What could they do now? Kenn could use his time magic again… his core twinged at just the thought of it… but what else. If only the Demon king would help they could really use a hand… hand…

“Mage hand!!!” He shouted to Hailey as the others continued to try to get to the exit door.

Te elf nearly face palmed

“Why didn't I think of that”

Kenn visualized the spell in his mind, he was about a yard from the Key, just within this basic spell’s max range.

His channels burned as he summoned the mana, reminding him that he wasn't supposed to use magic, but he formed the spell any way focusing on the key as he let it out.

He felt a connection form, and suddenly he had the same awareness of the key as he did his own arm, albeit weaker, he pulled it towards him, and it floated in every movement using a sliver of mana, and caught it out of the air, letting the spell fall apart and looked to Hailey who held her key aloft with pride, pulling her arm down just as a laser would’ve cut it.

“We got it! Now, all we have to do is find some way to get to the door.”

Kenn checked on the others Giel was Almost at the door and Sandra was...damn it! The thief was still trying to make her way towards the chest.

“Sandra” Kenn shouted at her “Door! NOW!!!”

Sandra looked at him and had the audacity to wink and wiggle her hips tauntingly before crouching and pushing off attempting to jump the last few tiles towards the treasure.

She landed right in front of the little door, another tile pressed in her efforts. The Crystal screamed as it began to spin faster, the lasers were practically a disk of light at this point the colors changing faster than any of them could react, pressed to the floor as they were, resulting in an infinite loop of the spinning increasing, the tiles they stood on changing and being pressed constantly.

The Demon King looked on. His hand having taken on the shape of a saucepan and the reflective sheen of a mirror, which he held protectively in front of Ali.

Kenn Glared at Sandra, who herself looked ashamed to her credit, but still was opening the chest.

Rather than reaching inside, she tipped the container over, pulling down the lid and revealing the contents.

Kenn sighed at the deus ex machina.

Inside the chest was what looked like a mirror, it was framed with enchantment runes but otherwise seemed completely normal as Sandra stared at it.

Kenn supposed it made sense, a mirror becoming available after a few tiles were triggered but still…

Sandra stood holding the mirror in front of her. As the a came in her direction she angled it upward the light bouncing off of the reflective surface and singing the ceiling.

Hailey pointed to the crystal “Sandra, get as close as possible! That way we can clear half the room. Giel, how’re you doing”

“I was fine,” The beast-kin said as he crawled on hands and knees “Now, what do you think.” The tall man had to move carefully because even on all fours he was just barely beneath cutting range.

Sandra moved in, keeping herself carefully positioned with the mirror facing the gem.

Once she got close enough she positioned herself in front of Giel allowing him to get to the door and insert his key.

The beast-man Ducked back down as he finished allowing Sandra to maneuver herself to the entrance-side clearing the way for Kenn to meet up at Hailey’s side. Ali joined them as well while it was safe, as soon as she was ready behind them she shouted,

“Okay Sandy, to the left. Slowly!”

The progress felt glacial. Being constrained to the group's movement, a group of teenagers trying to coordinate mind you, was like the world's worst escort quest. Except he was the NPC.

Enough said.

Keeping the Sandra on task was an effort in itself, she seemed to halfway forget anyone was behind her sometimes, moving too fast or too slow. Kenn Ali and even Hailey actively had to tell the woman to speed up or slow down, sometimes even having to power walk in order not to end up in cauterized chunks.

They did get there eventually though. Kenn and the non-human women stepping onto another grey safe area, a ring of runes stopping the lasers as if they simply ceased to exist.

Sandra backed up, slowly making her way to safety, she stepped over the barrier and sagged looking for all the world like she wanted a thankyou.

What she got was a punch in the gut from an angry gnome.

Fun fact about gnomes, despite their height they were more compact than shrunken and thus packed a mean right hook.

“Fucking, goddamn tit-shit!!! That's the second time today!!!” Sandra cursed as she curled in on herself like a two-legged pillbug

“YOU NEARLY KILLED US AGAIN!!!” Ali screeched her face a mask of rage as she Kicked the human woman in the shin.

Sandra yelped then wheezed through gritted teeth “I save you…”

Giel scoffed “From a problem you caused! We wouldn't have needed the mirror if you hadn't gone for it in the first place”

Sandra pouted, her classic ‘aren't i too cute to be mad at’ move.

She was not too cute to be mad at and only received hard looks from her party.

“You guys are overreacting! We’re fine right. Loosen up!”

Giel gave her the ‘are you stupid?’ look “I almost got my tail cut off! In fact, you almost got chopped in half! What are you talking about!”

Hailey made a placating motion, her voice calm but her anger evident in the fact she was confronting her friend at all “Sandy, I… we just think you can be a little… more… careful. That was sort of impulsive and it’s not the first time.”

“Sort of” Ali scoffed.

“Okay okay, I’m sorry” Sandra half sighed half groaned, rolling her eyes when she thought no one was looking.

Kenn noticed but just didn't have the energy to deal with it. He was exhausted, running on fumes, and his channels still hurt from just that mage hand spell all he wanted was to finish this dungeon and be done(geon) with it.

The demon king, being what he was, walked through the still spinning laser display as if it was nothing. The beams distorting around him like river-water would around a stone. It wasn't long before he stepped into the safe area. Ali shot an ice bolt at him, the demon king dodged, shooting her a smug wink and said “basic spells.” before turning to the group as a whole, including the now fuming gnome, “Just, wow. That was inept. I mean… come on! Teamwork was a huge issue there!” everyone gave Sandra a look “But you guys have a lot of other things you need to work on too. Hailey did you check your spellbook for a reflection spell lasers are light after all”

The elf looked like she wanted to facepalm “No..."

“Well, I didn't include one so don't worry about it now, but you should’ve looked. Ali, your commands should’ve been earlier. Geil you could’ve used one of the metal spells I included in your book, I saw you looking at it earlier. ‘magnetic draw,’ remember?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Giel lied, It was so obviously a lie the kind of lie that wasn't even trying to pretend it was true.

The demon king rolled his crimson eyes, “You know what, whatever. But we will discuss this later”

The beast-kin smiled “Doubt it.”

“Uhg” The demon king’s tail whipped behind him “Anyway,” he said, seeming to brush the whole situation off “The boss room should be next. Are you ready?”

There was a bit of murmuring among the group and a few healing spells cast by Hailey before the answer was yes.

The keys were put into the door and turned, The door opened slowly with a ‘CREEEAAAAK’ that was a bit too dramatic for what it was.

Which was a door.

No door that leads to anywhere good ever creaks like that.