313 Chapter 259: Diving into the Large Town Dungeon

The monkeys were better off not being the focus in a battle and instead being used as a distraction for stronger creatures. This would allow them to not only use their high mobility as an advantage as they could surround their opponents and attack from all sorts of angles while their enemies were forced to deal with the far more powerful gorilla or intelligent orangutan. Alone the monkeys weren't all that tough outside of having numbers, but as supports for a stronger beast they could be a massive hindrance.

When it came to the orangutan something similar could be said as well. The orangutan was not at its best when it was the focus of all the attention, but not for the same reason as with the monkeys. In the orangutan's case it was because of the fact that it was at its best when it was using its intelligence during a fight. If it was focused down it couldn't command others as well since it would always be on the defensive. When it had time to plan and organize its ideas at the start of the fight against Joshua's group it was able to hold them off just fine, but since it wasn't given any time to continue to adjust its plan throughout the battle because Joshua was in its face the whole time it was pushed into a corner.

Lastly when it came to the gorilla it was clear that it had the capabilities of fighting head on from the start. It was powerful and could tank a lot damage without worrying too much. Its issue was that it wasn't very intelligent or versatile. It relied too much on its strength without being able to use said strength to the best of its abilities do to its lack in intelligence. Its control over the vines that followed it around was a great strength to have, but the moment the vines were frozen stiff it wasn't smart enough to figure out a way to get around the issue. In the end as long as the three different apes were split up they weren't to challenging to take care of.

That alone would make the fight far more challenging, but there was also the fact that the vines would be providing the fruit that could completely heal not only the gorilla, but the other apes as well. It would be a completely different fight from the ones they had just gone through and they were going to have to think of a way to get around those issues.

"Well looks like we've gotten through clearing the town out at least." Madalyn said with a sigh as she walked over to Joshua who was staring at the portal that opened up to lead them to the dungeon. "Maybe the dungeon won' be so bad."

"That's rather optimistic coming from you." Laura said as her and the rest of the ranged fighters made their way over. They had no issue with speaking out loud now that the major threats in the town had been taken care of.

"How are things with the support group?" Joshua turned away from the portal and looked towards Natalie.

"They seemed to have held up well enough. Now that the boss has been taken care of the rest of the haze creatures seem to have been placed in a frozen state. At least until we clear the dungeon." Natalie explained getting nods from everyone in return.

"That's good, seems like our plans went rather well this time around." Joshua said with a smile.

"Outside of a few injuries here and there the support group seems fine. The formation held up well and they were able to avoid long strings of close confrontation." Natalie explained.

"Well then since that's settled we need to figure out how we're going to handle this dungeon." Henry spoke up grabbing everyone's attention. "The boss on the inside is probably going to be more challenging then what we���ve faced so far and none of us are sure what the difference between a large town dungeon and a small town dungeon will be. Outside of town dungeons being more organized and system based we don't really know anything else."

"True, but at least we know what type of beast we will be facing when we go inside the dungeon." Joshua said with a frown. "All of the other town dungeons had creatures on the inside that reflected the haze bosses that we faced before entering so it's likely to be the same case this time around." Joshua said before turning to look towards Sarah who seemed to have an excited smile on her face.

"Judging by that blinding smile on your face I'm assuming you two got some good footage." Adrian said as he noticed where Joshua was looking. "Make sure you captured the amazingness of my movements."

"Don't listen to him. If anything show off the time he messed up with the grapple hook and nearly slammed into a building face first on the way here." Madalyn said with a grin. "If you're going to try to show off your cool side then we've got to make sure they get to see your goofy side as well." Everyone seemed to chuckle at that, but Sarah was nodding along in agreement as if it was a serious matter.

"We'll make sure to show everything we've captured. I'm so glad you guys invited us along for this expedition. Not only did we get to capture footage of an elite group taking on powerful beast, but we also got video of a large scale fight on the other side of things." Sarah said with an excited smile.

"I'll bet. You could probably make a movie out of everything that you've seen today. Giant monster battles, Joshua's one on one confrontations with the boss creatures, war level conflict against hordes of zombies. Sounds like a Hollywood movie to me." Henry said with a small smile.

"I guess we should take a breather so that the mages can regain some of their mana. We've been basically in high gear since we rushed into the haze. This would be the time to take a break." Joshua said

"Sounds like a good idea. We shouldn't rush in tired anyways." Laura responded as she moved over to a cleaned off bench on a nearby side walk that had somehow survived all of the destruction around it. The rest of the group followed suit finding places to sit and rest on while Sarah and her partner started to film the wreckage around the area. For a moment Joshua wondered if it was alright to show off the town to all of the guilds that would most likely try to challenge them for the territory in the future, but then he realized they'd probably rebuild the whole place in the end anyways.

"Do you think the other guilds have started to notice what's going on yet?" Aito asked as he started to clean his sniper rifle since it had been his primary weapon so far. "If so we might have a bit of a time limit before they try to interrupt us."

"We don't have to worry about that." Isabella said in response. "The moment we step through that portal and enter the dungeon it will be locked off from any other guilds until we either clear it or fail. I'm sure there might be some scouts coming our way at this point, but there aren't any large groups. It'll take more than a day for a group of our scale to form and come over. By that point we'll either have failed or have completed clearing the territory."

"When that happens they won't be able to come inside of the town anyways since we'll have a sixth month period of protection." Henry said with a knowing smile. "By then we'll be well ahead of everyone else and well on our way to building up the strongest territory possible at this point. The only thing standing in our way is the dungeon in front of us." The rest of the group nodded at Henry's words.

Joshua turned to look towards Sarah and her partner before asking something that was on his mind. "Are you two going to come with us as we dive into the dungeon? It won't be the same as following us around in the town. There won't be any turning back once we go in."

"Don't worry about us we can take care of ourselves in a pinch if you guys are busy. Plus there's no way we would miss out on this." Sarah said while turning to look at her partner who was nodding along eagerly.

"Well then it seems we've got everything in order then. We'll head in once all of the mages recover their mana. I suggest you all eat a quick meal before going in though, we might not get the chance inside." Joshua said before he sat down and caught his breath from all the excitement. The rest of the group agreed with his statement and started to rest just a little ways away from where the portal was set up in the middle of the ruined mall. They didn't have to rush anymore since the support group was out of trouble and were able to leave the haze now that the bosses had all been cleared out. The zombies and haze creatures would be frozen in place until the dungeon was cleared.

After catching his breath Joshua moved onto eating a quick meal that he had saved in his inventory from earlier. It was more than enough to refresh his buff that was on the verge of running out after spending most of the morning clearing out the town. The rest of the group followed up on his actions as they rested and prepared to go into the new dungeon in front of them.

While Joshua was waiting on everyone else to finish up he spent a little time inspecting the portal from a distance. The first thing he noticed about it was the fact that it was far larger than the ones he was used to seeing outside of system made dungeons. The entrance to the dungeon back in James Town wasn't nearly as big, but of course James Town wasn't a town large enough to have its own mall. The portal was pitch black not allowing him to see anything on the other side, but he could feel excitement at the idea of challenging it.

Once everyone had finished eating Joshua lead them over to the entrance of the portal. The moment they got close to it a message popped up for them all to see.

[This portal leads to the dungeon of a level eighty town. To claim the town as a territory the dungeon must be cleared. You have five days to clear the dungeon before the haze creatures once again become active. Good luck in your endeavors.]

Joshua smiled knowing that they had more than enough time to clear the dungeon. Since they were the group that had cleared out the town they would be given the opportunity to clear the dungeon before anyone else could get involved. They were going to make sure to put that opportunity to good use.