A/N:
Hey there. Sorry if you felt as if the chapter was rushed. I had to finish this chapter in a bit of a hurry as exams are approaching. It would be a few weeks before I would be able to find the time to write the next chapter so I would like to apologise firsthand. It would be a while before you would hear from me.

Thank you for understanding and happy readings.

___

I grumble as I trudge my way back to the surface, blood dripping down my thigh, leaving a trail of ruby red drops behind me. Even though I am using every bit of my reserved energy to carry Lili, progress is cumbersome. With a thick swath of stained bandages strapped to my left thigh and an unconscious Lili in my arms, I still have a long way to the surface.

By Zeus' beard, my back aches.

Tired, I look back to see that the chamber where Bell and the Minotaur are fighting have been swallowed by the ever creeping darkness of the Dungeon. I don't hear the fighting anymore. How... far did I go? I don't know, but it's not enough. 

I need to get help. Bell's life depends on this.

A sudden pain shoots from my left thigh. Grunting, I look down only to see that the wound has opened up. All that heavy lifting has made my wounds even worse. What was once ripping now has become a leak, a trail of blood now glinting under the shine of the Dungeon's crystals.

Putting Lili down, I quickly got out some thread and tie it tightly around my wound as the numbness begins to work its way up my knees. It's no proper tourniquet, but the pressure applied by the rope should ease the bleeding for now. As for the pain, well, I just have to bear with it I guess. I proceed to replace the bandage with a cleaner, less bloodier one.

"Ugh... W-wha..." I hear Lili mumble as she sits up groggily. "Where are we? W-where's Bell?"

"Lili, don't move so much." I rush to her side. "You're injured. You need medical help."

Her eyes, then foggy, go wide with terror, as she the events that transpired begin to flood back into memory.

"T-th... that minotaur came out of nowhere..." Lili mutters. "We were just walking..."

"We were ambushed, and you got caught by some shrapnel that knocked you out." I quickly check up on Lili's wounds, replacing the now blood-soaked bandages from her forehead. "We're getting medical help, so stay tight, okay?"

Yet Lili seemed to disregard the words that had poured forth from my mouth. She looks around frantically, panting heavily before gripping my shirt collar hard. I could feel the fabric around my throat tightening.

"Marcus..." She mutters as tears begin to form in her eyes. "Where's Bell?"

"Lili, Bell's-"

"Where is he?!" She asks angrily with tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks, ignoring the fact that she has a graze wound on her head and she was knocked out for the past half an hour.

"He's fighting the Minotaur buying us time."

"NO!" Lili lunges in the direction from where we came from. "WE NEED TO HELP BELL!"

I grab her arm in the nick of time and pull her back. "No, Lili. Those were his orders. Get help, get reinforcements."

"B-b-but Bell... He... He'll die..."

"Don't say that. We don't know that. He could be holding up fine. He's a strong kid."

"NO!" Lili cries as the anger in her rises. "This is what I was talking about! Bell's a rookie! A newbie! The Dungeon will kill him!"

"Lili, please..."

"You all keep feeding him praises and adoration, and now that he's full of himself he's gone off and took on something beyond his abilities!" Lili points at me furiously. "You, Goddess Hestia, that stinking Wallenstein, you all killed him! Your assurances killed him! Why didn't you stop him, WHY?!"

"Lili, I did, I tried my best but..., argh!" I try to explain, but a sharp pain in my thighs cuts me off, causing me to wince in agony.

"Y-you're hurt." Lili mutters through tears.

"Look Lili, there's no time to explain, but we need to hurry to the surface." I grunt through gritted teeth. "We need to get help, send for reinforcements, then we can safely bring Bell back."

Lili, falling despondent, collapses to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. "I don't want Bell to die. We have to go back..."

As the wave of pain finally washes over my body, I excruciatingly place a hand on her shoulder.

"Look. Bell sacrificed himself to delay the Minotaur. We have our orders, and the longer we stay here the worse off Bell's chances will be."

My words fell on deaf ears as she sullenly staring off into distance.

"Lili, we need to bring help if we want Bell to live. We need to leave now."

Blinking through her tears, finally responds and nods in agreement.

"Alright then. We have to push on." I say as I push myself onto my feet and dust off Lili's coat. "Can you walk?"

"I-I think I can..." She says as she struggles to stand up, before falling to the ground with a yelp. "N-no, I must have sprained an ankle or something."

I sigh deeply. At this rate, we won't be reaching the surface anything soon.

"Then we have no choice." I say as I got down on my knees in front of Lili. "Grab onto my back."

"Wh-What? You're going to carry me?" Lili asks astonished. "But your leg's injured..."

"Does it look like we have a choice? I can handle it." I say as Lili reaches for my back. "Besides, you're small and light. Easy for someone like me."

Between her sobs, Lili forces a grin and pouts. "Don't call me small."

Just as we were about to leave, a howl echoes from the distance, enshrouded by the darkness of the Dungeon.

"Wh-where did that come from?" Lili mutters nervously, as her hands tighten around my shoulders.

"Blood. They must have smelt the carnage. They're coming to finish off what remains." I grumble, staring at my still bleeding leg. "Damn it all, we don't have the time for this."

"I might have something for this. Here." Lili quickly reaches into her bagpack, pulling out a small pockets. "Sulphur, the poor man's repellant."

"Why do you have these?" I sift my hand through the sulphur, its lemon yellow powder easily filling my palm.

"It's a good deterrent for smaller monsters, so I always have some on me." Lili mutters. "Use it to cover our tracks, and hopefully whatever after us lose our scent.

Interesting, maybe I should carry some sulphur when I come back to the Dungeon.

Quickly I make my way up the Dungeon, scattering sulphur behind me every so often.

Hopefully this works.

A FEW FLOORS LATER...

The corridors of the Dungeon twist and turn endlessly, like a coiling snake forever slithering and crawling. Every cave and cavern looks the same, and the blood loss has given me a mighty headache. The floor blurs in and out of focus, as if it were liquid. But I push on. It's the only thing I can do.

"Lili, you holding on up there?" I ask, trying to distract myself from my aching body.

"..."

Silence.

Maybe I didn't say it loud enough. Or is she thinking about other things?

"It sure is quiet down here, right Lili?" I say once more, raising my tone slightly higher.

"..."

"Lili? Are you alright?" I say worryingly as I look back to find Lili has gotten pale. Ghostly pale.

Bloody stars.

I quickly place Lili down onto the Dungeon floor. Her skin has gone pale and her lips have turned a strange shade of blue. Shit, shit, shit. I'm no doctor nor a healer. But I must do what I can do.

I begin by placing two fingers on her cold wrists to check her pulse. Hmm... it's so weak that I'm barely feeling it. That's a bad sign. Then, I notice her fingernails. They're turning into a shade of darkblue, similar to her lips. I bend down closer to try to hear her heartbeat, but I observed that her chest is rising and falling rapidly in an unnatural way.

Unconscious, pale skin, blue lips and fingernails and unnatural, rapid breathing? This could only mean...

Internal bleeding.

I swallow hard as the thought came to mind. Internal bleeding is very hard to treat, and can only be done with magic heals. Ordinary bandages or medicines won't help, as the bleeding is occurring within the body. I grit my teeth. There's nothing I can do to remedy her condition since I don't know any magic healing spells. But there's one thing I can do.

Without any hesitation, I pick up Lili, and break into a mad dash to the surface, ignoring the pain erupting through my leg.

I can't let her die.

Halfway through the floor, I begin to tire out. I stopped for a while to catch my breath. Then I hear the sounds I dreaded most, especially at this time of urgency.

CRACK! CRICK! CRACK!

Bodies of Kobolds begin to emerge and pull themselves out from a corridor branching out from the main cavern, their paws pitter-pattering on the Dungeon's rocky floor as they make their approach. 

Damn it all, I was so worried about Lili that I forgot about covering our tracks.

A total of five of them. Each bearing sharp dagger-like teeth and claws. Usually, such low numbers can be dealt easily by me. But without my rapier...

Laying Lili on the ground behind me, I draw my dagger from my arm protector and prepare to fight. The Kobolds march forward, eager to get the deed done. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I raise the dagger towards them.

"Alright, one of you will make a nice fur rug back at my place. Who will it be this time?"

The Kobolds snarl and move in. I duck under the first one and slash at its arm, forcing it back. The others look at me warily. Apparently, not every injured and beaten fellow that passes by in the Dungeon is easy prey.

I'm not the prey. No, I am the hunter.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a flash of movement, I turn around to come face to face with a Kobold's baring teeth. I slash at its chest, before turning around and stabbing it once more at the back of the neck. The Kobolds drop down whimpering, before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Another one attempts to attack me from the back, but I dodge to the side and grip my dagger tightly. Just as I was about to stab it, another one bites into the wound of my leg.

With a yelp, I collapse to the ground as the Kobold rips open my bandages, blood beginning to gush out from my wound. Scenting blood, the other Kobolds move in, ready for a meal.

"Stay back!" I tell us I struggle to get up and place myself into a defensive stance. I need to push on. This isn't the time to give up yet. Breathing heavily, I grit my teeth.

The Kobolds eye me observably. My wound has reopened, but I can't lose here. I have to get help. Or Bell would die. I need to get help...

With a hideous snarl, the Kobolds charge.

I try to jab at the charging one, but it swiftly ducks under my attack and leaps beside me. It then continues its way towards...

Lili.

Shit! I quickly try to catch up with the Kobold but the other Kobolds pounced on me as my back was turned to the first one. As the Kobold pinned me down, I could only watch as the first Kobold makes its way to the defenceless Lili. Baring its teeth, it prepares to bite.

"NO!!!" I yelled helplessly.

Suddenly, as swift as the wind, I glance a flash of golden hair as a figure stabs the multiple Kobold on top of me. The figure then proceeds to dash forward, cutting the other beast in half just as it was about to bite down on Lili's neck.

Yes! Rescue!

As I begin to calm down, I sat up and take a good look at my rescuer. Blonde hair, soft skin and a monotonous face.

It's... Ais Wallenstein!

"Are you okay?" She asks calmly as she sheathes her sword.

"Yeah... But Lili..."

"Hey Ais!" A voice calls out as a group of people emerge from the other end of the corridor. "Wait up!"

Ais approaches me as she tries to inspect my wound. She then turns to the group that just arrived.

"Riveria. He has a big wound on his left thigh. Do you think you can heal it?" She asks.

Riveria? Wait, does that mean...

I look behind me to find the Loki Familia. With Riveria, Lefiya, Tiona, Tione, *cough* asshole *cough* Bete, and their leader Finn. Gareth, strangely, wasn't present.

"I'll see what I can do." Riveria says as she approaches me quickly. I shake my head reluctantly.

"No, treat her first." I point to the limp body of Lili, still lying there on the rough rocky ground. "Please, she's got not much time left."

"Alright then." She hastily makes her way to Lili and begins to treat her. The two Amazonesses, Tiona and Tione, approach me with bandages.

"Wow, that sure is a deep wound." Tiona mutters as she wraps the bandage around my thigh.

"Whatever did this must be strong." Tione adds.

"Alright, I managed to stabilise her." Riveria says as a soft green glow emits from her hands onto Lili's head injury. "I stopped the bleeding and sealed the wound. She should do just fine."

"Alright, hold still." Tione warns as she ties the bandage up. "This is going to hurt a bit." She says as she pulls the bandage tightly.

I flinch at the piercing pain, but luckily it dies out quickly. I stand up, slowly.

"You alright?" Finn asks me.

"Shaken and a bit numb, but I'm fine."

"Yeah, but I guess Mr I'm-Fine can't handle a few Kobolds." Bete chimes in with an annoyed tone. "Probably shouldn't even be down here in the first place."

"It's not the Kobolds that did this." I reply angrily. "It was something else. Some dmon... thing, an abomination."

"Hmm? Demon thing?" Tiona asks.

"A Minotaur. But not any ordinary Minotaur. It a real monster.  Red and bigger than the usual Minotaur, and it had a great big sword as a weapon."

The Loki Familia throw worried glances at each other.

"Just like the others." Tione mumbled.

Others? There were others attacked?

Coughing, Finn proceeds to ask another question.

"Where were you attacked?"

"I... No, we were attacked at the Ninth floor, close to the staircase. And... "

"What is it? Speak up!" Bete shouts angrily.

"Bell! He's fighting it now as we speak!" I shout agitatedly. I was so busy tending to my wounds that I nearly forgotten about him.

At the mere mention of Bell, Ais's eyes grow wide and she blinked hard.

"Bell? Bell... is fighting the Minotaur?"

"Yes. He'll be killed if you don't help him." I say grimly.

Without another word, Ais dashes forward, leaving the rest of her team behind.

"Hey, wait up!" Tione shouts before racing after her.

"Huh. Another weak adventurer Ais has to help. Typical." Bete grumbles as he spits on the ground. "I can't stand weak adventurers."

As Bete continues to say every mean thing about Bell, my hands tremble. Not with fear, but with anger. I had it enough. Enough with Bete's trashy talk. Enough with Bete's trashy personality. In fact, I'm starting to believe the fact that Bete is trash.

"In my opinion, weak adventurers shouldn't be adventurers at all." Bete laughs.  "They should just go back to their homes and do nothing, cause it will only get them killed."

"Maybe if you stop shit talking everyone you'd gain some respect among us adventurers." I roar back, taking everyone, especially Bete, by surprise. He looks at me with surprised eyes.

"What did you just say, punk?"

"You're no adventurer, you just some Godforsaken bully. My life was infinitely better if I had never met you."

Bete's eyes narrow. He growls, exposing sharp teeth as he lurches for my collar.

"Listen here. We rescued you. So show some damn gratitude and shut the fuck up, okay? Or we would've left you and your little friend here to rot." Bete growls with murderous intent, only to stop when Finn coughs.

"Enough Bete." Finn advises angrily. "Lives are at stake. Let's not joke around here."

Bete grumbles, turning his back on me to kick some stones scattered on the floor.

Sighing, I make my way to Riveria, whom is busy tending to Lili.

"Will she be okay?" I ask.

"She's passed the critical point. She'll be safe, in time." Riveria says as she wraps a clean bandage around Lili's head. "Did... did you carry her all the way from the ninth floor? Even with that wound on your leg?"

"Y-yeah. What's wrong?"

"Why?" She asks curiously.

"Why? Why what?"

"Why strain yourself carrying her? You could have hidden her and made it back up faster."

"I..." I mumbled as I try find the words. "I guess...  I didn't want to take chances. I didn't want her to die."

Riveria nods somberly. "She's lucky to have a partner like you."

She then notices the wound on my leg.

"Hmm... Hold still Marcus. I'll heal this properly in a moment."

Before I could react, Riveria begins to softly chant another healing spell, a soft green glow radiating form her arms and pouring into my wound. Like an illusion, the wound begins to seal up and stops bleeding.

Getting up, Riveria dusted herself before turning to me once more. "I would keep the bandage on. It would speed up the healing process."

"Thank you, Miss Riveria." I said as I bow to her. "Thank you for your help."

"It was the logical thing to do." Riveria waves me off. "Anyone in my position would do the same. Now about your other member..."

"Right then. Let's put aside our differences for the time being, there is a life at risk." Finn cuts in as he glances at the both me and Bete. "Let's catch up with Ais and Tione. We can only hope that we aren't too late to save Bell."  

Gently lifting Lili into my arms, I steel my nerves and loosen my shoulders.

We're coming Bell. 

Hold on.

(CHAPTER 26: END)

Published On:

1 September 2018