Lindelof was in the air. Blood seeped out from the corner of his lips. While his mind was on the brink of losing consciousness. The ambush came out of nowhere, and now he stood at the balance between life and death.

Zach roared Lindelof’s name and put every energy he had in his legs, bursting forward like an arrow. He swerved the moment he ran beyond Lindelof and his reddish knife went for the strike. The knife cut through flesh, and the cry of a creature rang loud.

He did not stop there and went psycho at the damnable creature. The knife went back and forth into the flesh of the unknown creature as Zach bellowed in rage.

The creature did not even have the time to retaliate as it fell to the ground lifeless. Bringing along Lindelof with it. Zach held Lindelof’s body and let his body gently fall to the ground. His knife slashed through the horn that impaled Lindelof right behind the wound, enough to separate the two without removing the horn.

Zach brought Lindelof close to the mouth of the cave as carefully as he could. The bright light of the sun revealed Lindelof’s current state. There was still color on his face while Lindelof was slowly falling into unconsciousness.

Zach slapped him on the cheek. “Look at me, Lindelof,” Zach said. Their eyes met, yet Lindelof’s eyes were barely open.

“My… lord…” Lindelof weakly said.

“Don’t say a word. Just keep yourself awake. Do you hear me?” Zach said. His hand did not stop bringing pain to Lindelof’s cheeks.

“Huh… yes… milord,” Lindelof said.

“Fuck,” Zach cursed. His eyes looked around frantically from the edge of the cavern mouth to the depth of the dark tunnel. He could already see a few straw hands grabbing the edge of the cliff as sooner or later they would come. While the unknown darkness made him wary.

Lindelof’s weak hand grabbed Zach’s arm. “My… lord,” Lindelof said. “It’s… been… an honor… to fight… by your… side,” he could hardly say a sentence as if his life was slowly slipping away from his body. “Do not… mind me… and… leave.”

Despite sounding weak, there was resolution in Lindelof’s eyes.

“Stop saying nonsense!” Zach said. His eyes were laced with fury. “I gave you my word, and I will honor it.” Zach tore the sleeve from Lindelof’s robe and bandaged around the wound. Keeping the cut horn intact, not letting it slip. It would be worse if the horn was out, and blood would come pouring out like a broken dam.

Zach gave another resounding slap, enough to jolt Lindelof back to open his eyes wide. “Stay awake at all costs, and wait for my return,” Zach said.

He cleared the threat of the scarecrows first before going back to the dead creature he killed. Lantern Orb came out from his ring, illuminating the darkness. He saw what it was. A naked mole rat the size of an adult Cane-Corso with a stump of a horn in the middle of its forehead.

[Drill-horn Mole Rat(Lv.13)(Dead)]

[Pest of the mines. Creature of the underground that is blind and sees through vibration. Its claws are too weak to dig through the hard dirt and rocks as it uses the horn drill in between its eyes to carve a new tunnel for it to travel.]

Zach kicked the dead mole rat out of anger, clueless about what to do with his dying ally. He even grabbed his hair, pacing around the dead mole rat, trying to figure out a solution for this sudden mishap.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Fuck,” he cursed again. His fist found the wall of the cave and the pain was barely felt. He blamed himself for what happened to Lindelof as he should have been more cautious after finding a cave like this. Zach was too focused on the scarecrows that he thought it was the only enemy he would fight in this battle against the wave situation.

Then he recalled the message from the owner of the dungeon. ‘Open your eyes, and find a new path,’ he remembered. But leaving for the uncertain was risky, considering Lindelof's defenselessness. It would only be a death sentence for that kind mage if he left him alone. Despite their short time together, Lindelof had aided him a lot. He couldn’t just leave. Not when Lindelof's life was on the line.

Zach raced back to the entrance and kicked a scarecrow right in the neck. Bringing it down to the ground as he pummeled the straw man with his fist. Then he heard a crack. The scarecrow returned back to just being a bundle of straws.

Then an idea came to mind. A rather desperate one. He stood back up again and found the next scarecrow. His knife cut its limbs, and Zach went to do the same thing to those who just arrived at the cavern mouth. Before long nine limbless scarecrows were piled close to the weak Lindelof. Zach grabbed one and hacked its biting head away as he then knelt beside Lindelof.

‘This is the only logical way,’ Zach reminded himself. Searching for a potion in a dungeon would be the most idiotic as he could not be certain. But there was one path that he could try. His hand rummaged through the straws as he scoured for the life source, and he found it.

“Lindelof, do as I say,” Zach said. He gave him the knife and told him he had to do this on his own. Zach pointed where he should stab, and the weak highbrow did as told.

He repeated the same thing to the rest of the limbless scarecrows, hoping that the system would give Lindelof the majority of the experience for him to gain a level. Yes, it was a method similar to what Calrin did back on the first day.

When the sack of experience was gone, Zach went out to hunt at the edge of the cavern mouth as the experience mules came on their own. An hour passed, and his hope was answered. Lindelof was awarded a level and the new points were distributed to vitality.

But Lindelof was still not in the clear yet. His condition was far from being healthy enough to survive. Zach did earnestly, collecting these experiences all for the sake of Lindelof. Hours went by, and Zach was still persisting in hacking these scarecrows that according to him were doing a favor for climbing up on their own. Yet his expression was cold.

He was reminded that his plan would not always go his way. Zach had been monitoring Lindelof at an interval, and reality hit him hard. Even after gaining two more levels, the new vitality stat was still not enough. Minute by minute, Lindelof’s health points were dwindling down as if it was a timer to meet the Reaper.

But Zach did not stop. He still provided the scarecrows for experience, hanging on to whatever hope he had. His hand aided Lindelof’s weak hand to grab and stab the life source, but this time aiding was not enough. Lindelof’s fingers slipped off the hilt of the knife and fell on the ground as if a puppet had been cut its strings.

Zach gazed at the still Lindelof who had his head down. He did not even dare to use Identify on Lindelof, fearing what he might see. Despite knowing what had already happened.

He sat on the ground, staring in a daze. Before he knew it, tears trickled down his cheeks as he felt his left chest tighten. Then he uttered, “Identify.”

Then the truth was there.

[Lindelof Wilborn(Lv.9)(Dead)]

[Species: Human]

[Title: -]

[Class: Mage]

[HP: 0/340]

[MP: 0/80]

[SP: 0/150]

He saw it. Then something else popped open.

[Identify has reached level 2.]

The timing couldn’t be worse, of all the time he had, it had to be right after using it to Lindelof. Slowly, the gloom in his heart began to burn as rage was taking over. The fault was his and he knew it. But he had to let this out.

Zach tightened his grip on the knife and bolted towards the cavern mouth. He slashed and cut the scarecrows down, and he leaped in the air with the horde of scarecrows waiting for him down below.

Then he descended upon them. Landing on top of a scarecrow, breaking its life source in an instant. Then he roared. “Die!” The man fought as if he was a berserker as if nothing could stand in his way.

But despite the violent acts, his eyes could not stop crying. His body aches from the stunt he pulled and down to the hit he received. Yet the pain in his heart weighed more heavily. Lindelof was a stranger, but he was genuinely a kind one. A person that was hard to find in a land like Brittania, but Zach met him, and he let him down.

By the time he cleared half of the horde. A new level greeted him, bringing him up to level fifteen. But there was no joy for the man who strove to be the strongest. The only thing he felt at the moment was pain and guilt, and nothing more.