<~> Chapter 314It had been several bells before Silva woke up. Most of the others had gone out to search around the isnd while leaving me and Bel to watch over Silva while she slept. Occasionally, the others stopped by to drop little status reports through the bond, but for the most part, everyone stayed active. There was still a lot of ground to cover.

  Silva's eyes looked unfocused when she finally sat up. She rubbed them for a moment before jerking in arm. "Morrigan!"

  "Morrigan's fine, rex." I raised my hands up pcatingly.

  Silva's body slumped as the sudden tension left her. With a frown, she pulled down the bnket and grimaced. Her skin was hale and healthy, but we were forced to cut off the ruined remains of her previous armor. Her chest was left in the wrapped bandages she preferred to the sports bras most of us used.

  "What happened to my armor?" she asked.

  "Ruined when you got ambushed by that monster. I have a spare brigandine that will fit you, but Mimi has it with her right now," I replied.

  Silva looked around. "Did you find everyone? How long was I out?"

  "A while, several bells at least. And yeah, everyone is safe and accounted for. You were the st two that we found, and we barely made it to save you in time."

  Silva turned to Bel. "I suppose I have you to thank for saving me, then?"

  Bel smiled, but shook her head. "I would say that Nelly and Morrigan were more responsible for saving you than I was. I helped, of course, but Nelly's healing magic is more suited to the kinds of injuries you had. Morrigan was able to hold off the monster that ambushed the two of you until we found you."

  A dark chuckle left Silva. "To think I'd be saved by the caster I was trying to protect."

  I shrugged. "It happens."

  "I think I need a bit more rest. I still feel woozy," Silva grumbled.

  "Here, drink some of Nelly's milk. It should help you recover from the blood loss." I handed her a bottle. Bel reached out and poured some of her healing magic into Silva as she drank, helping to speed up her recovery.

  Once Silva finished the entire thing, she id back down on the makeshift bed. "That was the closest I came to death in a long time. Maybe not since I was training to be an assassin."

  "Are you going to be alright?" I asked.

  Silva pulled the bnket up to cover her bare stomach. "Yeah... Where's Torien?"

  I sighed. "She went out with Lori. We decided to scout for another way to cross the isnds. I think Lori is bming herself for the peppersmoke bomb that blew up in Sibyl's face. Sibyl told Lori not to worry about it, and said it was her own fault, but I don't think Lori took it to heart."

  Silva frowned. "That sounds like Lori. How is Sibyl?"

  "Fine. She's out scouting with Raya. Didn't want to stay cooped up in here while others were out doing stuff. Now everyone is looking around, other than the three of us. Bel wanted to be here when you woke up, and I was here to protect you while you were sleeping, while my mana recovers. I also wanted to fill you in a little." I quickly summarized what happened once the peppersmoke bomb went off. Saving Sibyl, making it back to the isnd, reconnecting with everyone, and our pns going forward.

  Silva listened and nodded at the appropriate times, but I could tell there was something else on her mind right now, something weighing down on her.

  "What's wrong?" I asked.

  She met my eyes for a moment before sighing. "Well... If Torien didn't even wait for me to wake up when I almost died... I think that's a good indication of how she feels about me now. We still have a... working retionship I think it's fair to say, but it seems like any chance of us rekindling any romance between us is gone now." Before I could say anything, she raised her hand. "It's alright. I was probably hoping for something that wasn't going to happen far longer than I should have been. She's been all about business since we had that talk in the elven embassy... even when we're alone. I don't think I'm what she wants anymore."

  I sighed and gave her a shrug. What was there for me to say?

  Bel smiled at Silva warmly. "If it's any consotion, I think Torien overreacted to the news of your history. Under the circumstances, it's understandable the path you took. Even if you've killed people, it was in service of setting others free from svery. You were also protecting Faelyn when we first met you, so it's not killing is all you did."

  Silva shook her head. "Protecting others isn't my strong suit, and I didn't want to take that mission. It was just that I was the best choice, and I pawned that mission off on Tarklin the first chance I got."

  Bel shook her head. "Even if you don't agree, I've seen the protective side of you, not just with that girl, but also with Lilith. You almost got killed today because you were trying to protect Morrigan. I think you're far more heroic than you give yourself credit for."

  "Heroic, eh?" Silva said with a ugh. "I never thought I would hear that one."

  "It's true! Don't ugh," Bel insisted. "Now, here. Drink another bottle of milk. This one should be enough to get you fully back on your feet." Silva took the second bottle of milk without compint and drank up while Bel's healing magic continued to suffuse Silva's body.

  She id back down once it was empty and sighed. "I'm back to wearing another of those bck brigandine armors, then?" she asked.

  I nodded. "It's the only spare armor Mimi is carrying, but it has been dyed another color, at least. I would give you my breastpte, but it wouldn't fit you without too many adjustments."

  "It's fine. I don't enjoy wearing heavier armor like that anyway, even though it may have helped in that st ambush. I'm just not in love with the idea of wearing the same armor as those cultists. Sick bastards," Silva said with disgust. I think it was hard for us both to forget the grisly scene we saw just yesterday in the other dungeon.

  Bel leaned back against the cave wall. "What about Lori? It sounded like she was still interested in you."

  Silva sighed and looked up at the roof of the cave. "It might be weird... and a tad disrespectful to go right back to her after Torien. Maybe I'll swear off catkin for a while... At the very least, I think I'll wait for Lori to approach me first." She opened and closed her fist a few times. "I think the milk and healing did the trick. That stuff can heal blood loss?" she asked.

  Bel shook her head. "Not directly, no. They promote blood growth a bit, but a lot of it is just getting something hearty in your stomach and speeding up your body's natural restoration. Blood is tricky for both of our healing, but Nelly's healing does have an edge over mine. Soon, both of us will be strong enough to deal with blood loss directly, though. At the rate all of us are leveling, I don't think it will be long."

  Silva nodded. "All of our growth has been spectacur. You and the twins in particur have been amazing considering you didn't get the leg up that Lilith did."

  "I have many things to be thankful for," Bel said while giving me a loving gaze.

  Silva slid up against the wall behind her and rubbed her face. "You think we'll find another way to the other isnds? I think I would also prefer having my feet on the ground to relying on your magic. I'm not worried about not having the mana to power them, but I've seen how fragile they are now too. It was an exciting experience, though. I would be interested in trying out the spell again under less dangerous circumstances."

  I smiled. "It was a bit crazy to try them out for the first time in a dungeon like this, but it seemed like a good idea. I wish we were a bit more effective at dealing with flying enemies, though."

  "Killing them really isn't the problem, it's just the sheer number of them. At least it's good for the weaker members of our group," Silva said.

  "I can't imagine how many levels they must have gotten," I agreed.

  Bel nodded. "From my own increase in levels, I would expect they have gained quite a few. Raya especially. I think she was technically the weakest before, but she's catching up quickly."

  "I was wrong about her. I voted against her coming along, but she has made things a lot easier on us. I underestimated the value Raya's illusions would bring, and her offensive magic has gotten a lot more powerful, too," Silva said.

  "Aww, how nice of you!" Raya said happily.

  The three of us turned to see Raya, Sibyl, and Mimi walking back through the mouth of the cave. Raya probably had the smuggest look I had ever seen on her face as she walked in with her tails happily flicking behind her.

  "Silva! You're awake. How do you feel?" Mimi asked excitedly.

  Silva smiled. "A lot better now than when I woke up. I'm gd you, Lilith, and Sibyl made it back to us safely."

  Mimi nodded. "I'm gd everyone was okay. We had to remove your armor. Do you want the other brigandine armor I have, now?"

  "If you wouldn't mind," Silva said with a nod.

  Mimi pulled out the armor and set it on the ground next to her, along with a long shirt from Silva's trunk. Silva slipped all of it on and stood up now that she had fully recovered from her fatigue. As she stretched, I looked over her body. She seemed to be in good condition again.

  "You're stable now, but try to avoid losing any more blood. You'll need to eat more for a while. Losing any more would be very bad for you," Bel warned.

  "I always try to avoid losing any of my blood. But thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Silva said with a grin.

  Bel sighed and shook her head.

  Not long after, the others returned, and we all sat in a circle.

  "So, did any of you find anything?" I asked.

  Lori nodded. "I think we found a teleportation gate. Morrigan was able to point it out to us."

  "I was using our innate ability to see magic while looking around, and I noticed an area with an unusually dense amount of mana. Kal'daeryn, Nelly, and I checked it out, and it looks like there is a monster guarding it. We backed off and found Lori, who was able to get a better look," Morrigan expined.

  Lori nodded. "I've never seen one before, but I'm confident that what I saw was a teleportation gate. I've heard stories of what they look like, and an area like that guarded by a strong monster implies that it's the way forward. Now that we've killed most of the loose shadows on the isnd, we shouldn't need to worry about getting overwhelmed while fighting it."

  "What kind of monster is it? Is it another one of those things that attacked Silva and Morrigan?" I asked.

  "Simir, but not exactly. It's the same type of monster, an odd combination of a skeleton and an undead beast, but it looks different from the other one. It looks like a knight with the bottom half of a rge horse," Lori said.

  "So like a centaur then?" I asked.

  Lori shrugged. "I don't know the term."

  Morrigan nodded. "I've heard of them before, but they're not monsters, they're people. Half human, half horse from the waist down. Not usually known to be undead, though."

  "Whatever the case, it looked strong, and it was big. Taller than Lilith in her true form. Its top half carried a polearm. It looked like a halberd, but I couldn't get a good look without drawing it out," Lori said.

  Silva grimaced. "A monster like that sounds tricky to fight. Like fighting a cavalryman. If it's not stupid, it'll use its range and speed to its advantage by using hit and run tactics."

  Morrigan's brow furrowed in thought. "Maybe we can pen it in with magic to keep it from running?"

  "That might be worse. Allowing it to have a corner on its back would make it dangerous to approach. It would be better if we could alter the terrain to make it harder for it to run, without disadvantaging ourselves too much," Silva said thoughtfully.

  "I might be able to do that with my nature magic," Bel said. "Even outside of my normal disabling magic, I might be able to stimute the nearby tree roots to become uneven terrain."

  "There's also terra ritual magic as well," Morrigan noted. "Between me and Lilith, we might be able to make the ground rough. Depending on how we do it, the monster's hooves might be more of a detriment to it than a help. We could even get lucky and break one of its legs before the fight truly begins."

  Raya grinned. "There's also illusions. It's hard to judge your footing correctly if you're trying to stand somewhere that doesn't exist, or you take a step expecting it to be farther away than it is."

  "Would your illusions stand up to being stepped on, or stepped through like that?" I asked.

  She nodded. "I have a spell that wouldn't get broken easily. It doesn't have to be totally convincing, but making it hard to properly judge the terrain at all would give us an advantage. Especially if we made the ground hard for it to walk through, even without the illusion."

  "It sounds like we have the start of a pn, then. Let's go take a look at it as a group and see what we can do." I stood up and stretched. Time to get moving again.

  Saine

  Hello! Next up is a boss fight! Unfortunately for Silva, it looks like she's finally come to the conclusion that her retionship with Torien is basically dead now. I admit that when I originally was writing the part where they got together, I hadn't really thought it would have blown up so much. Sometimes when you write things from the perspective of a character, things can happen that way. In the moment they kinda take on a life of their own. Things had just become too strained between them to continue with each other. Whether it's rational or not, Torien felt betrayed by Silva even though by every metric, Silva had a good reason to keep things from her. Hopefully this was an understandable chain of events for them. I hope you enjoyed this one, thanks for reading!

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