Status Effect (Part 1)

Having decided what we were going to do, Charlie, Steve, and I moved in silence through the corridor that would lead us to the library. Before getting there, I activated my pendant by applying mana to it, letting me see the closest sources of energy. I could see the big silhouette that was supposed to be the Housekeeper, turning to another aisle of the mansion.

"Let's go," I said, running as quietly as possible, and once we got into the library, we sighed in relief.

"You were right, Taylor," Charlie said, nodding. "This will do." He got close to one of the many wooden shelves and threw the books aside. "Let's see what 'Vitality Bronze A' can do." He exhaled and lifted it. Although he made it seem easy, I knew he was just acting tough in front of me. "I'll go first," he said, leaving the room, carrying it.

I was now alone with Steve, and he would leave soon if I didn't hurry.

"Steve? Can we talk?" I called aloud, getting no answer. I turned around, finding him in front of a table I quickly recognized. Don't tell me that…

My heart thumped like crazy as I dashed to his side. And yes, he was staring at the opened sex book stained with my girly cum.

"Were you having fun?" he asked in a severe tone of voice. He then shook his head and walked towards the closest shelf, tossing the books aside.

"Steve!" I cried before he could leave. "Why are you acting so cold to me?"

He stopped, put the shelf down, and glared at me. "So you've forgotten about what you said to me? That I needed 1,000 gold if I ever wanted to be with you again?"

"Oh… That…"

"And when I asked you if we could be friends, you said, no!"

"I had forgotten about that…"

"Can I go now?"

"Yes…"

While Steve crossed the corridor, I stared at his broad shoulders and strong-looking back, and I wished he could carry me in his arms instead.

* * *

"Is he here? The butler?" Charlie asked while looking up.

I activated my pendant, and through the ceiling, it let me discern a more slender figure, walking in circles. "Yes, this is the place."

We were in the middle of a T-shaped corridor. At the front, the kitchen's entrance, to our sides, paths leading to service rooms. At our back, the lobby and the double staircase.

"You heard her, Steve," Charlie said, tapping his shoulder. After two more trips to the library, Steve and Charlie had collected four shelves, which they used to block every single path.

While they worked on it, I peeked inside the kitchen, looking for the one having fun in front of the stove. When I got close, Grace had a terrifying smile on her lips. "Is the chemical ready?" I asked, and when she turned to face me, her eyes were gleaming, making me concerned for a moment.

She had the face of a hungry witch preparing 'abducted children soup'.

"I finished it some time ago," she said, pointing at a bottle filled with orange liquid. She then focused again on her brewing, giggling. She looked like she was enjoying a sick inside joke.

"What are you concocting, then?" I asked, peering at the pot, finding a pink liquid that smelled sweet and nice... Oh, man… The aroma made me get closer, like a bee to a flower, until my head rested on Grace's shoulder. "What the hell is that?" I said like a drunk.

"Something that will motivate this team to finish this damn dungeon."

Smelling that potion gave me the urge to grab her breasts, which she didn't mind.

"What's your bra size?" I asked, absently.

"32 D. Why?

"I like them."

"I know. What do you think, Dan? Do you like them too?" she asked the guy sitting in the corner, holding a cookie.

He swallowed hard before replying. "T-they're gorgeous. Yes."

"How do they feel, Taylor?"

"Soft and squishy…" I muttered, not feeling like myself.

"Did you hear that, Dan? Would you like to squeeze them too?"

"Y-you don't mind?!" he cried, jumping from his seat before Charlie stormed into the kitchen. "Is everything ready?!"

The next step was to weaken the ceiling using Grace's magic. The group watched as she released a controlled flamethrower fire, while I monitored the Housekeeper, whose chains could be heard from a distance.

"He's just around the corner," I said to Charlie, who nodded.

"Everyone, get in position," he said quietly.

A minute after, the Housekeeper would come to the lobby, dragging his feet and a chain. "I have to keep the mansion free of intruders," he said in a drowsy tone of voice before a pot of flowers exploded in front of him. "What was that?" he said, strolling forward, surely staring at the broken pot and arrow nearby. "Intruders?"

"That's right," Dan said aloud, smirking, 40 feet away from him. "I'm an intruder."

"An intruder!" the housekeeper roared, charging towards him, passing by an unsuspected wooden shelf from where Steve was hiding.

Dan only had a few precious moments to point his bow upward and cast. "Explosive Shot!"

His arrow glowed for an instant, charged with mana, and after impacting the weakened ceiling, the Butler fell down over the Housekeeper. Dan dodged to his left, where I was waiting for him behind another shelf. We both pushed it, keeping us out of sight.

At the same time, Steve pushed his own shelf forward, blocking the exit. I could hear the sound of Charlie pushing his corresponding shelf too. It was now Grace's turn.

She quietly opened the kitchen door, blocked by a fourth shelf acting as a barricade, and threw the orange potion at the enemies' feet. When the bottle smashed against the floor, it released a gas that made them cough for a couple of seconds.

"What have you done, you fool?!" the Butler shouted. "Why are you destroying Lord Dylak's property?"

"Are you with the intruders, Marick?!" the Housekeeper interrogated, making his chains tingle.

Grace's 'enraging potion' she had learned from her book, 'The Many Deadly creatures of the Eurola Region and how to fight them', had worked.