Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Regrouping

Leander was healing Borik with all the mana the dungeon core had forced into his limbs.  It was ironic that the dungeon core was now saving them, when it had forced down mana in them to kill them.

It had been a miracle that Borik had even been able to move. What with two broken legs and an arm with bone jugging out of it. Before, when he had been surrounded by shadows, Leander had not seen the extent of the damage. But now, that they had dragged the berserker to the well-lit former golem nest, they could all see the state Borik was in.

And not just him. Lilia had a nasty stomach wound that Leander had used his A rank healing spell to close. However, the water mage was not waking up. Which led him to believe she had hit her head as she fell.

Borik had first hit Florifel over the head, and then had cut into her leg. Just over the knee cap. She wouldn't be walking any time soon. But she was awake and looking at Lilia with worry.

"Huddle time?" Offered, Morris and everyone went to sit by Leander and Borik so that the healer could continue with the healing of the berserker.

"We can't exclude the possibility that Andors and Jean are under mind control as well," Morris began, and they all nodded. Andors, they could handle. He was at the same level as Borik, and they could swarm him. But Jean was a crowd control specialist. Him, they wouldn't be able to charge at head on.

"So, we search for the power generators, rather than engage them?" Florifel asked. Nestor had carried her to the group huddle, as she couldn't get up, herself, and Leander had just closed her wound, but had not dared to try to repair her nerves.

"That would be Morris's job," Alektos said, looking grim. "We can't exclude the possibility that the next chamber will also be filled with evolving mini-bosses, either."

"If I was the dungeon core, I'd put Jean to guarding the core room," Percival gave his input and everyone turned to stare at him. "He is the strongest out of the three of them and must be the hardest to control. So, the core must be keeping him close."

"Why doesn't the core have its own bosses?" Leander asked, and everyone turned to stare at him.

"It does. The Firebolts," Aros spoke slowly, but he too was thinking about this particular piece of the puzzle.

"The Firebolts must have dealt with them, so, the core resorted to mind control," Dorian mused, and he received nods of agreement.

"Or, the dungeon core let the Firebolts come into the core room, and then made them into bosses because it didn't have anyone," Sorecal suggested. "I mean. The only thing the core has is mana."

"What of the shadow monsters and the golems. Do you think they were already here and the core just took control of them?" Alberta had not heard about such advanced mobs in the original dungeon grounds of the dungeon of shadows.

"If its mana comes into contact with you, it tries to trick you," Leander began. "I heard it give orders in the voice of the guild master. But I resisted. I was not nearly as tired as the Firebolts must have been when they reached the core room. Which must be full of the core's mana."

"So, Jean, as an archer, might have resisted as well?" Florifel looked at Borik, who was deathly pale and covered in bandages. "Then, where is he?"

"Somewhere hidden, probably. I doubt that he wanted to kill his partners," Alberta answered her. That made them all feel less anxious. For, if Jean Firebolt was not one of the bosses, then, they had a chance.

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"Leander, we have to leave Borik, Florifel and Lilia here. So, finish patching him up, and we are going," Leander's eyes, as well as the eyes of a few others, widened.

"What if the core takes control of him again?" Leander argued. His eyes found Florifel, who looked ashen.

"We need all the muscle we can get. We just need to believe that the generator was what fed Borik with mana," Alektos's tone brokered no arguments. Florifel smiled at Leander, and she reached out to grip his shoulder.

"Hey, healer, I can hold my own. Don't you worry about me. Just don't forget to pick me up on your way back, ok?" Leander nodded, and he turned back to Borik, whose hand twitched.

Borik opened his eyes and stared at the faces gathered around him. He recognized the party members. There were the Raging Bulls, the Budding Lilies, although he couldn't see Lilia, the Griffins, all scratched up but smiling uncertainly, and, finally, the Try Hard Party.

"My head hurts like a buffalo had fallen on it, care to fill me in with what happened?" Borik tried to smile, but his smile fell when he saw Alektos's stern glare.

"You were under mind control," Alektos supplied, and Borik's eyes widened.

"And Andors? Jean?" The thought that his friends might be dead filled the berserker's mind with dread.

"We have no idea," the healer, Leander, Borik was pretty sure that his name was Leander, told him. "But we believe that they had been made into boss mobs, just like you were. Don't you remember anything?"

Borik remembered the voice of the guild master coming to him after he went into the oppressive core room, so full of mana that it was hard to breathe. Come to think of it, Jean hadn't gone in and had tried to shot at the core from the entrance. And then he and Andors had leapt to shield the black core.

"Jean is not under mind control, I think," Borik spoke, shamed that he had been. He had always believed himself to be the most level-headed of the Firebolts party. Yet, he had fallen for the tricks of the dungeon core.

"That is good to hear. No offense, but we were worried about trying to face him the most. Do you know where he is now?" Borik searched in his memories for the location.

"You know, the last I saw him, he was hunkering down in Samkiel's burial chamber. He placed his golden barrier stone at the door. And all the food and water were in his bottomless bag," Morris pumped his fist in the air and let out a loud cheer that was taken up by Nestor and Damian.

"Told you all that the cockroach was fine," Nestor said, and he chuckled.

"Jean better never find out that you called him that, or he is going to challenge you to an honor duel," Borik warned and Nestor wilted. Hoping that Borik was not going to rat him out.

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