Instinctively, I raised my arm to shield my face. The spores clung to every inch of exposed skin, a thick, noxious cloud rolling out with them. I held my breath and jumped back, eyeing the glowing particles now attached to my skin. Hopefully, they weren't poisonous…

The cloud lingered, despite the light breeze from the doorway. I carefully maneuvered around it to assess the situation.

Clover raised her mace high and brought it down on the center of the Glowcap’s head. It fell, but before I could warn her about the spores, a second wave burst outward, engulfing her in an instant. I heard her muffled curse through the bluish fog.

“Are you alright?” I called out, squinting through the haze. She was only a few feet away, but I couldn't see her.

Thankfully, she stumbled out a moment later, coughing and covering her mouth with her hand. Glowing blue spores smeared her eyes, as if she'd rubbed her face with a contaminated hand.

She walked forward blindly, irritation radiating from her as she futilely tried to clear her vision.

“I forgot those suckers did that. I'll use a cleansing spell, and we can continue,” she said, raising a hand to cast the spell. But before she could, her foot caught on a loose rock, sending her tumbling forward…directly towards the wall.

I lurched and caught her around the waist, her nose inches away from the stone. “Careful!”

She tensed for a moment before relaxing with a snort.

“There's no need to be that worried. A little fall won't kill me.” She patted my arm, but didn’t step away. I left it, just in case.

“True, but colliding head-first with a wall and possibly landing on your mace might. If nothing else, it sounds painful.” I huffed.

She reached out and touched the wall, laughing. “Fair point. I thought I'd followed your voice well enough, but apparently not. Thanks for the save.”

I shrugged despite her not being able to see it. “It was nothing.”

She slapped my chestplate with a huff. “My unbruised face and pride would say otherwise. Take the gratitude graciously, would you?”

Heat crept up my cheeks, and I sighed. “You're very welcome. Now please use that spell. I don't trust you not to run into a wall otherwise.”

She raised a brow and prodded my hand. “Is that why you're still holding me? And here I thought you were feeling amorous after this morning’s cuddle session.”

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My face burned hotter, and I groaned. “I'm sorry, I told you I gravitate toward warmth.”

I thought she'd been asleep, but apparently not. Though… why hadn't she woken me if she awake?

A teasing grin spread across her lips. I cut her off before she could say anything further. “Then again, you weren't protesting, so maybe you were feeling particularly cuddly today. All you had to do was ask.”

My words came out rushed, and when they sank in, I cursed myself. “I mean––”

She snapped her fingers, clearing the spores in a heartbeat. Her skin was clean as she opened her eyes, amusement lighting them. She squeezed my hand with a wink. “Don't backtrack now. You're finally starting to tease back. That's practically cause for celebration! Fun though it is to mess with you is, it's even more so if you do it back.”

She let my hand go, and I let it fall to my side, the skin oddly cool now. Pushing aside the weird squirming in my chest, I gestured to her face. “What was that anyway? The spores and the cloud?”

She waved at the fog and grimaced. “Glowcaps aren't very strong, but their spores cause temporary blindness. They can throw them while alive, but the explosion when they die is much more likely to get people, as you saw.” She gave the cloud a wide berth, grumbling. “That's not the first time they've gotten me, but I always forget.”

I almost teased her, but the light pink dusting her cheeks and the subtle slump of her shoulders made me reconsider. Instead, I pointed to the door. “Shall we continue? We can probably avoid fighting Glowcaps entirely if we're careful.”

She nodded, her eyes already scanning for traps. “That would be best. Cleanse spells aren't overly taxing, but I need to save my mana.”

After a minute, she carefully eased the door open and frowned. Her brows pinched with wariness. She didn't say anything, lost in thought.

I peered over her shoulder, curious about her expression. The room was empty except for another door on the left wall and monster corpses scattered across the ground. No enemies.

“That's…odd. Do you think whatever was in here got beaten by the Glowcaps?”

She shook her head, gesturing to an Adolescent Giant Spider's body. “No, there are no Glowcap spores, and they would have started feeding immediately. Besides, there are weird puncture holes in that spider's abdomen…”

She stepped into the room, a lead ball of unease settled in my gut. Something was wrong. Why were the monsters dead but untouched?

I analyzed a Deep Rat sprawled amongst several others.

Deep Rat

Level 3

Hit Points: 0/15

Mana: 0/0

Status: Deceased, Multiple Puncture Wounds

The sense of wrongness intensified. I nudged the rat bodies aside, searching for clues. At first, nothing seemed amiss…until I looked closer. Amidst the corpses was a hole. No––several holes. The shadows of the cobblestone floor hid them well, but now, in the light of my weapon, I could see them, barely the size of a coin. Comparing them to the wounds on the rats, sick understanding dawned. Adrenaline surged, and I jumped back toward the door, careful to only step where I had before.

“Clover, it's a spike trap! Get out of there!”

As the words left my lips, the distinct click of a trap being sprung echoed. Clover jerked back, but not quickly enough. Time seemed to slow as mechanical clicks sounded beneath the floor. The scrape of metal on stone followed, and when I saw the holes directly under Clover's feet, my heart dropped.

She couldn't dodge in time; they covered most of the floor!

Vivid images of razor-sharp spikes lurching out of the ground to impale her flashed through my mind. Before I could think, I was moving.

Please, don't let me be too late.