Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Breaking Step, Chapter 79

Of the creature, the table, the papers... there was no trace. Not even ash. Had Sto absorbed them already? Or had fire simply not left anything behind to be absorbed?

"Did we win?" he asked, dismay at the disappointment tinting his voice. The point of the room had been to work out the puzzle, but there was nothing left.

"You defeated the boss," Jackal said. "That's a win in my book." He looked around. "But I think you destroyed the loot chest, too."

Tibs looked down. "Sorry."

"You kept us from dying." Jackal squeezed his shoulder. "I'll take that over loot."

Tibs nodded, trying to feel good about what he'd done. He had kept his team alive. The five of them were—

"Don! Did we free him?" He was on his feet while the others exchanged worried looks, then had to keep from moving, as his equilibrium wasn't as fast as he was yet. Then they were all moving.

Jackal cursed and shivered as they stepped outside, confirming that how cold the corridor was wasn't in Tibs's imagination. Sensing back into the room, it still had a lot of fire essence, so he absorbed that, and, as much as it was, it barely added anything to his nearly empty reserve.

He couldn't avoid sensing his friends in the process, and like they'd all said, they were in good shape. The purity weaves he'd applied on each had continued their work, and only with Jackal did Tibs suspect it hadn't been enough to do much for his burns on top of healing the extensive damage it had been working on. He used some of the essence he'd gained to apply more weaves on each of them, but kept them small, preferring to be ready to defend them.

The hallway was devoid of anyone in a way that felt odd.

No doors opened in an ambush masquerading as people not expecting intruders. Tibs couldn't even sense people golems in the rooms. Carefully opening a door revealed a completely empty room. Not even the desks where the golem people had pretended to work at were there.

By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, where the table and trays were absent, even Jackal was on edge.

"Where are all the creatures?" he grumbled as they exited the room.

Running echoing along the walls had Mez bow raised, an arrow flickered, then its essence fell apart, and the archer hurried to pull one from his quiver.

Tibs started to push fire essence into the bow, only for the runner to reach the edge of his tighter sense. Then Tibs was running.

"Tibs!" Jackal called, then they too ran.

Tibs grabbed onto the sorcerer as Don rounded the corner. "You're okay!"

Corruption bloomed around them, and was immediately absorbed by Don. "Err, yes." Don sounded unsure, and when Tibs let go, he looked uncomfortable.

"How did you get free?" Mez asked.

"I didn't." Don looked them over. "The building groaned, then everyone and everything just broke down and I was free. Something tells me Tibs did it."

"I might have broken something," Tibs admitted.

Don chuckled. "I'd say that's impossible, but it isn't the first such thing you've done." His expression sobered. "Why haven't you healed them?"

"I added a weave, but I wanted to keep most of the essence I have left in case we were attacked. We're all drained."

"We'll heal," Jackal said, urging them along. "But how about we get out of here? Without those tellers jumping out of the rooms trying to kill us, this place feels creepy."