The entire team except April was in the dungeon entrance chamber as we waited for April to maneuver the war mech down. The Indomitable was supposed to be just below the size where it would be impossible.
The team from the city we had reached had expanded the entrance passage and increased the density of the stairs. April had funds to pay for such things, but now we would see if it was even possible.
Harren made a crude joke. "It is going to be like a duck giving birth to a goose."
"Tight, very tight," Stormy replied.
"Maybe we should have applied grease to the sides of the passage?" Sam joked.
"The real challenge will be getting back out," I said, and everyone was silent at that.
Slowly, they maneuvered the war mech down the stairs. The war mech folded up its legs and arms and put its weapons into spatial storage.
I had asked about disassembly, but that was to be avoided if possible, because it would damage the living aspect of the war mech and the nascent soul. I could tell the float engine was working at maximum power and then some as a cloud of yellow smoke drifted outwards.
The war mech began to partially unfold slowly after landing at the bottom of the passage.
"I want a raise," Harren complained.
"It will be useful once we get lower. The major headache is getting it in and out of the dungeon," Stormy replied.
"Well, that way to the next passage," I said while drawing my sword and pointing with it.
"Agreed," Harren replied, and we set off.
The 1st layer was a joke for a team of our skills and strength. The war mech had wheels deployed and rolled along behind us. I had never thought the passages between chambers were cramped before, but now I did when I glanced back at the war mech.
It should have been named the metal passage plug, not The Indomitable.
"You got the left?" I asked Harren.
"Sure, race you?" he asked, and I nodded.
We entered the chamber, and there were five lizard-like creatures. It was tempting to just use a spell skill, but preserving Mana was important in the dungeon.
I rushed in and cut down three on my side.
Harren got four since a slightly larger group had been on his side.
"I win," he said with a grin, and I rolled my eyes.
We were only joking around like this, since the war mech was drifting and the monsters were so easy on the 1st layer.
Once we got to the 6th
layer, I would start taking things more seriously.Ozy looked at the monsters and didn't even go for their meat. He was spoiled and wanted monsters with higher-density Mana.
"That way." I pointed in a random direction, and Harren nodded.
Our casters were escorting the war mech to prevent surprises but didn't act. Preserving Mana was too important for them to act in combat so soon.
We made our way through a couple more chambers before reaching the Champion of the 1st layer.
It was a large red slime that shot out fire.
"Ozy," I said.
Neither Harren nor I wanted to deal with such an annoying monster.
Ozy flew up and hit it with a Bounded Alchemical Field.
The red champion slime burst apart, leaving a red core behind.
Ozy swooped in and ate it. Harren gave me a look, and I shrugged.
"Were you going to dig through the slime for a red core?" I asked.
"Hah, absolutely not. Now let's see it get through the next passage. I swear it looks bigger than it did before," Harren said, referencing the war mech as Ozy landed back on my shoulder pauldron.
The war mech didn't have stairs to work with. Instead, April sent it straight down, smashing the broken stairs that made up the passage.
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It landed with a bang on the 2nd layer.
"That is one way to do it," Harren said while waving his axe to keep the dust away from his face.
I stepped near Stormy, along with Sam, who used air skills to push the dust back.
"All good. No damage, Ready to move out."
"That way," I said and pointed towards the next passage.
"Agreed," Harren said, and we set off down a slightly bigger tunnel.
I hadn't really noticed it before, but the dungeon opened the deeper one descended.
We made it to the 4th
layer and called a break after a couple of chambers.I began getting out my portable cook set and preparing dinner.
"I was skeptical about this, but this is the best idea," Harren said.
"It is a hobby. If I were in the dungeon, I would prefer not to eat overly salted meat and stale bread. A warm meal fills you up," I replied as we all ate my cooked stew with the war mech looming over our campsite.
April had gotten out and was eating with us. Once dinner was over, she would sleep inside the war mech.
I didn't know if that was good, since it had its own soul, but she said it ensured no one tampered with it.
She would only leave it for meals and to relieve herself while in the dungeon.
"A bit thick for my taste," Stormy said. I gave her a look, and she shrugged. "What? If you can't handle a small bit of criticism, you shouldn't be cooking."
"Is it better than normal dungeon rations?" I asked.
"Yes, but you should work to improve all skills," she said.
If she didn't like the cooking, no one would force her to eat. I was sharing to build team spirit, and she was being rude. While she was a nice person, her Elvishness was coming through with the haughty attitude.
Perhaps she was trying to be encouraging in her own way, but I wasn't a professional chef. I cooked as a hobby and brought stuff to cook because it was something I enjoyed. It would be one thing if I were charging her for my cooking, but it was completely free, and she could choose not to eat.
I wasn't trying to grind up cooking skill levels. I wasn't trying to become a dungeon chef.
I was just trying to make a decent meal while in the dungeon to keep morale up, and she was just being rude. I said nothing about her comment, but I now saw the downside of a team.
Clashing personalities and opinions would be a major problem.
If I didn't give her stew, it would create even more friction, so I had to just endure the criticisms she gave. Otherwise, it could turn into a huge fight and split the team.
And this was only our first day!
I would make the stew thicker next time to make a point that if she wanted food made to her preferences, she could cook it herself.
It was petty, but I wasn't about to cook a separate stew for each person or cater to any one individual. If someone didn't want to eat, then they could just not eat warm stew.
"Well, things should get easier tomorrow going to lower layers. We will have to be more alert once we reach the 6th layer," Harren said.
"The larger groups will require a slightly more methodical approach. The risk of overextending is small on the 6th layer but real," I replied.
"A defensive posture?" Harren asked me.
"That sounds good. If the war mech doesn't need to unfold, we can save time. Once we hit the 11th layer, that is when we will need to take our time with mixed groups," I said.
"It's a shame we can't rush down, but there's no need to take unnecessary risks during our descent," he said.
Being front-line combatants, we had to assess the level of risk we could handle. If we couldn't, the entire team would collapse.
Technically April could be considered a front liner with The Indomitable, but a war mech was something new. Perhaps in time she would take on a similar role in evaluating how much we could handle as a team.
"I was hoping we could rush towards the 16th layer," Stormy said.
"We will be lucky to reach it in half a year and then have to turn back," Harren replied.
"Half a year?" Sam asked.
Clearly, he had no experience descending.
"Yes, half a year. It might seem like we are going quickly, but the dungeon gets exponentially more dangerous. At the 11th layer when there are mixed groups, we will have to rest and recover after each fight," I explained.
"If The Indomitable can move freely through the passages, then we can progress more quickly," April said.
"We will see," Harren said, and I agreed with him. While the war mech was powerful, it had a lot of issues. Fighting as part of a team required a certain coordination and understanding. While we could practice to a certain degree, that was no replacement for the real thing in the dungeon.
"Why the rush, Stormy?" Harren asked.
"We should make as much progress as quickly as possible," she declared.
"If you were on your own, then you could do that. But with a team, there needs to be a bit more caution. Especially since none of us has that much experience," Harren said.
"Harren's right. If we were solo, then the risks are our own, but as a team, we need to work out the kinks in any kind of coordination. I get wanting to advance quickly, but that is how you end up with dead adventurers. There is a reason the death rates down here are so high," I replied.
People thought they could handle more than they could. Then something overwhelmed and killed them.
It just took one mistake to die.
There was no safety net.
No mother hovered in the background ready to save me or one of her squires.
"We will not go slowly, but we won't rush. I have a good sense of this, and Justin does too. There is a tempo one has to take the dungeon at."
"Even if we all feel we can handle more?" April asked.
"One step at a time and making sure our reserves don't fall low. I know your war mech operates off fuel, but I am not compromising our safety just to rush deeper at a quicker pace," Harren said, and I nodded to support this statement.
Sure, pushing oneself to the limit and risking one's life would generate more experience and skill levels, but it was also insanely risky. And while the other three could wonder if we weren't going fast enough, they also weren't fighting in melee.
Harren and I set the pace. Casters were there for their firepower and spell skills. As for the war mech, it would hopefully show its worth in the lower layers.
But we needed to fight a range of enemies on each layer, especially once we hit the 11th layer. Rushing to the 16th was a good way to die horribly.
Even if we could handle 99.99% of fights without issue, we needed to be ready to handle the situation when things got tricky. The dungeon could spike in difficulty in unexpected ways. Abnormals were an obvious example. Ethereal monsters were another example. Or even some kind of weird elemental combination.
Experience, and not the kind to level up with, was necessary for such situations. The casters and April didn't fully understand this concept.
They had their hands held in the dungeon far more than Harren or I ever experienced.