We worked hard to reinforce the Raid Team for the next week.
The other mages and I eventually created enough enchanted equipment to supply all the raiders that were climbing through the 21st floor.
On top of that, every raider was supplied with Basic Healing Elixir, Heat Resistance Potion, as well as Power Potion.
Each party leader was also given a Healing Stone in case of an emergency.
Though we now could constantly produce Healing Stones, we still did not have them in abundance.
There simply was not much yield of Mannalite from the Weekday Dungeons yet.
That was why party leaders needed to return an unused Healing Stone after coming back from the mission.
By doing that, we could allocate the Healing Stone to the next party, which would help maintain and even increase our Healing Stone supply.
Harl, our main War Storage manager, had done a great job distributing and keeping track of the supplies and equipment.
None of the party was found lacking when going into the mission. And they were always on time in replacing their worn down Protection Ring.
Our hard labor was not for nothing.
The new supplies and equipment certainly helped the Reserve raiders on the 21st floor.
Another twelve parties from the second floor tried the mission and we only lost two trainees.
Putting much effort to reinforce the trainees greatly benefited the growth of the Raid Team.
By lowering the number of casualties, we would then have more 2-star heroes levelling up and got promoted to 3-star, which in turn allowed them to join the Reserve Forces.
We lost basically our entire Reserve Forces to the fourth Quintal Trial.
But now we already had 25 new parties in the Reserve Forces. 114 3-star trainees in total, after deducting the raiders that fell on the 21st floor so far.
The parties with vacant positions had been instructed to recruit replacements from the second floor. So the fallen would soon be replaced and made the ranks whole again.
Moreover, another ten 2-star parties from the second floor would be ready to climb to the 21st floor in about a week from now.
The Reserve Forces would only grow as time passes and we would soon recover our losses.
And having taken care of that matter, we could now continue our climb.
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 22nd Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
Except for the scouts, Party 1 was the first party to be sent to the 22nd floor.
Master restored our role as the group to advance the climb.
Since we first challenged the 21st floor two weeks ago and then frequented the mission, my comrades and I had levelled up.
Jonah, Shanny, and Tarran had reached level 21. Devisha at level 20. While I reached level 19.
We should be strong enough to challenge the new floor.
The moment the bluish-white light vanished, our party found ourselves back in the midst of Phirdaus.
My comrades and I quickly drank the Heat Resistance Potion to counter the jungle's temperature.
I could cast a spell like I did on the 21st floor to take care of the heat. But I wanted to test the efficiency of the resistance potion myself.
The hot humid air became much more bearable after drinking the potion.
Even so, I could still feel the uncomfortable moisture lingering over my skin.
Perhaps this was the limit of our potion.
I already discovered the extent of the Heat Resistance Potion's effect while frequenting the 21st floor.
No matter what I did to make the potion more potent, the moisture still remained a bothersome aspect.
We would need better ingredients and more advanced alchemic process to solve this specific issue.
But my comrades and I should not find ourselves significantly hindered by the lingering heat.
[Floor 22]
[Mission Type – Subjugation]
[Objective – Annihilate the enemies!]
Another subjugation mission, as expected.
My Heaven's Eye caught multiple monsters speeding toward our direction.
I repeated our opening tactic by scorching our surrounding area and created a sufficient space for our party to move about.
Monsters began to emerge from the untouched part of the jungle.
The enemies were still pretty much the same as in the 21st floor.
Only this time there was an addition of a bunch of large winged bugs that shoot out poisonous darts.
[Beastling Lv.24 x26]
[Blood Crow Lv.21 x30]
[Gatormole Lv.24 x20]
[Killer Spider Lv.21 x28]
[Poison Stinger Lv.21 x30]
Tarran and I launched our first set of assaults against the monsters.
The archer shot out exploding arrows while I sent a stream of fire all over to raise a burning wall around us.
Crash!
Boom!
Some of the surviving horned crows and the flying bugs got over the fire wall.
Tarran rapidly shot them all down accurately.
The huge shelled moles tried to get under the fire wall by digging through the ground.
But I seized them with telekinesis like before and dragged them to the surface.
Crash!
Jonah, Shanny, and Devisha rushed to kill the underground creatures.
Ignoring the tough shells, my comrades pierced their weapon through the opening which revealed the monster's eyes, their single weak spot.
Our archer also aided them with his arrows.
Roarrr!!!
Kree!!!
More monsters got through the fire wall.
It was the beastlings and the giant poisonous spiders this time.
But they were already heavily burned by my fire wall once they got through to us.
Most of the spiders dropped dead a few steps over the fire wall, while the beastlings staggered and thrashed around due to their burn wounds.
My comrades easily disposed the disoriented enemies.
Despite having killed all the monsters, the mission was not yet over.
There still remained opponents for us to face.
KREEE!!!
Two large winged creatures dashed down from the sky.
Whoosh!
The flaps of their huge black wings created a strong draft which put out my fire wall.
They landed right in front of our party and threatened to devour us.
[Juvenile Impiana Lv.27 x2]
I supposed the 21st floor would not be the last of us seeing this creature.
There were two of them this time, in fact.
But my comrades and I already expected them.
Master had hinted us of their arrival through our mock battles.
"Are you sure you don't want my help?"
I asked my comrades.
Before coming here, they insisted on taking down the Impianas on their own should we encounter the monsters.
Jonah nodded.
"As members of Party 1 and your comrades, I believe we must be able to defeat this enemy without relying on your magic, Fina."
The shepherd turned to the veiled woman next to him.
"Ready, Devisha?"
The Tsahanam assassin grasped her daggers tighter.
"Ready."
Shanny then turned to Tarran.
"I'll attract the beast. Be ready with your arrows, kid."
"Got it!"
The archer replied while nocking a large arrow to his bow.
KREEEE!!!
As the two Impianas let out a loud shriek, my comrades charged toward the monsters with killing intent.