Sunlight, Again

Four minutes later, Ace returned with a small group of three adventurers and a few soldiers from the entrance, and one figure stood out from the others. Dressed in black and white with proportions that move a little too much when she sprinted, a high-level priestess from the nearby church.

"Toki, I'm back with help!" Ace shouted, turning the corner to see Christoph among a small pile of monster corpses, attackers while he was gone. Valentina was sitting on the floor looking over Toki, who had been laid down with eyes closed. Ace slowed down immediately while the priestess rushed over, but just like Valentina, she knew she could do nothing at this point.

Christoph kept watch down the hall, not looking at the reinforcements; Valentina likewise remained silent, only sniffling when the priestess hugged her.

"H-hey, can't you do something?" Ace questioned the priestess, but she remained silent. One of the adventurers, a lion-man, put a paw on Ace's shoulder, but he shook it off, "No, no! Isn't there some way we can still save him?!"

The lion-man had a stern face, "Boy, he's gone, all we can do now is bring him out and alert his family," he stated; he had experienced the death of an ally more than a few times, and he knew getting out of the Labyrinth was priority one.

Ace scowled, "Sh-shut up! Valentina, couldn't you keep him stable?! I was only gone for four minutes!" He started stomping towards the sniffling sheep-woman, fists clenched. The lion-man frowned; in situations like this, people tended to show their true colours. Ace refused to acknowledge fault and turned to blame others. But before he could stop Ace from getting closer to Valentina, Christoph sucker-punched Ace and swept his legs, causing him to fall to the ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Christoph spat, "She did her best to keep him alive for six minutes, and when he was in his last moments, you just ran off," he was disgusted; perhaps later on Ace would come to his senses and apologize, but he wasn't going to let him get near Valentina when he was acting out.

Ace's accusations brought Valentina to tears once again, and the priestess comforted her. The guards, who had prepared for the worst, had brought a stretcher. One of the larger guards and the lion-man laid out the stretcher and placed Toki onto it, placing a white cloth over him; his family was considered lucky. Most adventurers don't get this level of treatment. Death was common in the Labyrinth; the guards didn't have the time or forces to retrieve every corpse, especially on the lower floors.

Ace got up and clutched his stomach, staring daggers at Christoph. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes, and he opened his mouth once, only to not say anything and storm off once again. Another one of the adventurers, a short man wielding a bearded axe, sighed, "That boy needs a stiff drink," he shook his head and turned to the elf and sheep-woman, "What about you two? How about I buy you a round, for your fallen comrade," he offered. The lion-man nodded in agreement, and the third and last adventurer, a woman with her hood drawn, piped up, "We'll pay for funeral costs."

Christoph had a strange look, and so did the short man and lion-man, "Why go so far? Do you want something from us?" Christoph questioned with narrowed eyes, but when scrutinizing the woman, he relaxed; even with her ears hidden, there's no way he wouldn't recognize another elf.

The elf woman looked at her compatriots, "Don't worry; the money will come from my pockets; elves should look out for each other," she said, and both the short man and lion-man had a look of realization. They had almost forgotten she was an elf since she always had her hood up.

One of the guards cleared his throat, "Alright, let's be off," and he signalled for the large guard and lion-man to pick up the stretcher. Valentina walked beside her former comrade while the priestess supported her from the side; they talked in hushed voices, mostly the priestess cheering her up. They were clearly friends, or the priestess had no concept of personal space or both. In actuality, they were friends, and the priestess was the one who taught Valentina how to heal and was someone Valentina looked up to. Having her here to comfort her helped greatly.

The guards and elf-woman led the group while Christoph and the short man watched the back.

"Name's Vaud, you?" the short man started.

"Christoph, she's Valentina," the elf introduced himself and the sheep-woman.

Vaud nodded, "And the hothead that ran off?"

"That was Ace; we've never really seen eye-to-eye, but he's a decent kid, most of the time," Christoph sighed, slightly worried for the bunny-man, but only slightly.

"Mmm, well, it's a bit harsh, but he'll be better after he recovers. Death is a damn good reality check," Vaud stated, stroking his beard.

Christoph chuckled, "You're right about that, maybe he won't be so headstrong now, but we won't see it, Toki suggested we retire, and Valentina and I agree that we should open a shop or something with the money we get from selling the marble we found," his eyes were tired, it had only been twenty minutes, but it felt like an entire day.

"Oh? A marble?" Vaud's interest was piqued.

Christoph patted his satchel, "The biggest thing we got from-..." he paused; the weight of his satchel wasn't right. It was too light. Vaud looked at him quizzically as he opened his satchel.

"Huh, well, it better be worth money, all of the monster cores I gathered are gone," Christoph shook his head and closed the satchel; he didn't want to think right now. The monster cores were all gone, and the fist-sized marble was slightly brighter, but the cracks were still there. Christoph knew magic items could recharge from monster cores, but they usually left the energy-less core behind. He shrugged; a magic researcher would probably pay a decent sum for it.

"Anyways, what about your companions? You going to introduce them?" Christoph waved a hand at the lion-man and the elf woman.

"Oh! Right, them," Vaud coughed and scratched his beard, "Well, the big one is Edmund; he doesn't like to wear shirts, as you can see," he nods to the lion-man, he's only wearing pants, several scars run down his muscled, furry back, "And our prissy elf is Elizabeth, 'course, she's actually pretty laid back once you get to know her," Vaud explained.

"Most elves are; we aren't 'prissy,' other races simply have low standards," Christoph rebuked, then both of them chuckled. "Thanks," Christoph said.

"Aye, least I could do is try to cheer you up like Charlotte is cheering Valentina, err, without the hugging, of course," Vaud nodded to himself, watching the priestess Charlotte and Valentina; Charlotte was basically smothering Valentina with her 'assets,' but at least she was doing a good job cheering up the sheep-woman.

"If you try to hug me, you can expect an arrow instead," Christoph quipped, then got his bow ready, "I hear monsters approaching from front and back," he called out to the group. Elves had good hearing, which they proclaim is a genetic superiority and not just because they had bigger ears, and both elves could hear the clatter of bone against stone and the pitter-patter of smaller fleshy feet.

"Skeletons and goblins," Elizabeth called out, and the adventurers and guards got into fighting positions. Edmund and the large guard gently set down the stretcher and split up to the front and back. The monsters arrived, and the fighting began and ended, rather shortly. But that was to be expected; city guards were quite strong, and so was the veteran trio. The fight at the back was faster than the front. The monsters tried to focus-fire Christoph, leaving them wide open for Vaud and Edmund to charge in and tear them apart. Aside from that, the monsters assaulted them another two times, and both swiftly dealt with.

Christoph informed the group the monsters were most likely targeting the marble he had with him, and strategizing around that fact made the fights laughably easy for the large group.

Edmund expressed interest in the marble, and if the scholars didn't want it, he'd be up to buy it. Having the monsters of the labyrinth only focus on him would make things easier for the trio. Elizabeth refused it, stating that until they figured out exactly what the marble was and what it does, it would be unsafe to carry around. It could be a bomb for all they know.

Charlotte's eyes glittered when she saw the fist-size marble; the branching silver nucleus glimmered like a star. The faint points of light were like the night sky, and she brazenly declared the church would pay a hefty price for such a beautiful thing. Christoph politely refused until the scholars properly identified the thing. Charlotte kept raising the price to a staggering amount, forgetting that it was the church's money she was offering.

Christoph managed to get her to back off by claiming she would be the first person he went to after the marble was identified.

The group arrived at the safe room where three mages were waiting; they grimaced seeing the covered body on the stretcher but said nothing; they had figured out the outcome from how Ace had come back and not so politely asked to be sent back up. Everyone stepped onto the magic circle, and the three mages began chanting simultaneously, the circle lit up, and the teleportation magic took the group back to the entrance room.

Sunlight filtered in from the doorway, and several adventurers were going about. A temporary sign had been thrown up stating 3-M was undergoing a frenzy and to be careful.

"Thank you for your help, is there a fee?" Christoph asked the guards, but they shook their heads; normally there was, but none of the guards wanted to collect. Likewise, the veteran trio didn't ask for anything. Charlotte led Valentina and the two carrying the stretcher out, heading to the church to prepare the body for burial after telling Christoph to notify the family. Vaud offered to go with him, and the elf accepted. Elizabeth came along too, and she had to admit she was interested in the fist-sized marble after seeing it. If it really was sacred silver inside it, what kind of magic item could it be?

Christoph stepped through the doorway into the light, taking a shaky breath of fresh air, and deep down in the Labyrinth, the auto-pilot relaxed as well, the thing it was trying to get rid of finally left the dungeon, hopefully, to never come back.