The next flock of vampires that approached was the largest that the party had seen yet. At least 40 of the airborne monsters flew towards the party, their approach so loud that even Astrid could hear their wingbeats filling the air. Their chittering screeches drew closer, and, once they entered the party's sight, Felix took the lead. With Guardian's Wrath, he flitted up into the air and into the middle of the flock, where the Skill already forced the swarming beasts' attention on him. As he fell from the air, he threw his head back and roared an animalistic cry. With the activation of Jaguar's Pride, the few vampires that had managed to keep themselves from rushing towards him lost that last inhibition.
The Guardian set his feet on the ground, getting into a steady stance. Since he had already activated Jaguar's Pride, he carried himself with greater grace and almost danced around the attacks that screamed towards him. Three vampires managed to latch onto him, despite his enhanced Alacrity, and he activated Whirling Blades. No vampires died, but their blood misted through the air, and Astrid called out, "Pull back!"
The maneuver already planned, Astrid ran past Felix as he darted backwards. The vampires attempted to follow him, but Astrid pushed a faint thread of Alacrity-aligned mana into her legs as she activated Gravity Surge for the first time. As she commanded the Skill to center on herself, Astrid felt nothing except the expenditure of her stamina and mana. For the briefest instant, she wondered if she'd overestimated the effectiveness of this Skill. As it made its potency known, Astrid laughed at her worry.
Every single vampire fell to the ground in a bloody, heavy rain. Two landed on Astrid and fought to drive her to the ground with unexpected weight, but she stood firm. They flopped to the ground around her, and Astrid didn't hesitate to hustle around the struggling bodies, dealing death with every swing. Alacrity-fueled mana helped her to rush from one to the next, her hammer rising and falling as if she was playing a large drum. In addition, she didn't hesitate to use her shield and both heavy boots to crush everything she could reach, be they wings, ribs, or skulls. After all, she didn't know how long the Skill would last, but that question was answered a short second later.
The lesser vampires stopped their struggling on the ground as Gravity Surge faded. Only one second had passed, and a full third of Astrid's mana and stamina were gone for a single activation of her Skill. Astrid almost regretted her choice then, but then she looked at the death she had dealt so quickly.
In that single second, Astrid had dispatched nearly 20 of the vampires. She knew that she had become more and more superhuman with her attributes climbing so high, but seeing that made manifest gave her a moment of pause. So many lives reaped in so little time, and with so little effort!
The vampires, confused by the constantly shifting environment, quickly fell victim to Felix and Muti as they rushed in themselves. Before the vampires could get off the ground, axe and blade ended their lives. Astrid sat back, expending a charge of Body as the vampires were exterminated to the last. She looked at the rest of her party, a grin on her face, and Skandr pursed his lips and shook his head, seeing the quick destruction of the enemies.
"You know, I was looking forward to trying my new Skill, too," he grumbled.
"You can get the next one! I promise, unless you ask me to, I won't use Gravity Surge there."
"That's not a surprise or much of a promise, Astrid," Skandr rolled his eyes. The cloud around his neck seemed to bristle with electricity at his mostly joking, but slightly real frustration. He continued, "Everyone knows that your Skill has a huge cost. Don't act like this is some sacrifice you're making for me instead of just pacing yourself."
Astrid grinned under her helm, knowing her face wasn't visible, but shrugging and chuckling a little. "I'll let you take the floor guardian as well, if you want it."
"You act like that's something I want," Skandr couldn't help but laugh. "It's the only real vampire on the floor, and we need to work together on it."
""Well, don't say, I never offered," Astrid laughed as Skandr reached down, took a fist sized stone in his hand, and chucked it at her chest. She didn't move, despite his Power being that of her own when she was level 6. The rock cracked into several pieces on her breast plate, falling to the ground without giving her pause. The Storm Wizard pulled the cloud scarf from his neck and instead held it on his two hands. Astrid suspected he was doing something more than just holding it there, but couldn't quite feel if he was simply playing with the pet or giving it mana in preparation for the next fight.
"Continue in that direction," Muti commanded, pulling Astrid from looking at Skandr. "That is the direction of the exit, I will go to gather more to fight."
The Ambusher didn't say anything more, instead turning and walking with her stealth Skill, hiding herself while she disappeared into the surrounding barren forest. The party left behind the corpses, not even bothering to gather the fangs at this point. They'd left behind well over 1000 fangs at this point, neglecting even to try to harvest them. The experience and moving quickly was far more valuable than a couple silver, or even gold at the end of the Trials. There would be plenty of other monsters to harvest, and their materials would be more valuable and better worth the effort of harvesting.
Continuing onward, the party made no secret of their passage, though Astrid couldn't help feel a small spike of anxiety at Muti being separated from the rest. If she came across an unfriendly or even hostile party, Astrid just had to trust that she would be able to escape. With Shadow Leap and Ambusher's Aura, she was nearly guaranteed to be able to escape any encirclement. Combined with her awareness and senses, it would be very difficult for anybody found within the Trials to ambush her, but there was no guarantee.
"Astrid, you're getting in your head again," Benedict's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "Pay attention to what's around us, we'll be fine and so will Muti."
Astrid gave as genuine of a smile as she could manage, nodding once at the Caustic Bard. He nodded and went back to playing a song that sounded quite simple for how vigorously his fingers danced while playing it. The flute's gentle song filled the air, and Astrid was fairly certain she could feel her mana and stamina recovering more quickly. With more pep in her step, she led the way forward. The members of the party had short conversations as they made their way forward, and Astrid was, once again, grateful for a party that, beyond merely working well together, was composed of friends.
Despite the frequency with which the party had run into vampires as soon as they came onto the floor, the population density of the vampires seemed to be much thinner nearer to the center of the twenty-ninth floor. Initially, the party had been confused by this marked change of events, but when they came across a pile of vampire corpses, the reason became clear: at least one other party was nearby, and they'd taken the same path that they themselves planned to. They were killing as many vampires as they could get their hands on, and there was no telling how long it would take for the Dungeon to respawn the monsters.
Finally, the Kins' demand started to make some measure of sense, since they had obviously intended to monopolize the experience opportunity on this floor. Astrid still thought they were idiots for doing what they did, but she could understand it somewhat.
Slightly more than half an hour passed before Muti made her reappearance. She made no attempt to hide herself as she crashed through bushes and drew the ravenous vampires towards her and the party by extension. In no time at all, the party was brought back into a roaring fight. True to her word, Astrid held back from using Gravity Surge again. A very large part of her was dying to see how the other aspect of Gravity Surge would work against the comparatively light vampires as they flew past. Sure, its effect was less potent than that of the aspect that drew, her enemies straight down, but Astrid imagined that throwing a Spectre Burst at a dozen vampires that were forced to fly directly into her hammer would be a sight to behold.
Another time, then.
For now, Astrid watched as Skandr made his intentions known. His cloud billowed out from him, flying into the air overhead as it rumbled with thunder and moisture. The vampires seemed to second-guess their approach as they came close, but the cloud exploded outward with a wind that pulled the vampires all together in one large mass before it discharged a massive curtain of lightning. The crack of thunder deafened Astrid below, and the vampires fell from the sky with singed fur and scorched skin. Different from when she forced them to the ground with Gravity Surge, the monsters didn't struggle to stand, but instead lay twitching on the ground.
The rest of the party set in on the creatures, striking deadly blows as the monsters struggled to recover enough to even use their magic. Every vampire failed to do so, and before any could recover, the fight was over. Astrid felt her eyebrows rise and dismissed her helmet so she could truly express her surprise to the Storm Wizard. He stood there, grinning like a cat that had gotten the cream. When the last of the kill notifications faded, Astrid spoke.
"You've been holding back on us, huh? Not pushing yourself in the other fights"
Skandr shook his head, his smile so self satisfied that Astrid felt her frustration rise. "This is an Iron tier skill," he explained. "Why would you think its only function would be to make it easier for me to cast spells?"
"You bastard!" Benedict hurried over and smacked Skandr on the shoulder. The Wizard laughed as the Bard continued, "How much of a boost does it give to your spells?"
"Guess."
"Thirty percent?" Benedict ventured. Skandr shook his head, and Astrid chimed in.
"Forty percent?"
He shook his head again, and Felix finally got an approving response when he asked, "Fifty?"
The party all settled down and looked at the Wizard, who shrugged. Astrid thought for a second then walked forward with an even larger smile as she poked him hard in the chest. He stumbled back with a faint wince as she asked, "Does this compound with the effect from your robe? Does this give you a one hundred percent boost to all of your spells while also making them easier and faster to cast?"
Skandr didn't have to say anything, the stupid smile on his face was all the answer that Astrid needed. She smiled but managed to stop herself before she hurt Skandr in her excitement. Instead, cognizant of the wide divide between her own strength and Skandr's relative frailty, she dismissed her armor to wrap him in a firm hug. He returned the embrace for a few seconds, but then pulled away with a twisting look on his face.
"I love you, Astrid, I love all of you, but you three all covered in blood? Get clean before you give me another hug, okay?"
Astrid almost stepped forward to wrap him back up in another, firmer hug to soak him in the foul, somehow stale blood from the vampires, but decided against it. Instead, she respected what he'd said and shook her head as she stepped back.
"You might talk about how you don't compare to us sometimes, but if I hear you doing that again, I'll put my dirty socks in your pillow. You're as impressive as the rest of us, even without this latest Skill. With what you're able to do now? Insane."
Skandr's joviality bled away at that, becoming more serious as he slowly nodded. Several seconds later, he set his face more seriously and nodded.
"You're right. Thanks, Astrid."
She refocused on the path ahead, excited to continue to see what the party was capable of as they shredded through what remained of the twenty-ninth floor. After all, she'd already gained another 17,000 experience since passing the watershed in these two fights, another 17% towards level 29. Starting on the thirty-first floor, instead of one or two in thirty being level 28 or higher, anywhere from a quarter to half of all of the monsters they came across would be at least level 28, and their relative strength would continue to climb as well.
On the thirty-fifth floor, the feathered serpents would be growing about as fast per level as the party, minus Astrid. There, their meteoric rise, or descent, Astrid supposed, would come to an end. Even so, the monsters would be outnumbered and the party could continue fighting without too much caution. That said, the other change in the Trials past the thirtieth floor would be ever more hostile environments. The few floors that had been "hostile" were nothing compared to what was coming.
The party continued having quiet conversations as they watched Muti jog off to see if she could collect another flock of vampires to slay. And once they exterminated every one of the bat-like monsters in their path? Off they'd go to confront the true vampire and enter the thirtieth floor.
***
After their experimentations, the party resumed much of the same approach that they had maintained to get to where they already were. Instead of pushing themselves to show off or stretching their resources to familiarize themselves with the upper ceilings of what they could do, they instead continued to hammer down on their fundamentals while occasionally experimenting with new Skills. Muti had a particular combination of Shadow Leap and Dread Master that she wanted to experiment with, but would only do so against the guardian of the floor's exit, anticipating exhausting herself in the process of attempting it.
Before long, the party was at the exit, and they saw what Astrid always thought of when she heard "vampire".
They walked up through the grounds of an abandoned mansion, dessicated rosebushes patterning the cracked brick path to the door. Through the door came the foyer, which opened into a wide ballroom, the checkerboard tiles covered with dirt and shattered. In the center of the room hunched an emaciated creature, looking mostly human-like. Each of its spindly fingers was tipped by short claws and from its mouth protruded two massive fangs. It seemed to smell the party approaching, and spread its arms in a menacing welcome.
"Don't give it time to prepare!" Astrid followed her own command as she rushed forward alongside Muti and Felix. Behind them, Skandr and Benedict both let loose, crackling lightning, roaring winds, and debilitating music filling the air as Muti reached her right hand out to grab Astrid's left. Felix went ahead, trying to keep the monster from summoning its allies, but was too late. A dozen lesser vampires flew from the rafters overhead, half of them, beelining for Benedict and Skandr. As soon as the other monsters flew into the air, the vampire bent his legs and jumped up, transforming into a bat-like form that blended in with the rest of its subordinates.
Felix roared in challenge as he activated Guardian's Wrath and Jaguar's Pride, trying to force all the monsters to focus on him instead of the two partially unprotected men. Vampires began to fall towards him, but their leader screeched a command and forced those that'd succumbed to continue on their path to the back line. Despite their disappointment at the vampire's ability, the party'd expected the vampire's dispelling Skill and continued on their path. Skandr and Benedict both threw attacks forward to slow the monsters' advance as the vampire held itself back, watching its underlings while evaluating how best to attack.
"You're ready?" Astrid asked Muti as Felix was surrounded by lesser vampires. Every one of the monsters here in the trial were level 28 and their blood magic could pose a real threat to the Guardian if they were underestimated.
Muti didn't give a verbal answer. Instead, she held Astrid's hand even tighter and activated Dread Master and Shadow Leap. Astrid's stomach dropped, and then she was above the flying vampire. Anticipating this, Astrid didn't flail or swing her hammer, instead enveloping the monster in her arms as she plummeted to the ground. It screamed like a stuck pig and fought to escape, to no avail. Astrid just wrapped it tighter, hearing the bones in its wings snap as they fell. Its blood magic formed a collar around her neck, whirling and attempting to decapitate her. Before it could make any headway, she strengthened herself with Fortitude and smashed into the ground.
The vampire wheezed out a breath and burst into smoke to escape. Though it avoided her grapple, Muti was there to chop into its body again as soon as it appeared. The rest of the vampires were weakened after their leader was forced to shift its focus to surviving. With it pulled away from its supporters, the true vampire was out of luck and Astrid and Muti quickly reduced it to a punching bag. Less than a minute later, the vampire was cut and bleeding, both legs and one arm amputated.
Muti dealt the final blow with a shout, Vital Strike guiding her blade to find the weak point in its spine and decapitating the monster with a final strike. By then, the other party members had dealt with half of the lesser vampires, and Astrid and Muti turned their attention to the remainder to finish off the creatures.
"Were we worried for no reason?" Benedict asked as he looked at the dead bodies.
"I wouldn't have said I was worried," Astrid said, looking around. "But maybe we were a little overprepared."
"Well, I guess we can just focus on the future for now," Skandr spoke. "I'm happy to just get you three clean and get a rest for the night. After all, we've got twenty one more days.
As they continued to talk, the party descended towards the thirtieth floor, though they set up camp in the passage. Tomorrow, they would continue their journey.