Chapter 49 - Rest

The fight against the undead wasn't particularly hard, but it did last the better part of three hours to include taking down the giant grave wolf and his pack after the undead were taken care of. As soon as the giant wolf perished all of the fire in the graveyard disappeared and the doors to the mausoleum creaked open.

Yarrow grumbled about the possible dangers awaiting them as Fel stalked into the mausoleum itself, poking her head out to talk to them, "Got another safe zone inside, which is great cause I'm starving after that. Bring the chest so I can get it open."

Gardenia handed out travel rations while Fel messed around with the chest and they ate quickly. Fel scowled at the contents of the chest before distributing them, there was barely enough to cover supplies for a normal party that would've faced down the dungeon. That they had ways to restore health and mana rather easily and were quite a bit more powerful than those that would normally face such a challenge was the only reason they weren't in the red.

Ash frowned, feeling as if she wasn't particularly pulling her weight considering she'd once more mostly only mopped up a few enemies. Yarrow's sturdy hand patted her shoulder, "Don't sell yourself short, Ash," his voice was gentle, he'd clearly seen the look on her face, "First floor or two'll be getting used to how we function as a party, learning where you fit in. You're doing great."

The others nodded their agreement as everyone prepared to move on. True to his word, she was participating a lot more by the third floor. She mostly fought enemies, her magic healing any damage that those beyond Yarrow took and saving Fi the mana of having to do so herself. She'd grown fully accustomed to fighting both with and without her Unicorn Eyes skill active in the process.

Every once in a while, though, she'd note that Fi needed a moment and cast her shielding spell on Yarrow, moving to once more keep it in one of the four slots of her Spellstorage. The other three spells she fired and replaced in quick sequence though she found them lacking as they delved deeper into the dungeon.

The final monster before the safe zone of the fourth floor fell to their onslaught just in time. Ash stepped forward towards the safety of the barrier even as crushing pain lanced through her. Vision blurring from the intensity and ears ringing too much to hear the concern of everyone else, she passed the barrier and leaned against the wall. She slid down it at some point, sitting heavily on the floor and just waiting for the pain to pass.

When she finally became aware of what was going on around her, Gardenia was seated at her side, "How are you holding up?"

Ash smiled slightly, "I'll be alright. It feels more intense than before…but that's probably just because I wasn't awake for it much before now, just the yearly journey for the cleansings. I'll grow used to it before long and it'll stop slowing me down as much."

"You shouldn't feel bad for taking the time you need," Yarrow's voice grumbled as he pulled things from his inventory, scowling slightly, "We didn't bring firewood so we might be stuck with travel rations during our little break."

Ash was startled at the idea of taking a break, not because it wasn't safe but because she was sure they wanted out of the dungeon as swiftly as possible and she didn't want to hold them back. Certain that she was the reason for the break, she spoke up, "We don't need to stop here. I'm fine to go now the pain's past."

Gardenia's hand brushed her forehead as the priestess scowled at her, "You're clammy and pale and we all agreed on a break. It's not just for you. We've been at this since before lunch with only short breaks in each of the safe zones. It's been nearly nine hours of essentially nothing but combat, we all want a rest, especially since next floor should contain a boss of some sort."

Fel spoke up from where she was seated next to Fi, "Luck on our side, it'll be the last boss. If this is a ten-floor dungeon, we're in for a bit of a ride. You're not equipped with the spells for that kind of difficulty yet."

Ash scowled at that even as she watched Yarrow contemplate the supplies he had, his scowl all but declaring that he was about to start packing them away in defeat. She remembered the spell she'd made two days ago and offered it. Despite the name Tiny Flame, she could control its intensity and was able to make it suitable for cooking rather than just casting light.

Fel whistled appreciation from where she sat, "You have utility spells already? Those are such a pain to master even with grimoires to help," she cast a similar spell and a small flame danced on the tip of her finger, "Most I can do is light some kindling."

Ash explained a bit about Spellweaving to all of them, surprised when each of them seemed interested. Their interest wasn't just in the skill itself either, but also in the building blocks Ash had and what could be built with them.

The first part of their rest break turned into a discussion over a simple meal of what kind of spells Ash could create with the building blocks she had. Stronger spells tended to be more complex but there were other ways to add strength to spells without the pieces of their intermediary or even advanced counterparts.

Eventually they developed a new set of spells for her to make use of in the upcoming boss fight and settled down to rest. With the barrier of the safe zone a watch rotation wasn't necessary and they weren't resting the whole night either. Settling in, Ash dozed for a few hours before waking refreshed and ready to go back to fighting.

Fel stood and stretched with a wolfish grin, "Let's see what those new spells of yours can do," she said playfully, "And hopefully get out of here and go back home for a proper rest in bed."

Fi shook her head, speaking a single word, "Jinx."

She seemed to think that Fel's stating that would make it so they would be stuck in the dungeon all night. Fel laughed a bit and offered to take over chores Fi didn't want to do for a week if she really had jinxed it. Agreement made, they made their way down the stairs towards the second boss of the dungeon since the graveyard had come with its own strange boss on the first floor.