Chapter 21: 21. Fake Tree Labyrinth
Marlet woke up to Tiona still hugging her in her sleep that morning and a fully healed wing, ready for flight. Stirring gently so as to wake the amazoness sleeping beside her Marlet wanted to get ready for the early morning. Marlet had gotten so used to Loki always sneaking into her room and tucking herself under her wing that she didn't even realise it when someone used the appendages as blankets anymore. "Mmm, Morning" Tiona stretched like a cat while doing a cute yawn and rubbing her eyes whilst greeting her bedmate. Marlet could only smile at the comfort her friends have around her, "Morning, we should start getting ready before your sister comes barging in here."
Finishing by up their preparations for the morning and meeting the rest of the familia who had already started to collapse their tents, Marlet went and spoke to Bete to find out what he had found whilst he scouted ahead the day before. "It's just the normal monsters, a weakling like you don't need to worry when everyone else is protecting you" was Bete's response which Marlet had translated to 'she didn't need to worry, he'll keep an eye on her' making her smile and Bete only click his tongue in annoyance. Laughing to herself Marlet went back to her tent and helped Tiona disassemble it and put all the needed things back in the wagons she was going to store again.
After everyone was fed and in position they moved on to the next floor, the Great Tree Labyrinth where many of the materials for potion making and forging could be found. Not even noticing the Freya Familia falling into step within the convoy everyone headed down the passageway that would get them out of the safe zone and into the the 19th floor. From this point on the lower level adventurers would become the official supporters and push or pull the carts while the more experienced familia members focused on protection and moving forward.
Seeing the trees for the first time had Marlet extatische for a second before it was snuffed out like a candle. She could only tilt her head and frown while looking at the different trees surrounding them, even touching one didn't lessen her confusion and frustration. Seeing her reaction Riveria asked her what the problem was, "it's just wrong. How do I put this so you can understand…" Marlet adopted a thinking pose while still eyeing the flora around her, "you know how trees have roots for getting water out the ground and leaves to collect sunshine?" Riveria nodded along as this was common knowledge for any elf. "Well these trees arnt like that, there's no life in them and could be replaced by a solid piece of chopped wood and I couldn't even tell the difference." Marlet was having trouble explaining that there was no life found in the trees around them and that they were more ornamental than anything else. Both Riveria and Lefiya fell into deep thought at this revelation because even though they were elves, the race supposedly closest to nature, the girl before them had made this observation the second she got in sight of the trees. 'Is she even more in-tune with the nature around her?' They both couldn't help but think simultaneously, and while Lefiya was admiring the girl for her closeness to nature, Riveria was getting increasingly worried about what the elves would do should they learn of this.
Seeing the familia having no trouble fighting off the occasional Mad Beetles that would attack Marlet decided that she would continue shooting with her bow and arrow at any monster that was far enough to not hinder any of the teamwork the groups may have built up. She would also fly past all the groups and offer to do any healing for the members regardless how big or small the injury may be. She was being very careful of her mind though, knowing that the fights would only get harder as they went deeper. She had been shooting at some Vouvire when they would pop out but that rarely happened and Gareth explained that they were more of a small party monster, leaving the larger groups to the Mad Beetles.
Whilst descending Marlet had asked the closest members to collect any and all resources they came across to add to her little hoard of 'treasure making materials' as she had put it claiming that she needed to experiment with the different materials if they truly wanted her to make something spectacular. Everyone complied and slowly but surely the wagon Marlet was sniping from was filling up with all sorts of different plants and minerals. Some adventurers even gave her their dropped items claiming that they would rather her make them something in the future than get the standard guild rates for the items. This proces continued where they faced off with all sorts of bug monsters like the Gun Libellula and Deadly Hornets. There was a moment where Aiz and the twins rushed off for the entire 24th floor while everyone was fighting off some Mammoth Fools.
As everyone was busy healing up and resting before heading into the 25th floor Aiz and the twins returned bloody and covered in blood requesting some healing. When Tiona opened the bag she was carrying there was two larger magic stones and some green scales. Riveria could only sigh at the brashness of the three and Aiz only cutely pouted and only said "not enough." Coming closer to the bag Marlet could feel the power pulling her closer and upon looking inside two flowing rainbows flowed into her and she felt empowered for a moment. When she was done she realised what had happened and celebrated the 2 more dragon souls her friends had brought for her. Bringing Aiz and the twins into the biggest hug anyone could be included in because of the reach of her wings the other Familia members vowed that they would also bring any dragon stones to their winged familia member.
Before continuing with the expedition Marlet went back to the dragon shouts section and unlocked the last 2 shouts for Unrelenting Force, unlocking the full shout to her and making it her most powerful move currently. At this point in their expedition Marlet had become a full time healer because unless she could shoot the monster in the eye it had become a wasted effort. Entering the Water City was a wonderful experience for her, seeing all the water flowing around her and seeing the drop all the way down to the 27th floor really made her wish she was stronger to explore the floors to their fullest. She had been using the map section of her [Elder Scrolls Wisdom] to help fill in any gaps or changes the map Finn had much to his delight and if a path was deemed close enough they would explore. This led them to find many more small treasures and have one of the greatest hauls in a while.
It got so ridiculous at the beginning of the 27th floor that Finn actually considered returning early due to the abundance of resources they have. It might not have been the most valuable of resources but with the sheer quantity of everything they had he figured that they might as well have reached the 45th floor. Finn explained his reasonings to his familia and that they might not had beaten their previous record of deepest dive but had enough raw materials to have another expedition in a while. The Freya familia moved on while the Loki Familia made their way back up towards the Great Tree Labyrinth.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Super_Surprised231
Super_Surprised231 Sorry it’s only a half chapter today, I’ll see if I can release a chapter on Saturday or Sunday but I have some family over and the house is a little crowded atm.
Everything should calm down by next week and everything should be back to normal by then.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone