Book 3: Chapter 55 (1/2)
“This is it,” Alice said, taking in a deep breath as she stared up at a pair of white metal doors. The group had traveled down the mineshaft next to the cabin and arrived in a dimly lit lobby. According to the guards, crystals used to illuminate the room, but those had been harvested and sold. All that remained of the lobby’s previous splendor were a few pockmarks in the walls and ground, the only source of illumination coming from the sun above. “Are we ready?”
“Yep,” Tafel said, her hand on her staff. “Remember, we have to clear this in a week and a half to make it in time for Mary’s birthday party. If we manage to find something inside that looks like it’ll make a decent gift, we can have an extra day to explore.”
“I was under the impression you didn’t like Mary,” Mr. Skelly said as he adjusted his helmet.
“She sincerely invited me,” Tafel said. “I’m not going to not go just because I lost to her once. And she did give me some useful advice. Not only that, but I also feel a little bad for her. She was tortured as a child, you know?” Her gaze shifted onto Vur. He was fidgeting with his pants, his gaze locked onto the ground. “Is something wrong?”
Vur frowned. “I don’t want to wear pants.”
“…Feel free to open the door whenever you want,” Tafel said to Alice, her expression neutral.
Alice nodded. “I’m starting.” Her shield expanded to a tower shield, and she hid half her body behind it as she pressed against the center of the double doors with her free hand. They swung open without a sound, revealing a brilliant light that forced the party to shut their eyes from the sudden change. The room was a simple, carpet-less foyer with a man made of red liquid standing in the center. Behind the name, there was a set of stairs leading down.
The bloody man let out an unintelligible scream as it reached over and picked up a coatrack, thrusting it towards the party as if it were wielding a spear. Alice sucked in a deep breath as she angled her shield and charged forward to meet the attack, deflecting it to the side. She swung her shield out, blowing the coatrack away, exposing the red man’s chest to an attack. As if she had eyes on the back of her head, Alice leaned over, narrowly avoiding a fiery spear that brushed past her head and embedded itself into the man’s sternum, causing bubbles to propagate outwards towards its limbs from the heat. The flaming spear condensed into a small ball before exploding, blowing apart the fiery man and splattering blood everywhere.
Alice barely managed to hide behind her shield in time, avoiding the blood flying towards her face. She turned her head and glared at Tafel. “An explosion, really? Wouldn’t you normally freeze a monster if it’s made of liquid like a slime?”
“I’m a phoenix, not an ice dragon,” Tafel said as the glowing rune on her head dimmed. “Burning things is much more effective. I mean, it worked, right?” The blood spatters didn’t seem to be moving. She wasn’t sure what held the bloody man together, but whatever it was had been destroyed in the explosion. “How was that fiery spear into explosion that I’ve practiced over twenty thousand times?”
“Yes, yes, you’re amazing,” Alice said, rolling her eyes. “But as the party’s tank, I don’t like having to dodge and block my own party member’s attacks. Why can’t you be more like Vur? Look at how he’s contributing without inconveniencing everyone else.”
“What? What’s Vur doing?” Tafel asked, turning her head to face her husband. Four glowing balls of light were floating around him, radiating different colors that illuminated the backs of his party members.
“Sheryl said elementals can give everyone buffs if I stick mana inside of them like this,” Vur said, gesturing towards the four lights. “Sheryl gives stamina. Zilphy gives speed. Deedee gives defense. Mistle … I forget, but she does something. You didn’t notice?”
Tafel scratched her cheek. “I thought I was just in good condition today.”
“Vur, as an ocean elemental, I increase natural healing and mana regeneration,” Mistle said, speaking in a tone as if she were pouting.
“Whatever. I’m still better,” Zilphy said as she pushed aside the blue light floating near the brown one. “Stop getting so close to my husband. Can you stick this seductress back inside your body, Vur? Please?”
“She’s useful,” Vur said. “Why don’t you try to get along with her?”
“She’s a horrible roommate, that’s why,” Zilphy said, the green ball of light flashing twice.
“Shall we move on to the next room?” Alice asked. “It seems like the knights already looted everything of value in this place. That’ll probably be the case for the next rooms as well.”
“What about the coatrack?” Vur asked, pointing at the bloody man’s makeshift weapon that had fallen into a corner of the foyer.
“I’ll store it,” Tafel said as she walked over and stuffed the coatrack into a portal. “It feels like an ordinary coatrack though, nothing special about it.”
Alice snorted as she trudged through the bloody puddles that the previous fight had left behind. “Watch your step,” she said as she walked down the stairs, coming face to face with another door. “This one is supposed to use magic. I’m counting on you to counter whatever comes my way because blocking magic isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to do.”