Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Anna you will hold down the frontlines with me, Hallie try to conserve your mana as much as you can. If a strong monster shows up, we will have to depend on your magic to get us through".

Tiana gave out one command after another. Only then did she turn towards Gallio and asked "I'm sorry, what were you saying about the ground again?".

Gallio looked at the oncoming horde, before revealing the existence of something that had gone unnoticed by them till now.

"So you are telling me the poison is coming from the four leaf clover?" Tiana muttered in a dour mood. She lowered her gaze and looked carefully at the ground.

Indeed, there were many four leaf clovers growing inconspicuously amidst the grass. If one didn't pay enough attention to them, they would go completely unnoticed by anyone. In fact, if not for Gallio pointing it out, Tiana wouldn't even have noticed them.

"Poison Detoxifying Clover… dammit, how could we fall for such a simple trap" when she used her [Analysis] on it, it finally revealed the true effects of the seemingly inconspicuous clover prompting her to step them underneath her boots.

Their conversation made many others to also notice the poison detoxifying clover. Their face turned visibly ugly the moment they used analysis on it. The sweet scent in the air that made them tired and sluggish, was being released in the air by these very devilish plants.

Now not only would they have to fight the hordes of monsters while all sluggish and drowsy, but they would also have to be careful not to inhale too much poison and knock themselves unconscious like the others.

Nonetheless, that wasn't the only problem that they had to face…

"We have got another problem, I am unable to connect with the main camp on the 20th floor" Galiio spoke with a tense voice, the transmitter conch on his hand was unable to send the signal back to the other transmitter.

A heavy atmosphere descended onto the place making the mood even gloomier. Everybody could feel a sense of crisis at this moment as they watched the monsters rush towards them from the distance.

Their wild roars heavily pounding into the hearts of these adventurers from the big guilds who for the first time were experiencing a situation where their life was at stake.

Their morale was plummeting fast when a brilliant explosion erupted into the distance and engulfed more than a hundred monsters at once. All eyes turned towards the caster of that magic.

There on the frontlines, was a beautiful fairy like girl standing undauntingly while facing the hordes of monsters all on her own. Her delicate figure, which seemed like it would scatter with the breeze, was facing the monsters without any fear.

Her courage and valour stood out like a beacon of light in this darkest of hours and encouraged many.

​ That quiet and beautiful figure was none other than Hallie May. Tiana and Anna looked at the silhouette of their junior sister who was younger than them yet had more courage than them. All hesitation disappeared from their face, replaced by a determined expression.

The entire place was covered by poison, the combat potential have been reduced, they were facing an unknown number of monsters and they were unable to contact the main camp. There was no denying it, they had fallen headfirst into this trap that has been carefully laid for them since the moment they entered the pit.

With the transmission conch not working, they couldn't wait for the main team to come rescue them. Their only hope in surviving this was to tackle the obstacle and overcome it.

"Let the light free you of all fears… [Brave Heart]" Tiana cast a wide AOE light magic.

A pillar of light descended onto the crowd immediately uplifting their spirits and suppressing all negative debuffs.

"Those who do not have an antidote with them, take this. It will help negate the effects of the poison in your body for the time being. Those who have it, share some with the ones around you".

Tiana took out several vials of antidote and passed it to the people who showed the most signs of being poisoned. After each of the adventurers drank the antidote, she turned her attention towards the approaching horde of monsters who were only a few dozen meters away from them and raised her staff.

"There is no path back for us, if you want to survive, you all better work together with my team. So what if we have fallen for the trap? Didn't we dive inside the pit while fully knowing the dangers? So what if we are surrounded by monsters? Haven't we faced such situations many times while on our way here?"

"We all are from the most powerful guilds in the entire kingdom of Elsmere. There is no obstacle that we cannot clear. So raise your weapons high, and let's crush these monsters".

Tiana's rallying cry invigorated the crowd. They boldly brandished their weapons and collided with the incoming hordes of monsters. Thus a gruesome battle for survival started. Bodies of monsters dropped on the ground one after the other. Battered by various skills and blasted into smithereens by magic.

However, like an unending horde, the monsters came pouring out of the magic circles and rushing towards adventurers..

Little by little, they started chipping away at the strength of the adventurers, their stamina started dropping and their attacks became dull. Finally, an adventurer was overwhelmed, causing an opening for the monsters to exploit.

Their attacks started becoming even more fierce and soon that adventurer succumbed to his injuries and died. This caused the load on the others around him, to increase.

Gradually, even the other adventurers on the frontlines were starting to be pushed back...

"Frost Magic Mastery— [Frozen Prison]"...

When a blast of icy cold wind appeared out of nowhere and froze the blazing bodies of the monsters all around them in hundreds of meters of area.

"Change positions with the other teams and rest for while" Hallie's soft voice rang near their ears snapping them out of their daze. These adventurers hurriedly followed their command and swapped with the other team using this chance.

After supporting the team that needed the most help, Hallie returned back to her position beside Tiana and Anna who were discussing something with Gallio.

"How does the situation look?".

"Not too good, the monsters are behaving very primitively, it is as if they are out for our blood. That kind of bloodthirst isn't natural. Also when they attack they do not fear death nor do they defend. It is as if they do not regard their own life and are deliberately pitting their bodies against us with the single goal to tear us apart in mind. We are holding on somehow because their attacks are wild and easy to predict" Hallie replied.

"I see, that kind of behaviour isn't natural, something must be spurring them to do so" Tiana who was providing timely healing to the front liners assessed. Her eyes turned towards Gallio who was still looking at the ground with consternation.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I don't know… the enemies are right in front of us and we have already taken precautions against the poison detoxifying clover yet for some reason, the colour of the ground in my vision is still painted red. I am unable to determine the reason for it".

Gallio caressed his eyes that have been strained far too much after repeatedly using the [Mystic Eyes].

"What should we do elder sister?" Anna asked locking her brows in a frown. She used her spell to blast a couple dozens of monsters into smithereens.

Tiana mused for a while before coming to a resolution—"Alright we shall be careful of the ground. As for the monsters, although their number is too much, it hasn't reached the point where we can't handle it. There might be a few casualties, but we should be able to get through it without any trouble".

They weren't just empty words, Tiana really did believe so. Even if the monsters seemed like an unending horde, their level was at the end around level 300-350. Each and every person in her team that she brought with her inside the pit was above level 350.

In terms of quality, they had the upper hand not to mention, the monster they were facing were all unintelligent and attacking without a shred of tactic.

There was no way they would lose, Tiana was right in believing so however, she had failed to consider one thing and that was the poison detoxifying clover wasn't the only trap that was set up on this floor.

If she had mulled on Gallio's words some more, and considered burning the grass around them first, perhaps they would have been able to prevent what was about to transpire.

-----

Coming back to the present, the entire grassland was filled with an atmosphere of destruction and desolation. Bodies of both humans and monsters could be seen sprawled all around the place, their innards and blood painting a gruesome sight.

Fire and smoke spread everywhere, burning every plant and green that was on these lands.

In the middle of this encirclement of fire, was a group of humans covered in dust and injuries. They were all huffing and puffing, as they defeated one monster after another.

Out of their initial number of five hundred, only a little more than a hundred people were still standing. The rest have either succumbed to their injuries, shred into pieces by monsters or fallen prey to the traps.

The sight was a dreadful one to watch, their comrades and the friends they shared a conversation with a couple of hours ago, were all gone. The pain and the struggle that had befallen the ones that had survived, could only be imagined.