Chương 82: 1-81 Restless

"Marik, that's really you, right?" Josef finally managed to approach the cat in what almost counted as a private setting, as far as they could get one in an open chamber. Dealing with the wounded was a quick affair, considering that most people who had made it this far could only do so by not getting hit at all. He was well aware of what would have become of anyone caught by those parasites.

Needless to say, all of these adventurers were deeply suspicious of him, and even those with visible wounds eschewed his offer, walking off to huddle up with whoever they trusted to be around right now. It didn't help that he was sending visible streaks of black towards the staircase leading down, taking care of any more of that white mana trying to flood into the chamber.

Which now allowed him to corner the black cat and the catatonic otter on their own, and going by his suspicious glare and tense posture that Marik assumed, he didn't recognize the human. To be fair, he might not have recognized himself in a mirror right now.

"Who approaches Marik?" He showed his teeth threateningly.

"Easy there. Don't tell me you have any other healer friends besides me?" Josef tried to defuse the situation with a bit of humor.

"Also, didn't Cana tell you not to speak in third person? I might just have to spill a smelly secret now." The cat's face quickly flickered through several emotions before settling on one of shock.

"It's you, J-""Adam," he quickly interrupted the feline before he could reveal his name in front of an audience. Then, more quietly, he continued, "That's the one for public outings."

"I see…" It looked like Marik was mulling over that information before continuing.

"Why are you here?"

"To go after you lot, of course." He put his hands on his hips, huffing in feigned indignation.

"When I heard about the dungeon acting up, I could hardly just sit around idly. I came to get you out of here."

"Well, you are too late for that." The cat's voice turned icy as he said that, looking down at the otter whose head was resting on his thighs. From up close, Josef was fairly certain that it was Chris, the sister of Chip.

"What happened to her brother? And where's Cana?" he asked with worry in his voice. Marik's face turned ugly as he spat out the answer.

"Sanctum! That's what happened." He stilled when the otter girl flinched and mumbled at that name. Once she calmed back down, he continued more quietly, "When they came through this floor, they noticed Cana""So we're too late…" his face dropped. Had they come this far only to fail?

"That suit-wearing bastard demanded to have her captured. Her and several other beastkin and scalefolk. Didn't look like there was any rhyme to who they picked. Chip, however…" Marik swallowed heavily.

"He tried to stop them when they went to grab Cana. I told him it was suicide, but he wouldn't listen. It was over in seconds. Onyx got him." Those last words were spoken with a finality that told Josef just how one-sided the fight must have been.

"Burnt him so badly I could hardly recognize him. While that fucking elf was raving mad, screaming about a wasted pelt." The feline was clenching his fists so hard, his claws were drawing blood.

"And then they… they just…"

"They dissolved him. One burst of mana, and he was gone." Chris's voice was quiet and steady, but devoid of all emotion.

"Gone forever." She didn't even look at them before she fell back into a stupor.

"I'm… sorry. So very sorry." What else could he tell her? Were there any words that could help here? Soothe a pain like that? Behind him, Zippa and Bezzo both mumbled their own condolences, understanding what had happened. To lose a sibling like that was a nightmare they could feel vividly.

"I'll rip off that guy's head and bring it to you." Cold anger filled the older brother's voice, while the younger one nodded decisively in agreement. Marik smiled weakly at their promise.

"I… we'd appreciate that. Make it hurt while you're at it." A solemn silence descended upon the group, as no one was quite able to figure out the words to continue. At last, Josef remembered what they had learned in the safety zone above, and asked, "Why did you even come all the way down here? I heard about how you joined a group that wanted to push forward. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I figured Cana wouldn't want to take the risk." The black cat sighed, the memory clearly an unpleasant one.

"One of the adventurers there, an elf named Abel, wanted to have her along for the exploration. Any lycan would make a good scout, and she's got a class stone to boot."

"They knew about that?" Marik nodded.

"Bastard approached us, threatening to reveal her identity. He saw her when she ran out of the temple and recognized her when we met. Either she helped, or he would spill the beans. Even if it was just to curry favour with Sanctum, a lot of people would have given her trouble. Naturally, we joined her. Couldn't just let her walk away on her own."

"Two heads it is then. Where did the guy go? Is he with the knights?" Josef decided grimly.

"No need for that," the cat chuckled drily, directing a genuine smile at him.

"I deflected one of those worms into him. His end was loud and messy." Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Never fuck with the black cat, he duly noted. Behind him, Bezzo winced, holding his stomach in phantom pain.

"That's a fitting end, I guess."

"We lost a lot of people to those things, and more in the boss fight. I almost got gobbled up myself, if it hadn't been for Chip." His eyes were downcast as he continued, "The skill gem Cana shared with him gave an acid armor. He blocked and melted a lot of stuff with that. Now… I'm still trying to pay him back." Looking down at Chris, resting against her comrade, Josef nodded in understanding.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

"How long ago did they come through?" To everyone's shock, it was Linda who asked the question. She was reverently carrying her knight, unbowed despite the armored elf's weight. Marik blinked in surprise at the sight, but quickly caught on that she somehow belonged to their group.

"Hard to say. It felt like it wasn't even an hour, but then everything got weird." Seeing several questioning gazes, he continued.

"People started to get all loopy, and some even froze up. We couldn't find a thing, but eventually figured out it was coming from the stairs below. We tried to stay as far away as possible, but…"

"So they might still be nearby." Linda drew her conclusion, looking grim. It became painfully clear what had woken her from her shock.

"I want the head of bishop Thaladur. If not for him, none of this would have happened." Her conviction was more than a little worrying, but he knew better than to start a discussion about the pitfalls of vengeance in a situation like this. She wouldn't listen to it, anyway.

"And what about Aifreed? You can't bring him along like that, " Josef tried to make her reconsider. He wasn't sure if she would be helpful or a liability, considering her emotional instability right now. She bit her lips anxiously until Marik spoke up.

"Leave him with me. I might as well watch over another soul."

"I won't forget this favour." Linda sounded earnest. Putting down Aifreed next to the beastkin, she looked at him with sadness.

"Wait for me, I'll be back." Considering his earlier findings, Josef decided to speak up, catching the elf's attention.

"You might want to take his armor." That one caused everyone to look at him questioningly.

"That strange mana somehow didn't truly affect him. I'm not completely sure, but I think it's related." Bezzo nodded.

"Since this only happened after they passed, then it might be related to Sanctum. In that case, their armor could be enchanted to resist it."

"But can't you take care of that stuff?" Zippa butted in.

"You cleared this whole room well enough." Shaking his head, he replied.

"I'm not sure if I will be able to keep it at bay all the time. Especially in a fight. One less person affected might make all the difference." Contemplating their words, Linda ultimately agreed.

"Fine." They offered to help, but she denied them, wanting to handle Aifreed on her own. It was with great care that she removed piece after piece, before donning them herself. In the end, the final part she took was the helmet. It was a sad sight, seeing the old elf lying on the ground without his armor, which he had never fully ditched. He had been wearing an elegantly cut green two-piece suit underneath all that metal.

Combined with his graying hair, he painted the picture of a prim and proper butler, though the bulging muscles on his arms betrayed his profession. Old or not, the man certainly wasn't frail. Not physically, at least. Then, after a moment of hesitation, Linda turned around and handed Josef something from the knight's possessions. It was the beautiful monocle the knight had used to begin inspecting their skill gem. He never got the time to finish doing that.

"Your analyzer?"

"Take it. I have no talent for the thing, and you wanted to learn how to do it, right?" She shook her head as if dispersing some thoughts.

"See it as an investment. With better eyes, you might be able to help him, right?" He wasn't so sure of that, but maybe it could help him bridge the gap from merely seeing mana, to also gleaning information from it. Either way, it wouldn't hurt him to try. On top of that, he saw it as a promise that they would continue to see each other after they got out of this dungeon.

"I'll do my best."

"Guess we won't be taking a break today, will we?" Zippa joked, gnawing on some jerky he pulled from his pack. With Linda all armored up, they had pretty much unanimously begun to ready up for the next leg of their journey. Backpacks were secured, straps tightened, and claws sharpened. They even drew disbelieving gazes from the other adventurers around the room. Clearly they were mad for wanting to push on.

"Sorry, Zip, but whatever they are up to, we should probably stop them sooner rather than later. Guess you'll have to chomp down on some bastards on the way." The reptile made a disgusted face at that.

"Ew, who knows where they've been before? Or the last time they washed?"

"That's the part that concerns you? Should I be concerned?" Josef shook his head in amusement as they walked off to the stairs.

"Absolutely, if I get too hungry, I might just snack on you." Zippa underlined the suggestion by showing off his teeth. Instead of laughing, though, he surprised everyone by suddenly falling into a deep contemplation. The joke had given him an absurd idea.

"Was that too far? I'm sorry if-""No, no," he quickly denied.

"It's just… since I can regrow limbs, doesn't that mean I'm an infinite food source? We all are. As long as there's mana, I could just keep making them. Like, do you wanna order a full bag for the road?" His face was practically sparkling with mischief as the reptile recoiled in shock.

"You're horrible." Zippa exaggeratedly pouted.

"Stay away, you're disgusting." The lizard quickened his pace, pulling ahead, even though he couldn't truly leave behind the human and the protection of his chaos mana.

"What, I'm suddenly not good enough anymore? Get back here, you coward. Take a bite if you dare." He chased after him, waving an arm towards his face. Both Linda and Bezzo exchanged exasperated glances as they followed after them.

"Sometimes I wonder if he cooked his own brain." The lizard sighed.

"I suppose you can't heal stupid." She concluded, keeping pace.

"Was your brother always like that?" They quickly fell into a huddled conversation, trying to tune out the rest of their group. Finally, Pretzel joined the argument after Josef asked for her support, launching herself at the larger reptile, futilely trying to restrain him. All the while, she was hissing at Zippa.

"Just admit that my summoner is the tastiest!" Unfortunately, he was the only one who could understand her brilliant support, so he soon fell into a disadvantage when he was wrecked with laughter. Sprout, meanwhile, barked excitedly from his shoulder, even if she probably didn't understand what they were talking about. No matter how carefree their display appeared, though, he never once dropped his mana streams that cleared out the white haze before it could approach them.

And looking at his scaly friend, he could feel the temperature spike notably around him. They were both ready for what was to come, as their steps carried them down the stairs.