Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and followed along with Jerry.


Fia glanced around once Lyak caught up. "Let's pace ourselves and take it slow. No need to rush."


Emil crossed his arms as he and Veo came to their split. "This is a more complex maze than the last one..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry paused at the three paths. "Well, that's not good." Jerry frowned, looking down the paths. "Which way do you think, Asta?"

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"Then stop running so fast!", Lyak sighed, "I can't keep up!"

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"What do your ears say?", Veo asked, peering around the tunnels. Her vines were waving, but she didn't know why or what they were reaching towards.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta looked at the paths. "Our general direction has been downwards for most of this journey. It would make sense to continue going down."

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"Soor. I got used to taking bigger, faster steps when I was small. I don't usually grow so fast, so I haven't gotten used to longer legs yet."

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"Hm..." Emil whistled before going quiet, listening to how the sound bounced back to get a sense of what was ahead.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Right," Jerry marked an arrow on the downward tunnel and down they went.

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"Just..." Lyak waved it off, "Slow down, I can't keep going like you do." Walking around a small area and tending a garden weren't exactly high-exercise activities, especially with Lyak being a sorceress. "Up, down, or straight?"

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The tunnels all wound twisting around each other and continuously branching further in. It was a confused mess that was hard to interpret coherently.

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"These tunnels are complex," Nalla noted. She and Niudisa were a few turns in by now, neither being one to waste time.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta stayed alert as he continued on with Jerry, frequently glancing at the turtle to make sure it was fine.

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Fia nodded before looking at the split paths. "Hm... I like going up. Let's try that one."

Shuffle nodded. "Up is fine."

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Emil furrowed his brow and shook his head. "I can't make sense of what's ahead... Let's try going straight first, I guess."

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Niudisa nodded. "Yeah. Who had the time build all this?"

 

[Darkling0096]

The dragon turtle's neck could extend pretty far for a turtle it's size, and it was using that to look around at all the new things it was seeing around it, chirping when it saw anything new. Everything was new, so it was doing a lot of chirping. "Do you think he's hungry?", Jerry asked, "He's been squeaking a lot."

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"Okay," Lyak marked the tunnel and then scrambled after Shuffle and Fia. All around them in the upper tunnel, they could hear something that sounded like claws clicking on stone, despite not being able to see or otherwise detect the source.

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"Okay," Veo reached over to mark the wall, and her vines immediately latched onto the moss growing on the stone. "Ow, my head, why! Oh..." The headache went away as quick as it came, followed by an attempt at communication from the parasite. "It's.. talking to the moss, what?" She held out her other hand and vines grew out into a pattern, with a small red bulb in one place.

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"We know not what the ancients created," Nalla shook her head, "But I doubt this place was build for no purpose, that would be wasteful."

 

[Fangs9090]

"I'm not sure. Do we have anything to feed him?"

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Shuffle's ears flicked and turned as she looked around. "What is that...?"

Fia shrugged. "I don't know. I don't see anything."

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Emil stepped over to look. "Are you alright? What's that bulb?"

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Niudisa shook her head. "As far as I know, mazes are only made to fuck with people. Or for keeping something locked away when you don't feel like settling for a simple locked door or a solid wall."

 

[Darkling0096]

"I don't know," Jerry fished around in her kit and her bag, coming up empty, "And we left the goodberry bush at the cart!" Jerry sighed, "Maybe we'll find something, I've got the flask." If they did need to feed the turtle, they could at least purify some carrion to sate its hunger.

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"I don't see it," Lyak looked around nervous, slowed to a crawl, "But I don't like it.."

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"I don't know," Veo winced as more bulbs appeared. The number of bulbs equaled the number of groups. "I think it's a map?"

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"If you have something you are that desperate to contain, you have too much," Nalla shook her head, "You should just kill it and make use of its body, or distribute your wealth to those that need it." They could hear a clicking like claws on stone now, a lot of claws on stone. But they couldn't see the source. Even Niudisa's true sight couldn't see the thing.

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"Do you hear that, Erina?", Adran asked as they could hear some clicking.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded. “Something small and easily dispatched, preferably.”

—————

Fia eventually stopped, with Shuffle stopping shortly after, before exhaling a bit of flame to get a little extra light.

—————

“A map? Of the maze? If so, that would be very useful.”

—————

Niudisa paused. “Are you actually implying... What is that?” She looked around as the clicking got her attention.

—————

Erina nodded. “Yes, and for once it’s not my own feet...”

 

[Darkling0096]

The light didn't do much to help them see. Even with the bright fire nothing was visible. But the clicking got louder the further in they were.

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"I don't know," some of the bulbs were moving, "I think it is." That was definitely useful, but the map was so convoluted it would take forever to find the exit. They were lucky the moss had such complete coverage that it could tell her parasite the entire layout of the maze. Two of the tiny bulbs started blooming, and then blooming in reverse, over and over as they moved. "What does that mean?" Right as Veo said that, another started blooming as they could hear many claws clicking on stone.

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Nalla raised an eyebrow at Niudisa's attempt to imply, but raised her staff at the clicking. "I do not know," there was no room to wildshape in the maze, Nalla would have to use her staff and magic to fight.

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"I can't see anything," and that was weird, because Adran's eldritch invocations meant darkness of any sort, natural or magic, did absolutely nothing to his vision. he could see in the dark maze as clear as if it were full of sunlight, but there was nothing visible. But the clicking didn't stop.

About Erina's shoulders, Eleonora's heads hissed, baring their fangs at the unseen clicker. Beri lowered himself to pounce and growled.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Lyak, stay back a little. We might be in for a fight.” Fia shifted her wings and continued on.

—————

Emil swiveled an ear before looking around. “Nothing good...” He grabbed the violin and got ready to play.

Aria spoke up. “I can’t see anything...”

—————

“Figures this would be just wandering through a maze...” Niudisa readied her magic in her hands.

—————

Erina narrowed her eyes and got her whip ready.

 

[Darkling0096]

Up ahead, the clicking suddenly stopped, and then it was everywhere, crawling out of the stone was some kind of massive centipede, crawling into and out of the stone as easily as a fish through water. Nowhere was safe, even at the back, Lyak turned to see mouths in every direction."Guys?", Lyak backed away from the mouths until she backed into Fia.

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Veo regretted not being a fighter as the clicking stopped, and then was suddenly everywhere as a massive centipede crawled out of the stone, jaws snapping and clicking. Every bud on the vine map started flashing between bloom and bud.

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Nalla grit her teeth as the monstrous centipede came crawling out the stone. "Sickletail Worm," the druid growled, "Do not sever any part of it, it will only turn into another." Sickletail worm, the corrupted variation found in these ruins was also known to residents of the ruins as the Destroyer.

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The source of the clicking became clear as the massive centipede erupted out of the ground under Erina, going specificially for the arachne in the same way the wasps had in the nightmare.

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"Oh, shit," Jerry drew her sword as clicking started up. "We've got a problem."

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"I believe we are faced with a monster," Joanne said to Emfa as clicking sounded around them. "Prepare."

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Each remaining group found themselves in the midst of constant clicking noises.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia glanced back as Lyak bumped her before turning, standing back to back with Shuffle. Shuffle stood upright, finally, before just breathing fire at everything in front of her, which thankfully did not include Fia and Lyak.

—————

Emil played a couple of quick notes, sending out a pair of quick shockwaves around the two of them before playing a sustained note to shield them both.

—————

“Alright. So how do we kill a worm without cutting it?”

—————

Erina let out a grunt as the centipede popped up under her, reacting just quick enough to push her legs against it and jump off, throwing herself against a wall but getting clear of the first attack.

—————

Asta growled as he looked around.

—————

Corona groaned as the clicking started. “A fight? Here? Dammit.”

Raine got out the falchion from her weapon quiver, looking around nervously. She couldn’t easily dig here and there was no place to hide, except behind Corona.

 

[Darkling0096]

Fire seemed quite effective at dispatching the centipedes. Shuffle's blast burned right through one, they were hardly sturdy. But when the severed pieces separated, one part shook and grew a new head, and the part that hit the ground got up and skittered away.

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When the shockwave hit the centipedes, they basically fell to pieces, segments falling apart and hitting the ground. "Is... is that it?", Veo glanced around. The pieces started wobbling, growing heads and healing enough to move. Emil had just made it much, much worse.

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"Fire destroys all," Nalla slammed her staff into the stone floor and prepared a fireball, "Cover your ears." She threw the fireball straight down at the ground, making a blast that singed every piece of destroyer in the radius to ash, but the others just grew new heads to continue the assault.

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Beri roared and dove into the centipedes as Adran prepared an arrow, fire erupting from the cluster. Eleonora hissed and spit its paralytic venom at the centipede, but it didn't do anything.

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The turtle read the room and huddled back into its shell as the clicking got louder, soon revealing the source as it crawled out of the stone in force, trying to overwhelm them with numbers. "Centipedes!"

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"Oh, that ain't good," Emfa frowned as the centipedes began to appear.

"Do not sever any part of the worm," Joanne looked around, "It will only turn into two more."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!?" Emfa had an axe, and Joanne a sword. They didn't have a choice in the matter!

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A fight it was, as the sickletail worm came crawling out of the stone to attack, swarming over the kobold and centaur in force.

 

[Fangs9090]

They had fire in abundance, at hitting a wide area was a good way to handle numbers. Fia joined in breathing fire on the creatures. Shuffle paused for a breathing, noticing that some of them were growing back. That pissed her off. She switched up her tactic, using acid instead.

—————

“Unfortunately not...” Emil kept the shield up as he tried to figure out a tactic.

Aria spoke up. “Sorry to state the obvious, but breaking them does not seem to be a good idea.”

—————

Niudisa flew up out of fireball range. “Bah, I never did much with elemental magic. Do these bleed?”

—————

Erina lashed out with her whip to try and keep the centipedes back.

—————

Asta narrowed her eyes and charged, attacking with tooth, claw, and horns.

—————

Corona channeled her runes and cast, summoning a mouse from the top of her spear. Not a special mouse either. Corona sighed before she just charged past it, striking out with her spear.

Raine, scared of getting left behind, ran after the centaur, panic slashing at any centipede that got too close.

 

[Darkling0096]

The centipedes seemed to have no sense of self-preservation. Considering they were essentially immortal with their ability to split into two more at each segment, that was not an unreasonable perspective, even for a bug. Shuffle's acid was by far the most effective way to damage the beasts, dissolve them down to nothing. Although that made Lyak panick and cling to Fia so she'd stay within the protective radius of Fia's armor charm.

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"Do you know any fire spells, or... lightning?", Veo stayed close to Emil. This was definitely the last time Veo walked into unknown territory without knowing some way to defend herself, if they made it out of here alive.

The pieces of centipede skittered around, prodding at Emil's defense. After a few moments, heads snapped to asses and the bugs reassembled into a larger centipede to try and use greater force to break the shield.

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"I do not believe so, they are incredibly simple creatures," Nalla tried another fireball, but the things knew better than to get close now, instead spitting some kind of poison at the fairy and goliath.

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Between Beri ripping them apart, Adran shooting, and Erina's whip, the fragile bugs were quickly falling apart. Unfortunately, these centipede segments quickly began growing new heads and skittering again to keep attacking if they weren't burn to ash or completely mashed into the ground.

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Tooth, claw, horns, and sword turned out to be a very bad idea, Jerry and Asta found out. If you didn't demolish a segment, when it was detached it just turned into another bug and kept fighting. The turtle on Jerry's back squeaked and chirped, "Gods-dammit, they just keep coming!', Jerry shoved her hand into her kit and pulled out some sprite beans, mixed and matched, and threw them. Purple spiders, blue scorpions, brown beetles, and yellow hornets appeared and began attacking. Electricity, ice, and earth attacks from the tiny bugs seemed to be doing some damage, other segments exploded from parachute spider venom.

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Corona's spear managed to destroy a segment by hitting it directly, while Raine's panick slashing only made more as she broke segments apart. Numbers were not in their favor by a longshot.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia managed to get a moment to glance back. Shuffle’s acid was working better than the fire. But Shuffle could only get half of them without hitting Fia and Lyak. “Shuffle! Switch!”

Shuffle glanced back before giving her wings a flap to push the acid cloud further from them before jumping across Fia as the harpy ducked under her. It was only a brief pause before they were attacking again, fire on one side, acid on the other, and Lyak safely between them.

—————

Emil nodded and changed his tune, still keeping the long strokes but now playing quick notes. The shield remained in place, but it now crackled with electricity, shocking anything that came into contact with it from the outside.

—————

Niudisa threw up a barrier spell to block the poison spit. “If I can’t cut them and they won’t bleed, crushing will have to do.” She formed a magic hand and sent it after the spitter, aiming for the middle of a segment rather than where they connect.

—————

Erina glanced towards Adran. “This seems to be getting worse!” Her whip was all she had though, so the only thing she could do was keep them from getting close.

—————

Asta growled and changed his tactic a little. Instead of just smashing through them all, he switched to jumping on them, paying each one special attention to rip it into tiny pieces in hopes they’d be too damaged to regenerate. It did slow his progress though.

—————

Corona channeled her spear again as she stomped a segment that was too close. She gained a light ball floating over herself, but she also took note of how the smashed ones didn’t have a body to grow a head from, or vice versa. “Don’t cut, smash!”

“I’ve never smashed anything in my life!” Raine fended off a few more before hitting her badge.

 

[Darkling0096]

The fight was short once both acid and fire were in play. Centipedes were charred and dissolved, quickly dispatched between the phoenix and golem.

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Electricity seemed to do the trick. When a segment hit the shield it popped like a zit, splattering bug guts around and splitting a large bug into two smaller ones. When their numbers were reduced significantly and the walls were splattered, the bugs retreated.

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Crushing was definitely a good option, they didn't make new bodies when smashed into the ground. "It would seem that works," Nalla noted.

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"Noted!", Adran glanced around frantically, "Throw the hydra!" Even Eleonora thought that was a bad idea.

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Between Jerry's sprites and Asta's efforts at destruction, the bugs were starting to be reduced. Emboldened by the efforts of the two, the dragon turtle reared its head back, and Jerry and Poli could feel a sudden chill before a stream of ice shot out of the turtle's mouth, freezing some bugs. "I didn't know he could do that!" The turtle had made a thin barrier of frozen bugs that offered a moment to catch their breath and make a new plan.

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Hooves were effective, but Raine and Corona had to be extremely careful. When they even brushed these things, they opened a deep gash in their flesh.

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Joanne and Emfa were having a very bad day, slashing and piercing wasn't working, they just made the bugs stronger in number.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia and Shuffle paused once they could see any more crawling, looking around for anymore. Fia glanced back at Shuffle and Lyak. "Did we get them?"

Shuffle nodded. "They should've known better than to mess with us."

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Emil kept the music going a little longer after the bugs retreated before he finally stopped. He let out a sigh and glanced back at Veo. "Are you alright?"

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"Nice." Niudisa grinned as she summoned her other magic hand before going to town smashing any bugs she could see.

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"Are you insane!?" Erina would've whipped Adran if not for the multitude of other things that needed whipping at the moment. "She's still your daughter, even if you didn't want her!"

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Asta stepped back for a breath as they got the chance. "I suspected he would, considering his heritage, just not so soon."

"I have an idea." Poli adjusted their form, holding the turtle more secure and lifting him up in order to aim him better. "Already, buddy, keep that up as long as you can."

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Raine was the first to discover the danger of touching things when stomping one of them backfired on her. She hopped back towards Corona. "Agh... Don't touch them!"

Corona glanced back before channeling again, offering a prayer this time. "Misery, I'll owe if you give me something good." The runes filled in before electricity crackled across the spear. "That'll do." Corona twirled the spear before swinging it again, trying to take out as many bugs as she could.

 

[Darkling0096]

"I think so," Lyak still clung to Fia as the moved forward, Shuffle terrified her. The three came up on another fork in the road, going left and right.

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Veo glanced down at the map, where some of the flowers had turned back to buds and moved with the groups, "Yeah, I'm... I think I need to learn how to fight."

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Numbers started to go down rapidly as Niudisa smashed bugs into paste.

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"Just trust me!", Adran barked, "She'll be fine!" Beri was starting to get overwhelmed in the center of the ball of centipedes, his armor charm wouldn't hold out forever.

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The little turtle chirped happily and waggled his head and tail as he was moved. The turtle stuck its neck out towards the icy bugs and chomped off a piece to beak down. "I guess he was hungry," Jerry chuckled, "Oh jeez, how'd we end up like this?" That was rhetorical, but Jerry wouldn't object to an answer. "We need a new plan, my sprites can't keep up with these things."

-------
Electrical damage on the spear proved much more effective, making bugs explode on contact. They were ridiculously fragile and impossbly durable at the same time, but crushing and elemental damage seemed to be the bane of their existence.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia looked at the paths before them. "Another choice..."

Shuffle, back on all fours, just went ahead and started walking down the right path.

"That way, i guess..." Fia waited for Lyak to mark it before following.

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"There's plenty of people to teach you how, but I don't think now's the best time. Let's push on. Just stay close to me, I'll keep you safe."

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Niudisa laughed as she kept on smashing, keeping herself out of reach. She had no intention to stop until she'd gotten every last one of them.

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"Nnnn... If she gets hurt, it's on you." Erina reached up to get Eleonora from her shoulder. "I'm sorry..." She closed her eyes before tossing the hydra forward.

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Asta looked over at the turtle. "Ah, if they're frozen, they can be smashed without growing back. We need to freeze as many as we can."

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Raine turned and jumped onto Corona's back, settling on her facing backwards. Corona glanced back. "Hey!"

"I can move well enough with this wound on my foot."

"Tch, fine. But only this once." Corona turned her attention back to fending off the bugs in front of her.

Raine put away the falchion, fishing out the crossbow, fiddling around to figure out how to work it.

 

[Darkling0096]

Lyak sighed and hurriedly marked the path before running to catch up with Shuffle. They came to a dead end soon, "So we turn back?"

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Veo nodded and stayed close to Emil. The map her vines created made it easier to find correct paths, but it definitely wasn't any easier to navigate just by the density of vines twirling to map out the various tunnels. Continuing onward, they came to another three-way split.

"Please don't be bugs down one of these," Veo prayed.

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Before long, between Nalla's fire and Niudisa squishing things, the bugs were ash and splatter. "I believe that is the last of them," Nalla noted when none more appeared, "And I believe our conversation had been interrupted."

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Adran pointed his finger at the hydra as the snake flew through the air, muttering an incantation. The snake grew in size before landing on the ball and hissing, crushing many bugs and being sliced open by many more, though her hydra regeneration was able to keep up wt this size.

"See?" Adran shook his head as the hydra's body weight and Beri's fire took care of the remaining bugs until they fleed into the dark. "I'm a perv, not a prick. I don't hurt kids."

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Jerry nodded and gave the little turtle a pat on the shell, "Let's just hope the turtle can keep up with the bugs. Then she frowned, "We really need a name for him, I can't just keep calling him 'turtle'." At least the wall of frozen bugs was keeping the others at bay for now.

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The badge glowed as the crossbow was brought out, the two were connected. A small star of red, black, blue, green, and white gems was at the front of the crossbow, glowing in time with each of the five dragon heads on the badge.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia glanced around before nodding. "Yeah. Let's try the other path." She turned back and took the lead retracing their steps.

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"We can hope." Emil looked at the paths before turning to Veo. "Any insight on which one to take?"

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Niudisa glanced over. "Huh? Oh, right, we were talking when those showed up." She dismissed her magic hands. "Where were we?"

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Erina watched as the bugs fled before hurrying to Eleonora to make sure she was alright. "Phew... I'm not fond of leaps of faith..."

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Poli spoke up. "He likes to bite. Go from there."

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Raine looked at the gems before deciding on red and touching that head on the badge. Red dragons were best anyway.

 

[Darkling0096]

Down the other path, the three found that it opened on top of a large chamber, and down at the bottom they could see glittering gold, silver, and other precious metals with twinkling gems sprinkled amongst.

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"I don't know," Veo looked at the map, "I can't tell which one's us to figure out which one's the right path." She glanced at the tunnels and put a hand behind her back, "I'm thinking of a number between one and four."

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"We were discussing the wastefulness of building a maze instead of walls or doors," Nalla dipped her head, "I had said that if you were that desperate to contain or defend something, you had more than you needed or had bitten off more than you could chew, and it would be better to distribute your excess wealth or kill whatever you were containing and make use of its body."

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Eleonora seemed quite pleased with herself until she started shrinking again, and then she slithered back onto Erina's shoulders. "A leap of faith is either a smashing success or a total failure," Adran shrugged, "I don't like them either, that's why I don't take them."

"Can someone get these carcasses off me?", Beri called from the bottom of the pile of charred and squished bug.

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"Don't remind me," Jerry's tail was still sore, and Veo hadn't given her a potion to heal it, so it was healing on its own. Hopefully the dragon wasn't doing anything to it. "Well, his mother had steam and ice, they keep treasure in their secondary first stomach," she thought for a moment, "In draconic, 'turac' means 'Ice-Gold'," she offered.

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Two things happened when Raine touched the red head on the badge. The first was that touching it deactivated the enhancing effect on her body, and she shrank back to kobold form. The second was that the bolt in the crossbow started glowing red and hot when her hand was near that head.

 

[Fangs9090]

"Ooh..." Shuffle's eyes lit up as she leaned over the edge.

Fia hopped over, ready to grab her just in case she jumped. "Hold on, Shuffle. We don't know what else is down there. Remember last time you stole something?"

Shuffle paused before putting her ears back with a huff. "Yeah..."

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Emil blinked. "Ah... Two?"

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"Ah, right. That last part, making use of the body. For me that means reanimating it. Necromancy and all that."

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Erina sighed and straightened back up. "At least I'll know what you're planning next time." She looked over at Beri before going to help him. "Hm...do we have any healing water with us?"

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"Turac..." Asta thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "That works for me."

----------

Not quite what Raine was hoping for, but it'll do. Everything about that implied fire, so she took aim and started shooting to cover Corona's backside while the centaur fought in the front.