***** Rudeus' POV *****
I awoke to find myself in a vast open room; it looked like the reception hall of a palace. The place was hauntingly familiar.
"He's awake!", Eris yelled out.
"Rudy! You had us so worried!", I heard Roxy exclaim.
Everyone was standing around me. How did I get here? What happened? I reached up and rubbed my eyes as everything looked a bit blurry. Well, blurry isn't quite right; kind of hard to describe. It's more like I'm looking through a layer of glass, as though I was wearing non-prescription glasses. After rubbing my eyes, I blinked a couple times but there was no change.
"Rudy? Are you alright?", Sylphy asked.
"Uhh... yeah. I think so."
"Wait, where's Zenith!?", Paul shouted.
"Over here!" Zenith could be heard faintly from across the room. "It's Talhand..."
Relief washed over Paul the instant he heard Zenith's voice, but then when he heard her mention Talhand, his face went pale. Elinalise looked down and away.
I managed to get up to my feet and we all hurried over to the other side of the spacious room where Zenith had called out from. The wall had been indented from Talhand's impact with it and blood trailed down the side of the wall to the floor. Zenith had gotten Talhand down on the floor where he laid motionless.
"I tried... I did everything I could", Zenith said as tears flowed down her cheeks.
Talhand laid on the floor face up beside Zenith. To be honest, I couldn't see any visible wounds on him, but perhaps that was due to Zenith's healing magic.
Hearing Zenith's plea, everybody turned their heads towards me. When it comes to healing magic, Zenith was assumed to be the most proficient of everyone here; with the exception of one person - me. After memorizing the incantation for King-Tier magic and learning it myself I technically became a King-Tier healer.
"I can try and see what I can do."
Zenith shook her head in silence. She lifted Talhand's body on its side, revealing a gaping hole in the middle of his back. Something had cut straight through his armor like butter and carved a huge chunk of his flesh out. The sight was gruesome. The top half of his spine was exposed and the majority of his abdomen was missing from the back side. He was definitely dead.
*Hrrp!*
After witnessing something so gruesome, Sylphiette began to retch. Roxy looked horrified. Eris, Elinalise, and Paul all looked somber. I didn't know what to say. What the hell is even going on!?
I backed away as I tried to get my bearings on the situation. Okay... I remember that Eris and I came to Begaritt to rescue Roxy; we found her in the Teleportation Labyrinth, then...
I held my chest as I started gasping for air as I recalled suffocating inside that dense ocean of mana.
"Rudeus! What's wrong!?", Eris yelled in surprise.
"Ha... Ha... Ha...", After a couple seconds I managed to calm down and catch my breath. "I... I'm fine. It's just... I remember what happened."
"How did you wind up getting trapped in that Mana Crystal?", Eris asked me.
"The moment I stepped through that teleportation trap, following after Roxy, I was sent inside of it. It felt like I was drowning in a sea of mana."
"Are you sure you're alright?", Eris pondered. "Aren't you hungry? You were trapped in that crystal for over two weeks!"
"Two weeks!? It felt like no more than an hour to me! Or maybe that's just when I lost consciousness..."
"Well you better eat something just to be safe", Eris said as she reached for her bag to grab some food.
"That's not important right now!", Paul yelled out in anger.
Eris uncharacteristically backed down as she looked at Paul surprised at his sudden outburst.
"Talhand is dead! Why are you two chatting like it's an afterthought!"
'He's right. The sudden shock of recalling what had happened momentarily pulled my thoughts away from Talhand, but having this conversation with Eris right next to his dead body must seem incredibly rude.'
Before I got the chance to apologize, Eris beat me to it.
"I'm sorry!", she announced with a somber look on her face.
"No. It's not your fault", Paul relented. "It's his!", he yelled as he pointed his finger at me.
'Me!?', I thought inwardly as I just stared back blankly.
"Don't blame Rudeus!", Eris yelled out. "There was nothing he could have done! If anyone is to blame it's me. Talhand gave his life to save me!"
"You can't think like that Eris", Elinalise said as she wiped away the tears from her own eyes. "This is nobody's fault. Unfortunately, this is just part of the life of an adventurer. Talhand knew that well."
"No! Rudeus should have never run off on his own like that!", Paul shouted. "We're family, but he always thinks he has to do everything on his own! These are the consequences of your pride!"
"I was in a hurry! Roxy's life was in danger!"
"It wouldn't have even been a minute longer for you to come get me! Are you saying that you were better off heading through that treacherous desert alone? Is your family simply a hindrance to you?"
"If Rudy had been even a second later I would have died", Roxy pleaded with Paul. "If anyone is to blame for Talhand's death it would be me! It's my fault for getting trapped in here to begin with!"
"Everything would have been fine if Geese didn't betray us!", I yelled back. "Talhand's death is on his hands!"
"Shut up! All of you!", Zenith yelled out in tears. "It's nobody's fault! What would Talhand think if he saw us fighting over him like this!"
"Tch!", Paul clicked his tongue. "You're right. I'm sorry."
We decided to cremate Talhand's body. Roxy's fire magic was able to reduce him to bones in a matter of minutes. Elinalise warned that he could still reanimate into a skeleton if we buried him here like that so we crushed his bones and put them into a jar I conjured with my earth magic.
Talhand didn't have much on him in regards to personal belongings, but we took his metal breastplate, shield, and battle-axe. We all agreed to deliver them back home to his family after things settled down.
There were dozens of magically imbued crystals that we began collecting. I also picked up some of the Hydra's scales, being careful not to cut myself. Behind the liquified crystal that I had been trapped in was a plethora of magic items that the Hydra seemed to have been guarding. They would net a hefty price for sure, but none of us were too excited about our newfound riches.
After somberly looting all the treasures in the guardian's room we made our way backwards through the labyrinth. We made pretty quick progress thanks to the markings Talhand had left as they searched for me. Somehow we didn't encounter any monsters along the way back to the start of the sixth floor.
The whole time we walked I continued to feel like I was in a slight Haze. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was looking through a pane of glass or a lens. Perhaps a better way to describe it would be that it was like I was watching a tv screen rather than seeing through my own eyes. Either way it was starting to give me a headache.
We decided to rest for the night in this room as there was only one exit which Sylphy easily blocked off with an [Earth Wall] spell. Zenith prepared food for us while Paul and Elinalise spread out bedrolls for us to sleep in.
"Elinalise, what happened to your arm!"
As I watched Elinalise working I noticed she was missing her left arm. I don't know how I didn't notice it earlier, I must have been preoccupied with everything else going on; or maybe it was this daze that I've been in.
"The Hydra got the best of me", she admitted. "Don't worry though. I can make do. I may not look it, but I've actually got quite the fortune stocked up. It will be pricey, but I'll head to Millishion once we get out of here and hire a priest to heal my missing arm."
"Nonsense. I can take care of it for you right now. I know how much of a hassle it is to be missing an arm", I said as I pointed to my left arm. Elinalise had been there when I lost it years ago in my first fight with the North God.
"I may have memorized the incantation when I got my missing arm healed all those years ago in Millishion", I said with a smirk.
"Oh. In that case, by all means I'd appreciate it if you could heal me."
"Sure thing."
I reached out and touched her shoulder where her left arm should be and began to silently cast King-Tier healing magic to regrow the arm.
"AAAAAHHHH!", Elinalise screamed out in pain.
Everyone else in the room snapped their heads in our direction and looked on in horror. Instead of Elinalise's arm having grown back, a writhing, hideous, tumor-like amalgamation of flesh and bone took its place.