personification of the Oh Shit button. With the time to spare, they managed to slay the snake. However, they didn't just stop, it was time to collect all of the materials from both battles. And… everything that Shurry ended up leaving behind.
It was a grueling 10 hours later when the hunting party managed to make it back to camp with all of their loot in tow. Storing the more precious and perishable things in the containers they'd brought with them on the expedition.
They took their armor off, and just laid on the soft grass, practically bare, or fully bare, all except for Shurry, cause he wasn't even slightly tired. Then all at once, they started laughing.
"WE DID IT!"
"We killed two Monster Rexes at the same time!"
"Well done everyone. That was excellent work. Now, we just have to improve ourselves, and give everyone else a chance to face these kinds of battles."
"Perhaps we should rest a bit first though, that was no easy fight. I know I could go for a girls only bath."
"Right there with you captain!"
"Count me in too, big sister!"
"I'm coming too, big sister in law!"
"Sounds like we're in agreement… Shurry, what's wrong?"
"I'm going to keep hunting a bit more. I'll take a bath later." He said, running off.
"I swear, that boy doesn't know how to sit still."
"No, I think he wants to get stronger, just like us… Ya know, I just had a thought, this might be the Zeus & Hera familias big secret behind how many first class adventurers they had."
"We were able to copy their training before, and while difficult right now, Shurry is helping us to get stronger too."
…