The fifth floor of the dungeon was more or less talked about as the "end of the tutorial," as it was the last floor with a slime on it. The monsters on the fifth floor were mostly leveled 6 to 8, which wasn't something that Aster's party couldn't handle.
A Yellow Slime would be the first monster to welcome those entering the fifth floor. Like any slime, it would die in a single hit, but the difference was that it was faster than any slime from the previous floors.
Its speed was roughly five times that of the other slimes, with an almost endless amount of energy, making it impossible to run away from it or catch it if it ran away. As such, it was labeled the "Git Gud" slime, which frustrated not just a few adventurers.
"Taunt!"
"Knight's Challenge!"
"Haap!"
"Hiss!"
"Vertical Slash!"
But Aster's group was, more or less, experts in hunting slimes. To add to that, they even have two tanks with taunt skills, preventing the slimes from running away.
With appropriate distancing between the two, and adding the wide field of slimes with nobody else daring to hunt, the five were able to "monopolize" the slime area!
"Nice! Level 8!"
And after three hours of hunting, Aster finally reached level 8. Of course, the only one who was lagging in levels was him, as the other girls had already reached that level an hour ago. The reason for him being slower was, as expected, the difference in their stats.
Other than the two tanks, who were given priority to killing slimes, Aster and the rest had to race to kill the slimes. First come, first served! But since he had a lower DEX compared to Cassy and Kali, it was obvious that he would lag behind them.
Due to their arrangements, their rank in terms of experience gained right now was Kali at the top, followed by Liz and Tina, then Cassy, and finally, Aster. Although the gap between them and Aster was spreading, he wasn't chagrined by it, nor was he trying to rush.
They were a party, so everyone's level-up was going to contribute to their overall strength later on!
After they cleared the slime area, they entered the forest area.
There, a variant of wolves called Gray Wolves started appearing. They have better teamwork with each other, and also always come in groups of at least ten. They were harder to hunt, but the pelt, nails, and fang gained from them could be sold for a high price.
Of course, the regular denizens of the forests, the goblins, also tried to pick a fight with them. However, even though they were higher level than those on the floors below, their intelligence didn't differ by much, so hunting them went swimmingly.
The only good thing about goblins on higher floors was that there was a higher probability of them having accessories, which was the only sellable item gathered from goblins.
Constitution: 15
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 6
Charisma: 8
Luck: 0
]
With her current stats, nobody within the party could catch up with her in terms of agility or speed anymore. Not even Cassy!
The following day, May 23, they planned to continue on grinding levels. However, not long after they started, a problem occurred.
"RUN! It's the Field Boss!"
Voices came from afar, alerting them of a problem. The Field Boss of the Fifth Floor was nearby!
"What do we do?" Cassy asked immediately.
Of course, they should just retreat. After all, the Field Boss of the 5th floor, Berserk Gray Wolf, was at level 10. It meant that one would need a full party of level 10s to safely hunt one down!
"Let's..."
"Kyaaah!"
But just as Aster was about to order their retreat, a shrill scream echoed from close by. Turning their heads by reflex, everyone found a mystic beauty running toward them. From the way she was clothed in a silver and black robe, with a tall staff in her hand, it was obvious that she was a magic caster.
Behind her, a large monster—a quadrupedal beast with gray fur and red eyes—was chasing her. If they left her alone, she would, without a doubt, end up scratched, injured, and, at worst, die.
'That girl...' Aster, however, realized that the woman was a familiar face. 'She's the one I met at the Archives a few days ago!'
He wouldn't say they're friends, but they're at least acquaintances since she gave him her name before. As such, leaving her to die would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
"Fuck it!" Aster cursed as he was left with no choice. "Everyone! Cover for that girl! We'll hunt the field boss here!"