Runt of the Litter - Tales from Alirast

Current Progress Towards Evolution: 37%

Trillia slumped down against the wall of the dungeon. They had been delving into this particular dungeon for three weeks now and still hadn't cleared the second floor of it.

"[Stitch]." She grunted out while hovering a hand over her stomach where a rock breaker had peeled through the armor that Marg and Alfred had crafted for her. The rest of the group was dealing with their own wounds with Ialu being on her respawn in the artifact.

Three dozen of the beetles lay strewn about on the floor. Every day that they came into it, the dungeon seemed to grow more offended by their existence and sent more and more after them. Individually the beetles weren't an issue, but the dungeon was drowning them in number.

"We need to leave. My mana is nearly bottomed out, and I'm also out of consumables." Layla was primarily using her mana to stop bleeding instead of healing health. Four days in, they agreed to let her regenerate some mana from Trillia, but whatever process Stas had her undergoing gave her mana sickness almost immediately.

The cleric walked over to a side of the cave and braced herself on the wall. "Sorry, I'm tapped out."

"Don't push yourself, I can use [Mend] and [Stitch] to help out. Let's start backtracking. Dire, consume all the corpses and cores that you can. I don't want to waste time carving these up."

The wolf lumbered over and started to tear into the beetles, at this point it knew exactly where their cores were situated and he had long since gained the passive to let him bypass their armor.

Trillia dragged herself from the ground and made the rounds to do her best to heal her friends. "No new skills. I think this evolution is just consuming everything. Maybe I should just go back to being a mage for now."

Malor helped Amelia up, and the two minotaurs walked over to Layla and helped her limp along as the group started to head out. "No, continue training with Leaf. It may be getting consumed by your evolution now, but it has to count for something."

As Trillia turned her head to respond, she felt something on her leg. Before she could react, she found herself buried up to her chest in stone as the party scrambled to kill the stone surfer that had hold of her.

With a thought, Trillia threw her soul into the Aether and tore the stone surfer apart. Hovering there for a moment as she took in her surroundings.

The dungeon seemed tiny in the Aether. Like there was no possible way that it could ever hold the amount of space they had to travel. A small pulsing orb of sickly green energy seemed to focus on them.

Trillia watched as more dim lights began to slowly crawl toward them from much, much deeper in the dungeon's soul.

"It's sending more reinforcements. But it's doing some from several floors down. I'm not sure why it's so desperate to keep us from clearing this floor, but that explains why the enemies are getting more frequent and more difficult." She said as she pulled her soul back into the world of the physical.

Malor and Amelia were using their minotaur expertise to soften and shape the stone and pull her out, as they had been forced to do so dozens of times at this point and were turning into experts at it. "Yeah, I am almost done with the enchanting setups. So we won't be here much longer. Maybe we should call this dungeon done for now and report to one of the dwarves what we're seeing?"

The group nodded in agreement and continued moving towards the exit.

-=====-

"[Full Augment Chain Lightning]!" Trillia shouted the words and splayed out her fingertips, ripping through another half dozen rock breakers. Fred was dragging Layla's unconscious body through the tunnels, and Amelia was doing her best to carry Malor. The group was leaving a trail of blood as they walked.

Dire had gained a new ability that allowed him to taunt large groups. The wolf had just returned from his latest use of the skill. He'd howl to taunt, run off into the dungeon to pull beetles to him, and come running back to the group.

Trillia winced when she saw him this time. One of his eyes was missing, and the beast was covered in deep gashes and bleeding heavily. Despite that, as he approached, he tore into one of the beetles that was still alive after Trillia's blast.

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"Almost there!" Fred called out in a hoarse voice.

They continued to move as fast as their wounded would allow them through the dungeon. Trillia recognized this place.

They were nearly out.

Amelia's scream caused Trillia to snap her attention from the back of the group to the front. She lifted the heavy horn she used as a great club overhead and smashed the head of a stone surfer, but Malor lay there on the ground, missing an arm.

Trillia ran over.

Despite her armor doubling her already absurd mana regeneration, she found that it was difficult to maintain such a barrage of offense for so long. She'd have to refine her spells to use significantly less.

As she slipped on blood and ichor and skidded next to Malor, she grabbed his arm. The system guided her words, and she happily flowed with it. "Repulse decay and death, mend flesh and make whole! [Greater Heal]!" She felt thousands of mana pour out of her already dwindling reserves. Light-headedness overcame her, but she gritted her teeth to continue. As the mana poured into Malor, the stump of his arm closed and stopped bleeding. "Go!" She screamed at them. The group desperately continued to drag their friends out, bleeding from a half dozen places themselves.

Trillia turned and let loose another blast of lightning. Dire came limping back down the hallway.

"We're out!" She heard Frederick yell as they crossed the threshold of the dungeon. Trillia waited at the entrance and blasted the last few rock breakers that tried to finish off Dire.

She and the wolf limped out of the dungeon together. Trillia was surprised to see a half dozen dwarves lined up and waiting to heal the group. Dire collapsed with a whimper at her feet. As she kneeled to try and heal him, her vision blurred. A hand reached out to grab onto the wolf's pelt and stabilize herself. Bringing up her status, she saw her mana refusing to regenerate.

The last thing she remembered seeing was two dwarves running over with potions and dumping them on Dire's body.

-=====-

It felt as if she had let a dragon stomp on her. Trillia groaned, breathing hurt.

As much as she wanted to sit up and check on her friends, the pain wouldn't let her. She dared to open her eyes, one at a time. The stone here looked different. It looked...older. Massive pillars raced from the ground up to the inky darkness above. Slowly, she turned her head to see other beds lined up on the wall. Most of her friends counted among their occupants.

"Oh good, you're awake." Arlyss' voice resonated in the halls. She breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Is everyone ok?" Those three little words hurt something awful, it felt like she had swallowed a rapier and was trying to throw it back up.

"No, they are alive though. The dwarven healers are trying to fix Malor's arm right now. Layla has a new debuff we haven't seen. Ora'sys and I are doing some research on what its source could be. Stas is here as well, so I wouldn't worry about her safety. Stas is...disturbingly familiar with the anatomy of other mortals and what ails them."

"One must be, I won't put a diseased liver into a healthy body." The goblin grumbled off to the side. "Back off!" The low grumble turned into a menacing threat in an instant.

No one responded. Trillia couldn't turn her head enough to see where Layla and Stas were.

"I think we bit off more than we should have."

"Not at all. According to the dwarven guards, the dungeon has been far more calm since you made your escape. I think the influence of the [Primordials] has been causing it to spawn significantly more creatures. Your group has done wonders to thin out its occupants and let it breathe a little easier. Mother has decided to descend into it herself to clear up more, as well as study the cores that you have been bringing back."

Trillia nodded weakly. Despite trying her best to remain attentive, she felt the pull of exhaustion drag her back down.

-=====-

It still hurt to move, and she didn't dare open her eyes. The pounding of her head told her that it'd be a bad idea.

"Thank you, Lord Rubious. I fear that I still need to study healing magic further."

The dwarf's deep, rumbling voice sent shivers up her spine. "Think nothing of it, Lord Arlyss. Despite my apprehension about your rise to power, we are still allies. The lass is still a valued part of society, and I wouldn't see her taken from us by an uppity dungeon."

Had something happened to her? Something that Arlyss couldn't heal?

As she opened her mouth to speak, she found herself tumbling back into the darkness.

-=====-

Voices pulled her out of her rest again.

"We caused this. She was forced to push herself too hard again." Amelia's voice was all too familiar to her.

She tried to speak up and call her friend an idiot for bringing it up but found that even the thought of it was too much for her.

"I think it's time for us to have a serious discussion about whether we're even capable of chasing after her at this point." Malor's voice sounded weak and forced.

"The two of you are awfully dramatic. She'd be dead as dead could be if we weren't there. You saw how many of those things swarmed us. Just because she's stronger and has more endurance doesn't mean we are a burden." As Layla's stern voice spoke over the two minotaurs, Trillia found herself smiling slightly, at least, she hoped her body reflected the smile. She'd have to treat the little orc to a good meal.

"Unless all of you want an excuse to give up. In which case, don't bother. Just tell her that this isn't the life you want and move on. Trillia and I love you all dearly. You're a second family to her and the closest thing I have to family. We want you all to be safe."

Fred chuckled softly, quickly turning into a wet-sounding cough. "But not you, eh?"

"I am a pact-bound to Lord Arlyss. She is my sister under Lady Ora'sys. I'm an orc, capable of the same racial feats of survival that she is. I won't leave her to be on her own, we've already talked about this before."

The group went silent. Trillia felt them squeeze one of her hands.

She brought up her status window and found that her mana still sat empty. But she didn't panic, she didn't spin out.

Somehow, she knew she'd get through this.

Current Progress Towards Evolution: 41%