Zara launched her first attack, 49 damage points just like Elio.
After her second attack, she expected someone to launch another magical attack, but what they threw was a dagger...
Taron had signaled for no one to attack, only Zara. He threw his dagger at the end, saving one magical attack.
The first Locus fell and, before they could advance, another emerged from the tunnel's darkness, running toward them with unleashed fury. The battle quickly became a continuous succession of encounters, with no time to breathe between one and another.
"Hold position!" Zara shouted while discharging magical attacks on the approaching Locus.
"We won't need to advance, they will come to us," Micah murmured.
The situation simplified their tactics.
Instead of venturing deeper into the tunnel, they established a defensive line. Every time they eliminated a monster, the next one appeared running from the shadows, as if waiting its turn.
It was during one of these exchanges when Taron noticed something crucial. While retrieving his daggers from beneath the latest fallen Locus, an idea began forming in his mind.
"Wait!" he called to his companions. "We can make this more efficient. The daggers and spears... if we all use them first, then one magical attack, and move forward to recover them while the next one comes..."
Micah caught the idea immediately. "One mana point per monster instead of two."
The strategy was quickly refined.
The group began coordinating with military precision: first, a rain of daggers and spears weakened the Locus, followed by a single magical attack to finish it off. While the next monster approached, they retrieved their weapons, ready to repeat the cycle.
"It's a shame we didn't think of this earlier," Valeria commented while retrieving her dagger from another Locus's remains. "We could have saved more mana."
In the end, they faced exactly one hundred monsters, just like in the wide chamber challenge.
The total mana expenditure barely exceeded 120 points, considerably less than they initially feared, though more than it could have been if they had implemented the weapons strategy from the beginning.
♢♢♢♢
When the last Locus fell, the group gathered in front of the transport crystal.
"This is better than we expected," Micah intervened, looking at Zara. "With your base attack of 12, the emblem will take you to 24 damage. Each physical hit will do eighteen points of real damage at this level. You should definitely take it."
Zara nodded, extending her hand toward the emblem.
The object glowed intensely as it was absorbed by her book, and immediately she felt the power flowing through her.
The first Locus appeared in the tunnel, as immobile as those from the previous level.
Zara wasted no time.
With fluid and precise movements, she began throwing daggers in rapid succession. Each impact drew grunts of pain from the monster, the damage clearly visible on its carapace.
"Twelve hits!" Aria counted as she watched. "That's all she needs to bring them down."
The system they had developed worked like clockwork.
While Zara maintained her constant rain of daggers on the current Locus, the others moved agilely, recovering the thrown weapons and positioning them strategically near her for the next encounter.
Occasionally, when Zara needed a moment to readjust her position or when a monster got too close, her companions intervened.
A well-placed spear here, a timely thrown dagger there, maintaining the battle's rhythm without wasting a single movement.
"It's like a dance!" Valeria exclaimed after sliding near the half-disintegrating corpse of a Locus to recover three daggers and place them within Zara's reach.
The battle became an exercise in precision and coordination.
The monsters fell one after another, their bodies vanishing while the next emerged from the shadows. Zara's increased power meant each hit counted more, making the battle faster and more efficient than in the previous level.
Most impressively, they didn't need to spend a single point of mana.
The increased physical damage was more than enough to far surpass the Locus's improved defense, allowing them to conserve all their magical energy for future challenges.
When the last monster fell, the group allowed themselves a moment of satisfaction. They had overcome the second level without using magic, a feat that exceeded their initial expectations.
"This is promising," Zara said, collecting the last of her daggers. "Let's go straight to the third."