The party rounded the corner, and Emile let out a ferocious roar. Cort was thankful he had not been on the other end of that shout, as it would've turned his blood to ice. The room they had found around the corner was a dead end chamber. Water flowed from a slim crevice along the wall opposite the entrance. The magical lanterns in that room glowed a soft blue rather than the orange of the rest of the labyrinth.
The visible denizens of the room were three feralises just as big as the ones from the entrance. They stood up to face Emile's inhuman shout, and Cort thought he saw one of them tremble. There wasn't time to question it further, as Cort and Emile were already charging at the enemy.
When they met, the feralises were still frozen in terror. Not just frightened of Emile, either. Cort had let out his own bellowing shout as he raised his sword. Cort immediately slayed one of them, and Emile dispatched the other two with a strong kick and a stronger bite.
"Above!" Lond shouted from behind them. As Cort turned, a feralise was falling from the ceiling and shrieking at him. Its claws were out and ready to tear at him. Instead, a fireball and a blade of wind knocked it out of the air. The feralise fell to the ground defeated.
Just as soon as that monstrous rabbit was defeated, another one leapt out from the corner of the dark ceiling. Then another. Lond and Leaf's magic took out one of them, and Cort slashed at the other.
There was another roar from Emile, as two more feralises had dropped down and were clinging to his back and shoulders. They bit him and clawed at him, but Emile was unable to reach for them with his bindings.
Cort was the first to react, gripping a monster and trying to yank it off. They were as heavy as a grown man, and it clung to Emile's bare skin with sharp claws. Emile's roars of fury turned into howls of pain as the claws dug into him.
The air heated and whipped around Cort as the other feralise was hit with spells. The first pair made it release its grip from Emile, and the next set ended it. There were shouts of self gratification from their mage supports in the background, but Cort was still working on his own feralise.
Let me, Ashen whispered into Cort's mind. The ermine suddenly darted out from his shirt and leapt at the feralise. Ashen crawled to the neck of the feralise. He raised his paw, and a singular blade of ice the size of a sewing needle formed.
Ashen drove the ice blade into the feralise's neck. A very specific point on it, in fact. The feralise made no more noise. Its body went limp and crumpled to the ground, and Ashen hopped back onto Cort's shoulder.
"This room is clear," Ashen informed the group, his voice surprisingly loud for someone so small. "Stay on your guard, young master. I sense something nearby, but I'm not entirely sure what it is."
"Gotcha," Cort replied. Ashen gave his customary bow before returning to his place under Cort's shirt. Cort immediately hurried over to Emile, who had kneeled down. Fresh wounds marked his shoulders, arms, and back. His breathing was heavy and raspy, though.
"Come over here!" Cort shouted to Leaf and Lond. "Emile needs help!"
Leaf hurried over to where they were, but Lond was sluggish. Under the cloak and mask, Cort could not make a full assessment of Lond's condition. The mage's eyes seemed tired, though.
"The water," Emile managed to hiss out. "Help me get to the water." Cort and Leaf helped him to his feet, the two of them still struggling to support the dead weight of Emile. They made it over to the waterfall at the back of the room, and Emile shrugged them off to stumble under it.
The other three watched in wonder. As the water fell over Emile, his wounds closed. Cort watched a particularly nasty looking one seal up then disappear without any scar or mark. Emile let out a satisfied sigh, running his hands over his skin wherever they could reach.
"Savorians are sensitive to heat," Lond said. He sounded out of breath himself. "Leaf, do you happen to have anything for restoring mana?"
"Yeah," Leaf replied, still watching Emile moisturize as he pulled a small vial out from his belt. It contained a purple liquid that Cort did not recognize. He pulled out the stopper and took a small sip himself before handing it to Lond. The young mage pulled down his mask and emptied the contents down his throat.
"I'll compensate you," Lond said. He had immediately perked up, his mana restored. Cort did not have a full understanding of mana, as he never owned magic jewelry or gear that let him use spells. He knew it was a special resource the mind produced that powered the spells the gear let them cast.
"Emile," Cort called out. "Are you all good?"
"Yeah," Emile replied. "Those fireball spells dried my skin too much. You need to be careful with those Lond."
"Noted."
"Anyway, I do most of my breathing through my skin."
"Are you a lizard or a fish?" Leaf asked with a chuckle. There was a growl from somewhere under the waterfall. The interruptions ceased.
"You dry out my skin, I can't breathe right," Emile continued. "I can't breathe right, then I can't fight for crap."
"Try and keep your fire magic away from him, Lond," Cort said.
There was a moment of silence, then Emile pressed his hands to the wall behind the waterfall. "Hey Cort," Emile shouted. "Ashen said there's still something here, right?"
"Something like that, yeah," Cort answered. "Why? Found something?"
"This wall is mist stone. Something's behind here."
"Mist stone?" Leaf asked. "What's that?"
"Looks like stone but you can walk through it." Cort walked towards the waterfall as he spoke. He pushed his hand through the water, surprised at how thin the flow was. His hand touched the "wall," only making contact for a moment before running his hand through the smoke texture of mist stone.
"Something is back there," Lond said. He and Leaf were standing right behind Cort, both gently reaching their hands past the waterfall and into the mist stone.
"Something dangerous," Leaf added.
"Nothing ventured-" Emile began. "-nothing gained!"
With a push forward, Emile forced the group ahead through water and stone.