With the first boss now defeated the girls watched as the bodies of the slain dungeon creatures slowly dissolved away into whispers of mana, leaving behind only a singular orb in their place. When the boss dissolved however, an additional item was also left in place alongside a slightly larger beast core.
That item in question was a golden shard of tal, it radiated a subtle yet powerful aura of power, yet to violet if felt... broken, or as if the magic had been shattered yet still alive. She assud that as they gathered the next two keys the item might fix itself sohow? She wasn’t too sure but found it interesting to think about regardless.
Whilst they took so ti to rest up both Susan and Luna went around to ensure that everyone was fully healed up. Luna naturally went straight to Violet, a thin film of ice rushing along her body, the cold a welcoming sensation as it rapidly patched up the nurous cuts and scrapes along her companions body.
"Thanks Luna, that was a good fight! You were really cool!" Violet exchlaid as Luna was performing her healing duties.
Luna blushed at the praise yet couldn’t help but puff herself up slightly regardless. "Yeah it was fun, and good job holding those 3 tigers off for as long as you did, it can’t have been easy."
Now it was violets turn to blush slightly, but her dragon pride soon overtook her as she readily soaked in the praise from her most important person.
Still whilst Violet did enjoy being praised she was nothing if not a fair dragon, offering praise to all who deserved it. "Olivia, you did really well! Thanks for holding off the big one till we could co help out!"
Violet thought she saw steam escape from the humans helm for a mont yet when she blinked it was gone, shrugging Violet decided to ignore that odd phenonon.
"I-It was n-nothing much... I couldn’t have d-done it without Susan helping out so much." Olivia’s words were as usual both timid and stuttered, causing Violet to question how soone so brave in a battle could be reduced to a nervous wreck when it ca to a simple conversation.
As the girls continued their conversation Rhyana had wandered over to collect the various loot drops, scooping them all up into her storage ring. When it ca to the key she found that she was unable to store it, so, frowning she bent down to pick it up and examin it closely. When she did she was surprised when a system window popped up before her eyes.
[Key Fragnt - 1 of 3 collected]
She blinked at that for a mont before relaying what she had found to the group as she passed around the key for them all to give it a curious look.
Luna ended up carrying the key as she was the only one with pockets on their armour, everyone else seeming content to rely only on storage rings.
The girls took a few minutes to gather themselves, ensuring that they were all properly rested before they ventured out once again.
"So since we t this, boss on the left side of the island, who wants to bet that we will encounter another boss on the right side?" Susan asked her friends.
So mumbles of accent rang out at that statent, the group soon decided to venture straight across the isle to explore the opposite side of the land.
But they had to first exit the tall grass, sothing which proved to be easier said than done as no less than 6 tigers ambushed them as they tried to leave the area. To make it even worse, Violet didn’t even get another level out of those fights much to her annoyance.
Still the girls did eventually leave the tall grass, exiting out of the tingle of green stalks to much relief as it signaled the end of the constant ambushes. They did not entirely lower their guard, but they did allow themselves a mont to relax after that ordeal.
Now back on the rolling grasslands that made up most of this land the girls made good ti, it took them almost an hour to reach the top of a particularly tall hill which overlooked a new bio.
Laid out before them was a wonderfully weird landscape. Giant mushrooms of varying colours dominated the lowland, each mushroom standing easily 5-10 ters tall. They acted as trees, dominating the environnt and casting shade on the obscured ground below.
They were particularly densely packed together too, forming a near impenetrable wall of mushroom stalks.
"I’m gonna guess we need to get into that mushroom forest. But how do we do so? Just cut down so of them or hope we can just find a way in?" Asked Luna as she gazed at the fungal forest ahead.
"Hmm I’m okay with trying to cut our way in I suppose. Olivia any thought?" Asked Violet, looking at their resident dungeon ’expert’ expectantly.
"Hu umm, I umm don’t think you should cut your way in." She murmured in reply causing the girls to look at her inquisitively. Noticing their looks she reluctantly continued. "Dungeons don’t like it when you break their rules."
This caused Violet to tilt her head in thought as she tried to make sense of what she was saying. "Hmm so we should look for an enterance first before we do anything drastic?" Confird Violet, at Olivia’s nod she smiled.
"Alright then, let’s wander the outskirts and see what we can find."
With that the girls began to circle the mushrooms from a distance, they initially headed in the direction back to where they entered the dungeon from in the hopes that the enterance would be there. All the whilst observing the tall multicoloured fungi for any idea on what kind of foes might reside within.
They were unable to discern any idea on what kind of creatures may reside in the forest, but they did eventually locate a fairly distinct enterance.
Two truly massive mushrooms acted as the gateway into the forest, their trunk like stems far enough apart to allow for easy access.
The girls gathered in front of the enterance for a mont, looking into the shifting shadows of the interior of the forest. They could not see far into it however, as it seed like the forest was designed in such a way to create narrow passageways, the one at the entrance soon curving off out of sight not too deep in.
The organised in much the sa manner as they did when entering the tall grasses, Olivia up front flanked by Rhyana and Luna, Susan was behind them with Violet taking up the rear.
As they walked through the enterance to the fungal forest they were bathed in shadows, the canopy so dense that hardly any natural light was able to penetrate through to the floor below.
Thankfully Violet was able to utilise a trick that she had used quite so ti ago, given that her void originated from a fusion of shadow and arcane she still held so affinity for shadows. So with only so small effort Violet extended a thin film of void to cover her friends eyes allowing them to easily see through the shifting shadows.
Still maintaining this effect for 5 people was noticeably harder than just doing so for herself and Luna, but at the sa ti she is now incomparably stronger then when compared to what she was when last she utilised this technique.
The group wandered down the corridor of mushrooms, the path slowly winding as they got deeper and deeper. Soon the singular pathway split at a T junction, the pathway now heading in two separate directions with no clear indication on what option they should choose.
"Any preferences on which direction to take?" Rhyana asked the group.
Violet carefully observed both paths, each looked much the sa. Lined with the multicoloured mushrooms the paths were around 3 ters wide and the sa in height. No distinguishing details could be noted for either route.
Violet tried to get her instincts involved with choosing the route, yet it stayed frustratingly silent as to what option would be better. With an annoyed snort she shook her head. "Iv got no idea, let’s just pick one and hope for the best, unless anyone else has a better idea?"
Seeing that no one else seed to have abetter idea the group eventually decided to just go left.
Walking down the tunnel they once more stayed vigilant, wondering when or if they would be encountering so form of attack. It didn’t make sense for their to be no opponents to fight in such and area, or at least it wouldn’t make sense when out in the real world anyhow.
Soon however, the girls arrived at yet another crossroads, this ti with 4 options including the path that they had just arrived from. At this point they girls began to guess what kind of a place this was, Susan being the first to voice their thoughts.
"Oh great, this is a labyrinth isn’t it, this is going to take a while."
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