Given the cold weather, washing with water was ill-advised, so wind magic and basic cleaning spells were liberally applied as the group gathered themselves to head back to the camp. There were more than a couple people throwing envious glances at Takehiko, whose hair still smelled sweet and looked perfect. Even Moriko, who could not be called vain, briefly amused herself with the idea of seducing the dryad queen for something that made life just that little bit less unpleasant. She quickly turned her mind away from that game; something about her experiences there made it too easy to get worked up.

But maybe she could have her husband and wife examine that rosewood circlet and make her one. After all, she was already sleeping with them, and she was pretty sure her skills there deserved a prize as much as Takehiko’s did.

As the group walked back across the cold tundra, Moriko pulled her thoughts from amusing herself and focused on more serious thing. She made sure to find some time to quietly talk with Kazue alone. Well, almost alone. Thunder and Lightning were wrapped around Moriko's shoulders, and Kazue was cuddling Carnelian Flame close. "Hey," she said softly, "you know that it was just an accident, right? He misjudged the size of the reaction when doing something new. These things happen during a fight."

Kazue frowned up at Moriko. "Shouldn't you be more upset? You are the one he hurt by being careless."

It didn't feel like her wife's mood was inclined to budge at the moment. Well, it had been a long day, and this expedition was Kazue's first experience with something both this brutal and this prolonged. As intense as their experience had been with purging that corruption with Ruby, their delve was keeping up the pressure across many days. Moriko was much more familiar with the risks of being caught in something one of her allies had done.

Or that she had done, for that matter. Though Moriko wasn't about to admit it, Fuyuko was not the only one who had broken bones through doing foolish stunts during training. "Like I said, this is just the sort of thing to expect to happen on occasion. But we should all get some rest and talk about it in the morning."

Kazue shrugged and grumbled something vague, which Moriko decided was the best she was going to get right now. Pushing for more was not something Moriko wanted to deal with; she was just glad that they hadn't spent the time to field dress the bodies.

Well, Mordecai had stopped long enough to retrieve a core from one of the more intact bodies, and then he'd hunted out some shards of the boss's core. He had said something about comparing them to see if they had been directly connected, and he wanted to take them home to study in more detail. At least he had no intention of duplicating them. Even Kazue might find it hard to be cuddly with undead demons, fake or not.

But the bodies were not in good enough shape to deal with, outside of getting one intact core and the few shards of the boss core that had been easy to find. In addition to the heavy damage from the fights and subsequent falls, they had been infused with void energy by the cores reanimating the bodies, which often degrades organic material. So there was no point in harvesting the remains. Besides, they’d be going home soon so didn’t need the supplies, nor did any of them need the practice, unlike the teens. Though under other circumstances, she might have still done so just to maintain good practice, just like she wouldn’t leave anything on the stove or woodpile, no matter how obvious she though it was to not be meant to be burned.

None of them were in great shape right now, but Moriko had agreed with Mordecai's assessment about conserving their mana; she and the others with healing skills had made sure everyone's critical injuries were taken care of, but everyone still carried plenty of bruises and minor lacerations, and a lot of the healed tissue was still soft and sensitive, rather than being fully healed.

At least Mordecai's mutable avatar had helped offset the frigid winds — he had brought forward some species traits involving fire affinity through his shape changing, and he was now a walking furnace. It did make him dangerous to get too close to, and there was no perfect distance for comfort, but standing close enough to end up a little too warm was good for bringing relief from the cold before moving further away again.

Kazue and Ruby had needed the help less, as both of their dragon familiars were quite happy to radiate more heat. Thunder and Lightning were not quite as hot-blooded as their brethren, but Moriko had to admit that they did make for an excellent self-heating shawl of sorts.

Eventually, they trudged their way back to camp to find that the stone structure Mordecai had conjured up had been modified. The entrances now all had a combination of hides and heavy blankets covering them, on both sides of each entrance. This was fairly effective at trapping in heat, and no matter which way the wind blew, the entrances had fabric being pressed against them rather than being blown open.

Closer examination showed that someone, presumably Derek, had formed heavy hooks from the stone walls, which were how the coverings had been hung. Bellona's elemental abilities did not have the same finesse as Derek's, and when she did focus on careful reshaping, the stone usually reverted after a little while.

As everyone else started filtering into the temporary shelter, which also now had a solid stone floor, Moriko noticed Mordecai hanging back, so she paused by the entrance, as did Kazue.

He was shifting his metabolism to normal, but Moriko's intuition that there might be something more was swiftly proven correct when he spoke. "Dersuta." The word was a statement and call for attention — too flat to call a shout but filled with power and will as it rang out across the empty tundra.

Moriko felt the response immediately and saw Kazue shiver briefly when she felt it. Dersuta's focus was now observing Mordecai directly.

Mordecai inclined his head and then spoke more softly. "Thank you for the challenges you have provided us. I feel they are exactly what we needed for this final honing before our task. In the morning, we will prepare to leave. Please let us know how you want to handle things then. Oh, and everyone here has my trust, but feel free to also use binding seals, as you feel appropriate."

There was a brief sensation of acknowledgment, then the presence was gone.

Ah, right. They were owed rewards. This was going to be interesting. The closest point of comparison she could think of was Hajime's delve and participation in the tournament, and Mordecai had dipped into the nexus's collection of goods from the outside world in order to balance that debt. While none of them were as powerful as Hajime, there were a lot more people here, and they had all been pushing hard for a while.

She was curious about the binding seals as well, but Moriko was tired, and she decided it could wait until morning. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it right now, and didn't seem worth the effort to figure out at the moment.

The inside of the shelter was already cozy, and the addition of the rest of the delving expedition rapidly made it uncomfortably warm. This was alleviated by taking down the covers on the inner ring, leaving entrance covers only on the outer ring. This let the heat flow more easily into the space between the rings, and also allowed some people to set up their bedrolls in that space, spreading out all the living heat sources.

While everyone was feeling happy about the delve coming to an end, they were all tired, and half the teens had been asleep when Moriko came in, though they happily roused themselves when more food was broken out for another meal. It was amazing what the scent of roasting meat could do to stimulate young appetites.

And Moriko's appetite was clearly that of a young person. The thought amused her as she happily dug into her share of the meal, but she didn't have a lot of energy either, and like almost everyone else, she was soon curled up on a bedroll with Kazue, and with their hatchlings helping to keep them warm.

Mordecai was taking the first watch; despite having declared an end to the delve, he felt better having someone awake at all times, just in case. The watch would be sparse this night, but there were a few people in good enough shape to take one watch and still be in decent shape tomorrow. Moriko was one of them, and she took the last watch shift of the night.

The morning was a slow start for everyone, but at least they were able to finish healing all the physical injuries. Unfortunately, healing magic usually does little to offset fatigue, and it seemed a waste to dig into their remaining supplies of stamina potions at this point.

Mordecai glanced up at an angle, his gaze seemingly focused on something distant. "Alright, everyone, it looks like our host wants to get us going. Wrap up and pack up." There was a last-minute hustle of getting gear put away and cleaning any leftover debris, and they all made their way outside to find out what Mordecai had sensed.

Dersuta's avatar was circling high overhead, along with a flight of other griffons, each carrying a large chest in its claws. They descended in a gradual spiral, and while Dersuta landed after placing his chest down, the others simply dropped theirs off and left.

"Hello, Dersuta," Mordecai said.

"Mordecai," Dersuta said in acknowledgment. "Your prizes. Those two chests contain armor; the first has scaled living leather for everyone except you and Fuyuko, and enchanted robes or clothes in matching styles for those who do not wear heavy armor. The other one has heavy armor matching the preferred types I have observed, with some modifications that I believe will be useful. However, they do not have a padded underlayer, as that is what the scaled leather is for. As for Fuyuko, this patch should upgrade her existing armor to have the same scales, as well as enhance its ability to adapt to her shape-changing. I noted that it seemed to thin a bit when she shifted. Similarly, I have a specialized set for you, as your shape changing is even more extreme. This should be able to meld into your form while still providing protection."

Well, that was a nice start. Hmm. "Excuse me," Moriko said, "just to be sure, will these have the same ability to change forms and appearance?" Dersuta's nod made Moriko smile. This was going to be fun. She'd already seen what interesting things Dhamini had done with the set that Hajime had gifted her out of the two that he had received as rewards. Their jellyfish boss's human form had very delicate-seeming, white, nearly translucent skin, which made for an interesting contrast when the sculptable armor was given the right sort of patterns. Moriko's skin wouldn't provide nearly the same amount of contrast, but she could already think of some interesting things she could do with that armor when she didn't need to worry about combat.

After pausing to see if she had any more questions, Dersuta continued. "You will find large weapons in that chest, with smaller weapons in this one. The samples I collected from your damaged and broken weapons were very interesting, and I have incorporated some of those metals. There are also paired gemstones in the small weapons chest, which can be attached to your bracers to increase their capacity and responsiveness. Ranged weapons are over here. In addition to bows and wands, I included my take on your clever design for ice bullet guns; I was able to strengthen the freezing enchantment as well as increase the pressure. I also added binding seals on them. They will not work until the seals are activated, and from that point on, will only work for the person who activated them."

The casual announcement that there was now another source for those weapons caught Moriko off guard, as Mordecai had been fairly stingy with them. But the binding seals made sense now, and that made it much less likely that they would be misused by others somehow. She also remembered where she'd heard about them before, and why they were rarely used. It rendered the item useless if the owner died or was unconscious. Plus, they were an additional layer of magic that didn't add any other function. The seal could, at least, be modified by ritual to let the owner designate a single heir, but the ritual had to be repeated every generation.

However, Dersuta was not done. "Aside from functionality, basic sharpness, and durability, all weapons have been given generalized defense penetration enchantments. Similarly, all armors have an extra amount of warding against active magic."

This made them excellent for a fight against a mage, but the wards would not help with any physical battles along the way.

"Finally, we have these two chests. I have filled them with general purpose items with the most flexible utility I can, within the limits warranted by your delve. Anyone who needs better boots, gloves, cloaks, or similar items will find them here. Of special note are these masks. They can take on a variety of appearances, or they can become invisible. They have two functions: to filter and purify the air you breathe, and to enhance your senses. Specifically, they are good at penetrating illusions."

Wow. Dersuta had customized their rewards as best he could for facing a mage of unknown skills and style. It was an impressive and well-rounded set, and given what he had said, a more prolonged delve could have won them even more impressive prizes. But pressing deeper seemed like a bad idea, and even if they did, each stage of the delve was going to take more time, and the younger portion of their group would have trouble contributing without endangering themselves too much.

For the moment, it was not worth it to delve deeper.

The rest of the prizes were practically dull in comparison, but healing potions and other curatives were always in demand. The mention of arrows prompted Moriko to check her supply. Huh. She didn't remember using that many, but there were some hectic moments where she had been firing quickly enough that the memory itself was a bit of a blur.

It took over an hour to get everything sorted, even with many items being just temporarily stored in packs instead of being put on or placed in their proper place immediately. Though Moriko made sure to get her scaled living leather on — being able to first turn it into a collar that she could easily put around her neck like jewelry made it simple, and then she could activate it so that it grew to become a fitted underlayer beneath her clothes . Moriko's fighting style did not normally mesh well with armor, but this was light and flexible enough to not interfere, and she rather appreciated that.

Once everything was claimed, which Mordecai insisted needed to include the chests, Mordecai bowed slightly to Dersuta. "Thank you again for the delve and the excellent selection of rewards. Oh, and you really should work on designing a new invested avatar so that you can visit Azeria. Our ability to so readily form avatars that can leave our territory was a balance for restrictions on our powers, and was intended to ensure that we would have the opportunity to become people, rather than uncaring or even malignant spirits of the land," he said, putting careful emphasis on the word ‘our’ to include Dersuta.

"Balance?" Dersuta asked before falling into a thoughtful silence. "I see. There are few sources that would leave you confident enough to make that statement, so I must assume it is true and not just your belief. That is something for me to consider. But I believe our business is done for now. I have already ensured that the other team was aware of your schedule, and they are ready to meet you at the border."

A glowing circle grew on the ground nearby, and Dersuta said, "This will take you directly to where I greeted your party."

Moriko stared at the portal, then looked over at Mordecai, who appeared to be a bit jealous. That had not been a spell, that had been nexus magic, and not something that Azeria could do yet, it seemed. An instant exit portal did seem like a very useful tool for a large enough nexus, and was much more flexible than Azeria's current shortcuts.

As the chests were a little large for storing in their packs, everyone who could picked up one or two of them to carry along. The party stepped into the portal one by one, giving their thanks to Dersuta as they did, and soon they were reunited with Akahana, Ricardo, Zara, and Tiros.