Chapter 48 - Trap

Fel was the first to speak as soon as they stood inside the safe zone of the dungeon, her gaze traveling over the graveyard before them, "Shouldn't be a hard task. Considering where we are, probably only five floors then a boss," the wolf was nowhere to be seen, going a long way towards confirming her words as truth, "Likely the wolf you were talking about, Yarrow."

Ash had activated her Unicorn Eyes skill and was slowly looking around the dungeon. There was a fair bit of magic around them, some of the traps she'd previously seen as well as signs of undead already lurking below the ground. The dungeon had put the first floor back to the way it should have been. It gave credence to Fel's assessment but Ash remained uneasy.

Yarrow grumbled slightly as he looked around before glancing towards Ash and finding her eyes slowly shifting through colors, nearly a wine color like his own and shifting more towards a deeper burgundy, "You should wear your new cloak. While the Godsborn do enjoy cosmetic magics like what your eyes are doing right now, it still seems best to let the influx of them pick up somewhat before revealing such a thing."

She nodded slightly and pulled the cloak from her inventory, putting it on as she continued to survey the area in front of them. Her skill wasn't perfect, wasn't as strong as her ability to see magic in her own world. She pointed out the undead she could see, watching as the others looked to each location pointed out and nodded. All of the ones she could see showed small physical signs of already being present. The traps, as well, were obvious ones.

Fel seemed to fade from perception as they stepped out of the barrier. Ash could sense her, could even vaguely see a specter that looked like her, but also got the sense it was only due to the contract of being in a party. Fel led the way, Yarrow close behind, keeping a wary eye out for traps that were less obvious.

The dungeon was dim, as if night had fallen the moment they had entered its door. Fog rolled along the ground, obscuring some of the mounds that the undead were hiding under. The corners of each small plot of the graveyard were decorated with unlit braziers. Even the trees, crowns once wreathed in fire, were dark and foreboding.

The two of them alone dealt with most of the undead as they shambled in alone or in groups of two. Wary of the dungeon, feeling something off with her senses that she couldn't quite place, Ash conjured attacking spells into her Spellstorage.

Gardenia's gentle hand brushed her arm and the priestess shook her head ever so slightly, "Save your magic for large groups of enemies. Fel and Yarrow will tell us when we are needed. Something here is off, we all feel it."

The enemies continued to trickle in, coming only from the places Ash and the others had already noted. Most parties would have relaxed, the dungeon had a predictable pattern and that was a very good sign. Yarrow and the others remained tense as they slowly gained ground, as they slowly approached the mausoleum through the darkened graveyard.

Yarrow held up a hand, motioning that they were pausing where they were and looked around, scowling as he did so, "Something is very wrong here."

Ash couldn't argue but also couldn't pin down what was wrong, a state the others seemed to share. They spoke for a few moments while Fel continued to poke around, making her way to the building that would house the stairway to the next level undetected.

She returned wearing a harsh scowl, "Door's locked but none of the undead have dropped a key."

Startled into sudden realization, Gardenia spoke, "None of them have dropped anything at all."

Ash had kept a wary eye on Fel's progress, noting that she avoided a particular area of ground just before the mausoleum entrance. Upon being asked why, the elf glanced towards it with a scowl, "There's something going on there. Doesn't feel like a trap…Does feel like trouble."

Fi's voice rang out, quiet but strong, "Enemies."

They had cleared all of the undead that they'd seen signs of. More that they hadn't rose from the ground and the graves. They were surrounded but that still didn't feel connected to the area Fel had avoided.

Combat was, once again, incredibly swift. Ash, Fi and Gardenia barely had to assist at all in mowing down the shambling horde of undead.

Yarrow's voice was a low growl as he stepped towards the area they'd been speaking of, pausing at its edge and touching it cautiously with a boot, "These are far weaker than what we fought during the morph, more of them too. Something new is going on, something dangerous."

As if to accentuate the danger of the dungeon, as if to finally welcome the adventurers, the braziers roared to life with eerie blue flames. Embers floated in the air, catching the crowns of the dead trees on fire as they collided with the dried wood. The trees burned in blues and greens and an unnatural red that felt like blood.

More of the dead began to rise, catching fire themselves as embers came into contact with them. The fire changed them physically, making them appear stronger, changing even their description to match those of the fiery undead they had faced down during the morph.

Wolves stalked in from the edges of their perception, glowing red eyes watching the party impartially as they sat near the graves the undead had vacated.

Yarrow's blade slammed through the first of the undead, finding the familiar resistance from before though he easily tore the monster apart anyway. Two small embers detached from it, one heading into the part of the graveyard they had all been avoiding while the other drifted into a chest by the mausoleum door.

"Found our loot," Fel growled as her daggers dispatched another undead that came close and the same phenomenon occurred once more, "Found our trouble too, looks like."

"Summoning circle," Fi named the structure, "Dangerous."

"Normally reserved for the tenth floor or higher," Yarrow's growl held notes of worry, "Everyone, ready for combat. Fi, protect Fel and I. Gardenia and Ash, conserve your mana and fight with your weapons if anything gets near you. We're in for a long one and we're likely to go straight into a fight with those wolves at the very least before long, if not them and whatever the circle summons."