Mark lay on the ground staring up at the ceiling, everything hurt, but the first thing he did was to check his Cv.
89.66% [+50%] - 139.66%
Mark's eyes narrowed at the prompt. This was the highest total value he had ever had. So much so, that he could feel the energy churning inside his core, even with the staff still in place.
Letting out a breath Mark slowly sat up and took in the space around him.
It was the same as they left it, though there were a couple more corpses than when they’d left, meaning when they had escaped through his tunnel, they must have been met with more Corrupted.
A cursory glance told him that while no one was mortally wounded, none of them were in good condition.
Jonathan and Lisa both had wounds littering their bodies, while Gibby’s armor had long since lost its luster, and he was favoring his right foot.
At some point, Wesley must have lost his shield because he had pulled out a buckler to replace it. Bruising covered his body and there was a large amount of swelling closing his left eye shut.
Shameez had lost her pinky and ring fingers to a hungry Ghoul, making it hard for her to hold a weapon in that hand, while Tyler was covered in long thin lacerations that bled profusely.
Their backline had not taken nearly as much damage but Mark could tell they were all running on empty.
Patrica was physically alright, but the near-death experience would take time to recover from, her light was still holding back the Corruption, but it was fading. He also noticed Bonnie was cradling her wrist, so he assumed she had broken something during that attack.
All in all, things were not looking good. The frontline was broken and their casters were almost completely tapped out.
Mark didn’t have the energy to heal even one of them right now, but that didn’t mean he could leave them in these states.
They were still deep in a tier-two dungeon, so they were nowhere near safety yet. Fighting back out the way they came would take some work.
Mark got up shakily and moved to do his job, taking out bandages and a suture kit to apply first aid.
The first person Mark went to tend to was Lisa, she was sitting a ways from the group.
When he approached, her eyes went wide but she said nothing yet. He sat down next to her, out of breath. Even that small trip felt like a marathon to Mark.
She grimaced when Mark told her she would have to sew up her own wound, as he literally couldn't get the sharp piece of metal through her skin. He guided her while applying disinfectant and dressing her other injuries. They worked for a minute in silence and then she spoke.
“Good job back there, from the looks of it, it had to have cost you, but you saved our lives.”
Mark looked down at his body.
All of them had suffered down there, walking away with blackened patches of flesh, burned into them by the Corruption, but none of them were quite as far along as Mark. His skin was so pale right now that he looked like a long-dead corpse. Networks of black veins covered any blush of life beneath his skin, and he could feel the whispers even through the protective layers of the staff. Turning his thoughts away from muttering, Mark spoke in a raspy tone.
“I’m doing my job as I told you I would, but I’m running in the negatives here, I don’t know how much more of this we can take.”
Lisa hissed through her teeth as she tightened up the final stitching and nodded at Mark.
“We’ll take a rest here for as long as we are able and then head back”
They fell into silence again, but her eyes turned to stare at the rest of the group, absent-mindedly.
“What are your thoughts on what's down there?”
Mark knew why she was asking this, but he decided to take the question at face value.
“Well, first off. There’s a problem beyond their numbers and strength. I felt it when we first entered, and when I made that exit. There is a ‘conscious’ thing down there directing them. I believe that was an entrance to an even stronger Dungeon, possibly a third tier.”
The more Mark thought on it the more it made sense. Right now the Dungeons were interconnected so following the growing levels of Corruption would lead to the next stage. They may not have gotten the prompt because they had not even gotten far enough into the thing to register. Honestly, the thought was chilling, especially when you considered the size it could grow unchecked down there.
The uncertainty she seemed to be having resolved itself right away. When Mark was done patching Lisa up, he asked her to send Bonnie and Tyler over, as his body's condition was proving to be worse than he first thought. She simply nodded as she got up, squaring her shoulders, and heading over to the group.
When the two arrived, Mark started treating them. He was just finishing with Tyler's bandages when he heard Shameez and Lisa’s voices locked in an augment.
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“Then we should have never been down there in the first place!”
Lisa's voice came back just as strong.
“You knew what you were signing up for, we escaped, drop it.”
Shameez did not look as if she wanted to ‘drop it’, she looked about ready to jump the woman. moving into Lisa’s personal space, her voice came out as audible hiss.
“Not all of us…”
As she did so she glanced at Patrica and her remaining follower.
Lisa’s face hardened and she took a measured step in Shameez’s direction.
Mark saw the situation devolving before Gibby stepped in between the two women.
“How about we think this through, we have quite a journey to the surface, fighting now only hinders us.”
The atmosphere was thick with tension. Everyone was on edge and the Corruption could not be making things any better.
The two glared at one another but Lisa seemed to relax her stance, while Shameez still looked like she had more to say.
Gibby stepped into her path, giving her less of a choice in the matter.
Shameez probably felt it was Lisa's fault they had almost died, after all, she forced the idea of going down there, even dismissing one of their allies when they’d advised against it.
It was easy to blame her, but Mark didn’t see it that way. They had all decided to travel down there, if for no other reason than to see what they were dealing with.
Yes, that turned out to be a shit idea –Mark felt it in his aching body–, but that was what they were here for, so assigning blame was pointless. It was why she had asked him that question earlier.
Mark ignored the rest of the discussion as he worked his way through the injuries the old-fashioned way.
When he called Patrica over to check on her, she visibly flinched away from him. Her words of thanks sounded genuine, but she struggled to look at him without fear. Mark realized it was his Corruption level, perhaps, for her, it was similar to looking at the sun. Mark didn’t mind and released her when he was sure she had no complications.
Lastly, Jonathan and Sam made their way over to his corner. A watch was kept, but so far it had been blissfully silent.
As Mark worked on Jonathan's wounds, the guy gave Mark a look and lowered his voice.
“Are you going to be alright? Is there anything we can do to help?”
Sam was watching him, mirroring his question in her expression, luckily she only had a few bruises, so Mark diverted all his attention to Jonathan's wounds, which were extensive. Mark spoke in a hoarse voice.
“I’m almost at my limit, but I’ll be okay. I just need time to use [Meditation], if you want to help gather energy with me, that will accelerate things.”
Jonathan and Sam agreed and sat down on either side of Mark.
Sending out his construct Mark covered the whole group, at the same time he felt the Corruption weigh against his Prana, the pressure lasted seconds before Mark began [Meditation].
When the skill took hold he pulled energy into himself and diverted it to maintaining the construct.
This action effectively kept corruption at bay, yet it came at a cost—a severe cut to his regeneration rate. However, with the infusion of Jonathan's and Sam's Prana, he could sustain the barrier and keep his energy growing at a constant rate.
The moment Mark took the weight on his shield Patrica let out an exhausted pant, she let her spell go and dropped into [Commune], shooting Mark a grateful look.
Movement and voices went on around Mark, but he blocked it out, focused on maintaining the flow of energy. Strangely enough, there was ample energy in all three states down here, but Mark could tell it was slowly being turned into Corruption. While that was worrying, Mark made good use of the free-floating Prana to replenish his reserves.
Time moved at a crawl as the silences were punctuated by the odd bout of combat. On multiple occasions, Jonathan went to deal with them, but Mark remained steadily clawing back what strength he could.
It was only when Mark felt Patrica's spell reassert itself that he knew they were moving. Her light felt more stable when it encompassed the party once more. Mark broke his concentration and pulled the construct in, only to find he had regained just over one hundred Prana. It was not much, but it was enough.
Everyone had gathered up and Mark fell in with the backline shortly before they left for the surface. They were heading back the way they had come, but the numbers of Corrupted were higher than they should have been. They kept pushing forward trying to push through but when they were on approach to the now-damaged train. Lisa stopped them.
Mark saw why a second later.
The tracks were covered in the corpses of the Naga they had previously killed, but like vultures to carrion, more Corrupted had moved to fill the void. Feasting on their dead comrades with relish. The sounds slowed as their group got nearer.
The edges of the light revealing just as many, if not more, Corrupted than when they had first traversed this tunnel.
Right now they were far from peak condition, so when Lisa hissed for a retreat they didn’t hesitate. Turning tail and running back the way they had come. In doing so, they pulled several dozen pursuers after them.
Traveling down the tunnel once more led them to a fork in the road and they already knew only death waited for them down the one path, so they headed in the opposite direction. When they were far enough away that they knew there would be no reinforcements, Lisa and Jonathan turned to meet the wave.
Their backline launched a preemptive strike and culled their numbers by half. When the frontline was hit they managed to hold against the remaining numbers. Minutes passed and Mark helped wherever he was able, using pure Mana in his construct and [Earth control] to thin out their numbers as best he could. His spells felt slower on account of the beating his mind took at the hands of the entity. They eventually defeated the break-off group, but now they were in a sticky situation. It was either advancing deeper into this area or fighting through the hoards behind them.
Eventually, Jonathan voted they check out what was ahead before making their decision.
Deciding that was the best course of action Lisa seconded the idea. They moved following the natural passageways until they got to a long set of stairs. Taking this as a good sign, they advanced up them, wary of any ambushes.
Nothing ever came, but as they neared the top, a set of turnstiles blocked both exit and entry to the room beyond.
They had arrived at another terminal. It was similar to the previous one in that it was a hub with all manner of shops, ticket stations, and boarding platforms. However, the difference was the beam of natural light that streamed in through a crack in the ceiling. They had no idea where in the city they would end up but at this stage, all that mattered was that it led out of here.
Of course, as of late, all good news came with bad.
Near the center of the space, narrowly avoiding the stream of light sat a large brass statue amongst numerous corpses. Wrapped around the thing was no less than five massive Naga. Jonathan had since told him the larger ones were called Hydra’s but at this point, Mark couldn't bring himself to care.