Chapter 249
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 249
Chapter Title: Chapter 249
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 249
Chapter Title: Rockwind Plains (6)
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Jun and Maya were panting heavily, as though the battle had only just ended.
Neither of them was in any decent shape.
Sword-like gashes covered their bodies from head to toe.
Jun in particular fiddled with the scratches on his choker.
"Never thought that bastard of a master would end up saving my life."
"That choker's tougher than it looks."
"Of course it is. They poured a fortune in materials into making sure I couldn't take the damn thing off."
Half a day had passed since Aiden collapsed.
Jun and Maya had just finished their third battle against Fenrir and returned to base camp.
"...Captain, you're back?"
"Yeah."
"Welcome back safe."
"Good work. Come here. You too, Maya."
Eleanor looked somewhat fatigued as she summoned her holy power, but both of them shook their heads.
"I'm good. Got potions."
"I'm fine too. More importantly, how's Aiden?"
"I couldn't heal everything. I managed to protect his head, neck, and heart with my holy magic, but his internal injuries were too severe."
"...Any long-term aftereffects?"
"Nothing observed yet. But it's too soon to say for sure."
They'd fallen victim to an utterly ridiculous ambush.
In the midst of battling the second curse source, the Stone Dryad, Fenrir had hidden inside its body and launched a surprise attack on Aiden, dealing him a fatal blow.
It had concealed itself so stealthily that even Eleanor and Maya hadn't noticed.
The moment Aiden lost consciousness from his critical wounds, Maya had instantly shifted to the shadow dimension, hoisted him up, and retreated.
Jun's summoned golem and Eleanor's [Block of Light] had bought them time to escape, but fleeing while protecting a downed and injured comrade was practically impossible.
Jun and Maya had stayed behind to fight Fenrir to the death.
"Glad you both made it out alive."
"Yeah, well, we're beat to hell."
Jun let out a self-deprecating laugh and pointed at his battered body before collapsing onto the ground.
He'd lost so much blood his vision was swimming.
"This is on me..."
"No, we're at a level potions can handle. Focus on Aiden."
Shards of stone had pierced his body all over.
Fortunately, since they were part of the dryad's body, they had disintegrated into particles upon its death, leaving no impurities inside—but being impaled like that was fatal enough on its own.
"How long until he's fully healed?"
"...At least a day. To rejoin combat like before, about four days."
"That's pretty quick for repairing mana circuits... Hold on. I've got a potion that'll help with recovery."
He quickly pulled a prepared potion from his dimensional bracelet and trickled it bit by bit into Aiden's mouth.
"This stuff works great, huh?"
"It's top-grade internal injury elixir. Took real effort to get it."
"Top-grade...? That's the kind only supplied to the Imperial Family."
It was something even with the Gilenoi Merchant Guild's help, he could only obtain five bottles of.
One of those had just gone down Aiden's throat.
"This should cut the internal recovery down to about two days."
"Phew... That's one worry off our backs."
Jun was starting to feel the potion's effects too—his whole body prickling with itchiness.
Once his wounds had closed up and his condition somewhat recovered, they finally had a light meal.
"Alright... Let's sum up the situation."
Eleanor, Maya, and Jun sat together and began their meeting.
"First off, Eleanor—how far to the next curse source?"
"Straight line, about two days. Northwest. The problem is the last one's east. That's five days from here."
"Northwest first, then east—that's a week."
"Straight line only."
"So at least eight or nine days."
But even that was overly optimistic.
The real issue was something else entirely.
"The biggest problem is..."
Aiden.
Traveling with an injured comrade was never easy.
Even if Jun summoned a golem for transport, they'd be even more vulnerable to ambushes, slowing them down further.
"Only one option."
"You can't mean split up here?"
"Yeah. No other way."
"That's insane! You're the one who warned us this is level 7 territory!"
"...Isn't that too dangerous?"
Both of them tried to dissuade him, but Jun shook his head.
"No choice right now. Fenrir's already hit phase 3. We might barely block phase 4, but if we drag this out, we could see phase 5... or even 6."
That meant total party wipe.
Or at best, avoiding wipe but losing at least one of them here.
Jun had zero intention of letting that future happen.
"We have to take the risk. Like you said, Eleanor—this is level 7."
For the first time, a situation had arisen that Jun's game knowledge alone couldn't resolve.
Were his comrades still lacking for their levels?
No.
Blackout was always like this.
No matter how much you prepared, variables popped up to torment players.
They'd just been lucky dodging them until now.
"Moving alone will be way faster than dragging an injured guy. Less rest needed too."
If monsters appeared en route, he could dodge them, detour, or wait them out.
"But still..."
"And... honestly, the new spells I learned with Ranes? I'm not ready to control them properly yet. With Aiden out, I have to take point."
The new spells from those two weeks with Ranes.
He'd reviewed the theory thoroughly and practiced them, but control was still iffy.
"One slip, and you two could get caught in my magic."
"Urgh..."
"So, as your captain, this is my first order. Maya, Eleanor—you two make damn sure Aiden survives."
At Jun's firm words, they finally nodded.
Even rationally, his judgment was the soundest path.
If anything, Maya and Eleanor had been clouded by Aiden's injury.
"Got it. Then you... don't you dare die, Captain."
"If you do, I'll drag your soul back. Remember that."
"Now that's some real motivational support."
One week until Fenrir's next revival.
Exchanging words of good fortune, they parted ways.
Boom! Boom!
A massive Stone War Boar shook the tunnels as it sniffed around, nostrils flaring.
Had it caught some suspicious scent?
It snuffled about for a good while but found nothing and eventually turned, vanishing into the darkness.
Rustle.
The ground where it had been sniffing writhed, and a figure covered head to toe in mud emerged.
"Phew. That was close."
It was Jun.
He'd dug a pit with [Dig], muffled his presence with [Fog of Silence], and waited out the Stone War Boar.
"Haven't done this in ages..."
Shrugging at his mud-caked form, Jun hurried onward.
He could've insisted on fighting through now, but that would've eaten up too much time.
Plus, the monsters here were all high-level, burning through mana like crazy.
Traveling solo meant watching for 'overheat,' so evasion was the only smart play.
"Kinda nostalgic, actually."
Maybe because he was alone again—solitude had him muttering to himself more than usual.
"Alright... About time for it to show up."
The path behind had teemed with monsters, but ahead, [Scan] hadn't pinged a single one.
Meaning a curse source was nearby.
"Over there."
The center of the area monsters were avoiding.
Soon, he reached a cavern housing a massive statue kneeling on one knee, gripping a greatsword.
"Tch. A golem, of all things."
Even kneeling, it towered nearly three meters.
Its sleek form, unlike Jun's own golems, evoked a knight's image.
"Not gonna be easy this time..."
As it rose slowly, blue mana light glowing from the darkness, Jun opened his enchantment tome.
"Fine. Let's do this."
"Hngh!!"
Sensing presences around him, Aiden bolted upright, hand flying to his waist.
But his usual Cloudlight Sword wasn't there—instead, Maya and Eleanor were eating nearby.
"Oh... you're awake?"
"What a dramatic wakeup."
"Wh-where...?"
"Still in the tunnels."
"Should've listened to the leader back then and at least seen that gray sky."
"Yeah, my bad too."
The two chatted lightly.
Aiden stared at them before looking down at himself.
"Surely..."
"Fenrir ambushed you. Nearly died."
"...How many days has it been?"
"First thing you ask after almost dying is that? Let's see... exactly four days now."
"Four days unconscious?"
"Didn't hear me? You almost died. Treatment went fine, but you were already stressed to the max and took a critical hit. Makes sense you'd be out that long."
"Ah..."
Only then did Aiden properly notice Eleanor's lingering fatigue.
"Sorry, Eleanor."
"Priests need thanks, not apologies."
"Th-thank you... for saving me."
"Just doing my job."
The pain was astonishingly minimal.
It was like a bomb had gone off right in front of him—yet here he was, mostly fine.
"Eh, about seventy percent my doing, thirty his."
"Captain... you mean?"
"Yeah. Splurged on top-grade potions. Hard-to-get ones too."
"Ah... Where is Captain, then?"
"...Went ahead."
"Pardon?"
"While you were down, to save time, he went solo to kill whatever curse source or whatever."
"What...?"
"Laid it on thick with that captain voice. First order he ever gave: make sure you live."
"..."
Aiden asked again, as if he couldn't believe it.
But the answer stayed the same.
"Why didn't you stop him!"
Forgetting they were still in the field, Aiden raised his voice, but Eleanor just shrugged.
Maya answered instead.
"Because we're weak."
"Wha...?"
"We're weak, Aiden."
Maya dropped the formal speech.
Her face was more crumpled than Aiden had ever seen.
"Because we're weak... Leader went alone."
"..."
"Fucking bullshit."
Eleanor scratched her head irritably, swearing roughly.
Had that light mood earlier been forced? Heavy silence descended.
All three could do was stare at the scattered, cold plates on the floor.
Being a Mage in the Hero Party 250
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