Part Thirty-Eight

Kalia had been completely silent ever since our talk. I know I could’ve handled that much better than I had, but it was a touchy subject for me. I had several reasons for it, so what I’d said wasn’t a lie, but they were highly personal. I didn’t want to tell someone I’d only known for a few days. And it wasn’t just that that was bothering me.

The vial still weighed heavily on my mind, especially after what just happened. I was certain that Mark wouldn’t have died if we hadn’t gotten attacked by all those monsters. Meaning that whoever was responsible for it had committed at least one murder, if not more.

We’re sitting on a powder keg and it’s ready to explode. I just want to avoid getting caught up in it, but that’s probably a lost cause. I doubt it was coincidence that the vial was in one of my bags. They were definitely trying to get me killed. And once they’ve realized they failed, they’re sure to try something else. And because I have no clue as to who did it, I have no way to prevent another disaster.

I just hope nothing happened to Alicia or Cameron. There’s a high likelihood that the other Missions were compromised if someone tried to sabotage us. Worst-case scenario, they’re on their own in the forest too. Though I believe they’d be able to survive on their own, so long as a C-Rank doesn’t show up. They might be able to fight one off, but killing it is probably beyond them at the moment.

No matter how vigilant I was, odds were that something would happen where I couldn’t stop it. Though if they came for me or my companions, I’d make sure it was the last thing they ever did.

***

“We, we made it!? I-I can't believe it!”

The sight of the fort was extremely gratifying. Surviving by ourselves hadn’t been easy, especially since we’d been lost for quite some time

It was rough at times, but we got back without any further incidents. Though we never did find any trace of the others. I’m still worried about the monster that attacked them. Kalia didn’t have time to Analyze it, so she doesn’t know what it was. Hopefully one of the others will.

*Ka-kunk*

::Dungeon Scenario Update:

Remaining Challengers: 916.

Mid-bosses remaining: 3 of 3.

Monster Army Remaining: 84.29%

Time until escape is possible: 3 Days 20 Hours 52 Minutes.

The Dungeon Boss will arrive one day after all Mid-bosses and 90% of the Monster Army are killed.::

The System’s sudden announcement was as jarring as ever, as it caused both me and Kalia to stop dead in our tracks. There was plenty to go over from it, but the biggest shock was the number of mercenaries. Yesterday, there’d been almost a thousand in the Dungeon. Now, it was closer to nine hundred. I didn’t have the previous number memorized, but I figured it was a drop of over fifty people.

That’s not good. Even figuring in the casualties from last night, that still means quite the number of people lost their lives today. And a good portion of them were probably on the mission with us. Damn it! This isn’t good. There’s been more and more casualties every day. We’ll all die at this rate.

This just reaffirmed my decision to keep Kalia alive. In a Dungeon as dangerous as this one, a healer was almost essential. Clearing it without one would be a challenge. And so I glanced back at her, just to see how she was doing.

Oh boy.

Her face had gone completely pale and there were tears in her eyes. She was most likely reacting to the same thing I’d noticed. The number of casualties. I already knew she was a fairly emphatic person. I figured her manifestation of Healing Magic was a result of that. She wanted to keep as many people alive as possible. Though if that’s true, what does me having Grudge Magic mean?

In contrast, I wasn’t that concerned with the deaths of others. At most I’d mourn the loss of another fighter and begrudge someone’s untimely death, but I wouldn’t be overly fixated on it. It would be different if it was someone I knew though.

So while I was merely shocked over the drop in our combat potential, it was emotionally devastating to Kalia. She bonded with people far faster than I did, so it was even worse for her, as she knew everyone who’d died. I knew I’d have the same reaction if it was Alicia or Cameron. Or anyone else I liked for that matter.

“Kalia, snap out of it. This isn’t the time to panic. There’s a chance that the others are already at the fort and need help. The faster we get there, the less people that could die.”

My hunch was that the others had returned to the fort, which was why the announcement had been made. If the majority of all three groups returned, or if they were exterminated, well that would certainly mark an end to the assignments. Which meant that they probably thought we were dead.

And since Kalia was our best healer, it was paramount that she return to the fort as quickly as possible. While some of the NPC mages could use Healing Magic, it was only a small percentage and they were stuck to curing lesser wounds. Anyone who was severely injured was sure to die if Kalia wasn’t there.

“Hah!? You’re right! We need to get back right now!”

And off we went, the both of us sprinting towards the fort. Though keep in mind, this was a sprint of a distance equal to two football fields. We weren’t going to cover that distance quickly, unless…

Heheheh, I’ve been wanting to try this out since last night. I’ll just grab Kalia and get started.

“Eh, Michael!? W-what are you doing!?”

“Hold on tight, I’m not stopping even if you faint this time!”

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

The second she was secure, I activated Sonic Burst. Unlike before, when I was in an area with plenty of obstacles, there was nothing to impede my speed here, and I could run as fast as I wanted to. I’d already proven my speed before, but I was positive I broke more than a few records this time, as it took less than half a minute to make it to the fort. It might have even been faster than that, but that might just be hyperbole on my part.

Oof, that was fun. It’s too bad that I was going too fast to control, or that Skill would make me unstoppable. Imagine if I could run around enemies at that speed. Everything would be dead before they knew what hit them.

I could probably use Skanda to more easily control it and I’d certainly look into it, but this wasn’t the time to experiment. Maybe my urgency was unnecessary, but I wasn’t going to risk it. And I figured that this would cheer Kalia up after what happened in the forest.

“…………………………………………………………………......!!!!!!”

Or not. The silent scream she was emitting made her feelings on this crystal-clear, she hated moving at this speed. Huh, and here I’d thought that more people liked roller-coasters than disliked them. Guess not.

My impromptu bullet train service ended as abruptly as it started. I’d stopped before we got too close to the fort, as I didn’t want to be mistaken for a monster. That would’ve been a pain in the ass.

*chatter chatter chatter*

Even though I’d stopped, Kalia had yet to let go of me and instead was clinging even tighter than before. I admittedly didn’t mind all that much, for reasons better left unsaid, but we did need to go into the fort.

“Ehem, could you please let go of me? Please?”

“Ah, erm, sorry! I-I just didn’t expect you to run so fast or to grab me so suddenly. Um, we should probably go in, right?”

“Fair to say.”

Well at least she’s talking to me. It’s better than her being completely terrified of me.

***

Getting into the fort wasn’t all that hard. All we’d needed to do was to signal one of the guards at the gate and they would open it for us. How they knew we weren’t monsters was a bit of a mystery, but again, it’s a Dungeon. I mean, there are Doppelgangers. Who’s to say there aren’t any in here? Okay, I shouldn’t have thought of that, because now I’m paranoid. Great.

Inside the fortress, mercenaries and NPCs were running every which way. My hunch had turned out to be accurate, as we were the last to arrive. Hm, so where would the others be? I hate being late to the party like this. I never know what’s going on. Maybe Kalia would-. Uh, where’d she go? She was here a moment ago. So I’m on my own? Yay.

[Kalia’s POV]

Kalia had made for the infirmary almost the instant she was through the gate. While she felt bad for abandoning Michael, she figured he would understand that she wanted to help the injured as soon as possible.

And it was a good thing too, as the infirmary was packed full. Some of the injured were laid out on sheets on the ground because of how many there were. There simply hadn’t been enough beds. The NPCs were trying their best, but there were more than a few people with severe injuries.

“Braddock!”

“K-Kalia!? You’re okay!?”

“I am! I’m alrigh-. Oh God, what happened to you!?”

She’d spied the veteran laying in one of the beds and immediately ran over to him, but when he turned to face her, she was stunned by what she saw. The entire left side of his face and chest was covered in blood, and there were deep scratches visible on his cheek. Even worse though, was the bloody bandage covering his eye. She immediately knew that he’d been horrendously injured.

“Heh, don’t worry about it. I’m more than fine, especially since you’re here.”

“But, but I, I can’t heal something like that.”

It was the miserable truth. If the mages had bandaged it, then there was nothing that could be done. His eye was just too damaged to be healed. Even [Regenerate], her most powerful spell, couldn’t heal an organ that was injured to that degree. Michael had been lucky. His organs had only been slightly damaged, though the injuries had still been potentially fatal.

If she knew a more powerful spell, than she could’ve easily healed his injury. But alas, she did not. The thought that she’d let him down hurt, and caused tears to well up in her eyes.

“Don’t cry Kalia. I didn’t mean it like that. I simply meant that I’m relieved that you’re safe. We all thought we’d lost you.”

There was a round of agreement from the other members of their group present. They had all been worried about her safety, partially because she was their healer, but also because they genuinely liked her. She had the kind of personality that made it hard for people to dislike her. Add in her constant efforts to help everyone and she was actually the most popular in their group.

“Besides, the mages said that I’ll be fine. I might not be able to see out of one eye, but I’m not going to let that stop me!”

Of course, there was more that he left unsaid. Healing Magic wasn’t omnipotent. While the highest graded spells could heal just about anything short of death, the lower spells had strict restrictions on what they could do. And since the NPC mages weren’t specialized in it, their ability with Healing Magic was several degrees below Kalia’s. The best of them, the NPC in charge of the infirmary, could barely use [Heal], let alone the higher graded spells.

Anyway, that all meant that there weren’t enough healers for everyone. There were a few with life-threatening injuries that needed to be treated soon, either with magic or in a proper facility, both of which they lacked. Even if Kalia squeezed out every last drop of mana she had, she would only be able to save half of the injured, even with the NPCs' support. And if their injuries were left in an unhealed state, like Braddock’s, they would still be vulnerable to infection.

All of this went through Kalia’s mind as she struggled to find a way to save everyone.

There has to be something I can do! I know [Area Heal] might be beyond me normally, but maybe if I pool everyone’s mana I could do it? No, even if I did pull it off, it would only heal a few injuries. It wouldn’t solve this mess.

[Area Heal] unsurprisingly applied the effects of [Heal] to a specific area, the diameter of which varied based on the skill of the mage casting it. While the effects of [Heal] varied from mage to mage, Kalia’s current cast strength could heal most wounds, but it would only work on one for each cast. Meaning that [Area Heal] wouldn’t be enough.

No, I need something better than a single spell. [Regenerate] would be ideal, but there’s no way I could cast it on everyone and maintain it. There has to be-!

A stray thought had crossed her mind, sending her into a tizzy as she hurriedly pulled her Grimoire out and began to search through it. There was precisely one spell she could use to turn this situation around, but…

I need three things for it. An athame for engraving, a stone of sufficient size to engrave, and a catalyst. My staff should suffice for the last one and I think I can get the stone easy enough, but what about the athame?

Athames were a type of ceremonial Dagger, typically used as either a catalyst or for engraving. Each one was specialized for one particular type of Magic, so one of the NPCs should theoretically have one. But there was one other problem.

Even if I get everything else, do I have enough mana left to both carve the glyphs and cast the spell?

Engravings meant for Rituals had very specific requirements. They couldn’t be done with mundane tools. The athame would serve to actually do the carving, but it would need mana to allow it to do so. And it couldn’t just be any mana. It had to be from someone who’d Awakened.

There were all kinds of complex reasons for that, but the short of it was that the Unawakened had insufficient mana control. One of the NPCs could do it, but she needed the healers to keep the others stable and she didn’t have time to find one of the others.

Which left her with one possibility. She had to act quick. If she didn’t, there was no telling where he could wander off to.