They skipped the funeral.

Frederica was too focused on clearing the third floor because she wanted her revenge. The others cast solemn looks in their leader's direction, but no one argued with her. Instead, they simply gathered up the supplies they'd need to make camps on the next floor, and then they headed into the portal.

Penelope was the second one to step through the portal this time. Frederica wanted that honor for herself and went through moments before Penelope stepped through the shimmering blue portal.

The safe zone was walled off by trees. Each square had three paths into the woods. The trees themselves were of various hardwood and softwood varieties and there were even fruit and nut trees mixed in. The trees were spaced far enough apart that the demons on the other side could be seen milling about in the underbrush and clearings.

"Ah, the Nature Floor." Jeru inhaled a deep lungful of air, though considering he was just an image that only she could see, it wasn't like he was breathing in any air.

"I can still smell through your senses!"

You keep reminding me about how you're a parasite. Penelope teased the blue Elf.

"I provide help!" Jeru groaned, but with too much fake rage. "I'm more of a symbiote than a parasite!"

When you start fighting some of these monsters, we'll talk about getting you a title change. Penelope watched Frederica stomp over towards the leftmost entrance in 21D.

"Freddy! What are you doing!" Penelope ran over to her friend and grabbed her by the shoulder.

The older woman blinked as if she'd been in a daze. "I can take them…" Frederica's words spilled out in a flat tone.

"Just wait until everyone gets down here and we can head in there together!" Penelope winced as she realized the hypocrisy of what she was about to say. "None of us will get any experience if you go in there alone."

Frederica looked down at the pair of shadowy blades in her hands. Her shoulders slumped as she sank to the ground, where she sat with her legs splayed to the side in the shape of an M.

The sound of the others alerted Penelope that the next round of people was entering the floor. There were soft gasps and exclamations from the group as they took in the new environment.

"It's TREES!" Circe bubbled as she ran towards the pair. She pointed at the blue sky overhead. "How high do you think that goes?"

Penelope silently cast <Light Barrage> and sent one of her four <Light Balls> up into the air. About five feet over the tops of the trees, the projectile ran into a solid barrier and exploded.

"Twenty feet, which is over double what we were working with on the last floor." Penelope motioned at the length of the barrier. "And it looks like it's only fifteen hundred feet wide instead of two thousand."

Circe's brow scrunched. "What's that mean?"

"It means that we only have to send in three teams instead of four." Patrick grumbled as he reached the group. "Which is good because our backups weren't ready to take the field and they can get things ready here after we get the gate built." The balding man pointed at the gathering monsters. "So much for one-on-one tactics."

"We're going to have to fight an army from the start…" Circe groaned. "How are we supposed to fight together when we start so far away from each other and they can pile up like that?" She stomped her foot. "It's not fair!"

"I don't think the Demons want this to be fair." Penelope looked at her younger friend.

"No, they don't." Patrick groaned as he watched the backups enter with supplies from the previous floor. "HEY! KING! Don't put that there!" He waved at the women. "Go and see if you can figure out what we're up against while I keep them from destroying all of our food!"

Penelope watched the older man stomp off, then turned to her friends. "How do you want to do this?"

Circe shrugged. "You're the one with the <Appraisal> skill, you tell us."

Penelope winced. I should probably pick up that actual skill at some point. She looked at the other two. "Neither of you have it?"

They both shook their heads.

"No point in having something that you can't use." Frederica pointed at the trees. "The last floor, we couldn't see the monsters without a visual skill and two levels to get something that you already have must have been too much for this place to grant us."

"She's not wrong." Jeru agreed. "The system will align with intent and something that would require multiple skills would have all of them weigh the same collectively as any other singular skill that is also desired."

So they have to want to be able to appraise the monsters over twice as much as they want something else, like a <Fear> skill?

"Exactly!" Jeru laughed. "I have my suspicions about why that was coded, but the people who set up the Dungeon system are all dead, so it's not like I can ask them."

Didn't you create this Dungeon? Penelope scrunched her brown.

"I copied it." Frustration filled the incorporeal Elf's voice. "I've made some adjustments, but for the most part, this is the same system that runs the gaming planets in other parts of the universe."

There are whole worlds that are under the system? Penelope twirled her finger through the tip of her red ponytail.

"Too many of them." Jeru pointed at Frederica. "They're trying to talk to you by the way."

Penelope blinked as she focused on the voices outside her head. "Sorry, what did you say?"

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"I asked if you could share the stats of the monsters with us, like you did on the first floor." Frederica folded her arms. "Seriously, girl. If you want your team back, you need to not zone out like that all the time."

"Sorry." Penelope looked at the black-haired Elf beside her leader. Jeru?

"Jeru do this, Jeru do that, Jeru do something else!" The blue-skinned Elf twirled his purple robe and waved in the air. "You're right, you really should set the skill so you can do this yourself!" There was a twinkle in his black eyes. "And don't worry, I've already blocked it so people who already have the skill can't see that you don't have it."

Thanks. Penelope turned towards 21D and pointed at the gathering army. She swallowed as she started to list them off.

"The vine monsters with roses covering them are called Romals. They are the Buffers." She pointed at the human-sized plant elementals. "They've got thorns as well, so we'll need to burn them down from a distance."

Penelope pointed at the giant centipede shaped monsters. "Those are Cengons, they're the Tanks. It doesn't look like they have a biting skill, but considering their face looks like a hungry lizard, I would assume their teeth are there for more than just show. Also, they have the spell <Vine Lash>, so we need to make sure we take care of that if they try to yank some of our squishy people from the back line."

"The little bugs…" She pointed at the twelve-inch-tall insects. "Are Slorpies. They might look small, but they have 28 Power, so don't let one hit you. They also have a stinger, so be careful of that if you get coles to one."

"Ugh, I HATE bugs!" Circe shivered. "How are we supposed to shoot something the size of my shoe before it gets close to us?"

"If it's the size of your shoe, you can kick it." Frederica smirked, her fingers tapping against her sides. "Power, Defense, Aura…" The older woman shook her head. "There's one of everything out there isn't there?"

"Yeah…" Penelope nodded. "It looks like it."

"The flying monkeys are Speed?" Circe guessed.

"No, Recovery, actually." Penelope turned her attention to the monsters in the trees. "Munhoks is what they're called." She bit her lip. "Looks like they have some sort of spell as well as a heal and a poison cure." She looked at the other two women. "We'll have to take care of them first."

"UGH!" Circe groaned. "Columns with Healers made the last floor take sooo long!" Her shoulders sagged. "Why do they have to have Healers in every square now?"

"This isn't just some game of whack-a-mole." Penelope cleared her throat as the other two looked at her. "I mean, they're trying to push through to the surface aren't they?"

"Each floor is going to be harder." Frederica pointed at the blue-furred, one-eyed, canine monsters. "What's that?"

"Cypup." Penelope looked at the stat readout. "That's the Caster. It's got a beam spell that it shoots out of its eye and a passive that lets it go through stuff, so… cover doesn't look like it'll help against that."

"Another thing to prioritize." Frederica shook her head. "What about the last thing?"

Penelope pointed at the silver-scaled, horned snake, that towered over the human sized monsters, equal in size to the Cengon. "Scaled Serpent. It's the Speed one. It doesn't look like it has any ranged attacks, but it does have <Coiled Strike>, which I'm guessing is a movement type attack."

"Do you think we can count them all?" Circe began pointed at the monsters one-by-one as she attempted a census.

"They're moving around too much and there's too much ground to cover." Penelope motioned down the length of the barrier. "That's fifteen-hundred feet, which is way too much for us to cover." She sighed and turned back to the portal where Patrick was raising an <Earthen Wall> around it. "I think we need to spend more time talking to the teams and figuring out how we're going to enter the square without dying from the start."

Frederica cast a single, longing look at the monsters, then turned away. "I guess that means we have to find Rae."

Monster Stats

Romal

Stamina 66

Mana 96

Power 9

Defense 18

Speed 6

Magic 13

Recovery 7

Aura 28

Passives: Grass Roots, Thorns

Skills: Pollen, Rooted, Vine Snare

Munhok

Stamina 44

Mana 118

Power 9

Defense 7

Speed 6

Magic 13

Recovery 28

Aura 18

Passives: Flight, Wide Heal

Skills: Feather Bullet, Natural Heal, Poison Cure

Cypup

Stamina 52

Mana 110

Power 6

Defense 13

Speed 7

Magic 28

Recovery 9

Aura 18

Passives: Laser Focus, Shoot Through

Skills: Eye Beam, Vine Snare, Blink

Slorpy

Stamina 104

Mana 58

Power 28

Defense 6

Speed 18

Magic 9

Recovery 13

Aura 7

Passives: Flight

Skills: Tail Sting, Rush, Slice

Scaled Serpent

Stamina 94

Mana 68

Power 6

Defense 13

Speed 28

Magic 9

Recovery 18

Aura 7

Passives: Poisoned Bite, Tough Scales

Skills: Wrap, Bite, Coiled Strike

Cengon

Stamina 88

Mana 74

Power 9

Defense 28

Speed 7

Magic 18

Recovery 13

Aura 6

Passives: Tough Scales, Enhanced Senses

Skills: Look At Me, Wrap, Vine Lash

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