They started implementing the new tactic.

Dragging monsters into a small area to get them burned down meant that more people were focused on crowd control than on damage. There was some grumbling, but the end result was that the smaller monsters were burned down quickly, while the Shadows were overwhelmed.

It was a new tactic, but it kept them from having to rely so much on the mana potions, without continuing the argument of expediency versus the long-term effects of using an item they knew nothing about. While Penelope hadn't participated in any of those discussions herself, she knew that other people were having the same discussion that she'd had with Circe and some of them had become very aggressive fights.

Penelope stood in front of the barrier to 30E. The black divider blocked out all light, keeping them from seeing what was on the other side. It made it a lot harder to plan for the fight.

"You're staying out here." Patrick grumbled as he walked up beside her.

"Shouldn't you be working on the defenses?" Penelope half turned and motioned at the walls that were being made and the trees that were being cut down. Huge bonfires were scattered throughout the squares as the people from the teams that fought on her side of the Dungeon worked to get the terrain ready for the final battle.

They'd found where the ceiling was when Patrick had built walls up as high as he could go. The reinforced, thirty-foot-tall walls were going to line the 28-column side of 29D, 29E, and 29F. The walls would turn at the ends of that length and go to the barrier at the 30-column. There was a single, small door in the built section of 29E that Patrick planned to wall over once everyone was in position just before the timer dropped down to zero.

"I ran my mana out again and I'm waiting for it to come back before I start up again." The balding man wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. "Once Archer gets done with J, he'll be able to help me finish up these walls."

Penelope glanced to her right, where the other half of their fighting force was currently in the last square of the 29-column. They had finished 29A that morning and then started back on preparing their final battlefield after lunch.

"Still set on waiting the timer out?" She failed to suppress a shiver.

"We can walk in there with thirty-six, or make them fight seventy-eight of us on a battlefield of our making." Patrick grumbled. "I know the last time we let the timer end, things didn't go well, but we didn't know what we're going to be in for. This time we do."

"The second floor had each of the monsters on the column that were with the monstrosity that led them." Penelope ran her fingers through the barrier. "We weren't expecting that, which means that there is going to be something extra to this one that was different from the last two." She looked from the barrier to Patrick. "How are we going to account for that?"

"Doesn't really matter." He grumbled. "It's simple math. Twice as much firepower and we can spread out in six times the area. The only reason for us not to do this would be if they got some sort of buff or extra monsters if we let the timer expire and they didn't get that on the first floor."

Penelope nodded. I still don't like it. Any tips for why we shouldn't do this?

"The main danger is that the Demons are going to try to break through the walls and make it to the surface where people are lower level and easier to kill." Jeru motioned at the walls. "You get two teams per major Demon, so in theory, you should be able to contain them, but you're not ready for the sheer size of what is on the other side of that barrier."

That's the difference on this floor? Penelope groaned. How big?

"The Demon leaders up to this point have all been about six to seven feet tall for the ones that stand upright. The ones on multiple legs have been five to six feet tall to the shoulder." The Elf tapped his cheek as he thought. "Double that."

Great… Penelope took a deep breath but wasn't sure how to explain that to someone who didn't know that she had extra insight into the bosses. What about the minions?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"That doesn't double up yet. You're just looking at level 30 versions of what you've already fought, but…" Jeru made an explosion with his hands. "Some of those gave you a lot of trouble."

Only four columns to exclude and we want to avoid twenty-eight and twenty-six. Penelope looked at Patrick. "What happens if the bosses from twenty-six or twenty-eight are in there?"

"We take care of the Cornman and Pine Soldier as fast as we can." The older man stroked his chin. "For the bosses, we'll need to focus them down and keep them away from everyone. We can't chance that they have some sort of exploding attack that can kill a whole team." He crossed his fingers. "We just have to hope that out of the six, those are two of the four that don't show up."

Penelope didn't have to run the odds of that to know just how unlikely that was. "Plan for the worst…"

"And hope for the best…" Patrick sighed. "I guess we need to try to wall this place off as well and see how many of them our ranged people can snipe while we figure out what we're up against…" His shoulders sagged. "It's bad enough that the boss room is in the middle, so we have to do two runs with half teams, but this is extra construction that we're going to have to make."

"You know you love it." Penelope let a slight grin pull up the corner of her lips.

"It beats what I was doing back home." He shook his head. "Do the thirties look like they're going to give us any trouble?"

Penelope backed up to the corner of 30F and looked at the monsters in the square. "The Tanks are Giant Nature Slimes, which have a <Slime Body> passive that makes physical attacks ineffective but doubles their weakness to magic. I'd bet that Stephen and Aly will be able to easily burn through those."

"I was hoping that they wouldn't incinerate those things." Patrick nodded at the ten-foot-tall mounds of green gelatinous material. "I don't know if that's a dissolving agent or a glue, but I could do a lot with either one."

I'm just glad he didn't bring up trying to eat them… Penelope shook her head. But I know he's definitely thinking about it.

"He at least knows how to show restraint. There are others who wouldn't have taken no for an answer about the bipeds." Jeru shrugged. "You're lucky there aren't many Cyclops on this colony, they'll eat anything, including races that can talk."

Penelope's stomach turned as she pushed that thought out of her mind.

"The Thorn Skeletons look like they'll be a problem up close." Patrick pointed at the six-foot-tall walking skeletons. While they looked like an animated skeleton, every bone was covered with thorns, some that were only a knuckle length, while others were a full finger length.

"They're elementals." Penelope shook her head. "And melee, so as long as they don't get in close, we'll be fine."

"They're Speed, though, so getting in close is going to be easier for them." Patrick argued. "Though we've gotten pretty good at the shackle and burn technique."

"The Rot Wolves are the Power ones." Penelope pointed at the black-furred wolves pacing through the trees in the square. A pair of curved horns adorned the top of the large canine's head. Glowing black eyes, which reminded her of Jeru's, fixated on the pair of Humans. Tangles of briars around the monster's neck made a mane of thorns, which added to the menacing look.

"No breath attack, no ranged attack, the <Pack Tactics> are going to be a pain, but we can just tank through that." Patrick dismissed the canines as a threat. "The Sun Kittens are just Healers, which are irritating but not a threat."

Penelope looked at the huge orange felines. The six glowing red eyes were creepy, but that was the extent of the intimidation factor of the large balls of fur. One-on-one, when comparing a feline and a canine of the same size, the feline was always more dangerous, but without an actual offensive skill, there wasn't much about the Sun Kittens that made them appear more of a threat than the Rot Wolves.

"The Buffers here have <Thorns>, which will make things more difficult for the melee fighters." She pointed at the Demon Squirrels. The six-foot-tall creatures resembled the rodents from Earth, though these had quills like a porcupine instead of fur.

"Melee is on herding, not fighting." Patrick pointed at the last monster. "Which means the Deplat are the most dangerous things out here."

The red-furred, duck-faced, four-legged monster that he had pointed at reared up on its webbed hind legs, reaching over ten feet tall. The Magic monster chittered as a glowing green aura surrounded it. The magic formed into dozens of foot-long thorns, which shot in their direction. The projectiles fell harmlessly well before they got close to the barrier, but it was clear that the monsters were capable of inflicting a lot of damage at range.

"Those are going to be the hardest things to deal with." Penelope agreed. "They got them spaced out too far to group up, but just close enough that they can overlap what they're shooting those spikes at."

"We've got over two weeks to take care of these last nine." Patrick sighed as he turned back towards where the others were working. "We'll just take it slow and make sure nobody else gets hurt." He motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, we're going to try to get some burn pits made and we need you to smooth out the land."

Penelope cast one last look at the monsters of the next column, then followed after the older man. The next column didn't have her too worried, but there was something about the upcoming boss fight that was making her anxious. While she hoped it was nothing, she wasn't looking forward to how deadly the end of this floor could be.

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