Bob stirred and tried to stand. His knees buckled. And, he stumbled forward and crawled toward Zephyra.

"I'll sign, or do anything that you want, but please get me out of here."

Zephyra nodded eagerly. 

"I'll hold you to that promise. But, first, I need to heal you. We won't get very far in your present state." She examined him closely with a quick glance. 

Bob was brutally beaten. His face was stiff and swollen. And, he had many bruises that covered his body. She couldn't see anything that was life threatening for him at the moment. Although, moving him right now would certainly subject him to severe agony. 

Zephyra knelt closely to the damaged acolyte. Her hand pressed gently against his face. She had to be quick about it. They didn't have much time. But, too much haste would just cause his cheeks to slough off and rot from the rampant decay that she was siphoning from him. 

She deliberately and expertly explored through him with her mana. She had to focus and feel for what wasn't present as well as what did. She couldn't foolishly start prodding at a living blood vessel with her mana and expect it to survive the onslaught. 

The necromancer attentively placed a few small blockages with her mana to stem the blood flow to his swollen cheeks. And, drained the damaged tissue of the naturally gathering necrosis. It was a miniscule amount of mana that she harvested from him. It was enough to maintain her siphon, but not to replenish what she had lost to break into the cellar. 

Eventually, Zephyra had drained enough of the deterioration that Bob's own life energy began to regenerate the damage around his face. She stopped siphoning from that area as it began to rejuvenate. She just needed to reduce the swelling so that he could see properly. She didn't gave the time to remove the bruising completely. 

The healer quickly moved on and repeated the treatment for the other damaged areas of his body. It was excruciating for Bob as he suddenly felt the damaged areas surge once again with living tissue. All of the areas that she had healed felt raw and sensitive. 

Zephyra frowned as she reached his legs. They were in much worse shape. It had seemed that the church had taken some precautions with their inmate after all. They had broken his legs in several places. 

It wasn't so severe that they were mangled beyond recovery, nor did they bend at unnatural angles. But, his bones held several criss-crossing hairline fractures that would've made it nearly impossible for him to walk. 

Zephyra grit her teeth. It was unfortunate. A fractured bone took longer to heal. But, she could damage the area intentionally, drain the decay that she caused, and cause the area around the bone to flood with his own mana. 

A quick fix. And, one that Bob would not appreciate right now. But, it was the only choice that she had if she wanted to get them out. 

Zephyra reached over and pulled off Bob's belt. 

Bob flinched and tried to hold it onto his body. "What are you-"

Zephyra pulled it out of his grasp with a sharp tug, folded it in half and placed it in his mouth. 

"You're going to want to bite down on this."

"Wht dh yu-", Bob started to speak around the belt. He screamed and bit down hard onto the leather. His eyes swung open in a frantic plea for mercy. 

But, Zephyra had none. 

The choice was a simple one. Either deal with the pain. Or, die because they took too long. 

And, she elected to make it as quick as she possibly could.

It wasn't even a moment later that she pulled back and took the belt from his mouth. She had finished her work. But, he wasn't going to be happy about it for some time still.

"It's going to hurt to walk. But, you can walk now. And, it'll heal more as we move along." Zephyra explained hastily and pulled him to his feet. 

Bob groaned and grumbled to himself. "I might've had better luck with the church." 

Zephyra took his hand and eagerly pulled him to the entrance. She didn't want to spend another second on this holy ground. They quickly reached the top of the stairs. 

Bob glanced down at the corpses near the door with a confused look. He didn't have any qualms about them being dead. But, something about them didn't look quite right. 

Zephyra caught his expression and rolled her eyes, tugging on his hand to move forward. "I'll explain that later. For now, just know that I had to get past them to reach you."

She stopped for a second and bent down to grab a sword that the guard had dropped. She handed it to Bob. And, hurriedly explained, "You may need to defend yourself."

Bob glanced at another sword laying on the ground. He raised an eyebrow. Then asked, " What about you?"

Zephyra shook her head and raised her hands. "I won't need one. But, we do need to leave now."

Bob nodded his agreement and took off stealthily behind her. His face contorted in anguish with every step. Yet, somehow, he felt relieved. 

He glanced around the complex for the last time. 

"I'm finally leaving this place."