Chapter Three Hundred and Seventeen - Counting Sheep

“Is everyone well?” Lieutenant Petalwrought asked.

He was the last to arrive in the hallway that connected all of the corridors together. Still, despite that, he didn’t look ruffled or bothered at all. He just went around and checked on everyone, then stood by the door at the end of the hall with his back straight and his eyes hard.

“That floor can be quite the challenge for some. I’m glad to see that everyone is still on their feet and that the floor didn’t break any of us. I’m impressed. We will take a moment to relax again before moving on to the next floor.”

“What’s on the next floor?” Lucille asked.

Lieutenant Petalwrought crossed his arms. “The fourth floor is challenging. We will be fighting wave after wave of sheep.”

“Cute fuzzy fluffball sheep?” I asked.

The lieutenant blinked. “No, demon sheep.”

“Cute fuzzy fluffball demon sheep?” I hoped

The lieutenant ignored me. “Their main attacks are straight-forward charges and magical bleats.”

“Magical bleats?” Lucille asked.

“The magic takes on two forms. One of them is a magical blast that imparts physical force. Think of it as similar to an air-blast spell. They can knock you off your feet, though they are not exceptionally powerful. They will try to trample you if you’re prone. The second aspect of their magical attacks is that they will put you to sleep.”

“Will the potions we took negate that?” Amaryllis asked.

“To a great extent, yes,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said. “Though the potion isn’t perfect, and enough concentrated magic can knock you out all the same. Less-focused attacks will still distract and weaken you.”

“How do we fight them?” Erin asked.

“They’ll be coming in waves over a fence-like barricade. Once we’ve defeated enough, the fence falls and we can move on to the next area. Usually there are three fences, but there can be more. I believe that the number depends on the number of participants and their respective levels, though we never quite pinned down the exact pattern.”

So, we’d have to fight some sheep, then we would move on to the final floor. That seemed easy enough.

“As for the method. The knights and I will form the front line. The sheep will always come from the same direction. If you can provide ranged support without harming any of us, then I’d encourage you to do so. The sheep’s faces and legs are their weak points. Their bodies are covered in a thick layer of wool padding that makes it difficult to cut them. A sufficiently sharp stabbing or piercing attack can push through their armour. Their horns are also quite tough. They can parry some attacks with them.”

The others asked a few more questions, and eventually we settled on a formation that we’d take once we were on the fourth floor. Petalwrought even had us stand in that formation while in the hallway. Him at the front and centre, a pair of knights on either side, and finally the rest of us behind.

Awen was going to use her crossbow, Amaryllis her magic, and the rest of us would help with what ranged magic we could manage.

Erin and Bron both volunteered to be at the back, where they could run in and counter any sheep that made it past the knights.

I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to help much. Cleaning magic wasn’t going to counter a charging sheep. I had fireballs though, and I imagined those would be pretty effective if I could set their wool on fire.

“All right,” the lieutenant said. “Let’s move out. We don’t want to let the potions wear off too much.”

The bedroom that connected every floor together was as I remembered, though again it was in worse shape. The water stains on the walls before had darkened, and the floor and bedding was mouldy and starting to rot. Something dark was dripping from a crack in the ceiling.

A putrid stench hung in the air, thick enough that I instinctively flared my cleaning aura. It helped a little, but it seemed to keep manifesting, like it was enforced by the room itself.

We didn’t linger there for long though. The lieutenant stood by the door to the next floor, then did a quick check of his equipment. The other knights did the same. One had given me back Weedbane, back in the hallway, so I checked the scythe’s staff and blade for any nicks. Then I shifted my pack to make sure it was on snug and then helped Amaryllis with hers.

“Everyone ready?” Petalwrought asked.

There were nods and “yes sirs” all around.

He opened the door and we filed out after him.

The floor was like a long tunnel. Big cliffs stood on either side, made of jaggedy rocks that towered above. The sky wasn’t a sky at all, but looked more like a painted ceiling, with little glow-in-the-dark stars placed between fluffy night-darkened clouds. The stars glowed enough to see - it wasn't bright, though, so a few of us sent out our magical lights again.

“There’s the first fence,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said.

The fence was... a fence. Some wooden boards held up together to form a wall that was just a bit shorter than I was from toe to eartip. We couldn’t see past it, not with the way the boards were pressed in. It looked like an ordinary fence, though there were stars and suns and moons painted on it to make it a bit livelier.

“Roots,” Aria said.

I followed her gaze to the base of the fence. She was right, there were roots poking in between the boards.

“The last few times we ran the dungeon with the roots in it, they didn’t seem to change much,” Petalwrought said.

A rumble sounded from across the gate, like a small stampede of horses clopping through muddy ground.

The knights spread out in a wall before us, shields up, swords ready. The rest of us ran to our spots. I had a place in the middle, not too far behind the lieutenant, with both of my friends by my sides and then Aria and Lucille on their side.

The fence shook as a hooved foot clacked atop it, and then a sheep was jumping over the fence. Another followed a split second later, then another.

I was expecting a little sheep. Sure, the lieutenant had said demon sheep, but in my mind they would be waist-high fluffballs with widdle horns.

These things were nearly as tall as the sylph before us, with huge curved horns that swept around their heads and came to a point next to their faces. Glowing red eyes locked onto us, and the front row of sheep bleated.

I gasped as a burst of air slapped me back a step while a loud baa sounded in my ears like someone blowing on an airhorn.

Then the world went woozy for a moment and I felt my eyes growing heavy. I almost fell to one knee, but the act of falling snapped me awake and I regained my balance. I pushed some Cleaning magic around my body. It helped, I think.

Right! I was supposed to be helping!

I concentrated and formed a brace of fireballs. The knights met the sheep’s charge and it broke against them, sheep snarling and bleating as the mass tried to press forward. “Range!” Petalwrought shouted.

With a flick of my arm, I cast my fireballs towards the sheep.

Lightning and a fiery whip cracked through the air from Amaryllis and Lucille, and I heard Awen's crossbow twang.

The sheep bleated again as the magic and projectiles hit them. Fur caught fire and the sheep were pushed back and off the knight’s shields.

It was enough for the knights to mount a counterattack.

“Keep firing!” the lieutenant ordered while his sword hacked and slashed at the sheep before him.

They were tough. Their woolly covering bounced off a few attacks, and I noticed that there were large roots tangled into the wool. It made it even harder for attacks to get through.

Finally, the first of the sheep went down. That freed up a knight who immediately ran to help one of his comrades. With more attacks suddenly turned onto the other sheep, they quickly fell, each disappearing as a mist of whitish fog as they lay on the ground.

“Well done,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said as the last of the sheep died.

We all got a nice little dose of experience points (the sheep were level twelve!) but my attention was more on what had landed on the grassy ground where the sheeps faded. “What’s that?” I asked.

“Ah, loot,” the lieutenant said. He picked up a bundle of what looked like... yarn? “You can make some excellent clothes from this. It’s spun already, and from what I’ve been told, of superlative quality.”

“Does your order make clothes?” Amaryllis asked.

“We’ve had a member or two who can, over the years, but no, for the most part we sell these off to raise funds. The drops aren’t so common that they’re worth farming. Mostly they serve as a nice reward.”

“Can I keep that sample?” Aria asked. “For science, of course.”

The lieutenant shrugged and tossed her the bundle. “Any injuries?”

Once everyone confirmed that they were fine, we moved towards the fence as a group. A strong kick from Petalwrought was enough to knock the entire thing over with a loud whump.

The other side of the fence was the same as this side. Was the grass a little greener? I checked back and forth. I couldn’t tell, but maybe? It was certainly closer to our goal.

“Same formation,” the lieutenant said. “The number of sheep usually increases with each fence. If we started at five, then it’s possible we’ll have too many to hold back at the front.”

“What do we do then?” I asked.

“Mister Talldance, Mister Winterhand, if you would be so kind as to watch the flanks?” the lieutenant asked Erin and Bron. They both nodded and stepped up to the sides, weapons at the ready.

As soon as we crossed the middle of the open space, the thumping of hooves sounded again. Sheep sailed over the fence, landed heavily on this side, then charged right at us.

They were met with steel and magic.

Sweat started to slide down my brow as I focused on flinging as many fireballs ahead as I could. They weren’t doing much, individually, but with a large number of them I was at least shaving the wool off of one sheep’s side.

This group went down like the last. First one fell, then that dominoed into the entire group collapsing.

“Check your health and mana,” the lieutenant said. He was just a little sweaty too, I think. Hard to tell with his helmet on. “If you’re low in health, we have some ointments and potions. We broke out the good stock for this mission. If you’re low in mana or stamina, we can pause for a moment before pushing forward.”

Mana 85/145

My mana tended to go up by a bit more than one a minute, I think. It wasn’t exact. “I’m still good for another fence, I think,” I said.

“Likewise,” Amaryllis said. “But time saved now might repay later, especially if the challenge will grow fiercer as we continue.”

“Two minutes to rest, then,” the lieutenant said.

That wasn’t much at all, but it would have to do, I supposed.

I stretched and resisted the urge to use just a little bit of Cleaning magic on myself. I could go a few minutes without wiping off my sweat. I wondered if I was growing to have a phobia of dirtiness? Would I still hug a friend if they were stinky?

I looked at Amaryllis with narrowed eyes until she turned to stare at me. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said.

“Alright everyone,” the lieutenant said. “Let’s keep moving. We’re almost to the end.”

We stepped up to the fence and kicked it down.

It was supposed to be clear on the other side, at least until the next wave of sheep came after us.

Instead, there was an abomination waiting. It looked at us with six baleful eyes, then, after taking in a deep breath, it blasted out a warbling scream.

"BAAAAA!!"

***