They explain the finer details to Kone once they’re in the dungeon.

“So you’re telling me my only job is to try to remain conscious while the Treants carry me?”

“If you can manage more than that, feel free to cast some heals.” Misha suggests.

“We’ll be moving slower than usual, so we can collect materials as we go. It’s not a full clear, but we can grab everything along our route. Now, is everyone ready?”

Mythryll has the Treants pick up Kone and gives him a thumbs up while everyone else just nods.

The first pull was a rough one for Dimnys last time, it’s larger than usual, and the carried member is at their lowest level. The Trolls smash into Naga, taking multiple Spears, and Cain decides it might be fine to switch them out for this dungeon. Nothing else has as good of damage reduction, but the Elite Wrath Bringer has a shield, better damage and pretty good stats for a tank. The shield should make up the loss of damage reduction against flying Spears.

The Naga drop in rapid succession and Cain switches out the Trolls for the Elite Wrath Bringers.”They’ve got shields to deal with Spears and trident attacks.” He explains and Misha smiles.

[Ability Book Received: Rend] Grade B Usable by Hunter. Melee attack that causes a bleed effect.

Well, that’s really Cain’s style, but would be a good skill for Kone in bear form. He’ll give it to her later when she’s not making pained noises and cussing at her interface.

Dimnys has gathered the gems in the wall near the door, so they start moving forward. The shields make a big difference, and the red haze in the Wrath Bringers swords gives self healing and a stacking Enrage buff. When it gets to twenty stacks their damage surges for a while before returning to normal. They’re proving to be very versatile options as tanks, and the Lamia Scourge Casters are doing a great job of attacking without being in the way.

Even in their relaxed mood the dungeon is only a little slower than the first time. Though much of that is their increased levels, and the rest is mostly Vala’s upgraded damage increase aura doubled up and not the change of summons.

The first boss turns out to be a joke today, the extra damage tearing the boss Naga apart in minutes.

Cain sends the Wrath Bringers forward in a circle, the Lamia Scourge Casters in the middle, throwing arcs of energy up to kill the Naga on the ledges. Cain can see Dimnys stagger now and then, so she’s still getting multiple levels every boss.

She’ll have another by the time the second boss drops, and the waves of Naga before the third boss usually makes up the majority of the dungeons residents the way they do it. They really do skip a lot going this way, only to fight it all in a hurry later.

As expected, the handful of Naga housing in caves up on the ledges rush them when they reach the second boss, meeting a pair of Wrath Bringers on either side. The wings seem to be a benefit here, the Naga can’t see past the tanks as well with their wings spread, so they’re not making much effort to attack anything behind the big demons.

Kone sounds like she’s almost recovered just before the boss dies. Then the wave of incoming notifications comes again.

Misha lets out a laugh when she gets her notifications, then links her drop in party chat.

[Thorns of Retribution] Rank B Passive. Usable By Cleric. Heals all party members 10 percent of users damage taken.

“It’s basically the mirror image of Vala’s ability. Heal the group for part of the damage you take instead of do.” Misha giggles.

“Good thing Kone has a bear form, I can’t see you volunteering to let Naga stab you anytime soon.” Mythryll laughs.

They wait a few minutes while Kone recovers from the flood of information. “Feeling better?” Cain asks, holding off on triggering the next waves of Naga.

“Yes, thank you. But so many notifications. Isn’t there a way to mute them?” Kone complains.

“Not that we’ve found. But maybe?” Misha shrugs.

“Here, since you like notifications so much, have some more.” Cain chuckles and hands over the [Rend] book.

“Oh, an attack skill! Why’s there no mana cost? Is it because of the 3 second cooldown? Thank you so much.” Kone gushes before learning the skill.

“I’ve got another for you.” Misha says, handing over [Thorns of Retribution]. “That one will make you a better tank. 10 percent healing is the same as 10 percent damage reduction, plus it will heal everyone else.”

Essentials now done, Vala steps off the platform and triggers the waves of Naga that lead up to the final boss. It’s only a few seconds before Kone is feeling woozy again and falls into the branches of the waiting Treants.

Wave after wave arrives until Kone is begging for mercy. “Can’t we just stop for a minute? There’s so many monsters, I thought we weren’t in a rush?”

“After the second boss, everything you haven’t killed in the raid charges you. There’s no stopping them or slowing down their arrivals. You just fight them until they’re all gone.”

“You’re secretly enjoying this aren’t you?” Dimnys asks the rest of the group, who are all grinning at Kone’s misfortune.

“Oh, it’s not a secret.” Char tells the Dwarven Smith. “But we’re also helping her in a significant way, so we don’t really feel bad about it.”

The final boss arrives with her usual announcement, only to die moments later under an onslaught of Spells. The welcoming Raid for their new member is finally finished, and not a moment too soon as far as Kone is concerned.

“Hey, I got a skill book! and a Rank A book too.” Dimnys shouts out while doing a little happy dance.

[Crushing Blow] Rank A. Usable by Warrior. Requires axe or mace.

“That’s a pretty solid skill. Now that your level is getting up, you should be able to actually fight it out the next dungeon you enter.” Misha congratulates her.

“Yep, up to 57 now, I got 9 whole levels this dungeon.” Dimnys says proudly, as if she didn’t hide in the Treants the whole dungeon.

“9? I got 16, my head is still spinning. Every time I closed a notification I’d get 4 more about picking options from other notifications I hadn’t checked yet.” Kone sighs.

“I’m well into level 68 now, one more dungeon and I’ll be at level 70 I think.” Char smiles.

“Well, it is still early in the day. Lunch and then we do it again?” Elmira suggests from her favorite pocket in Cain’s coat. With her relatively new [Dark Shuriken] skill, being in the pocket doesn’t even affect her damage output. Instead of throwing knives, she just spam casts the Shuriken spell, which creates the same number of Blades no matter how many targets are present.

“No time like the present. And then we can organize a level 70 party.” Mythryll laughs.

“I’ll warn the bartender.” Misha nods, getting ready to walk back to the exit.

“I’m not getting out of this am I?” Kone giggles.. “Fine, let’s eat.”