A couple of days later they met up with Fortuna and her squad just outside one of the entrances to the layer two dungeon.

  The layer two dungeon was an expansive floating island. It was a giant, floating maze of walls and sharp angles. Like a living kaleidoscope made of stone, floating in space.

  It was the perfect location for grapple packs, even more so than the rest of terrarium two. The tight turns and angles made perfect locations for ambush style attacks. Given that Bena was now here, the group gained near perfect sense of their location and the enemy’s. Assuming the enemy didn’t have a scout of her calibre, they were virtually unmatched.

  That was also assuming that Bena didn’t throw up.

  She had gotten a lot better in the brief time they spent training, partially thanks to Viviana’s spartan training methods and mostly thanks to Lucian’s heartfelt instruction.

  All that amounted to Bena’s current state. She could endure grappling now. Which was a vast improvement.

  “You’re finally here,” Fortuna said, just as Viviana arrived. Grapple lines zipped back into position as the Landsknecht landed on the floating island. Viviana moved to the front, approaching Fortuna directly. Their respective squads stood a little away from each other. Bena perched herself on top of a higher, floating rock, presumably using her scout skill.

  Viviana observed Fortuna’s squad members. All of them looked decently strong. They were all ranked in the thirty-thousands, over ten-thousand places higher than Viviana’s squad. But Viviana knew that rankings weren’t good determinations of strength. She knew that Landsknecht was stronger.

  Viviana shrugged in response to Fortuna. It wasn’t like she was late– she was perfectly on time, as a matter of fact. “We’re on time. You’re just impatient.”

  Fortuna sighed and then turned towards the dungeon, observing its ever shifting formations. “We head in, now. Lancer squadron is already close to the dungeon core. We’ll have to navigate quickly to meet them there.”

  “How are you certain?”

  “I just know,” Fortuna said. Fortuna eyed her. “Are mercenaries supposed to be this nosy?”

  “I suppose not,” Viviana admitted. “But any information is useful for us, anyways.”

  Fortuna sighed again. Viviana noted it. Sighing multiple times was a sign of disappointment. Just what did she do to make the client feel this way?

  “We move as planned,” Fortuna said, signalling to the rest of her squad. Just like that, they were off, zipping through terrarium two towards the entrance of the dungeon. Viviana signalled and the Landsknecht followed closely behind. Bena and Thomas shifted towards the front, while Viviana lingered closer to the back along with Lucian.

  Viviana felt proud of them. It had only taken them a couple days to learn how to use the grapple packs. Viviana was a little jealous of how little pain they had to endure, in comparison to herself. She remembered slamming into every other floating island and using her [flash step] as a crutch. Compared to her, their training was painless.

  She chalked it up to being a brilliant instructor.

  Fortuna looked at the rest of her squad.

  They zipped through the rhombus shaped entrance into the stony labyrinth. There were no maps for this dungeon, but the general consensus was that stronger monsters appeared the closer you got to the center, where the core of the dungeon was.

  One of Fortuna’s squad members, a scout moving faster than the rest of the party, signalled backwards. Just then Fortuna and another member accelerated, turning the corner quickly with swords drawn. Mid air, as they flew, they bisected a monster that looked like a giant worm, crawling through the stone walls of the dungeon.

  Viviana observed them as they travelled. They moved as a unit, picking off monsters in a methodical fashion. Landsknecht’s grapple training wasn’t that advanced, but they maintained a rough formation. They’d have to make things up on the go.

  They moved through the corridors, Fortuna’s scout efficiently leading the way. Viviana was sure that Bena could have done the same thing.

  Whatever the case, moving through the dungeon with Fortuna’s squad was fast. Viviana made sure to watch their tactics, hoping to steal some for later.

  Just then more monsters approached as they rounded a corner. The signal was for multiple monsters.

  Bena signalled backwards– an elaborate finger signal that told the squad two monsters were approaching from above and below them. Viviana was grateful for having practiced the hand signals earlier. It was honestly absurd that Landsknecht didn’t have hand signals or communication protocols for stuff, but the members didn’t fight together much. When was the last time? The centipede?

  Viviana moved upwards and Lucian moved downwards to intercept, while Bena remained in the middle and Thomas took point.

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  Viviana’s grapples fired upwards into the stone sections, where a small opening revealed a monster barrelling towards her. A fish?

  The fish had massive jaws and many fins like protrusions. It looked like a swordfish with a sword collection that fell in love with a torpedo. The creature was about as big as one as well.

  Viviana fired her grapples, trying to snake around, sure that its speed wouldn’t allow it to turn with much agility. The fish narrowly avoided her blade and slashed its many sword-like fins into the wall, raking out floating stones.

  Shrapnel of the dungeon walls sprayed out in the low-gravity environment, tumbling around and into Viviana. She grimaced as the stones embedded into her. Then the fish sped at her.

  The blades didn’t hit her, but still gouged out the area where her grapple was attached. The momentum caused Viviana to briefly become disoriented, and the fish charged at her again.

  Thinking quickly Viviana manipulated her grapples, putting slack into her cable and kicking off a nearby wall, activating [flash step] at the same time from a pre-prepared lightning sigil. Instantly she shot off in the low-g environment at the fish, slashing outwards in a decisive arc.

  [You have slain a level 5 bladed missilefish.]

  [+5 exp]

  [You have (1) undistributed point.]

  Viviana looked downwards towards Lucian. He didn’t need any help. Viviana noted that Fortuna’s squad had dealt with misslefish of their own. They were getting swarmed. Viviana had to help a client.

  “Lucian, continue! Landsknecht, on me!”

  Viviana dived towards Fortuna’s location, Thomas and Bena tight on her heels. She briefly thought about Bena’s movements. Hopefully she was taking it easy. They would need her strength for the mission.

  Viviana pushed forward, rushing into the midst of Fortuna’s squad. She spotted one of the guys struggling with a fish. She accelerated, flanking around the fish and stabbing it, quickly retreating. She found another opponent– a brief opening in the fish’s position. Another grapple maneuver, another decisive cut.

  Keep moving and circle. Most importantly, don’t get locked down. If you outnumber your opponent, this is the way to fight.

  Thomas had activated his skill, throwing his sword out like a missile. It careened through the air, smashing into another fish. Bena circled and found an opening, dealing a finishing blow.

  Her grappling looks a lot better.

  Viviana looked back at Lucian. Another fish had approached him, but more were swarming Fortuna’s squad. Lucian would have to fight two on one. She had to choose. She chose Fortuna’s squad.

  Lucian’s strong enough.

  Viviana dove in, cutting with her sword. She took some damage entering, but that was fine. It was better to sacrifice her own health than jeopardize the mission.

  She only needed a couple strikes to finish them off.

  [You have slain a level 5 bladed missilefish.]

  [+1 exp] [shared]

  [You have slain a level 5 bladed missilefish.]

  [+1 exp] [shared]

  Sooner or later it was finished. They had won. Viviana checked up on Lucian. He finished with both his two missile fish, slashing the final one with a high-octane grapple maneuver.

  Viviana fired grapples in his direction. Lucian dodged, but Viviana wasn’t aiming for him. She stabbed with her sword, taking a small glancing blow in return.

  [You have slain a level 5 bladed missilefish.]

  [+1 exp] [shared]

  She turned back to Lucian. “It’s not over until the system message appears.”

  “Thanks, Viviana.”

  Landsknecht gathered back up, their battle complete. Viviana checked over her squad. Thomas and Bena were spotless, although Bena looked a little queasy. Lucian had a small amount of injuries, but nothing that wouldn’t heal quickly. Viviana had taken the most damage by far, but it didn’t hurt. It was fine.

  It was their first fight together since the centipede incident. Overall, not bad.

  Fortuna was checking over her squad. Then, to Viviana’s surprise, one of the guys on her squad grappled over to Landsknecht.

  “Hey, Viviana, right?”

  All the Landsknecht members turned in the guy’s direction. To his credit he only paused for a second.

  “Um, you were the one that saved me right there. I know you didn’t think much of it, but it meant a lot to me.”

  All of Landsknecht then turned to watch Viviana as the guy scratched the back of his head and continued his spiel.

  “I was just wondering if I could take you out to dinner sometime? Just to thank you, you know. For saving my life.”

  Viviana wondered why she had so many eyes on her all of sudden. Even Fortuna’s squad was silently observing.

  She opened her mouth to ask which restaurant (she was going to pick the most expensive one, and then bring the entire Landsknecht) when suddenly a girl from Fortuna’s squad grabbed the guy by the ear.

  “Orie! What are you doing, flirting with someone during a mission? Right after we broke up?!”

  “W-What?! We’re not even together any more! Stop pulling so hard!”

  Thomas, Bena, and Lucian let out sighs. Fortuna, way out front, made a hand signal. They were going to continue through the dungeon. Viviana tilted her head. “What was that all about?”

  “Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was more relieved for him or for you… the way he looked at you…” Thomas said, a shudder passing through him.

  Lucian and Bena nodded. “I would’ve killed him!”

  “Why?” Viviana asked. “Although his wording was strange, free food is beneficial. Plus, connections with Fortuna’s squad.”

  “If you accepted… just you and him… you sure about that?” Thomas asked.

  Viviana frowned. “Well, if he invited me, the leader, naturally I would bring my subordinates.”

  Landsknecht let out sighs again.