Chapter 13: chapter 11 – Blender

"You are just a girl! Who do you think you are even coming into the dungeon much less giving us orders?" Leo's face was red and spittle flew everywhere as he shouted at me. It had all begun after the rat fight. At first he was just miffed that he did not do well during the fight but as we went forward to clear the cave of the rats he got madder and madder as I did well and he did not. Once I figured out how to deal with them, the remaining three were easily dealt with. I got more acquainted with what my party could do as we fought the rats. Kevin the "mage" would stand as far back as he could and shout out impressive words like "Hurricane" and "Blazing Inferno" but the results were gusts of wind that could barely move my hair and tiny flames that I was not sure could even be used to ignite a torch. The "staff" he used to augment his spells was just a branch he had picked up because "mages had staffs". It held no enchantments. If the others did manage to hurt a rat, it would run away, jump in the water, and pop back out fully healed and raring to go.

After we dealt with them and we rested; that is when the yelling began. It started out as a simple disagreement and ended with ' girls do not belong in dungeons'. It did not help that I finally thought of an issue. After resting the boys went off to go to the bathroom. Their actions made me think how do I go to the bathroom safely? There was safety in numbers, but I am not shameless enough to flash them while going. So, after they came back I put forth the idea of me using the room we began in since it had a door and should be fairly safe. Great idea, right? Well who knew that Leo would use this as a point of argument and soon got Kevin on his side?

I gave up on this idea since I did not have to go very badly but when I suggested that we change up the order I was denied. Leo wanted to be the leader. I gritted my teeth and said fine. I then tried to put spells on him, but he resisted them. Healing spells must be allowed to work by the party you cast on and since they are beneficial nobody generally resists. I was shocked. I got an "I don't need no girl's magic" and then he stomped off. The more I tried to convince him the angrier he became. What does one say to a child throwing a tantrum? I had no idea so I just ignored him. I would do my best to keep this little snot alive. He was not my friend so, if he was hell bent on tossing his life away, there was nothing I could do.

We ended up staying with the same lineup that we started with once we found the way out of the cave. The next room was a longer passage with plants clinging sporadically along the walls. A strange fragrance permeated the air. "Wow so pretty" I said in a dull voice with the others echoing me. We moved closer. It was not until I felt pain in my left hand that I noticed that it bit me. What the heck? I looked at the others and saw that the flowers were attached to their bodies and they were just standing there. As I breathed in the scent, I felt my sight lingering on the flower in front of me and I spaced out until it bit me again. Cursing, I grabbed the flower and ripped it out of the wall. Red pollen puffed out when I tossed it on the floor, and I held my breath. I quickly moved over to the other children and ripped out each flower near them. They simply stood there. I continued until there were no flowers left in this room. Rethinking about the flowers I went back and scooped up the "pollen" from each flower. Perhaps I can use it to make potions or sell when I get out of here. It took another ten minutes before the others shook off the effect came out of their trances.

In that time, I quickly healed them. I did not want Leo to resist my healing. I smiled at the XP notifications I saw. I noticed that if I heal myself or wounds that were not made by the monsters, I did not get any experience but I received a little bit for every monster wound my group had. I had thought of stuffing them into the first room and barring the door until I noticed that. I waited for the meat shields to gather up, cough, I mean I waited for my fellow adventurers to get ready to go and we moved on.

In the next hall, Leo sprung a pit trap and we had to spend a half hour waiting for him to climb back out. I had offered to pull him up with the rope I had but was rebuked harshly with "girls are too weak to help".  While frustrating, his comments really drove home the fact that I will need to find a good group of companions if I need to go into the dungeon often.

Leo now covered in dirt and bruises, since he refused my help, took us into the next room. Webs were everywhere and the noises we had been hearing stopped. "That does not bode well," I thought but before I could do anything all hell broke loose. Webbing shot out from beneath the webs and when I looked over I saw a giant spider. Its eyes were pitch black and the mandibles made a 'clack clack' sound as they opened and closed. Well, it was nice while it lasted but a human sized spider, nope. I saw the webbing wrap around Leo's legs and with a yank he toppled. Leo skidded across the floor as it reeled in the now struggling juice box named Leo. Do I really have to save the jerk? I hesitated.

Kevin standing behind me was waving his branch around and shouting the "Blazing inferno" spell. I then saw a tiny flame slowly move toward a web from him. Once the flame hit the web it was like it hit gasoline. I heard a whoosh and the webs went up into flames. The spider let out a screeching noise and it was followed by low screeching noises coming from the now flaming nest. I could barely make out hand sized black balls moving about inside the bonfire.

"Well, I'll be damned. Kevin great job!" I gave him an encouraging shout. It was more than I ever thought he would do and he had a proud smile on his face.

The bigger spider charged out of the fire going right at Kevin. I could see that the back of it was still on fire, but it was dying out. Kevin's smile dropped and he ran away… again. I moved in front of him blocking the spider. I swung my mace but only heard a dull clang when I connected with its head. It wobbled but looked unhurt. I hit it again and again and after about a dozen hits I saw a dent forming.  With a shriek that stunned me it lunged forward and latched onto my arm with its mandibles. It shook its head and like a ragdoll I was flung about. I heard a crisp snap sound as my arm broke. With one more head shake I was tossed hard against the wall. Dizzily I tried to get up. Using my good arm and the wall as support I stood up.

I was unsure what happened the spider. The next thing I knew was that it was dead. It sat in the middle of the floor, unmoving with blood oozing out of its head. With the adrenaline and shock leaving me, I began to feel the pain. I cast bone setter on my now weirdly shaped arm. The pain of bones slowly scraping into place nearly made me pass out. The bones moving back into their right positions took a long time. At least it felt that way. Holy hell that hurt.

*Pain Resistance: +2*

I moved back into the pitfall hallway, after finding my mace I had dropped, in case there was more spiders. That is it. I am taking a break. I was in no shape to continue to fight. I sat there watching Leo struggling to free his legs. It was a great show. I congratulated Kevin one more time and left Leo to free himself. After all, I am just a weak girl. I smiled as I watched him struggle to get free. It was amusing. He would look over, glower at me, and then go back to trying to free himself. He had to use his hands because his sword was dropped and out of reach. I was not really sure why he did not just wiggle over to get it but it was not my problem. In the end, Clyde used his dull knife to cut the webs away.

We could all see the stairway leading down after the fire went out. I, for one, was going to camp here. I needed the rest. Leo wanted to go on but Kevin was not brave enough to go unless everybody went together. I moved back the way we came. I went to gather water from the lake. It was not really drinkable, but I cast purify on the flask full of water and watched it become crystal clear. I thought about it and quickly stuffed the rat corpses into my deep pocket cloak. I then went to the door in the beginning room. After going to the bathroom, I began hitting the door with my mace a few times. The wood splintered and broke. Gathering the wood scraps, I moved back to the spider room. Not one of them had moved to do anything.

Whatever, I set up my measly camp and after a few tries I got a small fire going. I then began to roast some meat I had packaged earlier. I sat there eating my food, ignoring the kids staring at me as if silently asking for my food. I am not that nice. They had their rations after all.

After about an hour, everybody was rested enough to get moving again. In that time, I managed to heal up everybody. The issue I now face is that I do not know how much more mana I have. There is not bar or cost to compare so I have been using trial and error to gage my abilities. Unfortunately, I have not thought to test recovery rates. I felt recharged, but was I? Crossing my fingers, I could only pray that I did not run short in an hour of need. With that worrying thought in my head and unable to delay any longer, I followed my party down the stairs.

The next floor was mining passageways. They crisscrossed back and forth and we could easily get lost if we were not careful. Little green lizards could occasionally be seen walking about on their back legs. They were only about two feet tall but wore armor and carried weapons. I was unsure how well we would do against them. They had numbers if nothing else. After some discussion, we decided to sneak through. I was against it but since I was the only one, that was what we were doing.

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'Stupid choices get stupid results', I thought.  We were currently surrounded and battling it out with the lizard creatures. I had cast my armor spell on everybody but the glow was fading as the lizards bashed on us. We had managed to down a few but they kept coming. Even with me healing the minor wounds that appeared from time to time we were being overrun. Continuous notifications were going off. It was probably my endurance skill and pain resistance. Being hit over and over, I felt like I was in a blender. I was cut and bashed just for me to heal up and have it repeat. The others were no better off.

Our battle lasted for over fifteen minutes but finally I could not maintain my spells and with a flicker the light died out. My last thought was 'where is the teacher?'

***

Laughter from the teachers filled the tent. "I swear these kids are hysterical. Ok where was I? Oh ya… So there I was when the little bugger said I got this and ran right smack into the water. The rats swarmed him. I barely had time to save him. By the time I got him out he was in tears."

"That's nothing mine ran off by himself and by the time I got to him he was completely cocooned by the spiders. It took me twenty minutes to cut him out."

"Common Clyde, tell us about your kids. We have been talking about ours for hours."

Clyde chuckled and started, "Well, of the three I watched over, only one really stood out. Let me tell you about Alice…"

***

"What do you mean she passed?! Did I not tell you to get the worse participants onto her team?" The Duke screamed at the girl laying at his feet. Her once smiling face was now deformed by the heavy hits it had taken. Her Royal Academy uniform laying in tatters beneath her. "Useless garbage, why did I even train you? Time for your punishment."

The sounds of flesh being hit could be heard by the guards a few rooms away. They continued to play cards with a shrug. "Looks like he will need us to find another girl soon," the one with the smallest stack of coins said and after a pause continued," or a really good healer."

"Who cares? Are you in or not," was all he got as a reply.

***

"So you're saying he reclaimed his pawn?"

"Yes madam. Would you like him dealt with?" a broad shouldered youth stood there awaiting the words, from the lady before him, that would decide a man's fate with a deadpan expression.

"No, not yet. Instead destroy their most profitable businesses. And Kyle, make sure they know it was us. Even if she was a spy and working against us, she was one of our students. Appearances need to be maintained."

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