The monster attacked the moment they entered the square.

Penelope cast <Clairvoyance> to keep an eye out before they walked in, letting Skylar and Riva guide her with one holding each of her arms.

"We've got two groups!" Penelope pointed her right hand, yanking it out of Skylar's grip. "Two grays, two blacks that way." She pointed to the room in the center of the square. "Two grays and two yellows in there. It looks like that is one of the rectangular rooms with a door to the next room at the ends of the rectangle."

"I'm walling off that tunnel." Patrick grunted as he created an <Earthen Wall> in front of them at the intersection. "Let's hurry up and get to Freddy before they bust this thing down." He pointed at the tunnel to their right. "Anything down—" He bit off his question as he raised an <Earthen Wall> to block off that side.

The four canines that had been running straight at them cut through the room diagonally to their right, which had opened up into the other tunnel. Each one of them tall enough that if Penelope had been sitting on their backs, her toes would have barely been able to touch the ground.

"Caster and Deathfly coming down the tunnel!" Penelope reported as the two women dragged her down the tunnel to the left.

Once everyone was in the tunnel, Patrick walled it off behind them. "Go ahead and come back to us." Patrick pointed his sword in front of him. "We've got incoming!"

The four canines crashed into the tunnel in front of them, each one bouncing off the tunnel wall as they ran towards the group.

"Deathfly and Healer behind them!" Penelope canceled the spell so she could focus on where she was. As soon as the vertigo settled from her consciousness suddenly being somewhere else, she cast <Light Torrent> twice, keeping the <Light> on in the tunnel they were in and cancelling it on the tunnel behind them since it was blocked off.

"Locking them down!" Riva moved in front of Skylar and cast <Fear> on the two black canines in front. The golden monsters bounded over the cowering ones, ramming into Patrick's shield.

"They broke it!" Circe fired a trio of arrows over Patrick's head.

One of the Gray Vair jumped into the path of the arrows, yelping as the shadowy projectiles sank into its shoulders. Silver light washed over the creature, pushing the arrows out.

"This is going to take a while…" Circe grumbled as she released arrow after arrow so fast that it was like the one she had notched never left the bow.

"You need to go on control so Circe can take care of the Healers." Jeru pointed at the Gray Vair. "If they get off a taunt, then all her arrows are going to have to be focused on those sponges, and this fight will take hours."

All eight <Light Balls> arced over the shield protecting them, but the damage wasn't rapid enough to counter the healing the Deathfly and Shadow Healer were doing from the doorway down the tunnel.

"Keep shooting, I'm going to help with crowd control!" Penelope cast <Vine Snare> twice, lashing both Gray Vairs to the floor. She let go of the spell to allow herself to be able to cast more spells. The vines wouldn't repair themselves, and they wouldn't reach for targets anymore, but it would keep some of the monsters out of the fight.

Twelve Mana for a few seconds is really expensive. Penelope kept her thoughts to herself.

Riva recast <Fear> to stop them from biting at the vines. "I'm going to run out of mana fast!"

Aly covered the space in front of Patrick with flames, singeing the golden canines as they yelped and backed out of the flames. The damage didn't last long, as the pair of Healers fixed the burnt hair.

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Penelope leaned on the wall to her right as she checked the two enemy Healers. Shouldn't they run out of Mana first?

"They've got higher Mana regen than any of you except maybe Skylar." Jeru grumbled. "You're going to be here for a while."

The wall behind them cracked as the monsters on the other side hit it.

"You need to focus <Counterspell> on the main Healer so Circe can focus down the Deathfly. Let Aly handle the dogs in front of you!"

"Circe! Focus on the Deathfly! I'm going to lock down the Demon!" Penelope activated another set of <Vine Snare> and sent it after the pair of Vair while she focused on the Shadow Healer. The moment she felt a build-up of Mana, she cast <Counterspell>, snuffing out the spell before it could heal one of the monsters.

"This wall is about to come down!" Skylar screamed as bits of stone crumbled and the wall buckled.

Patrick pushed the large canines a few steps down the tunnel, then pointed his left hand at the bowing wall and summoned a second wall in front of it.

"If they get both Healers going, we're going to run out of steam!" Patrick shoved the Vair again. "Start dumping your Mana!"

"We don't have stamina potions!" Circe ran her right finger down the bowstring, creating a line of shadowy arrows. She turned the bow sideways and aimed over the Tank's head. "I'm OUT!"

She let the arrows fly over the top of the shield towards the person-sized flying monster.

Penelope cast <Vine Snare> to pull down the Vair as the golden canines jumped in the air like a dog fetching a stick. The Vair were able to tear the vines with a single bite, but it stopped them from intercepting the projectiles.

The Shadow Healer ran for the door as the Deathfly spread out its wings to cover for its master. The line of arrows pierced the majestic creature, tearing holes in its wings and leaving it looking like a pincushion.

Circe sagged, dropping her bow, and stumbled down to one knee as her target fell. Skylar caught the other woman by the arm, guiding her to the floor.

"I'm just…" Circe wheezed. "Beat." Her eyes fluttered as she went limp.

"Stamina exhaustion." Penelope summoned <Light Torrent> and sent the magic into the closest Vair. The golden canine howled as it threw itself at the shield, only to die against the metal barrier.

Aly scorched the second one, and then the pair focused down the Gray Vair—still strapped by the combination of the vines and fear debuff—which were much easier without the Healer around.

Riva picked up Circe in a princess carry, resting the younger woman's head against her shoulder. "We need to get out of here before that thing comes back."

"I'm walling up that opening." Patrick sealed the doorway the Shadow Healer had fled through. "Pen, how do things look behind us?"

"One second." Penelope drank a Mana Potion, then activated <Clairvoyance>. "There's nothing." She squinted as the walls went translucent and her consciousness flew through the square. "I don't see the Healer, and there's nothing behind us anymore."

"That's not good." Patrick pointed down the tunnel. "What about Freddy's group?"

"I see them." Penelope moved her field of vision in that direction. "They look tired, but they're all alive."

"Let's meet up with them, then we can finish off this cursed place." Patrick hefted his shield. "I know both of you just took potions, but we probably are going to need to rest for a bit before we track down the stragglers."

"Rest?" Skylar blanched as she stepped around the smoking corpse of the Vair that Aly had torched. "While there are still monsters?"

Patrick sighed as he kneeled down to inspect the dead Deathfly. "She got this thing, but when she wakes up, someone remind her that we're trying to salvage what we can." He poked his fingers through the holes in its fibrous wings. "Avoid the wings if you can; we could make blankets out of this."

The color of the wings changed like a drop of oil in water as he put it down. He turned his attention back to the shaky Healer.

"To answer your question." Patrick pointed diagonally to his right. "That Healer probably ran off to join one of the other groups, and if that group behind us isn't trying to kill us still, then they probably went looking for the one that Freddy didn't kill." Patrick growled as he marched down the tunnel, not even bothering to look over his shoulder at the blonde woman. "A two-on-two fight isn't going to be easy even if we are at full strength. We need to make sure Freddy and Circe are rested up so they can take down the Healers."

"But what if they attack us?" Skylar hurried after the group.

Patrick paused for a moment, a chuckle escaping from inside his helmet.

"Then we won't have to hunt them."

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