Chương 15: [b1] 015 - On the brink of death

3. 3-015 - On the brink of death"Where are we going to go? We can't just take her to the infirmary!" Fermi said. They just passed through of the charred forest and into the lush, green one. They needed a plan before they got to the village.

"I don't know! Laura said she'd meet us at the edge of the forest with help." Silo said.

"And if she doesn't? She can't stay unconscious for too long or—""I know, Fermi. What do you want me to do about that?" Fermi didn't know. She just wanted to save her friend. She could see the edge of the forest through the trees, the orchard waiting for them on the other side. Schedules and work shifts bloomed in her mind as she tried to figure out who would be in the orchard at this time. Then a voice seemed to echo through the trees.

Silo slowed his pace and set Grace down on the forest floor just as three people ran toward them. Fermi braced for a confrontation, then realized it was Burke, Laura, and someone she couldn't name. He knelt down next to Grace and pulled out a wand. Fermi thought it was an interesting choice of instrument for a healer—most used staffs.

"Can you help her? We didn't think—" He held up his hand for quiet and Fermi did her best to quell her rushing thoughts. Silo took her hand and squeezed, which helped a little. The healer's brows knitted as he concentrated. He slumped forward, groaning as a beam of sluggish energy flowed from him and into Grace. Her health bar steadily rose, but the Unconscious debuff didn't fade.

"Her debuff—" Fermi started, but then Burke handed the man a vial. Fermi's eyes went wide as she watched the man pour it down her throat. The village didn't have many potions left. How were they going to explain where it went? Questions fought for their chance to be asked and she pushed them all down. Grace's Unconscious debuff faded, her eyes and limbs twitching. She sat bolt upright and coughed several times, blood coming up with the final cough and her health dropping by half.

The healer worked his magic again, channeling more of what was supposed to be healing energy into her. Grace groaned, wincing in pain. Was healing supposed to hurt? It never hurt Fermi.

"What—where am I?"

"We had to get you out of the dungeon. You got hurt but you're going to be fine, right Raz?" Laura asked, a fierce look in her eyes directed at the healer Burke had brought.

"Come on, we can't stay here. We can talk back at the base," Burke said. Fermi helped Grace to her feet, taking her hand as she took several delicate steps forward. The base turned out to be Burke's house, deep in Guardian territory. The man who'd healed Grace left them once they reached the village and no one bothered explaining who he was, despite Fermi's questions.

They were sat around a small table, Grace resting her head on the table and Fermi rubbing her back while Laura paced back and forth and Silo and Burke sat in chairs across from each other.

"Laura gave me a brief explanation of what happened—you tried to fight a boss. Can someone go into more detail?" Burke said. Fermi wasn't sure she could; she was still so upset by what had happened. She looked to Silo who hadn't said a word yet and was worried that given the opportunity, he would say something inflammatory. She knew she wasn't doing a good job of separating her feelings right now, but he was even worse. Thankfully, Laura stepped up.

She walked through the changes to the dungeon with the puzzle and how it unlocked the boss room, briefly looking to Silo for an explanation of the puzzle when Burke asked. To Fermi's surprise, Silo kept calm and just explained the mechanics. She did notice however, that he refused to look at Grace, like it would unravel him if he dared to. Then Burke went and asked a question no one wanted to answer.

"Interesting. What was the boss like?" He seemed entirely too calm for this conversation, or maybe Fermi was just too strung out emotionally for it. Laura looked to Grace and winced, perhaps involuntarily.

"Chaos. Just… chaos." Burke waited a beat for her to go on, but when she didn't he prompted again.

"I need more than that, Guardian. I need actionable info. What did it look like, how much health did it have, how did it fight?" Laura flexed her fingers and worked her jaw side to side.

"It was a demonic. I don't have another way to describe it. It was impossible to damage."

"Well that's not true," Silo said.

"Fermi had done something to it. The announcement board said it was vulnerable at one point, right?" All eyes turned to Fermi. She swallowed hard, trying to remember the exact sequence of events.

"There were these rectangles inside glass cases. I got one and tapped it to the panel in front of the boss."

"I'm having a hard time following this, hold on." Burke got up and went to a small desk in the corner of the room. He came back with a piece of parchment and a quill.

"Draw the scene for me." Silo shrugged and took them from him. Fermi watched Laura as the group went into more and more detail about the fight. Despite her usual calm demeanor, she seemed to grow more agitated with every explanation. Finally, she broke.

"Why does it matter? We can't beat something like that. It was level five and nearly killed Grace with a single hit!" Burke responded in a calm and level tempo.

"I recognize that, but we need all the information we can get for when we go back. I know it's hard, but we need to do this while your minds are still fresh with the fight."

"Go back? I—we should wait. See if the dungeon changes the boss. Maybe if we don't go back for like a week it'll make it easier."

"We can't do that, Laura." Burke leveled a pained expression on her.

"I know it's hard. But this needs to happen."

"It's chaos. There isn't anything to be done. We're too low level." Fermi bit her tongue. The fight had been chaotic, but the more she sat with it the more she saw the order. Burke sighed, "we can fix that, I haven't distributed all the loot yet. We can get your group a few extra levels, maybe a few new abilities—""What don't you get? Grace almost died! How are we going to explain that? How are you going to explain where that potion went? Or why Raz is low on his lifeblood?"

Burke pressed his lips thin, clearly frustrated but trying not to be.

"I understand you're upset about your friend, Laura. But we're Guardians. This is what we have been training for."

"Oh gryphon shit. We trained to hunt, not to delve. We were never going to have a dungeon in our lifetimes and we all know it. This—I don't think I can do this." Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Fermi caught the glisten of fresh tears rolling down Laura's cheek as she turned away from the group around the table. Then, for the first time since she awoke, Grace spoke. Her voice was scratchy and deep, like she hadn't used it in weeks.

Or maybe it was from all the screaming during the dungeon, Fermi wasn't sure.

"Laura… Don't do this. We can beat this boss. We need to." Laura wiped at her face then turned, dropping into a crouch beside Grace.

"I can't. I—you almost died."

"But I didn't," Grace said. Laura scoffed and went to speak but Grace—with much effort—took her hand, silencing her.

"If it wanted to, it could have killed me. Finished me off."

"She's right," Silo said. He ground his teeth, a sour look on his face.

"There have been a few times now, where I thought—I don't know. It seemed like the dungeon was pulling its punches when things got dangerous."

"But—" Laura interrupted, but Silo spoke over her.

"When we were retreating, it didn't try to slow us. Or apply another burn on the way out. Why? I was swinging my sword, which as far as I can tell is basically useless against the arms, and it didn't once try and actually hit me. They just waved around in the air in front of me. It let us leave." Laura was quiet, but Fermi could see the thoughts churning in her mind. She'd noticed it too, they all had. Burke cleared his throat, drawing the focus of the group.

"We noticed something similar in our run. I had thought it was just a mistake by the dungeon, it's young and inexperienced. But now with this stronger piece of evidence, I'm not so sure."

"Why would a dungeon let us live? That goes against everything the Elders have ever said about them," Laura said.

"You yourself have said that this dungeon doesn't line up with the Elder's knowledge," Silo said, then raised his hands as Laura shot a glare his way. Grace coughed, and Fermi jumped up from her seat and started searching for a glass.

"Second cabinet to your right," Burke said. Fermi brought the glass to Grace who gladly accepted it. In the silence and with Grace seeming to be recovering, Fermi's strength came to her.

"The fight isn't pure chaos. It's chaotic, but I think that's because we're missing something." Burke looked at her with deep concentration. Fermi swallowed hard, then tried to put words to the sense she'd gotten during the fight.

"The wall panel locations are random, but the monsters they spawn aren't, at least from our two attempts. The pylons seem to be consistent in location too." She reached for the quill and sketched them down on the parchment.

"They are the key. I don't understand how they work, but once I pressed the rectangle to the panel in front of the boss, it became vulnerable. When it got one, 'stage two' started. I don't know what that entails entirely, but a Rock 'Em spawned after that." The group jumped at the sound of someone knocking at the door. Burke put a hand out, palm down, signaling them to calm.

"It's just Ash." He got up and answered the door. Ash, who Fermi had met a few times at the meadery walked in and said, "well, didn't say you were having a party." Burke rolled his eyes.

"A debrief, more like." Ash clocked Grace's state immediately.

"Oh shit, I'm guessing your dungeon run didn't go smoothly?"

"You could say that," Grace said in her croaky voice.

"Anything I should know about?"

"Yes, quite a bit actually, but I'll catch you and the rest of the group up before our run." Burke said.

"Do you have the item?" Ash raised a single brow and cocked his head, then seemed to understand and pulled something out of his inventory. Fermi's System wouldn't let her identify it, but she saw the glint of glass and a dark red liquid—the same as the one the healer had given Grace.

"Good. Were there any questions from the old man?"

"Nah, couldn't have cared less," Ash said. Burke thanked him then led him outside. He stepped out with Ash and closed the door behind himself.

"What do you think that's all about?" Silo asked.

"Nothing good," Laura said, her voice small and defeated.

"You aren't seriously considering quitting, are you?" Fermi blurted out. Laura bit her lip and wouldn't meet Fermi or Grace's eyes.

"I don't know. I know this is what Guardians do. But we haven't been trained for it. We've had a single Guardian death in the last fifteen years. It's been safe." Fermi felt anger rising up and sat back in her chair, taking a deep breath. She was surprised by her reaction, but even more surprised by Laura's words. Before she could speak, however, Grace leaned forward and took Laura's hand. She pulled her close and sat up, reaching with her horn.

The two women tapped horns, a gesture that could mean many things, but in this case was a display of deep admiration.

"I know it's terrifying. But we need this. We got four System coins from that run. Think of the food that could buy. And if we take down that boss? Imagine the loot. Imagine what that could do for the village."

"But he hasn't given out any of the loot yet. We don't know what he's going to do with it," Laura said. Just then Burke entered the house again. He paused, eyeing Grace and Laura.

"Am I interrupting or…?" The two rolled their eyes at him.

"No. But I do want to know what you're doing with the rewards. We need upgrades if we're going back," Grace said.

"And I want a guarantee that you're going to use the loot to feed the village," Silo said. Fermi looked at him, fire in his eyes. She realized he'd been surprisingly quiet this entire time. But now that the question of loot had come up, his usual fire had returned. Burke met Silo's stare with a hard one of his own.

"I'll distribute loot in the way that best helps everyone. If that means food for the village, then so be it. But right now—""No. I want transparency. Otherwise I'm keeping my coins and using them how I see fit." Fermi wanted to get up and put a comforting hand on Silo, but doing that would just escalate things. Laura was already on her feet and moved to Silo, but that only seemed to embolden him.

"We're out here risking our lives, we deserve to know it's actually for the reason we agreed to it." Burke's jaw flexed, eyes not leaving Silo.

"We are working on replenishing the food stocks for winter, but it's a delicate process. We can't just dump a months worth of food in the stores without it being noticed."

"Then set some coins aside. Allocate them but don't spend them. This isn't that hard."

"What do you think I'm doing? Believe it or not, I do know what I'm doing," Burke said, his voice taking on a hint of anger. It seemed he had decided the matter settled, because he stood and gathered the parchment.

"I need to leave, but you're more than welcome to stay here and keep recovering with Grace. I'm sorry you had a close call in the dungeon, I know those moments are hard. But we're doing the right thing. We're going to save the village." With his hand on the door handle he stopped, letting out a deep sigh and turned, facing the group.

"How many System Coins and Experience Chips did you get this run?"

"Why? Worried we'll spend them?" Silo said. Maybe it was the way the light hit him in that moment, but Fermi could see just how tired Burke was.

"I want you all more prepared next time. For the record, I haven't had anyone spend any yet. Not a single one. But I want each of you to spend a System Coin on a boon. I also want Fermi and Silo to level up once, so use as many Experience Chips as that takes. Just let me know the total spent." Fermi's jaw hung open for a brief moment before she slammed it shut, timed perfectly with the door slamming behind Burke as he left.

Silo grinned ear to ear as he pulled out a handful of Experience Chips and four System Coins, passing them out to the group. As Fermi held the stack of chips and the coin in her hand, her heart pounded. She'd never thought she'd get to use a System Coin for herself. They were such a rarity they had been reserved for the Elders and the crafters. Grace coughed, groaning and setting her head back on the table.

"Is she supposed to be like this?" Silo asked Laura, leaning in closer to Grace.

"It's a side effect of lifeblood healing, plus that bloody potion they gave her."

"What do you mean?" Silo asked.

"The potion does cure Unconscious, but it was only rank one which leaves her weak for twelve hours. Plus, the lifeblood healing—I don't really understand it. But there's a reason Raz isn't used for house calls."

"Did Burke say he hadn't spent a single coin?" Fermi asked. The group looked at her like she was confused, but she was thinking clearer than ever.

"Yes, why? He seemed like he had a plan," Laura said, trying to stave off a rant from Silo.

"Then… where did Ash get the replacement potion?"

"I don't know. I know we only have a handful of them left. Atlas always harps on it whenever we got on a dangerous hunt. If you're knocked unconscious, there's a chance you're not coming back," Laura said. Silo held his System Coin in his hand, a burst of radiant light surrounded him as he consumed it.

"Who wants to help me pick my upgrade?" The group seemed to move on from her question, but Fermi couldn't. There was something about that potion. Why couldn't she Identify it? And they wouldn't have gone to Atlas for it obviously, so who was the old man they got it from? An excited gasp from Laura pulled Fermi from her thoughts to her own coin. There would be time to figure out that mystery later. Now it was time for an upgrade.