As the party steps onto Floor Seven things once again seem almost normal. There's no indication that the dungeon has once again looped the chambers as part of its bizarre 'board game' test, and Prince Thaddeus rather doubts it would repeat that move again anyhow. Also, despite their losses so far including the recently fallen Lyman Blair, the prince still has high hopes for their success. The dungeon had awarded them ten more tokens for the previous fight, including one for Lyman's contribution, yet had not provided extras for the second guardian which seems inconsistent. It had given them a second helping for the fight with DEATH and Trush, after all. As best as anyone could guess the issue was that the mirrored woman 'didn't count' as a guardian, for one reason or another.

Still, they're up to sixty-six now and with three floor bosses, a core guardian, and possibly another wandering boss remaining, the last thirty-four shouldn't be out of their reach. Seven party members are also...sufficient, for the task, he has to hope. The typical dungeon party was only four to six, after all. He's even feeling confident enough that he hadn't allowed Reed to wear his father's dungeon charm, lest the already-injured man draw more bad luck upon himself. The most important consideration right now isn't the team's endurance but rather their morale, and so Thaddeus gives his group another brief floor-intro pep talk.

"Here we are again on Floor Seven. All of you have been here before, although many of you have not actually had the opportunity to fight Theolif's Valkyrie in actual combat. It is a shame that Gerliari did not make it this far, as I imagine she would've made short work of the guardian. My heart also still aches with the loss of dear Lyman, who was one of our most experienced combatants. Our victory is still comfortably in our grasp, however. After all, Tizzy, did you and I not slay her even with Yulia literally stabbing Linda in the back? This time I expect her defeat to come all the sooner. Now, are all of you ready for our next challenge, or do we require further rest?"

For the most part the party turns to look at Reed rather than answer for themselves, but the young man simply nods with a focused look in his eyes. "My heart...also aches with the loss of my father, my lord. But I learned well fighting at his side, and I will not let you down."

The prince returns the nod before turning to face the room ahead, and silently keeps his doubts to himself. It's a little funny, after all - the prince himself is twenty-eight, a mere two years older than Reed is. Yet the man always felt much younger considering the way he followed always at his father's footsteps, taking his advice on every issue. He can only hope the man has the self-confidence to continue without a father figure to guide him. After all, Thaddeus would feel a little awkward having to step into that role for himself...

Even as these thoughts pass through his mind, the party easily identifies and slays the tiny crystalline mimics placed to greet new arrivals to the floor. The sprites and crystal fae in the following rooms are likewise exactly as Thaddeus remembers them, and with seven adventurers several of the rooms are cleared in a matter of seconds. Linda's barriers easily block most of their attacks, and the other mages largely get to sit back and act as support as Thaddeus, Norlash, Nalain, and Reed eliminate each monster one by one.

Eventually the group again reaches the large upside-down 'forest' in the center of the floor, and there's noticeable sighs of relief at the confirmation that the dungeon hasn't done something incredibly twisted to the environment. The prince has to smirk at the thought that a forest made of gemstones feels comfortably familiar to him, but takes on a serious expression before again addressing the group. "Alright, all. This is a section of the dungeon particularly known for its ambushes, so be on your guard. The Rabbit Knight often makes his appearance here, and I do not know for certain if the man can only face a team once in a day. Either way there are sure to be monsters hiding above, so be wary. Tizzy, keep your eyes open and shout out when you spot something."

"You got it, my lord!" The scout carefully leads the team forward, searching for any 'branches' that might be moving in a threatening manner. Oddly enough she finds nothing at all, and it's when they reach the midpoint of the large chamber that the amount of nothing becomes truly worrisome.

"Ah...Prince Thaddeus, my lord? I think...we have a problem."

"Completely unsurprising, at this point. But what's the matter specifically, Tizzy?"

The half-imp points ahead. "The boss arena should be right in that direction - a big section sealed off by giant crystals, yeah? But it's not there. I'm...not exactly sure which direction we ought to be heading in now."

Linda frowns as she looks for herself. "Well, the floor has to have an exit somewhere. Should we go and search over there regardless? But...where is the Valkyrie?"

That question is partially answered as a woman's voice echoes through the massive chamber, bouncing off of the many crystals hanging overhead. "Interesting thing about 'boss arenas', I am told. While most guardians need to be bound to a floor, the specific 'arena' typically used is entirely optional. Or, in other words - the entire floor can be my arena."

Thaddeus curses as he raises his shield. "Dammit! The Valkyrie's greatest strength is her flight and mobility, which the arena typically restrains! Watch above and to your flanks, she's likely to try and soar at us from a blind angle!"

The woman in question does soar in, but comes to a halt in plain view a good forty feet from the nearest adventurer. "A good guess, princeling. But aside from mobility, there's something else this arrangement grants me that I did not have in my prior engagements." Even at this distance and with her helmet covering most of her face, Thaddeus can still see the wide grin on the green-skinned elf's face.

"Minions."

As if the word were a pre-determined signal, a reverberating sound of shattering passes through the ceiling above them. Linda quickly forms a magical dome above the group, worrying that perhaps the dungeon is about to bring the entire damned forest down atop their heads, yet there's far fewer crystal shards pinging off of her defenses than she would expect. Peering upwards, the mage realizes that it's perhaps only one in ten 'trees' which were broken, and those seem oddly...hollow.

Her vision is then blocked as a large red glob of something splatters across her barrier spell. "What in the dark gods!?"

Tizzy is much quicker to recognize the threat. "Slimes! It's raining slimes, people!" Sure enough, for a hundred feet in every direction large slimes are falling from the sky, and apparently left mostly uninjured by their impacts with the stony ground. They do splatter a little on landing, but after a few seconds of pulling themselves back together they orient themselves and march towards the adventurers at their center. They come in nearly every color of the rainbow, and Linda hazards a guess as to their full nature.

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"They say the dungeon once used 'mana slimes' as a boss monster on this floor, these may be weaker versions! Each is aspected to a different element, be on your guard!"

The group's melee defenders circle around to provide a barrier against the slow-moving monsters, but unfortunately they don't have much time to prepare before the guardian herself is soaring at them. Brightsky doesn't stay around to fight, instead swooping by to swing her blade at Norlash before rising back into the air. The scratch she leaves on him is minor, but Nalain can see where this is going. "She's going to try and wear us out with a thousand cuts while the slimes distract us! I'll focus on her as long as you can keep the slimes off of me, alright?"

Thaddeus is tempted to claim the guardian for himself, but he can see the wisdom in the suggestion. Nalain's heavy armor isn't particularly useful against the slimes who have a weakness against agile opponents, but it should counter the Valkyrie's current strategy of light wounds. "Agreed! We'll thin their numbers and then focus on her after!"

Unfortunately the plan is easier said than done. Reed's thin blade is useless against the slimes, and so the young fencer mostly only serves to act as a decoy, hopping between monsters as they attempt to trip him with tentacles or launch blobs of goo in his direction. Even Norlash's heavy axe is of limited use, as these slimes are largely too massive to kill in a single blow, and the creatures close up their wounds fairly quickly between attacks. Thaddeus does what he can in their stead, using his enchanted boots to dash back and forth across the battlefield, amputating tentacles wherever they appear. A single lost limb isn't enough to kill the monsters, but fully-removed slime is beyond their ability to recover and so the prince works his own version of the thousand-cuts strategy on them.

He could still use a little assistance, though. After Hylii finishes boosting Nalain to a level to where she can confidently intercept the Valkyrie's attacks, the prince calls out for him. "Have you figured out anything useful for slimes, my friend?"

"It's...complicated! As I said before, they barely have a body like my magics are used to. No skeleton, no internal organs. But...hrmm." The dark elf closes his eyes for a moment and concentrates. "These slimes do have mana pathways, and not nearly as complicated as the Floor Two guardian's. I may be able to do something there..." Casting a spell towards an earth-aspected slime not far away, the man smiles as he watches the blob half-transform into stone and crystal, bringing its movements to a complete halt. "I can overload their pathways and cause them to misfire! Speaking of that though, do stay away from the fiery ones, a misfire there may still be...well, let's see..."

He casts the same spell towards a brightly colored slime, and winces as the monster suddenly explodes from within. Thaddeus looks away as a bit of slime flies in his direction. "Yes...very effective. Good work, Hylii."

With a strategy in place the battle then begins in earnest, with each side struggling to see whose plan will prove the better. Even in such large numbers, the slimes aren't truly much of a threat to the adventurers. Boss-level Mana Slimes might have been one thing, but the minion versions can barely cast a tiny fireball or weak bolt of lightning every minute, a rate of fire the mage's barriers are more than able to withstand. Their speed isn't much to worry about either, with only a few light impacts temporarily managing to trip up Reed or Norlash.

There are a lot of them however, and they're difficult to kill even with Hylii's discovery. That allows them to serve their purpose as a distraction for Brightsky, who doesn't let up as she swoops down and down again on the party several times a minute. The boosted Nalain does manage to intercept many of her attacks, but on one occasion the guardian crashes right through Linda's barrier and nearly takes her head, saved only by a panicked tackle from Tizzy which pulls the mage to the ground.

With Hylii spending most of his magic on exploding slimes his boosts on Nalain prove a little more short-lived than he may have intended, and certainly more so than Nalain herself was expecting. As she leaps to intercept the Valkyrie once again several of the spells wear off mid-jump, and the orc finds herself crashing to the ground on a twisted ankle. The unexpected nature of the motion is perhaps also the only thing that saves her, as Brightsky adjusts to take advantage of the warrior's weakness and instead only manages to impact the orc's helmet with her blade rather than the neck she was aiming for. It does serve to knock the orc entirely unconscious though, and Thaddeus quickly moves to intercept before Brightsky can finish her off.

As his blade locks with the elf's, the man peers into her eyes as best as her helmet will allow. "Do you still intend to judge my companions and I, Valkyrie? To send us to your god? Or will you still not let your master here decide our fates?"

Brightsky grimaces in frustration. She'd lost her momentum in her attempt to slay the orc, and the slimes are already thinning out enough that her previous strategy's not likely to last more than another minute or two anyhow. The adventurers only have a single solid ranged combatant in Tizzy and her arcane blasts, but she doesn't wager good odds on her chances in a ranged battle. So perhaps it's time to see if she can at least humble this whelp a little before the fight ends.

"Several of you have been judged already! Or have you not noticed the bodies of your fallen companions as you left them along the way? Did you think them random chance? Do you think the pitfall on Floor Two would have claimed just anyone who had pressed that button?"

As he trades blows with the elf, each of them searching for ways through the other's defenses, Thaddeus frowns. "It's no surprise that Xenia has been after something with all of these tests of hers. But all of this has been entirely unnecessary! We're not her enemies! I am not even your enemy, Valkyrie, whatever crimes some of my followers may have once committed."

"Of course! You don't want to do this. You're just forced into it, by a silly woman who doesn't understand that you know what's better for her than she does! If only she would stop resisting, perhaps she would realize that you're not so bad!" There's a light in her eyes as Opal's volume increases, a literal divine fire of retribution, and Thaddeus finds himself beginning to struggle to keep up with the strength of her blows. Fortunately the man does not fight alone, and spells from Tizzy and Linda begin to aid him as the local slime population faces extinction.

"That's not - I'm not - damn you! I'm only asking to be heard! I have spent years seeking her out, lost dozens along the way! If I must be denied, then let it be by Xenia herself! The blood spilled will not be for nothing!"

The two turn into a flurry of silver, with armor and swords and shields glinting in the magical light of the floor as they battle. In the end it's Brightsky's wings that prove to be her undoing. The large appendages are easy targets for the party's mages and while wounding the metal-clad limbs might be difficult, restraining them with barrier spells is much more practical. Without the ability to leap or dodge it comes down solely to Brightsky's swordplay to counter the incoming blows, and eventually the woman leaves a gap in her defenses that Thaddeus immediately takes.

As the elf's head falls to the floor, a satisfied grin finds its way to his face. Yet strangely enough, the shout that comes from Tizzy behind him is filled with panic and concern. "Thaddeus! Are you alright?"

"Of course Tizzy, thank you again for your aid, and Linda as well. Are the slimes all...oh." The prince feels for a moment that his shield arm is much too light, and as he looks down he realizes that his shield is now lying on the ground. As is the arm it was strapped to.

"...Oh. I see."

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