"Tuk."

The ring tosser inhaled sharply and threw his eyes open as wide as he could.

"Maybe you should stand after all?" Gad asked him.

Jul smiled down at him as the morsvar offered him a hand.

"Yeah. That's probably the best," Tuk said, taking her hand as he stifled a yawn.

Gad pulled him up easily to his lanky height, and Tuk sighed as he checked the confusing mesh of branches outside their little nook.

"Hang in there," the tank said. "It will be day soon."

"And thank the Crystal for that," he muttered.

A touch of red was now coming from above, columns of dim light filtering through the branches in an attempt to reach the ground, lost far, far beneath them. It was a toss up between using his normal sight or his [Dark Vision], and so he opted for the first. At least he would consume less stamina doing so.

Between the hungry blossoms, the snake beasts and the vine monster, the puck swarm was too busy surviving to worry about chasing after the fleeing delvers, and with a couple more hours dropped between them and their pursuers, Sej had at last called for a break.

"Will we be safe here?" Leon had asked.

He had eyed the small space in between branches with doubt evident in his eyes. It was essentially the same as the spot they had stopped to rest in, just a few hours earlier, and which had not proven safe in any way, shape or form.

"As safe as we can be," Sej had said. "We're still at least a day away from the lake, and that's being optimistic. But we're burning through our stamina. We need to heal up and rest."

And other than that one, single voiced concern, they had all gratefully lowered the injured to the floor and dropped, panting hard.

Tuk had then volunteered to watch with Gad and Jul. He was one of the few people that had actually received healing, and thankfully, though banged up, he hadn't suffered any significant open injuries through which the [Touch of Rot] could gain any more counters. So he had wanted to make himself useful.

Looking away from the brightening outside, he scanned the others inside their little shelter.

Kur, Viy, Cen and Rel were still down for the count. As for the other two parties, Row, Tun, Lim, Raf, Cor, Teb, Medis, Era, Mach and Sarke were also still passed out. None of them showed signs of waking up however, as they were far too hurt and the [Touch of Rot] was making it impossible for Jasphaer and Leta to restore them. Even using potions, the costs of healing under that damned debuff were just too high, and the effects too hindered.

For now, the two healers did their best to try and keep the infected from deteriorating too far, but it was only a matter of time before they started seeing dropping HP bars from those unhealed crash wounds. And after that fall, none of the injured had theirs in the green…

Leon and Sej were currently engrossed in a whispered conversation, trying to decide their best course of action. From what Tuk had heard from them thus far, they would probably push to resume their journey towards the lake as soon as dawn arrived.

That was their only option. Only by the lake shores would they be able to remove the debuff and properly heal everyone, and the longer they stayed in that little nook, the more they risked getting discovered again, and starting another all-out brawl.

Even with the night beasts retreating to their homes, and they were arguably the worst ones according to Sej, they were simply being rotated around to the day beasts. Given the accounts of their first fight and flight in that horrible place, with the harrar chasing them, those day beasts were nothing to look down on either…

Jaz was napping with his mouth wide open, besides the passed-out Row and Lim, and

Eum was in a similar position, besides Era and Medis, but his penetrating, feral green eyes were wide open. Once in a while, Tuk caught him gazing out at the brightening outside, though the tygaris expression remained undecipherable.

And then, there was Mul and Calli.

Calli had been injured by the grasp of the vine monsters, and its barbs and thorns had cut deeply into her leg. Unfortunately, the Miasma had taken little to no time in reaching in with its rotten touch once again, and she had taken more counters to the [Touch of Rot]. The aethermancer was awake, but flitting between lucidity and feverish bouts.

"Well, at least you're talking to me now!" she muttered at Mul. "And after I burned myself for you, too! So ungrateful!"

Tuk disguised a laugh. It was probably the tenth or twentieth time that Calli had brought up that particular point of contention. And Mul, just as with every other time, looked perfectly chastised. He inclined his head to her and mumbled his apologies.

"It's not the fire that bothers me, you know? Is that you avoided me!" she said.

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Wolfie, sitting beside her and with her arm wrapped around him, glared accusingly at Mul, and Tuk almost lost it with the deep sigh that Mul heaved as he apologized once again.

You go, Calli, Tuk thought. It was time that someone forced the stubborn brawler to open up and deal with his problems. And given what had happened with the vine monster, already it seemed like she was having results…

Still, it was lucky nobody else got hurt, Tuk thought, his expression darkening once more.

At last, his eyes fell upon Nar.

The swordsman sat alone to one side, his face twisted in a deep frown as he meditated. Nar had lowered Raf and Kur to the floor and then, without a word, plunged straight into [Meditation].

Tuk had no doubts as to the severity of the damage incurred to his pathways, especially given how low Nar's HP was. And given Nar's new and insane training, Tuk also didn't doubt that the swordsman was in a whole lot more pain that he was letting out… In fact, the trugger was sure he had seen Nar whipping at his ear in a gesture that was probably intended as discreet, but Tuk had seen enough bleeding from ears during their Climb to know it for what it was. The damage inside Nar must be horrendous,

I hope he manages to fix it, Tuk thought, wincing in a mirror reply to Nar's sudden, deep grimace. The swordsman flashed his teeth for a moment, though he was right away back under control, never allowing himself to fail Tys' teachings.

Tuk sighed. It was not the first time Nar injured himself in order to protect them, or in search of the power to do so, and it probably wouldn't be the last time either… Nor by a long shot.

He flexed his fingers, searching for rings that were safely tucked away in his inventory.

Even during the most chaotic part of that fight, he had felt nothing from the weapon's Minor Hunger affinity, which, in all honesty, was nothing if not a relief!

I guess a minor affinity to hunger isn't as affected, he thought to himself. Ugh… Mul was right.

And not for the first time, he wondered about his master's offer.

A new set of weapons and one AUC with a new affinity. Both paid from his master's own pocket as an apology to how unprepared the man had been to teach Tuk.

The offer was ridiculously good, and not only would it bolster his DPS, offsetting the loss of his one ring, but it would also provide him a potential new stat, even effects perhaps… Question was, he had no idea what affinity to pick yet.

"How are things?"

"Quiet," Jul said.

Tuk looked up as Sej joined them.

In the back of the cave, Leon had just joined Calli, Mul and Wolfie. To Mul's great relief, it looked as though Calli was now taking Leon as the next target to her delirious ire.

"Early mornings always are in this place," Sej said, scanning the columns of red-light filtering through the brambles.

It was getting brighter by the minute, and soon, it would be full "day" again in that claustrophobic place.

"How's your [Hearing]?" Sej asked, glancing at the quam. "Elite training and delving are not for nothing… You'll catch up to me soon."

Jul frowned and shook her head. "I can hear, but I still can't make full sense of it. And in this place, it's all so jumbled up together that it feels worse than back at the Jungle Tops."

"It is worse," Sej said. "But you'll get there. I've been at this for years now, so you just need more experience. The living kind. Not XP."

"Hmm," Jul said, nodding.

"What's our plan?" Gad asked in a low rumble.

"We're leaving in half an hour," Sej said. "It's quiet now, but…"

She glanced in Nar's direction.

"Our fighting power is severely reduced, and since we need to carry and protect people with us, it gets reduced even more," the blue skinned guide said, still eyeing the swordsman in the midst of his [Meditation]. "And since we can't heal them, we need all the firepower we can get."

Meaning Nar, Tuk thought.

Nar was just growing and growing, sometimes by leaps and bounds, and his growth was probably nothing short of prodigious. But given how Nar was always so focused on a distant goal, be that his dad, the party or making it amongst the Named Few, Tuk sometimes wondered if Nar realized just how far he had come… And just how strong he truly had become.

"We'll keep heading South. If I'm not too wrong, we should make it to the lake by late tonight," Sej said.

"And if you are?" Jul asked quietly.

"Then, we'll figure it out," the guide whispered.

Tuk looked at her again, searching her expression.

The guide was now staring at her companion. Sarke was placed besides the others, and her emerald complexion looked brown and faded in the growing red light, and even the highlights of turquoise seemed to be gone from her scales.

Sej's concern was evident, but even now, he still couldn't tell whether there was something going on between the two of them or not. He had spotted nothing conclusive so far, and it was not like he was down to eavesdropping on them whenever they retreated to their shared tent…

Sej caught him staring, and a smile danced on her lips.

"You've been dying to ask, haven't you?" she asked Tuk.

Gad sighed and shook his head. "Yes, he has."

"Eh… What are you talking about?" he asked, looking away in what he though was a discrete gaze out into the brightening rays of red light.

However, the furious dark brown that colored his features gave him away, and Sej chuckled and slapped his arm playfully.

"Just ask away, Tuk," she said. "Before you blow up with curiosity!"

"Uhm…"

He scratched the back of his head, a fresh wave of sweat coating his body and scalp under his heavy, dense bangs of dark brown. It didn't look like there was a way out for him this time.

"Fine. I'm sorry," he mumbled. "Are you and Sarke… Together?"

Jul half-frowned at the trugger, but she didn't seem surprised by the question. Given how high her [Perception] was, the green-blue compound eyed quam already knew the answer.

The blue woman chuckled again, her amber eyes shining with mirth.

"We are," she said. "Was that not obvious enough?"

"No?" Tuk said, looking between Gad and Jul.

"You need more [Perception]," Gad rumbled. "Or is it [Awareness]?"

"Both, though I guess we keep it professional. And by that I mean that Sarke hates public displays of affection," Sej said, grinning. "But I thought it was still plain as day."

"It was," Jul said.

"It's hilarious you didn't realize!" Sej said, stifling her laugh with a hand.

"I… I… But…"

Sej laughed again, and Gad only shook her head.

"Anyways, you three go and sit down for a bit. Have some food," Sej said. "We're leaving soon enough, and bet both my hands and eyes that the Hungry Jungle isn't going to let us go without a fight. It never does…"

Tuk gulped, and stared back outside. He couldn't wait to get away from that red reality of twisting black branches and menacing, curling thorns.

And all of the nasty things in here too, he thought. How does a dungeon guardian even come up with the ideas for these things? Seriously?

He shook his head, pushing away the thought of a slow, painful death. Hopefully, bet or no bet, Sej would be wrong in the fighting part, but right that they should be out of the mess by nightfall.

He grimaced.

As optimistic as he was, he was not a fool. He knew that the jungle would make them work for it.

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