Betting Life

This chamber is as wide as most places in this dungeon, there are three doors in this chamber, one is through which they entered, and two are closed by granite doors, Susano guesses that the corridors of the closed doors must be as wide as the corridor through which they came because the doors equally big.

Amira reads the environment carefully, she has eyes trained to notice the slightest suspicious bulge between the blocks that make up the floor or noises that don't have a natural source, Rikka follows her mentally preparing to deactivate mystical traps.

Amira hasn't figured out how to deactivate that trap yet, she just knows that she should deactivate it and that is there, because there's an inscription on the wall saying that, she's nervous it shouldn't take long for Rikka to deactivate the mystic trap and they can't waste any time, every second the risk increases, their welcome on the stairs was very clear.

Rikka is more nervous than Amira, she tries and tries unsuccessfully, the trap doesn't react to any of her spells, the place starts to cool down, it doesn't take long for the temperature drop enough for their breathing to get visible.

Now trembling Rikka can no longer make any mystical gestures with the necessary precision, Krastinaff has not been idle all this time, he may not know everything about traps, buildings or other things. But he can read those inscriptions better than anyone else in the group.

"Hey! Give up, this is clearly the trap itself, Rikka blows up one of the doors and let's get away from this crap!" for them time was always money, but now time is also survival.

"Caution! I choose the one on the right, I won't be able to control the explosion properly, so protect yourselves." Rikka is scared, the room has at least 4 other mystical traps that she hasn't figured out yet and doesn't know what they do, she puts the tips of her thumbs and indicators together in front of her bust forming a triangle, fire triangle speel.

"Hard red that devours matter. Solid heat that breaks boundaries. Eliminate what gets in my way. For my will is to subdue!" an incandescent shot of dark red fire leaves Rikka's hands towards the door for a moment, the door hints partially melted.

Before the party can do anything, undead chimeras pass and enter through the gap in the door, some of the creatures smack themselves against the still glowing pear, the creatures pass by anyway, the sound of the creatures' murmurs are intense and numerous.

Rikka has an idea, she drinks a potion, fixes her eyes on the first creature getting to her, and without touching the creature she hurls the chimera into the trap on the ceiling above the door the creature had entered, a purple flash blinks with that contact and the block falls, crushing the creature and two others that had just passed through the door, then a fetid acid falls from the hole the block detached from and melts the block and the creatures beneath it.

Rikka and Amira go back to their companions, not saying anything Ramon goes the way Rikka and Amira came, then jumps to the door, he pulls one of the creatures, his skin blackens just by touching it, he sees no alternative.

"Where's the other trap?" Ramon tries to imitate Rikka in his own way, Amira points and Ramon throws the creature as best he can, but it doesn't hit the wall, an arrow almost at the same time hits the wall and sets off an explosion that makes floor scramble*, then slender blades erupt in the direction the arrow came and superficially hit the group.

Amira doesn't wait for Ramon to ask and points to the trap near the door that remains closed, Ramon throws a creature in that direction with all his strength, the creature hits and falls to the ground, the door opens and a huge scorpion passes through it, it's two times Ramon's size and his tail scrapes the ceiling, thin pincers, only Ramon can see him, the others only see a figure and hear voracious squeaks coming from the creature, the scorpion attacks the chimera on the trap before it can get to its feet.

The chimera is shattered by the scorpion's pincers, Ramon seizes the moment and runs towards the scorpion, he dodges the scorpion's tail*, he looks inside where the scorpion come from, there is nowhere to go from. "Nothing to do here" and runs away from scorpion.

More chimeras enter through door on the right, they head towards the group, Krastinaff when he can see the scorpion's eyes lit by the torch he carries, he shoots darts of light with the other hand into the monster's red eyes, the scorpion squeaks in pain and shakes itself scraping the tail* on the roof making a high-pitched annoying noise.

Susano's vision is blurred, he has kept a frantic pace in his silent prayer of mantras, the illusion spells here are continuous, when one ends another starts, he is shaken, watching this mixture of reality and illusion is disturbing.

Those illusions are very convincing, it's him or his comrades being trapped, last time he could have dodged the darts from the trap if he thought that was real.

The group notices that Susano is approaching his limit, so avoiding traps will be useless, Ramon uses his last strength to transform into a gray wolf and make way for his companions by pushing the monsters through the half-destroyed door and jumping through the hole to the other side.

"Go all out Ramon!" Rikka tries to motivate him even she can't express hope in her voice. The party follows him and suffers the necrotic effects of touching on those creatures, Susano's head is throbbing, Amira who was already weak sees her blood running down the necrotic parts of her skin like sticky pus.

Krastinaff is unable to carry her, he holds up his short sword that wouldn't be very useful at all and pulls her by the hand so she doesn't fall behind. They cross that sea of tentacles, pincers and claws and jump through the hole trying to imitate Ramon, on the other side they see that Ramon has a broken arm, he is bleeding, his situation is worse, because he was preventing monsters to obstruct the passage through the door again.

After seeing Ramon's condition, Rikka spends the rest of her magical power emitting a blinding light toward chimeras, Ramon reverts to human form and grabs Susano who was about to fall to the ground and puts him over his shoulder, they blush in exasperation and hurt, Susano in his last effort before falling unconscious, he throws a bomb to slow down chimeras.

The scorpion breaks through the broken door, it comes running after them, traps are activated, and they run around holding their breath as much as they can and closing their eyes too. Krastinaff hands his torch to Amira, who has to hold it with both hands to not drop it.

Krastinaff grudgingly* turns and quickly recites his chant. "Prism of power. Prism I carry in my soul. Reveal my will over the world." his hands flash quickly in all the colors of the rainbow and he claps his hands, a shock wave and twinkling lights pushing back the monsters that have been chasing them.

He claps his hands again and the effect is repeated with less intensity, even so it's enough to increase a little more the distance between the group and monsters chasing them.

Krastinaff starts running towards the dim light of the torch in Amira's hands, the door of the chamber they managed to get into closes when he's a few meters away, he keeps running and zigzags through the labyrinthine corridors ahead of him, the monsters are falling behind.

He leans into a hole in the wall and tries to control his breathing to not attract any monsters, he strains his eyes to be able to see in that darkness.

A chimera passes in front of him slowly, apparently walking aimlessly, the monster mutters nonsense words that make Krastinaff feels repulse, time to time the thing squeaks and seems to get even more hideous in these moments.

Krastinaff's head throbs, it must be that what was affecting Susano, up close the sight of these chimeras is even worse, their smell is like something had rotted away for eternity. There aren't any sources of light there, just privileged living beings with eye talents like Ramon, who can see black light, and Krastinaff concentrating, who can see the heat on the surface of things.

After a few minutes Krastinaff faints leaning inside one of these holes, he is oscillating between consciousness and his daydreams, some hours pass with him in this state, luckily he managed to kill with his short sword two chimeras that attacked him, he moved away after taking cover in another hole.

He sees a glow coming towards him and stries as he can the source of that light, he feels a searing pain as if a piece of him is being ripped from his back.

"Calm down Kras!!" screams Rikka in tears, while Ramon holds him from behind trying not to hurt him, he drags him to a nearby chamber that they have managed to subdue the traps and convert into a temporary refuge.

Krastinaff spends long hours on the ground, tied up and raving. Sometimes for having the right balance between strength and dexterity Susano holds him during convulsions, Krastinaff foams by the mouth and rolls his eyes. Rikka is depressed, she can't really heal him, her magic power is very weak and she can only sustain her healing ability by touch for a few seconds at a time.

Even Amira is shaken to see Krastinaff in those conditions, he is the one who best manages to preserve himself in the group, often leaving dungeons unharmed.

"We have to find the closest exit to this shit NOW!" exclaims Amira, she doesn't hide her fear and neither could she. Krastinaff manages to stay upright somehow and mutters almost like chimeras, but it's low and his friends can't hear him.

"It is not an option! If we leave here without the item we're screwed for life" Ramon, for having courage and savagery running through his veins, resists the temptation to run away, and also doesn't want to become a slave mutt in some freak circus.

"... Are you crazy Ramon?" Rikka is crying again, even though she is trying uselessly to control herself. "We won't have any more life if we stay here, we have to leave as soon as possible, I have few more potions, Susano's head still hurts and he's almost out of art items too" Rikka sobs and she utters the last words in a muffled voice.

Susano for looking towards the group, back to where Krastinaff was lying, and others only notice Krastinaff standing when he screams in a high-pitched voice that doesn't sound like him. "DIE worms!!!" he sniffles between each sentence and almost squeaks. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL, I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE!!!" he repeats these phrases a few times, and his voice is a little different each time.

Until Susano throws him back to the ground, Krastinaff tries to bite Susano's leg, which is easily dodged, Rikka is frustrated, she already knows what she will have to do to free Krastinaff, and it will hurt both, Krastinaff by inside and herself in the face.

"Amira don't hesitate, whenever I pass out you have to slap me hard to make sure I wake up quickly!" Amira nods. Rikka mounts Krastinaff and holds him tightly by the shoulders to look him straight in the eye, and for the first time the characteristic flame of his eyes are not there.

Rikka mumbles a few words and her eyes sparkle like fireflies, she is the only one who sees the specter's face overlaying Krastinaff's face, Rikka feels her hands freeze and it makes her goose bump, her hair rises as if she was full of static, she spends a few seconds reciting a litany and passes out.

Amira's slap her quick and painfully, such scene repeats dozens of times, until Rikka manages to free Krastinaff from the specter, this costs Rikka dearly, she rolls to the side collapsing to the ground exhausted, her face is swollen on both sides by Amira's slaps, where Amira's knuckles hit more than once she turned purple*.

Rikka rests for a few hours, when he wakes up Krastinaff's face seems serene, but he is still very injured, she mounts Krastinaff again and drains her magic by brushing her lips against his lips.

With her face swollen, she can't breathe through her nose and has to stop to take a breath, so she alternates between draining Krastinaff's mana and healing him. When he seems good enough, she walks over to her companions on the other side of the room and takes a seat next to the breathless Amira.

Amira pulls her friend's head over her chest and feeds her as a way to apologize for those slaps, Rikka sighs between spoonfuls at first, it doesn't take long for Krastinaff to crawl over to them too, he eats some of the soup and utters the rhetorical question that only Ramon is willing to hear.

"We gotta move on!" Krastinaff's voice is heavy, he doesn't say it lightly or willingly, everyone is greatly unpleased.