The Dungeon's Worst Little Mistake

"Come on! Wake up damn it, wake up!"

Fist pressing down his bare chest, pushing down again and again, rhythmically, hard, compressing it over and other until it gets to the point of almost beating on him. Eventually, the compressions become so hard that you can hear as something cracks. But he doesn't stop.

"Live damn it, we need you down here! WAKE UP!"

Eyes snap open suddenly, with a sudden lurch, he curls up on himself and vomits out a lungful of dirty black water. His chest hurts and he feels like he just got kicked by a horse, but the agony of his waterlogged lungs gasping for air is drowning out everything else. When he can finally breathe again, the only thing he can do is cough and curse.

"Ache, ackkk! Ah, Goddess… Ack! What the fuck…"

Reaching up to try and wipe his mouth, Ben is suddenly pulled by the shoulder, forced up and onto his feet by a frantic and bloodied Dale.

"Wha-what is going-"

"No time! Fight, now!"

He is quickly turned around and- a quick shake of his head to clear out the fogginess- finds someone in a hazmat suit holding off a pack of Lizard Men with a curved sword, some twenty strong or maybe more. Susan then, that's the easiest way to tell that that her after all.

She's hacking them apart, but they just keep coming, not even stopping as one of them losses a head.

With his bleary eyes clearing up, Ben can finally see that they are actually Undead. Took a while to tell, what with not being covered in mushrooms and whatnot. After seeing the two mixed together so much recently, he had almost forgotten that zombies can just be normal zombies.

What was Dale saying again? Oh, right, they need to fight. Weird thing about nearly drowning that, it makes it a bit hard to think straight… Fuck his chest hurts.

Raising his arm, shaking, dripping with water and breathing hard, he draws from his nearly drained core and incants.

"Fire, stream forth and cling to my enemies, -Ackh!- b, burn them, reduce them to ash. Flamethrower!"

Susan, feeling the gathering magical energies behind her, moves without even needing to be warned, and dodges out of the way as a stream of fire belches out from Ben's extended hand. He can only maintain it for a short while, dragging the stream of fire left to right along with his shaking arm to engulf all the enemies in red hot flames.

With his core running empty, the spell sputters out, nothing but a few last puffs of fire sputtering out last like a final gasping breath. But just a couple seconds was all he needed. The lizard zombies are all on fire, still moving forward, yes, but now falling apart with every step. Hell, most of the hallway in that direction is just completely on fire now, with the magical flames sticking to every surface.

In a matter of moments, their bodies darken and char, limbs shrivel up and contract to their bodies, muscle burns to ash and fat melts away and hisses like butter. And finally, when the damage becomes too much and the meat is all burning away from blackened bones, they collapse. The Undead return to simply being just dead, with about half of them even being reduced to glowing piles of ash as the magical flames had been a bit too zealous, burning away even the bones.

That happens sometimes when burning the Undead and other magically controlled beings, like some golems and even summoned monsters. Ben doesn't know the specifics, but scholars believe that it is a result of some sort of internal combustion of trapped mana, reacting with magical fire. The same can happen with other elements, sometimes, with a notable one being Light magic. As far as Ben is concerned, it just means that they can't be brought back after being destroyed. An enemy golem isn't going to stand back up or repair itself if it is a pile of ash after all, and that means that its user is now without their protection. Something that Ben has experienced when he had a mission to hunt down a Nature Mage that could turn trees into Treants as minions. Guy was using them to rob merchants traveling on a highway near his woods, living as a magical bandit king.

Half a burnt down forest later, and he finally got the guy. Only problem is that when he brought his head back to be turned in for the reward, there was a serious delay in collecting the bounty because the guy's head had been burned into basically charcoal. They couldn't confirm his identity, and Ben had to wait three weeks, so they confirm that the bandit was, indeed dead or gone. He learned a lot from that mission. Like that going three weeks without money, because you were banking on that payday and spent all your money on a new grimoire, really, really sucks.

I had to take latrine cleaning jobs just to keep from starving… The ONE month, when a whole city had no other work available for a Fire Mage. Ridiculous. Still, I learned a lot…

Wait, what was he doing again? Head is still foggy...

…

Oh, right, nearly drowned. Zombies. Burned the zombies. Now…

Ben has to fight to keep himself from collapsing, leaning forward and holding himself up with his hands on his knees, his chest radiating with pain with every breath.

"What, happened? Where are we?" He asks Dale as he tries to fully stand up. A sudden flare of pain has him holding his chest and nearly doubling over.

Did my ribs get broken? Fucking hurts! Ouch!

Dale isn't looking so good himself, standing there with one arm hanging limply at his side, the visor of his helmet being a spiderweb of cracks.

Before Dale can answer him, they both get their attention drawn to the side by a panicking Susan, frantically working away at another person's hazmat suit who is lying on the ground by the water's edge.

"Come on, Elaine! Please, please don't be dead! Please be okay!"

Working frantically, hands shaking so obviously that it can be seen through her thick gloves, the swordswoman finally manages to break the seal on Elain's suit, removing its head.

Long flowing blond hair, a cute, round face with delicate features and a little nose, and lips like the petals of a flower. If Susan is the posterchild and the face of the Golden Mare Adventure's Clan, then Elaine is the mascot, the little sister, the heart of the Clan that everyone wants to protect and adores. Her looks alone are enough to turn heads on the streets, and there have already been several bar fights and plenty of back-alley beatings, as Clan members had to teach any guys that got funny ideas a lesson. No one is allowed to touch the Clan's favorite girl! Not even members of the clan… Which has made it rather difficult for poor Elaine to have much of a love life, considering that all her potential boyfriends keep getting scared away or end up mysteriously never showing up to their first date, only to be seen later, leaving the city covered in bruises. Thankfully, as far as they know, Elaine doesn't know that they are protecting her.

"Oh shit!"

Ben moves forward, getting closer to Susan and Elaine, feeling worried about the girl who he thinks of as like an apprentice. Dale is right behind him, equally worried for his own reasons.

Susan is hitting her cheeks and shaking her shoulders, "Come on, come on, please wake up! Wake up!"

After a little bit, and plenty of dread, the girl finally stirs, her beautiful eyelashes fluttering over sapphire-blue eyes.

"Haaa? Wha's going on…?" She asks like she just woke from a nap.

Just unconscious then. Thankfully not dead.

With much relief, everyone lets out a breath they didn't know they were holding in. Susan practically collapses on the girl and hugs her, which ends up being rather awkward, considering the bulky suits between them.

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While being hugged, and looking rightfully confused, Elaine asks the same question that Ben did.

"What happened? Where are we?"

Dale answers for the group as he awkwardly takes off his suit's helmet with one hand. With how ruined his visor is now, his suit is probably already compromised. No point in wearing it if it is just going to get in the way. When the helmet comes off, dropping it to the floor without a care, he reaches up and wipes away at the blood covering his face. Must have gotten cut up by flying glass when his helmet broke. His beard is soaking wet with water that got in, and his bald head is beading with sweat.

"We are somewhere in the third layer now. No idea which floor, but these sewers are unmistakable. After the branch collapsed, we all fell into a lake, which broke our fall. For some reason, a whirlpool formed in the lake and sucked us all into an underwater passage, dumping us here. Ben almost drowned after his suit broke and let the water in, and you've been unconscious. After pulling ourselves out of the water and onto shore, a horde of Undead assaulted us. Susan held them off while I resuscitated Ben, he burned them, and then Susan woke you up."

"Oh… Why is Ben naked!?!?" Elaine screams and squeaks in surprise as she looks at him. Turning, she hides her blushing face against Susan's shoulder, who is still holding her in a tight hug like a mother holding her daughter.

Ben just looks down at himself and finally registers that he is, in fact, naked. A fresh gust of air brings a sudden chill to his free hanging willy, and he has to agree with her.

"Yeah, why am I naked?"

"I had to perform CPR, get you breathing again. Your suit's chest piece was in the way and the only way to was by completely taking it off."

"Oh, ok then. Where is my stuff? I'll get dressed." Ben says nonchalantly with a shrug that definitely doesn't help in the slightest with his aching chest. Nudity never really bothered him much though, and he frankly doesn't give a shit about being seen naked. He's just happy to still be alive.

"Over there." Dale tells him as he points to a bag sitting against the wall, lying next to a discarded and half-flooded hazmat suit.

He walks over, takes this chance to scratch his nuts -something he hasn't been able to do while being stuck in that suit for so long- and then gets to work on digging out his clothes. Thankfully, the seal on the bag held and managed to keep out any water, and especially any spores, from getting in.

As he is slowly getting dressed and working through the pain, Elaine can't help but to peek through her fingers, her face blushing like a red apple.

Ben might not have the most muscular of bodies, but he is certainly toned and very healthy with a narrow build. He is an adventure after all, and even if he isn't a physical fighter, being a mage, he still lives a very active life.

And that butt…

Elaine may be an innocent girl, but she is still a woman on the cusp of turning twenty. It also doesn't help that she has a thing for older men, and Ben, being thirty, single, and often spending time with her to study magic, certainly fits comfortably within her interests. Though she absolutely refuses to admit that she has something of a schoolgirl's crush on her mentor. The other guys at the Clan would probably beat him up if they found out…

Still can't believe that they were doing that! And here I thought that I was doing something wrong every time a guy wouldn't show up to our date. Nope! Those idiots were just sabotaging them. I'm not a kid anymore. I should be allowed to date whoever I want!

Elaine takes another peek at Ben, feeling a little disappointed as that nice juicy butt gets covered by a pair of cotton pants and then a red robe.

I-I should be allowed to date whoever I want… If we, no. When we get out of here. I'm going to ask him out! We'll have a nice date and can talk about magic like we always do. And maybe if things go well… And with all the money we will get from this bounty. We could buy a big house with plenty of land, and, and… I wonder how many kids he will want? What if he wants ten!? Oh, oh Goddess! Well… if he asks nicely… I don't think I would mind. We'll be able to afford it after all, and, Oh a dog! I've always wanted to get a dog! We could adopt a puppy too! And then-

While Elaine is getting lost in her thoughts, letting her mind run away with itself into some rosy future, Ben is finished getting dressed and turns around to rejoin the group, having no idea what Elaine is thinking about. Susan is finally calming down and has released her hug. With another sigh of relief, she quickly goes into mother mode and starts checking Elaine over for any injuries.

"Are you hurt? Not seriously injured anywhere? You didn't hit your head, did you? That can kill just as easily as anything else, even if it's not bleeding much."

Elaine, held by her cheeks, complains and tries to get her to stop.

"M'm ookkay. Shopp worryying an' leh meh goooh, pleeesh!"

She finally lets her go and gives her another hug.

"You had me so worried. I knew I shouldn't have let you come."

"I'm not a kid anymore, and I would have come even if you told me, no. I wasn't going to let you do this by yourself." Elaine tells her, feeling rightfully irritated.

Seriously, I'm not a kid anymore. My older sister was even married and with child before reaching my age!

Susan looks like she wants to argue, but she relents and lets out another sigh.

"I know, I know. I just worry. You know I love you."

"I love you too."

They hug again, which is difficult with their bulky suits, and a bit silly with Susan still wearing her helmet.

After a lovely, shared moment, they get pulled out of it by Dale clearing his throat, standing there holding his broken arm.

"If we are all alright to continue, we need to hurry. There could be more Undead coming soon; especially if we are getting close to the Necromancer."

Elaine looks up at him, trying not to gawk at how much his beard has grown while he was trapped in his suit.

"We're getting closer?"

Dale just nods his head towards a brick wall, the only vegetation being Dungeon moss, aside from what Ben's fire utterly burned away. Completely regular, nondeadly, edible, alright tasting, moss. Just some harmless and, most certainly, not country destroying vegetation.

"It's safe to assume that the Necromancer isn't immune to the mushrooms, or rather, we can only hope that she isn't. The report suggests as much, at least. But the Undead are here, and the mushrooms aren't. She is probably on this floor, or on a lower part of this layer."

Susan stands up and nods after helping Elaine get to her feet.

"Mhm, this is our chance. We need to catch up and finally finish this. We'll avenge everyone that has died and save the city!"

"Yes!" Elaine cheers next to her, pumping her fist. "Actually, now that you mention it, the amount of Death mana down here is much lower now. Not much Light, but I should at least be able to start slowly refilling my core."

Ben and Dale nod in agreement.

"Then let's get ready to move. First, let's changed out of these suits. Elaine, focus on doing that, we are going to relying on your healing, and if the Necromancer is as dangerous as we think she is, you'll probably be the only thing keeping us in the fight."

"Right!"

"Ah, I can finally get out of this damn thing!" Susan cheers from beside her, still fully dressed in her hazmat and looking like an alien.

Susan takes off her suit's helmet and takes in a deep breath of fresh air, a cascade of curling and bouncing crimson hair falling out as it is all finally freed by the helmet coming off. She promptly gags as that fresh air ends up being not so fresh, smelling of brackish water, dirt, and barbequed zombies. Not exactly a pleasant smell.

With no enemies currently around yet, and the place being safe enough, Susan, Elaine, and Dale get to work on stripping the rest of the way out of their suits. Digging some clothes and simple, light armor, out of their bags, they then get dressed. The guys are kind enough to keep their backs turned the entire time and don't peek.

"Finally, in some actual clothes again! I just couldn't get used to being naked in those suits all the time. And the cleaning function… eugh…"

Dressed in some comfy mage robes and wearing a leather chest guard, Elaine hugs herself and shudders just thinking about it.

Susan, dressed in form fitting pants and a shirt, small metal gear protecting her vitals and with gauntlets adorning her arms up to elbows, gives Elaine a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, the two of us are going to have a spa day when we get back. No, make it a spa WEEK!"

"Yes! Let's do this!" Elaine practically screams as she gets pumped up, images of massages and baths and of getting pampered while wearing a bathrobe and eating cheese, dancing in her head like little baby angles playing harps. After going through everything down here so far, she and Susan have earned it!

Nobody mentions that the first thing will probably actually be a funeral for all those who didn't make it. They all know this. It's just that right now, what they need is happy things to focus on, things to look forward to that will help keep moral up and to push them towards finally finishing this mission. Their lost clan mates will be mourned. It is just too bad that they weren't able to retrieve their tags, and that all the tags Vincent was carrying were lost with him when he died. There will be a lot of empty graves here soon…

Dale lifts his hammer to his shoulder with his one good arm and says, "Good, let's get going then."

Elaine looks shocked at that, seeming to finally notice just how bad of a state he is in now that he is out of the hazmat. Most of his left arm is twisted and bruised, looking like it is broken in three places maybe. How it is that he can still be looking so nonchalant and clear, despite his current state is a shock.

"I need to heal you first! Oh, my goodness, why didn't you- No, I should have noticed first. Hold still, let me help you!"

"Do you have the mana for it?" He asks, looking like he wants to stop her.

"I'll be able to regenerate it; don't worry about me. Just hold still; this is going to hurt..."

Light fills the passage as she literally works her magic, Dale gritting his teeth and biting back curses as his bones audibly snap back into place and heal. Seconds pass and the swelling goes down bit by bit, his arm slowly returning to its original, muscular self.

Once he is finally healed enough to be able to use his arm again, he thanks her, and they get ready to start moving.

Before they can get walking though, Ben weakly raises a hand, the other held to his chest.

"Ah, hold on. Can I get some healing too, first? I think you cracked my ribs earlier…"

Elaine panics a little. "Oh! Yes, yes, hold on!

She doesn't need to touch someone while healing them, just be close, but she goes ahead and takes this chance to put her hands on Ben's chest. His muscles feel nice and hard under her fingers, and she has to fight to not let it distract her from her incantation.

Ok, spa week first, and then I'll finally ask him out. I can't wait to finally get out of here!