Improving

The sixth wave of the Gladiators dungeon introduces different types of enemies. The first four waves were just increasing numbers of warrior gladiators, with their level staying at 110 but their number doubling every wave. Wave 5 was obviously Belos. Wave 6 starts with introducing mage types into the fight, along with the warriors no longer having the ‘lesser’ prefix, and being level 120.

There’s less enemies too, being back down to only 10 this time, 5 warriors and 5 mages. Unfortunately, after the big push to beat Belos without Belle, our head isn’t fully in the game. Skylar and Mia both used up a lot of resources, and while Ivy and I have had our mana restored, we can’t make up the entire gap.

The introduction of the new enemies is what seals our failure in the dungeon. Skylar wipes first, from some fireballs thrown by the mages that she wasn’t quick enough to dodge. Mia wipes next when the mages turn their attention to her, and I’m not quick enough to put the last one down before it ‘kills’ Mia too.

Ivy and I manage to make it past the last of the sixth wave, but although fighting valiantly against the seventh, we can’t beat them, and we both wipe too, ending the dungeon. Losing out on all the loot really sucks, but the part that really stings is losing out on all the XP I could have got. I could have levelled up if we cleared the dungeon, but I suppose there’s no use dwelling on it.

Getting up to the seventh wave on our first try is a good start, but it’s clear where we need to work to improve. The dungeon was scaled around the five of us, Belle included. With Belle being the highest level and technically the most powerful of all of us, once she wiped, the rest of us couldn’t pick up the slack. With that in mind, I march up to Belle as she observes Lena and Emma sparring tiredly. I pull her aside to talk to her, not wanting to disturb the others.

“What’s your problem?” I ask, quietly but firmly, wanting to be straight up.

“What are you talking about?” She asks, looking genuinely confused as well as annoyed.

“You’re not working with us at all. You’re just doing your own thing and forcing us to fight around you.” I tell her.

Belle huffs in annoyance. “I told you I don’t take orders from you.” She hisses.

“I don’t care. I’m the one who gives the orders to the rest of this guild. If you wanna see this thing through and beat Mathias, we’re going to have to work together. You don’t have to join us, but if you’re not working with us as a team player, we’re not going to win. I’d rather leave you behind than get in each other’s way.” I tell her. She looks at me, shocked at my response.

“Figure out what you wanna do. We’ll be going back in, in about an hour. If you’re coming with us, you better work with us, or I’m not taking you again.” I set the boundary firmly. Belle looks pissed, but doesn’t reply.

I turn around, leaving her aside, and walk over to Olivia to check on Emma and Lena’s progress.

“How are they going?” I ask her.

She sighs softly, making sure not to let it be audible to the two lovers training in front of her. “They’re doing their best, but they just don’t really have the raw power. You’ve seen it yourself, they can’t really get much more powerful.” Olivia whispers, clearly not liking what she’s saying.

“That’s alright. They’re doing their best. We’ll figure something out.” I promise her in an equally soft voice. She gives me a skeptical look, before turning back to the two of them.

“Alright, take a break. You’ve been working hard all morning, you’ve earned the rest.” Olivia tells them.

Emma immediately sinks to her knees, groaning softly. “My everything hurts…” She complains.

“There you go again, talking like an old lady!” Lena banters.

“Shut up!” Emma laughs, despite her fatigued state.

I turn back to Skylar, Mia, and Ivy, where our healer is busy healing us up. We head inside to take a quick shower, eat and rest. I’m curious to see what Belle decides to do.

After eating enough to get us through till lunch and resting up, we start gearing up to go back into the dungeon. As the four of us are doing our final armour checks and making sure we’re all ready to fight, Belle walks up to us. I gotta hand it to her, anybody else would be looking sheepish. Belle looks confident though, as always.

I turn to her, not wanting there to be any bad blood, but still needing to check nonetheless. “Ready to go?” I ask her.

“Yes.” She keeps it short.

“Are you going to try to work with us?” I ask, managing to keep my tone neutral.

“I’ll try.” She replies.

I nod. That’s good enough for the moment. “Then you and I will be at the front, keeping them occupied.” I say.

I turn to the other three coming with us, Skylar, Mia, and Ivy. “Same strategy as before. Let Belle and I keep them occupied, support us from the backline. Mia, you can still get in close, but only when there’s an opening. Try to keep your distance for the most part.” I give out the orders. Soft words of confirmation all round, so I give a countdown from 3, before opening the dungeon again.

“LADIES, GENTLEMAN, AND THOSE IN BETWEEN OR OUTSIDE THE CONCEPT OF GENDER!” The announcer starts, using the exact same voice line as before.

I tune out the rest of it. “Soon as they appear, we rush them.” I tell Belle. She nods, saying nothing. The announcer gets to the end of his scripted dialogue, and the gates start to open. I sense Belle tense up beside me.

As soon as the first gladiators start to appear, Belle and I storm forwards as one, although she easily overtakes me. I really hate how much faster she is than me. I should increase my agility stat next. It would only take me 10 or 15 levels worth of statpoints to get as fast as she is.

Dispelling the thought, I focus on the battle in front of me. Belle starts to engage them immediately, her chain blades whirling around, catching flashes of the sun in their shining silver colour. This time, I note with a pleasant surprise, she leaves space for me to fight too. Conjuring a simple sword and shield of ice, I leap into battle alongside the Scarlet Witch.

Immediately I notice a difference in the way Belle is fighting now. She’s actually taking care to make space for me, and fight in tandem with me, instead of just doing whatever she feels like and not really caring what I’m doing. It feels like we’re a team now.

Working together, along with support from our backline, we absolutely demolish the first wave of gladiators. The second wave doesn’t fare much better against us, as we rip and tear through all 20 of the lesser warriors with ease. I feel like I even catch glimpses of a small smile on Belle’s face, as we make quick work of the first few waves of enemies. I hope she’s enjoying herself.

By the time the wave 5 boss Belos comes around, we’ve established a proper rhythm to things. Belle clearly knows how to work with a team, she just doesn’t always like to. Using a similar strategy to before, we coordinate our attacks. We’re communicating back and forth more this time, simply because we haven’t fought together enough for it to be instinctive.

“I’m going under!” I shout to Belle as I sprint forward, trusting my own speed to be enough to avoid Belos, the boss covered in icicles. I slide under his legs, and as he bends forward, making a grab for me with his free hand, Belle and Mia coordinate a solid uppercut together, using their combined **** to rock him backwards.

I manage to avoid the staggering boss, following up their attack with a slam to the back of his knee with a mace of ice. He drops to his knees, and I wind up and crack the mace directly onto the back of his helmet covered head. The loud clang of magical ice against enchanted metal rings out through the arena.

Spears of shadow embed themselves in his back as a pulse of air rocks the already off balance boss. Belle unleashes huge blasts of magic at him, burning his exposed skin. We already got him to his second phase, and now the combined **** of all of us is quickly burning through his health. I turn my mace into a sword, and hack away at him.

He tries to swing his axe at both Belle and I, but we both dodge easily. His movements are far too slow at this point to be able to hit either of us. Another pulse from Mia, more stabs from Skylar’s shadow magic, and Belle and I working in tandem to keep him occupied, we make quick work of his first phase.

His body starts to glow with orange energy, and I back off a few paces. “Second phase! Regroup!” I call out, retreating back to where Skylar and Ivy are stood. Belle and Mia follow close behind me. We turn back to see Belos flourish his axe above his head, the head igniting into flames. We’re far enough away that the shockwave dissipates before it reaches us.