Worthy Core

Although the new armor worn by the Domain soldiers made them much more difficult to deal with, they didn't exactly have free reign of the first floor. A series of magical traps in the next hallway failed to do any damage, but it did buy time for the Challenger defenders to adjust their plans a bit. The intruders were apparently much harder to hit directly than they would normally be, so area-of-effect defenses were brought into play. A surprise flamethrower attack did manage to seriously injure one demon, while an alchemical poison gas ambush killed two members of the squad and greatly sickened another.

Like before, however, the Domain had brought far more than a single squad. After solving another of Doorman's riddles a second squad moved in, and successfully reached the room that had formerly been the Bone Maze. It was now the first part of the floor focused on a defense using monsters, and the layout had been shifted from a slow-moving labyrinth with occasional ambushes, to a somewhat more open space filled with stone pillars. Behind these pillars were a dozen Rabbit Champions, mostly rogues with a few mage supporters, and the focus was now on hit-and-run attacks. Each rogue would dash out from behind a pillar, attempt to strike a target, and then dash away before being struck in return.

The results were...mixed. The smoke bombs and spells the rabbits used certainly caused quite a bit of confusion among the soldiers, but the rogues found themselves having trouble capitalizing on it. Several times long-eared assassins would trip at just the wrong moment, and fatal blows were repeatedly turned aside into minor scratches. Fortunately their blades had been coated with poison beforehand, but with the shallowness of the wounds the soldiers were still able to clear out the defenders before falling seriously ill. Of the eight members of the second squad only two were killed in the skirmish, while the squad's healer was able to at least temporarily treat the rest.

That leaves the dubious honor of taking down the Floor One guardian to Squad Three, a fact which makes the squad's kobold commander silently gulp as they reach the final doorway. As they open the door they find the same cave-like arena they were told to expect, but no sign of the guardian can be seen. Taking a deep breath, she puts on her most confident tone of voice as she instructs her team.

"Okay, they're probably going to do an ambush, that's normal. Normally the guardian here is a rogue-type rabbit, just like the ones in the last room, but stronger and faster. We can expect changes though, so be ready. Eyes and ears peeled, shout out if you see anything!"

"Yes, ma'am!" As the leader steps inside, the rest of the squad follows - two more kobolds, a slime, and four demons. The demon mages immediately prepare shields in front of them, while the archers of the group keep shifting their bows left and right at any sign of movement.

Only to have those preparations shattered as several tons of rock crash from the ceiling, sending the soldiers diving for cover and destroying the barrier spells - all thanks to a volunteer earth mage. Unfortunately, previous testing had established that simply dropping massive boulders on people in an enclosed hallway was still unhealthy for Xenia even if she had a mortal doing it rather than doing it herself. If the path from the entrance to the dungeon core was blocked by any means her ability to recover mana would be massively impacted, as well as her ability to make on-the-fly changes to a floor. Doing it in a wide-open arena on the other hand, well, that's just good clean fun.

No soldiers were pancaked by the ambush, but they're certainly not in a positive state of mind as enemy combatants start hopping through the newly-created hole in the arena ceiling. It's hard to make exact identifications, but the squad commander can make a pretty good guess. "It's Trush the Rabbit Knight and his squires! They're hitting us with a double-guardian battle!"

"Hey, don't leave me out!" A woman in a full set of plate armor yells at him with a mock-offended tone, and although the kobold doesn't recall who this might be, she does certainly recognize the symbol of the Church of Bounty on the woman's shield. "A lady wants to have a bit of up-close-and-personal fun too every now and then!"

While the eight-member squad still has the numerical advantage, at this point it's no longer nearly enough of one. With BB, Trush, four squires and Paladin Sable Bluehair charging into the battle, the fight becomes seven-on-seven within moments as a spear-wielding squire leaps at a kobold archer, jamming his weapon through their chest. At the sight of blood BB laughs at his foes. "You might be cheating with that gear of yours, but it's no substitute for skill! Sooner or later everyone's luck runs - ah!"

The gloating rogue has to suddenly duck out of the way of an ice lance launched by the squad's slime, a good reminder that a skilled combatant should be able to mock their enemies and stay on the move at the same time. Indeed, the soldiers soon prove that they're no freshly-minted Initiates to be easily swept off the board. An armored kobold leaps in to strike at Paladin Sable, making up for his lack of reach with his magically-enhanced speed. The commander herself begins to pin down both of the archer squires, thanks to a swarm of pellet-sized fireballs that launch themselves from her hand at a machine-gun pace in their direction. The mages meanwhile do their best to restore their broken barriers, putting up defenses between themselves and the very-threatening Trush.

Sable and Trush do their jobs though, distracting the soldiers while BB quickly flanks them around the edge of the room. Lagomorphs had been one of Xenia's strongest monster categories for a long time, but BB had usually lagged behind somewhat as Xenia didn't want to give the fresh Initiates too much of a challenge right from the start. That's no longer the case, and a fully-powered BB is almost a blur through the smoke and magic spells as he leaps in and sinks his blade into a mage's ear. Their partner turns, shocked, but only manages to get BB's other dagger planted in their eye for their trouble. In a flash, the fight becomes seven-on-five.

Although the soldiers do manage to rebalance things somewhat a moment later, as the spear-wielding squire Ashadi takes an arrow through the neck. One of the archers, Grange, finally falls to flame attack a moment later, although the next to expire is the kobold dueling Sable. The man's magical burst of speed was the only thing keeping him ahead of the larger woman, but as a Paladin the holy warrior has access to a number of personal boosts of her own. The second that her speed matches his she manages to knock his sword away with her shield, and her next swing takes the man's head.

By that point it's more or less a complete collapse of Squad Three. Trush avenges his smoldering squire by practically crushing the kobold commander's skull with his heavy blade, and the last survivors quickly beat a retreat towards the arena door. Not that BB intends to allow them to do so, as the rabbit lands in the doorway and becomes a whirling storm of feet and blades, injuring or killing the other soldiers as they attempt to make their way through.

Only to get blasted to pieces by the combined firepower of the incoming Squad Four, and the remains of Squad Two as they hold their positions in the previous room. Grimacing at the sight of one of BB's feet flying past his face, Trush quickly does a scan of the new situation. "Another eight coming in! Sable, get back! Yardath with me, Namasha, provide cover!"

"Hey, I'm not a back-line combatant!" Sable readies her shield once again as she steps forward. "I'm not here just to cheer you on!"

"...Fine, but the moment one more of us falls, you get the hell out of here! Losing guardians or Floor One is temporary, but the best Xenia can give you is an emergency teleport outside - and if that happens, welcome to being a Domain prisoner for the rest of the war! If you're lucky!"

Now at a four-to-eight disadvantage, the defenders of the dungeon find themselves much harder pressed. Individually Sable or Trush are a match for any of the newly arrived soldiers, but neither of them really have the sort of crowd control abilities that might allow them to easily manage an entire group of enemies. For his part Trush leaps in first, drawing the attention of three of the new squad's frontliners, leaving Squire Yardath and Sable to charge at the flanks.

At first, things seem to be going well despite the sudden enemy reinforcements. A heavy kick from Trush launches a heavily-armored kobold directly into the slime mage behind him, a move which may not have killed the slime but certainly seems to have put her out of action for a solid minute or so, considering how splattered her form becomes. Sable stuns a succubus rogue with a bash of her shield, while the squire Yardath manages to pierce the side of a mage.

All of those blows however are injuring, not fatal. The runes on their armor continue to light up, and the longer the fight goes on the more difficult the defenders find it to actually score a solid hit against their foes. It's actually the archer squire Namasha who goes down first, taking a crossbow bolt to the chest, and Trush calls it there. "I can hear them calling for another squad to move in already! Sable, it's time for you to go!"

"...Damn it. Well, let me leave you with one last gift - Kahlia, bless my shield! Let all who look upon it experience glory!" Lifting her shield high one more time, Sable bathes the room in a divine light. Trush and Sable carefully keep their own eyes closed, but the soldiers soon find themselves very distracted. Not just by the bright light itself...but by the fact that all of the members of the squad who possess cocks now also possess raging erections.

"Almost feel bad for them...wait, no I don't. Now move!" Trush charges in one more time, and with a deep breath Sable heads in the opposite direction. Ducking into the exit at the back of the arena at full speed, the Paladin's boots almost skid as they avoid sliding into the currently-empty shaft of Floor Two. Xenia couldn't outright remove the moving platform...but she could at least make sure that it waits at the bottom of the shaft rather than the top, somewhat slowing down and annoying invading forces. For the moment however there's also an emergency shortcut portal off to one side, and Sable wastes no more time in stepping on top of it and activating its magic.

The sudden transition to the relative calmness of Worthy Inn takes her a moment to get used to. Many notice her arrival, but it's Priestess Fullblossom who's the first to run up to her. "You evacuated? Or is the battle over already?"

While Sable can only pray that Trush is still crushing kobolds even as they speak, she knows that at least for now the answer is not a good one. "We bloodied them pretty good, at least. But no, I'd say the battle is just beginning..."