The journey back to the Base Camp felt longer than the fight itself.
Every step sent a jolt of agony up Ren's spine. His side, where the Broodmother had pinned him, was a tapestry of bruised ribs and torn muscle, held together only by the adrenaline still flooding his system. But he wasn't the one dying.
"Keep him elevated!" Daigo roared, his voice cracking.
The Vanguard was carrying Grog like a sack of potatoes. The massive Guild Master was dead weight, his skin now the color of wet ash, purple veins throbbing visibly against his neck.
Behind them, two surviving mercenaries struggled with Reiji. The Paladin was limp, his breath coming in shallow, wet rattles that sounded like bubbles popping in blood.
"We're here!" Itsuki called out from the rear, his staff acting as a walking stick.
They stumbled out of the tunnel and into the elevator cavern.
Squad 3 looked up.
They had been waiting—anxious, bored, safe. Ayaka was organizing potions. Toby was pacing. Sayaka was sitting against a wall, writing in her notebook.
When they saw the state of Squad 1, the silence broke instantly.
"Oh my god," Yui gasped, covering her mouth.
"Reiji!" Toby screamed. The tall boy scrambled over crates, nearly tripping over his own feet. "Reiji! Hey! Wake up, man!"
"Space! Give them space!" Ren barked, though his voice came out as a wheeze.
Ayaka was already moving. She didn't scream. She didn't freeze. Her eyes locked onto the blood, and her expression shifted from shock to clinical focus.
"Lay them down," Ayaka ordered, pointing to the flattest patch of ground near the mana lamps. "Gently! Watch his head!"
Daigo lowered Grog with surprising tenderness, while the mercenaries set Reiji down next to him.
"Ayaka, do something!" Toby was shaking Reiji's shoulder, tears already streaming down his face. "Why is he making that noise? Why is he bubbling?"
"Toby, stop shaking him," Ayaka said firmly, her hands glowing with a soft, white light. She ripped open Reiji's chest plate. "Collapsed lung. Fractured ribs. Internal hemorrhaging."
She looked at Grog. "Neurotoxin. Advanced stage. His heart rate is erratic."
"Heal the boss first," one of the mercenaries—a mage named Harris—panted, wiping slime from his robes. "If Grog dies, the Guild dissolves. We don't get paid. We don't get out."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Daigo snapped, stepping over Grog's body to loom over the mage. "Reiji is dying right now! He's a student! Grog is a grown-ass man!"
"Grog is a B-Rank Tank!" Harris yelled back, desperation in his eyes. "Without him, we can't clear the blockage at the exit! You want to save the kid? Fine. But if Grog croaks, we all die in this hole!"
"I don't give a shit about your rankings!" Daigo grabbed Harris by the collar.
"Hey, hey, easy there, big guy."
A voice drifted from the shadows near the elevator controls.
Vance stepped into the light. The lieutenant looked surprisingly clean compared to the others. He was smoking a fresh cigarette, leaning casually against the metal grate.
"Vance?" Daigo let go of Harris, staring at the man in disbelief. "You... you're here?"
"Of course I'm here," Vance shrugged, flicking ash onto the floor. "I came back to secure the extraction point. Tactical withdrawal. Someone had to make sure the elevator was ready for the wounded."
"Tactical withdrawal?" Daigo's face turned red. "You ran! You left us to die!"
"I repositioned," Vance corrected smoothly, walking over to look down at Grog. He clicked his tongue. "Damn. The old man looks like shit. Ayaka, sweetheart, Harris is right. Prioritize the asset."
"Asset?" Toby looked up from Reiji's bleeding chest, his eyes wide with disbelief. "He's my best friend!"
"And he's replaceable," Vance said cold, hard logic dripping from his voice. "Grog isn't. You heal the Guild Master. If there's mana left over, you patch up the kid. That's the play."
"You piece of shit—" Daigo lunged.
"He's lying."
The voice was quiet, but it cut through the shouting like a razor.
Sayaka Minori stood up from her corner. She didn't look angry. She looked bored. She tapped her black notebook with a pen.
"I saw you come in twenty minutes ago," Sayaka said, staring dead at Vance. "You weren't securing anything. You were hyperventilating. You tried to work the elevator controls, realized you needed Grog's keycard, and then you hid behind those crates until you heard voices."
Vance's eye twitched. "Listen here, little girl—"
"You didn't come back to check on us," Sayaka continued, monotone. "You came back because you were trapped. You're a coward."
The silence that followed was heavy.
"Is that true?" Ren asked.
Ren was standing at the edge of the circle. He felt... distant. The voices sounded like they were coming from underwater.
[SYSTEM WARNING: MENTAL FATIGUE CRITICAL.] [SYNCHRONIZATION RATE: DROPPING.]
The blue windows in his vision were glitching. Static fuzz was creeping into the corners of his eyes. The headache that had started as a throb was now a blinding spike behind his eyes.
"Does it matter?" Vance snarled, dropping the facade. "Yeah, I ran! I saw a B-Rank Warlord and I made a survival choice! And guess what? I'm the only one here with no bruise! So unless you want me to start making command decisions with this crossbow, you'll listen to me!"
Vance pointed at Ayaka. "Heal Grog. Now."
"Reiji is drowning in his own blood!" Toby screamed, shielding Reiji's body with his own.
"Ayaka," Ren tried to step forward, to take command, to say something. "We need..."
The world tilted.
The ground seemed to rush up to meet him. Ren's knees buckled.
"Whoa!"
Itsuki was there. The Sage caught Ren under the armpit before he could hit the floor, struggling under the dead weight.
"Ren?" Itsuki hissed, checking Ren's eyes. The pupils were dilated, unfocused. "Ren, stay with me."
"Tired..." Ren mumbled, his head lolling. "Can't... see the lines..."
"He's tapped out," Itsuki announced to the group, his voice grim. "Divine Guidance isn't free. He's been processing too much information. His brain is overheating."
"Great," Vance threw his hands up. "The Hero is down. The Tank is down. And the Paladin is dying. Can we please stop arguing and fix the one guy who can actually lift a weapon?"
Ayaka looked at Vance. Then she looked at Toby, who was sobbing over Reiji. Then she looked at Ren, half-conscious in Itsuki's arms.
"Shut up," Ayaka said.
It was soft, but the venom in it made Vance pause.
"Harris," Ayaka looked at the mage. "You have a basic mana-transfer skill, right?"
"Uh, yeah," Harris blinked. "Mana Siphon. But I usually use it to steal—"
"I don't care," Ayaka snapped. She knelt between Reiji and Grog, placing her left hand on Reiji's chest and her right hand on Grog's forehead. "You're going to act as my battery. Siphon mana from yourself and feed it to me. Keep the flow steady. Do not stop until I tell you."
"But—" Harris stammered. "Doing both? That's impossible. You'll burn out your circuits."
"I said do it!" Ayaka yelled, her polite mask shattering completely.
Harris scrambled over, placing his hands on Ayaka's shoulders. "Okay! Okay! channeling!"
"Divine Art," Ayaka whispered, closing her eyes. Sweat instantly beaded on her forehead. "[Dual Processing: Sanctuary]."
A pulse of light erupted from her.
On the left, a warm, golden glow enveloped Reiji. His chest stopped rattling. The crushed ribs began to audible crack and snap back into place.
On the right, a sickly green light surrounded Grog. It wasn't healing him. It was freezing him.
"I can't cure the poison," Ayaka gritted out through clenched teeth. "I don't have the antidote spell. But I can put his cells in stasis. I can buy him time."
"Why didn't you bring antidotes?!" Daigo yelled at Harris while the mage poured mana into Ayaka. "This is a dungeon with spiders and snakes! That's Dungeoneering 101!"
"Budget cuts!" Harris grunted, his face turning pale as his mana was drained. "Antidotes expire! The Guild decided it was cheaper to pay out the death insurance than to stock Tier 3 Antidotes for every squad! It's a numbers game, kid!"
"That's fucked up," Daigo whispered, watching the light show. "That is seriously fucked up."
"Focus, Ayaka!" Itsuki commanded, watching the mana flows with his analytical eyes. "Reiji is stabilizing. Shift 20% more output to Grog or the toxin will reach his brainstem."
"I know!" Ayaka gasped. A trickle of blood ran from her nose.
Minutes stretched into eternity.
Finally, Ayaka gasped and slumped forward. The light faded.
"Reiji?" Toby whispered.
Reiji's eyes fluttered open. He took a deep breath—a clean, painless breath.
"Toby?" Reiji croaked. "Why are you... crying? You look... ugly."
Toby let out a wet laugh and hugged him, burying his face in Reiji's neck.
On the other side, Grog didn't wake up. But his breathing had smoothed out. The purple veins had stopped spreading, holding their line at his neck.
"He's stable," Ayaka panted, wiping the blood from her nose. "But not cured. The stasis will hold for maybe... six hours. If we don't get him real medical attention by then, his heart stops."
"Six hours?" Vance checked his watch. "That's tight. We need to move."
"Wait," Itsuki said, adjusting his glasses. He lowered Ren gently onto a crate. "If we move him, the increased blood flow might break the stasis."
"So what do we do?" Daigo asked. "Let him die?"
"No," Itsuki looked at the crystal eggs scattered around the room—loot from the spider cave. Then he looked at Harris. "Do you have any [Purification Salts]?"
"Yeah," Harris patted his pouch. "Standard issue for cleaning water."
"And do we have any of the Broodmother's blood on Ren's sword?" Itsuki asked.
"Gross, but yes," Rika said, pointing to Ren's sheathed blade.
"I have a theory," Itsuki said, his mind working faster than his mouth. "The poison is mana-based, specifically aligned to the 'Chaos' attribute of the dungeon. The Guild uses budget alchemy, but the principles of neutralization are universal."
He looked at Ayaka.
"If we mix the Broodmother's blood—which has high immunity properties—with the purification salts and boil it using a controlled flame," Itsuki gestured to Toru, who wasn't there, then swore. "Damn. We need a fire source."
"I have a lighter," Vance scowled, tossing a silver Zippo to Itsuki. "If you kill him with your witch's brew, four-eyes, I'm shooting you."
"It's not a cure," Itsuki muttered, grabbing an empty flask. "It's a buffer. It will trick the toxin into binding with the foreign mana instead of his nervous system. It should buy us twelve hours instead of six. Cook time is thirty minutes."
"Do it," Ayaka nodded, trusting him.
Thirty minutes later.
The camp was quiet. Grog had been force-fed the vile-smelling concoction Itsuki had brewed. His color was returning, slightly. Reiji was sitting up, sipping water, looking pale but alive.
Ren was awake.
He sat on a crate, staring at his hands. The static was gone, but he felt hollowed out. Like a battery drained to 0%.
"Ren," Reiji's voice was soft.
Ren looked up. Reiji was looking at him with a mix of gratitude and guilt.
"You saved me," Reiji said. "Again."
"We saved each other," Ren said, his voice raspy. "How's the pain?"
"Manageable," Reiji touched his chest. "Ayaka is a miracle worker."
"Alright, reunion's over," Vance clapped his hands, shouldering his crossbow. "Grog is stable-ish. The elevator is right there. We load up, we go to the surface, we get paid."
Vance looked at the students.
"Let's go, kiddies. Field trip is done."
The Iron Hounds—Harris and the other survivor—immediately moved to pick up Grog.
"Wait," Ren stood up. He wobbled slightly, but he stood.
"We aren't leaving," Ren said.
Vance stopped. He turned around slowly. "Excuse me?"
"Toru. Mei. Hinata," Ren listed the names. "They're still down there."
"They're dead," Vance said flatly.
"You don't know that," Reiji spoke up, struggling to his feet with Toby's help. "I sent them to the West Tunnel. They're hiding."
"The West Tunnel is the damn nest!" Vance shouted, losing his temper. "You sent them into the meat grinder! Look, I get it. No man left behind. Very heroic. But look at you!"
Vance gestured to the group.
"The Hero can barely stand. The Paladin has holes in his armor. The Healer is out of mana. And your Tank is a teenager with a trash-lid shield. If you go back down there, you aren't saving anyone. You're just feeding the dungeon."
"He's right," Harris added, looking at the floor. "Grog is the priority. Without him, the Guild falls apart. We have to get him to the capital."
"Then go," Ren said.
The silence returned.
Ren walked over to the elevator controls. He punched the button. The gears ground to life, the cage rattling as it prepared to ascend.
"Take Grog," Ren said, his eyes cold and hard. "Take Reiji. Take anyone who wants to leave. But I'm staying."
"I'm staying too," Daigo stepped up next to Ren, banging his fist on his scavenged shield. "I didn't finish the job."
"Me too," Rika yawned, spinning a dagger. "I lost my favorite hair tie down there. Gotta go find it."
"I cannot leave incomplete data," Itsuki said, adjusting his glasses. "And statistically, their survival rate drops to 0% if we leave."
"You're all insane," Vance laughed, a high-pitched, nervous sound. "You're actually insane. It's a suicide mission."
"Reiji," Ren looked at the Paladin. "You go up. You're injured. You need to rest."
Reiji looked at the elevator. Then he looked at Ren.
Slowly, painfully, Reiji shook his head.
"I'm the Class Rep," Reiji smiled, though it looked painful. "I don't leave until the headcount is full."
"I'm staying with Reiji!" Toby shouted, grabbing a rusted iron bar from the floor. "I... I can fight! I'll hit stuff!"
Ren looked at Ayaka.
"I need to meditate for an hour to regenerate mana," Ayaka said simply, sitting down in the lotus position. "But I'm not leaving."
Ren turned back to Vance.
The elevator doors opened with a heavy clank.
"Last chance, Vance," Ren said. "Are you a Hero, or are you a resource?"
Vance looked at the dark tunnel leading back into the dungeon. Then he looked at the safe, lit elevator.
"Fuck you," Vance spat. "I'm a survivor."
He gestured to Harris and the other mercenary. "Load Grog. We're leaving."
They carried the heavy Guild Master into the cage. Vance stepped in last. He looked at the students—bloodied, battered, teenagers standing against the dark.
"Don't expect a rescue party," Vance warned as the grate slid shut. "If you aren't back in twenty-four hours, the Guild seals the entrance. Protocol."
"Go," Ren said.
The elevator jerked and began to rise. The gears whined, pulling the adults away, up toward the sunlight, up toward safety.
Ren watched them go until the light of the cage disappeared up the shaft.
He turned back to the darkness of the dungeon. To the West Tunnel.
His legs were shaking. His mana was empty. His strongest ally was in a coma, and his Paladin was half-dead.
Ren looked at his friends.
"We have twelve hours before the temporary cure on Grog wears off and the Guild writes us off," Ren lied. He knew Vance wouldn't wait that long. "We need to find them. Fast."
"What's the plan, Leader?" Daigo asked, grinning through a bruised lip.
Ren took a deep breath, forcing his body to ignore the pain.
"Simple," Ren said, the golden lines in his eyes flickering faintly back to life. "We go into the nest. We kill everything that isn't human. And we bring our classmates home."