Adventures of the last Wild Dragon-Chapter 223: Leaving the Labyrinth
When the giant mushroom in the center of the fungal cavern collapsed it punched right through the fungal ceiling. A rain of fungus fell down in a multicoloured cascade.
The last rays of daylight filtered through, illuminating the interior of the labyrinth. The giant shroom eventually halted its collaps, ending up stopping before it was fully flush with the floor, in fact as Violet squinted at the mushroom she felt like it looked suspiciously like a ramp.
"So I think we were supposed to knock the giant mushroom down and climb up and out of the labyrinth from on top of the mushrooms instead of having to retrace our steps." Violet mused as she kept staring at the oddly perfect ramp that the giant fungus formed. Its cap even split in a perfect V to allow anyone to easily pass through it and gain access to the open air beyond.
She shook her head in both amazement and bemusement at the scene, Luna looked over and nodded in apparent agreement. "Well i for one am glad they we don't have to spend who knows how long trying to retrace our steps through that maze. I think I might have started blasting out way through the labyrinth if we had to go through it the normal way once again!"
Nods of agreement were had from everyone else, all of them, even Violet fully agreed that they did not enjoy labyrinths and would be happy if they never entered one again!
Still the girls had to finish looting the corpses before they would leave, they also still needed to find their second key if they wanted to gain access to the second floor of the dungeon.
Thankfully all of the kills they achieved were concentrated in a fairly small area thanks to the spiders mad rush towards them, so they didn't have to wander too far, only having to walk towards the fallen mushroom and spread out to search.
Soon enough someone did find the key, that someone being Olivia. She let out a small squeek of surprise and joy as she exchlaimed. "I found it!" As she did a little jump of joy.
She then noticed that all of the girls were watching her and Violet once more could have sworn that she saw steam escaping her helm as the girl covered her face with her hands in apparent embarrassment.
"Hehe you are cute when you act all embarrassed." Luna chuckled, the other girls nodding in agreement at her statement, that only caused Olivia to let out a small whimper of embarrassment much to the girls amusement.
Thankfully she was saved from more teasing by a announcment from the system.
[2 of 3 keys collected]
"Ohh nice! What does the key look like this time?" Asked Violet, to which Olivia walked over and handed the key over to her whilst purposely keeping her head lowered so as to avoid eye contact.
When Violet examined the key she noted that it was indeed quite similar to the first one that they had found, looking more like a fragment of a whole than a key in its own right. She also made note of the familiar mana signature, that of something broken yet whole at the same time.
She moved over to Luna and proffered her the key, Luna in turn took out the first one that they had gathered and discovered that she could spot the two keys together, with a clear space still being left for one final key to fit in place.
"Hmm looks good, guess we now just need to find that last key and we will be good to go. But first let's get out of here shall we?"
With that the girls finally approached the fallen mushroom, its base had split in such a way that it was quite easy to climb it and get into the wide trunk. The remenants of the spiders web acting as a textured flooring that provided surprisingly good traction.
Soon the girls were all walking up its vast stem, climbing higher an higher as they approached the fading sunlight. The girls also noted that the moon which had previously been high in the sky was now suspiciously absent from view, based on how long they were within the labyrinth they assumed that the moon had already passed by the sun, yet either due to them being hidden from it or due to some other factor they had not noticed any effects.
Before too long the girls emerged out from the whole in the fungal ceiling. They were met by the sight of the multicoloured mushroom caps that formed the ceiling of the interior labyrinth.
The caps were so tightly packed together that it acted as a sort of spongy boulder field. The girls able to easily traverse its surface and make a beeline for the nearest edge.
They were able to mostly figure out their location thanks to the setting sun, they appeared to be on the far side of the area that they entered the labyrinth from. That would place them on the 'southErin' section of the island, with them arriving at the 'north' side.
It did not take them long to reach the edge of the fungal forest, the girls easily managing the 10 meter drop down to the ground below thanks to their sturdy bodies and high stats.
They then made haste to create some distance from themselves and the forest, eager to find a good spot to set up camp for the night.
Soon they discovered a sheltered rocky overhang, the shallow cliff face covering them from 2 sides and allowing them plenty of space to see far out.
Olivia began to take out a tent when Violet spoke up. "Oh you don't need to worry about setting up your own tent Olivia! You can sleep with us." Saying that she summoned her cosy cabin and placed it down with its back to the cliff face.
Olivia stared at the cabin in wonder, muttering something under her breath which no one could quite hear.
Still she put away her own tent and followed the girls into the magically expanded cabin. They walked into the open lounge/ kitchen area, 2 door led off into the two bedrooms. For now though the girls all moved over and settled down into the sofas with sighs of relief.
Olivia stood awkwardly to the side, looking decidedly out of place in her full plate armour in the otherwise comfy looking cabin. Seeing that Susan spoke up.
"You can relax in here, this place has some cool enchantments to dissuade beasts and monsters from approaching us during the night, we don't need to worry about guard shifts. Also feel free to take the armour off, won't deny I'm curious to see what you look like under all that metal!" She ended with a light hearted chuckle.
Olivia seemed to fidget nervously with her hands as if debating something, eventually though she seemed to make up her mind and reached up to remove her helm.
When she finally pulled off her helmet her green hair fell down in a halo around her, her emerald eyes complimenting her hair and revealing a woman of remarkable beauty.
Noticing the girls all staring at her her pale cheeks gained a rosy tint to them as she slightly turned away before rushing over to sit down on one of the free sofas. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
"Well nice to finally put a face to your voice Olivia." Susan warmly said with a small wave. The other girls making welcoming noises of their own.
This only caused the human warrior to blush all the harder and let out an embarrassed squeek as her hands covered her face.
Violet chuckled at that but refrained from mentioning anything, instead she decided that they all deserved a nice meal after that long day of exploration and battle.
She summoned a feast fit for a king, all of the food still steaming with heat as her storage item maintained everything in the exact state it entered the ring in.
Soon the girls all began to dig into the meal, even Lucia managed to overcome her embarrassment and joined the girls as they ate and relaxed after a long day.
