I gasped for air, beads of sweat ran down my face, mixing with the raw flesh and exposed muscles. I gritted my teeth to handle the pain. I pushed forward and grabbed Fiorella's clothes tightly, I propelled us both forward and leaped onto the building ahead. I barely managed to keep my footing. We pressed forward.
I hurried Fiorella, who tried her best to catch up. I urged Fiorella to hurry, her blind right eye made it challenging for her to assess the distance between each building and fucked up her own sense of balance. I glanced over my shoulder and realized we had lost most of the monsters, and the others were far away enough.
Grabbing Fiorella by the collar, I leaped off the rooftop. I shielded her face and we crashed through the window of the adjacent building. I dropped her and tried to regain my balance, only to crash onto the floor, splayed out.
I sat down on the floor, trying to assimilate the burning sensations of my wounds. I struggled to remove the mithril gauntlets, my weakened grip kept failing me. I couldn't feel a single thing.
''Fiorella, help me out here, please.''
The girl didn't say a single word. She crawled towards me, and with her shaky arms pulled out the heavy gauntlets, trying to contain her puke when seeing the blood that stuck to them. She had to try even harder when she looked at the state of my hands-- multiple fingers swollen, knuckles stripped of skin and exposing the cracking marrow.
Shit.
I looked up to look at the girl's face. Her right eye seemed to have been irreparably damaged, but it doesn't seem like she was very injured. Compared to me, at least...
''Do you know any healing spells?''
I struggled to speak. My torn cheek made it pretty... hard, to say the least. In fact, not even I was able to properly understand myself.
''Huh?''
''...Do you know any healing spells?''
''Ah... only one, s-sorry...''
Her face darkened as she looked at me. Fuck, I don't want to be pitied. But, I knew what she was trying to say. She was sorry she wasn't gonna be able to heal my face. Yeah, she made it pretty obvious.
''Then that's perfect. What can it do?''
''I-I can only stop bl-bleeding, b-but I can't do m-much more... I-I'm sorry...'''
''No worries, I was prepared for that.''
I looked down at some of my fingers. I had to fight some of those monsters even while escaping, and they were stronger than I had thought at first. Strong enough to completely shatter some of the bones under the armor. I was skilled enough to block them with my hand, but now it seems like it was a bad idea. Some of them seemed almost completely damaged to the point of no return, but I didn't want to think about that.
''...How's your eye doing?''
''I-I, uhm... I think I can heal it, I c-can feel it m-move around, so...''
She brought her hand up and muttered something under her breath. A radiant light covered her face for a few seconds, causing her mouth to contort in discomfort. Doesn't seem like a comfortable process. When the light vanished, her eye stopped bleeding, but the scar was still there. So either she lacked mana or it just wasn't that strong of a spell.
''Can you do the same to me?''
''...A-Ah, yes, but y-your is face is--''
''At the point of no return? I know, as long as you can stop any infection and the bleeding I'll be... thankful...''
I felt dizzy for a second. I held to my consciousness, but I think I might pass out.
I hurried her a bit, and the process began. Certainly, it wasn't comfortable, especially since she was an amateur. Pulling out my armor also proved difficult, it felt like I was about to tear my skin off.
When she finished, I raised my hands up again. My hands felt numb and slow, but I could use all of my fingers at least. We rested our backs on the wooden wall and some dust flew off.
I really want to get out of here.
Our spirits had been completely destroyed, though I could just be projecting myself. I took a glass shard from the ground and tried to look at my reflection. I could see a fuzzy version of myself staring back. I wasn't exactly attractive before, but goddamn I look fugly now. I guess I can say goodbye to the prospect of ever having a girlfriend.
I tried to distract myself with empty thoughts. The pain was gone, but I still felt tense all over. My muscles strained even at the slightest movement.
''We should move when it's darker. We'll stop wasting our time here. We're gonna climb up to the roof and get to that giant building at the edge of town, I'll just grab you if we're going too slow.''
''...Mhm, b-but, wouldn't it be m-more dangerous there? I m-mean, a-at least we know what monsters live, here..''
What she said did make sense. It's not like I didn't think about it before, going into the dark completely blind was a dumb move for sure.
''Yeah, the thing is, we're in a dungeon, remember?''
''...Ah!''
''It's reasonable that you forgot with so much happening, but it's still just a dungeon. There should be some kind of final boss here to kill and get out or something we have to find.''
''R-Right.''
This place should still have one objective to accomplish if I remember right. Whether we get fucked up or not we still have a mission.
''You should sleep for now, doesn't seem like we have much to worry about for now.''
She didn't say anything back and laid down on the cold floor. I looked outside the broken window and tried to distract myself. I haven't been able to sleep at all, now that I think about it. I can manage, but I don't know for how long.
I closed my eyes and tried to rest for a bit.
-----
We left around midnight, or so I guessed. The town was completely silent, even as we jumped from roof to roof. Thankfully, Fiorella had managed to heal her right eye, though it seems her eyesight won't be the same as it was. She still struggled with accurately guessing distance.
As for myself, I had to just deal with the cold wind blowing onto my face and torn cheek. I got kind of used to it, but it still hurt.
As we approached the edge of the town, I got a closer look at the building. It certainly did look like one hell of a castle. The intricate golden carvings merged quite well with the black structure. I could make out the grand wooden doors that led to the inside.
I grabbed Fiorella and jumped to the floor, and my feet landed not on hard concrete and brick, but rather, on the soft feeling of wet soil. The garden and the edges of the town merged strangely, but I paid it no mind.
''We're here, then.''
I felt uneasy. It was surprisingly easy to get here, but maybe it was because we had already walked a pretty long distance on foot. We should've traveled through the roofs from the start.
I walked uphill through the beautiful garden. A bright flash blinded me a bit, and I covered my face. The sun, so it was already morning. Well, it should be fine for now.
We walked for a few minutes and reached the grand doors of the building. I nodded at Fiorella to reassure her and moved closer. I put my hands on the wood and pushed them open.
A putrid smell hit my nose. But there was something else to be surprised about.
''...You guys,''
A blonde, pale man turned to us. His dark armor was stained with blood, and his hair was as messy as it could ever be. I recognized him, of course, that arrogant and pompous face of his.
''Where the fuck were you?!''
Vittorio screamed at us, his hand tightly holding the handle of his rapier.