After the Menagerie cleared the first room of the dungeon before Arwin even had a chance to swing his hammer a single time, it became abundantly clear to him that his guild had improved significantly since the last time he’d gone delving with them. Gone were the days of cobbling together a fight with a group of individually capable adventurers. The inefficiency had been ground out of them until nothing but teamwork remained. Out of every monster in the first room of the dungeon — of which there had been four red-skinned little imps vaguely reminiscent of Lillia’s summons — not one had even gotten a chance to fight back. Reya had frozen one in place. Olive had cut it clean in two before it could recover, while Rodrick dashed from monster to monster, drawing their attention. They’d then all been cut down in rapid succession, dispatched like animals rather than true foes. As stunned as Arwin had been, the expression on Yonas’ face had been so good that he didn’t even mind. The guildsman looked like he’d swallowed a whole egg and couldn’t tell if he was surprised, scared, or just plain confused. Of course, the first room was just a single room. The improvement was an immense achievement. Their coordination was impressive. It was clearly borne from constant practice and training, not to mention all the monsters that the members of the Menagerie must have killed while Arwin was crafting. But when they reached the second room, it went much the same. Arwin’s delight and surprise only grew. He found himself reduced to a gawking spectator alongside Lillia and Yonas, left with no option but to simply marvel at the progress of his guild. I’m going to have to keep making stronger and better items. Both for them, and to increase the speed of my own advancement. It’s not even just about outfitting everyone. I need to push myself to get more Achievements and Titles to keep up with them. It’s my duty as guild leader — but I don’t think they’ve caught up to me quite yet, even if their levels have reached or surpassed mine. Verdant Inferno trembled in Arwin’s grip at that thought. The weapon was practically humming in eagerness. It could feel all the death around it and the lack of crunching bone and squashing flesh beneath its head. His hammer seemed like it wasn’t too far away from leaping into battle on its own. Arwin shook it slightly. Down. You’ll get your chance soon enough. We aren’t leaving the boss to the guild. I don’t think it’s going to be nearly as simple as the rest of this dungeon. There’s a big difference between a low ranked Adept monster and a mid-ranked one, which the boss is likely to be. To Arwin’s mild surprise, that actually worked. Verdant Inferno settled down in his grasp. It then vibrated slightly, as if to warn him it wasn’t willing to wait much longer, and went still for good. The weapon was getting more intelligent. That was probably a good thing. He glanced away from the hammer as Rodrick approached the corner of the room where Arwin, Lillia, and Yonas were waiting. “How far are we from the boss?” Rodrick asked. “We’ve been going pretty fast, but we may have to take a break to rest and recover if there are more than one or two rooms left. You said it was about a thirty minute trip, right?” Yonas swallowed and coughed into a fist, shaking his head. “I… must have misspoken. The trip only takes around twenty minutes for a competent party. There are six rooms in this path before the purple torch doors. We have not attempted properly challenging the boss yet, so I cannot speak to how difficult the fight will be.” You haven’t really said much of anything other than telling us which doorways to take thus far, so I don’t think you knowing nothing about the boss really changes anything. All that matters is we get in there, get the heart, and get out as quickly as possible. “Good to know.” Rodrick gave him a nod, then gestured around the room. There were several paths forward scattered along its walls. “Which one?” Yonas indicated a tunnel near the center of the rightmost wall. “That one.” “Great,” Rodrick said. “On we go, then. Lillia — it might be best if you take over after the next room.” Lillia blinked. “Are you sure? You’ve been doing a good job thus far.” “Against normal fights, yes. We’ve had a lot of practice with that. But I don’t think we want to take the risk when we’re up against something that poses as big a threat as the boss of an Adept-ranked dungeon.” Lillia smiled and inclined her head. “I’ll do that, then. Thank you.” “Anytime. Wouldn’t have anyone else actually telling us what to do. Other than Arwin — but his orders are usually some variant of charge! Simple, but effective.” “Some strategy will go a long way in keeping me from overworking,” Anna said dryly, sending a pointed look in Rodrick’s direction. “And maybe help you from getting hit constantly.” “Getting hit is my job!” “Keeping attention is your job. You don’t have to be a magnet for every attack in existence.” “Noted,” Rodrick said with a chuckle. Yonas looked from Rodrick to Lillia, clearly trying to figure out why it was that the guild’s innkeeper was being consulted for strategy. His befuddlement only seemed to grow with every step. It was a bit childish, but Arwin was looking forward to seeing how the man handled watching them all fight together.