With his remaining strength, Tarma ran forward. "GRANDPA!! NOO!!" He held the skeleton's silver's chest plate tightly and wept loudly.
Mel silently walked closer and Helen hugged him tightly before bursting into tears.
Few minutes later, Helen was healing Tarma's wounds. Meanwhile, Mel and I were silently picking up 'good quality' Death watcher skulls.
"Was he your party's tank?" I asked.
"Yes, Grandpa Ryhard was our instructor and guardian. He worked in our orphanage as a cook. When the orphanage closed due to lack of funds, he adopted every single remaining kid and took care of them. He literally gave us everything, enrolled us into schools, fed us good food and even helped us get marry."
I stopped and looked up at Mel. Then I tilted my head and asked. "Was he rich?"
Mel stared at me for a solid second and sighed. "No. He was not. We mostly grew up in a comfortable lower middle-class life. Until the war started."
"The war?" I asked in a serious tone.
"Yes. Grandpa Ryhard was a high ranking solider in the navy. His achievements allowed him to get a stable pension after retirement. But after war started 20 years ago, the kingdom stopped provided us with money. In the end, we had to become adventurers to earn money. At first only Grandpa volunteered but as the oldest child of the house, I couldn't let him go. I couldn't. I couldn't…."
Mel tightly gripped his hands as he forced himself not to cry. I could only look at him with sorrow. The scars of pain had crippled me from the ability to weep years ago. Therefore, I only stood there awkwardly.
Mel let out a low whimper before continuing. "G-Grandpa taught me how to swing my sword for the first time. At first, being an adventure didn't seem that bad. Grandpa had the experience and we had the raw strength to apply that thoroughly. But slowly time started to take a toll on Grandpa's old body. Things only got worse when the plague broke out. Almost everyone got infected by it. Buying the medicine wasn't so straightforward. Grandpa spend every penny, called every favour and strived day and night in the labyrinth for us. But…"
"A plague?" I asked with much interest.
Mel turned to the side and quietly rubbed his eyes. "I doubt a dweller like you, would know any of this."
"No, I don't… Wait, what did you just call me?" I asked while picking a skull of Death watcher.
"Dweller. That's what you are, right? You sure look too young for one…" Mel leaned closer to me and took a good look at me.
"Mel! Come here!" Helen yelled at us from a distance.
"Well, nowadays there is no such thing as extraordinary."
I visibly frowned at Mel's words but he didn't question me, we both picked as many skulls we physically could and walked towards Helen and Tarma.
In a distance, Tarma was carefully wrapped in Helen's clothes and she was left wearing nothing but white stockings under a simple white cloth wrapped around her chest. The priestess was not looking so holy right now, instead she looked like… 'Hostess?'
I quickly lowered my gaze and followed Mel who is carefully stacking the skulls together. After stacking it together,
Helen came to us and raised her hand. Her ring glowed in blue colour before it absorbed the skulls. "This ring is truly splendid, thank you once again my dear."
Mel smiled at his wife. He knew that she was running away from her emotions, her swollen eyes gave it away.
"We should prepare for departure, Tarma already lost consciousness due to blood lost. Any further delay and his limbs may never reattach again." Helen walked closer to Mel and leaned in. "How is your shoulder doing?"
Mel slightly shrugs his remaining shoulder blade. "It's fine. It won't bleed and hopefully it can be reattached."
Helen narrowed her eyes as she examined the wound. "I don't know, the cut isn't clean like Tarma's. Maybe you should consider a prosthetic? It could boost your strength."
"Speaking of that, why are you half naked?" Mel asked as he tried to take off his long coat.
Helen lends him a hand. "Tarma was bleeding too badly and I couldn't afford to waste any mana on him. So, I used some old ways."
"Like tightly wrapping him into a cocoon?"
"Yess! And there is no one here besides you."
Mel's exposed his overly build body, he was pretty ripped for his body weight. "There is."
Helen raised her eyebrow. "He is just a kid."
"I still don't like it. Here." Mel dropped the coat on Helen's head and began walking forward. He picked up Tarma on his other shoulder. "We will leave this unexplored section and return to the city."
The swordsman turns to the mysterious kid that he found not too long ago.
"You can follow us, if you want. You saved our lives. This is the least I can do."
I simply nodded at Mel's words. Helen cut him and leaned closer to me. "Don't be scared. Mel is grumpy just like Grandpa…. Yes, he is. Anyhow we forgot to ask your name…"
I looked downwards to avoid cleavage flash from Helen. Seeing me blush, Helen touched my head. "What's wrong? Your face is all red, do you have a fever or something?"
I quickly took a step back as Helen sensation felt… weird.
Mel was watching everything from the sidelines but decided to stay quiet.
"Altaris… That is my name."
Helen smiled at my words. "Altaris… It is the fifth grand legion's commander's name!!"
"What?"
"Having the same name as the commander is commendable. Luckily, you have the skills to back such holy name."
"Holy?" I tilted my head in confusion.
"Well then Altaris, let's depart upwards and leave these nasty caves for once." Mel declared in much enthusiasm and began walking.
"He has been the fan of the legions ever since he was a kid. Of course, Grandpa told him all the stories. You having the same name as the fifth commander just made him bit nostalgic. Hehe." Helen whispered to me in a low voice.
'Commander, huh?'
It has been few hours since we started our departure, we haven't really encountered with strong enemies. Few small fries were taken care by Helen's holy magic. "But really Altaris how can you see so well in dark?" Helen asked me as I walked ahead into darkness.
The formation has been Me in front, Mel with Tarma on his shoulder in the middle and Helen in the rear. Whenever there is a fight, Mel just holds his ground while me and Helen encircles him as a line of defence.
"To be honest, I don't know. I just don't see the shadows as shadows. It's like looking through constant yellow glass." I answer truthfully.
"Oh? Maybe it could be a talent or some sort mutation? You came out of belly of that creature after all."
I could only nod in response as don't quite understand that myself.
Slowly, we all turn silent as our journey progressed through multiple dark caves. We occasionally exited caves only to be greeted with what seemed endless black desert. Battling against strong winds. We kept moving forward. "How long do we have to walk for?" I asked in a loud voice.
"Not far. We are almost there." Helen answered.
An enormous dark cave filled with violent sand storms is certainly not very pleasant to walk through. What seemed like hours passed, when we finally arrived at an end.
"Now what?" I asked as I stared at the giant stone wall spreading across both sides, sand clogging my nose trails as I breath in this storm.
Helen grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back. With magic incantations glowing on her arm, Helen swung her hand furiously and the wall infront of her rumbled. 'illusion spell?' I guessed as large rocks vaporized into pure mana.
"Quick! We need to pass through!" Mel barked loudly. Helen had already passed through the crack and I followed as well. On the other side, my lungs felt relieved to be able to breathe fresh air after so long.
"Hey! Boy! Help me with this." I turned back and held Tarma's shoulder as Mel struggled to get through.
"Fufufu. Not so convenient for your large chest? Tell me have you gained weight recently?" Helen joked as she stood on the sidelines.
"Ugh! Shut up." Mel shook his head violently to get rid of excess sand.
"How long?"
"Not much. We are practically there and Hel please cover yourself."
"YESSSS!" Helen let out a exaggerated response. She took out a dark purple cloak from her glowing spatial ring. The quality of the cloak was not great but it fully covered Helen from neck to toes. "Hmm! I want to take a bath when we return. Ah. We also have to buy sweets for little Alexia."
Mel stared at his wife for second before putting his own coat on. After just few steps, we reached an exit. A flight of helical staircase leading upwards. "Okay. Hel, please seal this crack so that no one can find this place."
Helen closed both of her hands together and began casting a spell. Mel without waiting for his wife, took out a lustrous rock from his pocket and broke it. A beam of light engulfed Mel and he disappeared.
My jaw fell on the ground. 'T-Teleportation? I-It seemed spatial magic too.' I struggled to keep my cool as I noticed a touch on my shoulder.
"Did that startle you? Don't worry Mel is fine. He just went to the surface." Helen explained to me with a smile, her well rounded bosom clearly outlined by the loose coat. She put her hand on my head and started caressing through my hair. "Hehe. As a dungeon dweller this all must be so alien to you."
I felt a strange sensation as Helen grabbed my hand. "Now behold! You are about to witness a whole new paradise. Where you don't have to struggle for your life."
The priestess Helen took out the very same rock as Mel and cracked it with her fingertips. A bright light, strong enough to blind anyone, engulfed my entire body. The scenery quickly changed as I began experiencing a severe headache. Strange memories flashing. 'Felix?'
THUD! I fell onto my knees, supressing the urge to puke. I looked up. 'Knights. Covered in enchanted armour. Ugh… Their mana reeks.'
I turn my head towards faint noises of yelling and screaming. 'Mel? Is he? Is he facing the knights?'
That was the last thing I saw before blacking out.