[Floor 23]
[Mission Type – Subjugation]
[Objective – Annihilate the enemies!]
Master did not make us frequent the 22nd floor for too long.
We immediately moved on to the next floor the moment Jonah and Shanny levelled up to level 22 and caught up with Tarran, which only took three additional deployments.
The mission on the 23rd floor was yet again subjugation.
Our party was deployed in the middle of the Phirdaus jungle, surrounded by monsters and poisonous plants.
There were not much significant changes to the enemies.
They simply levelled up a level since we saw them last and there were now three Juvenile Impianas we had to face.
I did not use much magic in this attempt since my comrades wanted to take on most of the monsters by themselves.
Currently Jonah and Shanny were taking an Impiana each while Devisha and Tarran protected them from the lesser monsters.
Meanwhile, I was up in the air with my wings and took on the third Impiana by myself.
Kinnara suggested the idea to me.
She said that I could only properly train my wings by facing an actual enemy.
Our current trial floor had provided an adequate opponent for the exercise.
[Juvenile Impiana Lv.28]
KREEEE!
The large winged creature flapped its giant wings strongly and rushed toward me.
I flapped my own and flew higher, right over the flying beast.
The 4-star Garuda told me it was generally better to position myself higher than my opponent.
My prey, according to her exact word.
But I would rather not act as if I planned to devour this monster.
She was right, though.
The Impiana had to stretch itself upward and then turned its body around to keep track of me.
Because of the prolonged movement, I was able to get myself farther away from the monster and launched my counterattack.
Swoossh!
Dozens of glowing feathers darted forth from my silver wings.
They struck the Impiana's torso like arrows.
KREEE!!!
The monster let out a pained shriek.
My assault had greatly wounded the Impiana.
I immediately launched another volley of feather darts to finish it off since Impianas became more aggressive and stronger the more injured they were.
KREEE!!!
The large winged beast cried a hoarse scream as it crashed to the ground.
Its entire body was mangled by the feathers I threw from my wings.
The monster lied motionlessly while its dark blood poured and drenched the surroundings.
I turned to the other side of the battlefield and saw my comrades wrapping up their skirmish.
Devisha and Tarran had killed all the lesser monsters.
While the two Impianas Jonah and Shanny were facing were already half-dead.
An Impiana tried clawing Jonah, but the shepherd leapt to the side and avoided the dangerous assault.
He then rushed forward and obliterated the Impiana's head with a single thrust of his spear.
The final monster tried to ram Shanny with its huge golden horns.
Without flinching, Shanny planted her feet to the ground and raised her shield.
Clang!
Upon striking the shield, the large monster was thrown back.
Shanny quickly charged toward the Impiana and ran her sword along the monster's torso.
She tore the beast in two and killed it right there and then.
[Stage Clear!]
['Serafina (★★★★)', 'Devisha (★★★)' levelled up!]
[MVP – 'Devisha (★★★)']
[Reward – 70,000G, Leather (A) x4, Beast Hide (A) x2, Hard Shell (A) x1, Poisonous Essence (Medium-Rank) x1, Golden Horn (Low-Rank) x1]
Familiar bluish-white light began to engulf us.
The moment I landed on the ground and made my wings vanish, we had been returned to the mirrored chamber.
[Climb the tower and save the world!]
[Main Dungeon]
[Floor conquered - 23 -]
Another successful climb.
Only one floor standing between us and the next Quintal Trial.
But I was not terribly worried given the progress we had been making.
"All of you did well handling the monsters without me."
I told my comrades.
"Their number was a bit of a problem. Even so, they were easy to kill once I know where to land my arrows on them."
Tarran said confidently.
Devisha nodded to him.
"They were fast and strong, certainly. But they died right away the moment my weapons went through their bodies."
"Then we should have nothing to worry when we encounter them again."
I replied to my two comrades.
I then turned to the other two.
"You seem to have no problem taking an Impiana on your own anymore."
"Once we could anticipate their sudden attacks, the Impianas became regular oversized monsters at that point."
Shanny said nonchalantly.
Jonah agreed with her.
"They have a good foresight ability. But they don't actually have threatening offensive skills. At least not to us."
I nodded to them.
"Excellent work for figuring out their weakness. But we need to remember that those Impianas we faced were just juveniles. It is more than likely that in the Quintal Trial we would face older ones that are more deadly."
Shanny formed a frown upon my statement.
"I suppose it would be much harder to fight the Impiana if they remain in the air the whole time."
"If they do that, then we'd be counting on Tarran and Fina."
Jonah said while nodding to the two of us.
"My arrows wouldn't do much good if the Impianas flew too high. But Sister Serafina should be able to keep fighting them in the air."
Tarran said with confidence.
Devisha nodded to his words and turned to me.
"That's right. You seem to have no problem killing that one Impiana with just your wings. Would you be able to use them all the time?"
"I can use the skill whenever I need to. Though I can think of other alternatives on taking down flying Impianas."
I told my comrades as we left the mirrored chamber.
Though my transformation skill did not have much restriction, I still would like to limit its uses in battle.
All my seal's exclusive skills still drained a certain degree of my own power.
It would be best that I reserved every energy I could to activate the Blessing of Malaikat instead.
Moreover, my exclusive skills worked better when they were activated together.
So I would rather use magic to take care most of my enemies.
"It might be best for you all to train with the Garudas more often. That way you would get used to facing enemies that--"
SHINGGG!
A bright light from the second floor of the lobby cut my words short.
It came from the advanced summoning chamber.
[Master, starting 10-consecutive Advanced Summoning!]
[I'm excited to see what heroes will appear!]
[DRRRRRR…]
[Clack! Thud! Boom!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Guanfei (★★★)'!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Silas (★★★)'!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Astrid (★★★)'!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has…]
[Rare!]
[….]
Ten advanced summoning.
All 3-star heroes.
No bonded pairs or parties according to the system log.
"Advanced summoning this early? But we haven't cleared the 25th floor yet."
Jonah commented with raised eyebrows.
Sigyn usually summoned new advanced heroes after we cleared a Quintal Trial.
So it was surprising for them to perform the summoning while we were still on the 23rd floor.
But I immediately understood their reasoning.
"Master likely summoned the new advanced heroes early so they would be ready to join the Raid Team once we cleared the 25th floor."
Once we moved on and cleared the 24th floor, we would start our preparation for the fifth Quintal Trial.
It usually took us around five to eight weeks preparing for the major mission.
That was a considerably long time.
Moreover, we had climbed quite high in the tower.
It took about a week for the new advanced heroes to be evaluated on the 1st to the 12th floor of the Main Dungeon.
And even if Master rushed them, the climbing parties of the advanced heroes would need at least a month to climb to the 19th floor. Celeste and the others actually took almost six weeks.
Add another three to four weeks for them to reach the 24th floor.
By then, we would have already cleared the fifth Quintal Trial and ready to move upward in the tower.
SHINNGG!!!
Another light burst forth from the second floor.
"More heroes?!"
Shanny shouted.
[Master, starting 10-consecutive Advanced Summoning!]
[I'm excited to see what heroes will appear!]
[DRRRRRR…]
[Clack! Thud! Boom!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Canary (★★★)'!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has obtained hero 'Andor (★★★)'!]
[Rare!]
[Master 'S1GYN' has…]
[Rare!]
[….]
Another ten 3-star heroes.
Master certainly intended to expand their army.
Either they were anticipating a Quintal Trial which required many parties…
…or they intended to sacrifice many advanced scouts on the 25th floor.