I Became My Healer Elf Character - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Read the Room
Deep in the dungeon on the 62nd floor a group of Tier 7 adventurers made their way through castle floors. At the helm of the group was a beastkin dog woman wielding a great hammer. They had a female human archer bringing up the rear. Alongside her was a dwarven mage, and lastly, there was a human priestess in the back.

It was not unheard of for parties of only women to be founded, but it was rare for them to go beyond Tier 5. In all of Amalin this was the only group of female adventurers to reach the 7th tier. They called themselves [The Four Pillars].

Andrea—the dwarven mage—was considered the party leader. They had a simple goal on this expedition. It was to map all the way down to floor 70, and if they could, they’d attempt the boss. All of them had return rings handy just in case.

Floor 62 was uncharted territory before they even arrived. In the back, Andrea kept marking down notes on her map of parchment. In some rare circumstances, dungeons could remap entire floors, but it was almost unheard of. So, any information they gathered would likely remain the same.

Since arriving at floor 61, the enemies started getting tough for the group. There were gargoyles, stone statues, flamespitters and traps everywhere.

At the moment, the dogkin—Astrea—leapt over a pressure plate. “Guys, be careful. I am pretty sure this is related to those holes in the wall.” A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead from the heat and exhaustion. “Maybe we should call it quits if we can find a safe room.”

Enma—the human archer—shook her head. “We can make it to the next floor at least. Then we can rotate who is on watch duty.”

The priestess—Erica—chimed in. “I don’t want to be on first watch again. Most of my mana is depleted. If it’s only a few monsters from now until then, maybe we can make it to the next floor.”

With another leap, Astrea jumped over a spike pitfall, gesturing to her companions. “Well, I don’t want to be on first watch either. These torches make this place too hot for me.”

Andrea sighed. “I guess that leaves me or Enma. I don’t feel really depleted on mana currently, so I’ll take it. Enma can get second watch, and then the last of you two should flip a coin. Any objections?”

“None.”

“None.”

“None here boss,” Astrea said, her ears playfully flopping around. After a second she returned to her previous demeanor. “Don’t you all feel that something is wrong with this floor?”

“What do you mean?” Andrea asked.

“I mean, there were those two gargoyles at the beginning, but since then, it’s been silent the whole way. It feels like we’re being lured into a trap.”

Enma shrugged. “This dungeon does seem predisposed to such things, but maybe we will reach a door soon instead.”

As soon as she said that, they reached a door, but it wasn’t a door towards the exit. The path still continued on the front, but the door served as a lure on the side of the chamber.

Astrea looked at the odd words scribed on the door. She turned towards the dwarven scholar of the group. “You can read old Elvish, right? What does it say?”

Andrea crinkled her nose. “I told you already. It’s not like I can read everything. Unless it’s simple stuff, the language is hard to translate.” Nonetheless, she looked over the door with a serious expression and a hand on her chin. “Let’s see… ‘Woe to those who enter. Speak the words and become cinder. You can’t return, or your life ends here…'”

“That’s ominous…”

Before anyone else could speak, a dark circle appeared beneath them. Andrea yelled at the group, “The rings! Quickly!”

“United four pillars!” They yelled in tandem into the rings, but the glow didn’t come. Instead, the magic circle beneath them pulled them into the door. They crossed it as if crossing water.

“Is everyone alright!?” Andrea looked towards her companions, sighing in relief when everyone was still okay. She flashed her head across the room, gazing at the odd statue atop another door.

The statue depicted the top half of an elven maiden holding up a stone orb. Her mouth was open, but the beauty was prevalent. The stone room had even more odd protrusions. On the sides—hanging down from the walls like ornaments—appeared cindered vines and weeds. All of the lifeless plants were charred black.

Once again, the group attempted to use the rings, but there was no response. The dwarf sighed. “It looks like there is no returning.”

“What should we do?” The dogkin asked, her tail slumping between her legs. “I don’t think anyone would find us here.”

The dwarf looked towards the door. “Our only clue is this, but reading it might bring even more trouble…”

Grinding stones made theirself heard, and before long, stone statues started appearing at the four corners of the room. The faces of Elven warriors presented themselves, and they each held different weapons in their hands.

“Four of those bastards!?” Andrea yelled as her heart quickened.

The archers eyes went wide in realization. “It’s five!”

But her warning came too late. An assassin statue pierced a dagger through the back of their healer. She barely managed to dodge enough that it didn’t pierce her heart, but she could feel her lungs on fire. She coughed and fell forwards, dropping her staff at the same time.

“Erica!” Astrea shouted. But she couldn’t even reach out to her companion. Her great hammer blocked the straight sword of another statue.

Erica heaved, but she knew her lung was punctured completely. Every breath she took felt even more painful than the last. It burns. It burns! She felt her consciousness fading, and her vision began to darken. With her fading strength, she clasped her hands together. The instant before the assassin could end her, she sent her final prayer. Amelia please, let them be okay.

The last thing she heard was a scream, and she couldn’t be sure if it was hers or not. The last thing she felt was a pain in her heart.