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If there was one thing that stood out to me more than anything else on this mission, it was just how different it was to work with a large group. I watched our combined teams form six lines of guards outside the door to the second-floor ballroom. This experience couldn't even compare to what it was like when my party explored the midnight castle dungeon.

The large double doors of the ballroom were closed but the miasma oozing through it was palpable. I had talked with Captain Jasper ahead of time about it so we were prepared to face whatever was on the other side of this door. As Jasper had said, if there was a large monster to fight in this place, the ballroom was most likely place it would be. There wasn't an interior room larger than the one in front of us. Everyone steeled themselves as the two guards in front pulled open the doors.

The blood-splattered ballroom doors creaked open revealing a horde of shadow demons, not much larger than individual people. Rather than one large big thing, it was clear we were instead dealing with many many small things. As soon as the hallway light lit the floor of the ballroom the shadows swarmed toward the doors. It brought back images of the demon break we fought.

The large glass windows were pitch black, holding the early daylight back from the dark ballroom and allowing the shadow demons to flourish in the gloomy environment. The room itself wasn't pitch black though, an unnaturally dim glow came from the candles in the chandeliers, sending confusing shadows all over the ballroom. They mixed with the monster's presence making them even harder to distinguish.

Despite the sight of the intimidating horde, there was no hesitation from the guards who immediately pushed in and formed expanding ranks as they created a barrier of shields through the doors. While the monsters looked like moving shadows, they weren't intangible and the guard's swords and spears cut them down perfectly fine, allowing us to take hold of a strong position inside the room.

I quickly checked my spells. [Light Orb] would likely be quite useful here since it would be strong against the shadow monsters. There's also my luck magic, I haven't had much reason to use any of it lately but now would finally be a good time for it. I may as well start with a game of [Blackjack].

I drew two cards, eight of clubs and ten of hearts, off to a great start. I tossed the cards over the heads of the frontline. My magic control let me know exactly where the cards would land, they weren't physical cards, rather magic representations of them. Meaning, the Magic Control stat governed how they would land rather than my Strength or Dexterity.

The 18 hit and a frankly huge explosion crashed into a large group of the monsters, chipping away at their huge ranks. A few of the guards gave me a surprised look before refocusing on the task ahead of them. I don't think they expected that I would end up being a respectable mage based on my outer appearance.

No notifications yet, it must be counting the kills as part of a group participation like it had during the dungeon break. Next I tried a [Light Orb], the enemy I hit staggered but it was hard to tell how much damage the shadow creatures had taken without any real visual indications. I was probably better off relying on [Blackjack] even if the amount of mana it took was larger. I was just about to cast it when I had a sudden thought. What about [Fireflies]?

[Fireflies - Light Magic Spell]

Create small floating lights in an area equal to Magic Force x 1 foot. Magic Control improves the ability to move and manipulate the lights, Magic Force improves the brightness of the lights. Fireflies ward off shadow and dark-aligned enemies if their primary combat stat is lower than your Magic Force.

I was unsure how it would go but the spell was cheap, relatively speaking, and a bit more light might help the people fighting if nothing else.

I cast the spell and the effect was noticeable and immediate. As the small twinkling lights spread out around the people fighting, the shadow monsters looked like they had been zapped. When they got too close to the fireflies they stuttered and froze in place just long enough to leave themselves open for the fighting guards.

"Lilith! Keep doing that. Maintain that spell as long as possible." I wasn't sure where it was coming from but Jasper's voice cut through all of the other noise without any interference. I had thought his voice was always clear when he had been giving out orders throughout the day but I didn't realize until now it must have been some kind of skill.

The cost to maintain fireflies was negligible, any drain it had was much less than my natural regeneration, even without any hard numbers it was easy to tell.

"Not a problem!" I yelled out. I couldn't see Jasper in the scramble but I assumed he could hear me.

For now, I had plenty of mana to keep contributing with blackjacks. I drew again, five of diamonds and seven of hearts. A middling hand and the resulting explosion suffered compared to the last one. Once the cards were drawn the mana was already used so there was no point in folding them. Even if I got bad hands, I may as well throw them anyway.

King of diamonds and six of spades for a total of 16. Pretty good, though it could be better. I threw the hand and watched the resulting explosion clear out another chunk of the ballroom. My next hand was a 15, slightly worse than the last but nothing to sneeze at. I had a decent amount of mana left but I was draining it much faster than it would take to get through the wall of enemies. This would be an endurance fight, I couldn't afford to use everything up right away. I decided to go for one more hand before conserving the rest for now.

Two kings for a total of twenty, it was the largest explosion so far and it felt quite nice to watch over two dozen of the shadow enemies vaporize in the arcane explosion. I stepped back and instead intensified the power of the fireflies using my magic control. It didn't do anything more to the ones that had already been affected but a slightly larger number of them behind the closest enemies were now shuddering too. The guards calmly continued to take safe attacks when the shadows froze up and left themselves open, slowly working against the tide of enemies.

I couldn't do much more if I wanted to conserve my mana so I scanned over the small battlefield. Morrigan was liberally using fireballs to blow up the shadow monsters, the nature of her magic let her go on as long as she could stay focused. Torien had switched to a crossbow and had fallen in line with the crossbowmen guards. A large barrel of bolts had been brought in and set down between them and they were standing on a hastily constructed scaffolding that had been brought through the doors to give them an angle over everyone's heads. The sight almost made me laugh because nearly every time we were in a situation like this Torien found a way to be standing next to all the ammunition.

Silva and Mimi were near the front, stabbing the shadow demons over the shoulders of the shield wall. We had been told we weren't expected to be directly involved with combat but no one seemed to mind the two of them contributing like this, there were just too many monsters to turn away the help. Bella was currently healing one of the guards who had taken a nasty scratch on his arm. When he was all healed up he got back into the line of spearmen and Bella was on standby, watching over the guards so she could quickly run and heal someone from behind if the situation called for it. Anything less threatening, like the man from before, came to her to get healing so she could conserve her energy.

With the group's combined efforts we were tearing through the horde of shadow demons. With my party supporting the well-disciplined team of guards, it wasn't long before the last of the shadow monsters would be killed.

Something didn't feel right though.

After a while we had killed nearly all of them. There were only a few stragglers left, yet the miasma that filled the room hadn't faded as much as it should have. There was something else here, something hiding. I focused on my [Mana Sense] and cast [Light Beam] once again to scour the room. I double-checked all of the corners, trailed up the statues that cast creepy shadows, and finally settled on the pitch-black windows. What is causing that?

I intensified the light on the windows but they remained pitch black in the dim candlelight. The light from the candles... in the chandeliers of an abandoned castle? I looked back at the ceiling, paying special attention to the chandeliers. The glow of my magic cast deep shadows onto the ceiling but they didn't resemble the chandeliers the light should be casting.

A piercing scream filled the ballroom and made the guards look around in panic. Luckily, some of the ones who had been watching my actions were quick to ready their weapons in preparation. A giant shadow creature fell from the ceiling into the middle of the ballroom a good ten yards or so from us. The creature was hard to see clearly but it shimmered in my light magic. Now that it was in the middle of the room, it was visible in the distortion my light magic created.

"Guards! Ready shields!" Jasper's voice could be heard throughout the ballroom and the town guards were quick to form ranks with whoever was nearest to them. I hadn't moved much since we first started pushing into the ballroom so I was still close to Bella and the twins. Mimi and Silva were up ahead, having fallen in with one of the groups of guards that had advanced deeper into the room.

None of the ranged combatants waited for orders to attack, crossbow bolts and whatever magic the guards and Morrigan had on hand flew towards the monster. It took the magic attacks head on but the fire projectiles stopped in mid-air.

"Magic attack! Cover!"

The guards holding shields in the front ranks cast some kind of barrier magic that interlocked with each other and created a wide net of magic in front of everyone. Only a breath later a wave of fire rolled across the ground and slammed into the interwoven shield the guards had formed. The only unlucky ones in the attack were the ones on the edges of the massive shield, who got singed from behind when the attack wrapped around the edges of the barrier. I had been worried for a moment but the tough guards just pat out the flames and fell back into the shield wall.

"Mages! No fire attacks! Switch to crossbows if necessary!"

Jasper's voice was reassuring in the battle, I wasn't sure if it was some kind of effect that came with his voice or if it was just the encouraging feeling of someone being in control of the situation.

I drew another hand. Jack of hearts, Ace of diamonds, Blackjack.

A large explosion shook the room as my blackjack hand did serious damage and caused the shadow demon to stagger.

"Guards! Advance!" The guard captain took advantage of the opening and the guards surged toward the monster. They closed the distance and encircled it before it could regain its bearings.

The guards quickly and methodically pressed in, locking the monster between the shield walls from all sides. Now that we were closer, the monster's fire attacks splashed up against the shield barriers and sprayed all the way up to the ceiling, but the guard's shields held. The monster had now become completely trapped.

"Spears!"

Columns in the shield wall opened up in the tapestry of barrier magic to allow the guardsmen to stab into the creature from every angle. The fire attacks it was using blasted through the gaps but anyone who was hit directly either shrugged it off or was dragged over to Bella for quick healing.

It was now only a matter of time, the monster was being stabbed repeatedly from every side. Its formless shadow body was twisting and turning in the encirclement looking for any escape but it found none. The guards stood in a pool of blood that flowed through the gaps in their magic barrier as the monster became more and more desperate to flee. Eventually it ceased its struggle and slumped against one of the barrier walls before its body began to collapse under its own weight, virtually melting into a puddle that seeped through the barrier's gaps.

[Your group has coordinated to defeat a horde of Faceless Shadows]

[Your party has coordinated to defeat a Shadow Flame Behemoth]

[Your level has increased from level 41 to level 42]

[Novice Magic Swordsman has increased from level 9 to level 10]

[Luck Magic has increased from level 1 to level 6]

[Light Magic has increased from level 9 to level 10]

[Light Manipulation has increased from level 9 to level 12]

[Learned Enhancement Magic Spell Light Imbue]

[Learned Light Magic Spell Light Ward]

[Learned Luck Magic Spell A Touch of Good Luck]

In response to the notifications everyone cheered, the shadows that had been blocking out the light began to fade and the light filtered through the windows once again. In a short span of time, the dark and gloomy ballroom filled to the brim with the corpses of shadow monsters was finally filled with the bright midday light. As the light poured across the shadowy monsters, their bodies began to burn away and disintegrate into small particles that quickly faded away.

My friends came over, each one looking happy and excited. I wasn't the only one here that leveled.