I swung my staff with reckless abandon. Each mana-filled strike burst goblin heads and torsos like watermelons. I made clear wide swipes, catching multiple monsters in one blow. I minimized thrusting attacks, and when I needed to take a bit of a breather, I retreated back towards Reina.
Reina was fighting completely differently compared to what I was used to from her. Her usual precise and quick movements were now wild and heavy.
She grabbed a goblin by the head and swung its body wide, smacking goblins in the vicinity before throwing it away, crashing into several other goblins.
She backhanded a goblin rushing to her from the side, popping its head, splattering even more blood on the already blood-caked floor. Before its — now headless — body could follow along its trajectory, she caught it by the remnants of its neck and threw its body into the rest of them.
Her movements were steadily getting more and more aggressive and reckless. I slowed mine down by just as much, as I did my best to stay with her as she moved deeper into the group. The throng of enemies was getting thinner and thinner, enough for the danger level to have subsided substantially.
I spared a glance towards Vera to ensure her safety, she was sitting on the ground with her eyes closed as she kept breathing in deeply — most likely an act of meditation to recover enough mental focus for later.
I roared again to get their aggro and take the heat off of Reina. The encirclement she was just in collapsed as they charged at me instead. I pushed my staff on the ground and vaulted over a goblin. I curled my body inwards as I brought the staff down on the other goblin behind him.
Ooh. That was kinda sweet.
My concentration was a bit letting up as only around six goblins remained standing. Four of which were on me. My staff was dripping blood and viscera as I twirled it around. Just as I finished with a flourish, one of them was grabbed and crushed by their neck.
Yeah... I can probably just leave the rest to her.
I reunited with Vera, using the spikes as my platforms as I jumped up to her. She was still completely out of it. "Vera."
She opened her eyes blankly, still out of focus. I tapped her cheek and her eyes finally gained some light in it.
"Is it time?"
"Yeah. Can you stand?" I held out my hand.
Her soft hand grasped mine. It was a perfect fit. Just as I was about to pull her up —
She pulled. Hard.
Completely taken off-guard by the suddenness of it all, I fell into her as she pulled me into her embrace.
"Vera?"
"Just..." Her voice was but a mere whisper. Airy with a tinge of a sigh. Her lips next to my ear.
"Stay like this for a bit..." Her breath sent tingles down my back.
I couldn't resist.
We stayed still for a few seconds as she slotted her face into my neck and breathed in my scent.
She pulled away. "...okay. I'm good. Thank you." Her voice was now back to normal.
"Are you well enough to stand now?"
She smiled. "Yeah."
We quickly made our way down. We still had to administer first aid to those two guys. We reached the bottom of the slope and found Reina standing on her own, surrounded by a field of blood and gore, her eyes closed with her head raised to the sky. Her smoky gray colored tail was streaked with blood.
Her head turned to us and her eyes slowly opened. "Let's go."
She had calmed down considerably. Her gait finally regained its usual relaxed manner.
We rushed to the two heavily injured students and treated them as best as we could, and Vera cast a simple spell that accelerated their natural healing.
On a closer inspection, they looked worse than they actually were with all the blood splattered around them.
The goblins didn't have any weapons and just attacked whenever they'd hear a sound. They still had chunks of their flesh torn out, but their armor had protected the vital parts well enough for them to survive.
The least injured one, the one we locked eyes with earlier, and the other one rushed to us in thanks all the while finally letting out sobs.
From what they shared through broken tears, they were the rear guards for the group and the more injured one was the one who took the risk and yelled at the others to keep quiet.
With the other two still passed out and their conditions stable, we elected to wait for them to come to before resurfacing. Reina and I took this time to collect the mana cores from the corpses with the help of the two rear guards.
"Reina."
"Hm?"
"You think we should start wearing masks?"
"Why?"
"So blood and guts don't get into our mouths. If this fight is any indication, I really do not want to know the taste of a monster's crushed eyeball."
"This won't be the usual."
I raised an eyebrow in distrust. I leaned into her and lowered my voice as I changed the topic. "Think we should help them get back to the surface?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Their vanguard is too injured for me to feel comfortable leaving them alone."
Her lips straightened out. "I want them to suffer more for what they did."
"They'll still face consequences outside. They've went through a lot already. I'm sure they've learned their lesson."
She closed her eyes before she relented. "Okay. We will lead and guard them back to the surface. And only that."
"We'll probably fail this exam, huh."
"Maybe. We won't be reaching the checkpoint after all."
I sighed out. It can't be helped.
We collected a total of 46 mana cores all in all, with Reina having killed most of them. Clearly evident by the brutality that she killed them with.
A low groan sounded out as one of the guys woke up.
"How're you feeling?"
He sat up with a jerk. He looked around wildly and only relaxed after catching sight of his teammates.
"Wha-what happened?"
"We saved you. Do you think you can walk?"
"I think I can."
"When your other teammate wakes up, we'll lead you back to the surface. Follow our lead."
We already told the two rear guards what our current plan of action was and that they'd have to carry or help their teammates walk on their own. Thankfully, they didn't make a fuss about it. They were both still pretty withdrawn.
We started our trek back up. While we could have carried the injured men while going up the slope, Reina's vehement — by her standards — refusal stalled that idea to the ground. We ended up asking Vera to transform the spikes into a ramp up the slope, utilizing switchbacks to make a gentle gradient.
The return trip took us nearly around the same time as we went in. While our initial plans for our return trip was much faster since we didn't have to slow down as we mapped the area, it was nonetheless still delayed by the speed of the team we saved.
Vera and I brought up the rear of our formation, with Reina leading the pack. As soon as we saw the afternoon sunlight seeping in from the outside, I called out to Reina to act as the messenger and to inform the instructors.
Before we could exit the dungeon, instructors poured in and took them away — presumably to the healing area.
Vera and I met up with Reina who was waiting for us outside together with Berthard. He led us to the building right beside the dungeon bunker.
"Go clean up before we talk. Can't be having you bloody my office. Just get someone to bring you to my office when you're done."
We were inside a large room with multiple individual stalls of showers complete with amenities and an array with fresh sets of clothes.
I guess it made sense for there to be something like this right outside the dungeon. Blood and guts were hard to get rid of. Having us walk around covered in blood didn't seem all that hygienic either. Who knew?
I took a long deep shower as I scrubbed myself, making sure that no traces of gore remained. I double-checked my hair. Red on silver was incredibly noticeable so I really had to clean up properly.
We reconvened outside Berthard's office after about half an hour, dressed in plain shirts and sweats emblazoned with the academy's logo.
Reina's tail, which was bathed in blood — bloody enough to be used as a paint brush — was now squeaky clean. The hot shower took all the stress away and relaxed our jolted nerves.
Reina swung the door open with zero hesitation.
"Ah. Finally done."
He urged us to take a seat as he pulled out a bottle of whiskey, a lowball glass, and a shot glass. He took a glance at us, glanced back at his drink, and raised an eyebrow. He sighed out and returned the shot glass into the drawer.
He leaned back to his chair after he poured a drink.
"Let's begin."