OVER. IT.
Seriously. I get that it's...I wanna say "realistic" despite the basic premise of this game being anything but...to be unable to avoid every fight. But Aryth's Spire is annoying enough without having to deal with non-plot-advancing battles.
Trying reeeeal hard to just appreciate the XP. But man I hope I get to kill Aryth at the end of this.
I really, really want to kill that guy.

It is easy for things to drag on forever in Aryth's Spire if you get lost.

Have you tried looking at this thread?

It gives a map to Aryths Spire, which might make things quicker...

Oh no, I wasn't lost. I just got tired of having to slog through every second or third battle even though I hit "retreat" every time. So I came here for some mostly-good-natured grumbling.
It would be different if battling was interesting to me. It isn't, though. So that makes me wish the failure rate for retreats was lower.

Thank you for the link though! It's nice to know help is readily available if I need it.