Trial by Fire
Hestia's descent to the mortal world would happen anytime now and Nox was looking forward to meeting the big boobed loli goddess quite a bit and as such, he was hovering around Hephaestus's place a little more than usual which pleased the goddess all the same.
Eventually though, as he did not know the exact day of Hestia's Descent, he decided to just make regular visits while going about his usual business.
The girls of Nox's little group were also hard at work and deserved some of the spotlight in their Dungeon activities.
Now being composed of Aisha Level 4, Ryuu Level 4, Lili Level 3, Haruhime Level 3 and Naaza Level 3, they could tackle the lower floors much more effectively than before.
Since they always rose to all S across the board in their Abilities before Leveling Up, according to Nox's directions, they were stronger than most other adventurers of their Level and so, Nox was planning a little trial by fire for them as his beloved Colosseum was now fixed already.
"Attention girls!" Nox called out to everyone in their hidden Mansion on the 18th floor.
The girls gathered and waited with bated breaths, since such a call out either meant a special mission or special reward.
"I have a special mission for you today with similarly special rewards if you do well." Nox continued and they all liked where the talk was going.
"I assume you all know about the Colosseum on the 37th floor." He said to which they all nodded.
"I've made a few temporary modifications to the terrain so that it has become a nice trial by fire for all of you" Nox announced with pride at his great achievement.
He then explained to them what the trial was about. Nox had basically created a barrier covering the entire surface of the Colosseum that allowed him to selectively allow monsters to spawn.
Nox had yet to figure out the Dungeon's secret in order to control spawning but in the special spawn point known as the Colosseum, he had worked incessantly while the Dungeon fixed itself to incorporate a barrier that would allow him to select which type of monster would be spawned.
He could not stop the spawning of monsters but could not choose which type of monster to spawn, he had also built a huge Orighalcum wall covered in normal white stone from the #7th floor to make others think there was no more Colosseum.
Adventurers were very wary of destroying the dungeon due to possibly spawning a Juggernaut so Nox felt his ruse would be quite successful.
Monsters in the Colosseum usually fought against each other so long as they belonged to a different type but since Nox now had control, he could spawn monsters of the same type so they don't fight each other and always fight against the girls or himself if that's the case.
As a special backup, Nox lent Ash and Luna to the groups who would fight seriously alongside them as their protectors and, should Nox himself need to intervene, it would be considered their failure. As and Luna were Level 5 in terms of raw power and had several special abilities it should be fine the way he saw it.
"Alright everyone, will go with the usual formation and change based on need." Ryuu declared. despite being a latecomer she had more leadership and tactical skills that Aisha and, since the lazy amazoness was not interested she ended up being the leader of their little group..
"Arde-san up front as our tank, me and Belka-san in the middle as the main attackers, Sanjouno-san and Erisuis-san as support and covering fire respectively." She reminded.
"Got it Ryuu.san. And you should start using our first names already." Haruhime said to which everyone nodded in agreement.
"I'm just not used to it but I'll try Haruhime-san." Ryuu positively replied.
Their first challenge was the Obsidian Soldiers with their low agility and moderate strength but incredible defence and even magic resistance.
Luna turned into a white haired, white skinned, red eyed buxom Hume Bunny and jumped into the horde of Obsidian soldiers wrecking them with masterful kicking moves.
Ash turned into a greyish black skinned loli werewolf with red eyes on black sclera and coated her entire body in her ashen fire magic before jumping into the horde as well.
Their job was to draw attention and thin out the enemies so that the girls actually had a fighting chance against the large numbered monsters.
Lili charged forward with her giant blade across her body like a shield and pushed back the first Obsidian Soldier against its companions behind it.
Ryuu and Aisha came from the sized and knocked back the obsidian soldiers from their right and left flanks and Haruhime finished with a magical bombardment by way of her Kitsubi.
However, due to their formidable defence, the obsidian soldiers survived despite being significantly damaged but with a barrage of arrows, Naaza finished them off cleanly, ending the first wave of monsters as Ash and Luna mopped up the rest still alive.
This was only the beginning though as soon enough, the next set of enemies revealed themselves. Barbarians, two meter tall monsters similar to Minotaurs with two large and curved horns, black skin, red hair, and yellow eyes.
They were faster and more aggressive that the slow Obsidian Soldiers and significantly stronger as well but their defensive capabilities were somewhat lacking in comparison.
As they were hard hitters, Lili immediately switched positions with Ryuu. Instead of drawing attention and blocking the Barbarians' powerful strikes, it was better to dodge so Ryuu who was the fastest in the group would take care of that.
As for why they still had such differences in speed between themselves even though their falna ought to be similar, it was due to chosen development abilities and also modified Skills and magic, courtesy of Nox which still allowed them to specialize while having the same bases stats.
Ryuu weaved her ways through the Barbarians that weren't being torn to shreds by Ash and Luan, drawing their attention while chanting her magic. She did not have to but doing so would power it further, that was how she asked Nox to set it up when she joined the group.
Meanwhile Lili, Aisha and Naaza focused on powerful single strikes, taking down one enemy at a time with a combined attack. Haruhime enhanced her teammates with her Zenko while gathering her Mind for another powerful blast of Kitsunebi.
Soon, the Barbarians, despite their lacking brains, abandoned attacking the fast Ryuu and went after the others as well bin that moment, they all retreated.
"Luminous Wind!" "Kitsunebi!"
Ryuu and Haruhime unleashed both of their big moves, with the former's Light / Wind magic enhancing the latter's fire magic for an explosive result that wiped the rest of the BArbarians as Ash and Luna took care of any stragglers.
And so, yet another wave was cleared. Next up were the Skull Sheep but a boosted Lili with a barrier applied to her buldosed through their ranged tacks and destroyed all while the rest just drew fire to make the job easier.
The Loup Garous were up next with their incredible speed Haruhime bogged them down with her Yako while Lili and Aisha protected her and Nazaa along with Ryuu steadily took them down one by one thus completing another wave and +passing another stage of their trial with flying colors.
There were only two waves left and the girls could see the end of the trial. Their opponents this time would be Lizardmen Elites, well balanced monsters with good agility and attack as well as formidable scaled armor for defense, a tough opponent to be sure but the girls were confident.
Th3e battle was hard fought indeed but even the powerful Lizardmen Elites were proven to be no match for the girls in their fervor to impress their crush who was watching over them but now, things would go up another Level.
The most dangerous monsters of the 37th floor, discounting the floor boss and rare monsters like the dragonkin, Peluda. The undead soldiers, Spartoi who were able to kill experienced Level 4 adventurers in one on one battles, could the girls go over this wall?
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