Samantha’s POV

Sam had been playing with the surrounding wind. Trying to gain finer control over the magic. [Air control] had proved a harder element to master than she had first expected. Not because of its complexity, but because of the incredible precision the magic required. She had been working on a spell for the whole day and to be honest this was the longest she had ever taken to cobble something together.

Even then she had been hesitant to use its prototype version in the fight, though it had saved her life.

She had always found simple manipulations of nature to be laughably easy. So it was frustrating she couldn't get this one.

Normally if she wanted to accomplish something she just imagined how the various forces worked. though she credited that to her understanding of the world and how forces interacted. She had been finishing her Master’s Program in Physics when the end came. She’d always had a curious mind and studying the functions of the world was great, but being able to manipulate the building blocks of reality was just too good an opportunity to pass up. She hadn't even scratched the surface of what she was capable yet.

Of the twenty-six magics she could control she had only tapped three so far. She had so much ahead to explore and to think the main reason she survived, in the beginning, was because of the kindness of people.

Now she would use what she learned to return the favor.

Luckily Jonathan had been there or she would have been stuck on campus with that creature. She planned to go back someday soon, now that she had power.

Avenge those she had lost.

She knew Jonathan would want another crack at the guardian and maybe Mark if he was willing.

Mark was proving to be incredibly insightful when it came to the system. The fact that he was willing to stand on the front line and fight ‘The End’ with them helped matters greatly.

She had seen many people turn and run, where he had stood his ground as a healer of all things.

Either way, she liked the guy, so when she heard Daphne shout Mark's name in panic, her head whipped around.

Mark was lying on the ground with blood running from his nose. She rushed over to see what was going on.

Jonathan arrived before her.

“What’s going on,” he asked Daphne.

“I don’t know he was fine a minute ago, the next thing I know he just falls over bleeding from the nose,” she said with worry clouding her features.

“Matt!” Jonathan called.

She knew that Matt had done in-depth first-aid training.

Hobbling over he examined Mark and shook his head.

“Not sure, his wounds are healing as we speak, but the nosebleed is persistant,” he said.

Sam had a hunch. During the battle, Mark used some kind of mental spell.

It had to be mind magic.

She had seen the moment the Ghouls had all frozen. It had actually been disconcerting in the middle of combat.

She also had good compatibility with mind magic but had opted to start on the basics and move on to it later. Now she kinda wished she had explored it a bit more.

It was entirely possible that he was suffering from some kind of toll for using the spell.

If that was the case then there wasn't much they could do at this point. They just had to give him time to recover. Perhaps sleep it off.

“Alright Daphne, help me make him comfortable,” she said.

Going on to explain what she thought it was to everyone.

“So he just needs sleep?” Daphne asked in a vulnerable tone.

“I’ll stay with him then,” she said with a stronger voice.

Sam nodded.

“Sure, you take the first watch, but Jonathan and I will come and relieve you. You need rest too”

She seemed like she wanted to argue at first, but eventually, she nodded just slightly.

They slept a short while and after they woke hours passed, but Mark still did not wake up.

Command sent a query as to their ETA. They had turned off their cameras once the Dungeon had been cleared to save the battery. Sam told them they were delayed and would begin moving as soon as they were able.

She wanted to avoid sending any information back that could be used against them or her father.

They could travel if needed, carrying him wasn't the problem. The fact they would be down a healer and whoever carried him was. Even if they had cleared a path here there was no telling what could have wandered in.

***

Mark sat up. The sound of mud squelching as he did so. It was pitch black and cold. Mud covered his body. He cast [Light control] to get a better view of the situation.

Nothing happened.

Frowning he reached for his Mana and tried to put more into the spell. Only, when he felt for it, there was none. No Mana in his reserves and none flowing through the air around him.

Mana had become so present in Mark's life that felt weird to not have it at his fingertips.

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“Hello?” he called out to the squad.

“They wouldn't have left me right?” he thought.

Something moved in the surrounding mud nearby.

Mark bolted to his feet and almost lost his balance again on the slick ground.

He tried once more to summon light.

The ground at his feet moved and a purple pulse of light swept outward. Traveling in a network of veins and capillaries. Slowly the void lit up and Mark realized he wasn't standing in mud, but ichor.

A black Oil-like substance clung to his body, drawing the warmth from him.

After the initial shock, Mark grunted.

“Okay, a nightmare. Got it. Felt I was due one of these soon anyway with all the shit I’ve seen” Mark's voice echoed outward into the void.

“Nope. Guess again.” a distant voice called back.

“Then… my guilty conscience is finding ways to mess with me,” Mark answered back.

“Hah! Please, what guilt? Don’t tell you feel bad for what you did, you can’t lie to me. You feel nothing for them, they made their choice and so did you.” the voice said louder now.

“You know it would be much better if you would show yourself. I like to see who I’m talking to” Mark said in an almost bored tone.

“Mmm. Not yet, you aren't cooked enough yet,” the voice giggled.

“Well alrighty then mysterious disembodied voice, mind telling me what you want, I got people to see and monsters to kill.” Mark spoke towards the void.

“Ooo you are going to be a tough one, I can just tell, but to answer your question. I don't want anything”

“Then why did you bring me here?”

“I didn’t, you came here on your own” Mark could swear he heard a smile in the speaker's voice.

“Okay, then how do I leave?”

“Ah, now that's a different story,” the voice said with menace dripping from its words.

The ichor at his feet began to squirm and slither. Moving up his ankles slowly.

“You don’t” it whispered.

Mark pushed down his panic.

“Okay, well seeing as I’m here a couple more questions. What are you? Where am I?” Mark asked.

There was a long pause and just when Mark thought the entity had left, it answered.

“Hmm, you know exactly who I am, and as for the second question, that’s harder to explain. But I’ll give you a clue. We’re in a broken throne”

Mark didn't quite understand, but it was enough to go on.

The ichor was up to his knees by now.

“Alright, well. Lovely chatting with you but I’m going the head out. We’ll have to chat more later”

Looking down at the glowing floor Mark crossed his legs and sat down in the slime.

If he had come here on his own then he could leave on his own too.

He closed his eyes and shut everything out.

Sound exploded around Mark, shattering into hundreds of voices. All trying to break his concentration. Some begged and cried, others raged.

The slime had traveled up his chest.

Screams echoed out of the darkness and it felt like something was hunching over him. He could feel it brushing close to his skin.

Then all at once, they stopped and Mark opened his eyes in the room underground.

Bolting up his mind took a moment to catch up.

Whatever that had been it felt too real to be a dream.

No. that had happened.

It had been an unpleasant experience, but he realized why he felt so calm in there.

Why he didn’t question what the creature had said.

That had been him. His own conscience. Filtered through the Corruption.

The reason he knew the thing answered truthfully was because it was him. It couldn't hide anything from him any more than he could from it.

Mark's mind wandered to the broken throne it spoke of.

When suddenly he was tackled from the side in a tight squeeze and then let go.

He focused on the room around him and saw Daphne right next to him and the others of the squad scattered around.

“Well hi, sleeping beauty. Finally done with the coma?” Sam called

“What, now?!” Mark asked, surprised.

“Well not coma, but you’ve been asleep for about nine hours” she amended.

Mark was relieved. Checking his reserves he noticed had a little under half his Prana.

Daphne was sitting on the ground next to him and grinning, then it faded to a frown.

“Next time please don't use magic you don't fully understand like that,” she said.

Mark nodded.

“Fair point. I’ll try, but I can't make that promise,” Mark said.

Who knew what they would have to deal with next? It had been dangerous, yes, but it had worked in the end.

She didn't look happy with that and he spent some time assuring her he would be careful. Apparently, Sam said she had watched over him whenever she could and Mark was really grateful.

Mark wounds were almost entirely gone and a quick check of his mental scape told him he was stable.

After some time Mark went around through the squad once more. Healing the burns he had not been able to get to earlier. It went a long way to improving everyone's pain and agitation.

Pretty soon they had to move. They had been waiting on Mark to return to base and now that he was up and about they needed to get back.

So once they were packed the squad began moving towards the surface once more.

During their journey back Mark rolled his mystery chest, it was an Aura-based one. The dungeon had told them this much with the ‘Reward class’.

However, if there were Dungeons that gave out Aura rewards then he hoped the same for Prana items.

After he hit ‘Yes’, the system responded.

Item: Enduring buckler

Item lvl: 41

Resistance + 205

Aura + 25

Description: 33.33% increased effectiveness to Resistance.

Mark had not been expecting anything too great, because Aura-based items were basically ineffectual on him compared to others.

However, if he was understanding this thing right then this item was the exception to the rule. Well, sort of.

He was still wasting the Aura, but its effect of upping his Resistance was not.

Normally resistance took 3 points to make the equivalent of 1 point of defense in all the other attributes, but if this shield did what he thought it did, then it would only take 2 points in resistance to give him the same result.

Mark had actually asked Jonathan and Sam if it did what he thought and they had mentioned that it was a common effect for a shield. Though Mana-based shield items had different effects as far as they knew.

Mark had asked if Sam had gotten the sliver chest from the killing blow and what came out.

As it turned out a silver armband had come out, upping Aura by a ton. She had elected to keep it because it offered an automatic defensive option apparently. Which could be used to save her life if she couldn't react in time.

Mark thought it was smart and as they were chatting he put the buckler on his right arm.

Mark then proceeded to almost fall to the floor, as his Resistance made the single largest jump he had ever experienced.

His reactions were overcompensating, as his skin hardened. Muscles twitched and his nervous system went haywire. It felt like he was balancing on a tightrope while simply standing still.

After a few seconds, he got the hang of it and looked at the small bucker attached to his arm.

It was light and about the size of a dinner plate. Reflecting the light from his orb on its bronze metallic surface, straps secured it in place on his forearm.

Mark was happy with the item. They continued traveling back. When they got to the room which Sam was calling the heart of the dungeon, she dropped a small tracking device. The Mold in the area was still looking healthy and would probably eventually spawn more Corrupted. They would be sending a team back here after they returned to monitor its progression. That was what the tracker was for.

Once more they continued killing their way through the darkness on their way up and out.