It scared them half to death when Stefan suddenly sprung awake. They've been waiting for two hours since standing in the idle dark with only stale conversations. Michael was sort of happy that someone else could break the quiet and awkward air.
But Stefan wasn't the same as Michael thought. His head was covered in sweat and he looked on the verge of fainting again, leaning on Michael and the walls for support. They walked slowly along the passageways with no real direction where they were going.
They just needed to move.
Stefan stumbled. "I could kill for a lemon right now."
Michael stopped him from falling over. "A lemon?"
"Citrus is good for mana recovery." Jule said. "I didn't think you would wake up this fast. Mana sickness takes at least a whole day to wear off."
Stefan chuckled unsteadily.
"How do you know how to swordcast anyways?"
"My lessons aren't cheap."
"I'm not asking for a lesson. If you could swordcast then you have the power to rival some of the greater guilds. What are you doing here with people like us?"
Stefan didn't answer.
"Let's just keep moving," Michael interrupted. "I don't think we're far off from our parties."
He rubbed Michael's head with his knuckle. A show of little gratitude from stopping Jule from trying to pry into his past.
Jule lead in the front with her floating blue lantern. Michael was behind as he held Stefan so he wouldn't topple over on his own. It was like Stefan was drunk except he could still hear and talk.
But he was in no condition to fight or walk on his own. If they were to run into some real trouble now, Michael hoped Jule knew exactly what she was doing.
They were still in the uncharted with no knowledge of where they were. This quest was new to the guild, Stefan and Jule's party being the first ever to touch this territory. Moving roots, stalking beasts, and hungry slimes were all of the dangers to worry about.
She turned her attention to the roots on the walls. Michael followed her gaze. The giant roots were almost still but moving. It was ever since Stefan had blown open that devastating hole in one of them, the other roots started a chain reaction.
"Should we follow it?" she looked at Michael. "Maybe see where it's going?"
"I…don't know. What if it's leading us to a trap?"
"This entire place is a trap unless we find a way out. These roots are everywhere, don't you think your little leader would have the same idea of following them?"
Michael slowly nodded. Ellis would probably do something like that, seeing their time was ticking down by the hour.
They studied along the roots and headed to where it was moving. Some spots were tight squeezes, going off of the passageways, and into smaller rooms that gave Michael the chills. The more they walked, the more potent that rotting smell became.
The smell of decomposing corpses.
The walls and floor were no longer stone and only composed layers of thick and thin roots. Michael thought he was going crazy watching them all move like thousands of snakes under their feet.
Jule stopped them, pointing her sword.
"Jule?" a voice said around the corner. "Is that you?"
She dropped her guard and rushed over. They must have noticed the blue glow from the lantern across the way.
Stefan waved at them, being able to stand steadily for the minute.
Mave kept her torch high away from the roots so she wouldn't accidentally set everything ablaze. The roots were dry and an easy accelerant for a bad time.
Ellis walked over to them, relieved from finally breaking away from Jule's party.
Mave noticed Stefan's sweating face. "You look horrible. How much mana did you use to get out of that room?"
Stefan smiled sarcastically. "All of it."
"What a mess."
Stefan nodded across to Ari. "Not as much as him."
Ari was gently placed on the walls. His face from neck-up was completely wrapped in crude bandages, only leaving a small slit for his left eye to see. It was stained yellow and red from the pus and blood mixed together from his burns. Ari could only nod or shake his head in response and even those twitched his body in pain.
He looked drastically different when they first met him.
Slimes were the weakest mana beasts of the uncharted, a parasite in their nests yet it brings on one of the most horrifying deaths.
Michael felt terribly responsible. He should have acted sooner. Ari wouldn't have been injured so badly.
"Stop looking." Ellis said to Michael. "Its his fault he's like that."
"You two could have saved him." Stefan retorted. "Do neither of you two have any care for other people?"
Ellis scowled silently. "What did you want me to do, reach my hands in that slime and pull him out? They've been an adventurer long enough to know how slimes find their targets. I shouldn't be responsible for every party we team up with."
"Mave? You could've used the torch."
"And to do what?" Mave argued back. "Stick it inside the slime just for it to be extinguished? You think a mere torch could convince a slime to slide off its meal?"
Michael couldn't stop looking at Ari's bandages. "Is he okay?"
Ellis forced him to turn away. "He can't fight. The insides of his throat are severely burned and still have some residue of slime. Once we get done with this quest, he's getting sent to a ward."
"Will he still be an adventurer?"
"When did you start to be concerned about other people? You saved him, Michael, is that what you wanted to hear? Any more seconds inside that slime and it would've entered his lungs. He wouldn't have lived if you didn't step in with that magical sword."
"Stefan…you were trying to swordcast? Was that going to work instead?"
Stefan grimly shook his head. "No, kid, you don't understand. I was about to kill him, to put him out of his misery. Being eaten by a slime is one of the worst fates an adventurer can have."
Michael glanced back at Ari's still body along the wall. No matter how Jule was trying to speak to him, he didn't move.
Mave caught Stefan before he toppled over.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Stefan waved her off. "Just give me a minute."
"Mana sickness." Ellis said. "How long until you can fight?"
"One minute."
"Be serious."
Stefan stopped chuckling, looking Ellis in the eyes. "I'm out on this quest."
Mave groaned. "This can't be happening. Was there really no way—"
"We would have been crushed alive. By the time you cut through those roots, you will only find our bodies mushed together."
"Fine, you can stay here with that slime victim."
Stefan smiled, finally sliding himself down to the floor like he had never rested before.
Ellis looked around, trying to find another solution. They had just lost the biggest factor of their party.
Mave folded her arms. "What are you thinking?"
"Stefan can stay here, we'll come back for him. These roots are something magical, they're not just by time of nature. I'm assuming it's by the mana beast itself."
"A mana beast capable of spells? Are you sure this isn't some lunatic of a mage?"
"No type of human being could thrive somewhere this deep."
"Well, whoever it is, it's leading us right to them."
Michael gulped, gathering some courage to talk. "I think it's a trap. After Stefan's swordcast, I think the mana beast is scared of us now. Their only cause is to meet us up-close and get rid of us themselves."
Ellis nodded. "That's right. We're in their homes and it knows we're not leaving. They're intelligent enough to know the presence of a human."
"Could this be a lich?"
"A lich deals with the undead. This could be something different entirely, maybe a beast that nobody has discovered yet."
"Then it's final." Mave gripped her sword. "Let's not waste any more time. That mana beast is probably growing impatient with us."
Ellis walked over to Jule's party and discussed their plans. They were going to follow the roots, leaving Stefan and Ari behind since the two were unable to fight. Jule agreed, rallying her remaining party together.
When they left, Michael looked back to find Stefan scooting over to Ari. He was trying to spark a conversation as if Ari could still talk. Michael would never understand what goes on inside Stefan's head.