Chương 22: Book 2 Chapter Nineteen: Bigger Fish

NINETEEN Roan was halfway through his second steak when the others showed up. Harris and Darren both looked wretched, their bodies curled upon themselves as they hurried over. Roan could smell them from half a block away, even scrubbed clean of the oily-gunk that was expunged by body tempering, the stench stayed on them. Taoya, Moira, and Tyler were walking upwind of them, chortling at the state of the duo.

"Over here," Roan said, waving his hand at them. He was glad he'd chosen the patio as they all entered. Taoya pointed to a corner away from the rest and Darren and Harris both retreated to it, looking at the mostly eaten steak on Roan's plate with a ravenous hunger.

"Good to see you again, Tyler," Roan said, nodding to the tall woman. She waved a slender hand at him, sitting primly on her chair with near perfect poise. Her eyes hadn't left the steak though.

"That does it. We're going to have to look at buying better rations. The mana enriched ones for those who've finished tempering. Look at them," Moira said, waving her hands at everyone around the table.

"What grade is that?" Roan asked.

"Same grades, but instead of regular rations they're called enriched. Ten times the cost for the same amount of calories," Moira said. Taoya nodded grimly while Roan sucked a breath in. Five hundred credits for a thousand enriched calories was brutal. A thousand credits a day just for food was going to put a strain on the lower level of fighters. His two steaks had only cost two-hundred.

"We're going to need to look for skills for cooks and butchers. We can hunt mana rich monsters," Roan said and everyone nodded along.

"We had already talked about it. Could be something for all of us to buy depending on the price. But, that's for later, right now we need to figure out what we're going to do to survive this floor," Tyler said, steering the conversation toward their current problems.

"Darren's suicide charge?" Moira said, turning to look at Darren in the corner.

"It's not a bad plan, but we can make it less suicidal," Roan cut in before Darren could say anything. He folded the last of the steak in half like he'd seen Taoya do and chewed rapidly, taking a swig of water out of his canteen before continuing.

"When I led it on the chase I realized a few things. Its really fast, not very bright, and can't turn to save its life. Instead of one person, we stagger a few of us around the forest so it's not on Darren to lead it around constantly."

"That doesn't fix the problem of running in the dark in a forest full of goblins," Darren countered from his isolated corner.

"It doesn't, if we were running blind. We go a few hours before night falls and map our routes. Those who volunteer to do it, they'll have to have tempered and be ready to run. It's going to be risky, but we can pay our own rewards as they miss out on earning anything," Roan said, battling his irritation at being interrupted. He'd already started talking about this before with the others, but he'd refined it a bit since last night.

"Alright, so it's less deadly as they run pre-mapped routes. They'll need to be strong enough to divert the dragon's attention too, not many people here can do that." Tyler spoke quietly, but everyone listened.

"True, but we can work on that with enchantments or alchemy. Moira, I'm sure there's something explosive or acidic in your recipe manual?" Roan asked. He'd been having a hint of a plan in the back of his mind about the empty village, but he needed her answer. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Yes. Explosives aren't that hard actually. Stable explosives that detonate when we want them to on the other hand," Moira said.

"How unstable?" Taoya asked. Before they could say anything the waiter arrived with an armfull of plates, dropping the food in front of everyone. The next few minutes were lost as everyone ripped and tore into their meals, eating with a savagery that bordered on animalistic.

"Matters. The more powerful it is, the more unstable it is. Once I upgrade the skill a few times, that'll change, but for now think of it like nitroglycerin. Powerful but unstable," Moira said after she finished her food.

"Heat would set it off? Like a shaman staff fire?" Roan asked.

"Overkill. A candle could do it if it breaches the glass. Or pressure. Fuck, the ground shaking could do it," Moira said.

"I think I see where you're going with this. Set caches of explosives in the dragon's running path and detonate them as it passed through. Use the distraction to switch runners and wound it," Tyler said.

"Yeah, pretty much. Moira, how much explosive can you make?" Roan was already thinking about the credits they'd earn from killing the dragon.

"Its a pretty simple recipe. Couple hours real time with all the others who've earned the skill. If we don't blow ourselves up." Moira's last words held the table silent as everyone turned to look at Darren. The man was still hunched over his steak, but he looked up and nodded in agreement.

"Kite it around and weaken it with pre-planned explosives. Then we lead it to where we're waiting and hit it with the biggest batch we have. If it survives that, then we try to kill it," Roan said.

"What's to stop the goblins from hitting us while we're doing this?" Taoya asked.

"Well, that's why I asked Moira how much explosive she can make. We know they come out a bit early and the defensive mobs are still in the abandoned village. At least a small contingent will go there with a hob commanding them," Roan started.

"You want to blow the village up?" Harris asked loudly from behind them.

"Scale the trees to the top with anyone who has a mana core, pile the explosive in the middle, and when the goblins overwhelm the defenses, they fire and blow the entire thing," Roan said calmly.

"That would be a distraction. But I doubt all the hobs will be going there. We'll have to deal with the groups chasing us as well," Taoya said, not startled by Roan's declaration of blowing up the village.

"Well, that's why this is a planning session," Roan said. He hadn't had time to figure out how to deal with the second attack group, not while also evacuating and killing the dragon.

"Hana said we're not allowed to screw with her village on pain of death. So, we're not blowing ours up," Taoya informed everyone who nodded in agreement.

"A second squad of heavy hitters to secure the cave entrance? We don't know how long it takes to enter the next level, but there's going to be a few thousand people at minimum," Moira said.

"We don't have enough heavy hitters for the dragon and securing the cave," Darren said. He had finished his steak, licking his fingers of the leftover juices.

"We might when the survivors from the last village get here," Taoya countered.

"I still don't like leaving the level a day early. We're giving up a lot of resources and time to develop our skills," Harris complained.

"We lost too many people too quickly. Even if we survive tonight, then tomorrow night we're going to be facing at minimum five hobs and the dragon," Roan said.

"Are we sure the dragon and the goblins are together?" Moira asked, her voice quiet as she looked at everyone.

"What do you mean?" Harris asked.

"I'm just saying, we can kill the hobs but we can't kill the dragon. We lack the firepower to overwhelm it and I doubt our inferior-grade explosives will do it either. But will the goblins and dragon fight each other?" Moira asked.

"It's infected," Roan reminded them, the large lump on its leg the thread tying levels one and two together.

"What if instead of leading the dragon away and isolate it, we lead it to the goblin army?" Moira asked and the tables grew very quiet.