"I don't feel so good." Sasha said with a smile on her face.
She was laying down after finally getting all the holes in her body healed up. Her armor had been shredded when the monster had mauled her. Chucks and pieces were thrown about here and there in such a way that it was hard to tell if she had more flesh on her body or on the ground. There were still healers working to keep her stable with all the damage she had taken. Though her body had been repaired perfectly she could still slip into shock and die. Her mind could still drift off and never feel right enough to wake up again.
"Just stay awake and relax, we did it, we survived the challenges in this place. Once the rogues break into the vault we will be rich and have plenty of artifacts to work with. For now, just focus on surviving today." Drassisa said to her dear friend who had taken the brunt of the monster's fury. The one who had turned this from a multi-week fight into an hour-long deathmatch. Who had stared the death of nations straight in the eyes and laughed as she killed it? Turned the most perfect body in existence into a scarred mess of twisted flesh and chitin.
How much pain had she endured to pull that off? And to have touched it, to have felt its cries in her mind as she healed it back more wrong than it was before. Being a healer herself Drassisa knew that the cost of that had not been easy. It had not been anywhere as cheap as her friend had made it out to be.
She had felt every blow brought on her and on the Queen. She had endured the twisting of flesh that had happened to the Queen as truly as if it had happened to her own body. She had felt the monster die, slowly and without ever stopping its thirst for slaughter. It had died. She had felt its systems failing more and more as they become compromised from the assault. She had felt its mind being shattered by Teamasa, its thoughts growing dull, and its very blood is turned against it. She had felt it when Tess had finished it off. She had to keep going until all of its energy had been used up it would have never stopped. Not even if it was reduced to pieces.
"Watch out for the vault, one final trap could be waiting there. I wonder what is going to happen to this place after all is said and done. Maybe it will become a breeding ground for lesser monsters. What do you think?" Sasha asked the Druid that was sitting next to her. He had decided to watch over her and make sure she stayed in the land of the living.
"I will let them know but I think we are in the clear. The mad mage has never booby-trapped the treasure before unless the treasure was the monster." Tess responded before making sure they were being careful. When he got back he saw a look on her face that demanded answers for what he had just said.
"Yeah, it happened like this. The mad mage turned a few million gold pieces into one really big golem and set it loose on a kingdom when some fools woke it up. It then took all the gold and valuables in the entire kingdom and grew even larger. By the time someone had finally beat the damn thing it had toppled thirty such places." Tess said with a smirk.
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"Who beat it?" Sasha could not help but ask.
"The Lord of all that Glitters! When it threatened his own domain and had grown to a size that made even him covet the wealth as his own he took flight. The fight lasted a full month with all the magic artifacts involved and it changed the landscape for a thousand miles. Afterward, they had to redraw all the maps." Tess said with some awe in his voice. it was rare that he would sing the praises of others so high but when he did it was never a small thing.
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When they had finally broken the lock on the vault they found a hoard of wealth so vast they could not see the end of it for the mountain. Most of it enchanted gear and swords of legend. All of it likely cursed but even so if there was no one else in the entire world that would dare to use something there was always one group willing to buy the cursed things. Dragons would add them to their hoard as a way of growing their own power. Power enough to move mountains. Better yet they had their own personal Curse mage. One that they knew personally and could get good deals from.
This put all the others in the expedition in a very happy light when it came time to divide the loot out. Every group that participated to some small degree was entitled to a share of the treasure. A piece of madness brought to the mortal realm.
"Let's get the supply train rolling and get all this stuff out of here before every thief in a thousand miles tries to take it from us," Sasha said after being helped up. She had to have people help her to move around even now and no one was going to question it. They had all seen her survive far worse than they could dish out on the spot. Anyone that was thinking about betraying everyone else and running with more magic than anyone could carry quickly decided that not only was that dumb, but it also was suicidal and they wanted no part of it.
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Word spread fast once they came out and the first of the supply wagons rolled after them. It was a joyous day of celebration that would last long into the night. Something about the sight just reminded people of heroes. It reminded them what it meant to truly dream of a better future. Of something more than the lives that they lived each and every single day.
"Is it done?" Teamasa asked Neka when she came to get the first batch of cursed swords and spears for research.
"Yes, I think I got everything in place and waiting for you to give the go-ahead." Neka said to her mentor under her breath.
"Good, try and have some fun with the party because apparently, it is all on us." She said.
"I am sure people appreciate your generosity. Just be careful, I do not put it past some idiot to take a shot at you or the boss, especially with them down for the count like that. It would now cause a small war but they could still take the shot before that happens. May even succeed if Fate would find it funny."
"Will do and thanks for the help. Sasha still needs to rest so do you mind if she crashes at the shop. Put her somewhere out of the way so she is not in any danger but she really does not need to be out here in her state."
"Can do, have a nice time." Neka added before taking Sasha and leaving the party that had started to really get going.
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It was not easy but they had sliced the net that was enclosed on them. They were in the clear so long as they could make it to shore. The grand adventure was over with for now and the next one would be coming soon. For not they would need to shore up their defenses. It would only be a matter of time before the Sisters got at it again but now they had some breathing room. Now they could meet that destiny on their own terms. Now they could bravely walk into the future without having to worry if the past would stab them in the back.