[Difficulty scaled to Party Ability. Dungeon Level Updated to Level 99]
Wait, what? It automatically set the dungeon difficulty to almost 20 levels above the majority of their members?
"Uh guys? You know I'm level 55, right?" Belle asks.
"Mythryll, put the Treants on defense. I'm sorry Belle, but you're going to get just a couple notifications. Consider it a form of initiation into the Guild. It seems to happen to every new member we get." Cain calls out as a group of armored Ogres appear in the room.
The first group goes down fairly easily under the weight of their combined firepower. But as soon as they start falling, more start appearing. Is this the trial of Ogre Kings? Being able to defeat every Ogre that comes at you?
The initial spawn of Ogres was 14 strong, one for every Guild Member. They weren't Level 99 as Cain had feared, but instead Level 55, equal to their lowest leveled member. The second group is also fourteen strong, but Level 60, and quickly dies to the summons without putting up much of a fight.
The Level increases by 5 every round until they're up against a group of level 99 Ogre warriors. The Guild has significant buffs, and with [Cripple] from the Plague Sorcerers plus Nemu slowing them and decreasing their damage done, they're still not horribly difficult. The room isn't huge, and their area effect spells cover almost everything, giving the Ogres no room to retreat.
"Hey, I got a spell book!" Belle cheers and links it in Guild Chat.
[Book of Rending Arrow] Fires an arrow that explodes near the target, causing shrapnel damage and [Bleed] to all opponents within 5 meters.
"That's pretty good. Learn it up." Mythryll smiles, looking back at where she's cradled in the limbs of a Treant. Using the book might take a while, she's already flooded in notifications, and using a skill or spell book generates even more. So who knows at what point during the battle the book actually dropped.
The Level 99 wave of Ogres is now cleared, and Cain brings up everyone's status to make sure they're all good. Most of them are over 80 percent mana, and they're all fully healed, which is a bonus.
[Solo Combat Trial cleared: Multiple opponent Trials begin in 20 seconds]
"Multiple combat? I'm not sure I like the sound of that. But if they're testing us this hard, the reward item for the Guild must be pretty good, right?" Misha asks.
"We can only hope. But if that was the one on one, with fourteen opponents, I think the next will be twenty eight." Cixelcid points out, bursting her hopeful bubble.
Cixelcid was right, once the twenty seconds are up, 28 Level 55 Ogres spawn and the walls of the room expand a dozen meters backwards, giving them room to fight.
[Level Up] that's Level 81 for Cain, and the Trial seems to just be getting started.
Two on one, they actually need to move all their Melee fighters forward, as the Eight Greater demons can't hold that many large enemies. But with Cixelcid and both Vala twins plus Dimnys spread out they're doing better. The bears, extra Treants and Candia are all in support positions, helping the more Tank type melee fighters.
Cain is considering switching the Lamia Scourge Casters for something more durable and melee oriented, but things aren't that dire yet. The passive healing coming in is still quite impressive, letting the healers top off their mana until the Level 85 wave of Ogres when they start using a bit more than they're regenerating.
Maybe bringing the entire membership of the Guild with them today wasn't the absolute best choice ever, but who is to say they'd still have gotten the quest if they didn't?
For the Level 90 wave Cain does switch the Scourge Casters for Lesser Blighted Paladins. They do very little for damage, but they can heal themselves and they can really take a hit. Fighting them in the Demon Raid took time, as they liked to hide behind their shields and were immune to stun, poison and curse type effects.
They're bringing that brick wall energy to the Ogres today. They're a big as humans, but no brighter than the average zombie, only following the most basic of orders. Perfect for meat shields. The Ogres are getting frustrated with them in a hurry, smashing, stomping and swearing at the armor clad masses of putrid flesh. Belle has resorted to plugging her nose with cloth and covering her face to make the smell of damaged Plague Demon tolerable to her enhanced senses.
With the extra fighters up front, a lot of the pressure is taken off the other party members, letting them do more than just defend, and the damage starts to pick back up again.
Level 90 is defeated and they're into Level 95 Ogres when everyone's favorite notification comes again.
[Level Up]
Just how much experience is this dungeon giving? Is there a bonus from the quest or something? A level and a bit already after Level 80 is a crazy rate of progression. Cain hopes Belle is alright, there's a chime that goes with every notification. That plus the smell must be a living hell for the werewolf.
The level 95 Ogres are beginning to fall, being replaced by Level 99 versions as they do. Once this wave is done they should get a break again. All the healers are below half mana, but that's not bad if this is the last wave of the two on one trial.
"Hold off on finishing the level 99 Ogres, we might get more time if we kill them all in rapid succession." Kone suggests. They killed them when they could last time, over the course of a couple minutes. It's possible the total time taken matters too though. Starting the next trial before they finish this one could be bad.
"But don't wait too long, we don't know if the trials are on a timer. We don't want to fail or be caught fighting two challenges at once." Cain calls.
They spread their damage so all the Ogres are below a quarter health before killing them off in rapid succession.
[Multiple Combat Trial Completed: Next Trial in 2 minutes]
Well, something they did bought them more time. "Everyone grab a drink, a snack too would be best. Just watch the time." Cain calls, pulling a sandwich and water skin from his inventory.
Everyone is stuffing their faces in a hurry, wanting to get as much in them as they can and still have a rest before the two minutes are up. At the minute fifteen mark, Cain has downed two sandwiches and just started a long pull from his water skin when a group of Ogre Mages and Goblins appears.
"Everyone back in formation. Stun or interrupt those Mages asap." He shouts and everyone curses as their meal is interrupted.
The Summons are naturally the first in action, charging for their preferred targets, the Wrath Bringers each getting to an Ogre Mage before their spell can complete while the Blighted Paladins go for the Goblins. The goblins are overwhelmed in moments as the Pestilence and Cripple debuffs spread through them when the Guild begins their attack.
They're not particularly strong, but they're good at sneak attacks, which might have caught a solo Ogre King applicant off guard. There's got to be nearly fifty of them, maybe the Trial called for four to one odds, plus the Mages? Becoming an Ogre King doesn't seem to be an easy task.
