Nathan gulped and back stepped more as an arrow landed right between his feet. His eyes darted around looking for any ranged attacks when he felt a cold blast on his left side.

An icy magical attack hit him, and Nathan could see the attacker already start to cast a second one. However, Ko’Nu also saw him and shot a green ball of fire at him. “Pesky Ice Mages, this one refuses to let you live!”

Nathan was about to stop Ko’Nu from killing him, but was stopped as he felt the pierce of an arrow in his shoulder.

He yelped in pain and moved a hand to start healing himself. He was lucky enough and able to dodge the next arrow. No longer bleeding, Nathan was in a panic. He didn’t know what to do.

Brawn, Kira, and Thu were soon swarmed by numbers. Five went around all of them, heading straight for Nathan.

“Annoying Healers. You are always making us work harder to kill people!” One of the Bandits said while licking his lips. He held a spear similar to Nathans.

Two of the Bandits went down from arrows, while a third was singed by fire from Ko’Nu. “Nathan, fight damn it!” Parker yelled at him, while drawing his bow back to attack the Bandits the front line was fighting.

The Bandit with a spear lurched forward to stab at Nathan. Nathan batted it away with his own spear, leaving him open for the last standing Bandit to rush forward and attack with a dagger.

Nathan tried to dodge by stepping backwards, but he lost his footing and fell down. The dagger wielding bandit started to laugh.

“Oh man, this guy has no idea what he is doing. An easy kill for easy money!”

The Bandit jumped forward to stab Nathan. Nathan reflexively moved his spear in front of him for protection. The blade pierced the Bandits chest, holding him back. The area where Nathan hit the Bandit started to smoke as the Fire Affinity Gem slowly burned the Bandit.

The bandit with a spear went to attack Nathan while he couldn’t defend himself, but received an arrow and a bolt of green flames, killing him instantly.

“Oh fuck.” Nathan said, pulling out the spear. The Bandit held his hands to the wound looking at Nathan in despair.

Nathan reached forward to heal him so he wouldn’t die.

“If you heal him, I will shoot an arrow in your hands!” Parker yelled at Nathan.

Nathan turned back. “If I don’t he dies. I am not going to heal him all the way, but if he dies, I will stab you next Parker!”

Nathan healed him for ten Health, hoping that was enough. “Just stay down sir. You won’t die, keep pressure on the wound.”

The bandit with confusion on his face did not respond, but kept his hands on the wound. Nathan looked back up at his friends and assessed the situation.

It was only a few seconds, but Nathan saw more unmoving bodies. Nathan stood up and readied himself for more Bandits.

The pony tailed Elf grimace. “Lousy good for nothing...FINE!” He pulled out a purple wooden stick and aimed it at Nathan. “So long everyone, thanks for the Experience!”

Parker gasped and shouted. “Magic Wand! Everyone scatter!”

Nathan for once didn’t question Parker. He turned and started to run back up to the entrance, as a large thundering sound echoed behind him.

The entire cave shook and rumbled. Everyone froze for a moment. One large rock fell off a wall and crushed the dead body of the Ice Mage. That was like the pistol shot of an Olympic race, causing everyone to run.

More and more rocks fell. The floor started to shake more as holes appeared. The mines were collapsing in on itself.

“MOVE EVERYONE!” Brawn shouted as he started to run back toward the entrance. A rock fell and hit Thu, knocking them to the ground. “Thu!” Ko’No shouted and pointed.

Parker grabbed Ko’Nu’s shoulder “It’s too late, if we stay we are doomed as well.”

Nathan looked back and didn’t hesitate. He ran over to help Thu up. He did his best to dodge the falling rocks, but still took a few large ones. He felt his arm crack, but healed it up quickly with magic.

“Thu, come on!” Nathan tried to help pick them up but Thu remained motionless.

Nathan stuck his arms under their pits and heaved to pick Thu up. Brawn was already running down to help when Nathan felt the ground shift. “Fuck. Brawn don’t come over here!”

Brawn stopped, trusting Nathan’s words. He looked up and around for whatever the danger could be. Both Thu and Nathan started to fall down down as the ground below them collapsed. Brawn looked back just in time to see both of them fade into the darkness.

Kira grabbed his arm. “It’s too late for them. Thu is strong, we can’t save them if we get stuck too. Let’s go!”

Brawn clenched his jaw and ran back out of the mines with everyone else, vowing to return to save both of them.

Nathan groaned in pain as he slowly woke up. His entire body was in pain and he started to cough from the dust and blood in his throat. He opened his eyes to see a faint glow to his side. It wasn’t from a fire, but from a small magical light floating above a woman with red hair and pale white skin. Nathan could only see her back, and didn't recognize her.

A small bit of fear of this unknown person went across his mind, and he decided to stay very still. He took the moment to look at his Health from the medical monitor he could mentally bring up.

HEALTH: 89/250

“That’s not bad, I feel way closer to death though”

He chalked it up to his [Iron Skin] skill and decent health regeneration. That was until he looked down and saw several bandages covering him. Next to his left leg were two empty glass vials.

Nathan started to heal himself, realizing he only had around half of his mana pool left. “I couldn’t have been out very long then. No more than an hour or two”

He only used enough mana to bring himself back over 100 Health, thinking that was a safe number. The glow of his hands lit the area around him and he winced in regret.

The woman turned her head, and Nathan’s eyes widened in shock. The woman's face looked normal except she had no mouth. She had the jaw and a place for a mouth, but it was just bare skin there.

She held up her glov covered hands to show she meant no harm. She pointed to herself and then at Nathan. She then had both her hands interlock fingers.

Nathan didn’t move as his mind started to think. “Glove covered hands?”

“Thu?” Nathan asked carefully.

Thu nodded and gave two thumbs up. She walked over and sat next to Nathan. He didn’t move, but was still wary of the fact this might not be Thu.

“How do I know it’s really you?” Nathan asked.

Thu pulled out the mask she normally wore and put it over her face. Then she took it off and gestured to his bandages.

“Alright, fair enough. If you weren't Thu then you wouldn't just save my life. Everyone else there would have tried to kill me.”

Thu’s face relaxed and she put the mask away. She pulled out a notebook and scribbled down on it.

“Not going to lie, I am surprised you didn’t die. I lost almost all my Health, how the fuck did you live?”

Nathan shrugged. “I have [Iron Skin] along with [Troll Blood]. Before we sunk down, I healed myself all the way back to full. Add in a bit of luck to that, and that’s probably what did it. Thanks for bandaging me up, I imagine I was bleeding out pretty badly huh?”

Thu nodded deeply and started to write. “If I woken up just two minutes later, you would have bled out. Be thankful to those skills, they for sure saved your life.”

Nathan closed his eyes. “So, are we stuck down here?”

Thu poked Nathan with her notebook, annoyed he closed his eyes and couldn’t read his response. “For now, I need to rest for a day and we can get out of here. Also, don’t close your eyes. I can’t communicate if you do.”

“Fair enough. So why no mouth? You look human to me.”

Thu seemed to think for a moment and wrote down. “A story for another day. And yes, I am a ‘Human’. Don’t tell the others about my mouth or anything about me please. I am putting a lot of trust in you right now.”

She glared daggers at Nathan when he looked back at her after reading. “Your secrets are safe with me. I am a Doctor. Plenty of secrets, both illegal and immoral I had to keep about my patients. A missing mouth and being a girl are actually very light in comparison.”

If Thu had a mouth, Nathan imagined she would have smiled based on how the rest of her face moved. She pulled out some travel food and handed it to him. Nathan didn’t need a note to know he needed to eat and regain his energy.

“Thanks. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your plan out of here?”

She started to scribble. “Guild Secret. Just trust me. However, if you tell me your secrets, I can tell you some of mine. The Librarians Guild has a few loopholes like that.”

Nathan waved a hand. “Some of my secrets I like to keep thank you. But if it’s skills, I don’t have much to keep hidden. A few healing spells, the two I mentioned and some from the [First Aid] skill tree.”

Thu wrote down a response. “All I can say is I have a large list of skills for my Level. I need to get all of my Energy and Mana back then I can start digging us out of here. I have a skill that lets me detect open areas. There is another empty space Thirty Two Meters away from us. I am hoping that is our way out.”

Nathan was going to ask how she planned on digging through thirty meters of stone, but decided not to ask. “Well, if you need any help I am more than willing to.”

“Thanks. Sadly we have no picks, so unless you have a skill to help, or are really good with that spear secretly, then I don’t think you can help.”

Nathan felt disappointed he couldn’t help. He then noticed a blinking light in the corner of his vision. “Alrighty, well I am going to rest up. If you hurt yourself, let me know.”

Thu nodded and went back to her side of the small cave they are in. Nathan took a moment to look around. It was only big enough for probably six or seven people. The worry about air crossed Nathan's mind.

“Thu, we need to think about Oxygen. If we take too long to get out, we could suffocate.”

She raised an eyebrow and started to write down. She took a bit longer than usual.

“I was thinking the same thing. I will start digging in about an hour. My guess is we have a day’s worth of aid left, maybe less I have no clue how long I was knocked out for.”

“How do you know about Oxygen? Do you have the [Aeromancy] Skill? Or perhaps [Atmomancy]? Most people don’t realize how air works, or even about Oxygen.”

Nathan pursed his lips. “I read books.” It wasn’t a lie. He read books that told him about Oxygen before. He didn’t trust Thu enough to share his true home. Only El and her family, and he slightly regretted telling them after the fact.

She narrowed her eyes but didn't ask or write any more questions. Nathan took the silence as his chance to check his notifications.

Combat Summary

Bandits Killed: 1

Participation - 22%

Experience Gained: 508

Invigoration Ray -> 3/10

Iron Skin -> 4/10

Troll Blood -> 4/10

Spear Mastery -> 5/10

Cardio -> 4/∞

Battle Mind - 2/10

Nathan stared at that first line for several minutes. The System says he killed a Bandit, even though he never wanted to. “Which one was it? The one I stabbed?”

He promised he wouldn’t die if he did what Nathan told him. Feeling an emptiness grow inside of him, Nathan closed the screen, and closed his eyes.