CH 207

Luilui comes back before Talia’s group, and I see Hikari and the others behind. It’s hard to tell from here, but I’m relieved to see no one seems badly hurt.

“Are you all right, Sora? And Leila?”

Mia is about to cast Heal on Leila, but she stops her.

“I’m just tired. Mia, I want you to look after someone if you can.”

Says Leila as she gets up.

I also get up, but stagger, and only manage not to fall because Rurika catches me.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I think I just used too much magic energy. I’ll be fine if I just recover a little.”

“…Are you sure?”

Rurika doesn’t sound too convinced, but the stats screen shows it’s recovering without any issues, even if it does look a little slow.

I still feel languid, but I really am feeling better than before.

We follow Luilui, and see a group of exhausted looking people.

Some look surprised to see us, and some don’t really react. But what catches my eye more than any of that are the petrified people laying on the ground.

“Mia, can you cast Recovery? I asked Trisha too, but…”

Leila tells us it wasn’t enough to heal them completely, and just barely stopped their condition from becoming worse.

Mia hears about it from Trisha, and starts casting Recovery.

“Have you been eating, Leila?”

“…Only a little. I don’t have much of an appetite.”

Talia, who is standing behind her, shakes her head.

Totto told me they were worried about food, so they’ve probably been saving it, but the lack of appetite and the bags under her eyes are probably symptoms of her not resting well.

“I’ll prepare some food… Let’s just take turns resting. We’ve been on kind of a forced match too, so we’re also tired.”

I prepare the food with the help of Chris and Rurika, with Hikari and Sera keeping watch.

The nice smell of the food fills the air, and I hear stomachs rumbling here and there. Some of them look embarrassed and their faces turn red, but I don’t think they should.

“Don’t rush. And there’s more, so don’t be shy.”

I say, before everyone starts eating slowly, and help the petrified ones eat too.

They really were at their limit. Some of them even thank me with tears in their eyes.

“You really saved us…”

“You should thank Totto the next time you see him. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t meet him.”

“…Is Totto all right!?”

Asks someone I’m pretty sure is called Hino.

“Yes, we met on the twenty-sixth floor. He left the dungeon with Joshua and the others from Light of Hope.”

“So the guild didn’t send you?”

“Well, no. It was pretty much just luck that brought us here. As for what happened with the rescue party, I really don’t have an answer.”

“That makes sense. There are a good number of parties that have traveled deeper than the twenty-eighth floor, but a lot are exploring the dungeon, and probably can’t go somewhere on short notice.”

Says Leila, and everyone just sort of nods.

“Anyway, let’s just rest for now, and decide what to do after that.”

Leila nods, and lays down near the others.

“Thank you. Our big sister hasn’t been resting at all.”

Says Talia, as she comes here to take over for her.

“What about you Talia? Don’t you need to rest?”

“No, I’ve been resting. And if you can… Look after the petrified people.”

“All right, but if it’s too much for Mia, it’s much for me too.”

I don’t have materials to make a cure with Alchemy.

“How did it go, Mia?”

“Sora… It might be difficult to heal them completely.”

“Don’t feel bad. You managed to heal a little.”

Trisha is right. The petrification stopped, and seems to have healed just a little. But at this rate, Mia would have to keep casting Recovery over and over again for it to fully heal.

I cast Appraisal, and see that it changed from ‘petrification – advancing’ to ‘petrification – stopped’.

But it’s also displaying a countdown, so is it going to start advancing again once it reaches zero?

“What’s wrong?”

Mia asks, sounding concerned after seeing my serious expression.

“I’m just thinking that it’d be a big burden for you to keep casting Recovery.”

If Alchemy won’t help, how about Creation?

I can make a good petrification medicine with good quality materials, but the materials… As I’m checking that, I notice that my Creation skill has gone up to level seven, giving me more things I can do.

“Create something based on what I’m imagining?”

But that doesn’t mean it can make something out of thin air. And it helps to have appropriate items.

…Can I use cockatrice materials to make a cure for petrification?

“Rurika… Can you take a cockatrice apart?”

“I’ve never done it. Do you know how, Chris?”

“I know where everything is, at least.”

“Then can I ask you two to do it? I need the magic stone and… Petrification bag?”

Is there really something called that? Chris says yes.

I take the cockatrice corpse out of the Item Box, and ask them to take it apart. Rurika does it as Chris gives instructions.

Chris is being especially careful about the petrification bag, because apparently it can’t be used if it’s damaged.

I walk towards Sera, and check my stock of disposable items. I’m running out of mana potions and stamina potions, so I take five of each.

I guess it will work out.

My MP is fully recovered, because I spent some time cooking and stuff like that.

I didn’t get to practice doing this, and I have very few materials, but it has to work. And if it doesn’t… We’ll have to figure something out then.