44.

“I don’t think Rayleigh and Hana will be able to continue, and Chloe is beat to shit too. I might be able to get her on her feet and fighting, but she’s not going to be one hundred percent,” Tank said, his expression dour.

They were clustered around the edge of the floor, watching the stairwell for anymore hags. Daniel was sitting against the wall, his eyes closed as he snored quietly. Mana exhaustion hit like a truck and everyone was napping. Tank was in rough condition but his own natural regeneration along with the mana potion had him moving and ready to fight.

“Trying to clear this place with just you and Daniel will be hard.”

“I can’t leave my patients unguarded. I’m sorry.” Tank’s brow was furrowed and he was frowning as he stared at the three girls. They had taken the worst of the beating, having to hold the frontlines and backlines.

“Daniel, you going to be ready?” Santi asked.

Daniel snorted as he jerked awake. He looked around blearily for a moment before nodding. He struggled to his feet and rolled his shoulders.

“Want me to scout?”

“Yeah. It’s just going to be me and you. We’re moving up while everyone else rests here. You good with that?”

“Work needs to be done regardless of circumstances.”

“Alright. Tank, you’re going to have to hold the doors by yourself. I’m taking the other mana potions with me, but I’ll leave you a stamina potion. It’s like a full eight hours of rest. We’ll be back,” Santi nodded to the door and Daniel walked to the stairwell door.

Santi hoisted up Rayleigh’s bat and followed after the scout. He wasn’t willing to wait and let the hags regroup after the fight. They had managed to kill three full covens of the monsters and Santi didn’t think the nest was strong enough to support many more. If there was a coven on each floor, which seemed likely, there were only two more covens.

The coven on the second floor hadn’t come up even with the sounds of fighting. If they hadn’t come up to fight them with the third and fourth floor covens, he didn’t think they would now. They’d be dealt with eventually, but for now he was content to leave them cowering on their own floor.

“Up, Daniel. We need to clear the fifth floor. See if you can find any of the survivors.”

“Got it,” the voice whispered back and then he was gone.

Santi stepped over the piled up corpses of the hags and searched for his spear. The weapon had snapped, the spearpoint left embedded in the hags head. Shaking his head in disappointment he looked around for his knives and was able to retrieve both of them. While sticky with blood, the crude iron weapons were in decent shape.

Creeping up the blood spattered stairs, he couldn’t help but shake his head at the carnage. Hag limbs had been removed with prejudice, while their black blood painted the walls and stairs. Chloe had been a vengeful demon amongst them, her axe hewing them apart like they were kindling.

Walking on the inside of the stairs with the bat in front of him, he crept past the fourth floor. The signage on the walls said it was the ICU and when he peeked his head past the door he saw nothing but the twisting shadows of carnage.

He continued up, his heart pounding as his nerves stretched out. Daniel hadn’t made any comments yet, and Santi had to assume he was ahead somewhere. The sound of a door opening above him confirmed that a minute later. Santi hurried up the stairs, his shoes squeaking on the floor as he spun around and opened the fifth floor door.

The fifth floor was a long hallway with desks and the remnant of glass offices along it. It looked like the administrator's office. Filing cabinets were broken open with papers floating in the mid afternoon breeze through the shattered windows. Desks were laying in broken pieces, thrown about with careless disregard.

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With careful steps he creeped through the hallways, ears straining to hear for movement. His heart pounded as sweat slicked the grips of the bat. Sunlight streamed through the windows along the perimeter of the building.

Sounds stirred deeper in the floor. Muted cries of pain, pleas to uncaring gods, prayers to die. All of it reached him, the sound carrying without problem. The thin walls of the cubicles had holes in them, the thin drywall having been broken up in dozens of places.

“Santi,” Daniel whispered as he lurched out from a side passage. His face was bloodless and there was a sheen of sweat on his face.

“Yeah?” Santi whispered back. Already he could tell he wasn’t going to like what the other man was going to tell him.

“I found the survivors. Santi, they’re in bad shape man. These…these…oh fuck man,” the normally composed Daniel staggered away and down the staircase. Santi could hear him vomiting quietly.

He waited as long as he could, eyes sweeping across the room to look for anything that was moving. Aside from the desperate pleas, there was nothing. If there were still hags on this floor, they were being quiet. It took Daniel only a minute or two before he was able to come back up, his face drawn with spittle decorating his lips.

“Santi, they’re in bad shape. These monsters are taking them apart. Arms, legs, eyes, Santi…it’s bad. We have to kill all of them. This is evil.”

“No survivors, I promise you. But, did you see where the actual monsters are?”

“Back of the floor, they’ve ripped open all these offices and have a cauldron. There’s a blue fire under it and they’re just standing around the cauldron.”

“Alright then, we go and fuck ‘em up.”

“Santi, there’s eighteen of them. Two full covens.”

Shit.

“We’re going to need to split them up,” Santi said, already coming up with a plan.

“I’m going to guess it’s up to me to split them up?” Daniel said, a frown beginning to cross his face.

“Yeah. Kill one of them and run. The coven should follow you. Just lead them downstairs and get them lost on the fourth. When I finish off the coven, I’ll come down and help you.”

“If I’m alive.”

“Don’t die.”

“Thanks. Really helpful.”

“I try. Just cat and mouse and I’ll come down as soon as possible.”

“Faster would be better,” Daniel said. He slid into the shadows and disappeared down the hallway. Santi ghosted his way down the hall and found an empty office to duck into. The one he chose was halfway down the hall and still had blinds dangling in a twisted mess to block the view.

A desk had been thrown so it stood on its side standing up and Santi quickly stood next to it. If something popped their head into look, he would hopefully be covered. It wasn’t the worst cover he ever had, but he wished he had a skill or something to prevent the stench of his body from wafting about.

It didn’t take long before he heard the scream of rage echo through the building. Footsteps pounded on the floor and Santi risked peeking his head around the corner just in time to see a rush of rag-covered hags chasing after something. The metal door was closed with a clang and then thrown open with enough force that the hinges squealed and the sound of ripping screws was evident. Whatever Daniel had done, it had gotten their attention.

He waited for the sounds of their footsteps to recede before stepping out of his hiding spot and looking about. There was nothing in the halls and aside from the faint cries of the captured, nothing he could hear.

Slinking along the halls, he kept his head on a swivel. There were many corners or room the hags could be lurking in, ready to pounce. He saw none though, and as he got closer and closer to the end of the hall and past the broken offices he heard it.

They didn’t speak a language he could recognize, but the rasping of their voices was audible. A fire’s crackle was sounding and a putrid smell puckered his nose. They were definitely brewing something foul ahead. He hated dealing with alchemists or witches. The stronger they were the more different types of potions they could use. So far, these hags had shown nothing more than the strengthening potion that robbed monsters of their potential for current strength.

If they used that on themselves, the upcoming fight would be much harder. He wished he had his saber again, the cutting blade would be useful right now. The bat would work for now as his advanced stats gave him the power needed to bludgeon enemies to death. His lagging strength would make the weapon a lot harder to use in the future though.

The end of the hallway came and he peeked around it and saw what had made Daniel sick. The captured were tied together. Blood and flies and maggots covered them all. Despair clung to the atmosphere so thick that Santi worried a curse would form.

To the side, nine hags worked a thick black cauldron that rested above a cerulean blue flame. Noxious gray-green smoke flowed out as the hags rasped their words around it. One of them grabbed an ingredient and Santi gagged as he realized it was a severed human arm. It tossed the arm in and it disappeared into the pot without a sound.

The majority of their backs were turned to him, offering him an easy first strike. A dead hag was thrown in the corner, its throat wide open. Daniel’s surprise attack had been lethal. Tightening his grip on the rubber handle of the aluminum bat, Santi crouched down and prepared himself to spring at them.