As expected, the boars charged at them as soon as they were spotted. Both triggered their [Charge] ability and glowed slightly as they came hurtling towards Brutun and Strix. Both warriors countered with their skills to reinforce their defences as they knew they had to meet this attack head-on, or the boars would charge right past into their support.

  Minvar winced when she heard the impacts. Both warriors stood tall and held their ground, but their shields were taking a battering; she worried for Brutun as he held the last boar back. Both of them soon struck back at their opponents, but the fight was intense. Denvas quickly moved to support them from the flank, and Xurak moved around to the other. This is when the rats made their appearance.

  Several burst from the grass and began to attack a different member of her team. Minvar caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and struck out as the rat jumped at her, killing it with a solid blow that almost cleaved it in half.

  Nyminar could defend herself from her attacker this time, but the others were too distracted by the boars. Xurak stopped attacking the boar and quickly went after the rats. Minvar moved up and joined him. They could kill the rats between the two, but they avoided several strikes, prolonging the fight. They were attempting to use hit-and-run tactics, but they stayed with them, stopping them from blending back into the grass. They were significantly larger than normal rats, making it slightly more manageable to track him.

  The last rat died, and Minvar turned her attention back to the fight with the boars. They were now winning, and the first quickly fell to the combination of Strix and Devaus. The second fell to Brutun mere moments later, and a team took a deep breath as the rewards arrived, signalling the end of the battle.

  "Nyminar, check everyone out. Xurak the reward." Minvar started barking orders.

  It did not take long to get everyone back into fighting shape. Even though her fighters hadn't suffered any serious injuries, the stress and shock damage from the boars' attacks would still penetrate the shields and affect the warriors behind them. The reward was calculated and added to the pile. Assessor Searider was in the cavern, taking notes and mapping out the room as this happened.

  "Xurak." Minvar motioned the old warrior over to her. He walked a short distance until they were close enough to be out of earshot of the assessor.

  "What is it, Minvar?" He asked.

  "Is it me, or is this floor easier than it should be?" She asked him the question as it was starting to concern her.

  He thought about it before speaking. Combining the two monster types has advantages, making the floor more dangerous. The boars are based on the floor boss of the third. The rats themselves are nothing special, just improved, as we have already determined. Either something more is waiting for us, or the Dungeon is breaking with tradition again."

  "From what we know of this Dungeon, I fear something nasty awaits us." She told him, and he could only grunt in reply.

  She quickly rallied the group, and they moved on to the next room. The exit to this one was located to the South. Xurak declared it free of traps, and he and Minvar looked into the next cavern. The essential layout and environment were the same as all the others they had come through. This time, three boars were clearly to be seen.

  As the tactic worked, she did not change their plan of attack from the last two caverns. She ensured they were ready to deal with the rats when they appeared. Her warriors advanced and quickly took their positions, prepared to meet the charge they knew was coming.

  With a squeal, the boars charged. The warriors had spread out slightly to ensure the boars would target each one separately. This approach appeared to be working. The introduction of skills on both sides enhanced the crash of the impacts, and the battle was joined.

  Minvar and the others prepared to fight the rats they knew would appear. Here, the Dungeon intodused its second surprise on the floor. Rats came from the grass but did not attack them individually; instead, they swarmed Devaus. They jumped onto his back and bit into his legs.

  He screamed in pain as the rats tore into him. "Help!"

  The boar he was fighting took advantage and pushed forward again. Now distracted, the force of the impact knocked him to the ground, and the boar began trampling him. The rats continued to attack, striking at him from the sides while the boar pinned him under his shield.

  Xurak ran forward to help, and Minvar cast a [Firebolt] to distract the boar. Minvar could see out of her eye that the other two boars had triggered their abilities, making them more challenging, holding the other warriors in place. She cursed herself, knowing she had fallen into such a simple trap. The Dungeon had used the first two caverns to lure them into a false sense of superiority to strike them here.

  She quickly cast off two more spells, feeling her mana reserves being drained as she did so. She had to pace herself as the floor boss had not been engaged. Xurak was now fighting the rats; about half had broken off to fight him while the rest continued to rip into Devaus. He was desperately triggering his skills to minimise the damage, but he was straining under their use.

  Her third spell had finally drawn the boar's attention to her. It came at her, but she could sidestep the charging beast. She struck out with her sword, but it slid off the tough hide of the boar as it passed. Cursing, she turned to keep her eye on the beast.

  It arrested its forward movement a short distance away and turned to face her again. As it turned, she cast another spell, striking it in the face, causing it to squeal in pain and toss its head around. She was buying as much time as she could for the other fighters to finish off their opponents. She crossed the distance between them and stabbed forward with the point of her sword. The beast's thrashing caused it to strike the head, but it slid off the skull, only cutting slightly into its flesh.

  She did not know how the other fights were progressing and focused only on the beast before her. She sidestepped around the boar again, trying to get her sword to slice deeper into the flesh. She scored several hits, which caused bloody wounds to appear, but they were thin and narrow. The problem was that the boar had recovered from his spell and was turning to try to face her. She kept moving with it to stay on its flank. It kicked out several times, trying to catch her with its hind legs, but she could see it moving and got out of the way.

  Minvar was growing concerned; she did not know how long she could continue this way. Although she was skilled with the blades, the beast's height proved to be something she could not easily overcome.

  Brutun suddenly came into view and crashed into the beast. His sword was in front of him. He put his full weight behind it and pushed into the boar's body. His sword sliced deep into the flank of her opponent, and it squealed in pain and thrashed, and he kept going. The boar quickly coughed up blood and collapsed to the side as the wound proved to be fatal. Brutun's sword was very deep into the body, and he pulled it out as best he could.

  Minvar was now able to look around. The boars and rats were dead. Devaus was lying on the ground, with Nyminar working on his bloodied form with the assistance of Xurak. She quickly crossed the distance to where he was lying.

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  Nyminar was wrapping bandages around dozens of injuries. His armour was once a mixture of hardened leather and chainmail; now, it was just a ripped mess with blood and flesh added. Several empty bottles were scattered around, indicating that she had already used tonics and potions on him. Minvar trusted in their [Combat Healer]. She would supply him with the necessary medicines without risking the danger of flooding his body with too much.

  Assessor Searider had entered the cavern and was now working on the map and the details for his report. Strix was collecting the rewards while Brutun had finally recovered his sword from the body of the last boar. Internally, she cursed herself for being such a fool and letting her guard down, especially in this Dungeon.

  Minvar and her team waited for Nyminar to speak. The healer would not say anything until she was satisfied that her patient was stable and that they did not dare interrupt her. After several tense minutes, she finally straightened up from being hunched over his body.

  "He'll live but won't be in any more fights." She reported. "He's lost a lot of blood, and I've given him all the potions I can risk. Thank the gods that the rats did not carry any poisons or diseases. We might have lost him."

  Devaus was wrapped in what could be every bandage Nyminar had brought with her. His blood was black in the cavern's blue light but reflected some of the light.

  "Do we evacuate, team captain?" Brutun asked. It was a fair question; she had the right to pull out if she felt it was too dangerous. It would not look good on their record, but exploring a new dungeon floor came with taking this into account within the guild. Assessor Searider was listening in interest.

  "Status and be honest." Before she could make the decision, she needed more information.

  "Combat able. There are some light injuries, but my shield has been damaged. If we proceed, I will swap out for my spare." Brutun was the first to speak.

  "Combat able. A few bites but nothing else." Xurak was next.

  "Combat able. But I'm running out of supplies." Nyminar spoke from the ground next to her patient.

  "Combat able. I, too, have light injuries, and we'll need to swap out my shield." Strix spoke, not taking his eyes off his friend, who was severely wounded on the ground.

  Devaus just grunted in pain.

  Minvar looked each of her teammates in the eyes, and several nodded, willing to continue. After a few moments of thought, she decided.

  "We investigate the next cavern. If it's the floor boss, we will withdraw if it proves too difficult. If not, we will evaluate as we go. Devaus, you will remain outside of the fights in the corridor until the room is cleared."

  This got the others into action. Devaus stood up, and although he could walk around, he limped badly. Even with the pain-numbing medicine, he felt every injury.

  They moved much slower but reached the next cavern, and here they found…… a difference.

  The cavern was covered not in grass but in moss. Minvar used a light crystal to understand better what was happening here. The glowing blue Moss that supplied the light was all over the walls and ceiling, as in all the others. But the ground was covered in a mixture of green and brown moss. It did not take long for them to identify several lumps in the Moss that were strange and not rocks. Brutun pulled some of the moss away, revealing a dead body.

  "What is going on here?" He asked.

  Upon investigation, they discovered at least a dozen more bodies, and from the injuries and positioning, it seemed that they had killed each other. From what they could see, they appeared to be standing in the middle of a battle.

  "Blood moss." Xurak pointed to the brown patches. "Be careful around that stuff, especially you, Devaus."

  "How dangerous is it?" Nyminar asked.

  "Against clothing, it's useless, but bare skin. It can be a bit dangerous."

  Nyminar hung back with Devaus and Searider. The others ventured deeper into the cavern, exploring and trying to understand why they were not encountering any dangers. The cavern was about the same size as all the others, but they saw no movement or danger threatening their lives. This, of course, put them on a heightened state of alert, and they were cautious of any little thing, no matter how benign.

  "Behind you!" Nyminar shouted out a warning.

  They started to turn to face the danger she warned him of, but whatever it was, it was faster. Minvar bore witness to Xurak being sliced into by a sword. He fell forward, a nasty wound across his back, which had caught him just as he was turning. Brutun and Strix moved in to protect him. Minvar turned the light crystal on the attacker and got her first good look at it.

  It was some form of undead or revenant; she did not know which. A human body covered in rusted armour and blood moss. Its eyes were gone, and a deep purple light now existed in both sockets where its eyes once were.

  "Undead! Strix, use your mace. Brutun, hold it in position." Minvar snapped at her orders, knowing that this was a significant threat to them. The undead was carrying a sword that was rusted but still looked sharp.

  Brutun stepped in to fight the monster, swinging his sword out. Much to everyone's surprise, the undead dodged out of the way, flashing out with his sword and catching Brutun on the arm just above the elbow. His armour withstood most of the blow, but it had cut into him. Minvar saw the glow of a skill activation as it moved.

  Strix had dropped his sword and pulled out his mace, which he carried as his backup weapon. He charged in as Brutun stepped back, snarling from the pain of the wound. He swung down with the Mace, aiming to crush the undead's head, even with its helmet on, and again, they were surprised. The undead turned, blocking the strike with the flat of his blade and then rolling to the sides, using Strix's momentum against him.

  "It's a revenant. Be careful; it can use skills without the physical toll," Xurak said as he stood back up.

  "Surround it. Don't give it room to manoeuvre." Minvar ordered, cursing internally again.

  Her team quickly responded and sought to surround the revenant, but it seemed to have other ideas and was constantly moving, not allowing them to pin it in place. Back-and-forth strikes were exchanged, with the revenant moving quickly in and out of range of different team members.

  She quickly realised it was doing its best to avoid Strix. Brutun had managed to score a hit, and so did Xurak. Unfortunately, due to its undead nature and the surprisingly sturdy but rusted armour, it did not seem to slow it down. It had triggered several more skills during this time, allowing it to keep out of the range of most of their attacks.

  "How much more of this can it keep up with?" Brutun demanded. "It must have at least triggered its skills ten times by now."

  "Keep the pressure up. We have to wear it down and exhaust it before we can destroy it," Xurak responded. He was a veteran of several undead incursions, and they trusted his words and knowledge.

  They could finally start boxing the revenant against the wall, but it still seemed to have a few tricks up its sleeve. Its sword suddenly glowed with the same deep purples seen within its eye sockets. It leapt forward before any of them could react, triggering another skill.

  [Multi-Thrust].

  It had never used this skill before and took Brutun by surprise. The first blow he was able to deflect, but the second caught him on his shoulder and sliced deep into his armour and flesh. He bellowed in pain and collapsed back into the moss. The revenant tried to break free of the box they were placing around it, but Xurak stepped in and focused his attention on him.

  Strix could get behind the revenant now and swung him with all his might. The revenant shifted position as he did this, but he connected with it. The mace impacted the revenant off the shoulder. There was a loud crack as the mace impacted, and the arm came free from the revenant's body and fell to the floor.

  This did not stop the revenant, and it kept moving. It lashed out with its blade, catching Xurak again, but this time only lightly. As it was necessary to secure a better position, it took a step that surprised everyone. It ran its blade across part of the Moss on its body, and they realised that the blood that was left behind on it was wiped off. Before their eyes, they saw the blood being absorbed by the moss. It wasn't a lot, but it seemed to empower the revenant more.

  "It has some type of vampiric ability," Minvar called out. This suddenly made an extremely dangerous undead even worse.

  "Burn it!" Xurak Told her.

  Minvar did not need to be told twice and unleashed several fire spells onto the revenant. She cast three in total and felt the backlash of mana drain, but she knew it had to be done. She slumped to her knees in exhaustion after the third spell was cast. The revenant dodged the first, but the other two slammed into it, and it was soon alight in fire. This didn't bother it, and it continued moving, but the damage to its body from the fire slowed it down.

  Strix found another opening and quickly connected with another blow. This knocked the revenant back against the cavern wall. Seeing this as his best opportunity, he activated his skills, which he had held back. Triggering two simultaneously came with a terrible backlash, but he did it. The impact was allowed, and the crunching of the bones was just as loud as the revenant's skull collapsed, destroying its head. It collapsed to the floor and did not move again, marking the end of the battle as the reward arrived.

  Minvar and the other team members involved in the battle collapsed in exhaustion. They were battered and bloody, but they had won.