"Hey, are you alright?" Rei said to Clara while they were wandering around slowly in a group.
"Huh?" Clars stopped watching the back side and looked at Rei.
"It's just that you haven't been as talkative as you were before." Rei knew she was timid, but she was too quiet.
"Oh, it's because I'm too focused on being vigilant and all. You don't have to worry." Clara softly smiled, Rei nodded and started keeping watch again, mostly around and a glance at the ceiling.
While the three were traversing the caverns, they found the monsters that mostly live in this area, dark black fur that seems too much for a hot place like this, though one among the four wolves, was one with a crystal on its head.
And they soon... Picked up the scent of blood and found them.
'It's because of the blood, isn't it?'
"Should we run?" Clara asked as she held one of the shortswords that Rei gave her tightly.
"I'd usually say yes, but..." Rei glanced at Cherry, "I think we can do this if we work well enough. Cherry acts as a tank while Clara stays behind us."
Rei dropped the other shortsword and took out the bow, he only had two arrows, and he wasn't used to short bows, but he did do some archery for fun before, this probably won't be as hard right?
Cherry waited for the wolves to get closer while Rei nocked an arrow into the bow, and when she did bash her shield on one that pounced at her, Rei shot at one of the advancing wolves.
'Come on, hit!'
The arrow pierced into the wolf's leg.
'That's... Good!'
Rei was aiming for its head though, glancing at Cherry, she seemed like a natural with her fierceness, while also smart enough not to overextend, Rei nocked his last arrow and sent it flying to the wolf that fell, and with that, he hit its body this time.
'Though she attacks less with the spear, the stabs she does do are grievous. Ahhh, a weapon proficiency.'
The wolf she was pounding with a shield was whimpering, and when another wolf lunged at her, she was fast enough to stab it while it was airborne and let it slide through her spear after stepping away before she unsummoned it. Making Rei blink twice in disbelief.
'Is she new to fighting?'
But unfortunately, their luck had to end when suddenly an unnatural gust of wind blew them all back.
"What the!?"
Rei got up, summoning the [Wolfendread] that he now remembered, wielding it with two hands as he glanced around to see the situation.
That one momentary blast was enough for Cherry to get into a disadvantageous spot, with the two wolves using this advantage to rip and tear.
"GET OFF ME MUTT!" She yelled out before kicking one of them aside and smacking the other with the shield, now wielding her spear to poke them into bleeding. Her tracksuit sleeves were torn, and blood was flowing out, from probably a bite mark.
While Clara was relatively safe at the back, she was just getting right back up.
'Phew.' Rei then looked at the wolf at the back of its pack, the one with a crystal on its head.
'So it is a magic wolf, huh?' It soon started rushing towards Cherry too, Rei didn't think she'd be able to handle three at once, so in a quick, no-thought-involved moment, he rushed right towards the wolf with [Wolfendread] in his hands, the eyes of the wolf symbol glowing bright red.
The wolves didn't seem to be any different. However, was the blade always this sharp?
As Rei raised his sword and dashed madly toward the magic wolf, it looked at him with a snarl and bared its teeth by opening its maw wide.
'What is it doing?-'
Just as Rei was about to finish that thought, once the wolf closed its maw, a sudden gust made him fly off.
'S-shit!'
And when he landed, he felt a terrible pain from the back of his head before blacking out.
...
When he opened his eyes again and glanced around, he noticed that he wasn't in the caverns anymore... But he also wasn't back in the starting room.
There are no new notifications about another death.
'I don't feel sore... Or a pain in the back of my head. If I did get a concussion, shouldn't I feel dizzy?
That was when he saw her, Cherry walked back to where he was. This was another entrance back to the dungeons.
Her tracksuit looked more torn and worn. She was bloody, holding a piece of cloth on the upper right side of her face.
Noticing Rei was awake, she tossed the [Wolfendread] sword right to his side, making him wince.
"You could've just handed it to me, you know... What happened? Where's Clara?" Rei asked and then saw Cherry's face darken.
"... When you got knocked out, she went to heal you, and we started running afterward... She carried you at first, but then her leg was suddenly chopped up." Cherry closed her eye, a complicated expression on her face.
Rei could tell what she was hinting at, but that just made him even angrier, considering she was the healer, "Then why didn't you carry her back?"
"I DID!" She shouted with one bloodshot eye glaring right at him, "I tried my best..." She bit her lip in frustration before kicking the air.
"... In the end, she suggested I just give up on saving her. She said she didn't have any more healing to give out, and she was just going to bleed out anyway. That smile she gave me when she said that..."
Rei looked down, at the longsword in front of him with a disheartened expression, their classmate was dead, along with the healing, Cherry might not even be able to perform properly with the state she was in.
The two basked in silence, with Rei picking the longsword up being the only noise before he unsummoned it.
The two kept their thoughts to themselves, Rei was thinking of what he could've done, but he planning on just dying now and restarting. But first, he took the slime core out of his pocket and was about to place it in his mouth.
"What are you doing?" Cherry asked, narrowing her eye.
Rei stopped for a moment and looked at her, who was now sitting to his right, "I'm testing something..."
Cherry grabbed his hand before he could move it to his mouth, "No, you're not. It may be poisonous!" Before she seemed to have come to a grim realization, which made her glare daggers into Rei's soul.
"You're... Not planning on killing yourself, are you?"
"... Maybe I am."
Why did he say that? He wondered, maybe he wanted her to say something to keep him threading on this run, or maybe he was too tired to care anymore.
That reply made Cherry's blood boil as her grip suddenly tightened.
"Ow ow ow!" Rei tried to get her to release his hand.
"WHY!? EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!? Why... Are you so damn selfish!? I worked my ass off to save you! And you're just going to kill yourself!? I tried, so damn hard. Don't you fucking dare make it all for nothing in the end!"
Rei then felt his hand being pulled.
"Give it to me."
"Hey, hey, I won't use it, alright?" But to that, her grip tightened even more.
"Give. It. To me."
"You know I can just stab myself if you do take it, right?"
"You don't have the balls."
"I was taking a killing pill."
"That's easier than stabbing yourself."
Rei frowned. She was right, and he didn't have a retort for that.
"I promise I won't use it."
"I SAID give it to ME!"
"You know, this is not how you should comfort a suicidal person?"
Cherry just narrowed her eyes further while still staring daggers right into his eyes, making him gaze away.
"Give it."
Cherry said in one last commanding voice.
And Rei didn't have much of a choice to comply, or else she might break his wrist. So he opened his hand.
"There, happy?"
The core was taken by her quickly before she ate it, making Rei widen his eyes in disbelief.
"Seriously!?"
Once she swallowed, she looked back at him.
"I'm immune to poison. You aren't. can't it if it's already eaten."
"You're resistant, not immune."
Rei frowned, though he did watch intently. When he saw her jerk forward and let go of the cloth, there was a scar on her eye, a claw mark from top to bottom.
Though he immediately called out in concern, "Hey! Are you alright!?"
"Urgh... I'm fine...'
"You don't look fine!"
After a bit, a screen was shown to Rei.
[You have consumed a mana shard, assimilate it into your body]
"Huh, integrate?"
"Ergh..."
She was seemingly still writhing in pain, while Rei got an idea.
"Sit properly. Do you know that meditation sitting position?"
Cherry looked at him for a bit before doing her best to get into that position.
"Do you know how to meditate?" Nod
"Any cultivation novels? Uh, webtoon? Or anime?" She shook her head.
"Just think about, uh, a blue glow combining with your body or something?"
Cherry just closed her eyes and started doing that. After a few seconds, Rei started to wonder whether it was even working, thinking of another solution to this.
'Maybe it assimilates on its own?'
But after a few more, Cherry opened one eye with her strained expression. It slightly widened before Rei could ask anything, and another screen appeared.
[+1 Mana, 20% Assimilated]
"I see, it's working! Keep going."
After a while, Cherry finally let out a relieved breath.
"... So it could still kill you huh," Cherry said, looking at Rei.
"You're still on that? Well, it probably could." If he was in pain, could he have thought of that solution? Maybe.
"But who knows, maybe it assimilates on its own, just, slower than meditating." Rei shrugged before getting up.
He didn't feel right to just end things here, she's right, might as well use this second chance to gather more information.
"Hey, how about we grind?"
His new goal in this run was to be stronger.
So he could do better in fights, alongside gathering more information. And skills and techniques for his next run.