After the village full of cats they come across a torn up section of open ground, like the dungeon residents have been fighting each other. That's new, usually when the dungeon drives its inhabitants mad they're all on the same team, even if they naturally wouldn't be. But this is definitely the scene of a battle that happened before they arrived.
"Were Tigers and someone else." Nemu says and Vala nods agreement. So the dungeons control must be weak, or something unique is going on here. They did have the incident with the posing boys preferring flirting to fighting earlier too.
This dark forest feels like an extension of the one behind them by the swamp, full of wolf and spider species. Which makes Cain wonder how big this dungeon actually is. The Dwarves don't often go far from the entrance because the Beastkin get tougher, but it might be just as massive as the Demon Dungeon.
They can explore that later though, Cain had recorded over 200 varieties of Beastkin now and they can hear an encampment. Cain motions everyone to stay behind while he sneaks forward to take a look.
From his spot in the trees he can see dozens of mostly human type Beastkin. 29 different race and class combinations, all Supporters. They're chatting away about their hunting trip to what they call the nature preserve, and have all the self awareness of a bunch of lost tourists.
What in the world is going on in this dungeon?
There's a bunch of covered wooden wagons with high sides, so Cain decides to risk sneaking through to inspect them. Maybe the contents will give him a clue. Getting close he finds the wagons are drawn by level 100 Centaurs with their hands bound to the draw bar, preventing them from escaping. The notice Cain, but only smile and look away.
Looks like the Centaurs are on his side today. He flags them as neutral after recording them, so his summons won't attack them unless attacked first.
The wagons contain bound and drugged fully furred type Beastkin. Are these slave traders? Their talk made them sound like trophy hunters. When Cain circles the last wagon and sees that they're roasting a small crocodile type Beastkin for dinner he decides it's better to just kill them all and ask the Centaurs what's going on.
Back in the woods, Kone and the others are in full agreement, these aren't sane dungeon monsters, they're just different kind of crazy.
The Golems surround the camp while Cain verifies that all the prisoners and Centaurs are flagged neutral. Once he's sure, they descend on the camp from all sides at once. They don't even have a chance to raise an alarm, much less put up a fight before being wiped out.
"Can you explain to me what's going on here?" Cain asks the centaur that smiled at him, indicating the camp.
"This is the game preserve. The Beast Lords, like the ones you killed here raise their more bestial Kin for sport and food. Some they have captured and keep as pets or Beasts of burden, like they did to the Centaurs." He struggles to get the words out, the effects of the dungeon clearly strong on his mind.
"How big is this dungeon?" Kone asks, hoping he knows and can answer.
"Three bosses territory. Now, free me and I swear on centaur honor we will return to our people."
Three bosses territory? That means this is most likely a huge boss based dungeon. It's just that nobody has been fully clearing it. Cain signals the Wrath Bringers and they cut the Centaurs free, letting them run off.
"What do we do with the others? They're dungeon crazy." Vala asks.
"If we can't get through to them, leave them. No need to let them free to cause chaos. We're headed up this road towards wherever those hunters came from. We might be the first to actually attempt to take out one of the bosses here."
Dungeons are generally set up to challenge a five person party of equal level. Even though the boss area will be higher level than them, much more difficult than the entry area, there are many more than five of them.
Along the road they don't see anyone at all, but there are still clear signs of the hunting party coming this way recently. Centaur hooves and wagon wheels are pretty distinctive.
The building that came into sight really was best described as a fortress. Though not a great one. A sturdy wooden fence turned makeshift wall surrounded a low stone building with a well manicured French garden in the back. Guards are on patrol around the perimeter and a large number of Beastkin can be found all through the compound. The overall effect was that if a fortified mayor's house a few days after the apocalypse.
There are signs of a village sounding it, but much of the former town is now destroyed, with only a single district still standing. Those seem to be the only stone houses as well, so either the wooden ones couldn't handle the fighting, or the upper class group drove the others out, which would fit with what the centaur described. Either way, the fortified location is their first target.
They're not going to be able to hide this size of a group for long, but they do at least make the effort to attack from down wind so that the guards aren't alerted until the last moment when they're charging from the tree line. The wooden wall falls to a single strike of the Wrath Bringers Axes and they establish a breach while the guards and residents form up to counterattack.
Acid Rain cast on the courtyard speeds up the process and brings many of the guards from inside running out. Unlike the Beastkin in the surrounding areas, these are all above level 90, and the guard are well equipped. Their numbers aren't high though, only twenty have responded to the cries of alarm so far. Cain adds to his collection of summons as quickly as he can before too many of the unarmed Beastkin die. Without any sort of armor they're no match for the waves of incoming attacks, and there simply aren't enough guards to protect them all, even if they were trying to.
The steel on steel clash of the guards meeting the Wrath Bringers is enough to wake up everyone left in the house and reinforcements start to appear. One of Kone's bears is sent flying by a brutal blow and Cain turns his attention to the side of the house, where a huge Wolf Eared man has appeared. He shows as over level 95, and an Epic quality boss monster, the first they've seen in quite a while outside the Naga Raid.
He's wearing what looks to be a business suit with a silk sash across his chest, fighting using his claws instead of a weapon. This must have been the Mayor, or whatever they called their town leader. At this point he's so enraged he might as well have been lost to the dungeon madness though.
One of the Wrath Bringers breaks away from the guards and turns to challenge him, blocking his claws and driving him back with heavy swings of an axe. Even unarmed this creature is an excellent fighter though, and its seemingly human skin is tough enough axe strikes only leave small cuts.
Both Vala twins have joined the fray, using the two handed Plague Eater Sword, gained from her epic transformation to leave infected looking gouges deep in his back and sides. Cain quickly starts attacking it with multi shots of Poisoned Arrow, steadily draining the boss Wolf's health. Seeing him on the losing end of the fight demoralized the courtyard full of civilians, but enraged the guard, who are now doing their best to come to his rescue.
No way will Cain allow that to happen though, and they've now lost so many guards that the Wrath Bringers outnumber them. With the more dangerous targets contained, the Lamia Scourge Casters move into close combat with the rest, using their long bodies as an obstacle to prevent them from escaping, and hacking through these nearly human Beastkin at a frightening rate.
Nemu is playing an attack speed increasing spell, but their ranged attack takes a bit of time to charge. In close against enemies with such low damage they'll have the fight finished up in no time.
When the boss dies, all hope of survival seems to die with him and the remaining defenders fall in seconds.
[Zones Cleared 1/3]
[Level Up]
"Look, I can upgrade my Bears to Dire Bears." Kone says, releasing them and calling them back from her perch atop her giant Lynx. The cat serves the same role as Mythryll's Treants, a final line of defense. But Kone prefers to ride it instead of letting it just stand nearby.
The Dire Bears are impressive. Nearly as tall at the shoulders as Cain, they should be easily 3 meters tall when standing upright. Their fangs look like metal and they're covered in shaggy black fur. Coarse and hard to the touch, they're definitely not something Cain would want to get into a wrestling match with.
"Only a few more forms left to upgrade you Nemu, let's head out and see what we can find." Cain smiles at the hyper Felian and wonders just what sort of ability a versatile support class like hers will gain.
