He continued walking down the stairs and eventually met with his followers at the bottom.

“Father wh-”

He raised his hand to the man who approached.

“Let us find respite first my child.” He softly answered.

Given the state of the priest, the others followed him without question, not knowing where they were going. Neither did the priest but as long it was far enough away from the adventurers, he could prepare himself the best he could for their inevitable approach.

“Father, here.” One man meekly responded. His head was held down and in his arms were equipment.

It was one half of his chain and his armour. “You told me to keep this for the time being but I made the mistake of…” He paused and gulped before continuing “Thinking I could collect your armour. I found only your chest plate and your arm guards before I had to run due to the attackers.”

“I see. (Is this forgiveness lord? If so then I wholly accept your offer.)”

He collected his things and proceeded forward.

----------------------------------------

“You fucking bastard what the hell was that abou-” Tina shouted at him for inadvertently stopping her after the priest had already gotten away but he looked to be in rough shape.

He leaned against a wall catching his breath. Based on the blood, he had a wound on his back in addition to one in his hand. What seemed to tire him out the most was his magic.

He tried to open his mouth but no sound that could be considered speech exited. Standing next to him was the woman he saved. Her neck had been pierced but it was only a few millimetres thanks to Furor’s quickness and more importantly, the sickle didn't hit any blood vessels.

She crouched down and listened to his mumbling.

She nodded her head for a few seconds and stood up.

“He said it'd be stupid for you to chase him. He had over twenty men go down those stairs earlier. If you went down there, even if they were only distractions, they'd probably be enough to get you killed.”

Tina looked dumbfounded as she walked over. Discomfort and disgust were written on her face as she walked over.

“Seriously?”

“Listen I'm personally of the mind we just go-”

Tina cut the woman off. “No, I'm talking about him.”

She walked closer to him and looked at his back. “Two stabs and you're out here looking like this?” She said, amazed.

“I-I overdid it.” He responded, looking up at her.

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“What the hell are you talking about? Then why did that bastard even escape this room if you were going all out with that dogshit magic of yours.”

The woman interjected. “Well, it was sort of a stalemate with his.”

Tina thought back to what happened to her spear and slammed the bottom of it against the floor.

“Oh screw off, that guy has a similar magic to yours?” But even if their magic was similar, for all four of them, including Furor, to struggle against him didn't rest well with her, yet…

(“Maybe this is what I need to catch up to him.”)

Furor grabbed her foot and looked up at her. “Don't be a retard.”

“Oh, now you care, you shit-talking asshole. Why should I give a damn wha-”

An unexpected guest soon entered the room.

Her sleeve was bloodied but other than that she looked to be in tip-top shape.

It was Elizabeth and behind her were Lily and Nora who seemed to be struggling to catch their breaths.

“Hmm, it must have been quite a foe to leave you like this, Furor.”

She quickly ran over and healed his wounds, making sure not to overdo it. He tried his best to keep himself awake but the exhaustion of using all his mana plus Elizabeth healing his wounds left him somewhat dazed. He tried to fight it but his throat still felt awful. He knew for the next several hours, he'd be worthless. With that in mind, he gave up and faded away.

“Sorry, I'm late,” Elizabeth said.

Tina sighed. Her expression softened and she responded. “(At least let me prove myself before you show up. That bastard can be suicidal all he wants but I can’t have a moment?) Yo. Anyway, this guy that ran away sounds like a real pain in the ass.”

“Sounds like? Were you not here?”

“I came during the tail end of things. I got a stab off but the little bastard managed to stop my spear somehow. Hell, it's still got some of his mana left in it.”

She held her spear up and let go.

It dropped noticeably slower than normal.

“?”

Elizabeth turned to the woman present, who had started wrapping her neck with a piece of gauze she found lying about. It seemed the cultists were already treating injuries before they arrived.

“Agatha is it?”

“Y-yeah, that's me.” The woman responded.

“What exactly was this magic he used?” Elizabeth asked.

She walked over and picked up the weapon the priest had left on the floor. It was a long chain with a handle on one end and a sickle-like blade on the other.

“Well, I suppose the others and I can explain what we saw.”

The other two lads were sitting at a table eating whatever they could find.

She blankly stared at them and threw one of her claw hands at them.

“What the hell are you idiots doing?” She shouted.

The one proficient in the sword blocked the blade.

“Lowering their supplies. You hear about savages doing it all the time. Why not empty their supplies while we're here.” He said before taking another bite of bread.

The tall one with brown hair nodded. “Right, right, they had a lot of guys here so even if they manage to slip past and hide someone in this place, we can make sure they starve quicker.”

“You halfwits, I swear have a bit more…”

Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder. “It has been quite some time since we last had a meal. Let me test them for poison and then let's decide if we'll only discuss or discuss over a meal.”

The men felt reassured to have Elizabeth back them up but suddenly lost their appetites when she managed the poison part.