When she woke, Astrid cast away all of her worries. While she slept, something had instilled her with a renewed confidence, and she decided to lean into it. Her party had thrown themselves into the Dungeon ever since they started delving together, and with the Trials ahead, they'd spent so much time in Purcell's branch that it made it seem as if the air outside of it was toxic. They all had done that so that they could be exactly where they were right now. Delving was a dangerous job, but they'd all signed up for it, and nobody was trying to get away from the responsibilities that they themselves had signed up for. As such, Astrid would stop worrying about what she might be getting her party into, and instead focus on leading them in the way that they all wanted.
She knew that pushing herself and the party was better for all of them in the long run, so she needed to go ahead and do it already.
"Manticores are on the menu tonight." Astrid grinned as she held her arms slightly out from her. Equipping her armor never actively hurt her, but if she was careless, she could find the flesh in her armpit or hips getting pinched between straps. Once fully equipped, Astrid grabbed a flame spitter tail from her spatial pouch. In the bag, materials took almost 20 times the length of time to spoil, and the day-old cooked meat was nearly fresh as Astrid held it up to her mouth and ripped a thick hunk free.
"Are you wanting to eat manticore? Is that what you're saying?" Benedict pulled the blankets off of his head and sat up in his cot. Astrid had been the first to rise, though Muti had risen from her own bed not long after Astrid.
"I bet most of it is probably edible," Astrid mused as she raised the tail to her mouth to rip free another bite. "But that's not what I was trying to say. I'm just resolving to push us all harder and stop being quite so nervous about the increase in difficulty. I mean, by the time we get out of here, we'll be mid to high tier Iron, so I need to stop worrying so much about it all."
"Our leader has returned in truth," Muti smiled as she gestured for Astrid to come sit in front of her. Astrid obliged, enjoying the feeling of Muti running her fingers through her scarlet hair. Muti took special care with the tangles, separating her loose curls into different sections to be braided.
"Please don't tell me you're going to make us push as hard as we did before we came here," Benedict yawned as he looked down at his pajamas and began stripping to get into his equipment.
"Maybe not quite that hard," Astrid grinned as Muti's fingers moved supernaturally quickly through her hair, "but shall we try to cross two floors today?"
"Do not listen to others' weaknesses. That is a wonderful idea, leader."
Muti's response was entirely predictable, and Astrid chuckled as she kept her head still for the braiding to continue. Over the course of maybe two minutes, the complex series of braids on Astrid's head was complete, and Muti cut her palm to wet the club at the end. With what the Ambusher's attributes were like at this point, such a minor wound would close and be largely healed within an hour, and that was without Benedict hurrying its recovery along. Without another word, Muti patted Astrid's shoulder and moved to the stair in front of the red headed Warrior.
Astrid pulled her comb from her special pouch, a thick-toothed item carved of a light wood, and ran it gently through Muti's hair. After a year and a half of doing this, Astrid had found that she had a greater tolerance for having her hair pulled than Muti did. With her own hair, Astrid was more than willing to pull the comb as roughly as needed to get through any tangles until they submitted to her, but Muti demanded a greater tenderness, which Astrid then grudgingly offered.
As she attended to Muti's hair, Astrid could feel as Felix stepped closer to stand behind her, watching her combing. She looked up at the Guardian with a faint smile.
"Curious about how to braid? It's pretty simple."
"No, I've braided things before," Felix shook his head. "I was just curious if this braid itself was special, other than how it comes together in several different pieces. Also, the male Barbarians that we met before had the warbraids, and I'd always just thought that it was a woman only thing. Why don't us three get them?"
"The braids are for any individual who is trusted by their party and desires them." Muti immediately gave an explanation. While she spoke, Astrid encountered a particularly thick snarl of hair and switched to her fingers to gently tease the golden locks apart. Muti purred as her hair came apart into a thick, though somewhat tamed mane.
"Then why don't any of us men get braids?" Felix repeated.
"None of you have ever requested to have your hair braided. When we met, you did not have my trust, and when I would have offered to braid your hair as an extension of my trust, it was much too short to have been braided." Muti gave the answer with an easy casualness. "The hair must be at least the length of a finger to be braided, and so many of you men in the Human lands neglect to permit your hair to grow long enough for it to be a possibility."
While Muti said it, Astrid, for the first time, recognized that Felix had stopped shearing his head to near baldness. Instead, his straight hair reached nearly the tip of his nose, and he had to push it back under his helmet to keep it from getting in his eyes. Astrid looked at Muti. She looked back at Felix. She smiled a little.
"My hair is long enough now, isn't it?" Felix continued, pulling at a strand of his bangs.
Muti turned, looked up at his hair, which he continued pulling on as a sort of demonstration to her. The Barbarian shrugged and said, "I will braid your hair, then. Our captain does her best, but she does not have the practice that I do."
"Come here, Felix," Astrid grinned widely as she patted the stair right next to her and she scooted over. "I'm more than happy to direct you from back here, make sure that you know what you're doing but let you do the braiding."
Now that he was actively in the middle of it, Astrid could see the hesitation in Felix's body language and face. He'd made every decision that got himself into this situation, but now he was afraid.
Astrid was not.
She pulled him over and put his fingers in Muti's hair, pulling on the different plaits she'd already separated. Astrid couldn't help but continue to smile as she taught Felix how to do the individual braids that made up the entire warbraid. When finally the braid was complete and ready to be wetted, Astrid drew her dagger and held it out to Felix. He pursed his lips and dismissed his gloves long enough to put the blade on the back of his left thumb. At that moment, Muti turned around, saw what he was doing, and hissed.
"It must be the palm! There should be continuing pain, a reminder that relationships are painful and difficult yet retain great worth and are better than being alone. The palm!"
Felix raised his hands in apology before placing the knife in the center of his palm and drawing it back about a centimeter. His blood pooled in his hand, and he firmly grabbed the end of Muti's ponytail. Her golden hair stained red with his blood, and he pulled the hair with an emotion that Astrid couldn't place.
One second passed with a thick, pregnant silence as Felix held Muti's hair tight. Then, Muti swatted his hand away and, once she was freed, pawed at her braid.
"I said that our captain does not have my practice to do a perfect warbraid. You do not have even her practice. Only because this is your first attempt will I keep the braid, but you must be better."
Felix didn't say anything in response, but smiled and laughed as he nodded in assent. Astrid herself stepped back as she watched Muti gesture for Felix to set up in front of her, he did so, and she began explaining how, with hair as short as his, the braid would be wetted with her blood all the way down. Her explanations made it clear that he would, for as long as his hair was braided, sport a stripe from just above his brows to the back of his neck. As the Ambusher spoke, she deftly wound all of Felix's hair together into a single braid that ran down the center of his head, frequently tearing open the cut on her palm to apply more blood to the plaits.
Behind the two, Astrid smiled next to Benedict and Skandr. She looked at both, noticing that their hair was quite a bit longer than Felix's.
"Are you two like him? Finally ready to join the fold?"
Skandr squinted at her.
Benedict sighed.
Astrid squinted at both as she fought down her smile, instead pretending to be unsure why they were so exasperated. Several seconds passed, and finally Skandr laughed and waved her off.
"I prefer just having my hair tied back, personally." The Storm Wizard gave his answer with a casual dismissive air. Benedict opened his mouth to say something, thought of better of it, seemed to think of something else, decided not to, and finally gave a response.
"I will continue to use my hat."
Astrid, a little disappointed to see that these other two men weren't going to join Felix in embracing this aspect of the Barbarians' culture, summoned her helmet to be placed back on her head. It appeared, darkness enveloping her vision for the brief moment before a clear vision of what spread out in front of her reappeared. With her face obscured, Astrid allowed herself a smile, wondering how this potential courtship would develop. She forced herself not to think about the potential fallout if Felix's affections weren't returned. Instead, the twenty-seventh floor awaited the party, and Astrid was ready.
By the time Muti was finished with Felix's braids, Benedict and Skandr had finished putting on their equipment. Astrid found herself pacing back and forth a little as the three men ate breakfast. She'd been the first to get up, and since she made the decision to push hard and fast, she wanted to go already. As she said, manticores were waiting for them.
***
The twenty-seventh floor felt familiar. The mountain paths the party walked on felt much the same as the ones that had made Purcell's Dungeon. Craggy paths, scree-covered mountains, and views of nonexistent valleys spread out before them. Astrid constantly burned a small amount of Alacrity–aligned mana to make her way up the paths, the expenditure so slight that her reserves remained above 90% in exchange for her every step being sure and her path being quick. Skandr and Benedict continued to buff each other with support spells as well as Hasty Rebuke, trying to keep up with the three people with Alacrity over 100.
Benedict had started to grumble, but it was his usual complaining, nothing meaningful, seeming more than anything to serve as a way for him to fill the space with noise. When a stone skittered down the mountain in front of them, the party went silent and saw their first manticore.
The beast was impressive, mostly appearing to be a lion the size of a horse with a black tail tipped with a vicious stinger with leathery bat-like wings sprouting from its ribs. Now that it was seen, the manticore leapt into the air and glided down towards the delvers.
They hadn't needed to speak to fall into position, Astrid stepping into the front to truly act like a frontliner while Muti and Felix stepped to the side, disappearing with her stealth Skills. With no Skill to force the beast to pay attention to her, Astrid smashed her hammer and shield together in a loud clang. The beast turned its attention to her with a snarl. It flapped its wings once, shooting forward even faster, and Astrid pushed mana into her greaves to keep herself grounded as she pushed Fortitude–aligned mana into her shield and body.
Claws screeched across her shield as she was pushed back a meter, even with her mana and weight trying to keep her still. Knowing what was coming, Astrid held her shield away from her torso, turning to parry away its tail that shot towards her face. She hadn't known what to expect, but through her connection with the Dungeon silver, Astrid felt as the scorpion tail fought to pierce through her shield. It was surprisingly durable, holding its own against the mana-reinforced Iron tier armor. Regardless, it was Astrid's job to keep its attention, and posing a threat was a good way to do that.
With its opening charge blunted, Astrid spent more Power- and Alacrity-aligned mana to offer her riposte. Her hammer whipped through the air and towards the manticore's head. It managed to raise it left forepaw to weaken the blow, but Astrid heard the delicate bones in its wrist snap and crackle under the force of her blow. Before it could escape, a bolt of lightning struck its face, nearly burning out one of its eyes.
"It's a lot tougher than it looks," Skandr reported. "By what I thought, that should have at least blinded, if not stunned it entirely."
It whimpered and beat its wings once as it jumped back out of her range while giving what could only be described as a dirty look to Skandr. She cursed herself for not using Spectre Burst, even if it hadn't been a guaranteed hit against the beast. She'd rather have wasted the mana then have not progressed the fight so much faster in this single exchange.
The manticore's form started to smoke, and then a black simulacrum of its face swelled until it was as large as the monster's body. Coiling smoke made a lion's face with glowing red eyes, and it stared down at Astrid. Despite knowing there was nothing to fear about it, Astrid felt her muscles lock under the effect of the Skill. Just as soon as the Skill took hold, the manticore flew out of the face, coiling mist bursting around it as it sailed towards her, tail poised to strike. She pushed her mana through her helm, converting it to Self-Mastery and hoping to protect herself.
As the tail whipped towards her, Astrid twisted her hammer through the air to smash the tail as it approached her. Surprisingly, a somewhat solid blow from the hammer didn't fully deter the tail's approach, and the barbed tip miraculously found a small gap in Astrid's armor, right where her shoulder and arm met. Of course, there was armor there, but the monster's natural weapon pierced through her defenses enough to unleash its payload of poison.
Astrid stumbled from the flare of agony. The venom was a debilitating one, but Astrid hadn't known that the way it weakened its prey was through pure suffering. She whined in pain and tried to raise her right arm, to no avail. Her muscles refused to listen, and her arm hung limply at the side as the manticore pressed the attack on her right side. She twisted, keeping her shield between herself and the monster, but the tide of battle had changed.
It threw itself at her in a mad frenzy, and with the agony of the venom flaring with every movement, Astrid spent one charge of Body while continuing to try to keep herself alive. The tail rose up again, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to avoid it this time.
Finally, Felix made himself known. He didn't make a sound as he, with Muti's help through Ambusher's Aura and Dread Master combined, appeared in the perfect position. His axe fell, and though it failed to hack the tail entirely off, he obviously severed something important. The tail went limp, and the manticore whirled to face him instead of Astrid. As it did so, another series of lightning bolts fell on its flanks, seeming to make it reconsider what it was doing.
Even with the use of Body, Astrid could barely use her right arm, and made the decision not to push in, instead settling to watch and step in if necessary. The manticore, seeming to reconsider its current position, lifted its wings, ready to attempt to fly away. Muti's seax put a rather permanent end to that plan. Despite the toughness of the rest of its body, the wing's bones were fragile and delicate. With a single swing of her weapon, Muti rendered the manticore flightless. Its right wing was gone, and Muti threw herself onto its back as Felix used Guardian's Wrath.
With his stance and Wrath's boost to his durability, Felix stood before the enraged, cornered manticore without flinching. Its paws fell on him, and those he couldn't parry he turned aside without issue. Muti, on its back, carved into its flesh, though she evidently needed to use flares of Power-aligned mana to do so.
Only a couple dozen seconds passed before it succumbed to the siege from blade, song, and storm.
Lesser Manticore slain. 1,480 experience gained, distributed among party.
Astrid stepped forward, wincing in continued pain from the venom. With every heartbeat, the agony throbbed down her arm and towards her chest. She looked at her party, glad her face was covered. They all seemed to be fine, and she looked to Benedict.
"Could you get me some healing? Then we'll get going to the next. After all, we have two more floors of these fights."
Benedict obliged, and Astrid felt the healing slowly settle over her. The venom still pulsated painfully, but there was nothing she could do but accept it continuing to run its course through her. After a minute's ministrations, she gave up and had Benedict stop the healing. She shrugged, trying to force the venom along while also acting entirely uninjured, and finally looked to her party.
"On to the next."